Boondock Life

We stayed at our first Boondock for 2 nights to recover from the long drive west. Todd made coffee in a French press, heating up water on a jet-boil, because that's how we roll. 

This picture is my favorite stand of trees. I spent most of our time here laying the grass in the shade and relaxing. I didn't need a leash or a collar and I could just chill by myself and take a break from protecting Todd from all dangers, real and imagined.

This spring-fed trough was just uphill from our camp. The water was extremely clear and perfectly odor free. Todd sterilized it with a steri-pen to make sure it was safe, and we used it for the solar shower, washing dishes, and for things like coffee, where it would be boiled first. We're not taking any chances with water.

We took a nice hike up the ridge behind our camp site to the top of this rocky hill. Todd and Diane ate wild raspberries and I sniffed all sorts of unfamiliar scat. Todd wanted to keep walking on the ridge, but Diane saw a rattlesnake in one of the rocky crevices and we were all a little rattled after that, so we carefully made our way back to camp for a delicious lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches.

Both nights at our Boondock, thunderstorms rolled past, but they were fleeting and refreshing so we didn't mind. Todd took two rides on his mountain bike while Diane and I hung around camp and wrote these blog entries to post when we got back to civilization.

Diane doesn't like to mountain bike, so Todd had to do that alone, but he took a walkie-talkie and checked in a lot, turning around once he couldn't reach us anymore. He got enough cell phone reception in one pass to get some messages out to Mammam Dot so she wouldn't worry about not hearing from us for days, which was nice of him.

All in all, our first Boondock with a great success. Diane was quite nervous when we headed off into the wild, but Todd has safety in mind and promises we won't do anything dangerous.

Here are some more pictures:

Travelogue -- First Boondocking!

After The Badlands, we were all very hot and very tired from driving 2000 miles in 5 days in a vehicle that must be driven no faster than 55 MPH unless conditions are ideal, in which case it can go a whopping 60 MPH. We'd come a long way, sleeping only in Walmarts and a rest area, and those were not the most restful nights (although they weren't as bad as Diane had feared). Todd decided it was time to use the Big Rolling Crate for its intended purpose: Camping!

We refreshed our provisions in Rapid City and then drove up into Black Hills National Forest for some boondocking. Boondocking, also known as dispersed camping, is something foreign to most folks on the East Coast where there's no wide open land to roam, but here in the West it is common. In National Forests and other Bureau of Land Management areas, you can drive down certain types of "roads" into the wilderness and make a camping spot of your own choosing, totally free of cost. 

Most RVs can't do this sort of camping because those vehicles aren't made for off-roading, but we are driving a change-on-the-fly 4WD diesel with six wheels and serious tires. Our limiting factors are ground clearance (ok but not great) and weight (we weight almost 10,000 pounds). After studying a map of the Black Hills, Todd got some ideas and we were off.

But not so fast, it turns out, as climbing the steep grades into the hills nearly made us overheat. Twice. Thankfully Todd was paying close attention and we pulled over and cooled off before anything bad happened.  We also learned how to prevent this on future hills (because if we can't tackle the Black Hills we have no hope in the Rockies!), which is to gear down to 3rd. Actually there's a sticker inside the driver's door that Todd only noticed after this near-disaster that said specifically, "Do not use overdrive for steep climbs."

The off-reading was quite bumpy but also exciting and the truck handled well. Todd made Diane get out and video the truck rumbling along while he videoed with his Go-Pro. Todd's going to make an epic DIY TopGear-style video at the end of the trip.

Once we found a site, around 5 o'clock, we settled in and Todd's vision for the Big Rolling Crate really came together. He unhooked the bikes, installed screen panels he'd built for the back doors, set up an awning for shade over the back, and we had a lovely home away from home.

Travelogue -- The Badlands

On July 4, Todd woke up before dawn at the rest area where we had stopped in the wee hours of the morning and started driving once again. Diane stayed in the back with me to catch a little more sleep, as Todd did the past two days during Diane's afternoon shift of driving. Todd likes riding in the back with me, but Diane hated it. She said it made her feel sick. Todd says it's like being in a boat, but we all know Diane doesn't love boats.

We stopped just after sunrise so Diane could get back up front and then we drove a couple of hours to our first National Park: The Badlands. We arrived at about 7:30 AM on a sunny, blue-sky day that promised to be very hot. The scenic byway through the park was already crowded with other tourists, including tons of other campers like us, but we didn't see any other ambulance campers. We met a couple from Rhode Island who had driven a pick-up truck camper and they were impressed with our speed. They'd been on the road twice as long as we had.

We used our America the Beautiful National Parks Pass for the first time to enter the park, which seemed fitting since it was the Fourth of July. I got to get out and explore at a lot of scenic vistas with Diane and Todd, but I couldn't go on the trails with them. They took some short walks to various outlooks and took tons of pictures, and they told me all about in between. 

They say the Badlands feels like something right out of science fiction or like walking on the surface of the moon. It's vastness is astonishing, and it's easy to imagine the first French explorers who came upon it and named it "mauvais terre a traverser," because if there weren't this lovely paved road for us to drive, we certainly wouldn't want to cross it.

We toured the park all morning until it was lunch time and then we hit our first tourist trap since Niagara Falls: Wall Drug, in Wall S.D. Wall Drug's claim to fame is mostly it's bumper stickers ("Where the heck is Wall Drug?") and the fact that it is in the middle of nowhere. 

Diane and Todd were worried that it was too hot in the bus for me, so they grabbed takeout, Todd took a quick pass through a splash park, and we got back on the road towards Rapid City.

Here are a few a more pics from the day:

South Dakota Sunrise

The last of the grassy plain before entering The Badlands

Some of the Badlands are canyons and some are hills. 

Todd at Wall Drug

Travelogue -- Crossing the Plains

On July 3, we had a leisurely morning in Tomah, WI while Diane and Todd struggled in vain to find anyplace in town where they could get a cell signal or wifi to do some more route planning with their smartphones. They couldn't decide if they wanted to stay on I-90 or take I-94. South Dakota or North Dakota, that was the question. In the end, they never did find any reception so they had to plan using their old 50 States road atlas, which led them to conclude that I-90 was the way to go.

So on they drove into Minnesota. We crossed the mighty Mississippi River, but it was so early in the day's driving that we didn't stop to do any recreating. The rolling green hills of the farmland were as bucolic as any you'll find in the world, and the air smelled clean and fresh, and although it was somewhat monotonous, it was pretty.

As lunch time rolled around, Todd happily had enough cell reception to learn that there was a state park on a lake where we could stop for a walk and a snack. It was called Myre-Big Island. When we got to the Big Island parking area, there were people setting up for a wedding in the picnic pavilion, and if I do say so myself, they had a most perfect day for a wedding. Blue sky, perfect temperature, a nice little breeze. 

We took a nice walk and I got to swim twice, although afterward, as we were driving away, Diane started to think it hadn't been such a good idea to let me swim because surrounding that park on all sides were field after field of corn with signs from energy companies marking the sections. The corn was being grown for ethanol, which Diane concluded meant that it was probably grown with more pesticides and fertilizers than are allowed in corn for food. But they did wash me off with fresh water after I swam because I also might have rolled in some mud, so Todd figured it had all been okay. I feel fine, so I don't think there was anything wrong with that water.

After lunch, Diane took a long spell of driving, finishing up Minnesota and bring in us to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Todd wanted to drive all night after a stop for dinner because, as he put, "we started the trip on the back foot," and he wanted "to get on the front foot." By that I think he meant that we had gotten into a rut of finishing up our driving later and later each night, and he wanted to fix it by just driving all night.

Fortunately for all of us, Diane prevailed upon him to compromise and they decided we'd go as far as Chamberlain, South Dakota and then stop until morning. Todd wanted to see the Badlands, and if he drove all night, he'd pass them right by, so it didn't take much to bring him around to this plan. 

As we drove out of Sioux Falls, we saw fireworks everywhere, people celebrating Fourth of July weekend all around us. Soon enough though, the fireworks stopped and we were on the darkest highway yet. No lights, no towns, few exits, not even any illuminated billboards. At last we reached a really nice rest area near Chamberlain where people aren't supposed to camp but parking for up to 3 hours is okay. There were dozens of campers and tractor trailers there already, so we found a nice place to park and settled in.

Travelogue -- Lake Erie and Beyond

Day 3 of the Todyssey, after Diane and Todd enjoyed their parking lot coffee, we decided to stay off of I-90 for a while and drive on a route along Lake Erie instead. The route was disappointing in that it offered almost no views of Lake Erie, but the "Coastal Ohio" highway signs really amused Diane and Todd, since Ohio is an interior state. It pained Todd to drive right by the roller coasters at Cedar Point, but even he had to admit, he didn't want to go deal with Fourth of July weekend crowds just to ride some roller coasters.

We stopped for a nice walk and picnic at Maumee Bay State Park right on the lake. As soon as we pulled up, I got really excited because Todd said I was going to be able to swim. Alas, swimming was not to be. There was a sort of pond with a huge sandy beach area for swimming, but there were signs discouraging swimming due to elevated bacterial levels. 

We walked from that pond up over a paved walking trail that ran along the actual lake and down onto the short of the lake where there were also recreation areas, but more signs discouraging swimming due to blue-green algae and elevated bacterial levels. There were several large dead fish washed up on the shore, and I really would have enjoyed having a good roll in those, but Diane wouldn't let me. 

From there we drove on, back to I-90 out of Ohio into Indiana and then Illinois and up through Chicago. Since it was late afternoon on Saturday, Diane and Todd figured traffic wouldn't be too bad so it wouldn't be too stressful to drive the Big Rolling Crate through a major city. There was actually a bunch of construction, so there was traffic, but it was slow like us and it gave Diane and Todd plenty of time to take pictures of the skyline out the windows and play every song they could think of that mentioned Chicago. 

Although none of us has ever been to Chicago, the Big Rolling Crate is for camping not for city exploration, and anyway, I personally hate cities, so we didn't stop there at all. Instead we kept driving until we came to a very nice truck stop where Diane and Todd took showers and got snacks. 

To my dismay, we weren't done driving yet, even though it was getting late and we had crossed a time zone that day, meaning it felt even later to us than it was. Instead we pushed on to Wisconsin, even stopping at yet another Walmart Parking lot in the town of Tomah. We arrived about 1:30 AM Central Time. This one had even more campers in it, and like the one in Ohio, it was 24-hours, which made Diane very happy. I liked it because it had the best pet area of anyplace we stopped so far, a huge field of nice soft grass where we played with my football before bed.

So far the worst state we drove through was Indiana. The pet walk areas at all the rest stops were full of litter and the grass was so crunchy and pointy in hurt my feet. The rest areas in New York and Minnesota were the best, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Minnesota is for the next post.

Diane couldn't resist a pic of this sign!

Travelogue -- Niagara Falls!

On the second day of our Todyssey, we visited Niagara Falls, but Diane and Todd didn't take me to see them because they said it would be too crowded, and I really don't like crowds. I didn't mind waiting for them in the Big Rolling Crate, though, because I am satisfied with having seen their pictures. I don't know why people have to see everything for themselves when they could just look at pictures, but I guess it's a good thing, because it means we get to take adventures like this one.

Before I tell you about Diane and Todd's exploration of Niagara Falls, I need to offer some reassurances to my friends out there who are saying, "They left her in a vehicle! In the summer! They are bad, bad people." Diane and Todd would never, ever leave me in a hot vehicle. The day we visited Niagara Falls, the outside temperature was only around 70 and it was very overcast and breezy at the falls. I was able to nap on the bed with a gentle breeze coming through the windows while they did all their silly human tourism, and I was never uncomfortable at all. If anything, Diane and Todd are obsessively concerned about my comfort and wellbeing, so please don't worry about me. 

Now back to my story...

Although Diane once visited Niagara Falls before, she was overwhelmed at the sight. She said that as soon as she glimpsed them, tears sprang to her eyes because they were so beautiful. She and Todd went out on the observation tower where they could see both the American and Canadian falls, and then the rode the elevator to the floor of the falls, put on blue plastic ponchos, and walked up a staircase called "The Crow's Nest," which takes you up under the spray of the falls.

Diane says her exact experience of that was a strong urge to shout, "Okay! That's enough! Turn the water off!" It was like having bucket after bucket thrown directly in her face. But of course you can't turn off Niagara Falls. It's been flowing since I'm guessing the last ice age (if only we had cell reception here, I'd tell Diane to go look that up and make sure), and it'll keep flowing forever. Even as I sit here now, in South Dakota, days later, those falls are still churning, still pummeling stupid tourists in the blue plastic ponchos. There's something truly amazing about that.

After our visit to Niagara Falls, we finished our tour of Upstate New York, following I-90 through Buffalo and down into Pennsylvania and onto to Ohio where we stopped for the night at another Walmart parking lot. This one really did allow campers, and there were a whole bunch there when we arrived. This one was also 24-hours, which was nice as we rolled up around 12:30 AM, but Diane and Todd were still able to go inside and get some provisions. Personally, I liked the soft grass in the medians there. 

In the morning, Todd made coffee on a camp stove right there in the parking lot and we hit the road early.

Travelogue -- The Todyssey Begins!

I'm writing this on July 5. This is the first chance I've had since we left to do any blogging. Diane and I may have underestimated the challenges of blogging from the road. The biggest challenge so far has been this:

We drove over, 2000 miles between when we left on June 30 and when we stopped for the night last night, July 4. That means in five days, we covered 2000 miles! 400 miles a day! In a Big Rolling Crate whose top speed is 60MPH, but only under ideal road and wind conditions. Mostly we travel at 55 MPH, and when we're going up big hills, even slower. We've been pounding out the miles so hard that there hasn't been any time for writing.

The second biggest challenge has been the lack of cell phone reception or wifi. Although I'm writing this on July 5, I can't say for certain when I'll be able to post it. In fact, Diane says we're just going to go ahead and write a bunch now and then post them all at once next time we have good reception.

Also, Diane wants to tell Mammam Dot not to worry when we don't post on Facebook or call for a few days in a row. It's just because we're off the grid enjoying the quiet life.

Now, to tell you about our travels:

On June 30, the Todyssey officially began! We left our house around 4:00, made a quick stop at our favorite Worcester swimming hole because Todd and Diane got pretty darn hot loading everything into the Big Rolling Crate, and then we hit the highway. We decided to take I-90 West as far as we can, hopefully as far as Washington State. 

Our only detours so far have been to see Niagara Falls (more on that later), a stretch of rural roads to visit the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio, and to drive the Badlands Scenic Bypass in South Dakota.

Diane and Todd are loving I-90. From New York all the way to South Dakota it was mostly flat, mostly straight, and not very congested, all of which makes for good conditions to drive a 20-year-old ambulance that prefers going slow.

Our first night we made it to Syracuse, NY around 11:00 at night and pulled into a Walmart Parking Lot. Diane researched Walmart parking lots and according to the Internet, the one in Syracuse allowed RVs to park overnight. When we got there, the parking lot was chock full of "No Overnight Parking" signs, but there were also several RVs, so we went ahead and slept there anyway, and it worked out fine.

 

Stay tuned for more posts about our adventure or check us out on Instagram by searching for #Todyssey, where Diane is posting lots of pictures!