It’s been a while since the last blog. What can we say… overlanding life just gets in the way! We’ve been spending the last few weeks back overlanding western USA, hanging around the Reno/Tahoe area. We saw more California coast, had a palaver with a crankshaft seal, visited M*A*S*H*, and waited for a windscreen (yes, another!!!). Oh… and we had a look around Air Force One!
The curious thing about overlanding the USA is that it’s full of curiosities. For some, the USA is all about the iconic Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge, Grand Canyon or Yosemite. And they’re great. But if you’re lucky enough to have the time to snoop around, you’ll find countless curiosity spots. History, culture, science and general ‘well I didn’t know that’ stuff in some of the most unlikely spots. Across south-east Idaho, north-west Utah and central Nevada we’ve found some overlanding curiosities – potatoes, a ‘world’s only’, a steam train, a crime scene, a stony spiral, some rockets, a clean museum, an awful lot of salt, a lonely road and an ostrich race. Folks… you couldn’t make this stuff up!
It would be bonkers to visit USA’s most popular national parks in peak summer season, wouldn’t it? Well, yes it would. But it’s a matter of timing, you see. We have to be somewhere for the summer. In 2022 that somewhere turns out to be the epic Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Sure, there will be crowds. But, as the saying goes, we’ll just have to ‘suck it up, princess!’ 😉 We learned that even in peak season, overlanding national parks is still a good idea, and we learned some tips on bagging a camp-spot at the parks. But in-between the parks we visited a State Fair, saw a big-time rodeo and a real-life mermaid!
The decision’s made. We’re going to Alaska. Well… we’re going to try again at getting to Alaska. We’re in Yuma on the US/Mexican border and our GPS tells us it’s exactly 6,640 km to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. By anyone’s measure, that’s a loong way. Here’s our Operation Reach Alaska, a gentle trot through California, Oregon and Washington, then a frantic gallop through BC and the Yukon…
The Wild West is a legendary piece of US history and worth a bit of attention by the traveller. As we drive across southern Arizona, overlanding the wild west, we see a cheesy show, ponder the age-old air-con dilemma, and looking ahead we contemplate another stab at Alaska…
We like deserts. Which is fortunate really, because there are lot of them to explore in south west USA. Mojave, Joshua Tree, Anza Borrego, Death Valley etc… etc… etc. Here are our tales of overlanding deserts, featuring dune-climbing, a balloon festival, dinosaurs, aliens, an international forest of cars, movie sets, struggling through snow (yes, in the desert!) and catching up with lovely friends.
We end 2021 with Operation Seeking Sunshine from Wyoming to Arizona. Over the last two years we’ve done more than a bit of Canadian-style wintering. This year, we’re looking for a bit of winter sunshine. In our final blog of the year, we skip Yellowstone Park, cruise down from Wyoming through Colorado to sunny Arizona. On the way we do a few tourist hot-spots and catch up with some great travel friends.
The Pacific North West USA is a ‘great if you get the season right’ kind of place. Somewhere behind all the murk that we saw, is a stunning countryside just bursting to get out and show us its stuff. But are we moaning? Noooo. Despite the murky weather we found whilst overlanding the Pacific North West, we had a great time. We had glimpses of scenic fabulousness, alpacas, huskies, snow, cool cities and… errrrm… a bit of mechanical work required on Cuthbert.
Everyone knows California, don’t they? It’s pretty good at self-promotion and has a familiarity acquired from decades of movies and TV. There’s the odd ‘nugget of wonder’ to be found, but overlanding California isn’t really a surprise. If we have one Top Tip for California it’s ‘winter’. In winter we find crowd-free parks and coasts. We also find hippy-nirvana in the desert, TV sets, elephant seals, a super-cool city, very big trees and a winning streak at the casino!
It’s 2020. Blimey. How did that happen? We end 2019 and kick-off 2020 in the south US desert with some expensive food, a piece of England, a biosphere, a nuclear missile, a war hero, many overlanding snowbirds and two new Mexican crowns. Howsaboutthat for variety?
The parks of south west USA are splendid things. They conserve spectacular natural treasures and this place was certainly at the front of the queue when it came to dishing-out spectacular natural treasures. This part of the world has more than its fair share of spectacularity (okay… I made that word up, but I think it works). Park-life in south-west US is excessively spectacular; around almost every corner is some kind of awesome park, each with a ridiculous number of wow-factor views. So after the alien-geekery of New Mexico, we thought we’d better get exploring the south west’s park-life.
