~ by Sumalee We'd been thinking of returning to Death Valley for a while, and a break between gigs in December 2025 provided the opportunity. This second trip to Death Valley trip would register two significant changes for us since our first foray into the lowest place on earth, 282 feet below sea level. We would be returning as a married couple and as practiced birders. In fact, I proposed to V at sunrise on a day we had embarked on the long drive into the park from Beatty, NV, at 4:00 am....

~ By Vicky & Sumalee When I told a colleague about a contract job I was considering in Clear Lake, CA., she--like almost every Californian we spoke to--had a preternatural bias against Clear Lake. Upon hearing our plans, she paused and dropped her voice in concern: "have you  been there yet ?" That next weekend, S. and I reconnaissanced the lake and the RV parks nearby. I had also looked up a long-term stay RV park at Blue Lakes, so we also scouted it out. The Blue Lakes RV park had...

~ By Vicky ~ 2024 was the kickstarter year of our truck camper adventures. We became the proud owners of a four-season, cozy, and highly capable truck camper that we aptly named The Roost, which perched atop our one-ton long bed truck we named Sanderling in honor of the hardy migratory shore bird whom we love to find dodging the swash and backwash along ocean shores. As campers who sought lesser-known forest roads on BLM land, we dreamed of a truck camper to expand our camping season from...