It was late Saturday evening and knowing that we had some miles to cover to reach the Sonoma Valley by Sunday we chose the straightest and largest road, I-5. Our thinking was that it would make the trip more direct and faster. Boy, were we wrong; I-5 was wretched! The roadway was full of potholes [...]
It was a cool, gray morning when we left the Santa Maria Valley and headed for another girl-named valley, Santa Ynez. The valley, river, and nearby mountains all get their name from Mission Santa Ines (Spanish for Saint Agnes). The teen-aged, virgin Agnes earned her spot among the saints when she chose death over renouncing [...]
Our journey to the Central Coast of California went quite smoothly. We left the San Diego area rather late at night so that we would drive through El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles Del Río de Porciúncula (Los Angeles) when traffic was light. Or as one friend put it—it would just [...]
When we left off last time we were in search of refreshments after a long day of walking around the San Diego Wild Animal Park. That’s one of the nice things about having friends who live in the area, they know where all the cool stuff is. Brendan led us to Stone Brewery in Escondido [...]
I must preface my story about the San Diego Wild Animal Park by asserting that they could have easily named it the San Diego Wild Africa Park since the majority of the park’s 400 plus species of animals are from the huge continent. In fact the location for the park in the San Pasqual Valley [...]
While much of the country is still buried under blankets of snow or drenched by rain we are enjoying Spring here in Tucson. Located near the heart of the Sonoran Desert, Tucson is experiencing a spectacular wildflower year. We were fortunate this year as the winter rainy season was actually a wet one. The multiple [...]
I would be remiss to focus so much on Tucson without discussing the city’s long aviation history. Sixteen years after the Wright brothers successfully achieved lighter-than-air flight in 1903, land was set aside in Tucson for the creation of a civil airfield. The Tucson field was the first municipally-owned airfield in the country; it really [...]
Occasionally circumstances bring together people from opposite walks of life who join forces and create a masterpiece. Such was the case when Arthur Newton Pack met William H. Carr in 1951.
But first some background. William H. Carr was born in New York in 1902. His was a modest family headed by his father who [...]The month of February is a fantastic time to visit Tucson. Not only does Tucson have amazing warm and sunny winter weather (most of the time), but there is so much going on that there is literally something for everyone; Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, Fiesta de los Vaqueros, Accenture Match Play Championship, Kona 24 [...]
Neither of us have been participating in many of the activities organized here at the Wrinkle Ranch but last week when I learned the hiking group was tackling Brown Canyon I jumped at the chance. The canyon is a part of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge (BANWR) that is only accessible by taking a [...]
We set off a bit later in the day than we had hoped, sometimes life just gets in the way. It was a chilly but sunny morning as we hit I-10 heading east. We thought we were dressed appropriately in jeans and long-sleeved shirts but soon we would be dreaming of shorts. In Benson we [...]
As we were driving to visit an area of the Santa Cruz River, Lance and I had to laugh. Just two short years ago we would have never entertained the idea of driving somewhere just to see a bunch of birds. In my family birders were affectionately called “Bird Brains.” Funny how life changes.
Of course, [...]
As I mentioned previously, I grew up in the Tucson area. The city lies in the Sonoran Desert which covers parts of Arizona, California and the state of Sonora in Mexico. The Sonoran Desert is the largest and hottest desert in North America and yet it is also the wettest desert—receiving anywhere from 3” to [...]
Our time in New Hampshire was spent in the north country, “North of the Notches” as they say. We settled into an RV park just outside of Gorham. Gorham is a small crossroads town; two highways meet here, the train trundles through several times a day, the Appalachian Trail meanders near town and the wide [...]
Our time on Mount Desert Island was wonderful; we enjoyed lots of outside time. Here are two videos of our adventures there, including a whale watch boat trip and a sea kayaking trip.
Of note in both clips is the calm sea—we were lucky to have two very nice days out on the water. It had [...]
For our time on Mount Desert Island (MDI) we opted to stay on the “Quietside.” Meaning that we were on the opposite side of the island from the ultra-touristy town of Bar Harbor. Our RV park was tucked in the hills above the small fishing village of Southwest Harbor. When I say hills I am [...]
This story starts by backtracking briefly to Port Isabel. I neglected to mention in our last post that Lance and I ran cross a noisy group of Great Kiskadees there. We were riding our bikes around town and heard this raucous chatter.
Since Port Isabel is so close to the Mexican border and is rather [...]
In our pursuit of Whooping Cranes we used a two pronged approach: touring the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge by land and by sea. The land tour was first. The Refuge was about 30 miles from Goose Island State Park where we’d been camping. It was a gray, drizzly day but the drive was rather scenic, [...]
During our stay on Galveston Island our friends, Karen and Rich, took us over to Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. We’d never even heard of it before but when they mentioned alligators we jumped at the chance to go. Besides, after our recent trip in November to Bosque del Apache NWR our interest in the Refuges [...]
Even though it had been raining off and on all morning we were not deterred, we were going to Mesa Verde National Park and we were excited about it! Mesa Verde was the first cultural park in the National Park system. It was established on June 29, 1906 by President Teddy Roosevelt to protect the [...]
On our “weekend”, which happened to be Friday and Saturday, we toured Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park. The first day we devoted to Arches NP. Arches began as a National Monument in 1929 and was rearranged, enlarged, then shrunk before becoming a National Park in 1970. The Park’s [...]
We were so excited to get to Antelope Island State Park that we checked out early and left Ogden, driving south on I-15. It was a short drive and we were soon on the seven mile causeway crossing the Great Salt Lake.
For almost a decade the causeway was submerged because of record high water [...]
Saturday morning we tumbled out of bed, ate some breakfast, grabbed our jackets and camera and headed down to the dock at Clarkston to meet our boat. We had signed up for a jetboat excursion with Beamers Hells Canyon Tours. We were enticed by the description; travel over 100 miles upriver into Hells Canyon National [...]
We arrived in Berkeley late Saturday night. Our friend Tim had given us directions to a parking lot near the harbor where we could park and sleep. The kitties really enjoyed the fishy smells of the Berkeley Marina during their evening walk. In the morning we walked over to OCSC, the sailing school where Tim [...]
fautrever.com chronicles the Travel Adventures of Lance and Erin Willett. We are traveling across North America in a 34’ RV—living and working from the road. Contact us or read more about us.
Where are we now? Klamath Falls, OR 97601. 
1) RSS feed for blog entries.
2) If you would like an email when we post new entries, enter your email address below.