Blog

First Winter Traveling in the Van // From Florida to Arizona

What started as an idea on a walk around our neighborhood in the historic winter of 2022/2023, thinking of ways to escape the snow, quickly snowballed into reality. That spring we sold our Tacoma, bought a van, and then spent the next 9 months building it out to prepare for as much travel as we could in 20224. Of course it wasn’t with out it’s challenges and frustrating moments when the build didn’t go quite as planned or the internet wasn’t what we needed it to be. But in the end, it was one hell of an exciting winter. Our …

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6 Hours in Frog Hollow // First Endurance Mountain Bike Race

When your buddy, Nate, asks you to sign up for a spring-time 6 Hour endurance mountain bike race in the Southwestern Utah Desert, you recall the minimal amount of miles you’ve ridden this winter and say, “No.” But then, you rethink about it, and misunderstand the request because obviously he inferred we’d be racing as a team, so only required to race for half the time. This gets you more interested, starting to put more miles in on the bike in winter, and even a little excited. Only for him to slam that door and let me know that we’re …

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Best Options for Mobile Internet // Van Life & Remote Travel

The dream: Head down a dirt access road for 20 miles, find an epic campsite, be able to work remotely, and not need to leave for an entire week. The reality: Spend most of your time trying to find a place to stay that will be close to a town so that we can get good cell service to make sure we’re able to work.“Affordable” mobile internet has come a helluva long way from those little jet-pack wifi devices and relying on your cellphone’s hotspot to try and download an email, to now being able to connect to high speed …

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Finally Finished My Adventure Map

Inspired by RoadTripRyan’s adventure map, detailing the locations of all of his experiences in the greater Utah area. I finally decided compile all 400+ posts into a map of my own. For the past ten years, it’s shocking to see all the places I’ve written about in that time. Looking back at my first posts detailing trip to New Orleans and EDM concerts that I’d travel to, all the way to the countless adventures in the mountains around the world. From reviews of hostels in Iceland to reviews of my favorite backcountry skis, the BD Helios 105s. I’d like to …

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Endless Pursuit of Trying Everything Once

We only get to live this one, short life. Right? Being realistic with myself, even at the less-than ripe young age of 33, I won’t be able to do everything I want, nor see every place in the world. It’s a sad realization, but an honest one at that. Will I climb Mount Everest, race the Leadville 100, or sail around the world? Who knows. Even though I won’t be able to check off all my goals in life, I am damn sure going to try to cross off as many things as possible. As my grandfather used to tell …

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South Lake Tahoe // Can’t Decide if Summer or Winter is Better for Outdoor Activities

California is many things, and ugly is not one of them. Over the past 6 years we’ve found ourselves driving Westward for at least one trip a year. Barely scratching the surface, I’d say we’ve seen a ton for someone who doesn’t live there. Been up and down the coast visiting the beautiful beaches, walked through the giant Redwoods, rock climbed the boulders in Joshua Tree National Park, and wandered the mountain towns in Northern California. Though we haven’t checked off Yosemite, I think one destination has got to be near the top spot in California. And that is Lake …

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Endless Adventure Opportunities in Hood River, Oregon

I first visited Hood River 4 years ago on a road trip through Oregon with our friends during the summer of 2020, and it was such an eye opening experience. I had never seen anything like it. Hood River wasn’t a beach town, it wasn’t a mountain town, it wasn’t a populated city center, it was somewhere mixed in between all of them. A place that wind sport lovers flock to in droves during the warmer months of the calendar. Better still, on the outskirts of town, Hood River has that perfect Pacific Northwest mountain biking scene and volcano skiing. …

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Surviving a Heatwave in Mount Shasta, California

It’s easy to change a weekend plan to avoid rain, cold temperatures, or whatever the reason. It’s slightly more difficult when you plan a month of travel on the road, and an abnormal heat wave blankets Northern California for two weeks during our trip. During the peaking temperatures, rising over 110 degrees, we found ourselves in the town of Mount Shasta with plans to camp that were quickly dashed and required immediate change of plans. Needless to say, working inside of a van that felt like an oven was a recipe for disaster, but we made the most of it …

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Long-Term Travel and Mental Health // #VanLife

I wanted to start off by saying that I won’t be the person that chimes in with, “Well… you need to spend at least double the time than you’re planning to visit in order to really make it worth it. A weekend (or week) just isn’t enough.” And though that may be true, it’s just not the reality for so many of us. Before traveling in the van, my wife and I were restricted, like most, to weekend trips and the week of vacation a year to somewhere new.  We never had the luxury of traveling for weeks or months …

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Winter Vanlife Adventures in Sedona, Vegas, and the Grand Canyon

After spending January and February on the road, traveling through the Southeast, we were back home in a excessively snowy Utah. It just so happened that as soon as we returned, the winter machine turned on and up full blast, which turned into a foot of snow every few days. Needless to say, after two weeks of it, we were anxious to get back on the road to chase some desert sun. That meant we were loading up the van again, and pointing it south, down I-15, with our eyes set on the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona. With almost …

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