Category Archives: Campervan

Eurovan Woes…Again…

February 18, 2015 Keevan 4 Comments

There we were, cruising down the road after a couple lovely weeks on the coast.

Up the hill, and uh…what the heck. She died. Again.

This is the same thing that happened when we first got back to Santa Cruz, right in the middle of an intersection. This time, we have to coast backwards, downhill, to a place where we can halfway safely pull off the road.

She won’t start up again. Battery’s o.k. Starter is o.k. Fuel lines are o.k.

She just won’t start. And it’s raining. Again. It was a hard and heavy and windy forceful full onslaught of rain hitting the front end on the van all night. So much so, the canvas tent was wet along the seams. On the inside!

Hours of not being able to get her going, we call for yet another tow. Number 3 in 4 months. Not a good record. Luckily we’re now into a new year, so our Geico free tow limit starts over again.

We take her to our good friends at German Auto again, in San Luis Obispo.

There she sits overnight. And wouldn’t you know it, she starts up fine the next morning.

Something is getting wet, somewhere, and something seems to be shorting out, somehow, and we nor the German Auto guys, nor the Volkswagon folks back in Santa Cruz can figure it out. And yes, both times, it’s happened on, yep, that’s right, a Saturday. Saturdays – you know are the days, when all good mechanics don’t work.

So by the time anyone smarter than us, can take a look at her, she’s dried herself off, and is behaving perfectly and very well mannered.

Frustrating. YES. But Miss Keevan, we still love you. Even if it means we are stuck someplace till yonder sunshine gleams down and brings forth light to our “Eurovan Adventures.” We’re sticking in there with her.

But we have made a few threats! Just so she knows.

On another front, we had to make another quick trip back to Santa Cruz, for some appointments, and for Fred to officially sign up for his old age fountain of youth, well deserved, social security retirement.

We are planning to squeeze in another trek down to Arizona, for a couple of months, before coming back to this city yet again, and finally – for the event of the year!

The event of the year? That would be the wedding of our most beautiful and loving, cherished daughter, and her most wonderful and handsome, totally awesome, soon to be husband.

Hope to be posting from down the desert roads again soon!

Beginnings, Campervan, Nature, Simple Living, Travel

Greetings From Santa Cruz

January 12, 2015 Keevan 4 Comments

Hello 2015.

We’re closing in on 300 days on the road. A little Unbelievable, but very True it is.

Holidays came and went. Lots of Fun and Happy times with Family and good Friends. Food, wine, and much beach time was enjoyed.

Four people looking across the bay. — Beach

The Rain that greeted us upon arrival home, turned into chilling Cold weather, which then turned into Summer like temperatures.

Young girl frolicking in the surf — Delight

In the midst of Happiness, some Grief was endured, more van problems were encountered, and then a hard drive that died a grizzly dark Death threw a loop into our visit.

Young girl walking quietly on beach — Moving On

Long walks along the ocean with Loved ones helped heal the wounds.

Marbled willet along the shore — Marbled Willet

Our Friends in Nature encouraged us to Look forward to new Adventures in the coming year. There are lots of Ideas for new Projects here on this blog and elsewhere.

Snowy egret with injured leg — Snowy Egret

We’re very Exited about all the new Energy generated in the blog world. Everyone seems so full of Enthusiasm.

Young seagull on the sand — Immature Gull

We’re quietly and Peacefully getting Miss Keevan fixed up pretty and Practical, before traveling onward.

kayaker heading out to sea — Heading Out

Into the Unknown we Journey.

Hope we all make time in life for Renewal, Abundance and Hope in this coming year.

Journey Onward.

Campervan, Eurovan, Simple Living, Van Living

Holiday Cheer – Van Style

December 23, 2014 Keevan 2 Comments

Who says you can’t decorate 70 square feet?

One simple strand of battery LED lights go a long way inside this tiny house, and adds an incredible amount of cheerful bright light.

We are back in Santa Cruz, spending this time of year with our family and friends, while taking a short break, house and kitty sitting for dear friends for a few weeks.

We wish everyone out there in Blogland a very happy Holiday Season however you happen to spend it.

Looking forward to more adventures to share in 2015…

Enjoy the journey. ❧

Boondocking, Campervan, Camping, Nature, Travel

Alabama Hills Of The West

December 9, 2014 Keevan 6 Comments

Leaving the Big City Lights, we were looking forward to Death Valley National Park.

But really, it just didn’t do much for us after everywhere we’ve been. And the campgrounds there…well what can I say, they were pretty much dusty, graveled parking lots with wall to wall people.

I guess it’s a popular spot for this time of year.

We couldn’t bring ourselves to camp in this situation, so we just kept going.

We drove to Lone Pine, a little town above the pitiful remains of Owens Lake, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

We had heard about the Alabama Hills, where so many movies have been made, they named the road there, ingeniously “Movie Road.” According to local lore, over 400 hollywood movies have been filmed in these hills.

Were we ever wowed when we drove in, just hoping to find a place to sleep for the night! Boulders and mountains and lots of open spaces with views to die for.

Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental United States with a summit of 14, 505 feet, was what we saw from our van door here! This is actually the back side of Whitney, seen from the east. How majestic her grandeur.

We felt pretty humbled and privileged to be camped here. To think that the likes of John Wayne to Johnny Depp have left their footprints here in the dust, and may have camped in the exact spot we did. (Well – probably not this exact spot, but maybe close by.)

Not a bad spot for morning coffee and breakfast. My own “John/ny” cooking up some yummy grub.

I wonder how much you would have to pay for a kitchen window with this view??

I wish I could say this was us, jogging along the road, but we enjoyed the view just as much while casually walking along behind these lucky folks who obviously run here often.

Another time when it’s just really hard to pull away…

We’ll be back here again.

❧

PS…For those who care, I am now officially caught up and current on this blog!!!

Campervan, Travel, Van Living

Things Fall Apart

December 4, 2014 Keevan 6 Comments

It seems that no VW long term journey is really complete without at least one good breakdown story.

Ours is a bit of a complex story…

You see, back in New Mexico along that wonderful Rio Grande River, one evening Fred sort of backed the van into a tree while we were getting set up for a night’s camping. Not a really bad encounter, but enough to mush up the bumper pretty good and ding up the back hatch door.

We did the proper thing and eventually turned it into our insurance, which promptly gave us a $900.00 check to go with our $500.00 deductible, to fix it at our leisure, anywhere between New Mexico and California. Sweet.

We decided to get it fixed when we got to Tucson. In fact, when we got to town, we arranged for an appointment, and for the Collision Center to get the parts before the appointment, since we would be without our home for three to four days and have to stay in a motel. All’s well.

We stayed out at Catalina State Park for the weekend, until our Monday appointment. On Sunday, we decided to run into town, just a few miles up the road to get a few groceries.

We only made it around the first corner out of the campground.

Bingo! Crash. Bam. What the heck.

It’s an ugly situation.

Our front ball joint just broke. The wheel fell off, and ugly oily stuff was leaking out the bottom. It was hot. AND it was Sunday.

Never, ever have a breakdown in Arizona on a Sunday.

After a very long wait, one park ranger, and two different Arizona highway patrol officers, our awesome tow truck driver arrived and artfully and skillfully got this mess up on his truck bed without damaging the entire front of the van.

In Arizona, nothing is open on Sundays. No auto dealerships, no repair shops, and after noon, no rental car companies. Yikes.

We managed to get into our motel room a night early, and thanks to the campground host, our stuff back at the campsite was safe and secured.

Monday was slightly better, as Geico gave us a nice 2014 GMC all wheel drive SUV for as long as we needed to drive around at no charge. Fun.

Of course, now the back collision work can’t be touched, until the front is fixed so the vehicle is mobile.

Very long story, shortened for this post…is two garages, different mechanics, one ball joint, one CVC and shaft, a new seal, and some new gear oil, and 11 days later, our beloved van is again on the road. Our insurance covered the second incident as well, but the rear end crunches are still not fixed. The first garage sent the parts back, when the van was moved to the second garage, and after 11 days, we really wanted our home back more than we wanted to wait around another week to get the back damage fixed. So we’ve put that off until we get back to California in Dec. to deal with.

During this time of van repairs, we had also arranged to meet up with some family in the little town of Laughlin, Nevada for a few days for a pre holiday get together. We were on a minute by minute standby, waiting for the van, and after waiting for us for a couple of days, they had to head home. No meeting up with them.

But wait, on Thursday afternoon, moments after we picked up the Keevan, they called and guess what? Their car broke down. In Laughlin.

Geeze…Friday we headed up there for our visit as now they were stranded for the entire weekend while the garage was closed.

Life…

We had a lovely visit with them.

And we had lots of fun in Tucson, got to visit another cousin of mine up near Phoenix, see some sights, and feel like locals for awhile.

And enjoyed some more beautiful Arizona sunsets.

Oh, those desert sunsets… ❧

Campervan, Nature, Simple Living, Travel

Birds Of Las Vegas

November 17, 2014 Keevan Leave a comment

9/30/14 – 10/1/14

Back to Santa Fe…Another mechanic…More dollars.

What to do?

After testing all the A/C components, this mechanic finally decides to test out our new relay, which tests out as no good. Volkswagon will order another relay for us at no charge, but they aren’t interested in paying for all the diagnostics to figure out that the part was no good. Grrrr.

We squabble and debate a bit.

We defiantly wait for the new part to arrive.

We go on another overnight sightseeing excursion.

We discover that Las Vegas, New Mexico is very different from Las Vegas, Nevada. Neither of us are real gung ho on bright lights and gambling, so we find this historic old town of Las Vegas much more to our liking.

The Las Vegas Wildlife Refuge is fantastic.

These White Pelicans in flight definitely brightened up our days.

Mr. Hawk teaches us a lesson in patience.

We think it all over a bit.

And decide it’s still all about the journey. We’re waiting for our new part, and enjoying New Mexico.

❧

Boondocking, Campervan, Camping, Nature, Travel

Crisscrossing New Mexico

November 13, 2014 Keevan 2 Comments

9/24/14 – 9/28/14

Back into Taos, we tried re-charging the A/C. It did’t do the trick, so we had someone look at it, who spent quite a few hours on it and traced it back to the relay under the dash. The part we needed had to be ordered by a Volkswagon dealer and had to come from Dallas, Texas. It had to be paid for in person, before anyone would order it. We had to go to Albuerque or Santa Fe. No brainer. We headed to Santa Fe.

Not a bad town to wait for a part. We enjoyed the plaza and native artists selling their wares. We bought a few gifts, did some sightseeing, and delighted in some New Mexico fall colors.

When the part arrived, we picked it up, quickly installed it, and ta-da…had cold air blasting into the cab.

To try out our refreshing luxury, we moseyed over to Bandelier National Park. Mostly we needed a place to camp for the night, and the park was handy.

A peaceful setting to enjoy the evening and early morning.

Some interesting campers were also visiting. In fact a lot of these Western Bluebirds were camping along side of us.

This Northern Flicker and White-breasted Nuthatch didn’t mind sharing a site.

Pretty sure this was a Merlin watching over the entire loop.

We moved on after these visitors left and lots of the two legged type moved in. (It was a weekend.)

Found this place a little quieter and more to our liking up a forest service road. Room for Pia to run and play, and plenty of New Mexico sunshine for the solar panel.

Some of these Bluebirds thought so too, as they followed us to our new camping spot.

img_7757-version-2 (1)

We drove by and visited Valles Caldera National Preserve.

It was a beautiful valley, but there was no place to spend the night. We inched our way around the Jemez mountains.

A quiet walk in the Santa Fe National Forest.

Nature’s sculpture…

And yet another lovely peaceful camping spot, thanks to the forest service folks for maintaining their roads.

The countryside changes abruptly.

Emerging out of the forest and into Jemez Pueblo.

It was about here when our air conditioner quit working again…

❧

Campervan, Camping, Nature, Travel

Lakes, Rain, And Gentle Souls

September 10, 2014 Keevan Leave a comment

8/13/14-8/14/14

Time for a nice easy drive down the highway. We followed 83 south through Montana, winding down the mountain, spending a quiet, peaceful, and restful night at Swan Lake. In the morning it was just a jaunt across the road to the lake, where we strolled around the beautiful pedestrian pathway watching the glass smooth lake come alive.

Mid-day we drove a few more hours to Seeley Lake. On the way down, there was definite smoky haze in the air as we we were heading straight for a fire area…But when we arrived, rain had started falling, the air was crisp and clean, and the campground was practically deserted. We set up our awning, sat on the van porch and watched the puddles form, until it became a downpour, at which time we came inside and cozied up for awhile with our books. A few hours later, the sun was out, and people everywhere exited their tents, trailers and vans to walk wherever they could walk. Life was fresh and renewed. The deer came out to graze and the birds and squirrels again took up their search for food.

River with reflection of trees and clouds in the sky — Clearwater River Near Seeley Lake

Seeley Lake was peaceful and quiet, so we decided to stay put for a few days. We were immersed in nature and beauty, and continued meeting interesting and inspiring people.

Paul, for instance touched our hearts. This gentle person with a huge soul kept us company, provided us with much valuable travel information, gave ups tips on which roads to take for the best experiences, and inflamed a torch that has been lit in us, about planning a trip next summer to Alaska and the Yukon! We shared thoughts on politics, the environment and most excitingly about the Absaroka Mountains, which we were soon to make our way over the top of.

Green marsh with river winding through it — Clearwater River Marsh

Pulling away from Seeley lake, after exploring a few back roads, we passed by the Bob Marshall Wilderness area.

Green meadows, miles of vast uncluttered land, and huge mountains in the background. — A Tiny Glimpse of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area

Thank you Bob, for being the visionary you were.

highway signage about the bob marshall wilderness area — Bob Marshall Wilderness Area

Butte, Deer Lodge, and Dillon. We camped in Boulder Creek Campground along a little used winding road. We followed some of Lewis and Clark’s trail, and saw rocks the Sacagawea played underneath as a young girl. There is much history in this area.

A Nice little rainstorm over the mountains to light our way and we landed in Bozeman for the evening.

Rain coming down from the clouds over mountains. — Driving Through The Rainstorms

Next post, we meet more unexpected acquaintances, of the four legged kind. ❧

Campervan, Nature, Travel

Glacier-Waterton Peace Park – Part 1

September 2, 2014 Keevan 2 Comments

8/8/14 – 8/9/14

Mid-day entry into Glacier National Park. Too late for morning sun, and the haze was pretty bad from those devastating fires over west in Washington. But still plenty of gorgeousness and awesomeness along the “Going to the Sun” road. And some beautiful clouds to enjoy too!

As it was the weekend and we couldn’t find any camping inside the park, we just kept going out the east entrance and decided to head up to Waterton National Park, the other half of Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park, the only national park that encompasses two countries, and is looked after jointly by both the American and Canadian National Park Services.

Although we didn’t take any ranger led hikes, there are opportunities to go on hikes that are actually led by both American and Canadian park rangers co-jointly.

We love Canada. And Waterton was just exquisite.

After staying one night in a motel in the quaint little town of Cardston, we found ourselves in the park the next night late in the evening, and of course there was again no camping inside this park either on a weekend, but…being in the cool little Keevan, we silently slid into a parking lot right in the middle of downtown Waterton Village, laid our heads on our pillows and slept soundly, waking early to enjoy the peace and calm of the village before most of the other campers got moving around.

Oh, and while driving into the village at the dusk of evening, we did indeed spot our first Grizzly grubbing around on the hillside. My how beautiful it was.

Next post we meet more Grizzlies….

❧

Campervan, Camping, Nature, Travel, Van Living

Giant U-Turn; Redmond to the Sierras

July 24, 2014 Keevan 2 Comments

We spent an entire week in Redmond, just outside of Bend Oregon, with our dear friend Beverly. We totally relaxed, slept in a real bed, fixed lots of delicious food, and played the board game Aggravation until all hours of the night. It’s nice to be able to take these types of breaks once in awhile to recharge and just enjoy some downtime.

Bev was such a gracious hostess!!!

We were seriously on our way to North Idaho, but while hanging around Redmond, we learned that both our kids and their significant others and children, had planned a camping trip to the Tahoe National Forest, just outside the Lake Tahoe area back in eastern California.

A small seed was planted, and after checking the map and figuring out the milage, we made a decision to go camping with them all.

A Giant U-Turn was made from our spot on the map in central Oregon, and we rode with the wind down the highway back to California, for just a small side trip. About 300 miles of a side trip.

Into the sierra’s we went, and the family we did meet.

Pine forests as far as one can see, thunderstorms in the afternoons, green meadows crisscrossed by streams and rivers. Awesome white puffy clouds against azure skies.

A wonderful time was had by all, relatives from both sides of extended families joined in on different days to make for lots of fun, food, campfires, fishing, hikes, and good talks.

Love you people dearly!

Can’t wait to meet up again somewhere along this long winding road. Thank you for a wonderful visit.

❧

Keevan Soul