Van-Tramp, Watsons Wander, The Learning Banks, and Brandon stare at the sun.

When we started talking about gathering with friends for the solar eclipse, we really didn’t know what to expect.  It was more than six months away and eclipse hysteria hadn’t hit yet. By the time the plans had gotten firmer, it had become our impetus to go back west. We wintered in the Florida Keys and spent quality time with our families, but it was time to move again. The eclipse and our friends gave us a target date to hit. Not only that, but the hype had started and it did sound like it would be cool to witness in person.

Once we started heading that way, we decided to just make a run for it and get to Idaho early to meet friends. We plowed through a few states we need to go back and really explore.  But we got there early and spent a few days in Ketchum with part of the crew before heading off to our secret little boondocking spot in the path of totality expertly scouted by our friend Marshall. Some of us went up to make sure we snagged the spot early and covered the stay limit to just after the eclipse. And then everyone else started rolling in. By the time everyone arrived, it looked like a little campground was set-up back in the woods.

Our little group took advantage of our time in Idaho before the eclipse with many outings and activities. It’s not that often you can get a bunch of free-roaming nomad friends in one spot. It all led up to the day of the eclipse. The majority of our group work from the road, but this Monday became a holiday. We all gathered in front of Noshbus and started the festivities for the day. We came prepared with the special eclipse glasses, but had some fun making some old school viewers, too. We had paper plates with holes, white paper to watch for sun snakes, and even turned some boxes from UPS deliveries (yes, they delivered to our boondocking spot!) into old school viewers you put over your head. Brandon decorated them for us.

The Day of the Eclipse

We decided to focus on enjoying the event and capturing our friends looking all futuristic rather than worrying about shooting the eclipse itself. It’s always a hard thing to decide as a photographer, but we wanted to be in the moment rather than experience it through a lens. It was fun to focus on everyone with their eyes to the sky or wearing goofy boxes.

As the moon started to pass in front of the sun, you could see the landscape changing. The day was warm and sunny, but the feeling of dusk started to take over. The sun became a perfect crescent like the brightest moon you’ve ever seen. Around us, the colors of a sunset started to emerge and the temperature dropped. It really is amazing how quickly the temperature can drop when the sun is blocked. We’re so used to a gradual decline during the day as the sun makes its descent, but this was sudden and startling.

Finally, the moon overtook the sun and we could pull off our glasses for two and half minutes. All we could see in the sky was a black dot with the bright ring of the sun’s corona around it. It was dark like the sun had almost set. And then suddenly, we saw the diamond ring effect of the lunar landscape and the show started in reverse.

We did throw the drone in the air to take video of our campsite during the eclipse. We’ve condensed it into a timelapse, so you can view the whole the darkness over take us in just a few minutes.

2024, Here I Come

I didn’t have any preconceived notions going into the eclipse and thought if nothing else, we’d be with friends. But it really was an event to remember. There was something captivating about being in the line of totality and seeing the full effect the sun and the moon can have on each other and the Earth. I don’t remember my first solar eclipse (I couldn’t even talk yet), but I’ll remember this one, and am already planning for the next one in 2024. I enjoyed the experience and can’t wait to do it again!

RV Mattress Trial and Tribulations

If you’re like us, the mattress that came in your RV was less than desirable. The one in our first motorhome was a foam brick that didn’t sleep well at all. Our current RV had something that passed as a mattress, but was barely thicker than a slice of bread. There was no way we could sleep on either of these long-term.

The former owners of our current coach had a thin egg crate foam topper on the mattress, but we wanted to try something a little thicker and fresher. We went with a 2-inch foam topper that made sleeping a lot more comfortable. It was soft and conforming, but it did get a little warm. Not only that, but the topper would never stay in place. It slid to end of the bed, hanging off the edge a good couple of inches. Only the cover and sheets kept it in place. It was frustrating to make the bed with extra foam hanging over and it was too much of a pain to readjust every day. The annoyance was outweighing the comfort on this solution.

Next, we tried upgrading our thin mattress with topper combo to a residential mattress. This had worked alright in our last RV with some minor adjustments like removing the headboard. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy of a change this time. After navigating this big mattress into our bedroom, we realized some ugly truths. The mattress was longer than the platform and it stuck out into the dressing area of the bedroom. This was worse than the foam because it didn’t budge when pushed. And it was much heavier than the old mattress and topper combo. This didn’t matter as much in the old RV because there was no storage under the bed, but now we keep shoes and more that we need to access daily. I was always afraid that I would be smashed by this goliath while trying to grab some flip-flops. Finally, it was quite a bit taller than the bread slice mattress causing Brandon to hit his head on the overhead cabinets. Not to mention Lucy couldn’t jump that high to get up there herself.

Our New RV Mattress Replacement

That was it, we needed a better solution. Thankfully, we remembered talking to the guys from Mattress Insider at the RVIA show about the custom mattresses they make. We decided to take them up on the offer for a call to figure out a better option for us. We went over our firmness preferences and custom needs. None of this fazed them. They suggested combining inner coils with a softer top layer for maximum comfort.

Coincidentally, Brandon already had a trip planned that would put him less than 10 minutes away from the mattress factory. So not only would we get a new custom-built mattress, we would get to see them make it! You can watch the whole thing being built in the video.

Our RV Mattress Review

While at the factory, Brandon got to test out the different types of mattresses they offer from memory foam to innerspring to cool gel foam and more. We stuck with the pocketed coil as discussed on the phone and topped it with latex for a plusher feel that would stay cool. They added their new organic cotton cover to finish everything off.

While Brandon brought our mattress home in the car, they can ship your RV mattress directly to you. It comes rolled up like a burrito making it very easy to get in the RV and set-up. This was so much easier than the residential one. After a few hours of expansion, it was ready to go.

Our new mattress fits in our bedroom perfectly. We’ve gained our space back for dressing and Brandon’s got his head room back. It’s light enough that I trust I won’t be smashed while picking out shoes. We’ve been sleeping on the new mattress for a while now and it’s been great! We’ve decided the coil and latex combo has a neutral feel; it’s not too firm and not too soft. We’ve been on a Goldilocks expedition and have finally found one that’s just right. It’s made our lives so much better to have a mattress that is both comfortable and fits our space correctly. I wish we had skipped directly to this mattress rather than going through the topper and residential mattress!

Your 10% Discount

We had such a great experience with Mattress Insider that we wanted to make sure you had the opportunity to replace your uncomfortable RV mattress with one customized for you. Mattress Insider is offering a 10% discount on your entire order to all our readers using the discount code RVTF (that stands for RV to Freedom, our site and FB group all about learning how to live in an RV). All you have to do is go on MattressInsider.com and find your RV mattress. Do you need a custom cut or want more guidance? Don’t worry because the code works over the phone, too!

We’ve been so pleased with our mattress and we hope you can find a comfortable RV mattress replacement, too.

This summer we were in Vancouver, Washington visiting the Roadmaster factory where they manufacture almost every component they sell. While we were taking a tour, we got to talking about their Reflex RV Steering Stabilizer. They suggested we let them install one and see how it works. Hmm…something that could make driving the motorhome easier? Of course we said yes!

Almost every part Roadmaster makes is manufactured in their factory in Vancouver, Washington.

 

WE’VE HAD THE RV STEERING STABILIZER ON FOR ABOUT 6 MONTHS AND HAVE TRAVELED FROM VANCOUVER, WASHINGTON TO KEY LARGO, FLORIDA.

Here are our thoughts:

What is an RV Steering Stabilizer?

The RV steering stabilizer is really pretty simple. It’s just a spring around a shock absorber. It attaches to the front steering Tie Rod and to the Axle. The Reflex RV Steering Stabilizer helps to take that play out of the steering system by adding a little resistance. The spring wants to always pull the wheels back to center and the shock absorber helps to smooth out the steering inputs. When you turn left, the spring is pulling back right and when you turn right, it is pulling back left. Pretty simple! When you hit a bump, ride in a rut, or go off the edge of the pavement a little, the shock absorber inside the spring helps to keep the wheels from getting pushed around.

Roadmaster even says that in the event of a blowout, the steering stabilizer will help you retain control of the motorhome. The RV steering stabilizer will resist the tendency of the front end to turn towards the blown tire. Sorry, but we aren’t planning to test that feature for you

The installation actually went so quickly that we missed getting photos or video of it. All they had to do was make sure the front wheels were pointed straight ahead and bolt it up. They install these all the time, so I am sure that helps. Still, I wouldn’t hesitate to try installing the stabilizer myself. (I might still end up at the shop, but at least I could say I tried!)

Steering stabilizer tie rod connection

Steering stabilizer axle connection

WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE?

In the driver’s seat, the steering wheel feels more solid. It doesn’t feel as wishy-washy as before. Now, it’s much easier to drive comfortably with one hand on the wheel. I’m not so tired from having to constantly adjust to keep the motorhome on course at the end of the driving day.

Large gusts of wind and semis passing don’t feel like they are going to blow me off the road. On smaller country roads where the motorhome is as wide as the lane and there is no shoulder, the stabilizer makes driving a lot less stressful.

If you are in the Oregon and Washington area, make sure to check out some of the awesome Harvest Hosts. We ate so many blueberries at this one!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Do you need this? No…

If your motorhome is in good shape and your tires are properly inflated, aligned, etc., then you will be fine.

But if you are on the road as much as we are, this really can make a big difference. I’m definitely not going to take it off.  And if I get another similar sized RV in the future, I will add an RV steering stabilizer to it.

Here’s a link to Roadmaster’s info on the Reflex RV Steering Stabilizers

Bixby Bridge in Big Sur

We’re often asked where is our favorite place that we’ve visited.  It’s always hard to pin that one down as it’s an ever moving target. We start talking about how we love Burlington, Vermont in the summer and the same goes for Colorado. But then, the Southwest is nice for winter. I mean, really, how do you decide? But, I can say for sure that Central Coast in California is one of the most beautiful areas I have seen. It has two of my favorite features in a landscape; hills and rocky coast. And I love the juxtaposition of these two so close to each other. You can be frolicking in soft hills in the morning and drive over to coast to have lunch on a rocky point in the afternoon. That’s a good day in my book.

Toro County Park in Salinas

Huge Calla Lilies in Carmel

We drove this strip of California’s legendary Highway 1 five years ago on an anniversary trip. We started in San Luis Obispo with a stay at the fun and famous Madonna Inn and made out way north through San Simeon, Big Sur (one of our favorite places on Earth), Monterey, and into San Francisco where we flew back to our sticks and bricks on the other coast. We loved every minute of that trip and couldn’t wait to get back.

California poppies on the Old Coast Road behind Bixby Bridge. It’s suitable for 2-wheel drive unless it’s wet.

Brandon near Big Sur

This time, our trip would be a little different. We had more than a week to make the drive and would be able to stay longer in places, although not as many of them. We skipped a few spots like San Simeon and we chose not to drive through Big Sur with the motorhome, which actually gave us a chance to see more of those beautiful rolling hills. Our Central Coast time would culminate in Brandon’s diving adventures in Monterey. He was not a scuba diver when we had visited before or when we lived in California and it was his mission to dive the coral reefs of Monterey.

Morro Rock

We stayed in Morro Bay while Brandon used the San Luis Obispo airport for a work trip. It was March and hills were lush and verdant doing their best impression of Ireland. Morro Rock looked magnificent and the short cliffs above the beaches were carpeted with spring flowers. It was really a great time to be in the area. Best of all, on our previous trip we really wanted to see otters, but had only seen one. This time, after we settled in at the RV park, we went down to Morro Rock and there were a dozen otters wrapped up in the kelp sleeping. Being spring, there were also mothers carrying around their babies on their stomachs. It was perfect!

A mother and baby sea otter

A photo posted by Kerensa & Brandon (@drivedivedevour) on Mar 24, 2016 at 5:49pm PDT

We went directly from Morro Bay to Monterey/Carmel and stayed for a month. Brandon was going to get all the diving in that he could. Between diving, we explored the dry land. We took a trip to Salinas and visited the National Steinbeck Center. There we picked up a copy of Travels with Charlie on audio, so we could listen to it as drove around the area and around the rest of the country. It’s amazing how relevant this book still is. It is a time capsule of the era while at the same time shows people have not really changed that much and still hold the same views.

Monastery Beach in Monterey

Wildflowers in Toro County Park in Salinas

Steinbeck had Charley, I have Travels with Lucy. #rvlife #steinbeck #visitcalifornia

A photo posted by Kerensa & Brandon (@drivedivedevour) on Apr 16, 2016 at 3:21pm PDT

We also made a couple visits to Big Sur. We must have visited during the week years ago because it had been quiet and easy to shoot Bixby bridge with no traffic. This time, we chose to go on a Saturday (mistake!) and there were so many people around the bridge, I couldn’t get a shot without someone or something in it. We gave up and drove into Big Sur. As we made our way south, the fog rolled in enveloping the rocky coast and McWay Falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. It may have blocked out some scenery, but it was nonetheless beautiful.

Bixby Bridge

McWay Falls-  Pro-tip: Make sure your tires are off the road when parking to see this waterfall. Ask us how we know.

The fog rolling in on the coast in Big Sur

After our stay in Monterey and Carmel, we headed back south a little to meet up with some friends and stay at a BLM campground just north of Paso Robles. All of the beautiful green hills we had seen along the 101 going up were now beautiful gold hills. It’s amazing the difference that a month can make! And this was still spring, mind you. We hadn’t reached the dry summer period yet. The hills around the campground were covered in trees, so looked they greener. But driving through the farms, wineries, and ranches on the way, you could see they were already yellow.

Williams Hill BLM area

The gold hills around Williams Hill

From our perch on a hill, we headed inland for a bit and then left Central Coast and headed north leaving behind the hills for a different kind of beauty. This area will always be on my list of places to visit again.

Have you been to the Central Coast? I’d love to hear your thoughts, leave a comment below.

When we started looking into full-time RVing, boondocking wasn’t even on my radar. We had been tent camping and had a pop-up we took out on the weekends, but I think in my mind, off-grid camping meant hiking into the forest and pitching a tent. This wasn’t somewhere a larger RV or even our small pop-up could go. So when we started researching RV set-ups, solar didn’t factor into the equation.

Fast forward a year into our travels and things changed. We were more aware of the possibilities laid out before us. We spent our first year mostly around the East coast, land of RV parks and paid camping. Some of our friends, meanwhile, had moved west and shared pictures of their rigs in the desert and other amazing places alone and untethered. We viewed them longingly while we were anchored to power poles. Yes, we had a generator and could run it if needed, but our big rig was a power-hungry beast. We didn’t want to make lots of noise for the sake of any neighbors and our own sanity. Overnight was ok, but anything longer than that or trying to work and we had to fire up the genny.

There were a few reasons we didn’t feel adding solar to our previous RV was the right decision one of which was the nagging feeling we weren’t keeping her much longer. After deciding to go smaller and lighter, solar became part of the plan. We purchased our new RV with the intent of making it off-grid awesome. As with most RVs, it was off-grid capable, but we wanted it to take it up a notch and have enough power to not run the generator unless truly needed.

The twisty roads of Williams Hill BLM campground

Installation

We split our install into two parts. First, we upgraded the batteries giving us more amp hours capability and had a new, robust inverter installed. Only the TVs were wired to the previous inverter, but that wouldn’t cut it for these working full-timers. We had everything except the air conditioners wired to the new one, so we can work on our computers even while in the middle of nowhere. The batteries gave our power supply enough boost that we could go much longer before running the genny than previous attempts. But we weren’t finished and completed our new set-up when we had the solar panels installed on our next visit. This changed our game completely. Now, we could work all day and night if needed. I could run my instant pot or Brandon could watch a little Netflix. And we could do it all with the power from the sun and not attached to a power pole.

Once the solar panel installation was complete, we drove our RV straight to Quartzsite, the 2nd Xscapers convergence, and some other friends in the area. What a change! During the 1st Xscapers convergence with our old rig, we had to run the generator twice a day just to keep up with our power needs! Now we were sitting quietly, soaking up the sun with friends and more thoroughly enjoying our wild camping experience.

Trona Pinnacles

Where We Used It So Far

Adding a solar set-up to our RV arsenal has opened up a lot of options for us and reinvigorated our camping/living experience. We are able to choose whether we want to stay in a campground connected to power or out in the wilderness connected to nature. Since installing solar, we’ve used it in a few different situations:

• Wild camping out in BLM land like Trona Pinnacles and Johnson Valley.
• At a BLM campground with no hook-ups. We shot, edited, and wrote our RV video tour post there all while on solar power.
• At a county park where we chose the dry camping spot in a secluded loop rather than packed in the full hook-up area (cheaper, too!).
• On a rainy day at a Harvest Host. We weren’t making as much power as normal, but we still pulled through without having to turn on the generator which would have been awkward during retail hours.
• We even decided to have a movie night with friends in the dry camping area of an SKP Co-op.

For us, the benefits of solar have far outweighed the cost. And since we’ve been on the California coast for a while with mainly RV parks around, we’ve barely scratched the surface of using it. We’re looking forward to traipsing across the country this summer soaking up the rays.

Soaking up the sun at Trona Pinnacles

The Nitty-Gritty

I know some of you really just want me to hush and see the specs, so I’m going to let Brandon jump in here with the details:

Solar Panels: 6- 160 watt Go Power! Panels Wired in Pairs
The panels are mounted to a custom rail system created by Starlight Solar. This allows the panels to sit a little higher on the roof so they aren’t affected by shadows from the air conditioners, etc.  There are fewer holes in the roof, too, since each panel isn’t mounted individually.

Inverter: Magnum 2800 watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter, Remote, and Battery Monitor
Our previous RV had a 2000 watt inverter that was not pure sine. We had it kill a couple of electric heaters that were plugged in, but not even turned on so we knew we wanted to have a pure sine inverter this time. Knowing we could function well on 2000 watts, we knew the 2800 watt inverter would fit our needs just fine.

Solar Charge Controller: Multi Power Point Controller
Our charge controller is the new one that Magnum just released. The multi power point  means it can adjust the way it charges the batteries in varying solar conditions without wasting too much of the incoming solar electricity.

AGS: Automatic Generator Start
This was a relatively inexpensive feature that was easily added to our inverter set-up. The auto gen start has many functions, but the key functions for us are that it can turn on the generator if the batteries get too low and it can turn on the generator to run the AC if the interior gets too hot. This last point is critical for us with pets in the RV. Since the AC is not wired to the inverter, we can leave the AC set to on and it will not run, but if the interior temp gets too high, the generator will start automatically and then the AC will come on. Once the AGS sees that interior temp has dropped it will turn off the generator.

Batteries: 4 Full River 6v 250amp/hr AGM Maintenance-Free Batteries
Our new rig originally had two house batteries located in the front engine bay. The guys at Starlight Solar found a welder to create a new rack to mount two more batteries in the bay. These are wired in pairs to give us 500amp/hrs at 12 volts. Since we want our batteries to last a long time and maintain their performance, it is a good idea not to discharge them more than 50%. This means we effectively have 250 amp/hrs to use before we need more sunlight or the generator has to come on.

Lights: LED bulbs
Our RV is just a year behind having LED lights standard, so we changed out all our bulbs ourselves. This has dramatically decreased their power consumption.

Hanging out with Jeneric Ramblings in Johnson Valley OHV

Real World Application

What does this mean in the real world? Once the sun starts to get low in the sky and the solar panels are no longer receiving enough sun to charge the batteries we can use our computers and watch one of our large TVs until 11:00 pm and the batteries will still be 70-75% charged. If we turn off the inverter overnight, the batteries may only drop 1-2% more. If we are lazy and don’t want to get out of bed to turn off the inverter, then the batteries may drop about 5% more. Once the sun rises in the morning, the solar panels will start charging the system back up. By 10:00 am or so, the solar panels are already making enough power to keep up with our computers while also applying some charge to the batteries. If we continue working while the solar is charging, then we will probably be back up to 100% by 1:00 pm. Then the batteries will stay at 100% until the sun gets too low again.

If it rains for a week straight, we can limit our electricity use more and run the generator for a couple of hours to charge up the batteries as needed. It’s nice to have options! Also, if we don’t use the inverter at all and just use the 12 volt system to run the fridge, lights, water heater, and to charge our phones, then we can go 3-4 days or more relying solely on our batteries even if we get no solar charge at all!

If you think the above makes it sound like I know what I’m talking about, thanks. I don’t really, but the guy at Starlight walked me through the logic of it all and in the end I agreed with him and we are very happy with our solar setup. It’s probably a bit much for people who aren’t working in their RVs all day, but it seems just about perfect for us.

Our first time using the solar near Quartzsite

*Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. The price for you does not change, but it helps support this website with a few pennies. The solar panels for this post were partially sponsored. As always, our opinions are completely honest and our own and cannot be bought, sold, or swayed.

After downsizing from a 40 ft to our new-to-us 30 ft RV, we’ve gotten a lot of questions. Does it feel too tight? Does the layout still work for you? Did you have to get rid of a lot? To answer these I’d say, “No. Yes. Not too much.” But instead of just talking about it, we thought we’d give you the tour.

Our new home is a 2012 Newmar Bay Star 30 ft gas motorcoach. The transition has been pretty seamless for us with minimal growing (?) pains. We did get rid of more stuff, but most of it needed to go anyway. There’s something very freeing about letting go of things you don’t use.

The Bays

We no longer have the super deep pass-through bays of a diesel, but we’ve managed to make it work by consolidating and using our Tetris skills. Brandon was able to get all his scuba gear in one bay!

Interior

We found a floor plan that was surprisingly similar to our previous RV, just a little shorter.

We still have a couch, but had to say goodbye to our blue chair. Kona thinks the new sofa is pretty comfy.

Work Space

The desk/dinette area didn’t need a lot of customization to make it work for us. Brandon was able to modify our drawers into keyboard trays and drill a couple of holes for wires and viola!

Kitchen

The kitchen had the biggest changes for us. We went from all-electric appliances (induction cooktop, convection oven, and residential fridge) to the typical gas-powered range and smallish fridge. While an adjustment, it allowed us to spend more time off the cord even before our solar. Our previous RV was an energy hog and we’d have to run the generator once or twice daily to keep the batteries topped off. We added organization boxes to the fridge and a stove wrap to keep everything clean and in its place. So far, so good.

Bedroom

We lost a slide in the bedroom, but we gained under bed storage, a tv, and a rear facing window. It’s hard to argue with that!

We’re really happy with our choice. Is it perfect? No, but is anything? At some point, we’d like to update the decor more to our style and there are some changes in the kitchen that could be done to gain counter space back. Those are our biggest complaints and they’re not that bad. Downsizing 10 feet has felt like opening 10 more doors to adventure for us and we can’t wait to drive through them all!

To see more about this RV and the additions we made, check out:
If the RV is Rockin’- Try Anti-Sway Bars!

If you’ve been following us on social media for a while, you may have noticed a lack of kitten pictures in the past few months. The little Gypsy cat that abruptly appeared in our lives the previous year made just as an abrupt disappearance in December.  We didn’t post publicly about it because it hurt too much and that’s also why it’s taken so long to write anything about it. No matter how long you get to spend with a pet, they become part of the family and leave a little kitty-shaped hole. I think it’s extra hard when you feel responsible.

It all started with this scrawny, little kitten that jumped out of our generator bay in Ohio. She hung around the RV asking for food and being curious about us. Brandon sat outside coaxing her closer over many days and when he was finally able to give her a pet, she was instantly all over him. It was fall and the campground would be closing for the season soon and we knew we couldn’t leave her. We didn’t really want to bring another cat into our household, though. We already have another much older cat and two dogs; it seemed a bit much for the RV to add another. Thankfully, we were on our way to visit my mom and she lined up a home for the little kitten. Unfortunately, the guy who took her brought her back the next day saying his allergies couldn’t take it. At this point, we didn’t have the heart to leave her at a shelter and she had wiggled her way into our hearts. She was ours.

She was so little when we found her that we thought she was three months old, but when we took her to the vet her teeth showed a different story. She was actually six months old with adult teeth! Who knew how long she had been surviving out there without her mother or siblings. She was given a clean bill of health and we took her home to introduce her to the other animals (we tried to separate her until tested). Our older cat Dylan surprised us by how much he took to her. The last time we tried to bring another cat into the mix, he wasn’t having it. That stray ended up with a neighbor. Mind you that was over 10 years ago, but we had never tried since. Dylan actually followed her around and wanted to play, pretty good for a geriatric cat. Lucy, too, wanted to play with her, but Gypsy did not care about this dog whatsoever. Our dog Kona felt the same way about her, not interested. At. All. Oddly enough, she actually took a shining to Kona and it was like she was determined to make him a friend. Or torture him, you never can quite tell with a cat.

Her Crazy Personality

We soon learned two things: what it is like to have a kitten again and that Gypsy had her own personality. All our other animals being eight years old and up had already taken on a relaxed demeanor at home. Gypsy wanted to play all the time. She would actually play fetch with us which is more than I can say for our dogs. She also liked to go on walks trying to keep up with Kona. We even took her with us when we walked over 5 miles of trails in Gulf Shores, AL. She was falling behind by the end, but she was determined to walk and not be carried.

When we first got her, she was food crazy. I’m sure in her first few months of life she had to eat whenever she had the chance and she still had that mentality. At my mom’s house, she got into a bag of Hershey’s kisses destined for cookies. We came home to an insane cat who kept running circles around the house and on top of the kitchen counters. A couple of months later she kept trying to sneak dough balls for our Taco Tuesday and hide them behind the computer monitor.  Neither of these are typical cat treats and Dylan had no interest in either of them. I think she finally learned she would be fed and backed down after a while.

We joked about renting her out to other RVers to find holes in their RVs because she made sure to find everyone she could in ours. We spent the night once in a very tight campground and didn’t bother to put out one slide. Gypsy always liked to run on top of the slides when they were out, so this gave her even more room to play. It also gave her access to fall down beside the fridge (on purpose) and go through the access panel into the bowels of the RV. We tried to reach her from all our storage bays, but couldn’t. We finally had to take an access panel off, pull out all the insulation, and then coax her with treats to get past the plumbing. After that, she knew she could get to that secret space by falling down beside the fridge, even when the slide was out and we had to stuff all the gaps with reflectix, maps, boxes, and whatever else we had to block the munchkin. And when we got the new RV, she immediately dove headfirst through the brush area that hid the slide mechanism.  She was definitely an explorer just like us.

What Happened

It was the new RV and new processes that gave us trouble. We had only been in it a couple of weeks when she got out. On our previous RV, the plastic cover on the screen could stay closed when the screen door was in use. The handle was below it. In our new RV, you must open that little plastic cover to access the handle every time you go in or out. We were not used to closing it yet. In addition, Gypsy had seen us sliding it back and forth and had tried to paw it open.

The fateful day, I became engrossed in making a dash cover to protect it from cat claws and didn’t notice Gypsy missing until I went to feed her. The plastic cover on the door was open! Was it me? Did I forget to shut it or did she open it? She has run out before, but usually just goes under the RV next door and comes right to me when called. She wasn’t under the RV next door and I couldn’t find her in the park. Some new friends returned from kayaking and said they spotted her hours earlier on their way out to the bay (they had not met her yet and didn’t know it was Gypsy). This meant she had time to wander. Brandon was out-of-town, so a couple of them offered to help me look for her. We walked the campground with treats and lights as it was rapidly getting dark. To make matters worse, this campground has mobile home parks on both sides of it that were closing. A lot of the residents had already moved out and there were open holes leading under the trailers. There were so many places to hide. We didn’t have any luck that night.

Brandon wasn’t returning for another few days and I took that time to make posters, search all three communities, and call the shelters. All my efforts proved fruitless. When doing some online research about ways to find cats, I came across the idea of using a pet detective. They can help with the best methods to use for a search and some also have search and/or tracker dogs. I called for information and while we were hesitant at first, we decided to hire the dogs. We chose this option for a couple of reasons. One is if she had been in an accident or fallen ill, we knew we wouldn’t hesitate on treatment at any cost. And the other was as full-time RVers, we have a limited time frame within which to work. When I was a kid, my cat slipped out and disappeared for three months only to show back up on our porch one day. We didn’t have the luxury of months. Unfortunately, we could not get an appointment until the next week. She suggested we keep looking, handing out flyers, talking to neighbors, use wildlife cameras, and set a humane trap for the cat. We saw other cats and many raccoons on the cameras, but never Gypsy.

The Pet Detective

The pet detective arrived and brought her bloodhounds and smaller trailing dog with her. We used the kitty condo Gypsy had been sleeping in for her scent. We waited while the dogs each had a turn. All three dogs followed a similar trail down towards the water and then into the mobile home park next door. But the trail seemed to stop 3 homes in. The last intact home in the row had the decking pulled making it easy access to the crawl space. It was empty, but had a phone number for sale. Happily, when we called it, it was a gentleman who lived in the park and was sympathetic to our cause. He had actually called us earlier to report a cat that might be Gypsy. He let us set up a camera and trap around the home.

The pet detective also found some feces which she said looked like coyote and some white fur in an open area. We were hoping it was unrelated and we could focus on this new lead, but she took them with her for further comparison to the sample of Gypsy’s fur. We didn’t have any luck with the house and on the day we left, we received news that the fur appeared to match Gypsy’s. I was devastated. We were heading out to the desert to spend a few weeks with friends and then would be returning to the park. It was hard leaving that day without her and hearing this news made the drive feel even longer. I put on a smile and socialized with everyone as you don’t get this chance often when you’re on the road. I partied like everyone else on New Year’s Eve, but when it continued on New Year’s night, I couldn’t drag myself out of the RV. There was something about starting the New Year without her that seemed so final and depressing.

We went on to spend some time in Yuma and Quartzsite with friends. I was so grateful to have them and at the same time, I just wanted to wallow in my guilt and grief and didn’t feel like I was giving them 100% of my attention. Just a few weeks after we left San Diego, we headed back to meet some family and more friends. Being in the park, walking past where the fur was found, and seeing my poster still in the laundry was hard. I knew she was most likely not there and Brandon always hopes she left with some other RVers (maybe crawling up in the genny like she did with us), but leaving the second time felt final. We didn’t know if we’d ever be back. The only glimmer of hope is she is microchipped if she ever does pop-up and someone takes her to the vet.

No one wants to lose a pet, but as full-time travelers, I think it’s even more stressful. You don’t live long-term in the area or know it that well, you don’t have a regular community for support, and you’re in a race against time. The visitors, residents, staff, and security were all very helpful to us calling in tips and being on the look-out (on the other hand, management was rude), but they’re not your friends and neighbors that you’ve known for years. They may change daily.

As our pets age and acquire more ailments, we need to brace ourselves for more loss. That’s the kicker, though, with Gypsy she was the young rascal. I wasn’t expecting to lose her. While writing this, the news of Prince’s death has broken. To quote him, “Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life.” I wish you had a longer one, sweetheart.

We spent most of the winter in the desert and heard about the area’s famous date shakes. I began looking for them soon after. Somehow, they eluded me for the first couple of months. We never had the chance to visit the date farm in Yuma. We missed the place recommended to us on the way to our next stop. And I somehow forgot to turn left out of our camp in Quartzsite and visit the purveyor down the street. But I was still determined and when we made it to Death Valley, I knew it was time.

After one of our day trips into the park, we stopped in Furnace Creek for dinner. I did a quick peek online and saw dates shakes listed under the casual cafe. But we when sat down, they were not on the menu. I asked the server anyway who happily said they did make date shakes. Yay! It arrived in a super cold, tall metal container and I took my first sip of a date shake. It tasted like warm vanilla with caramel overtones, essentially delicious. Months after my search began, I was not disappointed.

My date shake experience didn’t end there, though. After Death Valley, we headed to a nearby Harvest Host, China Ranch Date Farm. It was a desert oasis with date palms filling up the valley floor. Their store had everything date you ever wanted. We tasted a variety of dates grown on the premises and sampled date bread and date cookies. Then we stepped up to the counter to order a date shake. The lady asked if we had tried one before and declared theirs superior to the Death Valley concoction. And even though they offered many versions (chocolate, peanut butter, etc.), we should start with a plain date shake to get the true taste. Their shake consists only of softened vanilla ice cream and dates, but the dates themselves make it special. Instead of using one variety, they take all the fruit considered seconds (not pretty enough to sell whole) and grind it up into a purée. I find this comparable to the end of the season apple cider when you have lots of apple varieties in one press making it all the better. It was truly delicious.

I purchased a small container of date purée and I have used it to make the date shakes below. If you wish, you can order this from them directly over the phone, but you can also use whatever dates you can find. The shake lady told to add enough liquid to the purée to make it mashed potato consistency. If you’re using whole dates, remove the pit and roughly chop them before blending them with a little milk and then add the rest of the ingredients. The rest of the ingredients are very simple. For the dairy version, all you need is ice cream and milk. If you have very soft ice cream, you could probably skip the milk like China Ranch does. For the non-dairy version, you use a frozen banana instead of ice cream. Have you tried this before? It’s pretty amazing that a frozen banana blends up into the consistency of ice cream. Sometimes I prefer it to the real thing.

Another thing to note about the date shake is that it’s a great base for other flavors. You can add just about anything you would to a typical milkshake; chocolate syrup, cookies, etc. One variation I like is adding 1/4 tsp each of cinnamon and nutmeg to create something that tastes like a horchata or rice pudding. Yum!

Have you tried a date shake before? What did you think ?

4.7 from 3 reviews

Delicious Date Shake (Dairy)

 

Save Print

A classic version of a date shake made with ice cream and milk.

Author: Kerensa Durr - Drive Dive Devour

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Ingredients

• ¼ cup milk
• 3 big scoops of vanilla ice cream
• 1 heaping Tablespoon of pureed dates or a handful (5-6 dates) of whole dates

Instructions

1. If using whole dates, first pit and roughly chop them. Add them to a blender with the milk and blend until the dates are finely chopped. Add the ice cream and blend until smooth.
2. If using pureed dates, mix in a little water or milk to the puree to get it to mashed potato consistency. The add the milk, dates, and ice cream to the blender and whirl until smooth.

Notes

You can make many variations on this shake by adding chocolate syrup, cookies, almond butter, etc.
Use ¼ teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg to mimic the flavors of rice pudding.

3.5.3208

4.7 from 3 reviews

Delicious Date Shake (Vegan)

 

Save Print

A vegan version of a date shake using bananas.

Author: Kerensa Durr - Drive Dive Devour

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Ingredients

• ⅓ cup soy or nut milk
• 1 banana, cut into chunks and frozen for at least 3 hours
• 1 heaping Tablespoon of date puree or a handful (5-6) of whole dates

Instructions

1. If using whole dates, first pit and roughly chop them. Add them to a blender with the milk and blend until the dates are finely chopped. Add the banana and blend until smooth.
2. If using pureed dates, mix in a little water or milk to the puree to get it to mashed potato consistency. The add the milk, dates, and banana to the blender and whirl until smooth.

Notes

You can make many variations on this shake by adding chocolate syrup, cookies, almond butter, etc.
Use ¼ teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg to mimic the flavors of rice pudding.

3.5.3208

Buy the biggest RV you can afford!

Only buy diesel!

You won’t be comfortable in anything under 40 feet!

Buy your last RV first!

There is a lot of advice on the internet regarding purchasing an RV. Go into any forum or Facebook group and ask people what they think and you are bound to hear many of the above statements. We sure did when we were looking for our first full-time rig. And they are repeated by many people in many different channels so that you start to take them as truths. But are they? Can these blanket statements apply to all RVers? Did they even apply to us?

Our first RV. Isn’t it cute?

First time Full-Timers

When we started researching RVs for our full-time adventure, we were moving up from a pop-up camper to a motorhome. We went to RV shows, scoured RV forums and groups for info, and talked to everyone we could. Even though our little pop-up was a catalyst for our desire to live on the road, we thought we would need a little more space. After hearing people talk about the large spaces they needed, the smaller RVs we looked at started to close in on us. After all, in addition to the living and sleeping space most part-time and retired RVers need, we also wanted a dedicated work space. As we listened to everyone’s recommendations, we started looking a little bigger. And then even bigger until we ended up with a 40 ft diesel pusher with four slides. It had an ideal spot for our desk and all the storage space we needed for dive gear and other belongings.

Our biggun: This Harvest Host was a bit tricky for us to make a clean getaway with such a big gal.

The Rub

At first, our new RV suited us just fine. We were in Texas and the South with full hook-ups and plenty of room for our beast. As time went on, though, we started to feel a little large and a little much. Don’t get me wrong, the space was great whenever we had friends over and the gathering inevitably ended up in our rig with our dual slides. But on a day-to-day basis, it was more than we needed. We talked a couple of times about trading it in, but always decided to stay with the devil we knew. Things came to a head in Colorado when there were parks for which we were too big and boondocking spots we couldn’t reach in the RV. We already traded our Mini for an Xterra at the beginning of our Colorado stay and used it explore places we could never go before. It made us yearn for more possibilities with the RV. We spent the whole summer in the state finding places we’d like to go, but couldn’t. Our last stop in Durango had us in a KOA (actually, the best one we’ve ever visited) while our friends were all wild camping just outside of town in their smaller RVs. That was it; we needed a smaller rig.

Our first RV went on forever!

Another Try

On our second RV shopping experience, what advice did we take? Well, mainly our own. We knew the size we wanted (28-33 feet) and what would make us comfortable. We had been on the road for almost two years and knew what worked for us in terms of size and layout. We did ask our friends about their experiences and tried to learn from them. Many of them had been to Alaska that summer in gas motorhomes giving us the confidence that a gas RV would work for us, too. So we ended up with a 30 ft gasser with two small slides. Did we have to give up more stuff to fit in it? Yes. Did we need any of it? No. People ask if we feel really tight now with 10 fewer feet, but it’s just the opposite. The RV feels roomy and luxurious inside, dare I say, almost too big? We feel lighter and more nimble. We can get into spots in smaller state parks and feel more comfortable boondocking. We added solar because we were more confident in this rig and how it fit our needs than our previous one allowing us even more freedom. It fits us.

Our new home

Can Common RV Buying Advice Work?

What about that advice? Should you buy the biggest 40 ft and above diesel pusher that you can? Maybe, if that makes sense for your style of living. Perhaps you want the bigger space because you plan to stay still for months at a time or will be a snowbird. But do you really know how you will live? We didn’t. It took us getting out there and living on the road and experiencing different styles to find our way and we’re not the only ones. We know others who have found their first RV to be the wrong fit. One family we met decided that a smaller travel trailer was better for them than the 5th wheel they initially purchased. Our friends Josh and Marie also gave up their 5th wheel and chose a motorhome instead (actually a model we had seriously considered). I’d like to say Airstreamers tend to stick with their purchase, but our Snowmad friends traded theirs for a small motorhome and recently decided to go even smaller with a van style. Others we know do have their first RV, but readily admit they would be happier in something smaller or a different style.

So can you really buy your last RV first? I’d say only if you’re really lucky or stubborn. If you’re experienced enough to know what you want, you’ve probably been RVing before. And if you bought one and have found it’s not quite the right fit, maybe you’re stubborn enough to make it work for whatever reason. You’re a lucky soul who found the perfect RV on the first try and I know there are a few of you.

What’s our advice to prospective RV buyers? Do your homework and look at all the ways people camp to see where you might fall. Find an RV in your budget, preferably in the low-end, so you can get out there and experience it for yourself. If you can get into it cheaply and soon find you would prefer something different, it will be less painful to change later. We all don’t need the biggest, baddest RV on the planet.  We need the RV that is the best for us.

Now we feel more comfortable getting to places like this! That road isn’t as smooth as it looks.

You’ve probably seen the stories and photos circulating about the Death Valley super bloom. We had, too, and thought we shouldn’t let the opportunity pass to see this once-in-a-decade phenomenon. The timing was perfect as we planned to head out to the California desert during the beginning of March and it was primed to be peak viewing of the flowers. Our friends from JenEric Ramblings camped with us to make it even more special.

Day 1: Badlands, Salt, and Flowers

Brandon and I went into the park one day to explore on our own and gather some first impressions. We both wanted to see the park and, admittedly, I was a little anxious to see the flowers. First, I must say that Death Valley is a huge park. We were there for hours and just scratched the surface. We came in on 190 and made our first stop at Zabriskie Point where you overlook some of the badlands in the park. Badlands are always interesting and being able to look down upon them is a nice point of view. After making a quick stop at the visitor center, we headed down Badwater Road on the search for wildflowers and to the see the lowest point in North America. Desert Gold flowers carpeted the edges of the roadways giving the land a yellow appearance.

We made a stop at the Devil’s Golf Course, an area of rock salt that has eroded into sharp spires so that “only the devil could play on such rough links.” The salt gives a false appearance as though it might crumble upon your touch, but trust me, those things are very hard and very sharp. There are even signs warning that a fall could cause serious injury. Next we made it to Badwater Basin, the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below sea level. The deepest dive Brandon has done is 130 feet in Lake Jocassee and this was a whopping 150 feet deeper without needing any scuba tanks or decompression! Badwater Basin is a vast salt flat and one of the busiest places in the park until night when everybody disappears. We went back out with Jeanette and Eric later in the week to the basin at night and found it quiet, relaxing, and desolate.

Day 2: Canyon Roads and more Flowers

We came back into the park a couple days later with Eric and Jeanette on the search for flowers and fun. We decided to run up some of the canyon roads that looked promising for more flowers and fewer people. Thankfully, they delivered on both accounts. The washes were filled with evening primrose, gravel ghost, notch-leaf phacelia, and many others. I know Jeanette and I probably drove the guys nuts with all the stopping to shoot flowers and just take in the color. We also made a quick run of the Twenty Mule Team Canyon Drive which is named for the famous symbol of borax soap mined here. They may have had 20 mules, but I still think we ran it faster.

Day 3: Super bloom, 4-wheeling, and Moving Rocks

Our final day in the park was an all-day adventure consisting of more bloom watching, 4-wheel drive canyon roads, and a trip to the playa to see moving rocks. We consulted the National Park website for the flower update before heading out. It promised Mud Canyon Road was becoming so thick with flowers that there was nowhere to pull off. We pointed our cars that direction and headed off. Indeed, the edges of the road were overgrown with flowers and we saw lots of variety. You really have to start looking to see everything. At first, you may see all gold or yellow, but as you look closer you start to see whites and purples mixed in. Then you start to notice the tiny flowers that are closer to the ground. It really is amazing what can grow in this land given the right conditions.

We made our loop of Mud Canyon and Beatty Cut-Off Road and headed back to the small town of Beatty, NV just outside the park to top off our gas. It was going to be a long day and we didn’t want to chance running out of gas on a back road with no cell service. On our way out, we spotted wild burros grazing  just off the road. We had seen signs for wild horses earlier, but hey, I’ll still take a wild burro sighting! We decided to make a quick stop in the ghost town of Rhyolite and were surprised to stumble upon the Goldwell Open Air Art Museum. We wandered the grounds for a bit before heading into town. After filling up, we headed back on Titus Canyon Road which turned out to be a great drive with desert washes leading to rocky hills, an abandoned mine town, narrow canyon twists, and, of course, flowers.

After all the super bloom sightings, we were on our way to a notably non-flower area, the dry lakebed or playa where rocks race each other leaving trails in their wake. The 27-mile road to get there was a rough washboard and we saw a couple of abandoned vehicles on the trail one of which had a broken drivetrain. The best thing along the drive was all the Joshua trees lining both sides of the road and topping the crests of the hills. After suffering through all the bumps, we made it to Racetrack playa. The first stop is the grandstand which is a large outcropping of quartz and monzonite, but we skipped this in the dying light to make it to the moving rocks. No one has actually seen the rocks move, but the trails they leave are evidence of their meandering ways. The theory is the right conditions of rain (about 1/2 inch) and strong winds (50 mph) allow the rocks to slide across the firm surface. It’s amusing to look at all of the tracks and imagine the rocks in some kind of race.

Our time in Death Valley was well-spent and I’m glad we were able to see this rare super bloom. But even if you miss it, I would recommend making a visit to Death Valley as it has a lot to offer. We’ll have to go back as there is still much we didn’t see. I just don’t plan to visit in July, how about you?

We fell hard for Burlington, Vermont. From the mountains to Lake Champlain to the restaurants and artisan food, this place had everything we crave. In no particular order, here are seven reasons to love Burlington, Vermont.

1. Factory Tours

   Do you watch “How It’s Made” on tv? Then maybe you’re like us and love factory tours. Burlington is flush with them for its size and a couple of them even come with delicious samples.
   

   • Ben and Jerry’s is in nearby Waterbury and runs tours of their factory (no photos in the production area for all you Slugworths). You do receive a sample at the end of the tour, but they have a full-service ice cream stand with lots of flavors, too. We liked wandering the flavor graveyard looking for past favorites and reading the very B&J humorous tombstones.
     
   • Burton Snowboards lets you take a tour of Craig’s R&D and prototyping facility (again no photos). For geeky product designers like ourselves, this was pretty awesome. Neither of us has ever stepped on a snowboard, but it really didn’t matter as the tour still captivated us.
     
   • Lake Champlain Chocolates is not so much a tour as a window into their factory. You’re seated the whole time while they explain the process and you watch everyone working. There are ample samples and it’s in their store selling their full line of chocolates and seconds which didn’t make the cut, but are still perfectly delectable. Across the street is the smaller factory room for their bean to bar venture, Blue Bandana. We used to dabble in bean to bar chocolate making and we liked watching the giant version of our melangeur grind the chocolate while we had lunch at the adjoining South End Kitchen.
     
   • The Vermont Teddy Bear Factory also has a tour, but we never made it there. It’s across from the Shelburne Museum and you may be able to tack it onto a trip if you budget your time accordingly, we did not.
     

2. Summer Festivals

   We have no doubt that Burlington is beautiful in the winter and filled with winter sports. After that snow finally melts, though, it feels like Vermonters try to suck everything they can out of the nice weather. I’m sure there are plenty of more festivals to see, but these are the ones we encountered while we were there.

   • The Festival of Fools fills Church Street marketplace with street theater. These buskers put on all kinds of performances from music to acrobatics to yo-yos. You can see busking in many touristy towns, but what is interesting here is the festival staff curates the performances and the performers hail from all over the world.
     
   • There are many outdoor music festivals in the area all summer, but we happened to arrive in time for the Summer Nationals Tour featuring one of my favorite bands Bad Religion. It was everything my 16-year-old self could want. It seems likely there would be some music to strike your fancy during your stay.
     
   • Nearby Stowe, Vermont hosts an Annual Antique Car Show and parade that started before half the cars were even considered antique! Combine it with some nearby trails and maple walnut ice cream and you’re set.
     

3. Local Specialties

   If you know us or read the sidebar, you’ll know we like to find regional foods. That is easy to do in Vermont. For some reason, I had it in my head before we arrived that I would try to cut down on my dairy consumption. Yeah, that didn’t last. Between the cheese and creemees, I was a goner.

   • Vermont is known for maple syrup and for good reason, the state produces 42% of the country’s maple syrup. Maple doesn’t only come in syrup form or have to be used on pancakes, check out our Maple Pumpkin Spice Muffins recipe.
     
   • Creemees are Vermont’s version of soft serve ice cream originally having a higher fat content than regular ice cream. They come in multiple flavors, but the most ubiquitous and unique to Vermont is maple. I don’t even care for ice cream all that much, it’s usually Brandon’s department, but I became addicted. To top it, some places offered black raspberry, my favorite fruit, so I ended up with a cream/purple swirl cone…and I’m starting to drool. Next!
     
   • Most people will recognize Cabot Creamery and some of their cheeses. They are a co-op of farmers across New England and New York and sell some fantastic cheddars including the hard to find Chipotle. They run three Cabot stores in Vermont including one in Waterbury Center, so you can visit on your way from Ben & Jerry’s. The stores have lots of other Vermont goodies, too. Technically, Grafton Village Cheese Company is in the southern part of the state, but you can find their products around Burlington, too, so be on the lookout. May we suggest the Maple Smoked Cheddar?
     
   • Apples are grown throughout the U.S., but not everywhere we’ve lived or visited, so seeing an orchard always make me happy. We were a little early for full-on apple season, the honeycrisps were starting to ripen, but that didn’t stop us from visiting Cold Hollow Cider Mill nor from them having an Apple Cider Festival. The mill has a store filled with Vermont-made foods (including the aforementioned Grafton cheese) and often have tastings of different varieties. In addition to a large jug of cider, we picked up apple cider jelly, and a cider doughnut that is made right in front of the store. Also, they have a separate lunch restaurant that was pretty good.
     
   • Finally, I know a lot of our friends and fellow RVers would be all over the brewery scene happening here, but that’s just not our jam. We did try a sampler at Citizen Cider, but overall, I’ll just say there are a lot of breweries for you craft beer loving folks. Fun fact: Vermont has more breweries per capita than any other state. Of course it has the second lowest population, too.
     

4. Good Eats

   Yes, more food! There are so many awesome restaurants in the area that we hardly made a dent in the selection. Here are a few of our favorites that we did get to try.

   • Sneakers Bistro is in nearby Winooski. The campground owner recommended this place and he did not steer us wrong. We went for brunch, so I could get the top rated breakfast items while Brandon could still have his preferred lunch fare. Both were delicious!
     
   • Another endeavor of Lake Champlain Chocolates is South End Kitchen. We had lunch there after touring the chocolate factory and it was just as good as their chocolates. Brandon’s burger and my quiche may seem at opposite ends of the spectrum, but they were both equally good. They also offer classes on cooking and chocolate making at this location.
     
   • Folino’s Wood Fired Pizza in Shelburne turns out exquisitely made pies. I chose The Yellow Submarine and it was one of the best pizza choices I have ever made. The yellow San Marzano tomatoes were a little sweet, but that’s balanced by the bite of arugula and black pepper. Goat cheese bathes the mouthful in a tangy creaminess. Folino’s is BYOB, but Fiddlehead Brewery is connected right next door, so no worries on picking up some brew.
     
   • On Friday nights in the summer, food trucks gather behind Arts Riot in the South End Arts District for Truck Stop. There are a lot of choices from tacos to cupcakes.
     
   • For a quick-lunch in Church Street Marketplace, the Red Onion serves hearty sandwiches.
   • If you want a quick bite next to the Lake, try The Skinny Pancake for savory and sweet crepes.

5. Outdoor Activities

   It’s Vermont! You know there will be plenty of things to do outside.
   

   • One of the unique things to do is bike across Lake Champlain. The Island Line Trail extends into the lake with a small break for boats to go through. At this point, there is a bike ferry that will take you across to the island in the middle. If you’re feeling strong and adventurous, you can bike to the other side of the island and catch the ferry to Plattsburgh, NY, then ride south to catch another ferry back to Burlington. We weren’t feeling that adventurous, but we did pick up some apples and a baby creemee at a little store on the island.
     
   • Hiking abounds in Vermont. Pull out a map, put your finger on it, and I’m sure you’ll find a trail.
   • For those who prefer to stay in town, Stowe has a 5.3 mile recreation path that allows you to walk, run, or bike around the city.

6. Diving in Lake Champlain

   Maybe this is an outdoor activity, but Brandon thought it was so awesome, he wrote a whole post about it.
   

   • It’s cold and dark, but it’s clear.
   • The chilly freshwater has preserved shipwrecks, unlike the ocean where they tend to disintegrate.
     

7. Shelburne Museum

   This museum deserves a point by itself and not just because it doesn’t seem to fit anywhere else. It’s another one that we had to write a separate post about because it was So Much More than We Expected.
   

   • The museum houses a vast and amazing collection of New England buildings, art, decor, and more.
   • It is so overwhelming, your ticket is good for two days.
   • Just standing in front of the Ticonderoga and pondering how they moved this giant steamship to the middle of the field is worth the admission price.
     

So there you have it, our reasons for loving Burlington, Vermont. It checks off all our criteria, drive, dive, and devour, plus a few more. Maybe next time we’ll make it to Misery Loves Company, a restaurant recommended by a local diver and add it to the list. Or we’ll pick up a new roasted caffeine habit and seek out Green Mountain Coffee. For now, though, I’m pretty happy with our list. Is there anything you’d add?

Maple syrup and Vermont go together like peas and carrots…which I actually hate, so maybe that’s not the best comparison. How about peanut butter and jelly? Either way, I dare you to not think of maple syrup when Vermont is mentioned, I know I do. Before we took off on our full-time adventure, we used to drive up in March to attend the Maple Festival in Southern Vermont touring all the sugar houses covered in snow. The houses would be warm and toasty inside boiling the sap down into the liquid gold that is maple syrup. The owners had little paper cups ready for you to put under the spout to fill with the freshest and warmest maple syrup you’ve ever had. We’d down these sugary shots, pick up a bottle or two, and move to the next house until our stomachs rebelled and made us eat proper food.

Maple Hill Farm in March above and boiling sap into syrup below.

When we visited Burlington in the RV, it was the edge of summer/almost fall, but maple was no less prevalent. I cannot tell you how many maple creemees I ate while I was there. Maple products, the bulk of which is mainly maple syrup, are found on shelves all across the state. Outside of maple producing areas, you can find maple syrup, but not maple candies, sugars, or spreads. The good thing is you can still do a lot with maple syrup other than drizzling it over pancakes, though let’s not discount that use. It’s great in oatmeal and on baked apples. You can also use it as a substitute for sugar while baking, just remember to use 3/4 cup syrup for every 1 cup of sugar and reduce your total liquid by 3 tablespoons. Or you can follow a recipe that is already tooled for maple syrup like these Maple Pumpkin Spice Muffins. They’re everything you love about fall in a muffin. Even though sugar houses produce maple syrup in early spring, the taste is reminiscent of cold weather pancakes. And, of course, there is the pumpkin and the spices that go along with it. I think America has renamed fall “pumpkin spice season.” So bake up a batch and eat them with your pumpkin spice latte, you won’t be disappointed.

First a word about maple syrup grades. You often see “Fancy” in stores, but don’t let this term fool you. This is often the first syrup made and is lighter in taste and color. It’s still delicious, but if you want a more pronounced maple flavor, go with a Grade A Medium or Dark Amber. These are the grades you’ll find as pancake syrup on tables across Vermont.

These muffins are a cinch to make and use a one-bowl method rather than separating out dry and wet ingredients. This is a lovely thing in a small, dishwasher-less kitchen. As with most baking, you’ll start by pre-heating your oven to 350 degrees and either greasing or lining your muffin pans. Most often, I just grease the pans for muffins, but these paper liners made for much cuter muffin photos!

Start by stirring together the maple syrup, salt, and canola oil.

I didn’t try this concoction, but I wonder if the salty sweet would be good like salted caramel which is delicious.

Next, whisk in the egg until thoroughly blended. This is the one item keeping these muffins from being vegan.

The all important pumpkin must be added. Adding pumpkin to your baked goods is a great way to keep them moist.

Add the dry ingredients and that fall taste with the pumpkin spice mixture including fresh nutmeg. You don’t have fresh nutmeg? Well, if we meet in person, I have extra, so just ask.

Stir the dry ingredients together on top before folding them in with a spatula until just combined.

Fill the muffins cups 3/4 full and bake. The recipe makes a dozen regular muffins, 24 mini muffins, or a combo of 6 regular and 12 mini.

See that scoop in the photo? I love these dishers/ice cream scoops. The one pictured fills regular muffin pans pretty well and makes large cookies. A smaller one fills the mini tin and makes standard size cookies. They’re a baker’s dream and I wouldn’t leave them behind when we moved into the RV.

Let them cool (well, try to let them cool) and enjoy! Tell me how they turn out or your favorite way to use maple syrup in the comments below.

Maple Pumpkin Spice Muffins- An Ode to Fall in Vermont

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

35 mins

 

Maple syrup, pumpkin, and pumpkin spice- what more could you want out of a muffin?

Author: Kerensa Durr - Drive Dive Devour

Recipe type: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Serves: 12 regular or 24 mini muffins

Ingredients

• ¾ c maple syrup
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ c canola oil
• 1 egg
• 1 c pumpkin puree
• 1½ c all-purpose flour, alternatively you can use 1 c ap and ½ c whole wheat
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp cloves
• ½ tsp ginger
• ½ tsp nutmeg

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease muffin pan.
2. Stir syrup, salt, and oil together.
3. Whisk in egg until thoroughly blended.
4. Add pumpkin and stir to combine.
5. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and all spices to bowl. Stir the dry ingredients together and then blend into the pumpkin-syrup mixture until just combined.
6. Fill the muffin cups ¾ full and bake until firm and a toothpick comes out clean. About 12-15 minutes for mini muffins and 24-26 minutes for regular muffins.
7. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes and then remove muffins on to a wire rack.

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Brandon and I passed the Shelburne Museum on our way to Burlington and thought it might be an interesting little museum to visit. Boy were we wrong! It was a very interesting BIG museum to visit. We arrived mid afternoon and had to return the next day to see everything in the 38 buildings (25 are historic). Thankfully, the staff anticipates this and your ticket is good for two days. The rambling 45 acres on Lake Champlain houses everything from fine and folk art to an old hunting cabin to a local decommissioned steamboat. It’s so vast in size that it’s hard to know where to start in person and in this post.

A Little History

I say we start with a little history of the museum. Electra Havermeyer Webb founded the museum in 1947 when one of her other homes was closed. She was an avid collector of decorative art and needed a new home for her collection. Thus, the idea for the Shelburne Museum was born. Instead of housing it in one gallery, she chose to showcase local New England and New York 18th and 19th century architecture and relocate 20 buildings to the property to display her collections. The buildings include houses, a general store, a jail, a covered bridge, a schoolhouse, barns, and more.  The museum has the feel of a small village and you can wander through the historic buildings and beautiful gardens at your leisure.

Fine Art

Although Mrs. Webb was a fan of the decorative arts, her parents were fine art collectors and amassed a large collection of impressionism and other fine art. She took over this collection and part of it is on display in five rooms that were brought to the museum from her New York City Park Ave apartment. Lucky me, there was a special showing of the all the French Impressionist paintings in the gallery at the museum. Impressionism is one of my favorite movements and I was thrilled to get a chance to get close and personal with Manet, Monet, and Degas. What was even more interesting and personal was a painting by Mary Cassatt of a little Electra and her mother, the artist and family were good friends.

The gallery below the French Impressionism collection displayed a selection of star quilts from all over America.

Sleighs

Next, we visited the Round Barn that was currently housing a large collection of horse-drawn sleighs. The details and workmanship of the sleighs were beautiful! I can imagine during the Vermont winters these sleighs would see a lot of use. There was also a traverse with a long red velvet seat that would carry 8-12 people. In the winter of 1877-1878, traverse coasting was a competitive event in the Vermont Winter Carnival.

The Circus Building

Near the Round Barn is the u-shaped Circus Building with a collection of, you guessed it, circus memorabilia along with carousel animals. On the inside wall, the finely carved carousel animals line up beckoning you to take a ride. Competing for attention on the outside wall is a miniature circus parade that extends 525 feet. If it was full-scale it would be two miles long. Roy Arnold and five assistants spent 25 years meticulously carving all the people, animals, and wagons. The attention to detail even extended to fully-functioning brake systems on the wagons. Outside, in the center of the u-shape, you can take a ride on a functioning carousel.

Dead Animals

We stopped in at a log-built lodge that represented Adirondack life and hunting where the bears seemed to preside over their trophies. The other rooms were sparsely appointed and the gallery next door displayed all kinds of firearms used in Adirondack life.

Railroad

The museum also contains a railroad station, a 10-wheel locomotive, a beautiful rail car from 1890, and assorted other railroad relics. It’s amazing how they have everything set-up just as it would have been when in use: the books laid out like someone is about to come back from lunch and write in them, the sleeping cars on the train waiting for you to climb in bed. There is a lot of attention paid to the exhibits here.

Ticonderoga

One of the jewels of the Shelburne Museum is the Ticonderoga, a 1906 Lake Champlain steamboat. You can explore all 220 feet of this steamer from the engine room all the way up to the wheelhouse. The Ti operated as a day boat on Lake Champlain until 1953 when automobiles finally took over as the preferred method of getting to and from the port cities of Vermont and New York. The ship was brought to the Shelburne Museum in 1955 during the frigid winter with temperatures that went to 20 below 0. The ground had to be frozen to support the tracks being laid for the Ti and the ship itself on the two-mile journey. It was an amazing engineering feat and still stands as a great example of maritime preservation. There is a short film about this effort that I’d recommend watching to fully understand how such a huge ship makes into the middle of a field.

General Store

The General Store on site looks as if it just came out of the mid 1840s with all the goods one could ever want. Personally, I thought the cash register was one of the most stunning pieces on display. You can hardly recognize the thread tying together this elegant piece from the past and the ipad registers of today. A doctor is also housed in this building and we made sure to pick up some cod liver oil and leeches on our way out.

This same attention to authentic detail was on display in the Pleissner Gallery. In addition to exhibiting the works of Ogden Minton Pleissner, they also recreated his Manchester, Vermont studio with his own brushes, canvases, and memorabilia.

Folk Art

We strolled through the Stagecoach Inn which contains folk art sculpture, trade signs, whirligigs, and more. Is it any surprise the watch designers had to take a photo of the giant pocket watch?

Miniatures

I have a special fondness for miniatures and there were many to view here. I love the detail that goes into these displays. Usually, I lean toward mini kitchens with tiny pies and rolls, but my favorite here was a view into an artist’s studio. I felt like I was a giant spying on this little man.

At one point, I had to throw Brandon in jail. He finally made amends and we continued on our tour viewing more horse-drawn carriages, a working printing press, creepy dolls, and a room full of hatboxes.

This feels like a very long and overwhelming post, but it’s still only a tiny bit of what we saw. There were more buildings full of quilts, fiber arts, glass, scrimshaw, antique toys, ceramics, etc. If you have an interest in some aspect of American New Englander life, it is probably here. I would whole-heartedly recommend a stop, but make sure to pace yourself. And if you need a break, look for the lighthouse below. It is your beacon to a relaxation lounge to recharge.

“What’s a skunk ape?” Brandon receives this question and a lot of weird looks whenever he wears his shirt depicting this creature. So what is a skunk ape? Well, we think of it like the Bigfoot of the Everglades. It’s a large, hairy creature that walks on two legs and smells like a skunk. And how do we know this? We know because we spent the night at the Skunk Ape Research Headquarters in Florida!

We needed a place to spend the night between Clearwater and Key Largo and we couldn’t resist this roadside attraction. I probably shouldn’t even call it that as this research center means serious business. Dave Shealy, one of the owners of the campground and lead researcher, has spent most of his life traversing the Everglades in pursuit of the mysterious creature. He claims to have seen the stinky biped three times in his life and has the photos and videos to back it up. All this exploration has culminated in the headquarters where you can buy a field guide for your own hunt or lots of skunk ape emblazoned tchotchkes.

A zoo, too!

The Research Headquarters also hosts a small zoo filled with local creatures like alligators, snakes, turtles, and more. We walked in to check out the Research HQ in the morning and were happy to find out our stay included a tour. The zookeeper Rick walked us through the exhibits and told us about each animal and how it came to be at the zoo. Many were nuisance animals or needed to be rehabilitated and couldn’t be released back into the wild. People have also given up many pet birds to the zoo. Two parrots, in particular, were real ladies’ men. One macaw blushes around any women. It’s quite endearing to see the cheek feathers on this bird turn pink from your sight. Another cockatoo always chooses one female in each tour as his own. This lucky lady gets all his attention and since we were the only ones there that morning, that lady was me. He sat on my shoulder and tilted his head, but if Brandon would venture too close, all his feathers would go up in a show of dominance. I was his lady! Rick told us it didn’t matter if there were five women in a group, he would choose one and then treat the rest as males.

What a sweetie!

Me and my new boyfriend

For an overnight stop in the middle of nowhere, this place has a lot to appreciate. You can walk through the displays up front, check out the zoo, or you see what wildlife you can find in the campground. Personally, we were taken aback by the giant grasshoppers on giant leaves and the small alligator in the pond across from our RV. This little guy was trying to hide out from the big dudes on Alligator Alley and wasn’t too concerning. I still wouldn’t walk the dogs too close, though.

How many grasshoppers do you see?

Sopchoppy sits in that little curve of Florida before the panhandle known as The Forgotten Coast. It’s a sleepy little town in the Apalachicola National Forest without much happening. Sometimes, though, that is exactly what you need. We made Sopchoppy our layover on our way from Crystal River to Santa Rosa Beach. Our previous and future stops were social and our calendar was full, so Sopchoppy would give us a week to ourselves to chill out and catch up on projects around the “house.”

The City

We heard that the city of Sopchoppy ran a nice, economical ($15!) city park on the river, so we pulled in to find a spot. There are full hookup sites along the road, but we opted to forgo sewer, so we could have a site along the river. Our windows afforded us a peaceful view looking out along the water and that’s worth giving up the convenience to me.

We settled in for some r & r and took a tour around town on our bikes. This didn’t take long as the town is only 1.5 miles square. We found a small grocery store for essentials, a street named Faith with three churches, a railroad Depot Museum, the historic gymnasium, and even a recording studio! There was a cute little shop, too, but a sign on the door said, “Gone Shopping” and a return date after our departure.

River Paddle

The Wakulla River is only 30 minutes away and we decided to rent a canoe and have another paddle in Florida. There had been quite the downpour during the week filling the river to capacity and turning it a muddy brown. The Wakulla River normally isn’t as clear as say Silver Springs, but it still has some translucency. Despite the murky water, we had a good time floating along seeing the wildlife and cypress trees. On our way back, we stopped at some roadside art made from old, rusted cars.

Sopchoppy Pizza Company

Back in town, we had to wait until the end of the week to visit the pizza parlor we saw on our bike ride. It was worth the wait! To be honest, we weren’t expecting much from a small town pizza shop in Florida, but it surprised us. The dough was made with local tupelo honey and blistered just right in the oven. It had that delicate balance of chewy and crispy that is a hallmark of a thin, hand-stretched pie. The toppings were fresh and full of flavor. This was good pizza! We also ordered a Greek salad that came with their house-made “Cody Bug’s Mo’ Betta Feta” dressing. Creamy with the zing of vinaigrette, the dressing complemented the greens and artichoke hearts perfectly.

Sloppychoppy, as Brandon likes to call it, turned out to be a great place for quiet relaxation, focused work time, and a bit of adventure. We may have to go back sometime for the Worm Gruntin’ Festival we heard about. A small town festival and worms, what’s not to like?

I have great food memories of visiting the Tampa, FL area as a child. One is of the smoked fish at Ted Peters and the other is Greek Salad at Pappas. This Greek style salad piled atop a heaping mound of potato salad became one of my favorite foods. I’d request it for birthdays and prepare it for friends. It’s easy to make, but looks quite impressive.

The old Pappas restaurant is no longer there, but a new generation has a fast casual concept honoring Louis Pappas’ original salad. But if you don’t live in Tampa, you can make your own very easily and you get to make it your way.

There is no hard and fast recipe for this salad. The potato salad on the bottom is just a combination of boiled potatoes and Greek dressing. I found a bottle of local Greek dressing in the grocery store while staying in Clearwater (next to Tampa) and decided to try it. Unfortunately, I found it too sweet. If you want to make your own easy version, you can whip it up with lemon juice or red wine vinegar, some oregano, and olive oil.

Topping it proves endless in options. You won’t find anchovies or shrimp on my salad, but they are popular choices. The olives in the photo are purely for the benefit of our dining companions and the recipe. Switch out the vegetables to your liking. The only thing I will say is to try to cut them so they stand tall and make an impression; this salad is all about presentation.

Jazz up your standard Greek salad and hear the oohs and ahhs in return. Want to make it a Florida themed night? Make this Key Lime Pie for dessert and you’ll have your family or guests eating out of your hands. Then I suggest giving them a plate because it can get pretty messy.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Pappas Style Greek Salad with Potatoes

 

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A Florida twist on the standard Greek salad served on top of potato salad.

Author: Kerensa Durr - Drive Dive Devour

Recipe type: Salads

Cuisine: Greek

Ingredients

Potato Salad

• 6 large potatoes or 10 smaller yukon gold
• ½ onion, chopped
• ½ c Greek dressing or to your taste

Salad

• 1-2 heads of Romaine lettuce, washed
• 2 tomatoes, Roma should be sliced and regular should be cut in wedges
• 1 cucumber, peeled and cut into fingers
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into thin sticks
• 12 black olives, preferably Kalamata
• 8 oz crumbled feta
• Greek dressing to taste

Instructions

1. Cut up and boil the potatoes with the onion until soft.
2. Drain potatoes and onion and then combine in a bowl with the Greek dressing. The potato mixture will end up like very chunky mashed potatoes. Pour in half the amount of dressing at first and taste as you go to find your happy medium.
3. Layer the outside leaves of lettuce on a platter and mound the potato salad in the center.
4. Arrange the romaine leaves on top of the potato salad vertically.
5. Start adding the vegetables on top of the lettuce taking presentation into account.
6. Crumble feta over the entire salad.
7. Drizzle with Greek dressing.
8. Serve with toasted garlic bread.

Notes

The ingredients for this salad can be adapted for any eater. Drop the olives and add towering green onions instead. Forget the carrots and add wedges of avocado. You get my drift.
If you're a seafood lover, try topping it with anchovies or shrimp.

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Oops, I forgot to beat the whipped cream again on the second day. Fortunately, it still tasted delicious.

One of our first destinations in the RV was the Florida Keys and as the main devourer of this journey, I felt it was my duty to try all the key lime pies I could in our brief time on the islands. I started in Key Largo at Mrs. Mac’s Kitchen and their Keys’ introduction to this Conch dessert did not disappoint. It was cold and creamy with the unmistakable tang of lime throughout the filling. The graham cracker crust was homemade and the pie was topped with whipped cream, my preference. I lived many years down in Texas where they like to top pie with the abomination that is meringue and I was happy to see this pie blissfully free of its presence.

Hobo’s Cafe version with bare feet

Up the street is Hobo’s Cafe with their version of the famed pie. The pie itself is a simple, velvety concoction, but the plating elevates it from other samples I had. Drizzles of raspberry syrup surrounded the slice while a couple of chocolate bare feet stamp it as Hobo’s. Did the plating make it better? No, but it’s still worth ordering if you’re there.

As we made our way down to Key West, I sampled other slices avoiding meringue whenever possible. Each had their quirks and charms, but I tried two in Key West that were distinctive from the classic dense and creamy version I had in Key Largo.

At Kermit’s Key West Key Lime Shoppe, the pie is lighter and fluffier than other variations. This does not mean that it is any less delicious. In fact, after eating so many other slices, this was a nice change of pace. Dare I say you might be able to eat a second piece? It’s still rich and tangy, but you do feel lighter. They also freeze slices of pie and dip them in chocolate for a chilly treat. I couldn’t handle any more pie on this trip, but I will be trying it on our return.

These two are actually connected,  similar to the pie I had

Finally, I went for something a little different at Key Lime Pie Factory/Coconut Factory and devoured a slice that was coconut cream on the bottom and key lime on top. I love coconut cream pie, but I was on a mission for key lime. This was the best of both worlds and combined the creamy sweetness of the coconut with the tang of the key limes. Just what I needed to switch it up and get a little taste of both!

Key Lime Pie Factory’s combo pie, I couldn’t resist a bite before taking the photo

I decided to make a classic rich and creamy, denser version of key lime pie for my recipe. When I saw the coconut in the pantry, though,  I threw it into the crust at the last-minute to bring some of tropical taste into the pie and add another dimension. Brandon is not a fan of the texture of coconut, but it didn’t bother him too much in the crust. He would never eat the half and half pie, so that will probably stay out of my recipe books unless you want to come over and eat it with me. I’ll pull out all the stops then!

All of the ingredients needed for key lime pie

Key Lime Pie

 

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This is a classic version of Key Lime Pie from our time in the Florida Keys. It's rich, creamy, and tangy all at the same time. At the last minute, I decided to add coconut into the crust which gave the pie an even more tropical feel.

Author: Kerensa Durr - Drive Dive Devour

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Crust

• 8 graham crackers
• ¼ c granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 5 Tbsp melted butter
• ¼ c shredded coconut (optional)

Filling

• 1½ tsp lime zest
• 1 14-oz can sweetened, condensed milk
• 4 egg yolks
• ½ c freshly squeezed key lime juice (about a pound of key limes)*

Topping

• 1 c chilled heavy whipping cream
• 2 tsp powdered or granulated sugar

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Make the Crust

1. Crush the graham crackers into crumbs. I put them into a sealed plastic bag and used a rolling pin, but you can also use a food processor to make the entire crust.
2. Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, salt, and coconut in a medium bowl. Add the butter and stir to coat evenly.
3. Press into a 9-inch pie pan and bake until lightly browned about 10 minutes. Set on a wire rack to cool completely while making the filling. Leave the oven on.

Make the Filling

1. Finely grate enough limes to produce 1½ teaspoons of zest; it took me about 6 limes. Juice the zested limes until you have ½ cup of liquid and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the zest and egg yolks until thick and pale, about 5 minutes. Add the sweetened, condensed milk and continue to beat for another 3-4 minutes until thickened again. Add the lime juice and slowly whisk in until just combined.
3. Pour the filling in the pie shell and bake for 10 minutes until just set. Cool completely on a wire rack. Keep the cooled pie in the fridge.

Make the Topping

1. It's best to chill a medium metal bowl ahead of time to make the whipped cream if possible. Add the whipping cream and sugar to the bowl and whip until it forms soft peaks. I'm a fan of topping each piece, so everyone can decide how much whipped cream they would like, but you can also top the whole pie and chill a bit longer.

Slice and enjoy!

Notes

*You can find key limes at a lot of grocery stores nowadays or bottles of key lime juice. In a pinch, use the more common Persian limes, but you know it won't be the same, right?

3.3.3077

One of our first meetups with fellow RVers and bloggers The Democratic Travelers and Wandering Kass.

Updated 3-21-2016 and 2-2-2017

When we took off on our full-time RV journey, I had no idea how many other working age full-timers were out there. I thought we’d visit our friends scattered around the country and meet a few people along the way, but had accepted it would be me and Brandon for most of the time. And while the majority of the time it is just the two of us, I had no idea just how social full-time traveling could be. My best friend has even joked how I’m such a social butterfly, a moniker that would have never been applied to me before. So how did I find all these other RVers to connect with and create our own little community? The power of the internet.

We’ve been fortunate to meet up with The Snowmads a few times. Here we’re at the National RV Tradeshow checking out their new digs.

Blogs:

We had talked about starting our own blog to keep our family and friends updated and because I always like to share finds and tips about places with other people. When I started looking for other RV blogs, the number of like-minded people I found amazed me. It gave me another reason to blog myself if it could help me connect with these other awesome RVers. I made sure to follow them on Facebook or Instagram and reached out when I saw someone headed our way. This led to a few great friendships.

Brandon and some new dive buddies he met through Facebook diving in Vermont.

Facebook:

Beyond following other RV blogs on Facebook, there are multiple RV groups. Some are big and some are small, but RVing is the central theme. We initially connected with some other RVers through the groups before meeting them in person. There are big groups that encompass questions (for newbies and old-hats), sharing statuses, and general RV topics (Full-Time RVers, FTRVing, etc). Some are for more specific subsets (Xscapers, Full-Time RV Travelers, Full Time Diesel RVers, Internet for RVers, etc). Others focus more on social aspects (NuRvers, RV Happiness, etc). You’re bound to find one that fits you (search RV and related terms); just be sure to read the description and pinned post to make sure you and the group are a good match.

Brandon has also used Facebook to find local dive buddies when the dive exceeds my limits or comfort range. He checks on Scubaboard regionally first, but usually has better luck finding local dive groups on Facebook. There he can post when he’ll be in town and see if anybody is available for a dive. It’s worked out pretty well allowing him to dive in places like Vermont and Texas. He’s even used Facebook to create a group of past dive buddies to keep connected and easily share related things.

Update: We created a Facebook group called RV to Freedom: Learning to Live in an RV that is open to RVers of all experience levels from thinking about living on the road to having done it for 22 years!  We invite you to join, ask questions, share stories, and make connections. That’s what makes this life great!

Instagram:

The RV community is vibrant on Instagram and has become one of the top ways to connect with other RVers. Here you’ll find individuals, couples, and families posting photos of their travels under their own names, blog monikers, or other fun handles that describe their style. We post fairly often when exploring new spots and make sure to tag where we are with the “name this location” option and a hashtag. These tags allow others to see where we are and offer up advice or jump up and say, “I’m here, too!” Instagram has even contributed to informal gatherings of RVers like New Year’s Eve in Borrego Springs which has grown substantially the past couple of years through word of mouth and people watching the happenings unfold on IG. I love keeping tabs on other Instagrammers’ travels and have found a few spots I’d like to visit based on their photos and stories. It’s fun to see where everyone else is and what their #RVlife looks like. We’re starting to keep track of our community and create connections using the hashtag #RVtoFreedom.

Paddling with Gone with the Wynns in Florida: We got to do a little diving and swim with manatees while there.

RVillage:

This social platform for RVers launched last year with the intent of creating connections and a community for RVers. The main benefit I have found is being able to check in to your current location and see who else is around you. A by-product of these check-ins is a personalized map of your travels which is fun to view. You can also connect with friends just like you would on Facebook. There is a home feed, groups, and maps to find other RVillagers, parks, and services.

In our first year of full-timing, we were able to attend a get-together planned on RVillage, stay in touch and reconnect with people from that gathering, and meet some neighbors we might not have spoken with otherwise. Although it’s been a bit slower for us lately, it’s still a tool I use at least whenever we move.

The first official Xscapers convergence during the 2015 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta          photo credit: Melanie Carr

Xscapers:

Xscapers is an off-shoot of Escapees RV Club with which many RVers are already familiar. Technically considered an RV Lifestyle Group within the Escapees umbrella, Xscapers receive all the same Escapees benefits (you are automatically a member of both) with additional support for the working-age RVer. Part of this support is an active Facebook group and convergences happening throughout the year.

We were lucky enough to attend three gatherings within its initial year. The first was soon after Xscapers was announced and very casual with just a few people in attendance that happened to be in town. We were able to meet the founders Melanie & Travis and hear their vision for the club (props to Technomadia for advising during the creation of the group and hosting the gathering). In October, we attended the first official convergence at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival and followed up with the next convergence in Quartzsite in January. The great thing about the convergences for us younger full-timers is they are not jam-packed, scheduled weeks where you are paying for meals and such. It’s a little more laid back taking into account that most of us work full-time or home-school and cannot attend every event or meal. There is a schedule of talk and happenings, but some pop-up like our grilled pizza demo in which people participated making it an easy potluck, too. We aren’t going to be in the neighborhoods of the next convergences, but they also encourage Xscapers to make their own gatherings, too, wherever they are.

Viewing the Wind Caves with few of the other #BorregoNewYear2016 attendees: WatsonsWander, The Scenic Route, The Kuhl Odyssey, @Jessiemonsters, and 2 Wander Away. We had previously met all them before because of their blog, Facebook, Instagram, and the Xscapers convergence.

Wander Slack:

Slack is a messaging app that many work teams already use. Since many in the RVing community work in computer-based jobs with Slack already open, Mike of Bold & Adventurous decided to make a team chat for RVers. Appropriately named Wander Slack, you’ll find channels specifically for boondocking, connectivity, and off-roading along with a general chat. The regulars are a friendly bunch and try to answer any questions they can. If you’re already on the computer during the day, hop on and chat away with your fellow travelers.

Not only did we get to meet the couple from Wheeled & Free, but we also got to see Kate’s bike (pictured) at an awesome Handbuilt show in Austin.

Twitter:

I was late to jump on the Twitter bandwagon. I joined personally a few years ago, but could never get into it. It took me even longer to set up our drive dive devour account. But another RV friend urged me to do so and I’m glad I did. I finally participated in a Twitter travel conversation and had direct conversations with other RVers. I finally felt like I got it. It’s still not my favored social platform, but it’s worth having a presence.

We’ve known the folks from Live, Breathe, Move for awhile digitally, but have only recently met in person.

This is how I built my community of RVers that makes me feel like I am a part of something larger. I may not have the same neighbors every day, but I know I’ll run into friends, old and new, along the way and can even plan meet-ups with the tools at my disposal. I love RVers and I love meeting them in person; these outlets keep us connected until that can happen.

What social media platforms do you use to stay connected? Are there any I missed that you would recommend? Please share your thoughts in the comments and let’s build a stronger community!

Driving into Gulf Shores, you can tell it’s one of those summer play-lands with go-karts, a small amusement park, arcades, and beautiful beaches. It would be a great family fun place with kids and sun. Of course, we weren’t there in the summer; we stayed before the official start of spring during the end of February/beginning of March and we don’t have kids. So what did we do? Well, a lot in fact. We had never been to Gulf Shores before and didn’t know what to expect, but found some great surprises that will have us going back.

First, let me say just because it’s not summer doesn’t mean it’s not busy in the RV parks. It’s a snowbird haven and I called over half a dozen parks before finding a spot; most places were booked until April. So my suggestion is to book as early as possible if you want to visit in the winter. I can’t speak for spring and summer, but I’d be prudent and call ahead then, too.

It was a bit chilly our first night.

The night we got in, we went to local favorite Lulu’s for dinner. They have a large, outdoor bar and seating area in sand that would be awesome in warmer weather, but it was quite chilly that night, so inside we went. Thinking even the enclosed patio may be too chilly, we apprehensively followed the hostess to our table by the edge of the water. We needn’t be worried, though, as there was a large heater directly over us and the clear, plastic enclosure that let us view the outside without feeling it, kept us nice and toasty. Between our seating and the live trop rock music, it felt like we were in a more tropical location, so we ordered drinks to match. Brandon ordered the The Scuba Lu which was named in honor of the Lulu reef off the coast of Gulf Shores. This was as close as he’d come to it this trip as the ocean is too rough and unpredictable this time of year to have boat trips out to the reef. It’s just another reason for us to go back.

We filled up on guacamole and house-made hot sauces while sipping our drinks and listening to Brent Burns sing about tiki huts rocking. Lulu’s is owned by Lucy Buffett, sister of Jimmy Buffett, and she seems to have a passion for the Gulf coast, hosting and entertaining, and the laid back lifestyle just as much as her brother. Brandon ordered the jerk chicken sandwich and I had the veggie burrito. Both were delicious, but I had to put back half my burrito to save room for dessert. Another side note worth mentioning is the allergy menu (gluten, dairy,etc). I know a few people who would appreciate this.

They have three desserts on the menu: key lime pie, hot fun Krispy Kreme bread pudding, and brownie in paradise (served with ice cream). Brandon is not a fan of key lime nor bread pudding, so he went with the brownie. After the manager joked with us that it’s just a brownie and not as unique as the other two, we found it to be decadently delicious. I would have a hard time passing it up again.  All three sounded good to me, but I felt it my duty to try the bread pudding made with Krispy Kreme doughnuts. It took me awhile before I learned to like bread pudding and I still tend to only like the chewier, less pudding like kind. The yeast doughnuts made this pudding very light and soft. It was not my favorite texture, but I know plenty of people who favor this in a bread pudding, so if that’s you, try it. The flavor was good and the addition of cinnamon hit the spot. Next time, though, I’m trying the key lime.

We did make it back to Lulu’s during the day and split a salad and nachos. We couldn’t decide whether to be good or bad, so went for both. We were both really happy with this combo. Their house salad (Fresh & Fancy Greens) was anything but basic and included things like sprouts and pumpkin seeds and the nachos had a warm layer of queso on the bottom. We finished every bit of both.

The Mountain of Youth and outside seating at Lulu’s

Our first couple days were a little cool and rainy, so we visited an arcade and played some skee-ball. I have loved this game since I was a kid and Brandon and I can get pretty competitive. We also decided a typically summer treat was just what we needed and headed to Matt’s Homemade Alabama Ice Cream. I chose Matt’s Lemon Ice Box because it reminded me of a sunny day. It tasted like a creamy lemon pie and was just what I needed. Brandon found his new favorite ice cream in a purely Gulf Shores flavor, Original Oyster House Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pie. This pie was listed as one of the top 100 things to eat in Alabama before you die and we think the ice cream may be one of the best ways to consume it. The kid behind the counter said two whole pies are blended into the ice cream. Are you surprised we went back here before we left? Evidently some people go every night they’re in town; I can’t say I blame them.

When the rain cleared up, the days became beautiful and we were able to enjoy more outdoor activities. We took the dogs and Gypsy cat out for a walk along the Backcountry Trails. The trails are paved and are perfect for biking or walking. You might even get to see an alligator in few marked viewing areas.  There are more than 11 miles of trails, but the little kitty can only handle around 5, so we cut the walk short and headed to happy hour at Tacky Jack’s.

The landscape is both stark and lush after a prescribed burn

Our mountain lion

Walking the Gypsy cat

Tacky Jack’s is another eatery that would be fantastic in warm weather. It’s situated along the canal with tons of outdoor seating. We ordered some happy hour specials and perused all the names taped to every surface, a Tacky Jack’s tradition.

We visited the beaches multiple times on our visit. The first time, we saw a couple of bodyboarders hitting the waves in just swim trunks and a couple walking the beach bundled up in coats with hoods. It got decidedly warmer as the week progressed, but really it’s all a matter of opinion and tolerance level. Although it was too cold for us to swim, Brandon enjoyed flying his kite along the beach and just watching the waves as we walked along the white sand was gratifying.

Ooh, he hit a gust!

Fort Morgan is a short drive from Gulf Shores and offers a bit of history to your coastal trip. We visited at the end of a foggy day and had the whole place to ourselves. The fort was built after the War of 1812, but it’s most famous moment came during the Civil War. During the The Battle of Mobile Bay, Confederate soldiers opened fire on the 18-ship Union fleet heading towards the fort. The leading Union monitor struck a mine (known as a torpedo) and sank within minutes. This setback caused confusion and hesitation in the fleet. It was at this point the commander Admiral D.G. Farragut gave the order, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” He then led the remaining fleet past the fort, through the minefield, and into Mobile Bay. The fort is under going a bit of restoration which is needed, but we do like the look of it now. Being on the coast the water seeps through the walls leaving white deposits that give it an interesting and eerie look.

All this outdoor activity works up an appetite and we found The Cayman Grill in Orange Beach helps satisfy it. It’s a funky building from the outside, but modern and charming inside. They have an 8,000 gallon stingray pool in the center of the restaurant, that’s not something you see every day. They also have the prettiest pizza oven we’ve ever seen all tiled in blue glass tiles. Brandon made sure to utilize this oven by ordering the lunch special of a pizza and drink. Although the pizzas were a deal and sounded delish, I had to go with the griddled crispy zucchini sandwich. The pizza had a nice blistered crust and a nice buffalo zing with blue cheese drizzle. The sandwich surprised me in a good way with breaded zucchini and layer of over roasted tomatoes and cheese. Both were delicious and I’d like to go back for my own pizza.

Brandon’s pizza going into the pretty pizza oven

Sitting on Lake Shelby is Gulf Adventure Center at Gulf State Park which offers zip lining, kayaking, and paddle boarding. Although the zip lines looked really cool and fun going over the water, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Instead we took some photos of the more adventurous types on the lines and we chose a kayak. It was still a little foggy when took to the water, but it just added to the ambiance. We moved swiftly through the water and went towards another bank. We paddled around for a bit and then went towards the zip lines to get some shots from the water. Maybe next time I can muster up the courage to step off the platform…maybe.

Later, we stopped by The Beach House Kitchen & Cocktails for a light bite and refreshing cocktail. They squeeze their own juices, make their own syrups, and prepare their own garnishes; this is a well-crafted cocktail that appeals to all my senses.

One of the coolest things we’ve gotten to do the road was at the Coastal Arts Center of Orange Beach. They have both a Hot Shop for blowing glass and a Clay Studio for building pottery. Unlike most glass shops we’ve ever visited, you can actually participate in a class here. It’s also run by the city, so the prices are reasonable. First we watched the glass artist-in-residence Adam and assistant Kerry demonstrate how everything works and how to make a glass ball ornament, flower, or paperweight. Then we got to choose which of the three we wanted to make. I went with the flower while Brandon chose the ball ornament. There were a few people who were there to just watch the class and shop the galleries, but we had a lot of participants including a young girl. She was going next door to the clay studio after making her flower, too. What a great visit to Grandma and Grandpa’s she had! We would definitely recommend taking advantage of this unique opportunity.

Finally, we waited until the end of our stay to visit The Gulf, but I wish we had gone sooner, so we could have gone more than once. The Gulf is a restaurant located on where else but the gulf. It’s built out of shipping containers for a cool, industrial look and is all outside seating (avoid cool, windy days). The seating and lounge areas here are what really appealed to me. I could see just hanging out all day with the dogs lounging in the sand, moving to a picnic table, and then sitting at the bar. The food itself was good, although a little sparse for vegetarians. They do make fresh-cut fries which earns them a gold star in my book. It’s small, rotating blackboard menu, but they keep the fries, salad, hamburger, and grouper sandwich on the menu. Brandon enjoyed the burger and the sunny day only heightened the good feeling.

Overall, our time in Gulf Shores was well spent. We experienced beautiful beaches, had great experiences outside, took an awesome class, and ate some wonderful food. We’ll have to go back when the ocean is more cooperative for diving and the weather is a little warmer to lounge outside all day on the beach. But we’re still happy to experience Gulf Shores at our own pace in the off-season. Sometimes for us, that’s the best season. What’s yours?

Have you been to Gulf Shores? Did we miss anything? Let us know for next time.

*Thanks to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach for hosting us. Opinions expressed are always our own.

While exploring the waters of the Crystal River, Florida area, we made sure to do a little food exploration, too. After our paddle up and dive down Rainbow River, we made a stop at the Blue Gator in Dunnellon. It’s mainly bar food, but good after the exertion and Brandon was a happy camper with the hushpuppies. What was great about this place was the huge patio that would be awesome in the warmer months. We still sat outside, but it was rather sparse that night.

We also stopped by The Front Porch and Pie Shop hoping to grab lunch with our dogs on the, well, front porch. A call that the technicians were ready to replace our windshield changed those plans to grabbing slices of pie to go. The pie was good, but we really didn’t get a meal there, so we’ll have to try this cute place next time we’re in town.

We did get to experience two places that we would highly recommend if you’re in the area, The Pizza Joint Wood Fire Pies and Lynn’s Homemade Ice Cream & Belgian Waffles.

I saw the The Pizza Joint on Google maps while looking at our campground and thought, “Perfect!” If you know Brandon, you know he loves pizza and this place looked good. We went with our friends the first night we got in town and were not disappointed. It shares a building with a gas station, but don’t let that fool you. You can see the wood stacked up when you walk in and then you look through the window and see the pizza oven, both good signs. The owner greeted us like family and was enthusiastic about his product. Brandon and I split a pie (the eggplant special with pepperoni on his half) and it was delicious. The wood fire blistered the crust in all the right places and the toppings were fresh and evenly distributed. We liked it so much we went back later in the week! Take note that it is cash only and BYOB, but you can always grab something from the gas station next door.

Our Old School Margherita with pepperoni and sausage on half

We met up with our friends later in the week who had moved a tad farther south to visit other friends that had just moved to the area. These recent transplants already learned of a great ice cream place and shared it with all of us. Lynn’s Homemade Ice Cream & Belgian Waffles in Inverness is like one of those build your own burrito type joints except instead of tortillas, you get to choose your waffle type. They make crispy waffle bowls, fluffy Brussels waffles, and sweet, chewy Liège waffles. I immediately knew which I was getting; every once in a while I’d treat myself to a Liège waffle from the Wafels & Dinges truck back in NYC and today would be no different. Next you choose your ice cream and toppings. They had lots of delicious sounding flavors and Brandon went with his typical chocolate, but I spied another of my flavor weaknesses. Labeled as “Belgian Cookie”, I knew this was American for speculoos. You know when you fly Delta and they give you those little packages of Biscoff cookies? That’s speculoos and I try to limit them to flights rather than purchasing a box or making them for good reason. When I heard the owner’s accent, I knew this was the real deal. She recommended the chocolate sauce as the topping, so how could I say no? The flavors were decadent and I think this waffle was even better than in New York.

These two places were so good that if I were only allowed two foods while in Crystal River, pizza and ice cream waffles would be it!

To see more about the adventures in the area, see the post Snorkel, Scuba, Paddle: Adventure’s on Florida’s Nature Coast.