Day one and leaving Midway!

Midway to Glenwood Springs

Stayed at Glenwood Canyon Resort

Spa day at Yampa Spa and Denali played at High Tails

Stayed at a Harvest Host on the east side of Denver called Rafter W Ranch - a grassfed, organic ranch. We had the entire pasture to ourselves and sweeping vistas.Bought some t-bones and NY steaks on the way out. Denali is wiped out from the stressful drive down I-70.

What an awesome place to stay over! Shiloh Vineyard and Winery was our second Harvest Host. We parked in their pasture next to a big tree and a pond. Denali was so excited to run free and swim in the pond! We sat on the tasting room patio in the late afternoon sipping wine while Denali played with the farm dogs. At sunset we walked way out in the pasture until a family of donkeys started yelling at us.

The winery is in the center on the horizon.

Stopped at this little city park not far off I-70 to dump the RV and fill the water. So much nicer than a truck stop! There was a little train museum adjacent to it.

Arrived at the Firewater Festival! Denali has been an angel gypsy dog the whole way here.

First full day at Whiskey Myers’ Firewater. 49 Winchester stole the show today.

49 Winchester

Final day of the Firewater Festival.

At Jacomo Lake, Lees Summit, MO today.

Adventures with family in Missouri. We went for a short hike around Lake Jacomo this afternoon and came back to the Jeeps broken into - Steve’s TJ and Zach’s brand new Rubicon. But we ended the day well with dinner in downtown Lees Summit. We shared “the beast”!

We’re boondocked at Harvest Host White Mule Winery tonight after a bit of a late start getting out of Lees Summit and a slight runaway Jeep issue. 🫣

We’re staying at another seriously cool Harvest Hosts - Casey Jones Distillery in Kentucky. They have preserved the story of the moonshine industry through one family over generations, and even have some of the original stihls. And we’re supposed to experience the Angel’s Share in the morning… 😳

Whiskey dog

We started our day off with a breath of the angels share this morning.

We were supposed to camp in Great Smokey Mountains National Park tonight, but Google Maps redirected us on some wonky forest road coming in the back side rather than through Gatlinburg and we had to turn around. The road was just too steep and narrow with hairpin turns. We had to drop the Jeep so we could turn the motorhome around when we finally found a shoulder. Not fun. We decided we were done when we got back on the road and quickly booked an RV resort in Pigeon Forge. Little did we know the town is like Anaheim in Tennessee. It’s like carnival central everywhere! We’ll try another road into the Smokeys tomorrow.

Great Smokey Mountain National Park. No cell service out here but Starlink works most of the time.

We made it! Coming in through Gatlinburg was way better.

Shotgun

Another mishap… we should be long gone to Charlotte by now, but our slide got stuck this morning. Miraculously, we found a mobile RV tech in Pigeon Forge who agreed to rearrange his schedule and come up asap. They’re swapping out one of the slide motors with the spare one that Steve had the forsight to pack. Hopefully they can fix it. 🤞

The mobile techs got our slide in and we made it to Charlotte. But we can’t get it back out - motor still works but it’s bound up somehow. The techs worked on it for four hours yesterday and just couldn’t correct it. 😞 It’s pretty cramped camping without it!

Pit road

What a fun track! Charlotte is a roval today, and an elimination race in the playoffs.

Note to self, don’t use a pocket knife to operate the emergency override switch on a slide controller. Luckily, Camping World had a spare. The mobile RV guys were able to get everything properly repaired this morning

We think we’re fixed!! We went to Spartanburg, SC to meet up with some \240mobile RV techs who really know slides. They were amazing - they were ready to rip this massive slide out of necessary. Motor and controller replacement later and the slide went out no problem tonight. We’re now at a Harvest Hosts winery somewhere between Knoxville and Nashville. We arrived too late to partake of anything, but the owner came out in his overalls and welcomed us. We again have the pasture to ourselves and Denali is sooo happy!

Our Harvest Host for tonight. Long \240day but the slide works like new.

Arrived at our destination east of Nashville to maybe have to make a run for it!

We arrived at Percy Priest Lake yesterday. We’re at an RV patk next to a rather large marina. Wish we could see the entirety of this lake - it looks really pretty.

Rode bikes over to the marina for lunch on the water at Shipwrecks Cove.

Nashville

Friday night

Rooftop bars and honkeytonks on Broadway. Who knew Nashville had a street like this!

We had second row seats for Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at the Ryman Auditorium, possibly the most iconic music stage in the world.

We were introduced to Uncle Nearest whiskey and the story of Nathan “Nearest” Green during Covid when we were taking some virtual cocktail classes with BitterLabs. Nearest Green’s master distiller, Victoria Eady Butler, instructed two of the classes and shared the story of how the slave, Nearest Green, perfected the process of filtering whiskey through sugar maple charcoal before aging - a process that defines Tennessee whiskey. Victoria is Nearest’s great, great granddaughter and the first black female master distiller. She has resurrected the history and built an amazing business around it. It was a treat to see it in person.

The history and process for making the best bourbon.

Spent the night in Jasper TN with Tom Shenck and his wife Bonnie. Tom is a great friend I’ve known and worked with for 20 years. We parked the RV in their driveway and had dinner with them and brunch today.

We arrived in Manatee Springs late last night. This is one of the springs where they winter. The rangers said the hurricane seemed to mess up their patterns and they’ve only seen one so far.

Jeep troubles today. When does it end? Seems like it’s probably a bearing in the front wheel. We’re still new to four way flat towing and the TJ is a little touchy - the steering wheel can lock up if you don’t hold your tongue right when hooking up. We think it locked up on us while towing for a while and put too much stress on the wheel. Aaand among the items stolen in Missouri were Steve’s tire changing tools. 🤦‍♀️

Luckily we found a mechanic that could get it in today. Hopefully he finds the right part quickly.

We swam in the springs this afternoon and had a great three-something mile bike ride. The spring is super clear and about 75 degrees, so very refreshing. This is such a pretty park.

We got the Jeep back today - bearing is fixed! We rode our bikes up to the shop to pick it up because - get this - no Uber in this town. Eight mile ride and Denali trotted alongside the whole way. That was his longest ride yet.

DogShark

We arrived in Carrabelle Beach yesterday. This is part of Florida’s “forgotten coast”. And it does feel like the 60s. There is no development and the beach is empty.

We are at what might be the most high end RV resort of the trip in Orange Beach, AL. Our site sits on a lake and has a firepit, outdoor kitchen under a palapa, and patio furniture!

We had the most ridiculous southern brunch while Denali napped. Steve’s pancakes weren’t as photo-worthy, but they had bacon and pralines in them!!

Getting our NASCAR on at the Flora-Bama bar today.

Flora-Bama dedicated a TV for us so we could watch the race and munch on grilled oysters and crab claws. Nom nom.

We had the RV washed today.

Work day, but we still got some beach time in…

Gulf Shore \240park trail

We spent late afternoon biking through the trails and boardwalks of Gulf Shore State Park. It’s 27 miles of developed trails.

We canceled our stay on Dauphin Island to stay longer at Orange Beach, so we had to at least stop for lunch and some beach time.

N’Orleans! We’re right on the river in a site with an outdoor kitchen, firepit, and get this - private hot tub!

The Big Easy

Wandering the French Quarter.

Arrived this evening in Anahuac, Texas, on Trinity Bay.

Took the ferry from the Bolivar Peninsula to Galveston Island for lunch.

Made our way past Houston after lunch.

Denali’s first Ferry ride over to Galveston Island.

Stopped at Harvest Host Texas Wine Collective in Fredricksburg, Texas for the night. We were stunned at the volume of wineries in this area - probably a couple hundred. We were even more stunned at the quality of wine - this is a distribution house for three wineries, one of which is owned by the family who planted the first vines in Texas. Their current winemaker is so renowned that Italian wineries bring him over to consult on their Sangiovese and wines. We ended up joining the wine club.

Music history here! We were only seven miles away, so we had to stop. If you don’t know this place, you can read the story here. Long live Luckenbach!

This is definitely the armpit of the trip - Fort Stockton, Texas. First time we’ve had to stay in a barren, ugly RV resort. But at least we found a dog friendly steakhouse.

More RV issues… a couple nights ago the power blacked out on us just before bed. We were lucky to be at a Harvest Host with shore power that night, and managed to get a tech put the next day to look at it. We had three bad lithium batteries. We managed to get the manufacturer to ship replacements under warranty to a dealer in Las Cruces, where we arrived this afternoon to have them installed. They didn’t so the best wiring job, but so far it seems to have fixed the issue. And we found a little Italian joint next door for lunch while we waited.

We entered our last new state today - Arizona. And it’s cold here! WTH!?! At a KOA for the night ght that is surprisingly nice.

Arrived at the Phoenix Raceway!

Race weekend!

Very tired after a morning bike ride!

Leaving Mesquite this morning for home and hoping to catch the window before the next storm. It’s been an amazing six weeks and we’re a little sad it’s over. Steve is an incredible travel partner and Denali turned into the perfect gypsy dog. I hope we get to do another of these adventures soon!

We’re home! Thanks for following along.