Mystical Van Ventures
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Sun Valley, Idaho
After driving about six hours, I arrived in Sun Valley, Idaho. It was a place I had never visited before and I was excited to check it out.Sun Valley, Idaho is not a town, in itself. It is a popular Ski Valley along the Wood River comprised of several small towns. The main towns are Bellevue, Hailey, and Ketchum.
Ketchum seemed to be the most popular. It was a bustling tourist community with traffic inching along through the quaint small town.
I was tired and not ready to deal with traffic, so found a National Forest road and drove to a place that looked like it would be nice to camp. Wrong! The mosquitoes had no mercy. They were biting any area of exposed skin several times in one chomp. I knew I had to get out of this place.
I went back into town and headed on down the highway until I came to a nice riverfront picnic area. I stopped for a while and enjoyed the peaceful sounds of nature. There were few others at the park. It was a good place to make lunch and chill.Knowing that I could park my van and camp any place in the National Forest, I wasn’t concerned about finding a place to sleep for the night.
When evening came, I decided to take a road going the opposite direction as last time and ended up in a beautiful green valley with pullouts along side the road. There were some interesting camper rigs pulled off to the side. I found my own little pull-out and nestled in for the evening. There was a very mild rain beginning to come down and the air so fresh and clean.
I grabbed my new instrument, a Strum Stick, which is a three string instrument similar to a guitar, but much smaller. I found myself playing a singing until I had a new tune going through my head. That tune would be the theme song for the next couple days.The next day I went back to the park to make my tea and chill. It was actually still quite cool out so I do mean “chill.” I crawled into my blankets with my hot tea and wrote in my journal, with the sounds of the river serenading me.
After a breakfast of Granola and banana, I drove to Hailey where I saw a Natural Grocers and grabbed a few items. I passed by the Starbucks (without stopping) and headed back to Ketchum to catch the Art Festival. After that I went to a hiking trail I saw earlier. I had my green drink of coconut water, Spirulina and Barley Grass, to both hydrate and give me extra energy for the hike.
It was a beautiful hike along the Wood River. I hiked about three miles in until I came to another parking lot and decided to turn around. There were lots of mountain bikers on this trail, and very few hikers. I could have taken side trails and continued on, but by the time I returned it was a six mile hike and the temperatures were nearing ninety degrees.After this beautiful hike and amazing day in the beautiful Sun Valley, it felt time to move on. I had no agenda. No destination. It was Saturday and I didn’t have to get in position for work until Sunday. I could stop anywhere I wanted. I loved this feeling.
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Summer 2019…The Journey Begins
With weeks of preparation it was finally the night before I was to drive off into the sunrise. However, with all the excitement I couldn’t sleep. I ended up getting out of bed at 4:30 in the morning after barely sleeping and decided to finish packing the van and head out.I pulled out around 6:30 in the morning towards Flagstaff, got gas, a Starbucks for the road and headed towards the Navajo Indian Reservation towards Page, Arizona.
I took the exit to Kanab, Utah and knew I just had to stop and take a rest. I was exhausted, hardly able to keep my eyes open. However the morning temperatures were already in the nineties, moving rapidly towards the triple digits. How was I going to rest in these temperatures?
There was a small Motel with a few shade trees in the parking lot, so I pulled in and crawled into the back of my van. It was like a sauna, but I needed to rest and so I fell into a very deep meditation. I would like to say I slept but it was more like I entered a sweat lodge. I fell so deep into a trance that an hour passed very quickly. Suddenly I was wide awake and ready to get back on the road.
As I traveled up the mountain pass towards the North end of the Grand Canyon, I noticed the temperatures dropping down the eighties. I thought I could take another nap, but was feeling strangely energetic, so decided to keep driving. I drove through to Kanab, Utah, gassed up the van again, grabbed a bag of trail mix from the store, and headed out on the second leg of my journey.
I’ve driven this stretch so many times. The familiar drive between the Southwest and the Northwest and the endless hours behind the wheel, had become an annual event. I enjoyed the red rocks of this area as I passed by the entrance to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park. I visited both in the past, but wasn’t going to brave the temperatures this time of year.
Approaching late afternoon my GPS was acting up and not sure how to get me to where I had planned to stop for the night. After getting the run around several times, guided down dirt roads and told to turn “right here” when there was no “right,” I decided to reset my GPS to a more familiar destination. The place I stayed nearly every year when I passed through the area. It was a campsite off the hwy outside of Nephi, Utah. The GPS had no problem getting me there within thirty minutes of breakdown. After ten hours on the road, I had never been so happy to see the old familiar campsite, crawl into the back of my van and close my eyes.
I got an early start the next day, arriving to Provo, Utah within thirty minutes of gassing up the van in Nephi. My GPS helped me to find a Natural Food Store so I could stock my mini fridge with healthy treats for the journey. I came out with coconut wraps, hummus, a favorite raw food sweet treat, a gluten free vegan muffin and coconut water. Grabbed another Starbucks and off to my next destination…Sun Valley, Idaho.
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On The Road Again “Flying Solo Season Two”
I have had several people ask me if I would be blogging about my travels again this summer. The answer is YES! Why not?Some of you who have followed my travels last summer told me you were traveling vicariously through me. How awesome is that? I hadn’t realized my mystical minivan ventures would be so inspiring for others.
This summer won’t be as long of an adventure as I have some commitments back home in Arizona that I need to be there for, but I am outfitting the minivan now and setting out on the 11th of July towards the Northwest.I learned a lot last year from my minivan camping experiences and am making a few adjustments this year. I work from home or in the case of traveling, I work from the van, and so having what I need to manage my clients and Internet is important.
Last year I had my WiFi unit and an expensive Verizon Data account. I will activate this again. However the primary issue I had with working on the road was power. I didn’t want to stay in expensive RV parks with power. Can you see my little minivan camper wedged in between huge Motor-homes and trailers? Mini ME would get lost in the crowd. I preferred being in more places of solitude. I preferred to be parked between two trees.
Business on the road requires I keep my phone, laptop and WiFi unit charged. There was some stress with my batteries being drained before my work day was over and needing to run to the coffee house between clients to recharge.
This year I have acquired an Aeiusny Portable Power Station. It is a small unit that will charge my phone, laptop and WiFi unit multiple times. I can recharge my Power Station via AC wall outlets or 12V car cigarette lighter or to recharge it under the sun with solar panel. I did not buy the solar panel this year. But it is a great idea for the future.
Now I am powered up and ready to go for the long haul.
Last year I had way too much stuff! I learned about minimalism on the road. I only really needed about half of what I brought with me and some of the things I brought were cumbersome and space consuming.
My portable kitchen was one item I could do without. It was great to have and I loved it, but it took up too much space in my van while traveling. Since I had my cook-stove and Igloo 12V fridge in the back of my van, I only really needed a table to prepare food on.
So I found this handy little compact table that I can use both indoors and outdoors. It folds quite small and can be stored under my bed, however I realized it fits inside my van right next to my bed perfectly and a great place to eat, put my tea cup and laptop while working. It has great storage space underneath as well, so no wasted space.The table has leg adjustments so can be short or tall. What an exciting find and will work perfectly for my needs.
Last year I traveled with a roof rack for all the extras. Near the end of my journey the key busted off in the lock and I had a miserable time dealing with it. This year I decided to forgo the roof rack and all the extras. Who needs them.I won’t be taking a canopy but have two simple little tarps that fold up really small (about the size of a large pair of socks.) These can be extended from the back hatch of my van for extra shade and used as a floor mat for outdoors.
Another thing I learned last year, was I only needed half the clothes. I had a large bag of clothing I never used, stuff under my bed at the far back. That space is better used for something else. One bag of clothes and a few hanging items will be enough.
My porta-potty is coming. I can’t say enough for that little pot. It will store perfectly under my new table and great for those middle of the night moments where I really don’t want to put on my shoes and trek to the loo, if there is one. Us girls must have our luxuries.
This year will be both simpler, more minimalistic and a shorter journey. I’m getting excited to be back on the road again.
If you would like to come along for the ride, I invite you to join me. If you haven’t yet signed up for my newsletter you can do so here….
Happy Trails!
Kaleah
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Flying Home
June Lake My last camping venture was at the beautiful “June Lake” nestled in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. The weather was perfect and it was a lovely last stop before the long drive back to Cottonwood.
The least favorite part of the journey was to drive through the Mojave desert which was 114 degrees in September. I knew I didn’t want to camp in my van at night anywhere in these kinds of temperatures so I ended up driving from my camp at June Lake to Flagstaff and camped outside of Flagstaff my last night. It was one of the longest driving days of my journey.
June Lake Beach As I was nearing home I began to have a lot of mixed emotions. I had some practical reasons for getting back earlier than initially planned. My van needed attention. I had run into tree in Tahoe and broke my rear view mirror, so it was shattered. The trees in my Tahoe camp were close together and my mirror caught one as I was backing up. Fortunately there was no damage to the rest of my van. However my key fob was also not working and I feared getting locked out of my van. I was not given a spare key when I bought the van and the ignition key was not a “normal” key. The key fob would no longer open the doors to the van, although at this point it was still unlocking and locking the van. Sometimes it would take several attempts.
I had rented the upstairs of my home to a friend and her adult daughter and they had a lovely banner draped over the upstairs balcony when I drove into the driveway that said “Happy Return Beautiful Angel.” What a beautiful welcome. I truly felt it.That first evening, after unpacking my van, I got in my van to go visit friends and the van wouldn’t start. Not only did it not start, but the key got stuck in the ignition and I couldn’t remove it. I tried several times and did all the usual turning of the steering wheel and letting it rest and doing it again. The next morning it still didn’t start and the key was still stuck. I called my warranty service and had the van towed, for a second time, to the mechanics. It was as if the powers that be were saying “you are home now and you aren’t going anywhere.”
Because I still had my upstairs rented out, I settled into my downstairs which didn’t have a kitchen. I set my van kitchen up outside and had my outdoor kitchen for cooking. I bought a small refrigerator for downstairs as my igloo cooler was also not working properly.
Going from the mini van to a 950 square foot space was an interesting transition. I hardly knew what to do with myself, and in some strange way I missed the van. It was the simplicity of having such a small space to care for and being completely at the whim of my intuition. I wasn’t sure how to integrate my new found simplicity into my life back home. I now had electricity and unlimited Internet. I was back to modern living, minus the kitchen.
People asked me if I was glad to be home. Did I miss the road?
I never had the feeling that I was glad to be home. Somehow all the experiences I had while traveling had become such a part of me. I had walked through some very deep passages on a spiritual level. My sense was that my journey was not over, it was just beginning. But I wasn’t sure what that meant yet.
Right now I am in a period of integration. What is next? Only time will tell.
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Mountain Lion in my Campsite
Yosemite Valley After leaving my silent retreat, I continued through the mountains and ended up driving through Yosemite from the West Entrance to Lees Vining. I spent the night in Yosemite, parked on a pull-out at the side of the road. It was now after Labor Day so it was a bit quieter. There were less families with children, but lots of travelers were still on the road, taking advantage of the glorious September weather and quieter roads.
Yosemite Valley The next morning I drove through Yosemite Valley and saw the large granite walls, which were pretty impressive. I then took the Tioga Pass through to Lees Vining.
It was beginning to feel that my trip was coming to an end. Although I was officially on a four month journey, I had traveled so much and seen so much and was already on the road back home. I knew I could only go a bit further and I would be hitting the hot desert temperatures.
Lake in Tioga Pass, Yosemite The weather in the Sierra Nevada Mountains was perfect in early September, but I didn’t feel to stay there for the rest of the month.
I felt guided to take the June Lakes Loop and I’m so glad I did. It was still early in the day and I found a remote campsite on the river right down the road from a busy private campground. As I began setting up camp, the clouds moved in and it began to rain. Everything was so fresh and clean. I kicked back in my van with my journal and listened to the river rushing and the rain falling.
This is not my photo, but wanted to include one of a similar size Lion as to what I saw. It was “tea time” so I jumped out of the van and went to the back to put the kettle on. As I was preparing to light the stove I heard rustling in the bushes nearby. As I turned to look, there was a Mountain Lion about fifteen or twenty feet away. Obviously she saw me before I saw her and she decided she did not want a confrontation with the likes of me, and trotted off towards the river. I saw her in her full glory, tail swinging behind her.
When I tell the story of my Mountain Lion sighting, people ask me “did you get pictures?” Okay, so here’s the deal. When you see a Mountain lion as close as I did and it is in motion, moving through my site to somewhere else, the last thing on my mind is “oh wait, let me grab my camera.” The adrenaline is kicked in as my instinctive nature is preparing for fight or flight. I’m assessing the situation for possible danger and wondering if the Lion would be stalking me now that she knows I’m here. To grab a camera at a moment like this and chase after her in attempt to get a picture would have been stupid, to say the least.
I barely got my nervous system settled back down and a big white four wheel drive truck pulls right into my campsite. Mind you, I am in a pretty remote area without cell service or anyone else in sight. I had no idea who these people were or why they pulled into my campsite. I stood on the stoop of my van not sure if I should grab the bear spray or not.
Two men jumped out of the truck and began walking towards me. I didn’t say anything. I just looked at them. One of the men said “hello, are you camping here?” I’m looking at my camp set up, and it was pretty much a “no brainer.” “Yes,” I said, still sizing them up. They were older men, and appeared to be Native American. The same man said he wanted to show his friend the river. After he stated his intention, my nervous system calmed down again. They were older men and seemed harmless, so I told them I had just seen a Mountain Lion in my camp. They both seemed a bit concerned and told me to be careful.
The men did their tour of the river and came back through, complimenting me on my van set up. We exchanged a few words and they told me again to “be careful” and be sure to lock up the van at night.
The night went smoothly. It was so quiet! Not a sound from man or mouse, or….mountain lion. I never saw her again, but felt grateful for such an amazing experience. I had hoped to have such an encounter, without danger, of course.
When I was at my campsite outside of Markleeville, I saw a bear across the river and up the hill, sauntering along in the evening, before dusk. It was so far away, there was no concern, however this was a big bear area. There were bear containers for our food in all campsites I visited in California. One was not supposed to keep food in their vehicles because bears are known to break into vehicles. So that was always on my mind, because in my remote locations there was no “bear containers.” I kept my food in the Van and kept it locked up with the windows shut at night. The far away sighting was the only bear I saw on my journey.