Our First Big AdVANture

I’m Karen from the Huntsville, Alabama, area. My husband Matt and I are empty nesters who like to explore outdoors. Bikkie is our 75-pound Australian Shepherd girl along for the ride. We all enjoy hiking, and I love to take photos of landscapes and native plants. I retired in June, and Matt works part time with lots of vacation flexibility. After a year of weekends and short trips in our 2023 STO Stealth Mode we call Arvee, we’re ramping up the travel fun! 

We recently enjoyed our first big trip exploring across the US:

Days - 21

Miles - 7000+

States - Touched tires in 21, sleeping in 12.

National Parks/Monuments/Sites - 11

Sites with hookups - 0

Harvest Host stays - 14

Meals dined out - 5

Fresh tank fills - 2

Laundromats - 2

Lessons learned - Innumerable

Stories - The best! 

The Trip Plan

Our anchor destination was Crater Lake National Park. This has been on my bucket list since childhood. Since major parts of this park will be closed for renovation starting in 2026, this was our chance! As soon as reservations opened for the boat tours to Wizard Island, we picked our dates and locked in tour tickets and three nights at in-park Mazama Campground. Three months in advance, no camping spot was available for multiple nights in a row. Not a problem – we’re self-contained, out during the day, and can set up for the night in minutes!

Planning for an extended trip prompted us to upgrade and buy a few things. Alabama Truck Outfitters installed our EVICTUS Sprinter Advanced suspension. We ordered and installed a full-size spare and mounting bucket from Flarespace and a Tec Vanlife Aluminum Storage Box for the back door rack. Inside, we added a White Top Adventures headliner shelf and bought a dual-zone cooler. And knowing that we would be leaving Bikkie alone for several hours for our Crater Lake boat tour, we applied a window decal and set up with Starlink Mini internet and Blink cameras for remote monitoring.

Making It Up as We Went

We left North Alabama on a Friday afternoon with reservations at Crater Lake in Oregon starting Tuesday. Those three nights at the Mazama Campground were the only reservations we had made. But we had boondocked at rest areas and with Harvest Hosts before, had Planet Fitness access at any location, and we like the freedom to plan as we go. So, we headed out for 3 ½ days of mostly interstate driving. We stayed overnight Friday at a rest area in Illinois, then landed short notice Harvest Host reservations at a lavender farm in Nebraska, at Historic Wendover Airfield in Utah, and at a potato farm along the Oregon/California border. Along the way, we made time for a stop at Safelite to check out windshield ding number one and for some driving on the Salt Flats. (Two more dings since then.)

Crater Lake was all I had hoped for and then some. Two STO wild sightings in the campground. Wizard Island is a must for any visit. And the wildflower trail was really putting on a show.

After leaving Crater Lake, our only constraint was to be home in two weeks. We set three goals – to step in the Pacific Ocean, to stay north out of the worst summer heat, and to see different things than on earlier trips. (We’d done family vacations in Utah and spent time in Wyoming and South Dakota.) With new anchor points of Florence, Oregon, and Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, we mapped a route through Coeur d’Alene, ID, and Missoula, MT. We replanned in Missoula when we nabbed next-day entry reservations for the Going-to-the-Sun Road across Glacier National Park!

From North Dakota, we planned week 3 with stops in the South Dakota Black Hills, Hot Springs, Arkansas, and my mom’s house in Mississippi as we made our way home. 

How We Ate – and Drank

Having most meals in Arvee was never boring thanks to Matt’s cooking skills and pre-trip planning. We carried a Ninja Woodfire electric grill, a small pressure cooker to use on the induction eye, nesting pots with a removable handle, and a NutriBullet blender. 

For dinners, we enjoyed homemade Indian dahl dishes, eggs, ramen + fresh add-ins, grilled vegetables, bean or chicken burgers, and heat-and-eat pizzas. During the day, we had mostly smoothies, cereal, sandwich wraps, and fresh fruit and veggies with hummus. We restocked from produce stands, Costco, and grocery stores along our route. We did enjoy some local flavors – chowder on the Pacific, bison dogs in the Black Hills, Thai food from a truck, and a couple of Costco hot dogs.

We carried 4 gallon-sized plastic bottles for drinking water that we refilled at every opportunity. We sometimes drink from our tap, but this and Planet Fitness shower stops helped us conserve between fresh tank fills. And there was no shortage of wine or beer, both common purchases from Harvest Hosts we stayed with.

What Worked Best for Us

EVICTUS Suspension. Even though we didn’t do any serious offroad driving this trip, the upgraded suspension made for a noticeably more comfortable ride. 

Harvest Hosts. We loved the convenience of hosts with same-day request options. And we landed some cool spots we wouldn’t have visited otherwise. Our best hike was recommended by one of our hosts – Revet Lake Trail near Wallace, Idaho.

America the Beautiful National Park Service Pass. Not only did it save us money, it also put us in the fast lanes for park entry.

Starlink Mini. We never imagined how well this would perform on the go, under trees, from the dashboard. Game changer! 

(We receive no compensation from vendors other than the benefits of great products we purchased. Name-dropping is to help other adventurers find what works for them.)

Some Things We Learned

- Sturgis is packed during bike week!

Plan-as-you-go has its risks. We didn’t realize it was bike week until we drove into town. Thankfully, our Harvest Host was not in Sturgis proper, and we found ways to avoid the bike crowds at Wind Cave and Jewel Cave. Planet Fitness only has four gyms in South Dakota – on opposite sides of the state. Of course, we didn’t realize this until we were well east of their Rapid City location. 

- Bikkie needs her space. 

She ruled bedtime. When Matt and I tried to sleep in the bed, she climbed up and crowded in. But if one of us moved to the Groove Lounge, she slept on the floor.

It took effort to provide exercise opportunities. We were always looking for dog parks, Harvest Hosts with off-leash areas, and dog-friendly hikes.

- Hiccups are unavoidable.But with resourcefulness and patience, they don’t have to ruin the trip. 

Yes, we missed packing the blade for the Nutri-Bullet. So we had everything for smoothies except a way to blend. We got a new one. But that encroached into our limited storage space. 

Yes, we have a windshield crack that can’t be repaired. It continued to run throughout the trip, but it’s low on the passenger side. The Storyteller Overland Insiders & MODELifers group on Facebook and a great technician at Safelite gave us confidence that replacement could wait.

Yes, we experienced Sprinter limp mode in the mountains and then a needs-oil incident during week 3. We made it through both challenges with advice from the Facebook group. We’ll carry extra oil from now on.

You can’t see it all – at least in one trip. Theres always a fear of missing out. But we’ll plan for shorter drive days and more down time.

What’s Next

While we’ll do more sight-seeing jaunts in the future, our next plans will focus on community and education. We’re looking forward to Vansgiving in November and another outing with Fernweh Expeditions early next year. See you out there!