Howdy old friends... I guess I'm more of a lurker than a poster these days :D.
I'm in Denver currently but have been doing a ton of traveling the past year and half or so -- I work remotely so I bought a small RV a couple years ago and am taking advantage of being geographically independent.
--------
Skimming over some of the travel I've done, if anyone's interested...
Started in FL, headed out to CO then CA for King of the Hammers, then wandered between CA and CO snowboarding a bunch. (Then had to replace the head gasket on the Sprinter
). Drove up to AK for 2 months last summer with my niece, back down to NV for Burning Man, AZ to backpack Havasupai, southern UT, then up to Idaho and Oregon for a while. (Then cracked a piston in the Sprinter and ended up rebuilding the engine
). Then back to AZ/SoCal for Joshua Tree, Slab City, and KOH again, then scored a permit to hike The Wave, then got back to snowboarding in UT and CA, then the mountains shut down because of Covid right when Tahoe got 5' of snow
. Hung out in the desert in NV for a while, partially with other nomads and partially solo, then eventually came back to my friend's place in Denver.
Ok, didn't really plan on typing all of that out but hope its of interest to someone. Tons of national and state parks along the way and lots of other amazingness. Its tough sometimes for sure, not having a home base, not having a lot of options when things go sour, but damn is it sweet most of the time. All free camping -- no campgrounds -- which means sometimes I'm in an amazing remote spot with mind blowing views, and other times in in a Walmart parking lot -- its all about balance.
Most of all I'm not just passively passing the time and not being excited about how I spent my days like I had fallen into doing while I was in FL.
--------
Dirtbike Tings
I've been hanging in Denver at a friends place the past month or so just letting all of this quarantine stuff settle a bit, and caught the dirt bike bug after being around friends with them on and off the past 6 months. I just recently picked up a 2007 KTM 450 EXC -- a street legal, yet dirt-oriented bike thats pretty powerful, sort of heavy, and has a bit of a learning curve that I'm still working on. Its been fun to learn something new, fix up a bike that needs some fixing up, and get out and learn to ride. I'm still a novice for sure but I'm progressing -- its fun to progress and also fun to be a little skurred out there on the trails. Lots of great riding options out in CO.
RV Lowdown
Oh... and a little about the RV -- its a 2007 Winnebago View which is 23' long and based on a 2006 Sprinter Chassis. 2.7L inline 5 cylinder turbo diesel that doesn't exactly have an abundance of power but does get quite good fuel mileage. Supposed to be very reliable too, but meh, my experiences have been lukewarm in that department (but hopefully everything is fresh and good now). It has a bunch of lithium battery power and solar on the roof and uses that to power all systems on board so I can be totally off-grid which has been really amazing. An aftermarket 280A alternator also helps charge the batteries when I drive. I have a 12v fridge, 12v lighting, and 12v / diesel powered heater that has taken me into temps as low as -6F overnight without issue (I have also beefed up insulation for extreme temps). I have a 2000w inverter that powers: 110v induction cooktop, 110v toaster and microwave, 110v 2.5 gal hot water heater, and can run the 110v roof AC unit as well, for a few hours max. Shower and toilet on board and as long as I use the water sparingly which is a must in any RV, I can be off grid at least a couple weeks at a clip if I want before needing water / supplies.
Oh... here's a walkthrough of the rig before I started my journey. Its evolved a bit since the trip started but this isn't too far off --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3dLSi6MNuM
Long term plan is to carry the dirt scooter on the back of the RV to have some on and off road local transportation, be able to explore more, and also play on some more technical trails. Keeping the mountain bike too, hope I still ride it because its also fun... similar but also very different.
oh... I post, sometimes, on IG under @thedigitalnomad -- definitely more random stories than posts, but trying to get better at the real post thing since I've taken so many frickin photos of all these places but only shared a handful.
p.s. other car-related things -- I had a 97 Wrangler for most of my time in FL which was so much damn fun. I recently sold it just because it doesn't fit into the whole travel thing, and because it had quite a bit of rust that I wasn't ready to deal with. I'll get another one down the road. Oh, I also had a 19' Key West center console boat when I was in FL which was super fun but also a fair bit of work at times. Sold it to a good friend who always went out with me so hopefully I'll be back on it again at some point.
And yes, I still have the Supra and the WRX. My babies... can't let them go.