Category Archives: Recreational Vehicle Travel

Bob and Claire Rogers have lived full time in a small motorhome for seven years. They still travel as many as 10 months at a time in their motorhome, carrying bicycles and sometimes a sea kayak. They seldom stay in RV parks and bush camp (boondock) most nights. They use their motorhome as a base to explore North America’s remoter areas on mountain bikes, hiking boots and sea kayak. They meet, and share, many interesting people and places. Come along for the ride!

Volunteers in Needles District of Canyonlands National Park
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Park Service Volunteer Uniforms

…a motorcyclist… got in just at dark. We let him set up his tent on our plot and had an interesting visit. He has done a bit of bicycle touring. He’s also a famous person who faces many challenges, and we feel it reasonable to respect his privacy for now. Claire said, “He may be famous, but our interaction taught me that, in a National Park, all are equal, and have the opportunity for renewal.” Read the rest of this article…

Opportunity at Needles District of Canyonlands National Park
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Claire hiking in Needles District of Canyonlands

While camping and hiking in Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, we mentioned to a ranger that we hoped to volunteer in a national park someday. The ranger was the volunteer coordinator. Two days later, boondocked at another spectacular site new to us, Muley Point, there was a message on our phone from Dorita. The volunteer slated for the fall stint had become ill; could we fill in for as little or as long as possible? We were just a few days from Tucson to begin our “normal” winter activities, but we do tend to grab opportunities, so we said yes. We begin as soon as we gather a month’s worth of food, add some winter clothes and blankets (thrift store) and return to Needles. Read the post to see a special panorama that shows how we like to get the most out of Turtle, our motorhome. Read the rest of this article…

Joplin Missouri No One Ignores a Tornado Siren. One Year After Tornado
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Calm Again in Joplin

A young woman presses her phone to her ear, other hand covers her other ear. Tears gather, ran down her cheeks. She is a cosmetologist from the beauty parlor. My guess is she had been working in the WalMart a year before. The pad for it lays barren just in front of the new store, mute reminder to all who pass it. Read the rest of this article…

Joplin Farmer’s Market and Missouri Blackberries
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BerryPickMo

lunch we made in the parking lot after buying most of the makings at the market: corn, potatoes, whole wheat bread (with Claire home made hummus) cole slaw and tomatoes. Everything from the market was so fresh it was probably picked that morning It reminded me of my Mother’s summer lunches. Read the rest of this article…

Chanute is a Hoot!
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B&CSodaChanute

After a 47 mile ride, only one section of a square with a tailwind. We decided we had earned a stop at a the Cardinal Drug soda fountain when we got back to Chanute. I got a big one, and it was a whopper. We had been disappointed earlier in the day when we discovered Erie, a small town where Claire had expected to find a new-to-us old fashioned soda fountain, had been torn down, a new building built and the fountain was now just a non-working display at the new high school. This is happening more and more often. The machinery, the marble tables, the back bars, still exist, but no longer have a purpose, and soon there will be no one alive who knows how to make a real soda or Green River. However, in Chanute, the two young girls waiting on us made excellent sodas (cherry for me, strawberry for Claire) at Cardinal Drugs, using the proper wrist action and a perfect balance of fruit, soda and whipped cream. Oh my. Nothing like it on a hot humid day. We had been there on a soda-fountain themed tour of Kansas several years, and we were happy to find this one unchanged. Read the rest of this article…

Where we camp.
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Oklahoma Boondock

In Greensburg, Kansas the city park, pool and ball fields, has several grass sites, with electricity. We enjoyed watching young baseball hopefuls practice, until darkness, thunder and lightning sent them home. They pay attention to the skies here: Greensburg was destroyed by a tornado a year after we had visited on a Zippy (our world traveling tandem) on a short soda fountain tour in 2006, another story, coming to this site soon! Read the rest of this article…