Wandering With Purpose

Jul 13

Supporting A Great Cause

Our good friends Brian & Leigh of Aluminarium have been living full-time in an Airstream for something like 7 or 8 years. In an effort to chronicle their travels and also help others find and research campgrounds all across the country, they started the website Campendium.

This project has been a massive under-taking … one they manage in addition to their regular full-time day jobs. Like any start-up, funding is always top of mind so Brian and Leigh have begun selling t-shirts to raise funds in support of the effort.

One can never have too many t-shirts … especially when buying goes towards such a great cause. If you have not yet tried using Compendium, go visit their site. I’m guessing you will find the product to be a great campground planning tool and if you are anything like Kelly and me, you will have no hesitation buying a shirt … a small act that will go a long ways to helping to sustain a great cause.

May 31

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The Great Salt Lake

While visiting Page, AZ was very cool, the internet coverage very much sucked. This wasn’t a big deal initially due to our stay overlapping with the Memorial Day holiday, but by Wednesday that week we’d had enough – the slow data speeds were driving us crazy and impacting our ability to work effectively. Knowing that there was a great alternative state about two hours northwest near Zion National Park, we decided to leave Page and relocate to Sand Hollow State Park in Hurricane, UT.

The site worked perfectly for our needs and we had great views of Zion, but … it was a huge bummer to be so close to a fantastic national park and not have time for a visit.

Working while overlooking Zion National Park

With a looming deadline in Salt Lake City (Kelly’s long scheduled haircut), we pushed hard from Hurricane and late in the day arrived to Great Salt Lake State Park, which was our base for the week.

Located about 15 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City, this location was conveniently situated, but home to crazy aggressive – and big – mosquitoes. Further, the lake levels were quite low, which coupled with hot temperatures seemed to be an incubator for intermittently stinky sulfur odors … all of which took away from an otherwise ideal and quaint place to squat for the week.

Brigham Young University

University of Utah

LDS Salt Lake Temple

LDS world headquarters building

Tasty dinner in Salt Lake City

Lilly in playing in a river on a very hot day

Our campsite at Great Salt Lake marina

May 24

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Incredible Landscapes of Page, AZ

I’ve been wanting to visit Page, AZ for a long time – pictures I’d seen portray a one of a kind landscape. Just a few miles from Utah border – not too far from Grand Canyon and Zion National Parks, I was confident Page would not disappoint. The town itself is not much – mostly businesses catering to tourists passing through, but there is plenty of opportunity to explore unbelievable landscapes.

May 14

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Retreating to Flagstaff

Kelly and I left the Bay Area six weeks ago, but due to various family and work commitments, it wasn’t until last week that we really began our lives on the road. Escaping southern Arizona, we retreated into the elevation and cooler temperatures to the north.

For years I have heard good things about the town of Flagstaff and was excited to visit, and especially happy to be joining our pals Brian & Leigh for 10 days of dispersed camping at Walnut Canyon, located in the Coconino National Forest. Much of the forest is at high altitude (averaging 7,000 feet) and is home to the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in North America. Even better, our campsite was only about 15 minutes from super cool downtown Flagstaff – everything about this set-up was perfect.

Last night (Wednesday) I left the cozy campground in Flagstaff to return to San Francisco for a few days of face-time in the office. Now here I sit typing, reflecting on a great 10 days – mainly, that despite long work days, Kelly and I managed to pack a lot into our visit …

met a number of (new to us) fellow full-timers (Horton’s Travels, 2Wanderaway, Finding Marshall, & Jen)
wandered through a national monument site
got lost amongst the various forest service roads
helped Brian & Leigh complete much need repairs to their Airstream
explored Flagstaff while eating good food, enjoying locally brewed beers, and sipping delicious espresso

I think this life on the road will be just fine.