In search of the continuous road trip
In Durango, we finally mailed all the books we’d borrowed while circling back east to their rightful owners. Here’s what got sent: The Rider — a bicycling book that made me want to ride again. Highly recommend it even to non-cyclists. It recounts a single …
As a teenager, I was into mountain biking, and the epicenter of the sport was in Durango. Ned Overend and John Tomac, the godfathers mountain biking, lived there. I wanted to live in Durango too. Or Moab (home of the Slickrock Trail, one of the …
It’s official: I am citied-out. I’m sure there are plenty more nice and interesting cities out there, but I don’t need to see them. Our budget no longer permits me to do the types of things I like to do in cities: eat trendy food, …
A few weeks ago I read a story about New Mexico’s efforts to improve its image with potential tourists. The tourism department surveyed groups of people and found that New Mexico is generally considered boring and bleak, with nothing to do. Some people aren’t even sure …
When things get a little rough, we fall back on food. We set our sights on a good, cheap meal, and the internet always seems to provide. Driving across New Mexico, getting screwed by the campgrounds and pretty bored by the roads and the miles …
After surviving our epic trip across Texas, we finally arrived in the dark of night at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, escorted by swarms of bats that we imagined were from nearby Carlsbad Cavern. The last time we were here, we got snowed out. We’ve been looking …
I think I’ve said this before — I’m not fond of Texas. I don’t like the ranchers that have sweetheart grazing deals on government land, that feed their cattle government-subsidized food, railing against social services. I don’t like oil men that hire teams of geologists and …
If you follow us on Twitter, you know we’re behind on the blog. We’re not currently in Texas — we’re in canyon country. And when we heard about tonight’s solar eclipse, we headed over to the biggest, most famous canyon around, the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately, …
We needed a break from travel. We needed to sit still and listen to the trees and pause. If we had a porch, we would have set on it. We didn’t have a porch, we weren’t in Charleston, and so we did the next best …
The trip into Texas was rough. We’d just left paradise, Florida’s Forgotten Coast, and had a great time in New Orleans (minus a little snafu in Alabama). The road through Louisiana’s bayou was fun. We even got to ride a ferry. We passed through the “Cajun Riviera” …
I’m sitting on a bed in a disgusting motel room — the most disgusting motel room I’ve ever been in in my life, and I’ve been in my fair share of cheap motels. I’m crying. I feel a little better when I realize that I …
A shotgun house, I mean. Or a double shotgun, if you are so inclined. Now, I don’t want to share my bedroom wall with anyone ever again (short version of a long story: I will always hate Norah Jones thanks to 434 W. Wellington #607, Chicago) …