the turquoise trail

{utah} It was a very short drive from Page across the state line into Utah, where I left civilization and gained cell service.  Utah has been high on my list of states to see for a while, so I was very happy to get across the state line and start exploring! Welcome to Utah! My first destination was Grand Staircase National Park, although I hadn't done my due diligence to realize that most of the park is only accessible by 4WD.  I stopped off at a little ranger station where Buckskin Gulch was recommended, so I headed towards that.  It was about 9 miles down a questionably drivable dirt road to the trailhead, where I followed wire pass through a dried-out wash into a slot canyon.  Not very far into the canyon there was a 8-foot drop over a boulder with the 'stepping stone' of a old log.  It was challenging to descend, but would prove more challenging to ascend.  The canyon was about a mile long before it came to a T, with the option of going to the l...

{new mexico} I crossed back into New Mexico in the late afternoon, too late to visit the tourist info centre & late enough to call it a night in the first town, Gallup.  I found a little asian restaurant for some well-cooked stir-fry, then found myself parking spot for a quiet night of Walmart camping.  Well, I think it was quiet - I was dead to the world thanks to the pain killers from the dentist... Welcome (back) to New Mexico!  As I was driving up to Albuquerque the next morning, the radio revealed that according to recent statistics, Gallup is the 15th most dangerous city for violent crime in the US.. fabulous.  It wasn't a place you'd choose to spend a lot of time, either way.   It was a couple hours from Gallup up to Albuquerque, where I headed to the old town district for a look around the historic square.  There was a wide selection of galleries and shops featuring native art, an old church & lots of adobe buildings with chile pep...

Phase II of building my van was to add the electrical system with the goal of powering a fridge, lights & two 12V sockets for things like an immersion element, fan & phone charger.  After extensive research & much deliberation, mostly on the part of my Dad, we settled on a game plan and started ordering things.  Once I arrived in Mission, we knew we had a 2 week window to get everything ordered, delivered & installed, so we were eager to start the process.  This is what our game plan looked like; if it looks like anything more than modern art to you, you're doing well.. Modern Art a la Dad Once everything was ordered, we had about a week before the parts started trickling in.  We used that time to measure, re-measure, disassemble, adjust and otherwise prepare for the parts to come.  Thankfully there were plenty of retirees around who were more than happy to lend their tools, parts and wisdom to the project.  I had ingeniously (aka p...

A few of you have been requesting blog posts for this new adventure i've started & although i'm not committing to weekly updates, I'll do my best to keep you posted.. I might as well start at the beginning.. There were several reasons why I wanted to try out vanlife, the biggest and simplest one being and I do not know where I want to live.. ruling out one city leaves me with a lot of options! I did a lot of research and planning this past winter and really had my heart set on a Sprinter high-top cargo van, but it is really difficult to find a used one so when a friend said he could get me a good mini-van (as the days kept slipping past and the snow kept piling up) I jumped on the opportunity and put the sprinter on hold.. January 31 st I picked up my mini-van & drove it home to begin the work! I took the seats out and gave it a thorough cleaning to start, took some measurements, then had the next 3 days at work to day-dream about how I was going to ...