MetaGirl On The Road

Well, this day represents the beginning of the end of our trip. We pack up Maureen, our trusted Irish RV packhorse, for the final RV component of our trip. There are feelings being felt. After all that we’d seen and done, it’s still not enough. I think we would keep going (but not like Thelma…

This was an adventure day for us. My Uncle Chris took us to the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. The boys participated in a scavenger hunt to locate the flora and fauna outside the museum building, which is off limits unless you want to complete a five-page (no, not even kidding) Covid-19 affidavit. Umm . ….

Funny thing about California summers: they are an awful lot like late fall in North Carolina. Days can be bright and brisk or damp, foggy, and cold. Friday, August 13th (true to its nature) was the latter weather conditions. When I asked Chris and Barbara if we needed hoodies for the day’s expedition, they replied…

We’re getting the hang of this RV-ing thing. I’ll spare you the more graphic details. But we’re usually road ready in about 30 minutes–not bad for rookies. It was yet another logistics gymnastics day with lots of dominoes stood up just waiting to be knocked down and throw all of our planning off. First, we…

We took it easy today and stayed close to the RV park. We played in the swimming hole–perfect temperature for the high heat of the day. I built a river rock cairn and promptly forgot to take a picture of it although Adam snapped a picture of someone else’s. So, just pretend that I built…

One piece of advice Adam and I heard repeatedly about Sequoia National Park is: YOU DO NOT DRIVE AN RV INTO SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK. We can independently confirm this because getting up to the park entrance is–quite literally–one switchback after another with mountain on one side and vertical drop-offs on the other. Ryan, ever the…

Our next park is Sequoia in California, and to get there, we had to drive through the Mojave Desert. Lest you think that the Mojave is all dust devils, cacti, dirt roads, and a whole lotta nothing . . . we encountered another marvel of human imagination and ingenuity. This is the Ivanpah Solar Powerplant….

This was our second day in Zion National Park. We wanted to get into The Narrows and hike through the Virgin River (phrasing–we know, Chris, Barbara, Cody, and Travis). Back at the outfitters, we rented neoprene socks, water boots, and hiking sticks. Really good decision! The water was about 65 degrees. Those water socks and…

Zion National Park is a wonder. Allow us to share a little. The haze is actually smoke that drifted from the Dixie Wildfire burning in California. Cal-Fire is still fighting this now month-long blaze, and containment remains indeterminate. We rented our walking sticks at the park entrance and rode the free park shuttle bus to…

The four of us split into pairs: Adam and Ryan did some more hiking and spotted Thor’s Hammer, which Ryan found unimpressive. Evan and I went horseback riding. We didn’t want to tire ourselves out too much since we had a long, long drive ahead of us to get to Zion. We’d planned on staying…

A small mix-up in my calendar meant we had to pull up stakes in the late afternoon on Day 7 instead of in the morning of Day 8. Fortunately, the drive from Arches to Bryce was short enough that we arrived at our next RV park in the waning hours of daylight. We took the…

We made our way into Arches National Park suuuuuuuuuuper early. Everything I’d been reading about the western national parks said the same thing: get in as early as possible the parks are Jamaican, as in, they be jammin’. Turns out, though, because we arrived in the middle of the week, the park was surprisingly uncrowded–particularly…

Believe it or not, but sitting for many hours straight in an RV is quite tiring. Our first full day of our trip featured a mixed bag of activities. We started the day with some rafting on the Colorado River. We opted for a more gentle ride over a more strenuous experience. Recent rains churned…

We’re finally realizing this trip. It’s happening. Today is the day we stop for our week one provisions, pick up our new horse, leave Natasha in long-term parking, depart Salt Lake City, and begin our big adventure together. That’s a very long sentence, and I meant it that way because Adam and I were doing…

Who’s in Charge Here? Hint: Not Us It may be the early hour (6:46 Mountain Time) or the delirium of having driven 2,136 miles in four days, but oh, life is funny even when it’s complicated, maybe especially because it’s complicated. We left Rawlins, Wyoming at a more sensible hour—particularly for Evan, our 13-year-old, who…

Off We Go . . . We woke up early: we’re full of anticipation. I’m bustling about finding random, non-trip-related tasks to do. Adam and the boys spend the morning transferring the stuff we had set out on the living room floor to the car. (For future reference, we call the car Natasha. The packing…

You know that feeling you get right before you do something you’ve always dreamed about doing? Call that feeling what you will: I’m feeling it. In 2020, when the pandemic weaseled its way from spring to summer, all that we as a family had planned to do, to see, to visit, to enjoy–together and apart–evaporated…