Table of contents for Twenty-Seven: October/November 2021 in ROVA

At some point, the security team at Hoover Dam realized that my friends and I weren’t a threat. Maybe it was the coloring books, maybe it was the unicorn pillow pet, or maybe it was the folded Harry Styles cardboard cutout in the backseat. If a life-size Harry Styles isn’t in your road-trip essentials list, I’d urge you to reconsider—it’s a great conversation starter. Whipping him out at state lines to take photos, or bringing him to campsite fires made us some new friends. Then again, it also attracted stares. It was really a roll of the dice. Our road trip was one of shenanigans, goofy laughs and games of group solitaire and M.A.S.H. It was myself, my two roommates, Abigail and Emma, and our friend Frances. We were recent…

It’s not an uncommon sight: an RV, laden like a packhorse with five bikes on the rear bumper, kayaks on the roof, snowboards strapped to the side, a toad trailing along behind, and humans peering out from behind it all. Bringing the fun on an RV adventure can be a hassle, with racks, braces, wraps, ropes, ladders, and tow bars enveloping the vehicle in a shroud of gear. Back in the day, this is what we had to contend with—there was no other option. In 2021, however, there’s no excuse for your RV to look like an inside-out REI. The insane range of available RV options includes a subset called the toy hauler—and if you’re a climber, biker, motorsports fiend, ATVer, boarder, skier, or combination of the above, or, if…

You know that sudden urge to get rid of most of your belongings, stop showering, trade your normal diet for granola bars and pepperoni sandwiches, and travel the country in a vehicle? I succumbed to it. My name is Caroline. I’m 26 years old, I’m a Merchant Marine, and I left my job earlier this year to live full time in my van, whom I named Sheila. Up until that moment, I’d always done things the “right” way. Always followed the typical, “acceptable” path in life. But last year, I realized that it just wasn’t enough—something was missing. I wasn’t having any fun! Hiking, backpacking and traveling are the things that bring me the most joy in life, and I really wasn’t getting the time to do any of that.…

Utah’s Mighty Five National Parks: Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands. No one ever looks at these landscapes and thinks, “Damn, I could’ve made that myself!” (Or at least, I hope not!) Nature is universally accepted abstract art. Perfectly imperfect. As I drove across Southern Utah on a weeklong adventure from Zion to Canyonlands, it became immediately evident why this road trip is on so many people’s bucket lists. It’s back-to-back “Are you kidding me?!” scenery, open roads, panoramic vistas, perfectly placed campsites, and must-do hikes. The road trip itself is a sensory overload and much-needed respite from the monotonous work, eat, sleep, repeat cycles that we fall into. As national park signs unfolded in front of me, it felt as if I was journeying to seek out the wisdom…

My 16-year-old niece, Jessica, and I rented a car in Albuquerque. Jessica looks like me—we both have curly brown hair and, according to everyone, make the same expressions with our eyes, and though she frequently measures our heights back-to-back to see if she’s finally surpassed me, she seems destined to remain five-foot-four, like her aunt. We also share similar interests—not makeup tutorials or fast food (her faves), but definitely nature and hiking. So, I decided to whisk her away to Taos, New Mexico for a weekend. There are so many reasons to road trip to Taos: to stroll through art galleries; to admire adobe architecture, desert landscapes and mountain views; to enjoy world-class skiing in the winter; to learn the living history of the northern New Mexican Indigenous communities—but another…

Your brewery story [“Brew With a View,” ROVA Adventure Twenty-Six, August/September 2021] was so great! I visit a new brewery on every trip I take, and there are tons on your list that I’m now adding to mine. I also had never heard about Harvest Hosts, but now I’m planning to stay at a few breweries on the west coast on my next road trip. Thanks for the info! Luke F I’ve been reading ROVA since the pandemic started, and at first it was to help me learn about life on the road. Now I read it just to take my mind off our current reality—it’s more entertaining than a lot of other travel magazines. I love the recommendations every issue, and the genuineness of the stories. Thank you for…

Okay… I can do this. Deep breath. My name is Reginald Grey, and I no longer live full time on the road. There! I said it. Ya happy?! Good, ’cause I feel ill! They’re only a few words, but they really were difficult for me to utter a few months back. The whole ordeal of changing my life completely really had me examining myself, and just how much my identity is wrapped up in my life choices and how I present them to other people. Like, ew. I tend to fancy myself as so damn woke, conscious, and getting mentally stable (eye roll emoji), but coming out and publicly admitting that I was making a major lifestyle change had me shook. On a practical level, choosing to get off the…

There’s no place better suited for mulling over the big questions than the road. Somewhere between the faded sepia tones of the past and the bright neons of the future lies the heart of the matter, the truth, the thing we’re all seeking in one way or another. For me, the journey towards the unknown has always involved the road in all its various forms: long asphalt, gravel and dirt paths snaking their way over mountains, across rivers, through deserts and prairies, connecting us to each other. Cross-country travel by car has long been a part of American life, and goes as far back as 1909, when 22-year-old Alice Ramsey became the first woman to make the drive from coast to coast, only six years after the first successful such…

I was planning an interstate move after living in Missouri for about six months, when a coworker mentioned Mark Twain’s Boyhood Home & Museum in Hannibal. Being a big Twain fan, I thought it would be a shame to flee the state without a visit. So, one Saturday morning, when I was on the brink of going nuts without something new to do, I decided to take a day trip to check it out. Overplanning takes the fun out of a trip, so I barely looked at a map before leaving. I wasn’t really worried about getting lost or even ending up in the right place. But about an hour into the trip, my memory seemed a little fuzzy: Am I supposed to take Highway 19 North or East? Whatever.…

Poor old New Hampshire. The state is like the child that’s been shoved into the middle of the backseat between its older siblings, Maine and Vermont. New Hampshire is sandwiched between its two more frequented neighbors—Vermont to the west, where hip young New Yorkers head for leaf-peeping and Instagram selfies in quaint country towns; and Maine to the east, where intrepid travelers trip along the rugged coastline all the way up to Acadia National Park. If I challenged you to name three popular towns in New Hampshire, what would the two that are not Portsmouth be? Honestly, I didn’t know before I visited. I’ve spent countless vacations in the Green Mountains of Vermont and exploring the shredded coast of Maine, but New Hampshire has always been a pass-through state. Oh,…

Why boondock? Because you want to be out in the wild areas, just you and your companions, with just the natural world surrounding you. Because you have a strong sense of adventure and you’re fine not knowing for sure where you’ll find a place to set up. Because you dread the thought of another night in an RV park or a crowded and noisy campground. Because it’s free. Wait. What Exactly IS Boondocking? Boondocking typically means camping for free in your rig on public lands, far from civilization and typically in a wild and beautiful setting, without any of the amenities of a campground or RV park. I’ve been boondocking (also called dispersed camping) for more than 30 years all over the western United States, and it’s by far my…

Have you ever seen someone in a van and imagined what an easy lifestyle it would be? From the outside looking in, van life looks dreamy and romantic. Travelers seem to have the freedom of living on the road, waking up to perfect sunrises, ending the day with cotton-candy sunsets, and sleeping under the stars. But how easy is this lifestyle to live? Living in a small space comes with several challenges. A micro dwelling, such as a van, has a few more. Now add the fact that your home is also your main source of transportation, and you’ve just opened up a whole new can of worms. But with some planning, an open mind, organization, and a whole bucket of patience, van life can be very rewarding. When I…

When I first bought the Dolphin, I felt unstoppable. I knew that the next level of vertical access was right around the corner. A vintage RV seemed like the perfect way to connect to the mountains and the climbing community; I predicted a future filled with adventures, led from my wonderful mobile base camp. The thing is, all my plans ended in failure. I had pinned my hopes on a great-looking vehicle with the expectation of building it up to be worthy of living in year-round. In the end, I got so lost in the process of trying to make the perfect rig that I never actually got around to taking it out on the road. Years later, I took a three-month trip in an Astro van with a spartan…

I’d just started eating vegan when my partner and I began a six-week campervan road trip around Australia. Panic! What was I going to eat while out on the road? How hard would it be to find plant-based options? And would I be able to keep it up? Seriously, what was I going to eat? I decided that the best way forward was to try to keep it simple. We planned to carry plenty of pantry staples, like rice and tinned beans, and to keep our eye peeled for fresh local produce in the areas we were passing through, like mouthwatering mangoes and juicy, ripe tomatoes. Learning on the Fly As we racked up the miles beneath our tires, I was surprised at how easy it was to eat vegan…

Staring at the dirt road through a blur of tears, I refused to let go of my husband. “I thought you were dead!” I sobbed. Matthew had been riding his bike alone, and, as he recounted to me, took a wrong turn into a national forest speckled with signs urging people to stay out. After taking another turn in his attempt to escape, he had somehow wound up deeper inside the dry bowels of the same forest. Meanwhile, I was waiting for Matthew at our designated meeting spot. When he didn’t show up after three hours, I started getting scared. In the area, dead trees from a prior fire were precariously leaning over and collapsing without a second’s notice. Bobcats had also been witnessed roaming the area. So, I started…

Ask someone what their idea of a “scenic Gulf Coast” road trip might involve, and it’s likely that they’ll mention the famously white sand of Florida’s beaches and the raucous good times of New Orleans. But in between the two is the Mississippi Gulf Coast—62 miles of coastline (including 26 miles of beache that is reportedly the longest man-made beach in the world), along with a gaggle of colorful small towns. The bigger towns along the Gulf are linked by the I-10, making for an easy road trip. But the area is primarily rural, and for those who want to escape interstate traffic, peace and quiet are never much more than an exit away. Moss Point Arguably the most picturesque town along Mississippi’s coast, Moss Point is a graceful old…