Welcome to our

2020 Boulder Trip

with Ernie Tortuga, our Sprinter van

We had a great trip in 2018 around the Western United States and Canada. Back in 2016 we drove our Subaru to Alaska where we first explored the opposite side of this fine continent. This time we may return to a few places, but we also want to check out some places we missed.

Our theme for this trip is self-sufficiency. Ideally, we won't need to plug in for the whole trip. We've upgraded our solar capacity, and we should be able to keep our batteries charged as we travel. Ideally our evenings will be more in dispersed camping in national forests and more rustic campgrounds, to minimize social interaction and exposure to Covid-19.

The original plan (before the pandemic) was a 3 month trip, but now our plan is much more modest. the rationale for the trip is to see friends in Colorado and pick up a Clydesdale Spur ebike. The result will be a simpler version of our original plan, which is now our default 2021 plan.

Plan, Year Four.

Our destination is Boulder, Colorado to pick up a bike and see family and friends. The plan is to avoid traffic and cities and people, and appreciate as much natural beauty as we can find.

We start from Northeast Florida, and head North to visit family in North Carolina and Tennessee. Then we will wend our way across the vast middle of America, stopping in forests and state parks before exploring the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, an area I never got to visit in my years living in Colorado. Then we will head up to Fruita for some fun mountain biking.

While we wait for my bike to be ready, we will continue west to Canyonlands and Arches to enjoy the hiking beauty and then on to Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Lower Antelope Canyon before heading back across southern Colorado to visit friends in Bailey and then Boulder. Hopefully, my Clydesdale bicycle will be ready to pick up.

The final leg will be a faster trip to get back to Florida. While the Suwannee Fat Tire Festival is cancelled, we still have a lot of work to do getting the trails ready for riders showing up. Hopefully we'll have time to enjoy some mountain bike trails (Coldwater Mountain) along the way.

So this is our initial plan. It will change right up to hitting the road, and then the actual will hopefully bear some vague similarity to the plan. As we drive, Sharon will decide if our destination is acceptable, or whether she finds another that is more appealing to her (or not full - we tend to make reservations later rather than sooner). We also aren't sure how long we'll stay at each spot, it will depend on how much Sharon wants to do at each place.

Reality is what it is...

This trip will adhere to the plan more closely than previous years. Maybe.

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Blogging about our experience.

My thoughts as we progress through this adventure. The list below is my lame attempt to keep this simple. Entries are in doc format to make my life simpler.

Getting Ready

August 25
Prepping

On The Road

Sept 1
It's real

Seeing the United States from our Tortuga Sprinter.

Click to our photo albums. We will be trying to document our process and the beauty we find during our travels. We'll be adding albums as time and beauty allow. The best pictures will be in our year-end calendar, which will be printed by PrintingCenterUSA. Drop a comment for a chance to pick up one of our calendars at the end of the year!