FOUR MONTHS ON THE ROAD!!
This month is the month of boondocking. Boondocking, or dry camping, refers to being off grid. We are without the usual RV hookups - power, water, and sewer. We boondocked this entire month - offgrid - and paid a grand total of $0 in camp ground fees. Day 91 found us outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico at the Wildlife West Nature Park. This native animal zoo allowed us to camp in their parking lot for two nights. We spend one of those days exploring Albuquerque and the Petroglyphs National Monument. The other day was reserved for the zoo (kids loved it!) and a drive along Route 66. We spent a night at an alpaca farm, then eight days in the Santa Fe National Forest. We explored Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and Bandelier National Monument. We've decided that we like Los Alamos a lot, and Santa Fe not quite so much. On Day 102, we moved west and spent the night at the Bandera Volcano and Ice Cave. The volcano crater was almost 1400 feet wide and roughly 800 feet deep. It was amazing to hike along the lava and basalt paths and see the devastation wrought just a few hundred years ago. The ice cave was incredible! Around the turn of the last century, when logging was huge in the area, there was a railway there and saloon at the base of the volcano. They harvested ice from the ice cave to keep the beer cold! We left New Mexico on Day 103 and arrived in Arizona - the Grand Canyon State and our desired final location.We spent two nights at the Petrified Forest and visited the National Park three times! I loved it! Our next move was to Flagstaff, where we would stay for 14 days. There's just soooo much to do there. We visited Walnut Canyon, Meteor Crater, the south rim of the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Williams, Sedona, Sunset Crater, Wupatki National Monument, and Picture Canyon. The highlights were the places we'd never heard of: Slide Rock State Park, where we played in Oak Creek and I skinned my butt-cheeks sliding down the name sake rock waterfall, or Lava River Cave, where we hiked into a 3/4 mile lava tube from 700,000 years ago. Williams was another absolute gem! This tiny little town, called the 'Gateway to the Grand Canyon' was the last town on Route 66 to be bypassed. It's an absolute treasure of Route 66 memorabilia (think old cars and neon), Grand Canyon stylings such as the train that you can take there, and cowboys. We even attended a working cowboy's rodeo, which I shall never forget, and a staged gunfight, which made quite an impression on the kids. Quite frankly, I don't love Flagstaff but I did love our camping spot. It was private and secluded, but only 15 minutes from the city. We could easily get groceries and do laundry and then retreat to the bus. Alone, and with a gorgeous view of the San Francisco peaks, I was delighted when a herd of cows moved into our field. They were less pleased to share with us. We all flirted with the idea of staying, rebels, vagrants, living in a forest forever. Offgrid and out of sight. But the time came for us to leave, and so, we did. We enjoyed an overnight in the Hopi Nation and learned so much. We ended the month in Navajo Nation, at the Four Corners, where we took the opportunity to put a limb in each of the four states that come together in a quadripoint. This geographical phenomena allowed us to be in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah - all at the same time. A great way to end our third month on the road. Stats for this month:
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stancil 6Family of 6 traveling the country full time. Archives
November 2019
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