Cross Country

After *almost* either selling The Buffalo or getting scammed and losing The Buffalo (we really weren’t sure if the guy was trying to scam us or really was a scammer), we winterize her, pack up The Tig and the trailer, say goodbye to our friends, and hit the road. We’ll hopefully sell the truck and Buffalo this spring, once the […]

On The Verge

(or, “On The Edge”, but then Stéphane would wail: “of glory!” à la Lady GaGa so we’ll leave Verge in there and move along).   It’s definitely taken longer than we had initially anticipated, but the extra months of searching and waiting have allowed us the time we needed to shift our priorities; re-organize what we thought we wanted our lives to […]

Here’s To Tom & Melisa

Our very-best-good friends, Tom and Melisa, got married this past August at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. If you know Tom and Melisa, then you know that this ten day hike up to the highest point in Africa epitomizes the life they enjoy together: multi-pitch crack climbs out in Indian Creek, whitewater kayaking class IV / V down in Costa Rica, climbing […]

Adventures Closer to Home

We finished our Great Northern Rockies Roadtrip with a spur-of-the-moment push south, back home to Colorado, to spend the weekend in Escalante climbing with Team Duck Tape.           We spend a solid 4.5 days in Montrose: Stephane chasing job possibilities, me working and setting up my portfolio in hopes of drumming up more contract gigs. Myra […]

Mission Accomplished

We’re going into the third and final week at the Laurel, Montana airport.       On this particular Thursday, Stéphane is taking check rides for fixed-wing commercial and ATP. So while he is flying around in planes and helis, I work and stare out the window, watching the comings and goings of the little airport community. Wherever we go, I always […]

The Beartooth Wilderness

After a week of training and flying @ Northern Sky Aviation (Stéphane) / working in the parking lot of NSA (me), we are both ready for and excited about  the prospect of an actual, real weekend! (When you don’t have a “regular” routine, you tend to forget what day it is and you lose appreciation for Fridays and weekends. Now that […]

Easy Button Camping

  We were only there two nights because we do not gravitate towards RV parks and/or such places where groups of campers gather together in confined spaces. That being said, if you’re going to spend some time in a more public venue, Ich-Kep-Pe park is one I would recommend. We discovered this park on freecampsites.net, a website created for and […]

We’re Fixing a Slide…

So there’s these things on RVs called “slides”- their purpose, to grant you more real estate when you’re camped and less when you’re driving. Some RVs have slides on both sides, some on just one side. Some RVs have one giant slide on one side, some have multiple, smaller slides.   Taking its name from its function, a slide does […]

A Coke for My Captain

Congratulations, Bug! After much prep and studying, Stéphane took and passed the written portion of the ATP!!   With that achieved and after nearly two weeks dragging The Buffalo places she really shouldn’t be, it’s time to put northwest Montana in the rear-view mirror and head east. Stéphane found a flight school where he can complete his CFI & ATP certifications […]

Exploring Montana

Glacier National Park

Having rained the night before, we awake to the first clear sky since leaving Montrose. Poking our heads outside The Great White Buffalo, we see that we are surrounded by forested mountains and that the lake, seen through hazy, gray smoke the evening before, is clear and blue. The smoke from the many forest fires plaguing the area has lifted for now! We […]

A Good Spot

At the end of the day, it’s really all about finding a spot for The Buffalo. The requirements for said spot are, surprisingly, many: a. Spot must be legit. As we learned in McCall, Idaho, you can’t just camp on a piece of land off the side of the road, even if there are no Private Property signs to be seen. […]

Through Smoke

As we tick off the miles north, I begin to wonder if we’ve chosen the worst time EVER to take a road trip to this area. The whole purpose of a road trip is to see the country out of your car window as you roll by; to appreciate the qualities and diversity of the land – the height of […]

Gone Road Trippin’

Inspired by Pastor Ross’s photos from Glacier National Park, we decided we should probably go see this amazing place. So we pack up and head out. Our route will be counter-clockwise, heading to see The Crazy Frazeys, Brent & Julie, in Lewiston, Idaho, then Jessica & Andrew in Coeur d’Alene. Up to check out Sandpoint, then over to Glacier.   […]

Mom Mail

One afternoon last week, a cheery gold and yellow box decorated with travel-themed stickers appeared on the stairs of the Great White Buffalo. The colorful package, pulsing happiness and begging to be opened, could be no other than Mom Mail. Over the years and addresses, mom’s upbeat, encouraging letters, nestled in sticker-laden envelopes, always found their way to wherever home was […]

Boat Delivery, by Land

I’m thinking we should start our own business: S&S: Boat Deliverers, Extraordinaire. Because for the second time in four months, we’re delivering a boat. Okay, so business isn’t exactly booming – maybe we’ll keep our day jobs (once we get them) – but it’s definitely a fun little side gig.   This delivery’s a little different from sailing Free Range to Antigua: no grumpy […]

Closing Time

You thought we’d closed the sailing chapter of our lives back in April when we sold Free Range, right?   Wrong.   As part of our arrangement with Free Range’s new owners, we are responsible for removing Free Range from the US Registry of Boats. See, her new owners are Canadian and in order to register Free Range as a Canadian boat, she must first […]

Earning It

It’s a joke amongst our group, Army of Darkness, that you have to “earn it”: earn your campfire hobo meal and drink of choice (glasses of wine / swigs of tequila) by pumping yourself out climbing that 5.11, grinding up a set of never-ending switchbacks on some gnarly trail, or engaging in some other activity that renders you exhausted, bloody or bruised […]

Road Test

Free Range taught us pretty quickly that sailing is really just fixing your boat in exotic locations. On our second day of camping, The Great White Buffalo decided it was important that we understand that that particular concept applies on land too. As we crouch under The GWB’s forward frame, wading through wiring and screws to get to a fuel […]

The Great White Buffalo

So we bought a fifth wheel. And a truck to pull it. Because who wants to live in a regular old house, anyways? Apparently not us.   We came to the decision after realizing that we probably aren’t going to be settling down anytime soon and that the next place – or places – we go may very well not […]