15203 -> 59901

A photo that says a little and a lot.  Why are we entering Montana? How did we get a missile launching system on the roof rack? What could be so heavy in the back?  The answer is our lives.  And extra missiles.

This post is coming a little late considering the events contained, and even later considering the last post...

Picking up from the last post, we spent about 15 months back in the 'burgh living our lives.  We were going to work, cooking meals, and getting outside when we could.  We built upon old friendships and strengthened relationships with new relations.  We had a blast.

And then we heard tell of a new REI store currently under construction in Kalispell, Montana.  First off, taking part in the opening a new store with REI is a great opportunity to build connections and further one's career.  Secondly, if you read back to one of our Montana visit posts, you will see that Karl claims his favorite park is Glacier.  This new REI would be a stones throw away.  Could we swing it? 

After some phone interviews and nervous nights awaiting emails we heard the good news.  We had 4 weeks to pack up our lives, find housing, travel across the country before Stacy had to show up to work.  To make a long story short, we managed to do all of the above.

So we found ourselves driving across the country and decided to visit ANOTHER NATIONAL PARK.  This one was new, having upgraded status from a memorial.  It was a wonderful afternoon break from the hours of driving and we had some lovely views.

From Missouri, we headed N-NW into the plains.  Driving for hours on end and listening to crappy teen fiction (Divergent (tm) series).  A day or so later we managed to visit a friend in Casper WY.  Readers may remember him from our previous expeditions.  Fun and very strong beers were had, as well as some animal loving.

The following day we set off on our final stint of 700 some miles, and cranked the terrible audiobooks.  The day progressed uneventfully until about 1 hour outside of our new home.  The excitement of arriving was building and then BAM.  Bi.  Bambi ran out in front of Ele and we had our first deer-vehicle collision.  After three decades of living in the #1 state in the nation for deer-vehicle collisions, we hit one 2000 miles across the country.  The car was fine. The deer was fine. Stacy was not so fine.

We arrived at our new domicile with still-wet tears on Stacy's cheeks.  We unpacked what we could in the 30 minutes prior to bedtime and passed out almost immediately.  It can be unbelievably quiet here.  The following days were spent exploring town, the parks, the shops, and the woods.  We got Stacy started on her new job training and Karl began the tedious work of finding employment...We went for a few hikes and kept telling ourselves,  "This is our backyard now..."

So here we sit, two months later, with the holidays fast approaching.  Karl managed to secure employment, and we managed to buy soo much winter gear.  Restarting our lives in the wonderful place is both amazing and depressing.  We miss all of our friends and family back home.  We are talking about getting a cat, we go for hikes when we can, and we anxiously await our first visitors (we have a spare bedroom).  We hope it will be you!!

More adventure stories to come as we make them...

<3 S
-K

By the Numbers

[Karl]

We are back in Pittsburgh.  Stacy and I both go back to work this week. How to feel about this? More on that later on... First Numbers and Figures!!!!

WHERE

• 52 US National Parks in the first 52 weeks (You know that already)

• 64 US National Park Sites in 52 weeks
• 43 US States
• 1 US Territory

• 9 Canadian National Parks
• 9 Canadian Provinces

WHEN

• 394 Days (add a month after we were done with the parks)
• ~70% of the nights spent in the back of the car
• ~20% of the nights spent in a tent
• ~10% of the nights spent on a bed/couch/floor

WHAT

• 26,049 Photos
• 4 Miles hiked per day (average estimate)
• 11 Backcountry backpacking trips
• 84 Pitches of rock climbing
• 19 Junior Ranger programs completed
• 91 Dehydrated meals
• 4 Sheet cakes
• 1 Dog rescued
• 41 Audiobooks
• 17 REI visits
• 5 Skateparks
• 7 Ferry trips
• 216 Postcards
• 4 Credit card replacements
• 0 major injuries!
• 2 Hostel stays
• 2 BnB stays
• 2 Lodge/Cabin stays
• 1 week tenting in the Caribbean!
• Longest time without a proper shower - 18 days
• Longest day drive (~St. Louis -> ~Salt Lake) - 886 miles
• Coldest night outside ~ (-10°F)
• Longest time of our day hikes (Long's Peak) - 18 hours
• Highest elevation - 14,259'
• Longest length of our day hikes (Upper Kintla lake) - 19 miles 
• 0 Regrets

HOW

• 51,638 Miles for the 52 weeks
• 59,982 Miles for the entire trip
• 22-30 MPG
• 3 Tire punctures
• 6 Oil changes
• 2 Sets of Tires
• 1 Bag of odor absorbing charcoal

• $28,480.29 
• Budgeted $20/day for food
• Budgeted $90/week for gas
• Budgeted $400/month for pay campsites
• Lots of other financial padding in budget (ask if you really want to know)

WHO

• 17 different people took time to visit National Parks with us
• Just under 100 friends and family met up with us, fed us, or sheltered us
• Numerous new contacts and networks of adventure friends were made
• YOU (every single person who went on this trip with us via Social Media)

WHY

When planning, everybody we talked to said "Do it while you can..."  So we did.  Wouldn't you?

So back to the feeling on returning...First comes the pride:

[Stacy]

We are not alone in our wandering ways, nor in our love for the National Parks.  Many others have done tours, are on trips, or are planning escapes as I type... We crossed paths with other liked minded travelers (on shorter and longer trips), who will forever be immortalized as a part of our trip.  I'm just emphasizing the fact that I know we are not unique.  But that doesn't change that I am very proud of how this last year progressed.  Looking back over this past year, it almost seems surreal.

I never believed in the phrase "best year of my life", always having the positive outlook that the best was yet to come.  But, DAMN.... Who knows, maybe this is just the start of a new way of life? Well, we can dream right?  For now we are going to bask in the glory that is our continent and see what happens next.

[Karl]
Then comes the melancholy.  We are going back to the 9-5 life.  The excitement of wild scenes daily, the feeling of freedom, the pure joy from doing whatever we wanted every single day.  That goes back into lockdown.  Now we have to be places at times.  It will be good to have an income and to have a place larger and more permanent than the back of a van (maybe?).  So we're wistful of the past year and the sights.  But while I reminisce, I think back more and more on the little keepsake moments that I can carry forward into this new chapter.  I think about how my relationship with Stacy truly became a partnership.  We grew to need each other because we only had each other.  I will carry that with me.

I think about the other travelers that we ran into in places of solace, at first with rancor, and then with comity.  Where at first I cursed these amateurs hiking in their Crocs and jean shorts for being in my outdoor space, I grew (with help from said partner) to regard these people for choosing the out-of-doors for their recreation.  They are just another supporter of nature and I learned to respect and even embrace them in camaraderie.

That is a wonderful segue into my main upshot.  We met a lot of people this past year.  From every type of outdoors-y person you can imagine to relatives I've never known to Wal-Mart cashiers.  Out of all those hundreds of people, I can count on one hand the number of people I would not want to meet again.  People are wonderful, friendly, and helpful; especially if you take the first step to be so.  Say Hello.  Wave Hi.  Ask someone how their day is going.  Care about your fellow humans, and they may care right back at you.  We met the nicest people everywhere we went, and I plan to pay that courtesy forward.

So as with any adventure, we are sad it's over, but happy it ever occurred.

<3 S
-K

Across the Continent Again (and again)

In our last blog post, Karl ended with the phrase "Mission accomplished. What to do now? Our journey is not over yet...".  We set a goal (52 National Parks in 52 weeks) and met that goal, but what comes next?  Options: Maintain the position we are in OR figure out where to go next while avoiding a big let down.  Clearly, our lifestyle over the past year was never really staying in one place for very long, so maintaining our literal position is out of the question.  As for our figurative position, our diminishing budget wouldn't allow a run for much longer and time was ticking. Therefore, option 2: where to go next and not be let down.

To contemplate this question, we decided to run away. To Canada. Again. 

To justify ourselves, it was my birthday, Karl wanted to have a nice B&B stay to relax and reflect, and Canada was offering free National Park Passes to everyone to celebrate their 150th Anniversary. Sold.  Leaving Maine behind, we crossed the boarder into New Brunswick.  By the way, we got stopped at customs because we admitted to carrying bear spray, once it was confirmed that it was actually "bear spray" and not personal pepper spray we were allowed to proceed.  On to Nova Scotia we drove.

A lot of driving later, our first real official stop was near Halifax to check out the ocean port and exchange our boring looking American money for some colorful Canadian bills plus loonies and twonies too.  Just saying, while there all the newspapers had a pretty awesome front page.

Fast forward to our B&B, The English County Garden Bed and Breakfast, located right outside of Cape Breton Highlands National Park along the Cabot Trail.  This place was quiet, quaint, and had a massive claw-footed bathtub... glorious luxury for us! Plus, I got to watch the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals (of course in Canada it would be easy to find Hockey on the TV!)

The next day we set of along the Cabot Trail Road, secured our FREE Park's Pass, and began exploring Cape Breton Highlands National Park. 

Hiking along where the mountains meet the sea, we explored lush forested river canyons that are carved into the plateau all edged by cliffs and rocky edges. Not a bad way or place to turn 31.

Day 2 of the Cape Breton exploration led us to complete the drive of the Cabot Trail and put us in contact with some of the popular/suggested hikes within the park like Skyline Trail and Lone Shieling. 

Then we drove towards the Bay of Fundy! This was a location that my parents would talk about (you should ask them to relay their story of their mishap with the tides here sometime) so,  of course I wanted to see what all the fuss of seeing the highest tidal range in the world was all about. Utilizing our Canadian Park Pass, we snagged a campsite for Ele at Fundy National Park and got a view like this:

My intentions were to see the full cycle, full high tide to low tides, to truly grasp the change. Well, with needing to adhere to Mother Nature's time schedule we were at the gates of the Hopewell Rocks park in the wee hours of the morning (high tide was predicted to be 6:56AM that morning).  The park does not "open" until 9AM, meaning that they lock the parking area yet you are allowed to park your car outside of their gates and walk in "at your own risk".  Guess what we did?

With the morning mist still clinging to the ground and the heavens threatening more moisture than blue skies, we had the whole place to ourselves.  Starting the morning by seeing the day's tide at its highest.

Than for the next 6+ hours we walked around the nature trails, explored the beaches (especially Plage des Demoiselles Beach).  Watched the mud flats increase in size as the ocean floor exposed itself slowly. 

Got our boots nice and muddy, giving our legs a nice workout in the process.  

Gazed up at peregrine falcons above us while seaweed piles left by the receding waters drip dried at our feet.  While the tides didn't catch us off guard, a hail storm did.  

Thankfully, all the Flowerpot and sea cave formations created a nice refuge from the skies short assault.  After, with the sun chasing the rain clouds away and nearing low tide we explored what was underwater just hours before. 

Mind Blown.

These words, and any photo cannot do this place justice. Just go see it yourself, that is all I can say.

Yet, all of that only brought us to the very beginning of June and we still have the WHOLE month to do with what we wish.  Here is where the decision to drive BACK across the country came into play.

Karl brother Tony recently welcomed a tiny human to the world, lil Ms. Clover. Well, while we have the time, why NOT drive from eastern Canada back into the US and all the way to California again? An adorable niece seemed like a legitimate enough explanation.

Booking it, along the way we camped on Forest Service Roads and in less than a week we were back in The Golden State. A quick climb (cut short by rain) and then sneaking in a bit of bouldering in Truckee to visit Aspinall happened.

All leading up to meeting this adorable goober.

Oh yeah, hanging out with Tony and Elizabeth was also wonderful (but as we all know, Clover runs the show now).  Plus, it was pretty cool that Karl actually got to spend his birthday with his brother for the first time in who knows how long.  OH, and additionally, I once again got to watch the Penguins win the Stanley Cup AGAIN! (FYI, not saying that I am superstitious at all or anything, but any game against the Predators that I did NOT get to watch, we lost... Yet, if I was watching, we won. You are welcome).

Now, we are back on the west coast with still over 2 weeks until our "end all date". We would have to drive across the continent either way, why not take a different route? Well, we did like Canada... The decision was made, we would enjoy a scenic drive up the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway, a.k.a. Route 1) to the boarder.

Slight detour back to Truckee to visit (I mean climb) with Aspinall again for a few days while there was a nice weather window. Seriously, when you are friends with a dude that is so skilled at climbing that he is featured in the guide books you read, you can't pass up the chance to learn a thing or two.  

Then up along the coast we drove.  At this point, we were just driving and I don't believe that any photo taken from a vehicle turns out well, so we just enjoyed and were in the moment. Karl giddy over the twists and turns of the road along the coastline, me mesmerized by the fast paced views whipping by my window, especially the clouds. Oh, the clouds.

While in the area, we decided to sneak in another family visit in Gig Harbor, Washington.  Good conversation, delicious foods, quenching beers, and pretty sight seeing opportunities were had within a few short hours, it was pretty awesome for a last minute get together (awkward timer group photos excluded). 

Canada (round 3) begins.  

It is interesting to enter a different country, even one so close to home and as friendly as Canada, without ANY prep. This last jaunt was a whim, we weren't prepared, we didn't research, and we just took a leap. It was the end of our trip, so why not. But, different country means our cell phone plans do not work up there and the only access we would have to data (to look things up) would be if we found free Wi-Fi.  Oh, yea and there is that whole needing to do currency exchange again in order to have enough cash to eat, get gas, and pay for campsites (without having to resort to using our credit cards that would charge exchange rate fees).  For the amount of research and planning we did for our first 52 weeks, we made up for just winging it in our last one through Canada. Looking back, part of me finds it refreshing and a fun way to put a cherry on the top of our trip. 

Spending 95% of the time in Ele, it was just a lot of driving along the Trans-Canada Highway to find free dispersed camping within Forest Service land, rest stops that didn't have a limit on the amount of time allowed, or Walmarts that allowed overnight parking in their lots.  Canada is a patchwork of wilderness regions (the mountains, the plains, and the lakes) with a few big cities here and there. From BC to Alberta to Saskatchewan to Manitoba to Ontario to Quebec, taking the driving tour through National Parks like Mount Revelstoke and Glacier.  Full stops were made to hike in Yoho National Park.

Also, camping and climbing in Banff near Lake Louise happened too. 

Our week of driving across Canada was full of small tidbits that made it interesting. First, a wiring glitch in the Element meant that our normal headlights weren't working, leaving us with just running lights, fogs, and high beams. Therefore for safety concerns (not wanting to hit a moose in the dark)  we were limited to only full daylight driving. 

Add in the fact that every single day that we were in Canada, something was falling from the sky throughout the day. It was either rain, snow, or bugs pretty much 24/7. One always seeming to trade out for the other. But at least with the never ending moisture coming from the sky rainbow sightings were numerous and spectacular.

But I also mentioned bugs... The bane of my existence, mosquitoes! Staying in Ele has been amazing this whole trip, our bed in there has become our comfort zone. We feel at peace in there. It is our safe haven and we normally sleep REALLY well because of all of that. Until one night in Canada and a consistent stream of buzzzzzzzzing. Somehow those damn lil blood suckers (and boy, do they LOVE going after my blood) were finding a way into our fortress that is Ele.  Lathered with DEET, wearing citronella smelling bug bands, layering on jackets that are treated in permethrin, none of it deterred those pests.  As soon as we thought we killed the last of them within the confines of our car, more buzzing would whoosh past our ears.  My epitome of cruel and unusual punishment was that night, itchy, twitchy, and not being able to sleep because of a stream of mosquitoes wanting to feast on us making us even more itchy and twitchy. Exhausted and with shot nerves, we gave up as soon as it was light enough to drive again. Worst night of attempted sleep ever and it messed with our heads. We were so paranoid about the flying devils that for the next two days we swore we were haunting by mosquito buzzing sounds.  

As we approached the east coast and got closer to the Montreal about to cross into the US of A again, a detoured stop in Vermont was planned.  Months ago, somewhere along our random rambling travels we got an email from someone that we did not yet know, Diane.  She is a fellow Element owner who was doing her homework by reading the Honda Element Owners Club website and happened to see Karl's post about Ele and his custom build/modifications.  Thankfully, Diane is an outgoing person and decided to reach out and contact us.  So, we stopped by to say "Hello" in person to show her how much we appreciated that (and to compare builds and swap Element travel ideas, of course).

After our night of Element Owners uniting, we bit the bullet and booked it early in the morning back to our home state, PA.  Seeing that "Pennsylvania Welcomes You" sign was weird.  Sending the "we are close" messages to family and friends did give a sense of anticipation but, there wasn't a sense of relief to be back (at all).  More numb than anything, the full implications of being almost done with our trip hasn't sunk in fully.  Like, did this whole past year really happen???

To avoid reality a bit longer, we delayed the return to the 'Burgh by stopping in Danville to visit friends who just recently moved out there, Mike & Steph and tour their new place that I now call "The House of Bunnies".  

Along with rabbit entertainment there was skateboarding, video games, beers, food (terrible terrible food... Mike & Karl insisted on LJS), good company, photo sharing, etc. The usual.  It was a nice place with friends to transition back slowly.  They let us use their home, computer, and Wi-Fi to start contacting our employers and start the process of being "real adults" again.  Go figure, as soon as we enter the real world again, I get a call from my bank asking about particular charged to my credit card (I have had my card on a travel alert for a while now).  Yea, my card was compromised. Thanks Universe! What a welcome back, but at least you waited until the end of our trip for this snafu.

Well, we can't run away any longer.  It is time to officially say that this particular journey is over. As for the ever lingering question of "What now?" Admittedly, we will be "let down" by whatever comes immediately next. The bar was set pretty high with this past kick-ass year, and that will be hard to come down from. We can only guess how we are going to emotionally and mentally adjust. Physically, we hope to keep moving and be outside as much as possible, even if our bed is no longer on wheels.  (Huge shout out to Kirk & Julie for letting us live in their basement so no longer can consider ourselves homeless)! 

By the way... It is really odd to be writing this blog, reflecting on what happened while being stationary and settled!  Mind warp in the extreme.  But, don't think that you are getting rid of Starl Krenbic (and this blog) that easily though.  There is still more we want to reflect on, more information/inspiration we want to share to those that we have passed the "dirt bag torch"/"travel bug" too, and hopefully more NEW adventures in to future.

<3 S