A Quick Stop In Tucson

After a few days of traveling, it was nice to have a change of pace. Arriving at our friends home in Tucson we quickly transitioned from run, run, run to let’s take care of some life maintenance and take a little time to relax. After starting some laundry, we pulled everything out of the van to clean and do a reset. If you’ve traveled long enough you know that not everything ends up back where it belongs and sometimes it just feels good to clean and reset everything.

It was a welcomed change of pace. Once the life maintenance things were mostly completed, we enjoyed our time with our friends hanging out in their beautiful oasis that they had created in their backyard. After a little relaxation we escaped the afternoon heat at one of their favorite restaurants and enjoyed some exquisite mexican cuisine and grandiose margaritas. The food and drinks were excellent as was the company. After making a loop around Tucson to take in the urban sights we retired to the backyard oasis and enjoyed one anothers company before calling it a night.

The next morning we arose to the sounds of birds chirping and a beautiful Arizona sunrise. The early morning air was cool as we made our way to the Catalina Foot Hills and Finger Rock Trailhead. Here we were treated to a beautiful hike amongst the saguaro cacti and the rugged landscape. The views were breathtaking and it was our first up close experience with the massive yet beautiful saguaros. We were surprised to learn about how old each of them were. Did you know that a saguaro cactus can reach 40ft in height? Did you also know that they grow rather slowly, taking up to ten years to grow an inch, and 70 years to reach 6.5 ft tall? At that height, they supposedly can start to flower for the first time in their lives. Upon reaching the age of 95-100 years old, a saguaro cactus’ height may measure up to 15-16 ft. We were floored learning this information, especially given the fact that we were standing in a valley surrounded by giant saguaro cacti!

Departing the trail, before the heat of the day really set in, we made our way to a quaint little farmers market in town before retiring back to the backyard oasis. Here we spent the rest of the day enjoying each other’s company with a little bit of tinkering on an old Landy Hi-Cap pick-up truck thrown in for good measure.

The next morning we set off to explore the Mission of San Xavier del Bac. The missing was founded by Padre Kino in 1692 and is Arizona’s oldest European structure as well as a masterpiece of Spanish Colonial architecture. The Mission was gorgeous as were the views outside. Truly a place to experience if you ever have the chance. Side note, it’s also the first place that we experienced a Roadrunner in the wild. Trivial for some I’m sure but for us, being from the east coast this was an exciting thing to see. After the mission we indulged in a local favorite known as BK Carne Asada and Hot Dogs. I know, I know… Those two things don’t seem like they go together but you’re totally wrong and so was I. It reminded me of a Chicago style hotdog with a Mexican twist and it was delicious!

On our last night of visiting our friends, we loaded the vehicles in preparation for our early morning departure and settled in to an amazing dinner that they had prepared. Food, laughter, great company and sometimes a drink truly do wonders for the soul.

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.

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. 

Exploring Blackwater

Jennifer and Bailey look over the powerful Blackwater River

Nature’s power on display as the Blackwater River cascades over the rock face

On the days leading up to Overland Expo East 2021, we visited a few of the more touristy area’s in the beautiful state of West Virginia. One of those places being Blackwater Falls near Davis, WV. If you haven’t been, we highly recommend adding it to your list of attractions and places to visit. Yes, there’s a trading post (aka tourist shop/trap) in the parking lot, but don’t let that deter you. Nor the masses that you’ll come upon while making the short journey to the falls from the parking lot. It’s worth it, trust me. We recommend visiting the historical markers and info stations along the short hike down to the observation decks. We found them very interesting and they allowed us to see the falls from a different perspective. You’ll understand what I mean if you take the time to read them. We won’t spoil that for you. No bother if you choose to bypass the info centers and head straight to the falls though. Nature’s power, showcasing the beautiful waters of the Blackwater River, cascading over the rock face is by far the main attraction here and is enough to keep anyone petrified with awe.