AFY 2022 Milddogs #vanlife tour

It rained a lot last night. No leaks in the van so it was just nice, soothing torrential rain noise. Our campground was quiet. In the morning I did my walk through some trails in the campground. Only got semi-lost once. Good opportunity to get the new trail runners a bit muddy. Getting ready to…

Oh where to begin. Right, Cracker Barrel. Many journeys begin at Cracker Barrel. My morning walk was through the residential areas near our “campsite”. Some interesting homes. We had a short day of driving today (yay!) to the state park with a visit to NOLA on the way. Wait. This contraption drove into Cracker Barrel…

And the lights of LA parishes, shine like diamonds in the night.  Not exactly what Lyle Lovett said. This LA does not have counties. Garmin, why do you hate me just a little? Today we swapped state parks.  Before we get into how that went, let’s talk about what I failed to provide proof of…

Did I ever mention those cute couple games we play?  In one, we try and guess the rating Captain Q will give a boat he is presenting.  In another, we try and guess the tip the crew will receive on the Below Deck series.  One of us wins these games far more often than the…

Good News, Louisiana and Texas follow daylight savings time. No graduate level math required to figure out forecast arrival time. The day started cold. It was one degree outside. But the campground electricity and our Truma Combi furnace kept us a balmy 18 degrees inside over night. Thanks diesel generators at the campground! Off for…

What a beautiful day. It was a bonus beautiful day. Sunny, low 20s in temperature. The forecast had called for cloudy and some rain. Boom, none of that until much later in the day. Yay! Beach! What about the walk? Oh yes, no rush to get up and moving as no moving is required today….

No, I don’t need any beer. That was true statement, but we are on day 11 and there are only 3 Coors Lights left. I did not think I needed any beer, but I have been enjoying a cold, clear Coors Light once in a while. This message brought to you by tastelessbeers.com. Let’s talk…

Truth: We are not in Fort Stockton, TX, we are in the Highway Safety Rest Stop about 23 miles east of Fort Stockton. This day, like many days, began innocuously. A late rise, gab the map of the campground trails and head off for a walk. The goal: The lookout on the “Orange” trail. Warning,…

I listened to an interview of Anne Murray on the CBC Radio One this morning (streamed). It reminded me of the time first born child (perhaps 3 or 4 years old) and I were walking on the beach in Nova Scotia near Northport. We were just picking up cool stuff and golf balls (save the…

Back when we had our boat, we got it full of stuff for years of sailing the Great Lakes. When we sold the boat we removed all of that stuff. The removal included one innocent bar of Ivory soap in a ziplock freezer bag. Boats can have a smell. Diesel, bilge, a bit musty. Ours…

We waited and waited for the moon to rise over the mountains last night. That finally happened well past my bedtime. It was a wee bit chilly last night. Got down to about 1 C. We did not have electricity at our site and one of us refuses to run the furnace on propane /…

How cold is it? Well, cold enough in that there van. It was 10.2 C inside when I rustled out of bed this morning. That’s not too bad. Mr. Ted says: “more clothes, less covers”. But Mr Ted, it’s 21 when we go sleepy time. It was so cold the memory foam mattress topper on…

Cold and windy last night. Still slept pretty well. One of us still refused to turn on the furnace but we had built up enough heat during the sunny day that it did not get as cold inside the van. The cup was not blue. The morning winds did make it feel colder than it…

t’s a lovely day in the neighbourhood.  Chilly and windy last night.  Despite the fact the wind follows us everywhere, we had a nice walk around the campsite and toured the museum that is onsite.  It was pretty cool seeing the old cars, plane and artifacts.  There was even a big truck made my the…

Great night sleep in Kertchner State Park. Up early so I could get my walk in before my 0900 cave tour. Morning walk was great. Did the Foothills loop trail intentionally. Did not get lost. Trail had some significant elevation changes and interesting substrate. But it was a really nice walk. Here are some views…

There was a time, and a place. And today, this was the place to spend some time. Early wakeup cause we seem to still be on New Mexico time. Walk was relatively boring as I just did the grid of this luxury RV resort. Each section is 300 meters long and packed with millions of…

Some years ago I went on a free range canoe camping trip with some wonderful friends and first born child. As with all canoe trips over several days, you tend to get a bit delirious by the end. We were staying at one of the expedition member’s cottage. On the final leg of the journey,…

Day 21. That is 3×7=21. That is 3 full weeks of this adventure. We are about 6500 km in. Still going strong. If baking in a tin can doesn’t ruin it, what would? Morning walk was fantastic! Since it was so hot I was on the trail by 0727. I intended to go up the…

Not a lot to report today as we mostly stayed at the same park. We did take a trip into town when we changed campsites for the third time here. Nice thing is that the van makes it easy to move. No hooking up (the trailer to tow vehicle, come on, that term can mean…

He, hold on there buddy, you were going north. I know, I know. I’ll explain. Up at 0.4 Amps (~0700) because one of us did not close the bedroom widow and blinds on their side of the bedroom. Yup, it was me. But the breeze was nice! I decided to attempt the siphon draw again…

We had some rain last night. The van was ready to go in case it got heavy as we are parked in a “wash”. A wash is effectively a dry creek. We didn’t want to be like Alexander Supertramp (I think he was still Chris McCandless then) when he lost his car. The rain was…

Technicality: Not in Sedona, AZ. Southwest of Sedona on some BLM land. It’s moving day. Morning walk was a sedate 2km out down one of the “roads” on the BLM land we stayed on and then mostly the same path back. We packed up after breakfast and set out to the Quartzsite Refuse Transfer Site….

Oil change dilemma solved! Turns out I did not reset the reminder at last oil change. I still have up to 7000 km left on this change and that is plenty to get home! Whew. Means I don’t have to deal with any of my trust issues or the delays of things getting done more…

What a lovely state park Dead Horse Ranch turned out to be. We were a little tired when we got there yesterday so we did not explore much. But this morning I looked up a trail on All Trails and set out for a nice walk. Well, well, well. It was really different from anything…

FOUR WEEKS. FOUR WHOLE WEEKS OF TRAVELLING AROUND SEEING SIGHTS IN OUR LITTLE VAN!!!!! Our sleepy time at the government land was wonderful, but a wee bit on the cold side. Amy was in full cuddle mode. We had the furnace set for 13C and it first fired up around 0200. I don’t know what…

Yes. A new state. Welcome to Utah! After a lovely visit from our elk friend last night, what could today bring us?  Such opportunities to see the canyon at sunrise.  Such opportunity to sleep right through sunrise and then be greeted by a semi-cloudy morning.  Happily, Sunnyvale was pretty quiet. The trailer next to us…

I forgot to mention.  We are now in Mountain Time.  We lost an hour as we entered the Navajo Nation.  You see Arizona does not do DST.  So even though they are MST, they do not switch to MDT.  The Navaho Nation which spans several states does use DST for consistency.  It was a good…

Before we talk about last night, let us cover off a significant omission from the day 31 post. When we were at the 4 corners and I was wandering on the outskirts of the main attraction, I glanced into a hole and saw this little snake catching some rays. I tried to show Mrs Milddogs…

We pronounce it “Kitty Quay”. That’s the way the sign says to pronounce it. Nice morning walk around the acceptable campground and out onto Route 66. It was a balmy -1C when I started but no real wind. At home, -2C and above is shorts weather until the mosquitos come out. While I was on…

It’s still pronounced “Kitty Quay”. Today we stayed put, relatively. I failed to post a picture of yesterday’s awesome campsite. I started the day by sleeping in a lot. Well, the time change helps a bit. None of my normal wakeful period between 0300 and 0500. Today it was straight through until 0615 when I…

Yup, still “Kitty Quay”. Short post today as it was mostly driving. Morning walk was relaxed. It was a good temp at 13C but very strong winds made the path home more work than it should have been. I did the Canyon Rim trail which is pretty flat. The highlight was seeing these buddies from…

Not a bad night in Tulsa at the old Cracker Barrel. A bit of extra noise as we parked too close to the 24 hour McDonalds and iHOP. Morning walk was around the residential neighbourhood near the Cracker Barrel. I passed a huge Harley Davidson dealer and an even bigger? Boot Barn. Too bad both…

Before bedtime the Camp Host came by and confirmed our move. A little later I went out and swapped the signs cause he put the vacant sign on our new site and the occupied one on our old site. Pretty good sleep. It rained a fair amount and there was some thunder activity not too…

Hello Canada! Good night sleep last night. It rained a bit. We did move my shoes off of the furnace outlets so we could breathe some decent air. Campground is near an airport and train tracks. Neither cost us sleep. We were on a mission this morning. Despite the time change we set an alarm…

Morning walk was delayed due to crappy sleep and knee being sore for some reason. Made it a short one over to Canatara Park on Lake Huron. Nice to see the lake. Growing up we lived about 1 km from the lake and probably took it for granted. As I got nearer to the lake…

Morning walk was uneventful. We were on a schedule to hit the road so I kept it short. Surprise, it was windy. We disconnected, said goodbye and hit the road. Traffic was minimal the entire way. Stopped a few times for snacks and Amy breaks. Took the 407 to avoid Toronto. Both GPSs agreed on…