Many thanks to the Boston Globe Travel section for running this story on Sunday, July 18 on If We Knew then What We Know Now about #vanlife camping in the wild. Hope you enjoy: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/07/14/lifestyle/sleep-anywhere-van-think-again/ TRAVEL Sleep anywhere in a van? Think again We learned the hard way that you can’t just wing it whenContinue reading “#DrivingMissMaisie hits the Big Time — sort of”
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A Farewell to Abbey Road
She rolled down her car window as I stood in the parking space next door, guiding Bill and Abbey Road between the lines. “Hey,” the woman said, resting her forearm on the sill. “Good luck with your marriage.” I turned, my arms still outstretched. “My parents almost divorced after a week in one of those,”Continue reading “A Farewell to Abbey Road”
When Maisie Met Frankie
Love at first bite. Oh, there had been others. Sunny in Oregon. The border collie in Utah. Ruby at Huntington Beach. But only to Frankie did Maisie attach like a barnacle. A 4-year-old black lab, Frankie wooed her with pool leaps and hors d’oeuvres snatching. Unnecessary; he had her at the first tussle, as theyContinue reading “When Maisie Met Frankie”
Equipment Superior to Operator
Google Maps. Apple Maps. Punch in the address one more time. If, as the sign says, we are in the Sequoia National Forest, where pray tell are the giant trees? Beside us roars the Kern River and we just passed Isabella Lake, wild with white caps in this wind. In front are layers of brown,Continue reading “Equipment Superior to Operator”
A Little Humility
The green plastic spatula disappeared yesterday. It dated back to camping days with small children so its loss wasn’t financial but convenience. How would we flip the salmon, the pancakes? The good news about living in a space this tiny is that missing items inevitably turn up. We found the spatula resting in the deadContinue reading “A Little Humility”
Parking Lot Slumber
Things are pretty quiet here in the Bass Pro Shop parking lot just off CA 120 in Manteca. Eighteen minutes until closing. With luck a security guard will not knock on the door and ask why a nice couple and their lab from Newburyport, MA, in a rented Dodge RAM camper van, are spending thisContinue reading “Parking Lot Slumber”
California Living – and Driving
There’s #vanlife in theory and #vanlife in practice. In the first, the vans are parked and the residents jump into streams or swing on a hammock. In the second, vans are on the move, rolling down interstates or clinging to the edge of windy gravel roads along canyons. #vanlife is, if anything, driving. Lots ofContinue reading “California Living – and Driving”
Camping Wherever
The woman with the broad face by the door at the Kayenta, AZ Chevron station smiled ever-so-slightly. “Camping?” she said, pointing up the highway from where we had just driven. “Utah. Or maybe the Grand Canyon.” What she didn’t say was: “Idiot. There is no camping on tribal lands.” And tribal lands – Navajo andContinue reading “Camping Wherever”
Helmet Required
The sun is bright, the skies are clear, and the wind howls with a gale force on this remote spot on a fire road in a National Forest just outside of the Grand Canyon. Denver Son recommended this site and we are grateful – grateful that we didn’t have to drive another hour in theContinue reading “Helmet Required”
Trail Napping
She was doing so well. The dog who refuses to budge from her driveway, who plops down at every intersection, who hasn’t met a patch of grass she wouldn’t sniff, ambled happily on the trails around our site at the Saddlehorn Campground at the Colorado National Monument. Maisie danced down dirt paths, her paws coveredContinue reading “Trail Napping”
Driving Miss Maisie 