August 26

I was suddenly left with nothing in my hands but a handful of crazy stars—Jack Kerouac 

Today, August 26, 2022, after a lifetime of work, family and responsibility, beneath those crazy stars my wife Donna and I are setting out from Buffalo, NY to see and experience America in our first van life expedition. Our mode of transportation will be a sleek, 2019 Ram Promaster van equipped with solar panels, 600 amp hours of power, a gas stove, refrigerator, shower, double bed, USB ports etc.— all the comforts of home.

Our first stop on this nascent journey is Duluth, Minnesota to see some old message board internet friends that I've never actually met in person—my kids used to call them my "pretend friends." From there we go west to South Dakota for a few days: Mount Rushmore and the Badlands. Next, it's on to the Grand Tetons in Wyoming for some hiking over the Labor Day weekend. Then, we travel south to Montrose, Colorado where our niece Rachel (and Kyle) are getting married on September 9th.

Our daughter Caroline is flying in from Los Angeles for the wedding and afterwards we're going to mess around in Colorado for a few days—Telluride, Ouray, San Juan National Forest. Unfortunately duty beckons on September 15th, when Donna will have to fly back to Buffalo for work—someone has to pay for all of this. From there I'll drive Caroline back to Los Angeles, spend a few days there, and then mosey back across the country by myself.  

Please, make some toast and tea and join us while we go mobile. The dewy mornings, the starry nights and—let's be real here—the occasional arguments because Donna won't accept that I know more than Google maps. All will be documented in our first ever van expedition—the peaks and the valleys, the guts and the glory. 

Click here to find out how we became mixed up in all this van life business. Please note—posts will follow a chronological order going from oldest to newest so you can read about our trip in the right sequence. Thank you for the support.

Home
How we got here...
An Ode to Fire and Donna
Posts From The Road In Order
Going Mobile: What We Learned
Our Rig: A Pictorial Essay