Cross Country Color Run - Adventure Driven Design.

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Fall of 2016

After a summer of being baked in the Phoenix sun, I took off fo a 3 week stay in Berkeley, living on a sail boat. Then spent another two weeks in phoenix living on the surface of the sun, but I quickly followed that up by two weeks on the road from Arizona to Michigan, up around Lake Michigan to see fall colors, then back across the country to the southwest in my old turbo diesel van. Here's how it went:

The trip started as a run up to Berkeley, originally there was no intention to take the van cross country at this point. I loaded my 95 E350 Powerstroke we called Ron Burgundry with everything I needed for the CA trip...

Red Mountain.
Starting on the east side of the phoenix valley, the summer had been hot and dry, I was ready for a break from the heat, forest fires near the Mongollon Rim and up the coast through Big Sur had me worried the route might be full of disaster. It turned out to be quite nice.

Within a short drive the first day I made camp near a Forest Road north of Payson. The air was already cool and refreshing.

Coconino National Forest
The beginning of the trip went by fast, I had loaded up on a bunch of episode of Everything is Stories podcast, lots of interesting characters and stories from the last 50+ years, oddly enough a number of them from Arizona.

After breaking camp the first morning very early in the high pines, I rolled straight through across 40 to the coast. I found some dispersed camping for a comfortable nights sleep and morning brought cool heavy fog over Cambria CA and into the hills where I was resting. I could smell smoke from the fires north once I got up to the coast.

I stopped for a while and walked down to the beach, wandered alone in the early morning fog. Some joggers made their way down the boardwalk and a few lonely cars passed by.



Cambria California

By mid day I was half way from Cambria to Berkeley, so I stopped and had lunch on the coast, just off of the PCH in my folding rocking chair. At this time, due to closures of Big Sur and many other parks being closed in the area from the coastal forest fires traffic was very minimal, there wasnt much for tourists, aside from myself and some other brave, stupid or ill planned people.




PCH
By sun down I was parked in the Berkeley MarinaI got settled into my life in the bay pretty quick...

Part two will cover my time in the bay...

 

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Phoenix hot? Say it ain't so.

 

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Berkeley brought a lot of beauty and splendor compared to the barren desert I had been holding out in for the summer. For the three week stay I would be living aboard an old sailboat by myself. Eventually at the third week my girlfriend flew out to stay with me. I spent my alone time going to cafe's and drinking coffee, walking quietly down the tree covered streets, something I always miss from the midwest. I got to know many people in the bay area during my stay, it was a familiar yet foreign environment.








My birthday was coming up. I kept sending photos of my day to day to my girlfriend and we started coming up with a plan to fly her out so we could travel back together. With the PCH being quite empty it seemed like a good idea.


After getting her a plane ticket, I left immediately for Monterey, car-week was going on and there was an invitation to see the aquarium. Quite a remarkable place.




Later that same day I returned to the bay.

 

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When I got back to the bay I was given a bike, I love to bike, so that's a fine birthday present to me. it would come in handy in the days to follow...


My girlfriend arrived shortly after my new bike, we headed up Grizzly Peak to go hiking. This overlook became one of my favorite perspectives of San Francisco. Something about the view, you see the city, all of it's activity and chaos, but you're not a part of the drama, you're just on a hill, looking at it from a distance.


On my birthday we went into downtown, into the mayhem and beauty of San Francisco, all to do some biking at the Golden Gate park and visit a gallery opening featuring a favorite artist of ours, Audrey Kawasaki.





From there we made our way back to the Berkeley side and rode the marina.


I had mostly been helping friends work while visiting, there's no shortage of work to be done in a bustling city, after a couple days of R&R we finally hit the road down the coast together.

 

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During out time of R&R a call from home said that my Grandmother fell and needed a blood transfusion to get back up to par. The family said she was fine, but I was worried. With my girlfriend already flying home for work related things, I decided to drive back and meet her, see my family and then drive back home with her. So we headed on our way out of town, the scenic route was the choice, on our way to the pacific coast highway again, we stopped at the Devil's slide bunker. This building is really interesting without much going on these days, some random graphiti coverage and some signs nearby, passerby's stopped to inspect the area, then take off shortly after.



I noticed some guy trying to get a shot of the bunker.


After cruising south for most of the afternoon we stopped and watched the sunset. A privately run campsite near the mostly empty Big Sur area was our spot to settle in for the night.


The next morning we cruised down the coast, that day, now three weeks after my previous drive up the coast, the smoke had cleared out and visibility was good.


By late afternoon we were back in Cambria on a walk to the shore, their boardwalk and beachfront area and nearby downtown are very nice and calm areas to kick back.

 

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With my girlfriend along the drive got a lot smoother, being able to switch out makes driving for longer a lot easier. In a short couple of days we were back in the valley of the sun and she flew out to michigan to visit family while I went wheeling with my friend Adam.





Knowing I had two weeks before I left for Michigan, I set to work on the van we called "Ron Burgundy" after a color change the name didnt seem fitting anymore, so in honor of the 7.3 turbo diesel engine and the fact it has no windows, I started calling it the "Rattle Can" - Now better equipped for life on the road I set out to Flagstaff for some camping in Lockett meadow, situated in an aspen grove near the San Francisco Peaks, it was a perfect chance to camp with my friends on my way out of town, Eric brought his Ram truck and Adam brought his Gen 3 Montero, in the morning we hiked through the aspen groves before I hit the road towards Colorado...



Colorado in the early fall, probably the last time of the year I would want to be there before spring, camping along forest roads was simple, but cold. The van did a great job of keeping me warm. The colors were in full effect and I was making good time until I forgot my debit card at a store. I had to drive two hours back to get it, thankful they even had it, my poor planning resulted in no where set aside to sleep after getting to denver, being behind schedule and knowing I had made the endevour before, I ratcheted the diesel up to cruising speed and set my eye on Michigan.



By 2am I was in one of my favorite small towns in the midwest, South Bend Indiana, sitting on the border of michigan, I found rest at a friends house that my girlfriend was staying at. The next day we saw the bend by bike, one of our favorite pastimes in the area, they have over 40 miles of paved bike paths that meander through the city. I hauled our bikes from Arizona just so we could ride it.



This stay marked the point that I realized I might lose my Grandma soon, she held strong until 2018, but eventually she grew tired and couldnt keep pushing. During this stay my brother also totalled his jeep and the reminder that I'm often far from family had some sting to it for once. We started making plans to find a small summer home or property in Michigan. So we spent time with family, then hit the road to meander up the coast, see the lush lake side of western michigan and then cruise through the thick forest of the upper peninsula

 

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The first leg of our trip took us up Michigan's west coast, an area we called home for a long time. Some of the places in northern michigan we had never been to, as recovering workaholics we would generally travel southwest whenever we got time off. Now we're trying to get back to our roots and catch up on some of the splendor we left behind.


The road to here was mostly warm, open windows for the early autumn days made for adequate cooling and not much was needed, the early mornings were getting cold and the batteries in the van had been in there since we moved to the southwest, so just before leaving family, we threw in two new batteries.



It wasn't long before the heater was put to work and the long sleeved shirts came out, the cool early autumn evenings would roll in briskly after warm sunny days of short sleeves and sweat on your brow...

The farther north we went the less people we saw and the more trees we found... this was a good sign, to us.


After crossing in to the upper peninsula we started making way on the forest roads. Our first night in the UP we set up camp next a small creek near Brevort Lake, it was quiet and cold, rain started sometime in the night and continued into the morning. The next morning was damp and cool, the van rattled to life and the warm exhaust puffed white from the tail pipe, a condensation I had not seen since the bay area. We let the heat clear the fog from the windows and made our way to a small country diner to have breakfast, the only other people in the place were an older couple that chatted with us, they advised us to travel as much as possible while we still can. On the wall was a plaque for the Edmond Fitzgerald so we listened to Gordon Lightfoot when we rattled west in search of waterfalls...


By that afternoon we had made a small water crossing with the van, (nothing eventful) and found ourselves at Bond falls, setting up camp for another night. The falls were stunning and due to the time of year, and misty weather, hardly anyone was there.

 

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Waking up near bond falls after another night of rain, we were feeling our fill of moisture. Leaving the desert I had thirsted for rain and gloomy days. After consecutive days of steady rains and nights of water drops falling from nearby trees and pelting the roof of the van, feeling sleep deprived like the crew from the Fitzgerald... we were quite ready to head south, the last couple of nights were pretty cold and somewhat restless, the rain beating down on the roof of the van wasnt helping. So... we hit up a favorite of ours in search of a unique place to relax and shower up. On the iowa river we found a creamery from the 1800's that was converted into a pretty rad house. Complete with a massive library we kicked back, took showers, drank tea and read books by the river. It was a great way to break up the days spent on the road.





The next morning we hit the road again, our intentions to spend some time in Colorado taking in the colors, we were a little early for the Michigan colors but Colorado was in full effect.
Just northeast of Denver we found a great place to camp and settled in next to a small lake with no one around for miles.



We made our way to indian hot springs west of denver and soaked our bones in the mineral broth, after a relaxing day and some good food it was time to set camp again, this time we headed to Jones pass, took in the waterfalls along clear creek and set camp high atop a hill. We didnt proceed through the pass, rather turned around and exited the way we came in, the van is only 2WD. At first light we hit a small diner in Empire before heading out towards Grand Junction, the million dollar highway was our plan for the day.

 

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Along the way we stopped for a short hike near the Colorado River, by lunch we were in grand junction. The following year, inspired by this trip we would return to bike here.


Not long after lunch the million dollar highway (550 south to Durango) was unfolding in front of us, the views are spectacular and the on and off rain was making for some very cool clouds and lighting.


The old turbo diesel climbed to 12,000 feet and the views became more spectacular, we were blown away and kept wanting to stop, our planned campsite was off lime creek road near the southern end of the drive. We managed to set camp just before sunset and took in the views.





The next morning on our way out the views didnt cease. This was our second to last morning waking up on the road, from here we stopped at a the Hermosa Creek Grill, fueled up for the road, our next stop was four-corners, after a brief walk around the four states we hopped back in the van and drove on to our last stop in Sedona. We camped early and had an early breakfast, then left really early. By lunch we had showered and napped.

This concluded a rather eventful cross country adventure and this post is in memory of my Grandmother Phyllis Daily. She wanted to travel the world but she raised six kids and took on a career in aviation manufacturing to support them. She passed on May 20, 2018, her last wish, to see the spring flowers.

Most of this trip was made possible by freecampsites.net