Austin is Still Home

I bought my van, named of course Vanette, in March of 2019 on the way to a dance in Oklahoma. It was an empty shell but has turned out to be just what I needed. I wanted to celebrate Vanette's and my anniversary and reminisce a bit.

It's both hard to believe it's ONLY been 3 years AND that it's ALREADY been 3 years. On the one hand I've been many places, seen many sights and put almost 60,000 miles on the odometer. On the other hand I have not been able to do a lot of things that I intended: no dancing, no nomad get-togethers, and way more time stationary times then intended. Of course I blame that on the pandemic.

Here is some random Data:
7 Major Road Trips (when I am really full time I will stop considering them 'road trips' as it will be just one long trip.)

11 National Parks visited, some more than once
9 National Monuments
1 National Recreation Area, plus numerous BLM & Forest Service Campgrounds
At least 6 State Parks and Numerous historic sites of various categories.

Some of the road trips have detailed entries with photos on this site, Some are missing many details. It's taken awhile to get into the habit of recording stuff as I go. Perhaps someday I will add some back dated entries.

Vanette's 1st Road Trip:
June-July 2019: From Austin to meet up with Anne and Scott Jenneman in NC for Summer Contra Delight Holiday, then Railroaders Weekend in TN then back to Austin. Dancing and Camping with the guy who helped build out my van. What a great first trip!!!

Trip # 2: Summer 2019:
Austin to Seattle via Caprock Canyons, Frankton, CO., Dinosaur Valley NM.; Mount Saint Helens NM; Lake Wenatchee. And a side trip to Mt Rainer and Glacier NP with Bev riding along.

Trip #3 Summer 2019:
Return to Austin via Bozeman to Yellowstone NP to Grand Tetons, quick stop at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. then on to Rocky Mountain NP and then Franktown, CO to pick up Jay and then back to Austin for the winter.

Trip # 4: Summer 2020: Austin to Seattle
Jan joined me for the first leg of the trip (in separate vehicles). We stopped at Caprock Canyons, Royal Bridge Park in Co. then stopped for several days at Cindy's in Franktown. On the day we left Cindy's we were headed to Rocky Mtn NP but Jan managed to rear-end me before we found a campground. She totaled her car and did major damage to Vanette. We ended up back in Franktown where she rented a car to go back to Austin and I managed to get Vanette road ready to head to Seattle. Then after all the repairs were done, Vanette was VANdalized and further repairs were needed in Seattle. Plus the pandemic was soaring and I stayed in Seattle until March 2021

Trip #5 - March 2021: Return trip to Austin with stops in Kings Canyon, Death Valley NP, Phoenix etc

Trip # 6 - June 2021 - Austin to Seattle again with stops at:
TX - Davis Mtn State Park, Fort Davis National Historic Site
NM - White Sands National Monument and Aquire Springs BLM
CO - Mesa Verde; Canyon of the Ancients, Chimney Rock NM, Great Sand Dunes NP, Franktown with Cindy
UT – Dinosaur National Monument, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area
ID – Minidoka National Historic Site, Craters of the Moon National Monument, Yankee Fork Gold Dredge, Lake Cascade
WA – Seattle and side trips to Lewis and Clark State Park, Mt. St Helens, Mt. Rainer NP,
OR – Portland, Stonehenge, etc

Trip # 7 – Return trip to Austin, August/September 2021
MT – Glacier with Arlie, Butte, Billings,
the Dakotas – Pompeys Pillar NM, Devils Tower, Black Hills, Tatanka, Crazy Horse Monument
CO – Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Durango to Silverton Steam Train, Manitou Cliff Dwellings,
NM – Taos, SantaFe, Cloudcroft,
TX – Guadalupe Mountains NP and back to Austin

SO HAPPY ANNIVERSARY VANETTE AND MAY WE HAVE MANY MORE TRAVELS TOGETHER!!!Read more