Driving around the dramatic Sangre de Cristo mountains and finding a collection of sand dunes in their shadow kind of messes with the mind. The area is arid and isolated for the most part, with expansive open spaces, some ranging cattle, and shrubs dotting the landscape, with the looming jagged mountains alongside. Such beauty! After …
Category Archives: The Places
Colorado: Outside Pueblo
After arriving back in Colorado from Iowa and spending a bit of time doing stuff around Golden, Kevin and I took off for a mini-tour of the state now that things are slowly reopening. I mean, I had to see some of this place before I take off after spending so long here, and what …
Iowa: Sioux City and a Pandemic Road Trip
Long time, no van travels! As I alluded to previously, once the Covid crazies hit I took a week to regroup and self-isolate in El Paso, then booked it to the closest person I felt comfortable shoving myself on for who knows how long, which happened to be my friend Kevin just outside Denver. More …
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Texas: Big Bend
Big Bend National Park is right on the Mexican border, in that little dip of Texas on the southwestern side. I’d booked 4 nights at campsites in the park piecing together what was available- the park itself was open, though the visitor centers were closed and staffing far reduced, but the campground reservations and operations …
Texas: Hill Country
I left Austin with a bag full of delicious take out from a taco place, and headed a few hours west through Texas Hill Country towards the town of Fredericksburg. Just before arriving I took a detour to the teensy weensy town of Luckenbach, made famous by a Waylon Jennings song with WIllie Nelson on …
Texas: Austin
I’d been planning to visit my friend Kevin’s sister and her family in Austin before all the crazy came about, and they very kindly still offered to take me into their home as part of their social distancing group. I hung out for a few days with Darla, Jeff and their kids in a suburb …
Texas: San Antonio
Now that my Ali Wong show was officially postponed I didn’t have a real reason to visit San Antonio, but decided to go nonetheless to check it out. I arrived just as the city was beginning to implement coronavirus distancing, so pretty much everything was still operational with tweaks. Between these preventative measures and so …
Texas: Gulf side
I had planned to come to Texas by a certain date since I had tickets to attend a screening of some Banff Film Festival winners, which I did for a couple of years after a friend invited me and I got hooked. This was like a little piece of my usual annual routine while away …
Louisiana: Gulf Coast
While I could have spent another week in New Orleans, I had already decided that I’d have to come back some day in the future with friends to get the full experience, so wasn’t too worried about trying to pack in all the sights. Megan’s connections continued to be a blessing as her sister offered …
Louisiana: New Orleans
New Orleans! I was very excited to go to New Orleans, and it was not a let down. I happened to visit when the weather was beautiful, and the Corona crazies hadn’t yet hit in full force. I got extremely lucky by knowing Megan, another friend from work, who is from the area and has …
The Van is Go 