Fabricating Our Future

Again, it has been awhile since we last posted and yes, we are spending this winter in Alaska. Why have we decide to do this? If you have been reading our past posts, read FARTHER, you would know that our future travel goals have evolved to include finding destinations that require a high clearance overland type vehicle […]

30 Below In A Bus

The snow was drifting across the road in an almost complete whiteout as we neared the top of the pass. All of a sudden the rear tires began to lose traction and we slowly slide sideways towards the edge. That winter day in 1976 the road conditions were less then ideal as we attempted to summit Trutch Mt in British […]

FARTHER

It has been several months since we last posted as life has been very busy. The Zephyr is parked for the summer at Basecamp and we are all enjoying the mild summer weather in our favorite place, Alaska. Even though the big dogs love to travel, they have been enjoying being at home, racing through […]

Exploring The Dry Side

After 13,000 miles and 7 months of wandering the back roads of 17 different States and 6 Canadian Provinces, we finally turn north towards our home in Alaska. Off and on we had also spent over 3 months camped in my mom’s backyard hanging with her and helping with needed maintenance around her home. Once departing SoCal we were […]

This Could Go On Forever

We again find ourselves camped along the shores of California’s Salton Sea. There is something about this place that draws us here. I am not sure if it is the stark harsh environment, the incredible amount of diverse bird life or its unique history with Southern California, it is not like any other place we know. […]

Clear Blue Skies

The skies had cleared, January was over and our world now looked very different. Living in Alaska for over 40 years has refined our appreciation of wide open spaces and clear blue skies. After spending all of January camped in SoCal in my mom’s backyard, the home of the intense paced lifestyle, we decide it is time […]

fire, flu, flood and bloat

For 3 months we drifted across the heartland of Canada and down through the midwestern states of America. We visited many new places, ate some unusual and delicious foods and met some super friendly people. 2017 had been a great year for us. It wasn’t until late December as we crossed the Arizona / California border that […]

Still Got The Blues

“Never before have we had so little time in which to do so much” Franklin Delanor Roosevelt The story of the Blues in Mississippi and Louisiana is an amazing tale and if one really makes an effort to delve into its rich history one must have time to spare. In our last post we began our journey […]

A Blues Sojourn

It was now November and Denise’s birthday was fast approaching. Denise is a major Blues fan and after very brief discussions we head south to join Highway 61, the Blues Highway in Memphis. It is also known as the Great River Road since it closely parallels the mighty Mississippi. Our journey from Cleveland to Memphis was 800 miles. Once […]

Long Live Rock

Turning south for the first time in a month we depart Michigan’s UP and cross the mighty Mackinac Bridge trying our best to stay ahead of the impending winter weather. Following the west coast of Lake Michigan we pass through beautiful farm country and coastal resort towns. The colors continue to be brilliant but in […]

Superior Colors

The view ahead looked as though someone was spinning the road in a kaleidoscope of colors that changed from green to red to orange to yellow and back again. We were not hallucinating, we were just in Michigan. “It is one of the prettiest places in the world”. —Henry Ford, 1920’s— “Nowhere, probably on the continent, is the fall […]

A very long drive indeed

We were on a mission. Our goal was to witness first hand the fabulous fall colors in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and to visit Denise’s birthplace in the small town of Munising. This excursion has been on our to do list for many years. To reach Michigan before the fall colors disappeared we were […]

Summer Of Celebration

It was quite a summer. Upon returning in May to our home in Denali we were immediately reminded of the responsibilities and work associated with living in a sticks and bricks setting. After 7 months of freely wandering the back roads of America and Canada the return to a stationary life style is always a major […]

All It Took Was Water

As the big dogs disappeared into the deep grass it was obvious just how much they enjoyed chasing each other through the lush green field. The only way we could see where they were was when the tips of their tails occasionally bobbed along the top of grass, it was good to back in a land of green. While hiking through […]

Inside the Forbidden Kingdom

Currently we are back at our Alaskan basecamp enjoying the non-stop daylight of summer and spending our time gardening, hiking with the pups, BBQing with friends and hammering metal in the shop. Life is good. The 7 glorious months we spent last winter wandering the warmer regions of the lower 48 states are now just […]

East Of The Crest

My neck was sore from staring out the driver’s side window. Struggling to keep my eyes focused on the road ahead I gazed longingly to the left at what I consider to be my home range of mountains, the High Sierra. Even though we live in Alaska, the land of big mountains, the Sierra Nevada is what John Muir called a […]

Skirting The Fringe Of Humanity Tour

We found ourselves parked at a Love’s truck stop in Tehachapi Pass California waiting for the arrival of our friends the Motsko’s. The sun was shining, life was good. Currently residing near Bend Oregon Mark and Phyllis have spent almost all of their careers living in some of America’s most beautiful and remote National Parks working as backcountry […]

Indian Bread Rendezvous

After several hours of driving west into a stiff head wind the dogs suddenly awoke as we decelerated down the freeway off ramp near Bowie AZ. Looking over we saw the space we had just vacated in the long string of fast moving semis already filled with another truck…. like we weren’t even there………. It was good to […]

Far Side Of Nowhere

Ignoring a possible $5000 fine the big dogs waded into the Rio Grande River and headed south towards Mexico. Fortunately the Border Patrol missed seeing them as they later waded back to the US side of the river. This post finds us still in Texas wandering hundreds of miles south of Austin into the wide open deserts and […]

BBQ + Blues

It was just after 9:00 pm as we cruised along the busy downtown boulevard. The sounds of live music reverberated from both sides of the avenue as people meandered from club to club sampling the many varieties of music. Stopping for a red light we pulled up alongside a horse drawn carriage and the pups immediately began to […]

“Back to the Basics” Luckenbach Texas

We had traveled east for days across the arid deserts of California, Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas doing our best to stay just ahead of distant rain squalls, thankfully only experiencing them in our rear view mirrors. Our primary mission – to escape the waves of flash flood producing storms drenching the western states by driving to […]

Lost In A Mecca Hills Maze

Rain clouds were forming as we hiked up a 2′ wide canyon with 300′ walls on either side consisting of soft mud, we were deep inside flash flood country. If it started to rain hard we would have to run to stay ahead of a wall of water…. a flash flood. But the pups were […]

Summiting Chiriaco

As we sit around the campfire basking in the light of the full moon we stare into the distance and watch the seemingly never ending river of lights that is Interstate 10. We are alone in the desert again. We have been camped at this site for two weeks now…. basically in the middle of nowhere. […]

The Golden Rolling Hills Of Southern California

We continue to camp in my mom’s beautiful backyard in Thousand Oaks, California while my sister Jeanelle and Denise help with her recovery, daily physical therapy and overall well being. When you are almost 95 years young it takes a little longer to recover and she continues to improve, she’s a tough cookie. My duties […]

Exploring California’s Southern Coast

Whenever we visit Southern California we really enjoy exploring the hundreds of miles of backroads that wind through its coastal mountains. California’s southern coastline is a very unique environment indeed. It is an area of starkly contrasting landscapes ranging from rugged coastal mountains, world-famous beaches, rustic canyons, golden rolling hills, rich topsoil filled agricultural plains and of course […]

South Bound & Down

The title of this post refers to the direction we are traveling and the fact that the gas pedal is to the floor or all the way “down”….. as we are on a mission. We have decided to depart Alaska early this fall as my 94 year mom has been having health issues. She lives […]

A Basecamp Summer

These ARE the good old days! Since returning to Alaska and our home in Denali, we have reverted back to a more rooted lifestyle. Instead of roaming the western USA for months at a time we have enjoyed being in one place for a while and in many ways it has been an exceptional summer. Daily […]

Dreaming Deschutes

“It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming.” – John Steinbeck As the Gone With The Dogs troupe passed through central Oregon in April (remember here) we spent time at Fort Motsko with friends Mark and Phyllis. At that time Mark […]

Gone With The Dogs 2015 Video Review

We have decided to compile all of our 2015 videos into one post in case you missed one or just want to view them again. We are working on the 2016 list now. These videos were originally embedded within the posts that corresponded to our travel locations at the time. The links below start with the more recent versions […]

2000 Light Years From Home

After 6 months on the road we find ourselves on the final leg of our winter sojourn. Crossing the US/Canadian border at Sumas we drive north into British Columbia thus leaving “the lower 48” behind. We have just over 2000 miles to basecamp. Traveling home to Alaska in early spring can be a lonely trip. There […]

Oregon Coasting

Once again the Pacific Ocean calls to us and so we must go. It is now early April and after reviewing our calendar and the extended forecast we come to the conclusion there is just enough time to visit the coast once more before turning towards home. Unfortunately this means we must leave the luxury and comfort of Fort […]

On To Oregon

As we continue our journey home to Alaska, we sadly leave sunny California and our friends along the central coast but…. the good news is we are moving On to Oregon to visit more friends. As we cruise up Interstate 5 into northern California it feels good to be back in the mountains again. We make a brief stop […]

No Place Like Home

There is no place like home. We have just spent almost 4 wonderful weeks boondocking in my folk’s backyard and as usual we have had great weather and lots of fun! Due to recent rains the hills are green, the lawns need mowing again, the orchids are blooming, the trees are leafing out, the drought is […]

Alive In Death Valley

We found ourselves driving towards something we had never witnessed before….a desert flower Super Bloom! Last winter we wandered through some of the most parched and arid landscapes on earth so it was great news to hear that an exceptionally strong El Nino was forecasted for the southwest this winter. As we now know the predicted wet […]

Breezin’ Along The Big Sur

I found it hard to keep my eyes on the centerline as we drove along the most scenic coastal road in California, Big Sur’s Highway 1. After leaving the Trona Pinnacles (see our last post) we quickly crossed the San Joaquin valley and spent the night in the Carrizo Plains National Monument. The park […]

The Pinnacles Of Trona

A 30 mph crosswind was hitting us directly out of the Eastern High Sierra as we headed south along highway 395, travel was slow going. Again it was our good fortune to be traveling with our Alaskan friends, Brad and Brenda. This being their first time camping remotely in the open desert we decide to visit an area that […]

Sky Rock, Rosetta Stone, 13 Moons

Dont miss our last video Recently we visited a friend living in the Owens Valley hamlet of Bishop, California. They offered to take us just north of town into the Volcanic Tablelands to view ancient petroglyphs. We quickly excepted. The Bureau of Land Management describes the Volcanic Tablelands as a vast volcanic landscape that was formed over 700,000 […]

Alone In The Alabama Hills

Early one morning while camped along the Colorado River just north of Blythe, Arizona, we decided to check the weather forecast. There it was, a forecasted mid-February heat wave affecting the entire west coast of North America. We immediately changed our plans and instead of heading south towards Kofa and Yuma, where the temps were to be over 90, […]

The Primordial Mud Volcanoes Of Morton Bay

Every once in while you come across a place that affords a glimpse of what life on earth might have looked and felt like during prehistoric times. Recently we spent time just outside the town of Niland, California along the shores of the Salton Sea. In this post I visit the spectacularly active Morton Bay […]

Camped 234 Feet Below Sea Level

Recently we visited the Salton Sea in Southern California. For two weeks we camped and explored along its shores at 234 feet below sea level. We learned a lot. The deepest point of the sea is 5 feet higher than the lowest point of Death Valley. The salt content of the Salton Sea is greater than […]