We Made It!
Finally (arrived 7/2)... home away from home, in time for the Ring of Fire on 3/3. About 3800 miles!!
[ read more ]THE VAN DIARIES
following alex & katie in napster
Final Miles (Southern Tier)
It was brutally hot - quick stop for a cool down and van wash, near Olean
[ read more ]Final Miles (NY)
drove through Jamestown (over Chataqua)
[ read more ]Final Miles (get off I90!)
scenic route over 86
[ read more ]Final Miles (Lake Erie)
quick stop for a toe dip in Conneaut
[ read more ]Final Miles II (OH)
drove through Cleveland
[ read more ]Sloggin final miles
drove through Toledo
[ read more ]Last Night - roadside
we were exhausted. Decided to camp at rest area on 23 (near Ann Arbor). It was OK... the heat was brutal but we used both ceiling fans for a cross breeze!
[ read more ]Long Lake
delicious dinner stop, lakeside at The Sand Bar and Grill. Near Alpena (Thunder Bay) on the shore of Long Lake.
[ read more ]Michigan Lighthouses
What a cool stop... very spur-of-the-moment. Checked out 40 Mile Point Lighthouse park, on the shore of Lake Huron. Learned a ton... it was so random and totally unique.
[ read more ]Funny Names
drove through Cheboygan - repeatedly said "Cheboygan" because... Cheboygan.
[ read more ]Mackinac Bridge
Dipped feet into Lake Michigan - then crossed over from UP and began descent down the west shore of Lake Huron...
[ read more ]Grand Marais
continued along to see Pictured Rocks - Upper Peninsula is a really cool place. Very different than I expected - the great lakes really feel like oceans!
[ read more ]Pictured Rocks KOA
Our first (and only) KOA on the trip. We were able to plug in. There were good showers.
[ read more ]Munising - sunset beers and dinner on Lake Superior
quick stop to eat in the city pier
[ read more ]MI
drove through Sunday Lake - stopped for delicious Pasties!
[ read more ]WI
drove through Ashland Wi
[ read more ]MN/WI/MI
Long, but beautiful, day of driving - it started to get hot. We finally caught up to the heatwave baking the midwest/northeast. Stopped for a quick cold splash in Lake Superior...
[ read more ]WI
13 along coast of Lake Superior
[ read more ]MN
Drove through Duluth...
[ read more ]Morning coffee in Fargo
Woke up and drove through Fargo... cool little downtown and a great coffee shop recommendation (thanks Kat).
[ read more ]That must be your associate in the chipper...
Truck stop overnight just outside Fargo... slept with one eye open and thought about whether Steve Buscemi is as weird in real life as he seems to be on screen.
[ read more ]Theodore Roosevelt NP
What an awesome and under-appreciated place... we spent half a day driving the scenic loop from the south section (with a few short walks to appreciate the scenery). We saw prairie dogs, and numerous…
[ read more ]Montana is EMPTY
We drove into the darkness along Montana Highway 200. Miles... and miles and miles and miles... of emptiness. It became a 2 lane road with occasional semis zooming past... then, unbeknownst to us, a…
[ read more ]She burns some oil...
*NOTE* post-trip posts from here forward! As we drove down from Logan pass, the oil indicator started swinging wildly on Napster... Upon inspection the dipstick showed we were bone dry! Added 3.5 q…
[ read more ]Decision time...
We searched for a reputable open mechanic on a Sunday in Shelby, but no luck. Drove through a valvoline quick oil and had them look at things... they didn't see anything to worry about. We decided …
[ read more ]Driving east - burning oil
drove through Browning... extremely depressing to see the state of the population here on Native lands... clearly a distressed population. No pics, just a note and acknowledgement. Made gas stop - p…
[ read more ]Glacier NP night 2
We drove west to east across Going-to-the-sun Road - over Logan Pass. Then we camped at Many Glacier Campground - stunning! Will definitely go back. About 7 miles of low effort high reward hiking ri…
[ read more ]Glacier NP - Day 2 (GG Glam Shot)
Lucky to snag a spot at Many Glacier Campground - pro tip: The Dyrt is pretty awesome … you can set alerts for cancellations at heavily booked campgrounds and snag them. Amazing place - need to come …
[ read more ]Going-To-The-Sun-Road: Logan Pass
Gorgeous drive and we lucked out - not too crowded, maybe cause of weather or because it was just early enough in the season...
[ read more ]Glacier NP - Day 1
We had no service in Glacier so these are delayed posts… it was a slog through heavy rain driving up to Glacier but we lucked out as things dried up just when we got to the park. ID Sawtooth Range wa…
[ read more ]Glacier NP - we made it!
Finally made it to park entrance at West Glacier...
[ read more ]Lunch/Brewery/Distillery
We had a quick lunch stop along Flathead lake - were originally aiming to camp here, but didn't make it! We ran in to grab beer from Tamarack Brewing (it was slammed, got a crowler to go). Awesome s…
[ read more ]Warm Springs Campground - Montana!
Great spot tonight — even made a fire. Pics forthcoming. Just across Montana border.
[ read more ]Real Deal - big potato!
Awesome BBQ pit stop - Real Deal Smokehouse and Tap House, Challis ID. Also great little grocery store we stocked up the Napster fridge.
[ read more ]Roadside Hotsprings!
Sunbeam Hotsprings were sublime…
[ read more ]Sawtooth Range
Redfish Lake area has tons of great hiking and camping options … we will be back!
[ read more ]Breakfast - Bigwood Bread
Sun valley area - looking quite bougie! Next we follow the Salmon River.
[ read more ]Morning campsite pics
After a brief thunderstorm the skies cleared and it was a lovely spot to wake up and map our course north towards Glacier.
[ read more ]BLM camping, near Stanton Crossing, ID
Loooong driving day… but once we hit Idaho it got really beautiful. We stopped for dinner in Twin Falls … apparently Evil Knievel tried to jump the snake river at this huge gorge… the sign doesn’t say…
[ read more ]Long-ass boring Nevada… but still beautiful
Lots of the same - we hauled through. High desert and mountains… now remembering why we usually avoid this stretch of 80. Surprised to see Rochester - for a minute thought we skipped all the states a…
[ read more ]Get off I-80!
We finally exited and there was much rejoicing.
[ read more ]Zuri Coffee - Truckee
Quick breakfast - turned on propane to get the fridge cooling down… was a haul up and over Donner Pass… truck lane for the win!
[ read more ]Night 1
Vaca Valley Travel Center - such beauty we forgot to take a photo 😜
[ read more ]Test Napster photo upload
Some pics of the new rig - well, new to us lolz. 1999 Dodge Ram American Cruiser: V8, 5.9L with only 37k miles! It's name is Napster - cause, it felt right. yolo!
[ read more ]Late Night Hackathon
First post - testing the site... threw it up before we depart tomorrow. Fingers crossed - van is still at the shop haha.
[ read more ]