Go Van Go

Use horizontal view on phones for best experience of slideshow.

Two days ago we tied. Last night Meg won by 2 at our campsite outside Yellowstone. It’s on.

Also this is our first post. Please read it. We made it for YOU.

A few places we’ve been (and slept):

• Walton, NY (East Brook Community Farm)
• Trumansburg, NY (Chez John/Tonia)
• Geneva, OH (Geneva State Park Campground)
• Cleveland, OH
• Vermilion, OH (Paper Moon Vineyards)
• Detroit, MI
• Mount Pleasant, MI (Mountain Station Brewery)
• Empire, MI (Empire Township Campground)
• Traverse City, MI
• St. Ignace, MI (The Gourd Barn)
• Marinette, WI (Boat launch)
• Green Bay, WI (Boat launch)
• Madison, WI (ALMOST in the arboretum)
• House on the Rock, WI
• La Crosse, WI (Chez Colleen)
• Minneapolis, MN (Powderhorn Park)
• Tyler, MN (Hip Camp grotto courtesy of Raul)
• Badlands, SD (Wall rim dispersed camping)
• Deadwood, SD (Friendship tower trailhead)
• Cody, WY (Big Game Campground)
• Yellowstone, WY
• Bozeman, MT (Random street)

Some questions we’ve asked:

• What is the difference between “grisly” and “grizzly”? (gruesome versus graying/grayish)
• What does bear scat look like? (like Andre the Giant took a poop)
• Is Yellowstone on the Continental Divide? (Yes! And actually the majority of the park is in the caldera of a super volcano that last erupted 630,000 years ago – and we were just driving around right on it!)
• How do they water all those corn fields? (with way more water than we should be devoting to a monoculture crop in a nation-wide drought? Where does the water come from? How much does it cost? WHY SO MUCH CORN?)
• How have we altered the landscape with farming and resource extraction?
• Is it really ethical to eat meat? (probably not.. and yet… )
• What is that smell? (a fertilizer slurry? a sulfurous hot spring? Jake after eating cheese? Meg a week and a half into no-shower-topia? A vault toilet?)
• Why is this wet? (leaky 6-gallon water jug? leaky 12-gallon water system? sweat? leaky back door?)
• What’s the deal with Plan Colombia? (read the wikipedia article, TLDR: maybe the US should stay out of other people’s business)
• Why do South Dakotans adore Teddy Roosevelt? (because he was a cowboy)
• Why do those rocks look like that? (geology!)
• Where are we going to sleep?
• Am I supposed to go left or right? Left or right?!?!
• Why is Van making that noise? (low on transmission fluid? strap flapping? low on power steering fluid? we left the fan vent open – AGAIN!? passenger seat bolts are loose?
• What are these people talking about on their first date? Is it a good date?
• Is this rock worth keeping? (How much space is left in the rock box?)
• What is an synonym for “crazy views”? (majestic vistas)
• How much have we spent in our first month? (about half what it costs to live in Portland in two separate apartments)
• Are we going to get in trouble for sleeping here? (not yet)
• Why was that cashier so nice? (because they’re from the midwest)
• Why was that cashier so mean? (because we have tattoos? because we talk differently? because we are fundamentally horrible people deserving of scorn? because they’re NOT from the midwest?)
• Where are all these Freaking Flies coming from? (the maggot incident in NH? bad luck? Seriously we killed about 70 flies in two weeks.)
• Who lived here first and how were they displaced? (a starting point)
• What would this forest look like if we never clear cut it?
• Why does the gray water tank smell so bad? (because it’s like 100 degrees down there, and we have no U-trap)
• Are you mad at me? (probably not)
• Why are there so many pine needles on my side of the bed? (who knows)
• How much is that RV? ($638,000)
• Why is it so hot? (because of fossil fuels)
• What kind of hipster is that person? (@Bozeman, MT @Minneapolis, MN, @Madison, WI)
• Can I pet your dog?
• Does THIS hat look good on me?
• Why do those trucks keep driving up and parking near our parking lot sleep spot? (cruising? CRUISING?)
• Did that couple just lose their dog? (no, they don’t have a dog, but they are quite friendly and have lots of travel tips)
• Where is my _______? (somewhere in Van)
• What does it mean to appreciate nature? (is it collecting vistas? escaping from other people? imagining a world untouched by industrialization?)
• Why do people take pictures of themselves in front of signs that tell you where you are?