Most people know the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed in New Zealand, but there’s so much more to this place than the rolling hills and snow-capped mountains. It’s also in the Southern hemisphere, which means February is summer. Here’s my trip report for our 3 week stay on the South island. A mere… Continue reading New Zealand
Our first full calendar year of full-time RVing is coming to a close. The summer differed quite a bit from our plan, but we learned a lot. Our travels in the early part of the year aligned with our plan. From Tombstone we went to Paria River Ranch, spending one night in Catalina State Park… Continue reading 2019 in Review
I’ve been updating this draft (pun intended) of a blog post with each new local beer I drink. Here’s a recap of the craft ales (mostly IPAs) from each state we lived in over the past 3 years. My favorites are in bold. New Hampshire – Smutty Nose Double Knot Arizona – Dragoon IPA, Mudshark… Continue reading Local Beer
Long ago, the native nomadic people in Wyoming required a week and a half to travel to the mouth of this canyon. Today, we decided to stop for Thirty Sleeps to fully appreciate the abundance of rock climbing. The limestone cliffs that line both sides of Ten Sleep Creek (and the parallel highway 16) offer… Continue reading Ten Sleep
In the Dragoon Mountains lies Cochise Stronghold, a natural fortress for the Apache chief, and an appropriate locale for a Ride+Climb weekend. Jess tells me she misses multi-pitch, since we’ve only gone cragging since leaving the Northeast. My research lands on The Wasteland as a suitable outing, because it’s a 6 pitch 5.8 with an… Continue reading “Come in under the shadow of this red rock”
We get Mackenzie situated in her “small paddock” and then head to our own, which is how Google translates the Mexican climbing area El Potrero Chico. Flights from Tucson (or Phoenix) to Monterrey, Mexico are a bit expensive at the last minute, would require a layover in Dallas, and limit the luggage we could take.… Continue reading The Small Paddock
Mackenzie has never been West of the Mississippi, and now we’re taking her West of the Rio Grande. We set off from Mike and Dana’s house in Flemington, NJ and collect Mackenzie from A Hope Equestrian in Lebanon. We drive about 6 hours through Pennsylvania and Maryland to our first stop in Purcellville, just over… Continue reading Go West, Young Mare!
According to The Plan for 2018 we intend to have Rubble shipped to Arizona. I post a listing on uShip, and receive a couple quotes for $2,600. We then try to recruit some friends to make the trip, offering to cover all gas and tolls (I estimate these at $1,200) plus $1,000 payment. Finally we… Continue reading Moving Rubble to Arizona
We drive from Leonidio to the Athens airport, where we meet up with our friends Joe and Jessica. The direct flight to Kalymnos is convenient, but the plane is small and easily battered by wind. Many flights get cancelled, delayed, or rerouted to Kos (a neighboring Dodecanese island). We land safely and get into our… Continue reading Kalymnos
From Athens we drive to Corinth, turn South to Argos, then follow the sea shore all the way to Leonidio. There are countless serpentine turns to navigate the coastline. It takes us about 4 hours and the last hour is in darkness. We arrive at the Red Rock Cafeteria and use their free WiFi to… Continue reading Leonidio
