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Strawberry Resevuar, UT

2007-09-28 (E)

Well, as many of you have noticed, and written to us about, we have slacked off on the web-log updates this summer. The main reason is that we have decided to put down roots again (for the moment) and have been very busy in that endeavor.

We purchased a house in Salt Lake City this summer, and began moving stuff into it after the Sportsmobile annual 4x4 rally this summer (which was conveniently located less than an hour outside of SLC).
Rally

The house is in the city, within walking distance of the University of Utah and downtown. After living in a vehicle for a few years, the prospect of driving everywhere has lost its appeal.
New House

The van is still with us, and is certainly not going to be sold (though rumors of us selling have apparently spread somewhere, and requests have come in)... Rather it is in for a significant amount of re-work. After over 2 years of living in it, we have a number of ideas for a re-build, and it will provide a significant project to keep me out of trouble while Amy goes back to school to study Art at the University of Utah.
Van at House

Once the house is squared away with the immediate fixes it needs for us to be comfortable, and the garage is made shop-worthy, the van will start getting some love.

Becoming house-bound has brought its advantages. We hauled our street motorcycles out of storage, and in our first outing joined in the Utah Sportbike Association first annual ride & bike-show, where Amy's bike won the "Best Modified/Custom" bike award. The bigger tools are available for use (lathe, mill, drill-press, etc); we can shower :p; and dishes do themselves magically in this big metal box.
Amy on Bike
Amy with Trophy and Powerpuff Bike

 

My office has also been keen on the change, and I have been fairly busy on that front as well (currently writing this while on a plane returning from a business trip to New Jersey, yay.)

For those of you we have met on the road, and those we did not get to (but extended the offer), we now have a yard in which you can park your sportsmobile, truck, camper, unimog, unicat, motorcycle, bicycle, or unicycle, and we hopefully can return the favor of hospitality when visiting SLC.

Over the past couple of years we have seen some very amazing and wonderful sights, and I encourage all of you to get out there and explore. The hardest part for us was committing to the van, and then to the sale of our house. Everything after was actually easy in comparison.

A short summary of highlights in my mind:

  • Being woken by a bear sniffing around at the van on Grand Mesa, CO
  • Watching water-spouts form over Mono Lake, CA as the big cold-front of January '97 swept over the mountains (and we huddled warm inside our van while it was 5deg F outside)
  • Driving through the path of snapped and tossed trees after a rare tornado in west-central Idaho
  • Camping a couple thousand feet above the Pacific Ocean on the California coastline
  • Driving through Boston where "Low Clearance" on a road doesn't mean 13', but more like 8' (about where my head is)
  • Stopping by the Missouri river in Missouri, and walking among the monarch butterflies resting on their annual fall migration.
  • Having owls choose our roof-rack as the perfect night perch for hunting at a couple spots in Wyoming.
  • Finding out that the bumping in the night was a cougar stealing the old tuna can from a trash bag put on our bumper in Death Valley.
  • The view from Panorama Point in Canyonlands National park
  • The view of the needles from the Devil's Kitchen in Canyonlands
  • Building our courage and abilities taking the van on more technical trails to more remote and scenic spots (often with less trash) (I prefer not to think of this as loosing judgment, as Amy sometimes puts it).
  • Just finding each little hidey-hole and camping spot on the spur of the moment, following our whim, and ending up where an interesting looking road or trail leads.
  • Meeting numerous wonderful folks in real life and online who don't consider us completely nuts, and some who have gone even further than us in the nomadic lifestyle.

A great thank you to all who have given us encouragement, offered us a place to stop and "re-fuel", suggested a good spot to camp or see, and your friendship.

View

This is not intended to be an end to the web-site, though the log will probably be updated much less often ("got up, drank coffee, debugged software, conference call, went to bed" just doesn't compare). We plan to document the re-build of our "Badgermoble". Cover the ins, outs,whys & whuffers of the changes we make, as well as covering the inevitable trips we will take on long-weekends, vacations, and summer-break (remember, Amy is back in school).

The view outside our front door is not nearly as compelling as it has been, and we will certainly be drawn back.

 

Thanks again, and see y'all around,

Erik & Amy Badger

Bikes in the mountains


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