When pleasure touring turns to truck driving

On September 11, 2020 by Tom Nichols With 8 Comments - Blog, Our wanderings

Smoke from local fires and from California drifts into the Idaho forests.
Tom shelters under a tree at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve for a quick happy hour before wind and rain force him inside The Epic Van.
Rain on our window at Craters of the Moon.
High winds, with gusts around 90 mph, toppled a large pine onto a house in Evanston, Wyoming.
Another downed tree on the street in Evanston, Wyoming.
More downed branches around a rusted Cadillac.
Downed branches surround a vintage Pontiac Grand Prix at an abandoned motor court in Evanston, Wyoming.
Snow on a drive-by in Evanston, Wyoming. We don’t do snow!
The first fall dusting of snow in the hills south of Evanston, Wyoming on Wyoming 150. Keep heading south!
Fall colors in the Uinta Mountains in northern Utah are a sign it’s time to head back to the desert.

Hurricane-force winds and an Arctic blast in early September wiped out our Rocky Mountain hiking days during our basin-and-range trip, the longest in a COVID-shortened travel year.

Weather

Turns out The Epic Van is hedonic thwarting machine

On September 7, 2020 by Judy Nichols With 20 Comments - Blog, Our wanderings

Daybreak at our camp at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park in northern California.
Nighttime dominoes in Yellow Pine, Idaho.
Wildflowers and sky in Yellowstone National Park.
Hiking a trail in Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.
A bison outside our window in Grand Teton National Park.
Camping on the edge of the Pacific in Westport, California.
Sunset in the Florida Keys.
Sunset at our back-country campsite in Big Bend National Park.
Aspen on the trail in Great Basin National Park in Nevada.
Tom at an exhibit at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York.
A metal sculpture of a horse near Glacier National Park.
A view of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.
A blooming cactus at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
More cactus at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
Fog along the Pacific Coast.
Night drive to Parumph, Nevada.
Tom at our remote campsite near Mesquite, Nevada.
Hiking in Arches National Park in Utah.
Camping by the Colorado River near Arches National Park in Utah.
Sunset in Arches National Park in Utah.
The Bixby Creek Bridge on the Big Sur Coast in California.
Hiking at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.

There are some things you just know. In your gut. But it’s nice when science proves you right.

Like I know that I’ve been measurably happier in the six years since Tom and I quit our jobs, sold our house and started wandering the country in our fancy-ass camper van. When people ask, I tell them, without irony, that I love every minute. Every minute.

Now I know why. Scientifically. And it’s called thwarting hedonic adaptation.

New American Nomads

Minimal home, maximum life

Monthly Archives: September 2020

When pleasure touring turns to truck driving

Turns out The Epic Van is hedonic thwarting machine

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Past posts

Epic views: Shot of the day

A life well lived and greatly mourned

Canada: We love you

A wedding like a song

Art from the heart

A rainy day

A rough re-entry

Tom vies for sainthood as we pivot

Find a road less traveled, but start at the Rooster

Harbor hopping along the West Coast

Nothing better than a beach town