South Dakota: Adventures of the Midwest

Howdy y'all! Time for some catchin' up on the ol' bloggity blog! As some of you may be aware we've been posting pics on the Facebook pretty regularly but we've slacked off on our journalistic commitments a bit. Now that we have another long stretch on the road we can reflect back on the past few days! Ready!?

Our departure from Jackson, WY ended up being our most scenic day of driving... ever! After leaving the amazingly beautiful forests of Yellowstone we drove a few hours through Wyoming desert before encountering an unexpected mountain that went up and up and up... Definitely the craziest hill we've encountered. The Zinger handled it like a pro and we rewarded it with several breaks to cool down. When we eventually reached the top we realized we had entered Bighorn National Forest, an unexpected bonus which solidified the day's 'most scenic ever' status.

We rolled into a Walmart in Burley, WY around 11PM and crashed for the night. The next day we embarked on our South Dakota scavenger hunt. We found Kim's dad's childhood home in Rapid City and explored the Black Hills searching out Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial.

Both of these historic rock carvings cost money for parking. More money than we were willing to spend so instead we just drove by real slow in order to savor their magnificent splendor. The final spot on our scavenger list was a free campground located in the Badlands National Park. We grabbed some cool looking South Dakotan beers and ventured back into the desert. 

In the middle of nowheresville, the campground was nothing more than a small circle of a dirt road encompassing some dried out desert grass with some shaded picnic tables scattered about. It was HOT out and even when the sun went down there was no relief from the intense heat. We made the best of it, attaching our hammocks to the picnic shelters, sipped our cold beers and planned out the remainder of our trip.

It's pretty crazy to have the end of our trip in sight. We've got everything all mapped out and there's less than 4 weeks 'til we're back to 'normal' life in Burlington. Weird!

We cooked a simple but tasty dinner: quinoa, veggie broth, garlic, and vegan sausage (we're not vegetarian but sometimes it's nice to not have to worry about the mess). As the campground slowly filled up we did our best to try and get some sleep in the heat. A late night thunderstorm brought the most rapid fire lightning strikes we've ever seen and thankfully some cooler weather! We left early in the morning and encountered some local wildlife. At first it was single buffalo that was walking in the middle of the road. Then around a corner we ran right into a herd of over a hundred! The herd was lounging about in and around the road and luckily they didn't mind our intrusion (some where as big as our van!)

After safely navigating the wild buffalo herd we got back on the highway and left the Badlands for what would end up to be a less exciting part of the country...

P.S. - there's pictures up on Facebook but because we're making this post from the phone we can't link to them. If you go back to any old post that does have a link you can find the new pictures in Curt's photos. Enjoy!

Jackson, Wyoming: Grand Tetons to Yellowstone

After a night at the Boomtown hotel casino in Reno NV, we traveled a few hundred more miles through Idaho and shacked up for the night in a town called Burley at another Walmart parking lot. These Walmart parking lots are not our favorite but definitely economical while we make our "sprint" back east!

We awoke and traveled the five more hours eastward to Jackson Wyoming. The Zinger did an amazing job traversing over the Teton Pass with endless miles of 10% grade uphill and down! Wahoooo! We were disappointed in how little time we gave ourselves to explore this part of the country as we were getting so many suggestions from friends of people to meet and places to check out. We'll just have to come back!

So we made it to Jackson where we met up with our old coworker from the Yosemite Bug, Colleen and her boyfriend Chris! We all decided after a few tasty brews to pack up and hike into Phelps Lake in the Tetons. The hike was a leisurely 4 mile hike in. We had a couple hours before sunset and enjoyed some drinks on a beach before we cooked up some canned chilli and loaded all the rest of our food into the bear lockers for the night. We then bundled up and hit the sack (literally since sleeping in hammocks is pretty similar to sleeping in a sack). In the middle of the night a creature decided to use Kim as a jungle gym and ran all over her making for an exciting story. At least it wasn't a bear!

In the morning we awoke, packed up camp and made our way to a twenty foot rock to jump off into the lake. We decided it would be a good alternative to coffee haha and that it was! After giving a free show to other hikers ("those kids are crazy!") we made the 4 mile trek back to the van. It was time for a beer and grub at Snake River brewery! 

We all could barely keep our eyes open after the brewery so we went back to Chris and Colleens apartment and watched a couple movies before getting some shut eye as we all were planning an early morning this morning. Colleen and Chris went off to work and we got our laundry done and an oil change. We're currently en route to South Dakota, driving through a short part of Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone. We're excited about this route because it's so scenic: we've already spotted a bear, a group of elk, steaming geysers, waterfalls, lakes, rivers, wild flowers, and friendly fellow VW Van wavers!

Onward and Eastward!!!! We'd love to hear what's making your summer amazing! 

Quincy, CA: The High Sierra Music Festival!

Leaving Bozeman and heading back west we had a record-breaking day of driving. It was our longest single stretch yet, clocking in at just over 15 hours on the road! We also drove through the hottest weather we've ever encountered with the temps reaching up over 100 inside the van. And to top things off we spent our very first overnight in a Walmart parking lot in Winnemucca, NV! What a day! The Zinger drove like a champ and maintained safe temperatures throughout the day.

The next day was a relatively short 5 hr drive to Quincy. We arrived well before the festival gates opened (a full day and several hours to be exact) and spent some time swimming in the local river. We even took river baths! (Don't worry, we have safe soaps) We stocked up on supplies at the local grocery store, which at this point was being overrun by a happy mob of festival goers and VW vans of all sorts! When Barbie and Bobby showed up they had some good news. They didn't have their van but they weren't selling it either, it was still at 'the doctors' getting fixed for thousands of dollars less than they had originally thought. 

Team VT arrived at the early waiting parking lot around 5pm. We were probably one of the first 100 people in the lot but because we didn't feel like sitting in line all night we definitely weren't the first 100 people into the festival. We cooked a good meal, partied with our neighbors and all 4 of us slept in the van. When we eventually got into the fairgrounds the next morning to set up camp we were surprised to find that thousands of people had already claimed spots. Apparently they had paid extra money for this privilege. For those of us just arriving it quickly turned into a mad dash to grab land that must have been similar to the old Wild West days. The flat camping spots were going quick but we snagged one in between a path and a fence for our main hangout spot aka 'The  Junkyard'. A lot of people passed through but everyone was friendly and at night we would light the path with glowsticks. Barbie and Bobby set up a tent nearby and we set ours up on the bottom of a hill a few yards away. We ended up setting up our hammocks in some trees up on the hill and when several neighbors did the same Hammock Town was formed. After the initial craziness of camp set up it was time to relax. The next 4 days were going to be filled with fun and music!

Unfortunately we didn't take many pictures but here's one of the lineup- your imagination will have to fill in the rest!

The fairgrounds contained several different musical venues: a big main stage, a slightly smaller stage with overhead shade cloth, a smaller tent venue, 3 different buildings with music and events, and a lawn filled with tightropes (aka slack lines), hammocks, and early morning kickball games! Pretty much everything in between was jam packed with tents, EZ ups and more VW vans and buses than we've EVER seen! There must have been over a hundred no problem! Everything was within easy walking distance and we could hear the main stage (and sometimes the 2nd big stage) right from our campsite. We spent the days and nights walking around to the different venues, hosing off at the solar shower, and listening to music from the comfort of Hammock Town. It was a very laid back and relaxed atmosphere. 

Thursday was the 4th of July and the highlight of the night was Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin fame) There weren't any fireworks which was kind of strange but due to the extremely high risk of wildfires it was understandable. The nights were cool and sometimes humid but the days were hot, sunny and dusty and water and sunscreen were even more valuable commodities than beer itself. Luckily we had plenty of everything! We set up our solar shower in Hammock Town and even brought it out to a few shows, twirling it around and showering people around us. Everyone loved it!

Friday night was a crazy one, Primus was the main act and after that John Scofield Über Jam Band played late night. We dressed up and danced extremely til the wee hours of the morning! Sleeping in the  hammocks and waking up to the sounds of cheering from the kickball field was great fun! Saturday we caught VT based Rubblebucket and listened to more Uber Jam, this time from the hammocks. Bobby convinced us to check out a band called Octopus Nebula which ended up being one of our favorites and then we saw Thievery Corporation on the main stage (they were awesome live!) Still being kind of tired from the night before we called it an 'early' night around midnight. 

By Sunday people had already started packing up. Having no place in particular to go to Monday we had purchased tickets to a late night show (one strange thing about this festival was that they sold separate tickets for the 'late night' acts which didn't even start til 2am) We paced ourselves by hanging out at camp for most of the day, listening to the soul music of Lee Fields and some reggae by Steel Pulse. We eventually ventured out to catch a little more Rubblebucket, moe., and then our late night show, Papadosio.

The casual atmosphere continued during Monday morning's exodus. We drove the van right in and loaded up. Even though there were literally VW vans everywhere we still got a lot of compliments and everyone was amazed at the story of our trip. We took Barbie and Bobby back to the swimming hole we had found for some lunch and another river shower. After scoring Internet at the local library we parted ways. The next time we'll see them will be in NY at our friends Maggie and Sean's wedding. We made our way back into the desert to the Boomtown Hotel and Casino near Reno, NV (Barbie and Bobby played the hotel card as well). We passed out early and didn't even have time to gamble! Their Internet wasn't working but hopefully someday soon we'll be able to upload some more pictures! Stay tuned!

Bozeman, MT: Part 2

Goodbye Montana, we'll miss you! We had a GREAT time visiting with Holly and Jockomo and meeting Dan and all their friends this past week. While Dan and Holly worked during the week we kept ourselves busy watching after Jocko aka J-mo aka Sweet Baby J. It was fun to have a little dog to hang out with! At only 12 weeks old he's learning new things constantly so we did our part to help him learn the rules of puppy life and when Holly took us all on a hike we watched as he learned to cross a stream for the first time! By the time we left he was floating down rivers!

When Holly and Dan are around we stay busy cooking amazing food (stir frys, burgers, pizzas etc.) drinking Moscow Mules and even accomplishing a mini brew tour which involved 3 different Bozeman breweries and several haircuts!

We also took on a few projects to pass the time. We cleaned the van, scrubbed outa bit of mold here and there and cleaned the windows real nice like. We built a fence around Holly's garden to  keep out bunny rabbits and little black puppies. We also built (or spray painted as it may be) a trophy for the 2nd official cookout/volleyball tournament that was held on Sunday. Derrick even made a trophy for the losers!

This time around there were enough people to play full 5 on 5 volleyball (sometimes even 6 on 6!) and we played several games until we literally couldn't see anymore. Luckily it has been staying light out til close to 10 PM lately! Eventually one of the teams won and one lost but by then no one really cared (the teams kept getting shuffled anyways) Everyone had a blast- even the landlord showed up to play! The winners trophy fell apart and the losers trophy was lit on fire in typical 'flaming bag of poo' style but we BBQ'd into the night and played cornhole with the help of some lanterns and glow in the dark beanbags.

It's always a pleasure to spend time with Holly and it's good to see she's got a real good thing going on up there in Bozeman! Maybe we'll try to stop by once more on our way back. Call us crazy but we're headed back to California before coming back home. We got the Zinger inspected before leaving and everything's looking good except a slightly mysterious noise coming from the engine. Oh well! We're driving 2 days to meet up with our Burlington compatriots Barbie and Bobbie in Quincy, CA for the High Sierra Music Festival. They left Burlington with a VW van too and are currently in limbo in LA at a mechanics trying to find a way to save good ol' "Rock Steady!" We'll see tomorrow if both the Zinger and Rock Steady can meet again, this time on the west coast! Cross those fingers and send good vibes. 

Oh, and also... As we're writing this, check out our sweet new thermometer...or maybe it's better not knowing😬