Boondocking Baby!

I’ve spoken about some of the Harvest Host places we have stayed during our travels. It is such a great organization, and we have been so grateful to the hosts who have welcomed us onto their properties with such warmth and kindness. On the Harvest Host site, there are also boondocking places to stay, which is just camping on somebody’s land, driveway, or field without any fees. Don’t get me wrong, we are not beyond parking in a Walmart parking lot, which we did at the beginning of our travels, but there are far better options for sure. Outside of this website, there are public lands that offer dispersed camping, particularly in Utah. They are often equipped with a fire pit, but no services at all. You are required to bring in and pack out all your stuff, including garbage, and you must have toilet facilities available on board. 

Many of the dispersed camping sites are accessed via roads that are not maintained, so you have to be careful where you are pulling off. We are not strangers to rough roads; we made it up the Dempster for crying out loud, but these roads were nothing in comparison. Sure, the sites were free, but with no maintenance, you can just imagine what the 4x4 trucks have done to ‘these roads’ over time. We wondered what damage we would do to our trailer this time. The curtain rods fell, the salsa jar fell over in the fridge, and, lucky for me, the lid jiggled off. The peanut butter also turned over earlier in the trip and drained all into the bottom of the cupboard. Most days I would remember to take the toilet paper and paper towel off their holders, but on the days that I forgot, and of course I did more than once, the whole roll would be in a lovely pile on the floor. We coined the phrase ‘wheels up’ when we are ready to roll. Not sure why we came up with that, but honestly, I feel like our trailer has been airborne more than we would like! When you decide to stay at these options, not only do you have to look after your own toileting needs, but if you want a shower, you usually have to provide that too. We hadn’t needed to shower in our trailer yet, but we figured it was time to try it. Especially with all of the hiking and climbing we had been doing!

The trucks on the bottom are certainly equipped for dispersed camping!

To be honest, I was a little skeptical about showering in the trailer, but I didn’t like the thought of a “Pampers baby wipe-down”, … again. We have been lucky, as most of the parks we have stayed at have had shower facilities, and even some of the Harvest Hosts. But... when you are boondocking… no such luck. Showering in the trailer would require some preparation. Our extra toilet paper and paper towel was stored in there along with the broom and Swiffer. We also had the laundry net fastened to the wall. Not to mention that it was tiny. You all know how little Mark is! I also had visions of the water being cold, and it not draining properly and backing up like the Poop Cruise on Netflix! Clearly, I don’t have enough things to worry about on my year off travelling, so these are the things I think about. I am happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised with my trailer showering experience! The water pressure was great, it drained no problem, and the toilet seat served as a great step, allowing me to even shave my legs. So bougie!! It was actually very satisfying!! Even Mark didn’t find it that challenging to freshen up. 

Notice how Mark fits and everything that has to come out.

As we have been travelling, we notice all of the other vacation accommodations and consider ourselves quite comfortable and fortunate. In Utah, there are loads of people who sleep in their cars or the beds of their trucks. One night, a pickup was beside us, and the fellow was in his sleeping bag in the open truck bed under the stars. Brrrrr. We didn’t feel all that bad for him, as on this particular night, he and about 7 other vehicles joined him for a lovely campfire, right beside us! Now you have to realize there are acres of property to boondock on, and it is not busy at all. Yet this group decides to park right beside us. Well, we popped in our earplugs and slept like babies, but I am sure the water pump coming on and off with our morning showers was far more difficult for them to sleep through. Mark was tempted to pull out his bagpipes and play Dawning of the Day, but he thought better of it. 

These were the cars left in the morning with the kids still sleeping in them.
The guy in the truck was the first to leave, bright and early.

We booked a stay at a bison farm in Colorado. About six minutes before our arrival, we noticed a sign along the road that says “Corrections facility, do not pick up hitchhikers”. Oh boy, we would be locking up the trailer tight tonight! I am sure this doesn’t surprise any of you, as I usually have some sort of story to share about the adventures Mark gets me into. I can’t even blame him for being frugal, as I have got the point that unless they are giving me the moon, I really don’t want to pay for a campsite. As we pulled in, questioning our decisions, we were rewarded with the most spectacular Northern Lights display. It turned out that the local Sheriff lived on the 20 thousand acre prairie bison ranch, so we didn’t have anything to worry about. We picked up some bison steaks to grill, had a visit with a 6-month-old, 500 hundred pound baby bison and headed to Kansas. Luckily, we didn’t have any interactions with Juggernaught, a bison taller than Mark, weighing in at almost 3000 pounds. We have no idea where we are staying next, but if history is any indication, I am sure it will also come with a great story for you. 

An indication of the dust we had to endure to camp in this location beside the pond!

At a baseball park outside of St. Louis, Missouri. We even saw a couple of home run balls in the field!

Natural Wonders

There is so much natural beauty in the world, words do not do it justice! We took a drive around Lake Tahoe. The lake was beautiful, and we stopped off in some little towns and poked around. Mark wanted to watch a football game, so I wandered around the shops. I could see why this was such a popular vacation destination for the rich and famous. The lake is kind of like an oasis in the middle of the desert. We had been commenting on how funny it was to see boats in Reno and Nevada, but when you see Lake Tahoe, you know where all of them were heading. In the summer months, they could enjoy the lake, and in the winter, they ski or gamble.

I had been lazing around long enough and didn’t want to put off hiking and seeing the sights any longer, so we headed to Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, north of Vegas. It was quite desert-like with sandy trails and huge sandstone formations. It was super hot! When we returned from our hike to the truck, the temperature said 107 degrees! The hike pushed me, and we had to stop regularly for water breaks, but I was grateful I was feeling up to getting back out there. The rock formations were beautiful, and Mark loved the sea of colours and swirls in the rock and the slot canyons. 

I didn’t know what to expect when we arrived in Utah, but what we saw was certainly not it. There is such a vast difference from the south to the north. To be honest, my only experience with Utah was what I had seen on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Mark had the big five National Parks on his list of must-sees, and I, of course, was just along for the ride, but I did want to try a dirty soda at Swig! 

After the Valley of Fire, Mark had an agenda. Unlike previous days, he wanted to get an early start. According to a fellow on the shuttle, Zion was the second most visited National Park in the world. So, we got up super early to make the drive to arrive at the shuttle for 7:30 to guarantee a spot in the parking lot. Now I know that timing for most of you in the working world is not early at all, but we have been decidedly relaxed with our starts this fall. The morning started out crisp, needing lots of layers and my buff, but it warmed up very quickly. We were a little concerned when we saw loads of people outfitted in waterproof hiking boots and overall like hip waiters. Were we ready for this? Midway through our first hike, we were down to our base layers and wondering what the people in the waterproof suits were doing. We were smoking hot! We did many different hikes and saw everything from weeping rocks, sheer rock faces, canyons, rivers, emerald pools and views that stretched on for miles. I drew the line at holding onto a chain to scramble across a sheer wall with hundreds of feet of drops to hike Angel’s Landing. I’m afraid I would have been an angel if we had registered for that one. Towards the end of the day, we realized where the waterproof-suited up people were heading. It was called the Narrows, and you had to hike upstream in the bottom of the canyon. We hiked to the entrance point and got a picture with our angel instead. 

Since Trump had shut down the government, there were not many rangers or park staff. Only volunteers, the gift store staff and the shuttle drivers were working. They were not even collecting entrance fees, which I think is just silly! I am sure having someone stationed to collect the fees would be worth their while; however, it has saved us lots of money. We have visited six National Parks so far. 

I was finally feeling better from my cold/flu, and Mark was fighting it. Luckily, he only got a 48-hour version of a cough and sniffles. From the little town called Hurricane (why it is called that in the middle of the desert, who knows), we headed into St. George for ramen, and I wanted to try a dirty soda from Swig. Turned out we visited the original Swig location just by chance. When the founder franchised, she made an agreement that she would keep the original location. I had a hard time deciding what to try, and the server suggested I try a couple of different kiddie-sized drinks. I tried three, and they reminded me of a root beer float. The most popular is the Texas Tab, and that was Mark's and my favourite too. We also tried the Vanilla Vixen and the Dr. De Leche. 

As we moved further north, the next stop was Bryce Canyon. Another day of hiking in a very different setting. The rock formations were incredible, and the views spectacular. Words don’t really do it justice, so here are a few of our favourite photos. We took a million! Boondocking outside of Bryce was amazing, but I’ll tell you all about that later. 

We drove along Highway 12, also known as the ‘All American Road’, which is definitely not McDonald's, Starbucks and Super 8 motels. Mesas, sand doons, switchbacks, and a hair-raising drive along the hog’s back with thousand-foot drops in either direction kept Mark in the middle of the two lanes. We boondocked outside of Capital Reef National Park and stopped at some stunning vistas and strange petroglyph formations carved into the sides of the rock faces thousands of years ago. Every turn kept Mark in awe with the alien-like landscapes. If any of these features were in Ontario, they would be swarmed with spectators, but we often felt like we were the only ones there.  

Lastly, we spent a day hiking in Moab. Moab is a town that caters to tourists and adventure seekers, that is for sure. We saw everything from ski diving, rock climbing, ATV and Jeep excursions to rafting the Colorado and hiking. The Arches was another incredible park, known for the many different red rock arch formations. This was another big day of hiking with lots of breathtaking views. Mark and I felt like we were in a different world; it was really spectacular. Mark thought that the park could be a backdrop for The Lord of the Rings or Doon. 

It truly is incredible what nature creates, and we are so grateful to have been able to experience such beautiful sights on our travels. We met lots of people who had flown into Vegas and rented vehicles to visit the parks, something I would highly recommend if hiking is your thing. We will start to make our way back home now, heading across Colorado and Kansas next. 

Sad, Sick Days

Although the sun was finally shining, yeahhhh!!! Being on the road has been a little more challenging this week than others. I woke up with a touch of a sore throat and opted out of golf, so Mark figured something was up. I am always up for golf! I blame it on the middle-of-the-night rainy pool noodle job! That is definitely why I am sick. Mark played a round of nine holes without me, and I’d managed to make some tea by the time he returned. Mark decided to pull everything out of the back of the truck that had been weathering the rain the last few weeks to dry out in the sun. We made a plan to head for the Crater Lake area, and a day of driving was probably best for me. Although I really didn’t want a cold to slow us down. 

The next day, we left the trailer behind and drove up to Crater Lake. We were gaining elevation and ran into snow. It was incredible how the higher we got, the taller the snow stakes were along the side of the road. It was hard to believe the snow would get that high. There was actually a snow tunnel to enter the visitor information centre. We had reached 7076 feet above sea level. The lake was beautiful. Unfortunately, the trail down to the water was closed, but I think that was probably a good thing. I might have gotten down there and not had enough energy to get back up to the top. I wasn’t feeling any better, so a little hike around the top was about all I could muster. Even the washrooms had snow tunnels, so of course I had to take a photo! It must be incredible here in the dead of winter. 

With my cold really settling in for the long haul, I wasn’t up for much, unfortunately. We did a few little hikes to a beautiful waterfall and headed to Lassen Volcanic National Park. If I wasn’t already feeling bad enough, our luck was about to change. I was texting to check in with family when a deer jumped out in front of the truck. Thankfully, we missed it, only to hit the second deer that followed. It was a terrible thud, but it had stayed down and didn’t come up on the hood or break the windshield, so we figured we didn’t do much damage. WRONG! The deer didn’t make it, and we had done some nasty damage to the grill, bumper and the vents inside. Mark did some repairs to open the vents, and we kept an eye on the temperature; we were able to keep on trucking. We were heading to an RV campground outside of Reno that had wifi so we could watch the World Series. I slept on and off in the hot sun with my seat heater on full blast, serving as a heating pad. It was Hallowe’en, I had a splitting headache and was missing home. There was a buzz online of costumes, and even Meg texted saying that she was missing our annual Hallowe’en photo from school. It’s a super fun time to be a teacher, and I was feeling blue and missing out. All of my beautiful teacher friends spammed me with photos and messages, which cheered me up. 

Me looking just how I feel!!

We were all set up to watch the game. I was tucked into the blankets with a good dose of Tylenol and Advil, trying to ease my throbbing headache, when Mark realized the wifi wasn’t fast enough to stream the game. Why it didn’t work this time was beyond me; we had streamed the games next to the campfire in more remote areas than Reno for crying out loud! I really was not up for going to a sports bar, but I really didn’t want to miss the game either, so off we headed. We listened to the game on the radio on the way to the sports bar, and I was praying that this game wouldn’t go into overtime, as game 5 had, or I was going to be doomed! I felt rough and really should have just stayed in the trailer. Sadly, the Blue Jays blundered in the ninth, and we would have to wait for another night to bring home the World Series. 

With more Advil and Tylenol on board, the next day, we checked out Reno and tried our hand at gambling. I won a hundred dollars at the slot machine and, like a true gambler, cashed out. So maybe my luck was turning! We headed to Carson City and the Nevada Days festival. We had no idea what we were getting into. Nevada Days is a big deal in Carson City. Everyone lands in on Thursday with their RVs, and they don’t stop partying until Sunday. There is a big parade, beer tents and everyone is walking around with open alcohol. The music is pumping, bands are playing in the streets, and everyone is selling something. We didn’t arrive until Saturday, after the parade, so things were slowing down, but that didn’t stop us from being heckled in the streets; Mark was wearing his Blue Jays t-shirt and ball cap. We were walking through the crowds and the band started singing the Star Spangled Banner, followed by everyone yelling ‘Go Dodgers’ it was nutty! I was afraid we might cause a riot. 

With an afternoon nap and a little bit of makeup, I almost pass as healthy!

Hopefully, the Federal Hotel would have fast enough internet for us to watch the final game of the World Series so we wouldn’t have to spend another night in a sports bar. I could cheer as loud as I wanted without worry of being beaten up. NO such luck! So here we were in a little dive bar in a small town with the TV on as the bartender served us in his Dodgers jersey. There were lots of Jays fans in Reno, but in Carson City, we weren’t as lucky. Everyone was a Dodgers fan around us. My headache was starting again, and all the locals started rolling in for the game. We made friends with the group in front of us, who weren’t really baseball fans, so they decided to cheer for the Jays with us. There was a really loud and obnoxious guy at the bar that our new friends didn’t like, and the louder he cheered for the Dodgers, the louder they cheered for the Jays. If this continued, I could see us in the middle of a bar fight really soon. The stuff the guy at the bar was saying was awful, slamming Canadians and the Jays, and these girls were having none of it. It turned out one of them was a bartender at this bar, and this guy was a well-known character, with not many friends in town at all. Locals came up to us, commenting on this guy's behaviour too, and told us to ignore him. They said that anyone who didn’t like Canadians was crazy! The funny thing was, he kind of looked like Joe Biden, which kind of made sense. I was really hoping that we would win, just to lay it on the nasty guy, but no such luck. We were SO close!! The bartender in the Dodgers jersey came over to apologize to us when we were leaving, and asked that we not judge Americans based on the behaviour of the local at the bar. Wow, it was an exciting night, but we got out unscathed and now have lots of new friends in Carson City, Nevada!! BUT it sure was a sad ending for the Blue Jays. 

The next stop was Las Vegas; surely our luck would change there. I would be feeling fit as a fiddle and kick this cold to the curb. At the very least, I would get a good night's sleep, not being in a sports bar… right! Who was I kidding? We were in Vegas, baby… the city that doesn’t sleep. I was never going to get over this cold! In reality, I think we were the only tourists in bed by 10:00 pm in Las Vegas, but unfortunately, that didn’t help Mark. He went to bed feeling rough; now there were two of us sick on the road. 

Contraband

After two months travelling across Canada, with the last month feeling like it rained every day, we headed south across the border to escape. I was becoming a little less princess-like and a lot more witch-like! As in, I was going to start melting if we didn’t get out of this rain soon. We were a little concerned about taking the trailer into the US. Would they search us? Had we brought over items that we shouldn’t have? Would they believe us that we weren’t snowbirds and just passing through for a couple of weeks or so? We finished up what we could and gave some of our meat and fresh veggies away to fellow travellers before hitting the border.

It was pretty quiet at the border, and we pulled up to the window. Great, there were no other Canadians in sight… What were we doing? They wanted to know who we were, where we were from and where we were going. They wouldn’t accept that we were just making our way back to Ontario, stopping along the way. Clearly, they had not met us! So Mark asked if he could use Google Maps to find all the specific places we would stay: Seattle, Portland, Boise… We answered all the questions and, of course, we were asked to move over to the side for a search. Drat….here we go. Would they fingerprint us? How long would the search take? What kind of contraband were they going to find? Would they separate us and ask us questions? If they did, I was doomed, didn’t they know I am a princess traveller, I have no idea where we are going! To be honest, I didn’t even really know where I was at that moment. 

The fellow at the desk was super nice. He had a little rubber skeleton on his pen and was quite humorous. As he was going through an extensive list of what we could and could not bring over the border, a HUGE off-road RV pulled in next to our itty bitty trailer. This rig was like nothing we had ever seen before. The border guy made a joke that they were trying to show us up. They definitely looked like they had WAY MORE contraband than Mark and I, so hopefully, they would go easy on us, now. All of the border guys started to congregate and talk about the monster RV. One of them looked up the price of the vehicle, and they all took turns guessing. I didn’t hear the actual price, but it was well over a million dollars. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but honestly, I was too nervous and didn’t want to draw any unwanted attention to myself. I had just realized that we had rice, which was not allowed. Rice!? Who would have thought rice was a no-go item? Here we go, I am going to get locked up over a cup of rice. Mark was silent until we sat down and waited for the guy to search the trailer. He asked me why I didn’t say that we also had nuts and seeds. What!? I was too busy worrying about the rice that I didn’t even realize we had other contraband. Oh great… my heart rate started to go up as we continued to wait for them to search. I am a rule follower. I don’t like getting in trouble or making mistakes, and here I was at the border, not only with rice but almonds, chickpeas, spices, beans and pumpkin seeds, and I had no idea where they were grown!! We were done for. 

Thankfully, all of the border guys were too busy looking at the upgrades and features on the massive RV that nobody was really paying attention to us at all. Our skeleton pen border fellow came back with my little ziploc bag of rice and told us that we were set to go. That was it, painless and off we went. He didn’t say anything about the almonds, pumpkin seeds, or other items that we realized we had, and we didn’t stick around long enough for him to change his mind. Sooo, just in case you want to know what you can and cannot bring over the border, here is the exhaustive list. The border guy gave me an extra copy and told me to share it with my friends, so here you go, friends!

We set up camp that night, and the wind picked up; we were still not out of the bad weather! In the middle of the night, we were awakened by the slamming of the straps again! I, the princess, was thinking Mark would get up and do the pool noodle trick again. I waited. Nothing… Mark roused, and I said that I thought we would need the pool noodle again. Nothing… I asked if Mark wanted me to do it. Of course, he would say no and that would be enough to get him up and out in the rain to fix the noise so I could go back to sleep. Nope, he said SURE! What!? I was just offering to be nice; he wasn’t supposed to agree and let me go out and fix the straps in the middle of the night in the rain. Jeesh, that serves me right for being all “we have an equal opportunity marriage baloney.” So up I get in my pj’s. I asked where the keys were, where the noodle was, did I just slide it down, and was there anything else that I needed to do? Mark responded by saying that I was asking a lot of questions. I said, “Oh yeah, well, you ask a lot of questions looking for the butter, and I am doing something way more challenging than finding butter in the fridge that is the size of a cooler!” 

I fixed it without a hitch and climbed back into bed feeling all proud of myself. But really questioning who this new Lisa was… bringing contraband across the border and man-handling pool noodles like a pro? I even helped patch the tire up on the Dempster. I think I have definitely graduated from being a princess traveller. To what, I don’t know exactly, just don’t ask me where we are going!