Days not Homeless: 5 Years, 182 Days ...and loving every second of this alpine adventure!
I spent a lot of time researching which peak I wanted to summit in the greater Yellowstone area. There were two at the top of my list, both of them the highest peaks in their states; Granite Peak in Montana and Gannett Peak in Wyoming. The shortest trail leading to...
With a free weekend and a little apprehension, Andrea and I found ourselves in the Apgar backcountry office deciding on a permit to allow us to camp for two nights in Glacier National Park. We had a few ideas based on some online research, but we had no idea if we...
I spent a week in Yellowstone for photography at the beginning of May so now it was time to return with Andrea. We reserved three nights at the Canyon campground located close to hikes, lodges, showers, and lots of wildlife. We added two additional nights after...
With a mere twenty days separating our return from Lima, Peru to our departure around the west of the United States, it seemed like we had to be firing on all cylinders to ensure everything was ready. Going Broke, our 2008 Nissan Pathfinder, was purchased through a...
Seeming like an extension of Arizona and the Grand Canyon we drove Going Broke diagonally northeast across Utah, starting in the very livable city of St George (with fond memories of a brutal Ironman here back in 2009), followed by Zion, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands,...
High on Andrea’s bucket list, the week we spent in the Grand Canyon area was a mixture of tourist chaos and solitude, totally dependent on whether we were located at the top of the canyon rim or in the depths of the canyon floor. The highlight definitely being our 3...
Due to not being equipped to go beyond the Camp Muir hut on Rainier I made it a priority to stand on top of Mt Whitney in California’s Sierra Nevada range, the largest mountain in the lower 48 states. Requiring a wilderness permit for both the day hike and the...
Would the hordes of other tourists spoil our party or would this turn out to be one of America's best National Parks? The latter ran true with Yosemite taking us on an adventure that ensured we will return to experience a second chapter. From forest fires to a bone...
Beginning in Astoria on the northern coast of Oregon and ending in Morro Bay, 230 miles south of San Francisco, we were filled with visions of dramatic coastlines and cute little seaside towns so we loaded up 'Going Broke' and headed south. This was not going to be a...
This was my second visit and Andrea’s first to this amazing National Park a few hours south of Seattle. We both agreed this is our favorite US national park, at least during this time of year, with meadows full of bright and colorful wild flowers, perfectly flat...
We have now driven over 10,000 miles since starting our US road trip in Morehead, KY on May 24th. Our return journey from Alaska back to Canada and the lower 48 could be completed a few different ways, either by more driving or utilizing the Inside Passage ferry...
What could be more fun than a thousand mile round trip from Fairbanks, across the Arctic Circle, over the Brooks mountain range, through 200 miles of North Slope tundra, and up into the industrial town of Deadhorse, gateway to the Prudhoe Bay oilfields. Again, not...
I had two nature encounters I didn’t want Andrea and I to miss out on whilst in the northern hemisphere, watching brown bears feasting on salmon as they migrate back into fresh water to spawn, and experiencing polar bears in their natural habitat. The first became...
Beginning at mile 0 in Dawson Creek, British Columbia and ending in Delta Junction, Alaska at historical mile 1422, this amazing road trip through British Columbia, Yukon Territories and into the mining heart of Alaska took us six days to complete. We detoured onto...
After a brief one night stay in Victor, Idaho we made it to another new state for both of us. Our goal was Glacier National Park, before crossing over the border into Alberta, Canada. Not sure Andrea was looking forward to Glacier too much after scaring herself stupid...
Continuing on our westerly heading through the Black Hills towards Wyoming, our first stop was Devil's Tower NM, not far over the state line and only a minor detour from I-90. We weren’t planning on visiting National Monuments on this trip, but this one was so close...
Not somewhere either of us had really thought about visiting but whilst planning our route it became apparent that we would pass through the southern part of the two Dakotas en route to Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park. Outside magazine ran an article on the...
Well, we’ve been away for almost a year and I have a few thoughts to share about my life on the road after being in the States a week ago. 1. Clean Panties! I carry seven panties and three bras with me. Wayne and I “officially” do laundry about every three weeks. That...
Wayne and I did a test run of our backpacks for Central America. Nice and Light! Mine is only 24lbs! We've spent a lot of time reading other blogs to figure out the best stuff to take. Luckily, we're coming back to the states after Central America so we'll have a...
What an awesome day! Wayne kicked ass at the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike race on August 11th. He finished in 8:49 and earned his BIG BUCKLE! I'm so proud of him - he trained really hard for this :)Elation after 8 hrs and 48 mins in the saddleReceiving my BIG buckle...
With the forecast calling for rain to fall for multiple days on Chamonix yet again it was time to search out another European city. Having recently got back from Nimes in the south of France it was the turn of Italy. We toyed with a return to Venice, then thought that...
Whilst Mont Blanc comes in at the highest mountain in western Europe its normal "Goûter" route is one of the easiest in the Alps. The 4810m snow covered summit looms over Chamonix, the lower glaciers of Bossons and Taconnaz winding their way down from the upper...
We knew that to escape the rainy Alps we would have to head south, the reasoning behind Nimes coming during our recent EuroVelo 17 cycle ride. On that occasion it was Avignon and Arles that got the attention, our route missing Nimes by a day - we felt that we had...
Would this be the start of bigger things or maybe just put us off long distance cycle touring? Fortunately for me this wasn't the first time spending back to back days in the saddle, whilst Andrea on the other hand was going to find out what is was all about! The...
To date we had yet to visit any of the Italian Lakes, the reason being... well we had no excuses! We were living barely on the French side of the Mt Blanc tunnel and Como was a short 3 hours by car - as I said, no excuses, we were just waiting for the right time....
The thought of being let loose on our own with fancy tech bindings and mohair skins, barely two weeks of skiing under our belts, was slightly intimidating to say the least! Shutdown had come far too early in the middle of March 2020, seemingly far too quickly followed...
Yes, we had views to die for, great winter conditions, amazing summer hiking, a bigger apartment, our own car; all suddenly becoming a bit less significant now that we had discovered the infamous French bureaucracy.... and taxes! We had arrived in France eight and a...
Seeing the ultra runners with their minimalist vests and lightweight trekking poles on Corsica's GR20 earlier this year set the seed. Whilst we hauled 20kg backpacks over the rugged terrain these guys passed us with ease, skipping through multiple stages en route to...
France had just removed its 100km travel limitation, Italy was about to open borders with its neighbors; still we were left with few options for a much needed vacation. We had been hiking like crazy in the Chamonix valley and needed something worthy of our fitness...
Every time we drove or cycled out of town, passing Les Houches en route to Servoz or Passy, we would see this huge chunk of rock dominating the view off to our right. Turns out this is known as the Fiz massif. A little investigation also told us that there's a decent...
Every once in a while we get the feeling that this is the place, the place where we'd like to discover more, experience new adventures, and spend a longer period of time. This time it was the picturesque Chamonix Valley. Whilst we had visited a few times before, once...
Less than fours hours after taking off from Auckland International airport we were touching down on the tiny island nation of Niue, a mere blip in the South Pacific. With access only by air from New Zealand or sailing boat, the Rock as it's locally called, is far less...
Reading 'Love with a Chance of Drowning' could well have set the seed for a different kind of adventure, one based in the high seas instead of high in the mountains. Would sailing the Pacific be in our veins, could we spend three plus weeks on the open ocean without...
The thought was.. Well we've been to the Italian Riviera recently so why not spend a few days in between Morocco and Chamonix mixing with film stars and race car drivers in the French Riviera. Also known as the Côte d'Azur this Mediterranean coastline is famous for...
Would the Sahara be any different from Wadi Rum in Jordan's Arabian Desert or the Namib Desert town of Sossusvlei in Namibia? With Andrea's five day Christmas break we had enough days to find out, the only issue being whether we head to Erg Chebbi on the main tourist...
Still recovering from a frostbitten toe and finger the probability of us actually making it to the top of North Africa was looking slim, made worse by the fact that from Marrakesh the Atlas Mountains looked totally white. This wasn't the sign I was looking for in the...
Prior to arriving in Morocco a month sounded like plenty of time, a time that was unfortunately already cut in half. Being alone for the first two weeks I only got to spend time in the populated Marrakesh and Fes areas so when Andrea arrived it was time to spread our...
Whilst Marrakesh is known for its massive influx of tourists the city of Fes would turn out to be far lower key, a good thing as spending the past four nights in the blue city of Chefchaouen was all about narrow streets full of Asians and their selfie sticks! No need...
Even being stuck in Chacos sandals with only 9 1/2 toes wasn't enough of a deterrent in tagging three more pathetically easy highpoints! Although heading out of south Florida towards Kentucky was the right direction they all still required significant detours; a waste...
Home to 2000 year old trees, Middle Eastern food, Muslims, Christians and Hezbollah Lebanon would turn out to wow us in many ways. Unlike a few years ago when we were in Jordan looking at relatively expensive flights to Lebanon this occasion looked more likely. Rome...
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