The Blog

We came home from our 180 adventure a year and a few days ago, January 17 to be exact. We had traveled 31,000 miles in 8 months and learned a lot about what we wanted for our future. The “trip of a lifetime” became what we wanted to do with our lives indefinitely. Traveling together was amazing. Seeing sights, meeting people, relaxing with no stress of intense jobs was exactly what we were looking for and we knew we wanted to figure out how to continue doing it. This is not to say we are running away from Michigan. We love our beautiful state and even when we came home just in time for the polar vortex to hit West Michigan, it was nice to be home.

2019 was a year of figuring out new routines and deciding what was next. We had a general idea but it all felt like “in the future” decisions. We wanted to stick around home for the year, reconnect with friends and family, work on the house a little and really talk about our goals and how we were going to achieve them.

The plan, although at the core stayed the same, changed over the course of the year. When we came home, the plan was to sell the house in the spring of 2020, put our belongings, including the 2002 F250 diesel truck and 2006 Jeep Wrangler in storage, buy a regular cab gas truck and brand new Four Wheel camper flatbed Hawk and wander the country for a few years.

As the year progressed, our garage talks and road trips allowed us to talk out these plans, voice our concerns, our frustrations, and realize what we really want to get out of these huge decisions we are making. What we really want is a simple life that allows us to see more. Wanting less is a really good feeling when you finally get there. We realized even after coming home we were still wanting things we didn’t need. We took a step back and even though a brand new camper would be great, what we had already would work just fine. So that was the first change in the plan. We are keeping our 2007 Four Wheel Grandby truck camper and will just outfit it with a stove, refrigerator, more storage and more comfortable seating and mount it on a flatbed with a lot more outside storage.

Another really hard decision was the the decision to sell both the gray diesel truck and the Jeep Wrangler. We have owned the diesel truck for almost 11 years and have traveled the country a few times over with it. It’s been a good truck and as much as we would love to store it, we see no use for it in the future. The reason we decided to go to a regular cab gas truck was to be smaller, quieter and more off road friendly. The new truck will also be our tow truck if we need it in the future so again, we are evaluating our needs and adjusting to them.

We have owned the Jeep for 2 1/2 years. It was my dream to have a paid off Wrangler in our paid off garage and I pictured myself driving it on beautiful Michigan summer/fall days with the top off to work or to the beach. Since being back, I realize that my dream has changed. We were so happy to have that Jeep along with us last year. We put 9,100 miles on it on some of the most beautiful trails and roads in the country. It was perfect for us and our dog, Gus, and I wouldn’t change that for anything. But looking forward, we know we don’t want to haul a trailer again so we would be storing the Jeep until we figure out where we are going to stay for an extended period of time. So again we would be paying to store something that we really have no use for.

These decisions have been really hard. It’s hard to let things go once you have them because you think “someday” you’ll want/need it again. By simplifying our lives, we are accepting that we are okay with saying goodbye to things that don’t fit our lives or our goals.

We took the first big step a couple weeks ago when we found the next truck for our overlanding rig. It’s a 2005 F350 regular cab V10 gas truck with only 85,000 miles. It was located just outside of Omaha, Nebraska. We had been looking quite extensively all over the country for exactly this truck which we found out was really hard to find.

We left January 5 in the diesel with the camper and pulling a trailer. We left around 6pm knowing we wanted to go through Chicago a little later. We drove about 4 hours and spent the night at a little boat launch in Annawan, IL. We made our way to Seward, NE the next day to Meyer Automotive. We did a test drive and decided this was our truck. We loaded it on the trailer and went back to Council Bluffs, IA to meet my friend Angie who I had met back in 2003 at the FBI Academy.

We hadn’t seen each other since 2014 so it was so fun catching up with her and seeing her in person instead of just watching each other’s lives on social media. I’m very thankful for the job that I had for 17 years because it brought me all over the country and I met some really great people. It’s really fun to reconnect with some of those people even years later. I’m looking forward to more fun visits in the coming years.

The next day we took a little detour to Cresco, IA to Alum-Line. Of course in Vug fashion, we blew out a tire while headed north on Highway 35. We are used to this at this point and were just happy it wasn’t raining.

We had heard really good things about Alum-Line and were excited to talk about our options for a flatbed. Even though we are not buying a brand new flatbed camper, we decided to put our slide-in camper on a flatbed and have boxes built in to give us outside storage. We were very happy with our meeting and excited to design the flatbed to meet our needs at a decent price.

We made our way home on Tuesday the 7th and talked most of the way home about storage, the camper, the truck, and much more. I love our road trips because we throw out weird, crazy, never-really-thought about that ideas. We’ve found ourselves getting tunnel vision in the past when we are excited about something so we have been trying to continue to think outside of the box for all of our decisions and have found that once the excitement wears off, we still really just want to save money and live simple. By selling the diesel truck and Jeep, purchasing an older truck, keeping our old camper and buying a reasonably priced flatbed, we will be so far ahead of where we would be had we bought a brand new camper and pay to store two vehicles we wouldn’t use for years.

I’m a visual person, so once we got home, I asked Craig to lay out the flatbed and camper in the garage so I could see where everything would go. We are so excited to see how much extra outside storage we are going to get. That was a huge issue for us both. We didn’t want to have to store outside things on the floor of our camper. The brand new camper wouldn’t have given us this much outside storage so that just reiterates our decision to keep what we have.

The next huge endeavor is going to be putting our house up for sale in a couple months. It’s going to be really hard to say goodbye to this house we love. We have so many great memories here but we both realize that to stay here changes what we can do in the future. We will be selling the house by owner to start. We know the pros and cons of this, but this is a decision we have made since we have the time to be home and deal with it all. We are doing our research and hopefully we find someone who sees the value of our beloved home.

We still have no dates for our next adventure. It’s all about timing. The sale of the house will determine when we leave. We will for sure be here until June to watch two of our nephews graduate. We have a tentative plan as far as what route we would like to take, but again that really depends on when we leave.

We’ll keep updating on our progress. We just wanted to share what’s been going on.

We knew going into the trip that we wanted to drive the Dalton Highway to Deadhorse, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. It is the furthest north you can drive to in the continental United States. That has always intrigued me. We set out knowing we couldn’t drive to the Arctic Ocean like we did at Tuk. That was it’s own adventure. We traveled 415 miles up the Dalton Highway following the pipeline to Deadhorse. We took the loop road up around Colleen Lake and reached latitude 70* 13′ 32.0448″ N (70.2255680).

We didn’t realize that we were going to be at the furthest west point you can drive when we went to Manley Hot Springs at the end of the Elliot Highway. We were there to drive Tofty Road in the Jeep as a fun day trip as recommended by a friend. It was a new road from Manley Hot Springs to the Yukon River that was completed in 2016 as a supply link for the town of Tanana, AK across the river and downstream a few miles of the end of the road.

The bartender at the Manly Roadhouse told us this is the furthest west point you can drive. So now we have driven to longitude 151* 56′ 6.1872″ W (-151.9350520). This is as close as I can get to the longitude as Google maps are not up-to-date for this area and I had to approximate where we met the river based on a road proposal document I found on-line that said the road meets the river six miles upriver of Tanana. This is very close in longitude to a point in Anchor Point, AK near Homer at 151* 51′ 49.2084″ W (-151.8636690).

We visited that site as well and there was signage for being the westernmost point, but we are pretty sure the end of Tofty Road is the new most western point. The points we drove to are able to be reached by contiguous roads to the rest of North America. There are roads in Nome and other more western communities that you must fly into in order to drive around.

We decided to drive down to the Florida Keys and get to the southernmost point in the continental US. This is a well documented site and has a concrete buoy marker proclaiming you’ve made it to the Southernmost Point of the Continental US. This is at latitude 24* 32′ 47.7024″ N (24.5465840). We made it to this milestone just after the new year on our loop around North America.

We would like to have added the easternmost point to our trip and get to the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse in Lupec, Maine and be at the most eastern point in the continental US at 66* 57′ 3.0910″ W (-66.9508586), and complete this odd quest. We will add this to a summertime NE North America trip in the future.

We didn’t start out our trip trying to hit these four points. We were going to drive the Dalton and maybe down to Key West, but when we found out our last minute side trip got us to the westernmost point, we decided to add the southernmost and will eventually get to the easternmost point as well. It’s a strange endeavor, I know, but we travel differently than most. This is a fun adventure that very few people do and engages my curiosity in maps so I guess that’s why we decided to drive to the Further Places.

We’ve been back for two weeks. We got home just in time to experience some of the coldest weather Michigan has seen in a very long time. Many do not like it, we actually don’t mind it at all. Granted we have a different view now that we aren’t forced to face it first thing every morning during a commute to work.

Besides being here to see the beautiful winter, we are able to help out family and friends. Of course we are shoveling and plowing at my mom’s. She’s inundated us with food and giving us a roof over our heads so we are trying to pay her back any way we can. We are able to shovel and plow at my Grandpa’s, and help out a few others who needed a quick hand. It’s been nice not having a schedule and helping out keeps us busy.

We are excited, however, to get back into our house February 9. We can now tell you that our renters have been planning to leave for a while and he took a job back in their home state of Ohio. We stayed in communication with them and were okay heading back home when they told us in December what their plan was.

We honestly knew what we wanted to do just a few months into our adventure. We loved being on the road, we loved seeing new things, we hated the trailer. We are really happy we hauled the trailer all over the country because we got to do some really awesome trails in the Jeep, but when we left Alaska and Canada and got back into the lower 48, we were frustrated. It was harder to boondock, harder to get gas, harder to turn around if you missed a turn. It was just not what we wanted. We really wanted to go home, sell everything, get a new rig and get back on the road.

Traveling is for us. It suits us perfectly. We had different stresses than what our normal day to day was but we were able to handle it our way and in our own time. Although we absolutely love our house, we realize how much it ties us down. We paid it off two years ago but it still costs money and time to maintain it. We both feel like life is passing us by when we have to turn down fun things because we have to mow, blow leaves, stain, chop, split and stack wood. As we get older, we don’t want to spend all of our free time keeping it up. So yes, it will be up for sale at some point. We don’t have a place we want to live picked out. We want to travel, rent in places that interest us for a few months at a time, and experience more of what our country has to offer.

The vision of our ideal life has changed from what it was 17 years ago when we started building the house and that’s okay! As far as emotion goes, we have every single memory in our heads. We can look at pictures of my dad helping with the trim, Craig’s dad working on the fireplace or all of them helping sort 40 ton of rock in the driveway.

We’ve had many many questions since we’ve been back. What was our favorite place? Are we home to stay? Why did we come home so early? And how we could we possibly afford something like ths?

Our favorite place was Alaska. We’ll be home for about two years, we think. We came home early because our renters were leaving. And we planned together for the trip. We didn’t win the lottery or get an inheritance. Since 2009, when we decided that debt had no place in our lives and this type of trip was in our future at some point, we planned. We made a good income together which helped to start. We continued to work hard and we decided together about all of our purchases. We set ourselves up to pay off our house, put away money for retirement and have money to travel.

We are not going to go into detail about the numbers because it really is nobody’s business. The only thing we can stress is if you want to do something like we did, you have to communicate with your spouse. It’s hard to talk about big purchases with your spouse if you aren’t used to it. Some don’t like “asking for permission”. If you look at it that way, then you’re looking at it wrong.

When you start dreaming together and looking ahead toward a goal that you both want to achieve, then the things you want or think you need to purchase change. And most of the time, you’ll be on the same page about those things. We’re not saying it’s easy. We see many who have nicer vehicles, fun off road toys, and go on Caribbean vacations. It all looks wonderful and like so much fun. We aren’t bashing any of that. All those things make memories as well and we think that’s what is most important. What we are saying is that you can’t do it all. At least we can’t. So we made the decision that long term travel and experiencing different areas of the country is what is most important to us and we are making it happen. We are having the hard talks, making the difficult decisions and we are really excited about spending our lives together traveling in our own way.

Stay tuned, TheVugs180 continues…

239 Days on the Road

31,100 Miles Total
2002 Ford F250 – 22,000 miles (now has 314,0005 miles)
2006 Jeep Wrangler – 9,100 miles (now has 104,197 miles)

(24) States and (4) Canadian Provinces – # of nights
Michigan-8
Wisconsin-0
Minnesota-1
North Dakota-0
Montana-6
Alaska-59
Washington-26
Oregon-17
California-26
Nevada-23
Arizona-13
New Mexico-4
Texas-9
Louisiana-2
Mississippi-2
Alabama-0
Florida-9
Georgia-0
South Carolina-4
North Carolina-1
Tennessee-1
Kentucky-0
Ohio-0
Indiana-1

Alberta-5
British Columbia-9
Yukon-9
Northwest Territories-3

Camping/Lodging
175 nights free
64 nights paid
Total spent for camping/lodging=$1,193.05

Nights not spent in our camper – Craig (6) Shauna (10)
(3) nights spent on an air mattress in the trailer
(1) night in a hotel
(2) nights in our friends’s guest bedroom in Nevada
(4) nights at my mom’s house when I flew home for a visit

Vehicle Repairs
(2) Truck Tires
(3) Trailer Tires
(2) U-joints
(2) wheel bearings
(1) alternator
(8) lug studs
(1) very large tow bill
(1) fan clutch for the Jeep
(1) radiator for the Jeep

73 Breweries
Top Favorites:
49th State Brewing Company-Healy, AK
Matanuska Brewing-Palmer, AK
Crux Fermentation Project-Bend, OR
Russian River Brewing Company-Santa Rosa, CA
Cloudcroft Brewing-Cloudcroft, NM
Chafunkta Brewing Company-Mandeville, LA
Mash Monkey Brewing Company-Sebastian, FL

Favorite new beer- King Street IPA from King Street Brewing in Anchorage, AK

12 National Parks
Glacier-Montana
Banff-Alberta
Jasper-Alberta
Gates of the Arctic-Alaska
Denali-Alaska
Wrangell-St. Elias-Alaska
Mount Rainier-Washington
Olympic-Washington
Joshua Tree-California
Yosemite-California
Carlsbad Caverns-New Mexico
Big Bend-Texas

Favorite place: Alaska

Favorite Experience: Driving the Dempster Highway to Tuktoyaktuk, NWT and camping on the Arctic Ocean during Summer Solstice and Aboriginal Day.

It was an amazing 239 days on the road together!

Stay tuned…we’re not done.

We pulled into our driveway in West Olive, Michigan at 1:41 pm on January 17, 2019. After 239 days on the road, we were home.

We parked the rig on the north side of our house and packed the Jeep as much as we could and headed off to my mom’s house. She didn’t know we were coming home and didn’t see us pull in. She was totally surprised when we knocked on the door. She had told us before that if we needed a place to stay we were always welcome. We were met with tears of joy and hugs! Hopefully she’s still happy after having us here for awhile. We come with a lot of stuff!

We had a lot of things to figure out. We knew the snow was coming so we had to figure out a plan for Gus. We got a dog crate from a friend and packed my mom’s car and the Jeep with more stuff from the camper and trailer. We took over the basement but it’s nice to have space to sort through all the stuff. And Gus’ corner should work out nicely for him.

We went back to our house and talked to our renters. It was great to catch up with them, share some of our stories and hear that they really enjoyed living there. The arrangement worked out great for all of us. We assured them we are in no rush but they are looking for a place and are ready for their next step.

Friday morning we stopped in at my Grandpa’s house. It was fun to see his face when we walked in the door. We got to visit for a little bit and then had to run off to get some errands done.

When we left Grandpa’s, Craig had a message from his mom and they had heard we were in town. We had wanted to surprise them but a friend saw us driving through Zeeland and then saw Mom and Dad Vug at a basketball game Thursday night and innocently commented that he saw us in town. They had no clue. Oh well, it was the thought that counts. We assured her we were on our way to see them that afternoon.

We went to their house for dinner and the whole family showed up. We had a great night catching up, eating, drinking and laughing. It feels good to be home. We headed over to Travis and Stacey’s house since Stacey had worked late and missed the family meal. We were happy to see other cousins there as well. It was a late night but so fun seeing all their faces!

This morning we woke up to snow. Gus loves to eat it! Craig made an awesome breakfast and it was so nice to sit at the table with mom. I so wish my Dad was here. I wish I could tell him all about our adventures. It’s been 6 years today since we said goodbye to him. It hardly seems like it can be that long. We miss him every single day.

Tonight we got to surprise our friends, Dunegrass, that were playing at Tripelroot Brewery. It was a fun night of great music, great beer and great friends.

It feels good to be home. We feel a little scattered and unorganized but that’s okay. We have time to relax and time to catch up with family and friends. We are going to continue to keep life simple.

We are thankful to be back safe and sound. All three of us.

We are home.

We set up camp in South Carolina at Millstone Landing which was a big parking lot that had a boat ramp on the Savannah River. It was off the beaten path but busier than we expected. A few police officers drove through but never gave us any problems and made us feel better about leaving our rig there. So we stayed for four nights.

Friday we went into Savannah. We parked down on River Street and walked along the river and had a great lunch at the Cotton Exchange. We wandered into the Kevin Barry Irish Pub and had a beer. The sun was out for a little while and it was a pleasant afternoon.

Saturday we made our way to Bluffton, SC to visit friends we hadn’t seen in many many years. Mike and Rhonda had moved from Grand Haven, MI in 2000 and we hadn’t seen them since. They were awesome hosts! Gus and their two little dogs Tiki and Sammy got along just fine and they even shared their beds with Gus.

We took a tour of their neighborhood on their golf cart and then went to Hilton Head for lunch. It felt like we hadn’t missed a beat. We hung out at their place for hours and ended the night with pizza and beers.

Sunday we ran a few errands and made our way back to their place. It was rainy and cold so it was nice to relax at their house for the afternoon. They spoiled us with an excellent steak dinner. We are so glad we reconnected with them and definitely won’t wait another 19 years to see them again.

Monday we packed up and headed to Asheville, NC. My friend Lisa, and her husband Bob were going to be there for a couple days. I worked with Lisa at the Sheriff’s Office and was bummed to miss out on her retirement celebration last November. She had texted me asking if we were going to be in the area a few weeks ago and at the time I didn’t know our plan. When we decided on a tentative route, I had messaged with Bob last week trying to plan the surprise. We changed our plan a couple times and at one point we were going to head back south for warmer weather. So I told Bob we wouldn’t be there after all.

Craig and I finally decided instead of trying to head south for warmer weather, that we should just start heading north and go home. So we decided to just surprise them both. I messaged with their daughter and had her find out where they were going to be. It was so awesome to be sitting at a table at Asheville Brewing and see Lisa’s face when she saw me.

We had a wonderful time catching up! We ended the night at Green Man Brewing. It was a quick visit but so awesome. I’ve been loving seeing people on the road through this journey.

We had tried to find a boondocking spot in Asheville but that didn’t pan out. We ended up paying for a site at the Lake Powhatan Recreation Campground. This was well worth it. It has been really cold at this point and the bathrooms were heated and the showers were clean.

Tuesday morning we headed to Knoxille, TN. It was a short two hour drive and we parked the rig at the Flying J truck stop. My friend, Nathan, lives here and met us for a late lunch at Wild Wing Cafe. I met Nathan almost ten years ago when he worked at the National Forensic Academy. He is originally from Grand Haven and we always grab a meal when he’s in town to see family.

After lunch we went to his house. We met some of Nathan’s friends, played some darts and listened to music. Gus got to meet Mitch and they got along pretty well. Mitch is a good old dog too and it was funny to see them do their old dog things.

We got back to our truck stop boondock to find the place filled up significantly. We were tucked in between two semis and went to bed.

Wednesday morning we were up early and on the road by 7 am. The truck stop served it’s purpose, we definitely didn’t need to hang out there. We made the 6 1/2 hour drive to my brother’s house in Decatur, Indiana. He and his wife, Christa, had bought a new house and moved in December. We were excited to see them, their three kiddos and see the new house. Gus got to meet his cousins Mika and Bandit. They got along okay but the two big dogs were a little much for Gus.

It was even colder there so we were a little concerned with keeping Gus warm and the weather didn’t look good going forward. So we decided to cut the visit short and leave Thursday morning. We actually set an alarm for only the third time since leaving so we could be up and say our goodbyes before they all took off for work and school. It was a quick visit but it was so good to see them.

We made our way back to Michigan on back roads. It was raining and icy and we just took our time. We wanted to keep our homecoming under wraps until we knew exactly when we were going to be home and surprising people has been fun too. We were going to try and stay out another week but we were just ready to be home.

Home will be my mom’s basement for awhile until our renter’s move out. We had an agreement that we would give them a heads up when we were ready to come home so they have been looking for a place. Staying at my mom’s will be nice so we can spend some quality time without the worries of all the stuff we have to do once we are back in the house.

After 239 days on the road, being back in Michigan does feel good. We loved the journey, learned so much about what we want out of life and not for one second regret the decision to go. We are forever changed.

Off to plan the next step…

We were not carried away by mosquitoes the first night at Dupuis Campground so we decided to stay for three more nights.

This is a free campground but you still have to register for a permit online before being able to stay. The campground host was very diligent in checking on this and making sure Gus was secured on his leash. We picked a spot the first night that wasn’t our favorite but it worked. Our neighbor, Tom, was a veteran living out of a van. He was a soft spoken really nice guy who had just beat lung cancer and was living life the way he wants to live it. He left in the morning and we snagged his spot.

A cold front had come through and the nights were a nice 50 degrees and the days in the high 70s. The new spot we picked had no shade and even just high 70s felt pretty darn warm and the black flies and gnats came out when it got hot. The spot wasn’t as ideal as we thought. Our other neighbor vacated their shady spot just after noon so we packed everything up and moved again. The gnats were still annoying but we at least at some shade.

We met some of our other neighbors who told us about Rockin’ Riverwalk Sundays in Stuart, FL. We decided we needed to get away from the flies and gnats so we headed that way. We got into town and were surprised at how busy it was. We finally found a parking spot and all three of us walked down a boardwalk toward the sound of music playing. It was a beautiful area and great spot to listen. Everyone always loves to meet Gus. After the walk he seemed a bit tuckered out. We put him back in the Jeep for a nap and went to explore the town.

There was a little market and lots of bars with music. We were obviously drawn to the Vine & Barley Craft Beer lounge. We found two spots at the bar and were greeted by a nice couple who were locals. They recommended some beers and places to go. It was a really fun afternoon.

Monday we relaxed for a while. The gnats wouldn’t leave Gus alone and kind of ruined our nice relaxing time in camp. Late afternoon we decided to get away from them and took a drive through the Dupuis Management area to a pier that overlooked a lake full of water lettuce. We were able to see two alligators on the far side of the lake sunning themselves. We didn’t get an up close look but it was still cool to see.

We headed to Vero Beach on Wednesday. We went to Pareidolia Brewing first. They had pretty good beer and a really good burrito bowl. Next was Mash Monkey which turned out to be one of our favorites. Not only did they have great beer, the bartender was fun and Gus could hang out with us there. We got to have a beer called Resilience Butte County Proud IPA that is a Sierra Nevada recipe that has been brewed by 1400 breweries across the country. All proceeds go to the victim’s of the Camp Fire in California. The beer was excellent and we bought a growler of it to show our support.

Our next stop was Walking Tree Brewing. It was in a huge warehouse that was done really well inside. The bartenders weren’t as fun and the beer was okay.

Our last stop was Sailfish Brewing in Fort Pierce. It was downtown and a very nice place although the bartenders seemed indifferent to us being there. The day was fun we are glad we got out to see a little bit of the area.

But we were ready to move on. We headed north and managed to get north of Orlando to the Ocala National Forest but not without a little drama. We’ve noticed that Florida drivers are kinda of aggressive. At one point, two cars passed us on the right in a turn lane, the second had to cut in front of us in the middle of the intersection. He was so close we had to hit our brakes. Craig blared the horn and thankfully there was a police officer sitting in his car right there. He got out on the road, passed us on the right and put on his lights and pulled the jerk over. I was clapping and giving the police officer a thumbs up! Nice work officer! We appreciate you!

The first place we stopped at to camp was closed because of the shut down. The next place was a campground in the National Forest but it was stilled manned and charging more than we were willing to pay. The lady directed us to another campground and we were pretty happy to find we had the place to ourselves.

The St. Johns Loop South Campground is an equestrian campground right on the Cross Florida Barge Canal. It was only $5.55 to stay for the night and we probably didn’t even need to pay that since we saw nobody the entire time we were there. The porta potty was super clean and we had a fire ring full of wood. It definitely cooled off more than the previous nights and we enjoyed a fire.

We are glad we went to Florida but we just really wanted to keep moving. We realize we are moving around, changing climates and if we were on vacation with all the money saved for just that specific time, we’d have stayed. But when you travel how we are traveling, we don’t have the luxury of doing all the touristy things or renting an ocean view room. We knew this going in and we are okay with it. We like choosing the off highway option when traveling and just seeing the countryside. We’ve seen a lot of it.

We made our way to a boat ramp in South Carolina that is about 30 minutes from Savannah and Hilton Head. Hopefully we don’t get kicked out.

I’ve been to Savannah and thought it was a cool town and I think Craig will like it too. Neither of us have ever been to Hilton Head so we want to explore there as well. The temps look like they’ll stay above freezing so I think we’ll be able to hang out for a while.

Off to Savannah and Hilton Head…

After leaving the Sam Houston National Forest, we continued east into Louisiana and across the Mississippi River to Natchez, MS. We camped out in the parking lot of the Natchez Visitor Center where they allow RVs to stay for two nights and even offered free electricity. There was also a small lighted driving tour for the holidays so a few people were driving through but it wasn’t too bad.

Saturday we continued south and crossed back into Louisiana. We checked out a boondock spot north of Lake Pontchartrain that was not going to work at all. We found Fountainbleau State Park just west of that and were happy to be away from most of the crowd in the primitive campsites. They had just gotten a ton of rain in the area and many of the sites were flooded. It kept the traffic down in our area.

We got set up and wanted to relax for a bit. I took Gus for a walk since we’d had a long day in the truck. As I was looping back toward our campsite, I saw two dogs by the road. One was a large white husky, the other a little tiny thing getting dragged around by the large dog since their lines were intertwined. I was happy they at least were tied up and I was feeling really bad for the tiny dog especially when the big dog saw me and started really getting riled up. I picked up our pace hoping to pass by as quickly as possible. When the husky saw Gus, he started running full steam ahead. I thought, wow, that’s gonna hurt him when he gets jerked back…but instead his collar broke and he was coming straight for us. I grabbed Gus by the harness and tried to turn away but the husky circled around me and went right for Gus. They got into in briefly and then I managed to give the husky a good kick even with having just flip flops on. The husky was ready to come back for more but thankfully by then the three guys at the site were there and able to get it contained. I looked at Gus’ head and saw blood and I lost it. They were asking me if we were okay and I screamed at them that he’s 16 years old and we just wanted to go for a walk! I left in tears and got Gus back to our trailer. Craig had heard the commotion and asked if it involved us and then saw my face.

We checked Gus over and he only had a small cut above his eye. Once again very lucky he didn’t get it in the eye. I went back to talk to the guys who were very apologetic, made sure to point out the broken collar to me, and continued to express their concern. I appreciated how they handled it and gave Hugo the husky some crate time. I suggested a stronger metal collar for their dog and told them to have a nice day.

After that crazy incident it started raining so we went to Old Rail brewing for some beer and good soup. We ended the night at Chafunkta Brewing where we talked to a local who gave us the low down on New Orleans, which breweries to go to and places to avoid. He told us to go in early and get out before 3 pm when the Saints game was done.

We did actually get up early and were on the road by 7:30 am. It was rainy and foggy and we could see nothing as we drove the Causeway into town.

We made our way to the French Quarter and eventually got to Bourbon Street. We found ourselves behind the street sweeper and two guys on each side of the street power washing the street. We went around the block and got ahead of them only to be able to drive a few more blocks. But we got to see the mess that they were cleaning up.

We drove past Cafe Du Monde hoping to slide into a parking spot and get some beignets but the line was around the corner and there was nowhere to park. We had seen enough of the French Quarter at that point. We drove around the different neighborhoods and found Satsuma Cafe in the Bywater neighborhood. They had an excellent scramble and coffee and made up for missing out on the beignets.

We had time to burn before the breweries opened so we made a quick run to Costco and made our way back to Courtyard Brewery just as it opened. They had really good beer and were even dog friendly.

We moved on to Urban South brewing and the first thing we saw when we walked in the door was a bounce house filled with kids. We were immediately blasted with the Saints game on way too loud of speakers and the place was filled with TVs. We grabbed a beer and found a seat among all the black and gold jerseys and tried to have a conversation. We left as soon as we finished our beer.

We headed back to the Bywater neighborhood to Parleaux Beer Lab and were happy with the setting. The game was playing inside but they had lots of outdoor seating so we enjoyed our beer with Gus and were able to hear each other.

At this point, we had seen enough of New Orleans. We did get to see a lot of the different areas; the run down areas, the homeless under the bridges, the super narrow streets with tiny old houses, the streets with huge old houses, and the areas with big newer houses and fancy cars. It was very interesting to see and we are glad we went.

We ended up taking the Causeway back and found Coscino’s Italian Restaurant in Mandeville. We had our first muffuletta sandwich and we both loved it.

As we were finishing up, two obviously tipsy guys walked in and sat next to us at the bar. Turns out one was the owner of the restaurant and was pretty insistent that one of us do a shot with him. Since I was driving, Craig stepped up. They were really nice but after the first couple hugs from him, we decided it was time for us to go.

New Year’s Eve we had just a short drive to Biloxi, MS. My friend, Jason, lives there and was going to meet us for happy hour drinks. I met Jason 10 years ago at a forensic conference and we’ve kept in touch. It was great to see him and have him meet Craig. We parked our rig at the Golden Nugget Casino and met him at The Blind Tiger.

We met a few of his buddies and had a fun afternoon of hopping to their favorite places. We had a riot! They invited us out to ring in the New Year with them but we had somehow forgotten to eat and were feeling the effects of our afternoon drinking. We declined and were sleeping soundly well before midnight.

We’ve been moving along pretty quickly but not really on purpose. Four to six hours of driving now feels pretty normal for us. We were not going to go to the Keys, but now that we were close, well, what we consider close, we decided we might as well do it.

We were headed toward Panama City when my friend, Linda, texted me and told me her husband, Larry, was there working with Team Rubicon to help clean up after Hurricane Michael. I got a hold of him and although he only had a few minutes to chat, it was nice to see him and hear about their efforts there. It was kind of crazy that we got to spend Christmas Eve with Linda’s daughter and see her husband on New Year’s Day and she did not.

As we continued south looking for a place to sleep for the night, the area from Panama City south was just horrible. Such a devastating sight to see homes ruined, debris and trash everywhere. Homes that were once on the coast were now in a pile across the street. The roads were not good and although the rough parts were marked with barrels, our trailer got tossed around a little bit. It also was extremely foggy and we weren’t able to find some of the spots we were looking for to boondock. We came across the Carrabelle Park which looked more like a rest area. There was a sign that stated no overnight camping was allowed but there was a huge motorhome parked there already and we did not want to continue driving. We took a chance and it turned out just fine.

As we laid out our plan, we realized that Craig’s Aunt Karen and her husband, Roger, were staying south of Fort Myers for the winter. We were up and on the road pretty early and decided to make it a long travel day and meet up with Aunt Karen and Roger for dinner Wednesday night.

I called a state park that was close to them and it was full. There were a few other places listed as campgrounds but they seemed more like RV resorts for snow birds and were really expensive. We headed to the Pilot truck stop and were very surprised to see how busy it was. There were semis everywhere. We drove around twice and grabbed one of the last spots available…or so we thought.

We got the Jeep out and met Aunt Karen and Roger at Miller’s Alehouse. We had a great dinner and conversation and we didn’t put up too much of a fight when Roger insisted on paying.

We went back to our rig to find not only did a truck squeeze in directly behind us so there was no way of loading the Jeep, there was a huge car hauler semi right next to us. He was so close we couldn’t open the trailer door all the way. So we settled in for a noisy cramped night and marked that one as the worst boondock ever.

Thankfully we never heard the semi leave and got a decent night of sleep. Gus did wait until 6:30 am before he puked and woke me up. We have been trying to get a handle on why he’s doing this and we think it’s because he waits all day for something better to eat and when he realizes he’s only going to get his kibble, he scarfs it down so fast that his little body can’t handle it. We are watching how much he eats and how fast he eats it now. I shouldn’t complain too much since it’s Craig that cleans it up. I attempted to help and ended up gagging so much that I almost threw up myself. It’s weird that I saw and smelled so much worse stuff in my line of work and I can’t handle my own dog’s puke.

We left the truck stop and parked the rig at the Lowe’s in Estero. We went to see Aunt Karen and Rog’s place. We had some coffee and pastries and chatted some more. We finally said our goodbyes and were on our way. It was so great to see them and we appreciate them taking time to see us and take us out for dinner! I always love their hugs and Rog’s kisses on the cheek.

Once again we were on the road. We didn’t find any luck with campgrounds that had availability or that we could afford anywhere on the Keys so we took a chance and parked in the Home Depot parking lot in Marathon which was about an hour from Key West. I went inside and asked if it was okay if we stayed there and the clerk called the store manager who said it was fine but if the cops told us to leave, we would have to leave. The clerk told us that if we were really nice to the cops they usually let people stay. We actually really liked our spot. It was behind the garden center away from the main parking lot and we were tucked behind two Penske box trucks. We had grass, trees and privacy.

We saw that the American Legion was right next door so we went in and met some fun people there. It was bingo night and pretty busy. There was one couple set up in another room because of they were out of space. We gladly gave up our table so they could be part of the action and went to lean against the pool table next to a guy that ended up being the Commander. He’s lived in the Keys for 30 years and we learned a lot about the area and places we should go. Another guy, Joe, bought us a beer and told us all about his time serving in Alaska. It was pretty cool. We left after a while and were happy to see we had no warnings or tickets on the truck.

Friday morning we were happy to have gotten a full night of sleep and no one pounded on our door telling us to leave. We had breakfast and decided to head down to Key West before the weekend crowd arrived. We drove around town, passed the Southernmost Point Buoy which already had a line for pictures at 9 am. So we just snapped a picture from the Jeep and called it good. We have now been to the northernmost, westernmost and southernmost points that you can drive to in the continental United States.

We ended up passing it a couple more times and the line just kept getting longer and longer. We paid $9 to park for 2 hours and went into The Bull for a beer, at 10:30 am because that’s what you do in Key West right? We were a little hesitant to even go in because we saw a sign that said clothing optional. Thankfully it was on the upper level of the building and not open since it was early.

After a beer at The Bull, we went to First Flight Brewery which is the southernmost brewery so of course we had to go there. We were planning on having lunch but decided the prices weren’t in line with our budget and just had a beer and left. It was hot and we’d seen enough of Key West.

We headed back north and stopped at Boondocks on recommendation by my good friend Trish. Trish also told us to go to No Name Pub and that her parents were arriving at their rental house in the Keys that day. I have known her parents since the second grade when we became friends so I definitely wanted to stop in and say hi. After a great lunch at Boondocks, we found Pat and Cathy had just arrived and were literally just unlocking the door. They were surprised to see us and Pat said “I thought you were in Arizona?” Yes, we move fast. We left to go to No Name Pub and give them some time to get settled. No Name Pub was a cool little place filled with dollar bills. We added ours to the masses and enjoyed an IPA from Islamorada Beer Company.

We went back to Pat and Cathy’s and talked for hours with them. It was fun to catch up and hear stories of their time on the Keys in the past and we got to share some of our crazy stories from our last seven months. We finally had to say goodbye since we didn’t know if our boondocking spot would still be okay.

We got back to the Home Depot and again found no warnings or tickets. We were tired after a long day and went to bed. We did wake up to a very enthusiastic forklift driver who loved beeping his horn and singing at the top of his lungs at 5:30 am. Not sure if that was for our benefit but it did get us out of bed and moving earlier than we would’ve liked. But no complaints since we successfully boondocked on the Keys for two nights. Winning!

As I wrote about everything we did in the past week, I realize how crazy busy it sounds. We were in New Orleans a week ago and have been to the Keys and are heading north already. We had two long travel days but otherwise we just enjoyed everything at our pace and I guess that’s pretty quick. So we are going to make an effort to slow down a little bit.

I found a free campground in the DuPuis Management Area close to Lake Okeechobee. It’s a pretty nice setting but we’ve been warned about the mosquitoes that will appear at night. We’ll stay here a few days if we don’t get carried away by them.

We’re really not sure exactly what the game plan is per usual. I wouldn’t mind showing Craig Savannah and I’ve never been to South Carolina. We don’t have to be home for a while so we’d like to find a nice spot to hang out that has weather between this hot & humid stuff we have now and the freezing cold temps we needed to get away from.

Off to find Vug friendly weather…we know it’s out there.

When we left camp in Del Rio Monday, Christmas Eve morning, we had planned to stay outside of Corpus Christi. Campgrounds and boondock spots weren’t coming up with any recent reviews and it seemed many were still recovering from the hurricane this past summer. My good friend, Linda, has spent time in the area because her daughter lives there. After texting with her, she advised that anything south of Port Aransas and the JFK memorial causeway on the beach was fine. So we redirected and headed out to the beach. With the government shutdown, we haven’t run into any problems getting into the parks. There are signs up advising of the shutdown and that trash and bathrooms are not being tended to but we haven’t found that to be a problem.

We drove out to the beach and found many others had the same idea. It was a beautiful warm night and we were happy. Linda had also suggested Lazy Beach Brewing. Since it wouldn’t be open on Christmas Day, we headed there after getting camp set up. The place was cute and the beer was really good. I thanked Linda and she said her daughter, Kristyn, was only a few miles away and she wanted us to stop in.

After getting a few growlers filled, we made our way to Kristyn and her husband, Kyle’s house. I hadn’t seen her (or her cute dog Jackson) in a couple years since she moved down here but they were so welcoming.

We met a few of their friends, they shared all their wonderful food, had a few beers, and we had lots of laughs. We had a great Christmas Eve! We learned about living in Texas, all the bad things in the ocean that can hurt you and all the places we shouldn’t miss before we left. Kristyn, Craig and I argued that Unsalted and Shark Free is way better than man o’ wars, sharks, and salt mist that ends up on everything! We would’ve loved to stay longer but we had to make our way back out to the beach 30 minutes away.

Gus had been peacefully sleeping in the Jeep while we were visiting, or so we thought. We came out to a massive pile of throw up in the Jeep, on my sweatshirt, down the tailgate and piled on the street under the Jeep. It was pretty awful. We cleaned things up the best as we could and were a little frustrated after having such a great night. We got back to camp and Gus went right to bed. Poor guy. He’s a trooper but he is definitely having some issues.

Christmas Day was wonderful. We had gotten back to camp late and we slept with the windows open and listened to the crash of the waves all night. It was awesome. We all slept in. The weather was beautiful. The sun was shining and it wasn’t super windy and we could enjoy our breakfast and coffee sitting outside. It was a nice change from hunkering down in the trailer to escape the cold mornings and nights we’ve been experiencing.

We took walks on the beach, read books and after a taco salad lunch, we hopped in the Jeep and drove the beach to the Bob Hall Pier and continued until it turned us onto a road into town. We grabbed some ice and drove back on the beach. We continued in the Park south of camp and found the south beach area that people camp on. As we drove in just a few miles, the weather started to turn. It started to rain and the wind was picking up. We headed back to camp to close up windows and not get stuck unloading in the rain.

Wednesday morning we woke up to our entire camper shaking in the wind. It was pretty crazy how much it was moving. We went in the trailer for breakfast and coffee, hoping it would die down soon. We wanted to continue driving the beach south and hang out for another day. It was almost noon when the rain and wind picked up even more and we couldn’t even be outside without getting sandblasted in the face. We decided to pack it up.

Breaking down camp in gale force winds was not fun at all. Sand blew in any door we opened and you couldn’t leave the door open because the wind would either slam it shut or slam it the opposite way. We both had to pry the back door of the trailer down to get the Jeep in. I lowered the camper top and before I could latch the back, a wind gust came and started picking it up. I didn’t want this to happen so I was holding onto it for dear life and screaming for Craig, who couldn’t hear me because of the wind and waves. Thankfully he finally did hear my scream and came to the rescue and we got it latched down.

When we finally sat in the truck, we were both coated with super fine salty sand, soaked to the bone, the truck was also covered inside and out and we felt horrible. We weren’t sure where to go next but we knew we had to get off the coast. At least we had one nice day on the beach.

I found a campground in El Campo, TX that had laundry, showers and a restaurant on-site. We made our way there. It was still raining and windy but not as bad. We grabbed a quick dinner and I was able to get a few loads of laundry done. The forecast said it would be nice the next day so we were banking on that.

During the night, the winds picked up again and shook the whole camper once again. And then a couple loud cracks of thunder and the monsoon began. Okay, it wasn’t a monsoon but it rained really really hard early morning and continued for a few hours. Not what we were hoping for, but we powered through.

Craig brought the Jeep to the power washer, I finished laundry, tried to clean the trailer and camper as best I could and even Gus got a bath too. Sand is still appearing from everywhere. After showers we were feeling a little bit better. The sun did finally come out and after another stop at the power washer to rinse off the truck, camper and trailer, we were on our way.

We’ve heard that Houston roads are horrible and to avoid them at all costs. Since we were already inland and not ready to go back to the coast, we headed north and east as far away from Houston as we could. We came across the Kelly’s Pond Campground in the Sam Houston National Forest. The road and all the surrounding trails are pretty wet here too. We are just happy it’s not raining and we are settled in with some trees to look at.

Our next stop is New Orleans. Neither of us have been there and even though we aren’t party city people, we’ll give it a shot. Our dilemma is when to go. We assume the weekend before New Years is going to be crazy but we’re on track to be there Sunday. We’ll probably just do a day trip and get out before the craziness starts. With our rig, we don’t want to go into town so we’ll end up driving in with the Jeep. We want to experience it even if it has to be a little low key.

Off to New Orleans…