Go Van Go – Two People, One Van

August 18, 2021August 18, 2021

Meg Looking At Things

Use horizontal view on phones for best experience of slideshow.

July 28, 2021August 17, 2021

Milestone: Meg Beats Jake in Othello

Two days ago we tied. Last night Meg won by 2 at our campsite outside Yellowstone. It’s on.

Also this is our first post. Please read it. We made it for YOU.

Didn’t have enough pieces so we superglued a bunch of pennies and dimes together

A few places we’ve been (and slept):

Walton, NY (East Brook Community Farm)
Trumansburg, NY (Chez John/Tonia)
Geneva, OH (Geneva State Park Campground)
Cleveland, OH
Vermilion, OH (Paper Moon Vineyards)
Detroit, MI
Mount Pleasant, MI (Mountain Station Brewery)
Empire, MI (Empire Township Campground)
Traverse City, MI
St. Ignace, MI (The Gourd Barn)
Marinette, WI (Boat launch)
Green Bay, WI (Boat launch)
Madison, WI (ALMOST in the arboretum)
House on the Rock, WI
La Crosse, WI (Chez Colleen)
Minneapolis, MN (Powderhorn Park)
Tyler, MN (Hip Camp grotto courtesy of Raul)
Badlands, SD (Wall rim dispersed camping)
Deadwood, SD (Friendship tower trailhead)
Cody, WY (Big Game Campground)
Yellowstone, WY
Bozeman, MT (Random street)

Some questions we’ve asked:

What is the difference between “grisly” and “grizzly”? (gruesome versus graying/grayish)
What does bear scat look like? (like Andre the Giant took a poop)
Is Yellowstone on the Continental Divide? (Yes! And actually the majority of the park is in the caldera of a super volcano that last erupted 630,000 years ago – and we were just driving around right on it!)
How do they water all those corn fields? (with way more water than we should be devoting to a monoculture crop in a nation-wide drought? Where does the water come from? How much does it cost? WHY SO MUCH CORN?)
How have we altered the landscape with farming and resource extraction?
Is it really ethical to eat meat? (probably not.. and yet… )
What is that smell? (a fertilizer slurry? a sulfurous hot spring? Jake after eating cheese? Meg a week and a half into no-shower-topia? A vault toilet?)
Why is this wet? (leaky 6-gallon water jug? leaky 12-gallon water system? sweat? leaky back door?)
What’s the deal with Plan Colombia? (read the wikipedia article, TLDR: maybe the US should stay out of other people’s business)
Why do South Dakotans adore Teddy Roosevelt? (because he was a cowboy)
Why do those rocks look like that? (geology!)
Where are we going to sleep?
Am I supposed to go left or right? Left or right?!?!
Why is Van making that noise? (low on transmission fluid? strap flapping? low on power steering fluid? we left the fan vent open – AGAIN!? passenger seat bolts are loose?
What are these people talking about on their first date? Is it a good date?
Is this rock worth keeping? (How much space is left in the rock box?)
What is an synonym for “crazy views”? (majestic vistas)
How much have we spent in our first month? (about half what it costs to live in Portland in two separate apartments)
Are we going to get in trouble for sleeping here? (not yet)
Why was that cashier so nice? (because they’re from the midwest)
Why was that cashier so mean? (because we have tattoos? because we talk differently? because we are fundamentally horrible people deserving of scorn? because they’re NOT from the midwest?)
Where are all these Freaking Flies coming from? (the maggot incident in NH? bad luck? Seriously we killed about 70 flies in two weeks.)
Who lived here first and how were they displaced? (a starting point)
What would this forest look like if we never clear cut it?
Why does the gray water tank smell so bad? (because it’s like 100 degrees down there, and we have no U-trap)
Are you mad at me? (probably not)
Why are there so many pine needles on my side of the bed? (who knows)
How much is that RV? ($638,000)
Why is it so hot? (because of fossil fuels)
What kind of hipster is that person? (@Bozeman, MT @Minneapolis, MN, @Madison, WI)
Can I pet your dog?
Does THIS hat look good on me?
Why do those trucks keep driving up and parking near our parking lot sleep spot? (cruising? CRUISING?)
Did that couple just lose their dog? (no, they don’t have a dog, but they are quite friendly and have lots of travel tips)
Where is my _______? (somewhere in Van)
What does it mean to appreciate nature? (is it collecting vistas? escaping from other people? imagining a world untouched by industrialization?)
Why do people take pictures of themselves in front of signs that tell you where you are?

Hazy view from Observation Peak – Yellowstone WY.

Hazy view from Observation Peak – Yellowstone WY.