Life of a Gal Named Liv

We had two weeks with minimal meetings, no babysitting, and dreary skies forecasted- so we planned a trip down to the desert! We splurged and bought StarLink, which has worked great with our solar panel setup (borrowed from my Tiny Home build) and allows us to work remotely in the early AM & evenings. We strapped our bikes on top, stuffed all the gear we could in the car, & loaded the pets in for a long trek!

Day one of the trip was rough, with me feeling like garbage (projectile vomiting the day prior) and piñon waking us up at 2am (morning we are supposed to leave) with a bathroom emergency. My sweet Phin packed the car up & coaxed my sick body out of bed and we were out of Moscow around 6:30am. We drove through the snowy Idaho mountains, through a slushy SLC, and ended up at a campsite near Spanish Fork for the night. If you haven’t heard of it before, I use the IOverlander app to find free/ cheap campsites whenever we need a spot to crash for the night.

We went to sleep with 5” of snow surrounding us, & woke to 2” of fresh and current blizzard-ing. We slept fairly well for all 5 of us in one vehicle & didn’t wake until after 9am.

Then we drove south to Moab. We refreshed at the local park bathroom (that I frequented nearly every day when I was living in my van down there) found a water spigot for refills, and ate a picnic lunch before heading east to Fisher Towers area!

We lucked out & nobody was at the campground. Our site was insanely scenic & our evening 4 mile hike was a great way to start the trip!

Fisher towers has been one of my favorite spots since I climbed Ancient Art in 2017 with my friend Earl. It was my first multi pitch climb- a pretty big deal for learning to belay a couple weeks prior! It also happens to be the tattoo that wraps around my left wrist, from a sketch my old crew boss drew. I’m so glad Phin, and the crew got to experience this rad place.

After two fantastic nights under the starts of Fisher Towers, we headed south for Phoenix! We stopped at my favorite breakfast burrito place in Moab along the way- Gilberto’s. The drive down was slow & bumpy- which took a toll on Wilma’s (the Suburban) wheel bearing-but we eventually pulled into our campsite!

I didn’t have high expectations for this site, but it ended up being our favorite of the Arizona campgrounds! We stayed at the Ironwood loop of McDowell Mountian Regional park. It seems to be pretty new, with brand new flush toilets & showers (unusable-currently under construction). It was amongst 50 miles of mountain biking trails and had large, private tent sites.

Piñon nearly broke the Starlink internet, the weather was way too perfect (70s), and Goose kept getting poked by cactus- but Phin and I still got some remote work hours in (miraculously!) Our setup worked great since we had my full solar set up (from my tiny home), the Starlink, comfy camp chairs, roll-a-table, and a shade canopy!

We spent an evening mountain biking a lovely, hilly, relaxing trail through the saguaros. Phin’s chain snapped mid-ride, but being the fix-it kind of guy he is, he fixed it in just a few minutes.

The next day we headed towards Tucson, excited for showers and a real bed! Our airbnb was the cutest little casita. It was tucked up on a hill, facing the Tucson mountains. While we had planned on going out for New Years Eve… I was fast asleep by 8pm. Had some delicious Indian food from Sher-e-Punjab, watched It End with Us, and sunk into the luxurious white sheets (after I washed a week of grime off my body!).

I ordered breakfast burritos breakfast (new years day… gotta splurge!) & we were off to do some errands in town.

We rolled into our campsite at Gilbert Ray Campground, setup, worked, & went on an evening/ early night mountain bike ride- where we some some coatimundis at dusk- and then snuggled up into our tent.

A few hours into the night we were awoken by a pack of coyotes surrounding our campsite & a very scared Goose Dog. We got the gun & bear spray out (ready for the worst) and hustled the pets into the car.

Thankfully nobody was hurt, but the coyotes did pee on our tarp and take Goose’s food bowl (yes, we made the mistake of leaving a nice Ruffwear bowl outside)…

The next day the dogs and I went on a nice walk, Phin and I went to the Desert Museum, and we got some more remote work in!

The next morning we enjoyed sunrise & coffee before packing up.

We then headed to Catalina State Park, which was supposed to be the nicest camp site of the trip…but it turned out to be a literal parking spot in a big dusty lot, with no trees, and multiple generators running around us. We left, since relaxation and lounging were not looking to be options in that setting.

From there, we headed towards Death Valley (our final destination), crashing at a hotel in the middle of nowhere for the night. We were delighted by a huge spread for breakfast & went on our way to Vegas. We both had never been to Red Rocks before (although I had flown over it in a helicopter while firefighting) so we headed there for a quick hike.

We had a blast in the sunshine, and were shocked by the formations and their outstanding colors.

We camped that night at a free spot, found on IOverlander, amongst the sage.

The next morning, we realized our wheel bearing was getting really worn out, so we headed back into Vegas to get parts from Napa.

For a few hours we sat in a parking lot taking apart the front wheel, cranking on a bolt, and cussing at those darn Arizona highways. The last bolt (before we got to the part we were going to replace) was stripped and stuck on there… so after hours of work we had to give up and bite the bullet of heading home.

We were both quite exhausted and nervous (about the wheel flying off) on the way home. We made it to Twin Falls and crashed in an extremely mediocre hotel for the night. The next day we drove all the way home, only stopping for gas, and munching on triscuits & tangerines the whole drive home.

We are all happy to be home, even though it means cloudy cold days & back to work. It was a much- needed break & we can’t wait to be back in the SouthWest! Periwinkle really bonded with the dogs & had a blast being an “outdoor” cat for a couple weeks! The sunshine was so good for our souls… it’s crazy how much it helps!

Much love,

Liv