Life

Incognito Adventure

Recently we took a trip from Texas to Washington state in our incognito adventure van. If you haven’t seen how awesome our van is, check out the youtube tour.

So now that you understand how awesome our van is, here are a few things we noticed on this last trip across the United States.

So starting out in Texas. Texas is still very friendly to camper vans, even with the passage of House Bill 1925 Texas remains one of the states where you can pull over on a rest area and enjoy a decent nights sleep with out the fear of a knock on the door.

We travelled from Houston to Amarillo with no issues, we did stop at a lovely Mexican Restaurant outside Amarillo, Barrera’s Mexican Restaurant that was both down to earth and a lovely relaxing home-made meal after a long drive. We recommend them for a great meal.

For our trip through Colorado we went up the east side of the state. Small towns littered the roadside each looking more desperate then the next. We wondered as we viewed the peeling paint if the people there were stuck, or had some secret we did not know to find contentment in the rural world. Of note were the tarantulas that littered the road during dusk as they crossed the roadside from east to west. We played frogger with numerous large arachnoid.

Wyoming. The Oxbow Motel is a favorite among our journey. We spent a few nights and even saw a full family of Moose that wandered by.

Moose Family Wandering by Medicine Bow Forest Wy.

North of Evanston, Wy we stayed at a lovely lake. The algae in the water adds cyanide, so best not to drink it, but it was a lovely spot.

North of Evanston, Wy

Utah was uneventful. In Idaho we camped 7000 feet above sea level near a volcanic lake. Lake Cleveland is a destination everyone should have on their bucket list. Wonderful views and encompassing nature with the random cow that moo’s at you along the roadside.

Lake Cleveland Idaho

A trip is not compete with a stop at the Boise Stage Shop, it is a random gas station along the route to Boise city and has been in operation over 100 years. They offer the best showers west of Amarillo and provide a great spot to recoup from a few days in the wilderness.

From Boise we headed into the Oregon wilderness, every time we relive the historic adventures of Lewis and Clark and stop at all of the rest stops enjoying the journey and the views. The route provides a needed refill on fresh water, as the rest areas have free drinking water refills. We use a Berkey water filer to ensure the freshest water ever! The 12 liters we keep in the van tends to last at least a week or two.

As we head up Deadman’s pass we always stress at the ride down the drop into the plains. Years ago we had a travel trailer cause the truck we had( Aptly named “Chucky”) backfire and catch fire on Deadman’s pass. We survived, but not without some scars, so the trip down the pass is always exciting.

Entering Washington we noticed the atmosphere change as the people were very much self interested and ignored anyone not in their perception. Over the years we have noticed how the people have assumed many things based on your vehicle, net worth or appearance. In our E-150 we appear common and are mostly ignored.

Up the pass in Yakama, we enjoy White Pass every time we travel it. The views, although we have 100 pictures of it, still bring awe to our minds. We recommend the drive any chance you get. We rested with some signature teriyaki along the river and enjoyed the drive up the pass. No snow greeted us, but we enjoyed the journey as always. If you have not enjoyed the majesty that is Hwy 12 in Washington, I highly recommend it.

Castle Rock, Washington

In Washington we visited some family and enjoyed a few nights in the wilderness of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. 12 Miles from anything we encountered a kitten that was making a life of it’s own in the wilderness. The cat was clearly at home in the forest. Mrs. Adventure named the cat “Tux” forevermore.

Tux the random forest cat

We visited Astoria and had fond memories of ‘Goonies.’ We have added Astoria as a bucket list town of spending some time in. I hope they can handle our level of adventure. We wanted to head north into the Rainforest of Washington, but realized a storm was approaching and headed back south.

A relaxing drive south brought us back to Texas were we are enjoying the moderate weather and getting ready for our next adventure. Thank you for taking the time to enjoy this adventure with us, we look forward to sharing the next.

Utah Rainbow

Ta ta for now.

Mr. Freedom and Mrs. Adventure.

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