Day 4 Boondocking Paradise at Lake Meredith NRA

Another long ass drive today starting at 6:30 AM in Hot Springs AR across Arkansas and Oklahoma and into the Texas panhandle 583 miles (ten hours almost non-stop) to this beautiful campsite on Lake Meredith just north of Amarillo TX. There were some severe thunderstorms in the South but we managed to stay just ahead of them and only had some mild rain in the morning on our drive. 

We are camped at the Sanford Yakes campground in Lake Meredith National Recreation Area. There are many campgrounds around the lake and most sites are free and first come first serve. Our site is in a loop of about 50 campsites and maybe a quarter of them are occupied. Flat open site with two picnic tables, trash cans, charcoal grill, and fire ring plus a sunshade. The loop has a dumpster and four unisex hot showers at ther bathrooms as well as water and a nearby dump station. Two bars Verizon service. Absolutely beautiful free site! Totally worth the drive. Found it on YouTube! 

Not a bad sunset either! 

Day 3 A Hot One in Hot Springs

We had a quiet night at the Hendersonville TN Cracker Barrel and supported them letting us stay overnight by getting breakfast there. Then it was a 7 hr drive across Tennessee and south into Arkansas to Hot Springs national park. It was 87 degrees when we arrived at 3 PM. 

We walked along Central Avenue and admired the old bath houses in this spa town, returning on the Grand Promenade behind the bath houses to the central spring with its very hot water! 

After getting our campsite at the Gulpha Gorge campground in the national park, I decided to hike the steep trail to Goat Rock for some views. Then I took a dip in the Gulpha Creek after returning to camp to cool off. It sure was a hot one today! 

Day 2 A Long Drive and a Long Awaited Reunion

We woke up at 5:30 AM to rain on the roof of the van. We always love that sound while lying in bed. After breakfast and washing up, we used the campground bathrooms and dump station and continued driving south down Skyline Drive to the southern terminus at Rockfish Gap VA. It was rainy and foggy and deer were everywhere along the roadsides. We then took 64W and 81S through Virginia and stopped for some gas. Just recently, after hearing about gas siphoning at one of the destinations we plan to go to on this trip, we purchased and installed a locking gas cap. Well, we could unlock it but we couldn’t get it off! It had us baffled and panicked for about 5-10 min before I finally got it loose. Mi or catastrophe avoided and back to the original unlockable has cap! Continuing onward we stopped for a nice salad lunch at the Tennessee welcome center. 

We had previously made plans to have dinner with friends at 4:30 north of Nashville but now they texted that thunderstorms were in the forecast. Having had tornadoes last weekend in he area, they weee concerned for our safety and told us to stay put. But we looked at the forecast and radar and decided to keep driving. So we then made plans to meet another friend in Nashville instead at 7-ish. We drove across TN on 40W and listened to the Phillies game on my iPhone to kill the time. Turns out our other friend had to work late and could not meet us but now that the storms had passed our original plans with the first group of friends were back on! 576 miles and about 10 hrs of driving and we pulled into the cafe 15 min before our 4:30 set time.

So the people we met for dinner were old friends we first met in 2013? While cruising. Waiting to board the ship I noticed a woman with a guitar case and asked if she was performing on board the ship. Turns out she was not but her daughter was the star singer in the cruise. So we hung out with them on that cruise and became Facebook friends afterwards. Then in 2015 my dad and I booked a Panama Canal cruise with the daughter singer on board.she is now pictured here with her parents and her two kids. So that was the highlight of our day catching up with these old friends who we only met briefly a decade ago. Then we Crackerdocked overnight at a nearby Cracker Barrel north of Nashville, rain beating down on the metal roof of our van. Ah, vanlife at its finest!

 

Day 1 Shenandoah NP

 Only two days after Brian’s retirement as a college professor, Vanna White the conversion van is off on a 6-8 week trip across the country and into Canada. We started out this morning at 7:20 am in PA and drove three hours south to Front Royal VA and the northern entrance to Skyline Drive in Shenandoah national park. Stopping at many of the overlooks on the ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, we stopped for lunch at Elkwallow picnic area near Skylab’s, the highest point in the parkway. Then we did a 1.7 mile round trip hike to Hawksbill Overlook, breaking our legs in on this trip for the first time (750 ft steep elevation gain). Continuing south we camped at Loft Mountain near mile 80 of skyline Drive. We cooked some tin foil meals over charcoal and had a campfire on a rather cool night. It was a beautiful day. We saw a bear cub and several deer. Good start to the vacation! 

Day 44: Home Sweet Home And Full of Vanlife Memories

 

August 8, 2021

Vanlog, Lancaster, PA

We left Cracker Barrel in Springfield OH shortly after 7 PM in search of a Tim Horton's that had my favorite Canadian maple donuts. Alas, while we found several Tim Horton's, the Canadian superior alternative to Dunkin' Donuts, none of them had my favorite flavor. Today was all driving, six and a half hours (if straight through) back home to Lancaster, PA. We pulled back in our driveway about 4:30 in the afternoon after giving Vanna a good bath at the local car wash and tanking her up one last time. Did it feel good to be home? Yes and no. Yes, it felt good to be back safely, feeling truly blessed that there were no accidents, breakdowns, major illnesses, or speeding tickets. But also sad that it is all over now, and the real work begins--prep for school, doctor's appointments, yard work, gardening, laundry, and cleaning. There is an overwhelming amount of work to do where just a day ago my only care in the world was driving safely and where to pull over for lunch. I have learned that I love this lifestyle of vanlife. I have been away from home for 44 days and except for missing the people, I could well have gone another 44. I wasn't bored or sick of the confined space. On the other hand, it made me feel comforted and safe. And I loved waking up to a new venue every day. It was especially nice being on the West coast where public lands are readily accessible and there are such amazing places to boondock for free. I know that I live a blessed life being able to travel like this, but I also believe that our time on this earth is incredibly short and we need to make the most of every second of it. A trip like this was truly living my best life and taking advantage of the time to refresh, recharge, and reconnect with God and nature. 

Final stats for the trip: 44 days (June 26--August 8), 22 states, 11 national parks, even more national park units, and 12,409 miles. I climbed Half Dome, a feat I never thought I could accomplish at my age. I spent three weeks alone in the van and didn't really feel all that lonely. I made new acquaintances along the way, connected with old friends, hiked a lot, and took tons of beautiful photographs. What more could a person ask for in this life?

My top ten favorite photographs from the trip follow.

Day 43: Gateway Arch National Park

August 7, 2021

Vanlog, Cracker Barrel, Springfield OH

If you guessed the bonus photo stop was going to be Gateway Arch NP, aka the St Louis Arch, then you were right! We had about a two-hour drive from out Crackerdock to St Louis MO. Found a metered spot on the street and squeezed in and then walked several blocks to what is now one of the 63 national parks. When we were last there in 2010 it was The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, built in 1965 at a cost of $13 million, it was designed by architect Eero Sannarin, who beat out his father in a competition for whose design was the best. The arch is constructed of a stainless steel exterior and a carbon fiber interior with concrete sandwiched in between. It was built from both legs up and joined in the middle. If either leg was off by more than a millimeter, the two legs would not have joined in the middle correctly and it would have collapsed. The arch is designed to sway by up to 18 in in the wind or in the event of an earthquake. It is actually a semicircle and the largest freestanding arch in the world with a height of 630 ft and a base that is also 630 ft in diameter. It only looks like an oval to us because of an optical illusion as a result of us standing on the ground looking up at it. This is the 11th national park on our trip. We then drove to Springfield OH where we once again Crackerdocked. 

Day 42: From Runza to Cracker Barrel

 August 6, 2021

Vanlog, Cracker Barrel, Columbia, MO

615 miles yesterday, 614 miles today! We slept in until 8 AM and made full use of the token-operated showers at the campground, getting our full four minutes worth. Then we hit the road, traversing the entirety of the state of Nebraska, a little corner of Iowa, and well into the middle part of Missouri. One of the unique things in Nebraska is the Runza fast food chain. Known almost exclusively to Nebraskans, the runza is a sandwich wrap with hamburger meat, spinach, onions, and cheese inside. So of course we had to stop to get one along the way. I'll rate it a 3/5. Not much sightseeing today--just a lot of driving. But we do have one more surprise in store for tomorrow. I wonder if anyone can guess what it will be? Leave your guesses in the comments below. 

Let me tell you how much we love Cracker Barrel. Cracker Barrell, unlike Walmart (where it is up to the discretion of the manager), has a company-wide policy that RVers and vanlifers like ourselves can stay for free overnight in their parking lots. We always call ahead to ask anyway, but the culture is so engrained that you don't even need to speak to a manager--the person answering the phone always cheerfully responds yes. We love to order online about 20 min before our arrival and then use the curbside pickup. Never had to wait yet despite people witing in line for tables, always good quality food and plenty of it, lots of biscuits and jelly leftover for breakfast, free bathroom until 10 PM, usually in a good neighborhood just off the highway as a place to stay for the night when there are no real boondocking sites available or convenient. Hey, #crackerbarrel, if you'd like to sponsor us, we're open to a partnership! 

Day 41: Grand Teton NP and the Return Home Begins

August 5, 2021

Vanlog, Lake Ogallala campground, Nebraska

We left Shadow Mountain at 8 AM with 52 degrees. The cooler morning reduced some of the haze from the wildfires so we were able to make one quick photo stop in Grand Teton NP at Oxbow Bend with the reflection of the mountains in the peaceful Snake River. Then it was a full day of driving across Wyoming and on to Nebraska to our campsite at Lake Ogallala state recreation area. Along the way, we got Vanna a fresh oil change. Never had to leave the car and we were in and out in 12 min flat! We  covered 615 miles in about 11 hours of driving today. 

Day 40: A Disappointing Diversion

 August 4, 2021

Vanlog, Bridger Teton National Forest dispersed camping on Shadow Mountain Road

Let me just preface this by saying that because we were able to cut one day from our itinerary earlier on the trip we decided to make this huge diversion on our drive home so that we could spend one jam-packed day in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks as our last hurrah of sorts on this adventure. Let me also say that Yellowstone NP is my second favorite all-time park and that this is my sixth visit here. So expectations were high for the day! Needless to say based on the title of this post, my expectations were not in the least met.

First, we were up before dawn to beat the crowds into the park. Check that box. However, the morning was hazy well up to 10-11 AM so all that early rising was largely wasted. We drove almost directly from the west entrance of Yellowstone NP to the Fairy Falls trailhead because we knew it would be hard to find parking there for our hike to see the famed Grand Prismatic Spring. Jessica has never seen this vantage point which I only discovered myself on my fifth trip to Yellowstone in 2019. When we arrived it was complete haze—no pretty colors at all. So we did the 5.8-mile RT hike to Fairy Falls while parked there (something new at least) and waited for it to clear up. Fairy Falls was nice and worth the easy, but long, stroll. By the time we returned the haze had lifted some and we were able to see the Grand Prismatic Spring. This was as good as our day was to be.

From there we drove directly to the Old Faithful area and I was smart enough not to follow the signs to the Old Faithful parking but to instead go to the Inn. No traffic, no lines, no waiting, easy empty spot right by the walkway with a view of Old Faithful from the car. But unfortunately we had just missed the last eruption. So we used the bathroom and checked the geyser schedule. While less faithful than Old Faithful, which goes off every 91 min, many other geyser eruptions can now be predicted to plus or minus an hour. So we headed on the long pathway to Daisy geyser which was scheduled to erupt at 12:07. Well, she went off a little bit early and we only saw her from a distance, missing a close encounter by about those 5 min we spent in the bathroom. Also we had forgotten to bring water with us. Farther along the boardwalk we headed back toward Old Faithful for the 12:37 eruption and just made it on time to see that one from the backside.

While Old Faithful is the most regular and well known, she is not the best geyser in the area and we were not waiting around on our jam-packed day to see any of the more spectacular eruptions. So it was off to photo stop #3 at Artist’s Point for views of the Yellowstone Canyon. Big traffic jam in the Hayden Valley! You would think it was bear traffic or road construction, but nope! It was a bison jam. There were large herds of mostly napping bison on both sides of the road and a bunch of rubber-necking tourists clogging every conceivable path forward. Well at least we got to see some bison today. When we finally made it to Artist’s Point, it started to rain. Does it even do that in Yellowstone? Apparently it does. 

So by now it is past 4 PM and we have to backtrack through the bison jam to get to Grand Teton NP and hope that there are empty spots at our dispersed camping destination on Shadow Mountain Road after 6 PM. But we still had a few minutes for some stops at overlooks along the way in the Tetons. We had the time but the Teton range was obscured in a thick haze by the forest fires out West (or so I presume). These normally incredible views were flat out worthless today and it made me so disappointed that I got sick to my stomach (or is that the lingering Giardia from drinking stream water at Yosemite? Just kidding, I took care of that with my antibiotics I packed along for the trip days ago!). Long story short, we got a spot (right next to the john), we are alive and well, but never ever try to do Yellowstone in a day and never come to the Tetons during wildfire season! Sunset from our free campsite wasn’t too bad though. 

Day 39: A Long Drive to Henry’s Lake

August 3, 2021

Vanlog, Henry’s Lake BLM land

Left the hotel at 7 AM this morning. Sometimes it’s nice to have a hotel instead of boondocking. Yesterday was a long day of driving and hiking and we needed a shower. We also knew these upcoming days will be pretty packed with driving long hours so we could use the extra rest. Basically all we did was drive today—10.5 hrs straight through with a time change crossing over from Pacific to Mountain time. Brian did the lion’s share of it, mainly because the Montana speed limit is 9 mph and Jessica doesn’t feel comfortable driving the big van that fast yet. At any rate, we passed through some of the apple orchards that Washington is renowned for, lots of windmill farms, through the northern tip of Idaho, and then into Montana. We had hoped to stop at Coeur d’Arlene in Idaho for an Instagram-worthy shot of the lake but there was a huge haze from all the wildfires in the Cascades. We arrived at Henry’s Lake on BLM land around 6:30 PM. Jessica made us a nice hot dinner and we sat by the lake listening to the waves lap against the shoreline and the waterfowl coming and going as the sun set below the horizon. A bit gnatty in the evening, but otherwise a great dispersed campsite with maybe 8-10 neighbors and an awesome view of the lake.