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 [...]
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 [...]
Our time in Tucson finally came to an end this past weekend. We arrived in Tucson last November with plans to stay a month. Our stay doubled in length twice, first to two months and then to four. It was really such an easy decision to keep extending our time; the winters are mild, we [...]
Tucson has no shortage of galleries or artists, perhaps it is the quality of light out here. Recently I made time to visit a couple of the art galleries in town that I have always wanted to see. My first stop was at the Diana Madaras Gallery at Skyline Drive and Campbell Avenue. I am [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
It was a beautiful sunny morning as we drove south through the Santa Cruz Valley towards Tumacacori National Historic Park, just about twenty miles north of Nogales on the Mexican border. This scenic valley has a long history of human occupation; the earliest evidence stretches back into the last Ice Age over 12,000 years ago, [...]
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 [...]
We are happy to introduce another new feature here on “fautrever”:/. Locations, as we titled it, deals with the practical side of our travels. If you happen to be heading to one of the great places we’ve visited, click on the Locations link and check out where we ate, where we stayed and what places [...]
We have had the opportunity to explore downtown Tucson on several different occasions recently. The downtown area is roughly broken into two main sections, the Presidio District north of Broadway Boulevard and the Barrio District to the south. We toured the Presidio District first and since it is the oldest part of town (not including [...]
Erin at Monahans Sandhills[mp4 6.4MB, 1 min 1 sec] (Alternative: view on YouTube)
This video shows Erin walking around in her element: outside taking pictures. I tried to be quiet so you could hear the silence; but the resulting audio just sounds like wind noise… oh well. I took this out during one of our evening [...]
These two videos go with our Horsin’ Around in Kentucky post. Both clips are from the Kentucky Horse Park’s “Parade of Breeds” where visitors can watch and learn about a wide variety of horse breeds from around the world.
They typically have two different shows daily—we went to both and were excited to watch and learn. [...]
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 [...]
The name Tucson comes from a Spanish interpretation of a Tohono O’odham phrase meaning “at the base of the black hill.” An appropriate, descriptive name since the earliest inhabitants did live near the base of a small hill made of dark basalt, a volcanic rock. For us it means home. I have lived here since [...]
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 [...]
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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