Blog Archive

It is with a heavy heart that I write to let y’all know that we sold Ushingi today. We have purchased a small second home in Florida where we will spend a few winter months. We had to let something go so we reluctantly put Ushingi on the auction block as we didn’t want her sitting in storage in NC and then again in FL. We also had the added problem of how to get 2 cars and a Motorhome down to FL. The spirit of USHINGI will live on as we embark on other new adventures.

We are headed for home so I started a new page. Hope y’all enjoyed the updates and pictures – we certainly need them to remind us where we have been – it became a blur at times, a true sensory overload!

We are headed off to Dawson Creek, Mile zero on the Alaskan Canada Highway, so appropriate to start a new (and final?) page – check out the homepage on http://www.ushingi.net

In all her glory, better late than never……..

I started a new page for Denali. Hope y’all got to see the Glacier Landing page. If not, check out the menu for a full list of adventures.

I dedicated a separate page for pictures and videos – be patient and wait a few minutes for page to load. Enjoy!

Previous pages are accessible via the menu.

Previous pages are accessible via the menu.

Tomorrow, with a heavy heart we will head eastward. Bryce has been amazing, albeit the altitude, but tis time. Hope y’all enjoyed the photos and videos, apologies for having to wait a few minutes to load the blog before you start scrolling but so much content.

We will head for Moab and the Arches National Park and then New Mexico. So looking forward to the Texas temps of 104 to 106……

Another spectacular drive along Rte 89 N and 70E to Moab area. We had to limit ourselves to the number of vista view stops otherwise we wouldn’t have found our overnight stop on BLM land in the Moab desert.

We had a 11:00 am timed entry for Arches National park. It is a new system they are piloting to manage the huge increase in traffic. After driving through the park we totally get their motivation – what an inspiring place to hike, camp, ogle from vista views or just drive through. We took so many pictures – here are a few of our favorites.

We drove to Devils Garden campground in the park at 4:00pm on the off chance there was a last minute cancellation. The ranger (Paul) sympathized with us and said he had an “admin” site that may be available but to check back at 5:00pm. We hiked the Devils Garden for an hour and the gods smiled on us – we snagged a site for the night. ZuZu had a great adventure that evening on his stroll – check out his rock climbing skills in the videos below.

Taking advantage of our stay in the park I went for an early morning hike to visit the Broken Arch. With not a soul in sight it has to be the most blissful hour I have experienced in some time, sadly cut short by my encounter with “Skeletor”.

The Devils Garden campground is at the end of the park so we experienced a wondrous drive out in the morning light, so different from midday/afternoon.

We drove from Moab to Bernalillo NM. Coronado Campground was a bit dingy but there was the Bosque Brewery/Restaurant next door for dinner and a Starbucks across the road for the morning recharge.

After nearly 5,000 miles, Ushingi and its three occupants arrived home safely. It was an epic trip – Yosemite, Bryce and Arches National Parks blew us away with their individuality and beauty, one to remember. (Thank goodness for the blog to help our ageing memories).

Cheers – Bruce, Lynne and ZuZu.

I thought I would start a new blog for the remainder of our trip as the Yosemite blog was taking a long time to load with the videos.

Tip – when you first go to the Ushingi home page, wait a few minutes for everything to load before scrolling.

I have been feeling under the weather for the past 2 days. Good timing though, just taking it easy for a week in the Sierras, just outside Yosemite. I think I will get a COVID test tomorrow. 🤞🏻

I succumbed to my first COVID infection, had to happen sometime. It is now Wednesday, feeling better. Fortunately Lynne is fine; she had COVID a few months ago so hopefully immune. After a few days of doing nothing we are headed back into Yosemite for 2 nights as we managed to pick up a campsite. After that we will stop overnight at Twisted Oak winery before heading off to Lake Tahoe.

It was one of those mornings – knocked a full mug of tea into the CO detector, dropped my water bottle onto ZuZu’s water drinking station!! Fortunately I had a spare CO detector and super glue to fix ZuZu’s water station…..2 hours later all cleaned up.

We overnighted at Twisted Oak winery in Vallecito after leaving Yosemite. The drive out was amazing along the roaring Merced River.

The wine tasting was good – we ended up buying a bottle of red “The Spaniard” and a bottle of Port.

We took US 4 along Ebbetts Pass scenic byway. This section of Highway 4 is narrow with tight switchbacks and high snow banks on each side of the road. The precipitous drop offs and steep hills made for an interesting drive. The road’s wild and scenic qualities were worth it. We met another RV at the end and we just squeezed by. Fortunately it wasn’t any earlier – the road was way too narrow.

After our harrowing drive we stopped in Markleeville for lunch at Cutthroat Brewing Company. Chicken sandwich with delicious fries and malt vinegar, washed down with an amber ale…..life is good.

Our arrival at Fallen Leaf campground in South Lake Tahoe coincided with heavy rain, so we hunkered down in our heated van and avoided feeling too guilty watching the tent campers brave the elements.

A long drive ahead to Ward Mountain NV for a one night stopover before heading to Utah. Once again the drive contained spectacular views, especially from just across the border with Nevada, looking back towards Lake Tahoe.

We had an amazing day exploring the Kanab environs that were in our 30 minute radius limit of Umfana. We started out at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. If I ever come back as a horse/dog/cat this is the place. It is the largest in the nation and on any given day it is the healing home for 1,600 dogs, cats, birds, bunnies, hamsters, horses, pigs and other animals.

Next stop was the Moqui Cave – purchased by Grant Chamberlain. It has seen countless westerns filmed in the area.

The sand caves high above the Highway were worth the climb. For such a potentially dangerous climb, traversing sandy stone amazing that no warning signs posted.

A storm blew in very fast so we were pretty soaked on our ride home on Umfana. Fortunately it cleared in time for our ride back into Kanab for dinner at Sego – Chef Shon Foster was recently awarded top chef in Utah. Tapas type dishes were out of this world, our best meal in years.

Saturday was our day to visit the Peek-a-boo slot canyon. We rented a Polaris ATV from Kanab Tours and what a ride! Hurtling along the dirt tracks at 45 mph is not for the faint hearted. Lynne toughed it out for the ride to the canyon but rode with the guide on the way back. Just as well because the guide took a detour to “play” in the sand dunes on the return trip. Fun but terrifying to race up vertically and then over a blind peak. We returned to the trailhead in one piece but now waiting to see if Lynne shook any kidney stones loose.

Oh – Happy Fathers Day y’all

Our drive through Zion National Park was overwhelming to our senses. The 2 hours to enter the park was soon forgotten, well until my interactions with the Zion park staff – what a bunch of morons. We had to pay $15 for a tunnel permit even though our van was under the width limit because the “Ranger” said our awning cover stuck out an extra inch. WTF! Petty bastards!

OK enough venting, here are some pictures of our drive. We couldn’t get a site in Zion but we found a great BLM site (free) by a river – the area is called the Belly of the Dragon.

This area is called Belly of the Dragon for the man made tunnel through a hill that is part of a short hike we sauntered along in the morning.

We were last at this diner 14 years ago with 5 other couples on our Harley bike tour: Fond memories with Tom & Cindy Lategan.

A short drive into Bryce National Park – home of the world’s finest collection of Hoodoo’s. Southern Paiutes call this place Unka-koh-vah-wong-weets, which means “Red Face Standing”

A Southern Paiute sacred oral tradition says the hoodoos are ancient Legend People turned to stone by the trickster god, Coyote, as a punishment for bad deeds.

We toured the entire park yesterday on Umfana. So many delightful stops along the way, rising up to 9,110 ft. Lynne and ZuZu both suffering from a little altitude sickness.

We walked the Rim Trail with ZuZu at sundown. He loves his evening walks now. We have to find out what makes a strange clicking sound in the trees. We think they are Crepitating Cicadas.

We ventured out at 11:00pm last night to see the stars. Bryce is one of the top dark sky viewing areas. So excited to see the Milky Way again though ZuZu woke us up too early.

We thought we should persevere with the altitude acclimation so extended our Bryce stay by a day. So glad we did, we both had the energy for a magnificent hike in the Hoodoos. The hike starts at Sunset Point and descends to the valley floor via “Wall Street” and then winds it way tortuously through the Queens Garden back to the top. Enjoy the pictures and videos.

We found the source of the clicking!! Turn on the volume…..

We walked our last hike with ZuZu as the sun was going down. Magical colors. Au revoir Bryce Canyon, till we meet again.

It took 2 days of driving to get out of Texas. We are spending a night at Oliver Lee Memorial park in New Mexico. We will then head off to Joshua Tree for a few nights before arriving in Yosemite National Park.

Thanks y’all for the comments already, feeling the pressure!

It’s Friday and we’ve crossed state line into California.

We had our first mooch docking experience (parking in friends driveway) in Phoenix Arizona.

We had hoped to spend some time with Di and Barry Scott but “somebody” forgot to let them know when we were coming and they were mooch docking in California !

They graciously made their home available.

We had a glorious afternoon in their garden swimming in the warm pool while ZuZu terrorized the local bird population .

We thought we were “Texas strong” heat resistant but hell NO Arizonians are tougher.

It’s HOT HOT HOT and summer is yet to come.

Joshua Tree National Park here we come !

No cell reception in the desert – so no comms for a couple of days.

We only managed to get 1 night in the National Park so we had to seek out a dispersed camping site on BLM land outside the boundary. Lynne found a place at Sheep’s Hole Crossing so off we went……

We drove until the road ended and then parked out in this beautifully desolate desert area.

We enjoyed the star gazing out in the desert. We thought we experienced a UAP sighting with a long line of 20 to 30 bright star-like lights in a straight line crossing overhead. Although it was silent, we concluded that it was large caliber tracer fire from the nearby Marine training base.

We returned to civilization in the morning and found a Starbucks in the town of Twentynine Palms. There was also this burger/music event place…..bizarre is an understatement.

A long day of driving from Joshua Tree to a Harvest Host overnight stop at a golf course in Dinuba, CA. ZuZu enjoyed his after dinner walk.

At long last; today we are headed to Yosemite where it will be a lot cooler than the desert.

The drive to Upper Pines campground from the park entrance was stunning. The views of Bridal Veil falls, numerous other falls due to the excessive snow melt and the imposing Half Dome were mind blowing.

Our plan to go with the flow of moving campsites every day is to hike in the morning, get back by 11:30 to move sites at noon, then tour the park on the scooter (Umfana) in the afternoon.

We could watch them climb through scopes on the ground. Depending on the route, it takes between 1 and 5 days to summit. Mind boggling

Sore legs after hiking ZuZu for 3 hours. Didn’t realize he was so heavy. When we returned and I unpacked his carrier I discovered that Lynne had sneaked a hot water bottle in to keep him warm….

Hiked part of the Upper Yosemite Falls trail to Columbia Point – hard going up but even more difficult descending with the sandy rock steps.

We spent the afternoon buzzing around on Umfana and visiting Bridal Veil Falls. Immense spray as a result of the record snow fall since 1930.

We have left Yosemite Park to stay in the Sierras for a week to catch up on much needed laundry and resupply. We do have another 2 nights at Lower Pines on Sunday and Monday but rethinking that because of huge crowds expected this weekend. We are considering Hodgdons Meadow campground which is further away from Yosemite Valley, and on our route to Lake Tahoe.

We are excited to set off on a month long trip around Colorado with our new companion – ZuZu but at the same time we are going to miss Bambo terribly – we had so many great adventures with the little guy…….

Our first day on the road with little ZuZu went as well as could be expected. He complained frequently for the first hour but then settled down. At one of our stops he found a cool place to hang out and look down on us (literally).

We stopped in the little town of Comanche, TX to buy a few essentials and had to take a picture of the Fire Department’s July 4th tribute.

We spent our first night at Copperas Creek near Comanche, TX and tried sleeping without AC but it was way too hot. Even ZuZu didn’t nestle with us in his customary way.

This campground is a great place to relax, keep cool in the lake and swat flies on the deck overlooking the lake. ZuZu has his own bug tent and spent most of the morning chasing a grasshopper around that found its way inside.

We are spending the night on an Alpaca farm in Clovis, NM. It is owned by Rick and Rosemary (she came out to NM from the UK 35 years ago and never returned).

Santa Fe is bustling at this time of year. The days are glorious and night time temperatures drop as is typical in the high desert. Lynne and I had a lovely day browsing all the galleries on Canyon Drive and chatting to the artists. There is some serious talent in Santa Fe. Our favorite was Alex Watts who sculpts beautiful pieces.

From New Mexico we headed off to Durango, CO for a train ride to Cascade Creek on the Durango Silverton rail line. The open air carriages were fun and offered great views of the scenery.

We had a short ride the next day to Mesa Verde National Park where we stayed overnight in the park. We arrived early so we had time to offload Umfana (that is the name of our scooter for those unfamiliar) and toured the park. Lynne was incredibly brave once again with all the steep climbs, descents and hairpin bends.

Mesa Verde is home to some spectacular archaeological discoveries dating back to 550 AD. The Ancestral Pueblo people built elaborate stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of canyon walls.

After doing the laundry – off to Elk Ridge campground in Ridgway CO. The drive was amazing. Traveling on Route 145 between Dolores and Rico the temps dropped from 84 to 48 due to heavy rain and we came across freezing rain that looked like an inch of snow on the ground. Crazy things happen above 8,000 ft! One way to clean the solar panels after all the dust in Durango. This drive was beautiful, no wonder it is called the “million dollar highway”.

We stopped for lunch in Telluride but by the time we found a parking it was a late lunch! I can’t imagine what it must be like in skiing season.

We are spending 2 days in Ridgway at Elk Ridge campground where we will continue the frustrating exercise of securing a booking in the Rocky Mountain NP. So far we only have one night (July 17th), so we could find ourselves boondocking in the BLM forests adjacent to the park for a few nights.

Lynne found a remote, primitive camping spot run by the Forest Service near Dotsero, CO. It is next to Sweetwater Lake but only has 6 spots that are first-come-first-served so we are keeping our fingers crossed. If there isn’t any space we will retrace our steps, only 10 miles of dirt road.

Sweetwater Lake is very picturesque and peaceful but we had a hell of a time getting Ushingi into a spot and somewhat level. We felt that the “hard-core campers” objected to our “glamping” – oh well, it was only 1 night. We didn’t have the courage to run our generator to make our morning Nespresso coffee so we meandered down the road before having breakfast and coffee.

Silence frees us. When the noise of the world falls away, so does the cloud of busyness and anxiety that permeates every aspect of our lives. It is in silence that our greatest thoughts surface and revelations unfold. We become free from the world, free from simply reacting, and surrounded by infinite possibility.”

We chose the scenic route v the Interstate to get to Elk Meadow Campground in Estes Park, just outside the National Park. Why doesn’t Google maps tell you there is 30 miles of dirt road? The views were amazing but not sure if we would take Route 131 again.

The best views of the day were driving through the National Park from Grand Lake. At one stage we were at 12,000 ft. Lynne has become a human altimeter, she gets a headache as soon as we go over 8,000 ft. ZuZu also goes quiet at higher altitudes.

Sadly we only managed to secure one night at a campground in the actual National Park itself. No wonder they are so booked up, it is such a privilege to camp in these majestic areas.

To ascend Rocky Mountain National Park’s Old Fall River Road is to leave this world and enter another. This dirt road is a one way, uphill with tight switchbacks and no guardrails. It carries you, breathless with wonder and altitude, towards a fragile alpine realm, the tundra where no trees can live. It ends at Fall River Pass at 11,796 ft. No wonder it is called Nature’s Knife Edge.

We had planned to do the Old Fall River Road in Ushingi after departing Aspenglen Campground but Lynne had a change of heart about the altitude for her and ZuZu so I did a solo trip on Umfana – what a blast! The 9 mile portion on the “white line” in the map above takes 1 hour and then you hurtle yourself downhill on Trail Ridge Road to return to Aspenglen. The video below is a short clip of the ride, taken with my left hand while steering with my right 🤠

There were so many scenic stops on the way but I only had 90 minutes before having to check out of the campground but here are a few pics.

It was sad to leave the mountains but we need to keep going. We took a scenic drive on Route 7 and then Google Maps took us on another dirt road but it was pretty. The drive into Denver was horrendous – traffic nightmares due to multiple accidents.

We are now just outside Denver at a great State Park called Cherry Creek. We have rented a car from Avis and we will be off to the Red Rocks amphitheater for a live show called “Killer Queen”. “Thanks Tom for the suggestion”.

Red Rocks Amphitheatre – what an amazing place for music. We are in awe of the visionaries who arranged for the city of Denver to purchase this area in 1927 and build the Amphitheatre, which opened in 1941. We parked and walked all the way up the hill and countless steps to the seating area – phew! The event was sold out and Killer Queen certainly rocked the Red Rocks.

Now we wait a few days and monitor any possible COVID symptoms…..hoping the fresh air venue mitigated transmission 🤞🏻

We are now in Colorado Springs at Cheyenne Mountain State Park. We have been so impressed with the standard of the CO State Parks, very well maintained. Lots of hiking trails here.

As we were retiring for the night we heard a “boing/sproing” sound from the kitchen area, similar to a single pluck of a guitar string, then silence. Few minutes later, same sound. We looked under the sink, nothing. Turned off the water supply and by now I had started timing the interval of the “boing/sproing”. Approx 7 minutes, 10:24, 10:31, 10:37….. how were we going to sleep! The regular interval of the sound pointed me to electrical, checked the appliances, lo and behold the empty kettle was hot with no “on” light showing. The bi-metallic strip for auto shut off was malfunctioning and that was the source of the “boing/sproing”. Peace at last….. or is it the military messing with us – Cheyenne Mountain is home to a NORAD base – who knew.

‘THE MOST SECURE FACILITY IN THE WORLD’

The bunker lies 2,000 feet (610 meters) under Cheyenne Mountain outside Colorado Springs, Colorado. It can be sealed off by two giant blast doors made of concrete and steel, each 3½ feet (1 meter) thick and weighing 23 U.S. tons. It is the most secure facility in the world,” said Steve Rose, deputy director of the base.

The heart of the complex is a grid of six tunnels up to 40 feet (12 meters) wide and three stories high. They hold 15 connected buildings made of steel plates, riding on massive coil springs to absorb the shock of a nuclear blast or earthquake. The granite and steel also protect electronics from destructive pulses of electro-magnetic energy that nuclear explosions produce and it can make my kettle boing😜

We managed to secure another two nights in Cheyenne at a different site so we went off to explore The Garden of the Gods and get lunch at Shuga’s restaurant in COS (Colorado Springs). Hiking around The Garden of the Gods was amazing….

Our next stop is the Great Sand Dune National Park. We drove through torrential rain in the afternoon and fortunately the rain subsided when we arrived at our campsite. The next morning I embarked on a hike into the dunes. I thought my heart would burst out of my chest climbing some of the steep dunes!

We could only get one night in the National Park so we headed off to a State Park on the other side of the dunes. We stopped off at Zapata Falls where the view of the dunes and valleys was stunning.

We stopped on a pull-out to have lunch and take a moment to recover from our morning hike.

Google Maps screwed us again – the route was intended to avoid a road closure but the closure had been delayed. We travelled for 45 minutes to the supposedly open section but that was still closed. Google Maps then took us on a dirt road for 10 miles where we came upon an impending storm.

A few miles on we came to a locked gate – so much for that detour! At least we didn’t have to drive into the eye of the storm. We turned around and travelled all the way back past Zapata Falls and entered 6 L North from the supposedly closed section.

The State Park was a great deal. A $9 Colorado fishing license provided free access to a site with 30 amp electricity.

The next day we headed off to a “dispersed camping” site on the banks of the Rio Grande after a resupply shop at CID’s organic supermarket in Taos. Google Maps strikes again! We came to a County Road off Rte 567 and turned right as instructed. We arrived at another dirt road that descended down to the Rio Grande. There was a motorhome at the top and we assumed (incorrectly) that they had just ascended. Once we headed down there was no way to turn around on the narrow road with a sheer drop on the driver’s side. Unbeknownst to us the area had recently received more than 2 inches of rain that had washed away most of the driving surface of the road. With Ushingi in 1st gear, brakes and white knuckles we gingerly made our way down over rocks and ruts, praying that the tires would hold. We eventually made it down to a pull out area near the bottom where I stopped and walked down about a 1/4 mile to see if we could make it to a little bridge that crossed the Rio (not so) Grande. Although the road had washed out it looked passable so we made it across the bridge onto a welcoming paved road. I offloaded Umfana and took a ride back across the bridge to a campsite that was too primitive, even for us. Fortunately there were a few more options down the paved road and we eventually settled down by the river for the evening.

Thank goodness there was another way out from this campsite. We had an uneventful trip on paved road to Ojo Caliente, a world renowned mineral spring resort in New Mexico. We were pleasantly surprised that they even had RV spots so we ended up staying the night. We spent the entire afternoon moving between the pools, rejuvenating our bodies.

The next day we headed off to Carlsbad Caverns to walk down into the caves.

The walk into the caves was absolutely amazing! It was like visiting the moon, outer space, walking upside down and strolling undersea all at the same time. We walked all the way down but the best part was the additional section to the Big Room. It added about an hour to our walk but so worth it. When it was time to leave we encountered a line of approx a hundred people waiting for the elevators, which were not running. Rumors abounded about a 3 hour delay and suddenly most people left the line and started to walk out! That was not our plan so we stayed and eventually determined that there had been a fire alarm in the Visitor center above and they had shut down the elevators. After about 30 minutes the elevators started and we happily entered the first cab to arrive and 750 ft later we were at the top!

Our last night was in Fort Stockton TX where we had Mexican food for dinner and slept with the AC on all night to keep us cool and drown out the traffic noise from Imperial Highway. Not the best stop of our trip.

3,862 miles and we are home, back to the TX heat. ZuZu is very relieved to have an entire house to run around and explore.

Cheers!

We emigrated from Zimbabwe (our country of birth) in 1999 with our two teenage sons and settled in the greater Boston area of MA. Our two sons went off to college and are now living in TX and TN. In 2019 we moved to Ft Myers FL and bought a Leisure Unity FX motor home to travel around this beautiful country. Our travel companion is a 13 year old miniature poodle “Bambo”. We named our Motorhome “USHINGI” – a Shona word (one of Zimbabwe’s dialects) for Adventure and Discovery.

We also have a Honda PCX 150 for local travels that we carry on a tow hitch ramp. He is called Umfana (Shona for little boy).

We hope that you enjoy our pictorial record of our travels and it motivates you to spend more time in nature.

twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do…

explore
dream
discover

– Mark Twain

Thanks for joining us.

Bruce and Lynne Mullen

We are in Arizona trying to rework our route since Yosemite extended its shutdown and sent us a cancellation. Also seems likely that Oregon coast is a no go so Utah and Arizona look promising until Yellowstone on Jun 28.

We have one remaining reservation on the Oregon Coast so we plan to head West from Utah. Check out the “still epic with Zion” page.

Day 14 – Ten X Campground near South Rim, Grand Canyon. Cell signal fluctuates from 1 to 2 bars. We will upload videos later when we have better bandwidth.

We will create a new page (yet to be named) for updates on our adventure post Zion. Another cancellation has changed our course but we relish the new destination of Lassen Volcanic Park.

“New, unplanned stops” is the fresh page for our next adventures. We continue to get cancellation notices along the Oregon Coast, even for those reservations that opened up in the last week. We will remain nimble and avoid the hotspots (Covid and riots) ☹️

Lassen was fantastic (who needs Yosemite). We are at Klamath River, next to Redwoods National Park, until Monday. Just posted Lassen photos, will do Redwoods when we have stronger cell/WiFi.

The Oregon coast was amazing, hard to leave it behind to head inland to Portland. Check out the photos in the “New, Unplanned stops” tab. Now heading North to colder, wetter weather in the Cascades.

We are still in Yellowstone, every drive or ride we discover new and beautiful areas. We used to be the odd couple wearing masks and now we are part of a majority but the crowds are a bit scary here in Yellowstone. We will find some longer hikes to stay away from the July 4th crowds. Check out some of the stunning views on the “Unplanned stops” page. Stay safe everyone.

I have started a new page, aptly named Badlands and Back. We are headed to the Badlands for a few days and then we make our way home via Nashville (to see our youngest son Greg). There isn’t much cell service in the Badlands National Park so I will update the blog in a few days.

Day 70 today – our trip is coming to an end soon, time to prepare ourselves for re-entry, it will be strange not to be on the move for a while.

Day 77 – today we head for home with mixed emotions. We hope y’all enjoyed the blog. We look forward to our next adventure.