After our first major roadside repair job of 2026, we didn’t want to take huge risks driving far from a parts store. I still had a bad feeling another seal needed replacing, which would’ve meant completely redoing what I’d just finished. Miller Bar came to the rescue—an overnight spot not...
Fresh off our first real van-adventure of 2026, we continued north up Highway 101. We still had one more family member to visit on our route up to Washington State, but in between was nothing but weeks of coastline and dirt roads—or at least that was the plan. The small...
With most of our family and friends visits out of the way, we had time to take our first adventure of the year. The Lost Coast has been on our todo list since last year’s drive north through California. It’s a stretch of coastline through California’s King Range—good for temperatures...
Now officially on the wrong side of the Sierras—and a few days too early to deliver Marcel to his winter resting place—we called an audible and dropped in on family friends down in Placerville. A little moochdocking in a quiet, comfortable driveway followed. The days passed easily: eating, chatting, and...
We aimed Marcel toward Mono Lake on what might be the most aggressively side-to-side rolling dirt road we’ve ever driven. Not the gentle up-and-down kind — this was full-body sway, the kind that makes a tall van question its life choices. Marcel was not a fan. Neither were our cabinets....
We were on the final push now. Mojave behind us, the plan was simple enough: head north, cross the Sierras, and get Marcel settled in for a long 6–8 month hibernation while we disappeared halfway around the world to go sailing. Simple plans, of course, are rarely executed simply. Originally,...
After striking out at Castle Mountain National Monument, we found ourselves wandering a web of dirt roads inside the Mojave National Preserve, passing the still-operational Hart Mine along the way. Not long into the wandering, we were stopped cold by a fallen Joshua Tree sprawled across the road. This was...
We rolled straight through Kofa National Wildlife Refuge without even lifting our foot off the gas. We’ve been through there a few times now, and while it’s still beautiful, this was one of those keep-moving days. Quartzsite was next. We’ve been here before too. In fact, everyone has been here before....
Somewhere between Colorado’s mountains and New Mexico’s hot springs, we lost our grip on time. Too many long soaks, too many lingering sunsets. Now we were behind schedule — and, to make things worse, it was Kerri’s busiest work season. Not exactly ideal for long Interstate hauls where work time...
We made a bee-line straight down Interstate 25, through Albuquerque, running the usual road-trip errands: fuel, truck-stop showers, bathroom breaks, repeat. By early afternoon we rolled off the highway just north of Socorro, New Mexico, chasing another patch of dirt our maps had promised — the Quebradas Backcountry Byway. These...
