Category: On the Road

On the Road Again #4

On By KBGearDaveIn On the Road9 Comments

Weeks 1-3

After much planning and massive amounts of preparation, Sharon and Dave’s Excellent Adventure finally began.  Given our history, you might expect that we’d set off to conquer a mountain, explore some remote wilderness area, go hang gliding or bungee jumping. Good choices. Good guesses. All, however, would be incorrect. With our new found freedom, our first priority was to visit family.

Prior to leaving, we made the trip down to Tempe to visit Ethan. Now it was time to visit Aaron, Vanessa and the grandkids in Durango.  Over a period of ten days, we went camping with Oliver and Kiri, we went to the rec center pool, we hiked, we biked, we ran, watched soccer, played games, got dirty, threw rocks in various bodies of water,  read books, went to the playground, watched shows and generally just had fantastic fun. We also had fun with the grown-ups. Good as always to catch up with Chris and Donna. Stana graciously gave us the benefit of her many years spent visiting Thailand. That may very well come in handy next winter.

  • Flowers for mom and dad
  • Camping at Navajo Lake
  • For a change of pace, we threw sticks into the water
  • One simply never tires of throwing rocks into water
  • Kiri – the wild child
  • Oliver following in Dad’s cleat steps.
  • Back to the regular routine…getting ready for “school” and work

It’s been said that guests, like fish, both begin to smell after three days. After a week and a half we had long since passed that point. While it was time for us to move on, it was sooo hard saying  good- bye. It was especially hard knowing it would be several months before we passed that way again.

The always stunning drive north from Durango helped ease the pain of parting. A bike ride in the vicinity of Silverton reminded us of our ultimate goal…and gave us an opportunity to try out our arctic biking gear. Happy to report that we were perfectly comfy biking in 35 degree weather among snow capped peaks.

  • A frosty alpine overnight between Durango and Loveland.

After a night in the mountains, we arrived the next day in Loveland to continue our family and friends tour. While Katie (and her newly minted doctorate) completes her education requirements in Memphis and Salt Lake City,  Kevin accepted a job offer too good to refuse. The catch? The job is in Loveland, CO. Fortunately Katie was able to join us for a long weekend. Kevin’s apartment is located in a very cool historic downtown area of Loveland. It was the  perfect base camp for several days of exploring the local trails and plentiful microbrews and tap rooms in the area. Friday was bonus day. Our good friend Glen had moved from Flagstaff to Fort Collins. She was able to join us for a full day of hiking in the mountains,  micro brews and games. Jim and Jeannette also popped in for a quick hello.

Once again the good times had to end. Katie returned to Memphis and Kevin left for work. Two weeks after leaving home, we once again said our “good-byes” and began the next leg of our journey….several weeks of wandering on our way to Bellingham.

It was a dark and stormy … day when we left Loveland. Frosty temps, rain and snow squalls convinced us to keep driving west across Wyoming. We found a lovely spot to spend the night near Flaming Gorge.

Next day we arrived at Grand Teton N.P. Thus far, winter has been somewhat reluctant to vacate the premises. We had more day of iffy weather before getting some glorious 70 degree days. We took full advantage of the good weather to do some hiking on the still snow covered trails. We took some long bike rides in and around the park. We had a lovely evening hanging out with Anthony and Morgan. Turns out Morgan is an AZ native and NAU alum. These chance meetings are such a fascinating and enjoyable part of travel.

I unfortunately do not have adequate language skills to convey the awe inspiring nature of the park. I’lll some pictures speak for me.

May 8th…more snow squalls. Forecast tonight is for a low of 21 degrees with a brisk north wind. We are very thankful for our cozy teardrop. However, the constant cold is starting to wear a bit. Today in Prudhoe Bay there is a 2 degree windchill and snow squalls. We are at least…considering…some alternate starting points for our AK bike trip. We’ll see what the next few weeks bring. In the short term … Yellowstone here we come!

On the Road Again …#3

On By KBGearDaveIn On the Road4 Comments

An empty house and open road

I’ve said it before…coming up with the idea is the easy part. The devil is in the details. The list of details was seemingly endless. There were home repairs and over due maintenance items to be done, as well as vehicle repairs and maintenance items to cross off the list. Furniture and toys no longer deemed “necessary” went up for sale and went out the door. Other items found their way to the local thrift shop. We got all our financial ducks in a row. There was gear to be sorted, new gear to be purchased, old gear to be repaired (if possible), other gear to be created to prepare (hopefully) for all anticipated weather conditions. The most enjoyable item was the process of saying our goodbyes to a long list of friends in town. But on Saturday, April 17 – the day finally arrived. We had an empty house, a full vehicle, and an open road before us.

It was surprisingly easy to drive away from “home.” While we very much like our house in Flagstaff, “home” has always been more about family than towns or buildings. So we made sure to spend time with Ethan in Tempe before leaving AZ. We’ll spend time in Durango hanging with Aaron, Vanessa, Oliver and Kiri, the in Loveland with Kevin and Katie. After that, home will be the Tardis (its bigger on the inside) our Teardrop trailer, and home will be two bicycles and our trusty tent. As the song by Kimya Dawson says, “And if home is really where the heart is, Then we’re the smartest kids I know, Because wherever we are in this great big world, We’ll never be more than a few hours from home”.

So, the adventure begins…or more accurately I suppose…the adventures continue. We are super excited for Jack and Abby and their adventure in parenting as they take over residence in “the Treehouse”. And as we all finally start to crawl out from our collective Covid rocks and get back to living life again, we are excited to hear about your adventures. We may be off the grid for periods of time, but we’re not going to the far side of the moon. We most definitely are not looking to downsize or purge our circle of friends. We very much want stay connected.

That’s all for now. Many of you have expressed your eagerness to follow us on our journey. I will try to make this interesting and worth your time. If you haven’t already done so, scroll down to the bottom of the page and enter your email. You will get a notificiation whenever I update the blog. Until next time…happy trails!

2021 “On the Road Again…”

On By KBGearDaveIn Biking Stuff, On the RoadLeave a comment

One year ago Sharon and I bought one way tickets to a far northern town in Norway. We had planned to spend four-ish months bicycle touring throughout Norway, the UK and Europe. It was an exciting few months of planning. However, as happened to so many plans last year, Covid intervened and the trip never happened. Insert your favorite frowny face emoji here. C’est la Vie! Fast forward one year. In a fever of irrational optimism, Sharon and I once again bought one-way tickets to the far north! This time to Alaska. That’s right. Hope springs eternal in the face of experience which proves otherwise. Some of you may have seen Sharon’s post on Facebook. Since we’ve gotten quite a few questions, I thought I’d provide a little background to our decision, and some insight into our plans.

A while back I spent some time wandering down a rabbit hole. I tried to imagine what life would look like if we sold everything! Sell the house, get rid of all the furniture and furnishings, extra vehicles – basically everything. What would life look like free from all the ties that bind, with extra cash in the bank? It was fun to imagine. What would you do? Well, it was an interesting thought, but really nothing more than a fanciful exercise in “what if?” I filed the thoughts away. Some time later I mentioned the idea to Sharon. She found the idea…intriguing. That led to countless hours playing the “could we/should we/would we/what if?” game. It was fun. It was scary. It was exciting! Eventually we decided that getting rid of everything was too great a leap – and ultimately unnecessary. Instead, we came up with an intermediate step – and our current plan. A wonderful young couple, Jack and Abby, has agreed live in our house for a year (+), look after things and manage our Airbnb. Freed from the responsibility of managing hearth and home, we will use the time to indulge our wanderlust.

Which leads back to one-way tickets to Alaska. Sometime mid-April of this year (2021), we will hand over the keys to Jack and Abby and leave Flagstaff with trailer and toys in tow. We will gradually make our way to the Seattle area by the end of May, and then fly to Anchorage with our bicycles and camping gear. With a population density of 1.2 people per square mile, Alaska seems like the perfect place to practice anti-social distancing. Having lived in AK for a time, I know that there are several lifetimes of exploring possible there. If the Canadian border opens this summer, our plan is to bicycle back to Washington. Worst case scenario is that the border remains closed and we will just spend a few months biking and hiking around my old stomping grounds before flying or ferrying back to Washington.

We hope the Alaska to Washington bike ride comes to pass. After that, plans are a bit vague. Before the arrival of winter, we’d like to spend some time back in the Wisconsin homeland. There are quite a few places we’d like to bicycle, kayak, hike and camp around the country. We’d like to visit family and friends. Once winter hits, we’ve talked about spending the long northern winter bicycle touring in southern hemisphere countries or tropical regions. This far out, those are all just fun ideas to kick around. Given all the uncertainty in the world, and just life in general, it seems foolish to spend too much planning at this point.

So there it is is. That’s our “no plan – plan”. We’re currently trying to have fun and stay in shape. We are also working hard at finishing home projects (mostly me) and steadily packing and clearing space for our caretakers (mostly Sharon). Turns out there is a long “to do” list when you’re going to be away for an extended period of time. Fortunately there are plenty of adventurous folks who have travelled this path before us and have left excellent “roadmaps” for us to follow. Also we live in a digital age and managing life from a distance is vastly easier than in years past. That’s all for now! We’re looking forward to getting on the road. We’re looking forward to you taking the journey with us (virtually). And, depending on where you are, hopefully our paths will cross!

North Rim with Fiona

On By KBGearDaveIn On the Road2 Comments

Even a brief visit through this site will reveal that Sharon and I are fans of human powered recreation. We have sought out wild and beautiful places via boats and bikes, on foot and on skis. I don’t have much tolerance for motor vehicles intruding on my little interludes in nature. I despise quads and side by sides tearing up the forests. Many years ago we rented a jeep for a day in Colorado. I utterly failed to see the attraction. Thus it may come as a bit of a surprise to learn that I’ve had a motorcycle license for 35 years. Since 2010 my vehicle of choice has been a venerable 1998 BMW dual sport motorcycle affectionately named “Fiona.” Why Fiona? Remember the movie? True beauty lies within? And the color is almost spot on! Fiona and I have happily traveled throughout the Southwest (Death Valley, Utah, AZ and Colorado).

I fully recognize the contradiction in my attitude toward motor vehicles. I’m reminded of a t-shirt for sale on a popular motorcycle accessory website. It reads, “You are not stuck in traffic – you are traffic.” No matter how I rationalize my motives or actions, the fact is that I am traffic. I am part of the mass of humanity choosing to recreate in the outdoor spaces of our country. And as I did so via motorcycle this past week, I was confronted by that reality once again.

A minor knee issue has temporarily limited my human powered travels. In response, I came up with a vague plan for Fiona to spirit me of to a remote section of the Kaibab National Forest along the north rim of the Grand Canyon. I was looking for a few days of quiet solitude in a beautiful place. I was more than a little disappointed to find out that hundreds of other people had the same idea. What made it worse was that they’d had the same idea before I did. Time after time I arrived a beautiful location near the rim, only to find every available camping spot was occupied. How rude! I was working on some serious righteous indignation – until I reminded myself – I was traffic. As much as I hated to admit it – the universe does not revolve around me. I had no claim on the forest and could hardly get angry with people who also wanted to enjoy a beautiful place.

Having said that, allow me a brief moment on my soapbox. The camper and jeep below had pulled off road right into the forest – right past a sign that read “Area closed to off-road motor vehicle travel” in order to camp next to the rim. I noticed this disturbing trend along the north rim, as well as around Flagstaff. In one several acre area near Lake Mary, every square foot of open ground had been trampled by vehicle tracks. Dozens of groups were camping in what had previously been untrammeled forest. The other problem is pictured at right. This is an example of what regularly gets left behind by people spending time in the forests near Flagstaff. I kid you not! In what alternate universe is this considered even remotely OK? I realize I can’t prevent this behavior. What I can do – and try to do – is not be part of the problem. I don’t encourage Fiona to go places we don’t belong. And however we travel, “Leave no Trace!” camping means just that. Thus endeth the sermon.

In spite of the crowds, I did find the peaceful solitude and beauty I was craving. I hiked out to watch a Canyon sunset. I drove along roads lined by golden aspen trees. I enjoyed silence so profound, the only thing I heard was the blood pumping in my ears. I watched a full moon rise and illuminate a vast swath of emptiness. I sat for hours and just…looked…at nothing in particular. In doing so I saw…everything. I saw some birds soaring lazily, while others were clearly busy getting on with the business of the day. I watched as shadows fell away and revealed rock outcroppings and patches of forest. I watched as early morning shadows revealed folds in the earth, and I traced dry drainages to their confluence with the River. In the end, it was everything I’d been hoping to find in a short get away. And finally, an enjoyable conversation with Christine at Lee’s Ferry on the way home reminded me that among the people who are part of the “traffic”, there are some fascinating people doing some pretty amazing stuff. I leave you with a few images to hopefully inspire you to get out and enjoy – and tread lightly while doing so.

Canyon Sunset
North Rim view never disappoints

Front row seat for sunrise

#Trailer Life, Da U.P. and Points beyond…

On By KBGearDaveIn Gear Stuff, On the Road1 Comment

For as long as we’ve dreamed about retiring, we’ve dreamed about finding beautiful places to hike, bike, camp, kayak, backpack, etc. In order to facilitate those dreams we had planned to convert a cargo van into some kind of sleeping/gear hauling adventure vehicle for longer than #vanlife has been a “thing”. We spent endless hours talking, planning, and researching different ideas. I actually drew up plans for how we’d convert it. I read reviews of vehicles and scoured the internet looking for deals. Yet, when retirement rolled around – we were still vehicle-less! Biggest reason? I HATE, DESPISE, LOATH, DETEST (getting the picture?) buying cars. So I kept putting it off. The other reason is that with a van we saw a few potential problems that had no easy solutions. We wanted to be able to carry our kayaks. Getting them on and off a 12 foot high vehicle would be no small feat, and would only get more challenging as the years go by. Another issue was safe seating for tiny humans. Almost every van conversion we’d seen did not include additional approved seating for children.

So, long story only slightly shorter, for our first retirement road trip we traveled and slept in the back of our 4Runner.

It worked beautifully. We were comfortable. We had plenty of room for all our gear. It was a perfect example of KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). After two months on the road, we realized we didn’t need the extra space (or expense, or time to convert, etc) that a van would offer (and require). We were content and had actually had decided to stick with the 4Runner…until we saw a co-worker’s teardrop trailer. We were impressed by the simplicity, the great features, and head room. The price was 1/4 to 1/2 the price of a van – without the need to do any work converting. Within about 30 minutes of getting home, we’d done some internet research, talked about it, and pretty much decided that a small teardrop trailer would be a good fit for our travel needs. Fast forward several months. In early October we pulled into the TCTeardrop workshop in Wausau, Wisconsin to meet our tiny new home.

The Happy Campers

After a brief tour of the camper by the staff at TCTeardrops, we took advantage of a favorable weather forecast and immediately headed north to da U.P. for a shakedown cruise. It was amazing.

  • 1st night along Sturgeon River
  • Sturgeon River wilderness
  • Lake Superior Camp
  • Superior Shoreline
  • Fall colors

The fall colors were out in force. We found beautiful and remote places to camp, hike and bike. The trailer was a dream. No set up necessary. Comfy, warm, and quiet. It was everything we hoped for. At this point I would like to mention that Sharon and I actually prefer sleeping in a tent or under the stars. And in the interest of full disclosure, it should be said that for years (actually for a lifetime) I have mercilessly heaped scorn and derision on RV owners. Now I guess I are one. We both very quickly fell in love with the ease and comfort of the teardrop when in ‘car camping/traveling mode – and especially for traveling in foul weather.

Several weeks later we arrived back in Flagstaff. We just recently finished hooking up solar power, installing a Propex propane heater, and decorating the galley area. We have a few more minor additions we’d like to make – but in the main, it’s ready to be taken out and used.

  • FoStep 1 of the install was to remove the factory install.
  • Steve graciously offered the use of his expertise, several hours of his time and the use of his awesome shop.
  • Fuse panel, shunt, Bogard power controller and fuses
  • Basic solar install complete
  • Several days later I’d added some circuits and finished routing and securing all wiring.
  • Propex heater
  • All wiring and the heater are located behind a removable panel.
  • The final look, complete with Sharon’s paint and wall paper touches.
  • The heater vent and thermostat inside. Bring on winter!

For any gear geeks out there, we have a 200 watt solar panel permanently mounted on top of the trailer. This feeds power to a Bogart charge controller http://www.bogartengineering.com/products/solar-charger.html which in turn is monitored by the Trimetric TM-2030 http://www.bogartengineering.com/products/trimetrics.html All this amazing technology feeds into a 125 amp hour battery. Our biggest energy user will be our 50 liter Dometic fridge. On paper anyway, we should be able to stay out indefinitely with all our power needs being met with solar.

We’d actually purchased the Propex heater for our eventual van build, so it is probably massive overkill for our tiny trailer. However since we had it, and since we plan to camp during the winter, overkill might be OK. https://www.propexheatsource.co.uk/heaters/hs2000

One thing became immediately apparent during the past week (and countless hardware store runs). I am sooooo glad I’m not doing a van conversion. Even with retirement size free time, it would have taken months, and lots and lots of dollars to set up a van the way we’d planned. Instead we’re now ready to go play. And when we do, we’ll definitely let you know how it goes.

If you’re interested, Todd and Carol Mowry are the owners of TC Teardrops (get it? Todd and Carol). They were away at an overland expo when we arrived, so we didn’t get a chance to meet, but they were great to work with. They offer four trim levels. We chose the “Overland” version that comes with a cool swiveling hitch, electric brakes, beefy wheels and an extra receiver hitch in the back. We then added several items from their extensive list of options. You can check out their website here… https://www.tcteardrops.com/ As always, I’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Until next time – Seize the Carp!

Superior Sunrise