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 [...]
So, here we are living and traveling in our RV when gas in most states is well over $3 a gallon and the summer price hikes haven’t kicked in yet. Are we nuts? Nope, and neither are the other eight million RV owners. In fact RV sales spiked shortly after September 11th 2001 and even [...]
For our maiden voyage towing our car behind our new-to-us RV we opted to travel at night. Leaving Tucson for San Diego meant that we had to traverse the hot desert and over several mountain passes. Since Yuma was already in the 90s we left Tucson in the evening to avoid the heat. Another [...]
When we last left off it was moving day. While simple in concept we approached this move cautiously as it was our first time towing a car behind our RV. Carefully, we went step by step through the instructions, double checking ourselves and all the connections. The last thing we wanted was for the car [...]
Our return to southern Arizona began with a quick stop at my Grandma’s house near Portal. She lives in a beautiful part of the state and the weather was lovely for our overnight stay, warm with a slight breeze. We were also able to visit with my Aunt Paula and her boyfriend Harry. It was [...]
The weather continued to warm as we drove westward on I-20 from the Panhandle Plains into the Big Bend region of Texas. Even though it was late afternoon the temperature was well into the 80s, not that we were complaining. The higher numbers meant we were getting closer to the place we will always consider [...]
We had originally planned to take it easy on the way back to Tucson, Arizona; we usually only travel about 200 miles at a time. But the miles just rolled on by; Sunday evening we were outside of Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. Considering that we left Cave City, Kentucky (675 miles away) the night before, we [...]
It would be strange to be in Kentucky and not stop at Mammoth Cave National Park, after all it is the world’s largest cave system. Even though it has been mapped at over 350 miles long, all of the known cave fits well within the Park’s 53,000 surface acres. Through the ages, as slightly acidic [...]
We were in the Commonwealth of Kentucky for two reasons: one, it is due south of Ohio and two, we’d heard good things about the state. The “Bluegrass State” can technically be considered a part of the Midwest but most consider it part of the South. Helping to place it in the South is the [...]
Ohio has many claims to fame, but to me Ohio means family: my mom’s whole side of the family is from there. We visited family many times through the years and Ohio will always be the place where I had many adventures (and misadventures) with my extended family.
Hocking Hills State Park? Oh, that’s the place [...]
Though the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has many enticing reasons to stay and explore we only had time for a brief stop in the northern part of the state. Pennsylvania means “Penn’s Woods” and was named after William Penn who was given the land by the King of England. The tract granted to Penn in 1681 [...]
We were in the Buffalo area to visit one of Lance’s many homelands; he lived here with his family in the mid–1980s while his father was attending SUNY. Amazingly, many of the things Lance remembered have stayed the same: his old house, his school, the pond where he used to play. Of course a great [...]
We entered the Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York with no preset plan, we just figured we’d find something interesting in the area, and we did. The Finger Lakes themselves consist of either seven or eleven (depending on who you ask) long river valleys that were dammed by glacial moraines at the end of [...]
Our first stop in New York wasn’t far from where we crossed Lake Champlain: Fort Ticonderoga. The strategically located fort stands on a peninsula that juts out into Lake Champlain. The lake was once an important part of a network of waterways; it is near Lake George on one end and connects to the St. [...]
Driving from New Hampshire into Vermont we noticed two things immediately. One, there are no billboards along the highway (a state law). Not that New Hampshire is littered with them but their absence was wonderful; it made the drive more scenic and less hectic (I feel obligated to read all the billboards along the way, [...]
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 [...]
As Garrison Keillor says, “It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegone”. Technically, we were in western Maine but you know what I mean. It was good to have a mellow week as we needed time to catch up on work and plan out our itinerary. Our goal for so long had been to visit [...]
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 [...]
We entered Maine with a sigh of relief. The difference was tangible: we could see and feel the wide open space, the road widened and straightened. The hills covered in pine trees rolled along with us. After the past couple months in the more crowded states of New England it was a welcome relief to [...]
Time flies—we had been in Rhode Island for over a month! Speaking of flying, we took a quick trip back to Tucson at the end of June. Our trip served multiple purposes, we visited with friends and family, we helped Joel and Adria unload their moving truck, and we met with clients (besides, we [...]
Some of you may already realize this, especially those patient souls out there who have been following along on our blog since last July—it has been one full year since we set off on our RV adventure. It was late evening on the 9th of July that we said goodbye to loved ones in Tucson [...]
Life is full of surprises. A few weeks ago we left Rhode Island and drove off in our RV, headed for Orange, Massachusetts. We left a day early so that we wouldn’t be too rushed. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, with just a touch of humidity in the air. As soon as we entered [...]
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. 
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