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Genesis of a Life on the Road

Note to reader: After considering YouTube, a blog, Instagram, and Facebook as venues for my travel tales, I originally opted for Facebook, simply for ease and audience. I felt YT and a blog were just too much work and Instagram turned out not to be used by many friends at the time. However after my last road trip (see Westward Ho) I decided I was a bit weary of FB so I decided to turn back to the blog. So here it is, more or less from the beginning based on my memory and journal.

A little introduction.  I retired a couple of years ago at 60. My last year to work I entered into what I'd hoped would be a great relationship and we did some traveling in a motorhome. On our third road trip out west it became clear that  neither of us was happy together. Initially we decided to head back home and go our respective ways, but concluded that we were already on the road and being adults, figured we could go ahead with the trip as friends, which actually worked out pretty well. Along the way we discussed my decision to go back to plan A (before said relationship) to buy a van and travel for a couple of years and along the way figure out where I wanted to live after traveling.  We drove down to Flagstaff for the summer RTR (Rubber Tramp Rendezvous) and I got to view a lot of vans and talk with folks. Once we got back home I only had a few weeks to find a van before we both headed off on respective trips. In hindsight perhaps I should have forgone the trip and spent more time looking. My goal was to buy the least expensive van I could find since I felt I would want to explore the US for a couple of years before settling down somewhere.  I found a 2012 Chevy Express 1500 V6 cargo van that mechanically checked out sound and had just under 80K miles. It had a few minor exterior dings but I didn't care about that. In fact, considering that I'd be parking at trailheads and put-ins, the worse the exterior looked the better.
2012 Chevy Express 1500 V6

 So with just a couple of weeks till takeoff at the end of July 2016 the ex-boyfriend cut two holes in the roof and installed two Fantastic fans and hooked it up to a single AMG battery.

 I threw in a twin futon mattress, some plastic bins, a small Coleman single burner stove, and my bike and hit the road. Cruise control was ordered pre-trip but unfortunately they sent the wrong model....twice...so I made the trip without it.
My trip began with a 9 day visit to my friends Lois and John in Traverse City Michigan, where I'd been going for several summers. We met back in 2009 in Florida on a paddling trip. After leaving TC I headed to the UP, visiting national and state forests, Tahquamenon Falls, Seney NWR, Sylvania canoe area, and the Porcupine Mts.


Trumpeter swan, Seney NWR

Tahquamenon Falls

Field of sunflowers outside Traverse City, MI


Sandhill Crane summer resident up north

Beach rocks Lake Superior, Porcupine Mts

Small lake at dusk, Fox River state forest campsite

Hiking Porcupine Mts.

Presque Isle Waterfall
The sound the northern lakes are known for; the Loon.



The UP was amazing and I hope to go back someday in the fall.

From there I headed to WI where I met up and stayed with a paddling friend. We went birding several days, but the wind kept us off the water. My plan was to meet friends in KS, but while in WI I developed an abscessed tooth and headed back home. Once the weather cooled off I started the van build in earnest.



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