I Dig the Desert

I dig the desert! Not literally, of course, with a pick or shovel. I dig it in the slang sense: I love it. It makes me happy from the inside out. My dad used the term “dig it” back in the day when he lived in NYC and was a writer. Sometimes he assumed the…

Last Morning Walk in Death Valley

Tango and I have been at Death Valley (Sunset Campground) for 3 weeks. For two of those weeks, we hung out with the single RVers group, Escapees Solos. The gathering is planned every year to coincide with the 49ers Encampment, a music and history festival. We are pulling out today but first, like every other…

My DNA Surprise

I finally had my DNA tested through Ancestry.com. I had bought kits for others as gifts over the years but never tested my own. It did not seem necessary. I knew the results for my half brother and my son. Plain vanilla Northern European profiles. What more could I possibly learn from testing my own…

Death Valley: It’s All About the Shade

The drive from Pahrump, NV to Death Valley National Park was less than 2 hours. It should have been quicker, but I was buffeted by winds and slowed down to 40 MPH. For once, other drivers did not honk at me out of frustration. Of course, there weren’t too many people out there and those…

Prepping for Dry Camping

Dry RV camping means living without any hookups (water, electricity, sewer). I have dry-camped many times, usually for a max of 3-4 days. That is fairly easy using a solar panel to keep my RV batteries charged. Afterward, as I did recently in St. George, UT, I can pull over at a Motel, get a…

Blushing in Pahrump!

I had a pleasant 4-day stay in Pahrump, NV. It is about an hour west of Las Vegas. The town has everything a nomad needs in terms of services and supplies plus a great library. That makes it a perfect place to stop before heading into Death Valley, another isolated National Park. I stayed at…

Bluegrass Galore!

All I can do is gush about the weekend Bluegrass Festival. I arrived a night early and camped in a forest service campground just up the canyon from the venue. After warm temps in Red Rocks Canyon, the night was extremely cold. Go figure, I was at 7,000 feet again. Hard to believe that Las…

Red Rock Conservation Area

Goodbye, Great Basin National Park! What an adventure. I did not want to retrace my steps coming in, over the narrow passes, so I headed east, towards I-15. After a week of driving on back roads, I was attracted to a relatively quick passage down an Interstate. I never thought I would say that since…

Outside My Comfort Zone

My visit to Great Basin National Park was one long lesson about going outside my comfort zone. First, the road was super challenging just to get to there. Seriously, the Park is extremely remote, and I had to drive all day on back roads and then cross several steep mountains via winding, narrow passes. I…

At Last, An Update from the Road!

I left Sequim, WA without my computer power cord. I have no idea where it is at this point. I cleaned out the RV and van looking for it and can only guess that I left it in the library. No computer cord meant no writing! I could keep up with most things, like email…