The nomadic life is treating as well; everything has gone pretty smoothly to our surprise. The more I think about it, the more this trip seems to be the inevitable result of a bunch of conservative decisions. We’ve had the truck and trailer for almost 2 years, and have taken it out on quite a few trips up to a week or so in length. We didn’t have any concerns about driving, hooking up, or any of the systems in the trailer. It’s pretty well broken in now, and we have found a few mechanical and electrical problems that we got fixed before we left. It would be crazy NOT to go! We love exploring and can work fine from the trailer, and I can finally meet my clients face to face (they’re spread out).
Leg 4: Lake Isabella in Weldon, CA
This was a beautiful drive, through rolling California hillsas we headed southeast towards Lake Isabella. The last 90 minutes or so of the drive were through a fantastic canyon along highway 178. Huge rock outcroppings were inches from the white line on the right as we drove, and it was unnerving at times. We started out following a gas tanker, so we figured we should be fine, and we were.
The lake itself was beautiful and huge, although pretty low.I pumped up my paddleboard and tried to sup the thing, but the winds were about 35 mph and apparently I can’t paddle that fast.
Lake Isabella: Too windy to sup
It’s beautiful high desert, just on the dry side of the sierras. Most of the time there was a large cloud bank on the western horizon, hovering over the mountains but never making it to us. we did laundry in a laundromat for the first time on the trip, and it was like a lot of things in this lifestyle – more time and effort than it would be at home, but really not so bad.
Leg 5: Lake Mead, NV
Next we were off to Lake Mead, via Death Valley.
Snowcapped Peaks
We saw our first roadrunner (too fast for a photo), lots of soaring birds of prey that we’re guessing were common black hawks. We both want to learn a lot more about wildlife identification. The drive through definitely was spectacular, I expected a bunch of sand dunes but only a tiny part has dunes, the rest is mostly rock.
Death Valley Rock Walls
On all sides were huge mountains completely devoid of vegetation, but beautiful in coloring and varied shapes. The road was smooth and there were plenty of services, I highly recommend the drive. Spring is a great time to be in the desert, We even saw some wildflowers. Zabrisky’s Point is a great view for a quick walk.
I always feel like a douche taking a selfie…
Zabrisky’s Point
We then drove through Las Vegas to the campground, right on the edge of the huge beautiful Lake Mead. Good cell coverage, 70° weather, and spectacular stargazing. We downloaded a fantastic app called Star walk 2, an augmented reality app that lets you point your tablet to the sky and it shows you the constellations you’re looking at. in the mornings we were serenaded by black sunbirds, and I was able to paddle the lake, which was fantastic and not too windy. Hoover Dam was really cool, but we didn’t reserve ahead of time so missed out on the tour. Next time!
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- Bridge at Hoover Dam
On a friend’s recommendation, we went to Lucille’s BBQ for lunch. The sides and drinks were excellent, and the barbecue was quite good for a restaurant. Not as smokey as I make at home, but that’s ok. They were clearly understaffed, but everyone was trying to cover as best they could. Our poor waitress forgot to put our food order in for about 20 minutes, so we got the food free! Worth it!
Leg 6: Ville, AZ Near Grand Canyon
We were sad to leave the lake, but the next stop is the Grand Canyon so we didn’t cry too long. We spent about half the drive on Route 66, which I thought was cool but Robin found not so impressive. I had no idea that the road goes from LA to Chicago, or that most of it is just dry desert like the other highways, with a surprising lack of Western themed biker bars. Many of the campsites near the canyon have poor cell coverage, but we found a cute Flintstones themed trailer park that worked well for us. That area of Arizona is basically a desert, dry and a bit dusty, but it’s still early season so not too hot.
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- Beautiful Arizona Skies
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- The Canyon
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- Elk in Grand Canyon
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- More Canyon
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- Flat top mesa
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- Tons of beautiful rocks everywhere
The next day we set out to discover what we could of the canyon, and immediately found out it was the busiest weekend of the year. We made it to some scenic overlooks and got some photos, but will have to come back in off-peak time to really enjoy it.
David Norris
Latest posts by David Norris (see all)
- Week 3 – New Mexico & Texas - May 1, 2018
- Week 2 – We Finally Start Heading East - April 5, 2018
- We Finally Hit the Road! - March 24, 2018
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