The minus 2 days caveat warrants an explanation, which I will get to, eventually. For now, I will state that this 9,000-mile trip to British Columbia–via Illinois, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Canada, back into Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri–was a spectacular once-in-a-lifetime experience. From the flatlands to the Badlands to the mountains and back to the flatlands, all the while witnessing the majesty of rivers, lakes and ponds, and the ocean, was a blessing of reverence and gratitude.
Seven blog posts were written over these 9 weeks, meant to capture the splendor of our travels. I so enjoy writing, and apparently a lot of you enjoy reading about our vanlife. Nearly each day was filled with adventure and joy, some more than others of course, and the few glitches that arose along the way were totally navigable. After all, it is good to be stretched beyond what is comfortable and familiar now and then…
61 days is a long time to be away from home! During this time, we were fortunate that good friends were staying at our house, as they are house-shopping themselves. They had a place to land, and we had trusted friends here, looking out for any untoward events. The HVAC unit went out, which would have been a drag to come home to, but they were able to facilitate the servicing of the A/C unit. They took in the mail, watered the house plants, and generally provided a presence in our home while we were gone–all routine maintenance stuff, all very helpful, and all dearly appreciated!
After having been immersed in the stunning fall colors in Colorado, we headed to Kansas as we made our way home. Kansas … is not my favorite state. It is flat with a strong agricultural presence, and it was windy which blew up a lot of dust from the farm fields, diminishing the appeal of the open road. Our first stop in Kansas was at Lake Scott State Park. We’d stayed there last year, a bit earlier in the summer, greatly appreciating the abundance of hummingbird moths nectaring on the redwhisker clammy weed plant, as well as many songbirds. This year there were no plants, no hummingbird moths, and the only birds were eurasian collared doves and a few woodpeckers. It is not uncommon to remember specific experiences from a place then returning there expecting a repeat of those experiences. So yes, we were a bit disappointed, but made up for it with a fantastic bike ride all over the park trails and roads. At least the park and the camping were not crowded! The two nights we spent at Lake Scott were alright, not fabulous, but totally fine.
That changed when we arrived at our next camp, Sand Hills State Park. We had not been aware that this campground was a favorite of horse peoples, for whom the corrals at the campsites made perfect sense. For us however, the paved campsites adjacent to the corrals were devoid of trees and bushes, so not very appealing. On top of that, it was insanely windy with 87-degree heat. We did take a 3-mile walkabout on the sandy hills (they got the park name right!), in the hopes of finding bike trails for the next day, as we were booked there for two nights. Alas, there was no biking to be had, unless we chose roads in and out of the park with a goodly amount of traffic. Between the wind, the heat, the lack of biking or more hiking, we decided to just drive home the next day! The GPS told us that it would be a 636 mile, 9 hours and 17 minute drive — way, way beyond our usual Rule of Three: 3 hours and/or 300 miles of driving to arrive in camp by 3 PM — but I immediately got excited to BE HOME. With all of our stops to get gas, pee, and eat we knew it would turn into a 12-hour drive, which sure enough, it was. We got home ~ 7 PM on Saturday, skipping the last two nights and days of camping in Kansas and Missouri.
It was a delight to come into our home, which our friends left in immaculate condition! We unpacked only the essentials from Vanda, leaving the rest for Sunday. That first glorious shower, the moment I slipped between the sheets of our bed, getting up in the night to pee without having to go outside…all of those small things were quite wonderful.
Sunday morning, I got right to work on a deep cleaning for Vanda. Even though I keep our van living space tidy which includes a weekly wipe down with vinegar, and an every couple of weeks vacuuming of the cab floor followed by a wet rag to spiff up the floor mat, there is always a more thorough cleaning that occurs when we get home. After 9 weeks, this was certainly needed, at least by my standards.
For the first time ever, I washed Vanda with warm soapy water to remove the zillion bugs smooshed onto the front grill area, headlights, and windshield, as well as all of the road grime. The cold water power wash at the carwash just doesn’t cut it. Because I am not tall but Vanda is, some of my old rock climbing skills were required to balance one leg on the ladder and one leg on the vehicle — it was a bit tricky and maybe even dangerous but I was determined to get it done. I survived without getting hurt and Vanda was as clean as she’d ever been! Cleaning the inside is easy and familiar, a task that I spread out over the next few days. Now, everything is back inside our clean home-on-wheels!
I have barely looked around our yard except to note from the window view that it is a wild mess but still gloriously alive with fall bloomers. We did come home to some caterpillars, 3 monarch chrysalises, and one eastern swallowtail chrysalis.
While we travel, there is a lot of nature that we miss of the yard blooms, birds, and bugs. It is just lovely that a few signs of the native ecosystem are still available to us in early fall. What a conundrum — being home to be immersed in the wondrous flora and fauna occurring in our native yard or being on the road to be immersed in the wondrous flora and fauna occurring all over the rest of the country! Life is good! xo
