Makin' Trax

This past summer, while visiting the Oregon coast, I stopped in to the Coos History Museum, in Coos Bay, OR. It was just a small place, holding a collection of displays highlighting the cultural history of the area and the south central Oregon coast. As is my custom, I blew through the museum pretty quickly until I found a pretty[…]

Our travels in the last update post left off in mid-Utah in late May. Our first  stop in June was in northern Utah at Bear Lake State Park. That’s the place where we last year saw the Eagle family. See the Eagles HERE! They were still here this year, but with just one fledgling, a couple weeks or so older than we encountered[…]

Labor Day weekend. A holiday weekend for many, often involving barbecues and beaches. Sometimes a time to reflect on the summer, but almost always a symbol of the start of autumn. I am guessing that even my friends in Phoenix, where the temperature as I am writing this is 107 degrees, are thinking of sweaters and boots and pumpkin-spiced things[…]

We spent the winter in Arizona. Since central Arizona has been home to me since 1986, I figured that there wasn’t much to blog about.  But – and this is a big but – as I was planning my leave from the state, I reflected on the beauty of Arizona. And how when I’m in Arizona in the winter, I am[…]

This year makes the third road trip I have taken down the Oregon coast. And each time I started  in the Astoria, Oregon area, which is situated where the mighty Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. Astoria is a working port city, and per Wikipedia, was the site of the first U.S. Post Office west of the Rockies.   I spent a[…]

Two weeks ago yesterday, I drove in to the adorable airport in Redmond, Oregon. A friend from Phoenix was due to arrive for a four-day visit to Bend, Oregon, and I and the dogs picked her up. It was an unseasonably hot day — sadly part of the new normal for the Northwest. I had to leave Sally and Trax[…]

We spent every minute in the month of July in the panhandle of Idaho. On July 1st, we crossed the state line from Montana into Idaho near Bonner’s Ferry, which is almost as far north as you can go without crossing into Canada. This trip saw a return to three locations that we especially enjoyed last year. Two weeks in[…]

I really do enjoy responding to questions about this lifestyle. I am totally aware that is not for everyone. And for  most people, it’s not even normal — LOL. But many are curious. Here’s part two of what I started earlier this month. What about money?  I get lots of questions about the cost of my lifestyle. I am not[…]

  It was last night. So that means that one year ago Friday we drove away from our life in Phoenix to drive into America. On that day, other than wanting to be in Portland for Labor Day, we really didn’t have much of a plan.           All my attention had been on selling my house, putting[…]

I am a big fan of the Ken Burns series “THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA’S BEST IDEA”. It ran on PBS a few years ago, and it was one of the points of inspiration for me to take off on this camper van adventure.       The series spends a lot of time on John Muir, considered by many to[…]

I’ve had some great neighbors in campgrounds. Two stand out as among the most memorable.  One former neighbor is a great couple that I met last  year on the Oregon coast. They sold their home in Georgia, left their jobs,  and took their 9-year old twins out of school for a year  — all to homeschool the kids  so that they could travel the country visiting[…]

  This week, I spent a few days in Salt Lake City having some maintenance done on my camper van. My almost-always preference is to stay in remote state or national forest service campgrounds.         This time I thought I would change it up a bit and I found a nice RV park in downtown Salt Lake.[…]

One of my friends is currently about half-way through a 40-hour train trip. She’s traveling by Amtrak from her home in the Pacific Northwest to see a family member in Arizona. When I think of train trips, especially those that take place in the dark of night, I immediately think of “City of New Orleans”. The Arlo Guthrie version. It’s[…]

So asked a friend recently. Yesterday, a little after noon, we slipped over the Arizona state line into Utah.  It’s been a blogging hiatus during our time in Arizona. That was intentional, mainly because it felt like blogging about our ordinary life, with narrative such as, “We went to the grocery store today”, or “The dogs are back on their normal[…]

  A couple days ago, we finished up an almost-two week gig of house-sitting for a friend who was doing some international travel. Given that we are close to starting our seventh month of living in a van, staying in an actual house for an extended period of time was a nice change.     Here’s what I loved: TELEVISION!! I[…]

During the early weeks of my travels last July, I was in a small town in Idaho. I had stopped at a roadside attraction and was chatting with the proprietor about a variety of things. Since it was approaching mid-day, and I had not yet eaten a single meal in a restaurant on the trip, I asked her for a recommendation for[…]

On Christmas Eve, 2015, I published the following on Facebook. A friend reminded me of it today. Since it still rings true, I thought I would share it here. It’s past Christmas, but the holidays are not quite over. December 24, 2015 – Last weekend, half the lights on my little Christmas tree went out and I had to replace[…]

To those who are thinking, “Oh thank goodness, she finally has a boyfriend”, I say, “Think again, grasshopper”. I am indeed smitten, but it’s with the State of Oregon. I had traveled to and through Oregon a few years ago. Twice. Each time I enjoyed it. Like I enjoy a lobster roll. It’s really nice while it lasts, but I[…]

Fill in the blank. “You really should eat more kale“. “You really should get another job“.  “You really should change your hair“. Speaking just for myself, when someone starts a sentence with, “You really should” I generally start to lose interest really fast. My attention zooms away from the subject at hand and off to something like, “I wonder how many blades of[…]