camp

Just North Of The Border

Leaving camp the next morning, we made our way to El Paso, TX where we had our first ever glimpse of the southern border and Mexico. We have never been anywhere even close to either and found it quite intriguing. It was definitely not what we were expecting and the mountains off in the distance around Ciudad Juárez seemed to call out to us with their beauty. Stopping at a shopping center to resupply and fuel up, we were enthralled by the atmosphere and the culture.

With our quick resupply finished, Jennifer and I scoured the map trying to determine our next route. The interstate appeared to be backed with construction just outside of town and sitting in traffic just didn’t seem that exciting of a prospect to us. After a few minutes, we discovered state road NM-9 that ran along the border and it looked like it would be a little more of an interesting ride. Interesting was right. The views from this road were absolutely breathtaking. Open country for as far as the eye can see and absolutely no cell service, except for the two spots that our phones thought we were in Mexico. We truly felt alone and in the middle of nowhere and it was great!

We continued along NM-9 until we came to the quaint little town of Columbus, NM. Revisiting the map and recognizing that it was getting late in the day and we had only covered 75 miles since leaving El Paso, TX, we decided to turn north on NM-11. This would bring us back to I-10 and allow us to make up some much needed time. That was, until we happened upon a border patrol station that was doing routine vehicle/passenger checks. After waiting in line for 10 minutes and not really knowing what to expect, it was our turn. The Border Patrol Agents approached and asked “Are you U.S. Citizens?” and “This thing is sweet, is it a 4x4 Van?” Which then led to a 15 minute conversation between the Border Patrol Agents, Hadley and I about the van and traveling. Pulling away, I felt sorry for the people waiting behind us but mostly Jennifer and Bailey because I knew they’d been wondering what was going wrong and were we going to have to stay here for a while.

With the border patrol station behind us we continued north to I-10 and then west to the town of Lordsburg, NM where we stopped for fuel. While fueling up, Jennifer discovered that there was a public park south of town where free camping was allowed. With the sun completely set and the tanks topped off, we made our way to Veterans Park and chose our spot near some other travelers and turned in for the night.

The next morning, we were quick to get back on the road and pick up where we had left off. We made our way to the town of Wilcox, AZ for a special stop. Our friends had recommended a stop at Dos Cabezas, a cute little coffee shop located in the heart of town. Keen to take their advice, as they’d never steered us wrong before, we popped in for a bit and were once again pleasantly surprised. The coffee and food were delicious and the atmosphere was down right delightful. We highly recommend a stop in if you’re ever in the area and in the mood.

After coffee and breakfast, we were back on the road for our final push to Tucson, AZ. It was still early in the day and we were able to make it there just in time to get the van set up and join our friend for lunch.

The next few days were spent catching up with old friends and exploring some of the things that the Tucson area had to offer. More on that next time…..

West Bound and Down

After renewing our spirits and getting some much needed rest in San Antonio, we were ready to load up our vehicles and begin our journey west toward El Paso. Up to this point of our trip we really hadn't had to worry about anything other than fuel and a final destination for the day, since everyone had been sick. Each evening Jennifer and I would plan out a route that allowed for four to six hours of driving that would ultimately end at a hotel in which we would make reservations in advance for. This guaranteed a warm and safe place to rest and gave us the best chances to recover quickly from whatever it was that we all had.

Leaving San Antonio, now feeling renewed and rejuvenated, we were ready to become a little more cavalier in our travels again. We knew that we wanted to visit our friends in Tucson and that we had to be in NV in thirteen days, so we were pretty fluid from here on out. Trying to keep with the four to six hours of driving that we had been doing, we figured that would place us somewhere near Fort Stockton, Tx for the evening.

I have to say, I very much preferred traveling the western half of Texas, compared to the Easter half. I’m sure they both have their good and bad but it seemed like west of San Antonio the landscape started to dramatically change and we could tell by the terrain that we were finally entering into the southwestern region of the U.S. The humid marshlands and green landscapes of the east were beginning to give way to the arid and rugged brown terrain of the west. A change we welcomed.

Just before arriving in Fort Stockton, we scoured our maps looking for public land or national Forrest in which to stay on. Unfortunately, like most of our trip through Texas, there was nothing close by. Switching over to iOverlander, the only options we were presented with were hotels, street camping, a Walmart parking lot or the Hilltop RV Park. Not wanting to stay in a hotel again and definitely not wanting to deal with the Walmart parking lot, we chose to check out the RV Park. Pulling in and surveying the grounds, we instantly realized that this was not the place for us. The RV park being almost completely full, more than $40 a night with massive fifth wheel campers, golf carts and people all over the place, this was definitely not the environment we were looking for.

Retreating back toward interstate I-10 in defeat, Jennifer had noticed an old metal shop like building down the road that had a few sporadic campers throughout its lot. Pulling in to check it out, we noticed that there was a faded sign above on the front fascia that said Hillside RV. This looked more like an abandoned commercial lot than a campground. Could it really be? Confirming on Google maps, yep it was an actual RV park. As we were attempting to find any information what so ever about check in and fees another couple had approached us from their camper further down in the lot. This was their third or fourth time staying here and they said they much preferred the privacy and the quiet over the resort like atmosphere up the road from which we left. They said “Pay box is on the side of the decrepit building and the owner used to show up in the morning with donuts. He’s an older gentleman and we’re not sure if he makes it around too much anymore. There’s bathrooms, showers and laundry in the building, but we’re not sure if they still work… We usually just park our rig, place some money in the pay box and enjoy the evening.”

With the surrounding views of the area, almost no one there and the only noise being that of the passing traffic on I-10 in the distance, this sounded like music to our ears. “So how much is it to camp?” I asked. “We don’t really know.. It’s not posted anymore so we usually drop a $20 in the envelope and place it in the pay box.” They chuckled as they replied. As they turned to head back to their RV we thanked them for the information and we started to scan the lot for which site we wanted to occupy. Dropping our fee in the pay box I contacted the phone number that was listed on Google and left a brief voicemail stating who I was, which site we were staying at and for how long, just for good measure.

With the van all set up we took a walk down the road to stretch out our legs from the long day of driving. The sun began to hang low in the big Texas sky and the colors were absolutely mesmirizing. Off to the south we could see storm clouds and small flashes of lightening. The wind was starting to pick up, the air was starting to cool and all of it was headed in our general direction. Out of nowhere, we started getting hit with patches of heavy rain and wind gusts over 40mph. We quickly dropped the top, secured anything outside that could be turned into a projectile and took shelter inside of the van. Twenty minutes worth of excitement later we were able to crawl out of our hiding place and resume the evening. Jennifer whipped up a delicious dinner inside, we enjoyed the finally bits of that big Texas sunset and finally succumbing to the exhaustion we all felt, turned in for the evening to get some much needed rest.


New York City

After a quick reset at home, we were back on the road to our next destination. New York City! The girls have been excited about this trip for a long time and we were finally able to put some time aside to make it happen. In our normal fashion, we had to do things differently and we chose to camp at the Liberty Harbor Marina & Rv Park across the Hudson River in Jersey City. We were surrounded by the typical motorhomes that you’d expect in a campground, but there were also a Jeep and a beautiful Landy 110 rocking some rooftop tents. The word “Campground” should be used lightly here as it’s a paved parking lot with water and electrical hookups. There is 24/7 security, bathrooms with showers and a laundry facility on site as well. The best part about this “Campground” is the location. You’re blocks away from the Path train to go over to NYC and you can see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty right from the campground. Our first day in NYC consisted of hitting the big items on the girl’s list, just to help calm them down a bit.😂 Times Square, Grand Central Station and all 10 floors of Macy’s. Not to mention experiencing the NYC subway system. Once the “big must see” items were checked off the list, we were able to move onto the more experience oriented locations. Be on the lookout for our next post where we delve a little deeper into those……

James River Rooftop Tent Rally 2022

The time is upon us once again for the 6th annual 2022 James River State Park Rooftop Tent Rally sponsored by Blue Ridge Overland Gear. This family friendly event offers kids activities, hiking and biking trails, river access for kayaking and fishing, bonfires and live music! There will also be multiple classes to help you up your overland skills. Don’t miss out on your chance to compete in the separate cooking and survival competitions this year as well! For more information about the event or to purchase tickets, please visit: 2022 RTTR Info/Tickets

We’ll see ya there!!!

Hipcamp, Could This Be The Answer?

When traveling to certain areas of the U.S., you’re bound to encounter at least one area that does not have any public land or dispersed camping options available. Crazy, I know. But this is more common than you might think. Take the East Coast for example. There’s plenty of places to explore and dispersed camping is readily available in the National Forrest of the Appalachian Mountains, but what if you wanted to get closer to the coast? Maybe you want to explore regions of New England, Maryland or even further south into the Carolina’s and Florida. Some of these areas are difficult to locate any public land in which you’re allowed to camp, let alone dispersed options. The go to in these areas has pretty much been limited to hotels, campgrounds (seasonal), or Walmart parking lots. The later only really works if you’re self contained in a van or some sort of camper.

Lately though, there as been another option that is starting to gather popularity. App based campsites. You can find these options through member services such as Harvest Hosts, Boondockers, and the like. The major draw back to these services are they are typically limited to actual hard sided campers, so no rooftop tents or pop up campers, and they are membership based. The one other caveat is neither really offer a dispersed option where you can be off on your own. With Boondockers you’re either camping in someone’s driveway or in front of their house and with Harvest Host it’s typically some sort of business that’s offering camping in exchange for you visiting their store/facility and potentially spending some money. Neither are bad options at all. But lately there has been another App based service that is skyrocketing in popularity, Hipcamp. This service is more like an AirBNB for campers. In the app, you can filter based on location, availability and amenities, scroll through pictures and reviews of the campsites and even book/pay right through the app. The best part is there is no annual subscription and each campsite has the price listed in the description.

Full disclosure, we’ve only used Hipcamp a couple of times ourselves. Our experiences were both great and mediocre. The great one being a dispersed campsite on private land inside a national wildlife refuge with firewood, fire ring, outdoor furniture, grill and even a composting privy at our disposal. The mediocre one was again on private property over on the side yard within eye shot of their home. It offered the same amenities as the other, but with the privy and a shower located in their detached garage. They also offer access to their pool, which was not yet open for the season. Both were gorgeous campsites, but we have to admit it was a little odd camping in someone’s yard, at least for us. We also knew, going into it that we were going to be staying near the house on the lawn. It was just our way of trying some of the different options out there that are listed on Hipcamp.

Again, the really nice thing about Hipcamp is it acts just like an AirBNB rental. You pick your camp and once you book it, you’ll have the comfort of knowing that there will be no need to hunt for a site when you get there, nor will you have to worry about someone getting there before you. Just show up, setup and enjoy. There’s something to be said about the ease of that. So if you find yourself traveling through an area that may be difficult to find a campsite, or maybe you just don’t want the fuss of trying to track a campsite down due to time constraints. You may want to give Hipcamp a try.

NOTE: This is not a paid post and we are in no way affiliated with Hipcamp. This is honestly our first impression of the service and will most likely not be our last interaction with it either. We truly see where this can and will be a valuable tool in our kit to locating campsites in the future. See the gallery below for photos of the aforementioned “Great Experience” campsite we enjoyed in Maryland. The link to this campsite is located here and the link to the video our YouTube channel is also located here.

Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills, SD

The Black Hills of South Dakota are truly magnificent. Beautiful canyons, streams, lakes and waterfalls, there are so many things to discover there outside of the usual tourist hotspots. Spearfish Canyon is a great example of what make the hills so amazing. The canyon can be explored via HWY 14A or the myriad of back country roads that run all through the area. Either way you choose, I guarantee that you’ll discover a landscape that is unmatched by any other. Have you ever been to the Black Hills? What did you love most about it?

Friends Whom Travel

One of the most difficult things we’ve found about having close friends whom share our passion for Adventure Travel, is that they’re always traveling and are rarely in the same place that we are! October of 2020, we were finally able to meet up with one such friend and we had a blast catching up and traveling all over the Black Hills and Colorado with him. Looking back through our photos, it sure does make it hard not to wish that we were right back at this very moment in time. It was such a memorable trip for all of us and we’re so glad that we were able to coordinate and spend a good chunk of it with our great friend Chris. How about you? Do you hang with your friends every week? Or are you all traveling in different directions too, only to rarely run into one another along your travels?

Conquering Personal Boundaries

Bailey here, was pushed slightly out of her comfort zone on the way into camp. Nothing dangerous, but it pressed firmly past her preconceived limitations in her mind and did not make for a happy ride. After arriving at camp, it was like a whole new Bailey emerged. She was running around exploring everything with Fiona, happy as could be. Sure, I know what you’re thinking. The poor thing was probably scared and of course she was happy to get out of that truck.  You’re exactly right and wrong. She was scared because she had already decided the outcome of the event before she/we had even tried. We’ve all done that, haven’t we? But her happiness was not to because she got out of the truck. It was because she was pushed past her comfort zone and discovered the world didn’t end because she thought it would. She discovered life. So happiness can be directly related to life. Who would’ve thought. Sometimes we need to push our boundaries to see what lies on the other side. To grow into better, stronger versions of ourselves.