The Long Ride Home

Hello friends and family! This is a bit overdue, but I thought I should write a final update about the tail end of my American sojourn. I had a few weeks in the magical corridor of eastern Utah that runs between Monument Valley and Moab. You’d recognize Monument Valley from Forrest Gump – if you […]

Motoring Through the Mormon Belt

Hello friends and family, It’s sad to say, but signs of spring mean I’m nearing the end of my great American adventure. After spending my 6 months in the US, I have to leave the country by the end of March unless I want to end up in some ICE deportation-cage, eating cold beans and […]

Springtime in Desert Solitude

Greetings friends and family, This edition of the newsletter is all California, all desert. I’ve been reading the foundational desert rat text Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey, who says everything I want to say about the desert but with more beauty and grace, so I recommend everyone abandon this email and check that book out from the […]

Everything’s Sadder in Texas

Hello friends and family! I’m currently in a hotel room, waiting out the winter storm that has closed portions of I-40 along northern Arizona. After driving a few hours through white-out conditions, fretting over my own mortality, I’m enjoying my version of heaven: shitty cable TV, a vending machine dinner, and a six-pack of domestic […]

Wonder and Wastelands in the Southwest

Greetings, friends and family! A few days ago, I celebrated my six month “vanniversary” of living in this behemoth bunkie on wheels. I’ve been reflecting on what I’ve accomplished in the last six months, and have come to the conclusion that while I may not have a job, per se, I have picked up a vocation on […]

Adventuring in Arizona

Greetings friends and family! As I write this, I’m camped in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico, with a hot spring about 10 metres away from my door. Not a bad deal for eight dollars. My last newsletter was a bit of a doozy, and I want to say thank you to everyone who reached […]

Alone in the Desert

Hello friends and family! Greetings from Arizona, where it’s 35 degrees and the sun is so oppressive I have to hide inside the van every day between the hours of 10 and 5. Everything is normal here, in a “first act of a horror movie” way, because everyone acts as if Covid weren’t happening. I walked around […]

California Calling

Hello friends and family! I hope you all had a safe and satisfactory election day. As I write this, we’re still waiting on final results. It’s exhausting, this American process. I am so grateful for Canadian elections, which seem so simple and efficient in comparison! I think I last left off when we were heading […]

More Than Potatoes

Hello friends and family! We’re just leaving Idaho, where the license plate tagline is “Beautiful Potatoes”. I was initially sort of worried about that. I mean, you can eat potatoes anywhere. Just ask Prince Edward Islanders – there’s a limit to how much tourists care about the world’s largest potato chip. However, we’ve spent the […]

Geese Flying South

Hello family and friends! When I last wrote, we were leaving Vancouver Island after a long run of bad weather and smoke. Thankfully the smoke has cleared, and we’ve actually had a string of beautiful sunny days. We even went swimming a few days ago! But I think that was our last swim in Canada. […]