Letting the teenager drive

We let the teenager drive twice on this trip.The first time was in the parking lot/campground of a KOA. That went well. The brakes are kind of tricky so I was a little worried. You really have to press them. All the way. 

The second time was on the highway when we left the Cheyenne, Wyoming  rest area. OMG. That was freakin scary. I love her. I think she's a pretty good driver. But no teenager should drive on an 80 MPH freeway with trucks entering and passing 18-wheelers and whatnot. And that was it. That's all the driving she did. I was not emotionally stable enough for any more than that.

Blue Hole, New Mexico

I can't tell you how excited we were when we looked at our route to Lubbock and saw that it took us straight through Santa Rosa. This was one of our favorite stops last summer on our way to Santa Fe. In less than 3 hours from Angel Fire we were all jumping into these icy cold springs and soaking up the sun. I highly recommend this pool. And the only fee is $5 for parking!!  (If you look closely you can see the CWV waiting patiently in the parking lot back there.)

More Angel Fire

In the evening we drove back to the base of the mountain (the sky was full of thunder and lighting otherwise this place is an easy ride from camp) for dinner at the same Tex-Mex place we had lunch. There are only a handful or restaurants in Angel Fire and both pizzas places were closed tonight. Slim pickins. The churro dessert was worth every penny. Make sure you order it with the ice cream. 

Angel Fire, New Mexico

We continued to make our way back to Texas via New Mexico and the Angel Fire bike park we've heard so much about. It was fun, but I've been to funner. The very best part about Angel Fire is that you can camp literally at the base of the ski mountain for just $15 a night. We had the entire campground to ourselves for 2 nights. I wish we had water access because we could have really used showers. The day we got there we went white water rafting in the Arkansas, but somehow that didn't make me feel cleaner.

Sugar Loaf’n Campground, Leadville, Colorado

Our intention was to stay the night in Frisco, but last minute camping on a Friday night in Colorado is damn near impossible. We ended up near Turquoise Lake in Leadville instead. No complaints. This place is gorgeous and they have a laundry room and now we have clean clothes!!

Low clearance

Our roof rack is awesome, but it just barely fits into some garages. We even scraped a tiny bit in this Winter Park garage. Yikes!

Frisco Adventure Park, Colorado

There are at least 4 creepy white vans in this parking lot right now ... also, it's a Friday and we can't get a campsite ANYWHERE in Colorado. Even the dispersed camping is unavailable. What to do ...

Also, I highly recommend this place. It's FREE, there's a Whole Foods Market just down the road, and the dirt is perfect. The skatepark is pretty fun too. Just don't break your bike before you're done riding. Looks like we're gonna have to go all he way back to Austin to get the bolt we need. #EmpireBMX

Twin Lakes, Colorado

We came down the mountain intending to rent canoes or SUPs, but the weather had other ideas. It cleared for a while and we walked the beach and the boys ran into the lake and dunked themselves (crazies!!), but then we headed into town for pizza and shopping.

The Abbey, Leadville, CO

Our view from our bunkhouse in Leadville. We got to park the CWV right in front of our window! It seems like this would've been one of our better nights of sleep, but it was one of my worst. Someone banging on a door in the middle of the night, incessantly. And then teams leaving to climb Mt. Elbert at 4 a.m. They tried to be quiet, but this is a creaky old building. I'm ready to pitch a tent again.

Shower time!

SBF put a rack on this van so we could have hot showers in privacy at the foresty campgrounds. It finally came in handy in Winter Park. I highly recommend the Zodi Instant Hot Shower. I've been using it for years. It even works if you drop the pump into a stream and hook the spout over a tree. The biggest obstacle is if you’re in a remote campground with no access to water. Then it’s hard to sacrifice drinking water for clean armpits. Luckily this campground had water. Our next one did not. Just stay a few steps back from us while we’re chatting.

Winter Park, Colorado

Spent a day riding at Trestle Bike Park and then camping at Idlewild Campground. It's first come first serve and lucky us, there were 3 sites left when we pulled in!! The bike park here is big and the trails are long. I would like to spend more time here and explore some of the other riding, including the river path to town from the campground. I would also like a campsite that wasn’t right next the highway. This view is from from the Winter Park parking lot.

Steamboat Springs, CO

We ended up camping at this little spot in Steamboat Springs for 2 nights. The first night we were exhausted from driving all day. The second night we were wiped out from downhill biking at the Steamboat bike park. A lot of the trails in this park were closed, but this was still one of my favorite places to ride. Nice and smooth!

More fossil hunting, Wyoming

This fossil hunting trip is in a super secret location I’ve been going to my whole life. It took a while to find the exact right spot, but the ants here build huge fossil-filled mounds. The best treasure hunting to date!!

Devil’s Kitchen, Wyo

I couldn’t take a single picture on my phone to do this place any justice. It’s like you’re on another planet. Cool fossils of clam shells in here. Also lots of petrified rock. We scrambled down the rocks without tumbling (I saw one couple tumble in!!) and explored all around.  

1903 schoolhouse

We got a couple nights in one of the coolest Airbnb’s we’ve stayed in so far. This is an old school house in Greybull, Wyoming. Out back the views are amazing and there is a hot tub to soak your sore back in. Driving down dirt roads is rough on my body. All that tension!!

Dinosaur Tracksite

We got to the dinosaur track site the looooooong way. Down dirt roads through Tensleep, Wyoming. I recommend the highway to Greybull to the dinosaurs. 

Taking her off road

We took this van off road for miles and miles. Who needs 4-wheel drive? There was this one moment where SBF told me I need to keep all 4 tires on the ground ... otherwise it was good. We went in search of an archaeological dig site and found it, but no treasures for us. The scenery in the middle of nowhere Wyoming is incredible. 

Steamboat Rock, Wyo

CWV at the base of Steamboat Rock. 

CWV from the summit. She looks tiny from up there!!

Devil’s Tower, Wyo

CWV's 5th state in 3 days!

Crazy Horse Monument, SD

Once you get over the fact that you don’t really get to go up close and personal to the Crazy Horse Monument, this is actually a pretty cool place to visit. The museum is really fun and learning about the sculptor and his life is inspiring. That man didn’t waste one second. Also, they have an entire fleet of creepy white vans on the premises. 

Can you see Crazy Horse? This is about the closest you get ...

Creepy x 3!

2nd skatepark

After our rock climbing adventures we went back to the van, made sandwiches, and then continued making our way north. We found a cool skatepark in Cheyenne, Wyoming, just past the best rest area EVER. The deal was, we skate/BMX for 45 minutes or until someone breaks a bone. We rode for 45+. Yay! Then we put the 17-year-old behind the wheel for another hour. Mercy, she's a good driver, but it still scares the crap out of me. Speed limit is 80. SBF crawled in the back and enjoyed the reclining seats.

Day 3

We fed the kid with the broken nose some Advil and ice and then headed to Garden of the Gods to make breakfast. He's fine. It's a tiny break. We got to pull out the tray and put the stove on it and it worked like a charm. Super easy and convenient. SBF thinks it might be easier if we have cabinets versus black boxes, but I think it's great! After breakfast we met our climbing guide, Patrick, and spent half the day sending some really cool routes!

Day 2

Day 2 of our road trip. We drove to Colorado Springs. First stop: Whole Foods Market for lunch, snacks, and dinner fixins. Second stop: The skatepark. It’s huge and fun and we could easily spend hours here. Third stop: Colorado Springs emergency room with a broken nose. Can’t wait for the bill. The hospital had never heard of my insurance plan and my insurance company acted like they had never heard of the state of Colorado. Awesome. Sorry, no pictures.

Amarillo KOA

We were so grateful to get to this dang KOA! The girls napped and this boys practiced kendama tricks on the front porch. We hit the pool and soaked in the COOL TEMPS of Amarillo. I highly recommend this KOA, btw. Consistent, clean, bunnies, quiet, and reasonably priced. 

Texas Picnic area

Originally the plan was to have all the bikes inside the van, but as were packing up we realized 1. More bikes had thru axles than quick release, and the system didn’t accommodate for that and 2. They really do take up a lot of space. Right now it’s three bikes inside and two outside. 

Austin to Amarillo

And we’re off ... Day one in the van and the kids in the backseat had one main complaint that we couldn’t really have foreseen until we drove around a bit. The seatbelts don’t hit in the right spot so they’re kind of uncomfortable. We will need to put extenders on them, but for now SBF put carabiners on the belt parts to help. They still complain, but they’re better. 

This was long dang day of driving in any vehicle!!

Loading up for the maiden voyage

SBF did all the work he could possibly do in the three weeks he had ahead of our departure date and I think it’s pretty awesome. Ready or not, here we go. He still has long list of finishing touches, and side panels, but that’ll have to wait. We have a rodeo to get to!!

The van is loaded and the the Yorkie really thinks she should come with us. 

We could t really agree on seat covers yet so I just threw towels down. The black boxes have all our food and some gear. They strap down for safety’s sake!

More roof

The second half of the roof is done and this is about all we have time for before we hit the road. The sides will be done after the maiden voyage!

solar panels

Charging solar panels. These’ll come in handy when we’re parked for a while and we wanna keep the fridge and our phones running. 

cedar ceiling, part 1

Three drills on deck and a fully charged spare battery. Lets do this ...

Y'all, this was challenging. These cedar panels have grooves and slide in together. Only it's really tricky doing it looking up. And holding your arms up is harder than it sounds. But DANG! It looks good!!

Uhhhhh ... still a lot more to do ... but the FRONT ceiling looks beautiful!

pullout tray

This is the pullout tray that'll house the storage boxes and stove. It has a little leg to stand on. So cute!

back doors

Whoa! The cedar panels on the back doors look FANCY! Can't wait to see the whole insides lined in cedar!

under the hood

I showed up unannounced and found SBF here attaching wires and doing stuff that will give the CWV super powers. Or maybe he just said something about "power" ...

tinted windows

We just upped the creep factor on the CWV with beautiful tinted windows. The big pluses - it's instantly cooler in there and it will feel a little less like a fish bowl.

flooring preview

This is how the floors are gonna look. They aren't bolted in just yet, but OMG and WOW! Also, we tested the seats and they recline WAY BACK. Like almost all the way. Like you could sleep in these seats if you needed/wanted to. (My SBF is such a badass!!)