Table of contents for Thirteen: June/July 2019 in ROVA

There’s a growing fifth-wheel community putting rubber to the road—travelers who are wooed by the generous living space, ease of towing, storage options and maneuverability of this adaptable RV. A fifth wheel, as many of you will already know (but if you don’t, hey—I’m here to help!), is a towable trailer that attaches to a hitch in the bed of a truck, directly over the rear axle. This setup gives the rig a better turning radius and easier handling than a bumper-pulled trailer, and less chance of sway while out on the road. Once parked, the trailer can be detached from the truck, so you’re free to embark on an off-road adventure—or grab a cheeky burger at a drive-through takeout—while leaving your home back at camp. There are tons of…

I grew up in a suburb of Toronto that’s often lauded as one of the greatest places to live in all of Canada. Brag alert, right? Not so much. The way I see it, such places often breed “normalcy,” which is great, but it isn’t my bag. As I hit high school, normal became more and more uncomfortable for me. I was an outsider. An aggressive iconoclast. A weirdo. While my peers were wearing bootcut jeans, I was wearing plaid ladies’ slacks. But birds of a feather, right? In between my lackluster studies, I was lucky to meld with a group of like-minded folks—the type who would get on stage and host the talent shows. My flock. One of them was a kid by the name of Pat, and we…

We woke up at the crack of dawn and drove to the harbor in Tofino, on Canada’s Vancouver Island, where our small Cessna floatplane was getting prepped. It was a beautiful sunrise, and the low light of a rising sun was bouncing beautiful reflections off the plane and the water. The pilot started the engine, pushed the plane off the dock and managed to jump into the cabin as it floated out into the harbor. It felt similar to starting a broken-down car downhill. The wind was picking up, and we needed to take off. Flying above the landscape, we saw countless secluded beaches and coves, vast forests, mountain peaks, lakes, bays and a limitless Pacific Ocean. We landed at Hot Springs Cove, and as soon as we docked we…

Georgia O’Keeffe famously said, “If you ever go to New Mexico, it will itch you for the rest of your life.” That sentiment resonates with me now, but before moving here almost a year ago, I honestly hadn’t given the state much thought. Growing up in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado, four and a half hours to the north, I loosely associated the Land of Enchantment with hot-air balloons and tacky Kokopellis long before Breaking Bad started shaping perceptions of the Southwestern state. But after a year and a half living in Philadelphia, followed by another year spent ambling around North America in our Scamp travel trailer, my partner, Ella, and I visited northern New Mexico and loved it so much that we stayed. There’s a warmth and unpretentious vibrancy…

Before I slept in a van at highway rest stops, in transit center parking lots, and at quiet trailhead pull-offs, I woke up every morning in a house in the middle of the Massachusetts North Shore. During the winter, I was pulled ever northward toward deeper snow and taller mountains; but spring, when it came, was a welcome excuse to play on the miles of coastline thawing out in the east. Summer was all salt and seaweed. On most days, there was at least one bathing suit pinched under the glass of my Jeep’s liftgate, legs flapping in the wind like a pair of salvaged prayer flags, spitting sand onto the road in my wake. All of my seasonal wanderings have undoubtedly been influenced by memories of childhood car rides…

Winner of a one-year subscription I just received the newest issue of ROVA (Adventure 12) and wanted to tell you how much I appreciated Amy Roost’s article, “History the South Cannot Ignore (But Textbooks Do).” We homeschool our sons, aged 10 and 13, and often express frustration with the way history tends to get glossed over, or omitted entirely, in some texts. We have been planning a roadschool trip to the south to visit family, and this article has given us some great ideas to add to our itinerary! Tiff L A big thank you to all of our ROVA friends who have motivated us to break free; to let go of the side of the pool and swim out into the uncharted waters of the vast open sea! Each…

Richard and Elizabeth It’s one thing to hear about a place, read about it, or see photos. But to drive through the streets, meet the people, and taste local food—these experiences give us new perspectives that we can bring with us wherever we go. We chose this life to find beauty in the mundane, drop into new ways of living, and meet people where they are. We do that each day, then we wake up and do it again. Instagram: @littlehouseonthehwy Lauren and Penny I loved the six years I lived in DC, but it was time to escape the 9–5 work culture and never-ending expenses. I longed for a home to call my own, and felt suffocated by my cubicle. Now, I live in my dream house, hike most…

For all you shutterbugs out there who can’t resist getting that perfect photo, drones have brought the power of aerial photography right into the palm of your hand, and the results can be pretty awe inspiring (check out #dronephotography on Instagram for evidence). These days, drone photography is ubiquitous. Think of car commercials with sweeping shots of winding mountain roads; drones being used to mimic pterodactyl flight in Jurassic World; or travel-marketing campaigns showing aerial views of beaches, resorts and golf courses. And I’m sure you’ve noticed a lot more aerial photography popping up in your social feeds, as well. Getting the best shot from the air has been on artists’ minds for a while. French photographer Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (known by the pseudonym Nadar) was taking pictures while hanging from…

“I’ve grown so much in the past year just by getting outside of my comfort zone,” says Joe Hawley down the phone line. Just over a year ago, Hawley was finishing up an eight-year NFL career—the stuff of dreams for many teenagers—and wondering what was next for him. Football had been good to Hawley—he’d been successful, earned good money, and he loved to play the game. But after almost a decade in the machine, the business side of things was taking its toll. He was ready to get out. “I’m blessed that I was able to play football for a long time, and I gave it everything I had,” he says. “I had nothing left to give to the game—which is a blessing, because a lot of athletes’ careers are…

My mom is not a regular mom—she’s a wanderlusting wonderwoman. A post-Beatnik flower child, her destiny was written in On the Road, soundtracked by Joni Mitchell, and designed at an REI outlet store. But as with most aspiring travelers, while Mom was busy consulting a United States atlas, life got in the way. By the time she turned 45 she’d become a divorcée tied down by three kids, a job, and a mortgage. “Travel” was defined as the car time between work and picking up kids from soccer practice while River blasted through the speakers on repeat. Still, she longed to look for America à la Simon and Garfunkel, and would wax poetic to me about her itinerant dream: “When I retire, I’m going to buy myself an RV, and…

If you’re thinking to yourself, “I want to get wild on my next vacation,” South Dakota might not be top of your list of destinations—but maybe it should be. With unbelievable natural beauty, and a history of eccentric folks and lawless behavior, South Dakota’s Black Hills region has all the ingredients for any kind of wild time. Although the Black Hills is one of the oldest mountain ranges in North America, the area wasn’t mapped until 1856. Then, when George Custer’s expedition discovered gold here in 1874, there was a rush that brought all kinds of infrastructure—accompanied by the gunslinging, heavy drinking and tall tale–telling that went along with the prospect of sudden riches. The town of Deadwood is at the center of the murder and mayhem of the Black…

Heart-stealing music The third album from Brooklyn quartet Big Thief, U.F.O.F., is rock ‘n’ roll, but on a soft, strange scale. There are skittish drumbeats, plenty of acoustic guitar and Adrianne Lenker’s unmistakable, sweet crooning over the top of it all. This album sounds like a night spent watching for UFOs in the desert. Break it out when the sun is half-sunk, and let it usher you into the fireside darkness. bigthief.net Road life meditations This July, Squaw Valley hosts a festival designed for outdoor adventure and inner wellbeing. Set on the peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Wanderlust is about “Mountains, Mindfulness and Music.” Mountain biking, hikes, rock climbing and paddleboarding combine with yoga and meditation, so you can explore the great outdoors and your inner self at the…

To get to Vegas from Los Angeles, you do whatever you can to just get out of the city. Then, for the most part, you’re on I-15, which winds through the Cajon Pass and into the Mojave. Near Primm, you pass a solar power facility that looks like sheets of plate armor, stretched out on the desert plain. Towns like Primm feel like they’re previews for Vegas. They have their own buffets and slots and table games. On the drive in, they stoke excitement for Sin City, because they tell you that you’re getting closer. According to some parts of the Internet, the drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and back is four hours and change. But according to some parts of the Internet, the earth is flat, too.…

Once an outdoor novelty that would draw attention from curious bystanders, stand-up paddleboarding (SUP) is now a bona fide lifestyle, growing in popularity quicker than any other watersport—maybe because it can be done anywhere (that has water, that is!), anytime, by anyone. The beauty of the SUP is that it doesn’t matter what kind of lifestyle you lead; you can find your own style atop a board. A stand-up paddleboard is a fiberglass or inflatable board, around 10–12 feet in length, which the boarder drives forward with a long paddle—this can be done from a standing, kneeling or seated position; but “stand up, kneel or sit paddle board (SUKOSP)” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. While the origins of SUP are in surfing—and many SUPers still ride the…

It took a year and a half for us to see the delivery truck with our custom-ordered 2015 4x4 Sprinter van in our driveway. It was the largest Sprinter we could get. It was outfitted with five seats, a bathroom and a wheelchair lift, so that our oldest daughter, Gwen, and our youngest daughter, Eliza, could travel comfortably (in addition to ourselves, our middle daughter, Violet, and a caregiver or two). Before the arrival of the Sprinter, we had taken our first road trip as a family in two separate wheelchair-accessible rental vehicles. With the Sprinter, our family had its first chance to experience the country together, in ways we’d never dreamed possible. The van not only served as a vehicle to get us to and from medical appointments that…