WHO: We call ourselves ‘senior motorhome adventurers’ — a disabled woman and an amazing caregiver.
AJ Barrett still manages to teach web publishing and social media for the Southern Illinois School of Journalism, so this creative project helps her help her students. Bill Sims is a professional poker dealer. More about AJ and Bill.
WHY a motorhome?
Bill travels to deal professional poker tournaments like the World Series of Poker (WSOP) so an RV made sense for him. But the decision to travel in an enormous Class A motorhome was practically made for us by AJ’s rare and serious neurological condition. Read about her most difficult journey.
WHAT:
RVoyager
To boldly go…like Star Trek Voyager’s Captain Janeway and Lieutenant Paris lost in the Delta quadrant of the US West and wherever else we can venture in RVoyager, a 2005 Newmar Kountry Star.
A bolder mission
We started this website to share pics and travel stories during the 2020 pandemic stay-at-home. We realized that there are lots of websites out there with adventure travelers but maybe not so many that consider RVers with lesser abilities.
WHERE: Speaking of the Wild West
“Have vaccine in these guns, will travel.” During the months of stay-at-home, we created an ambitious schedule to visit National Parks, monuments, seashores, historic parks and whatever we can find near the borders of the lower 48. A loop that mostly avoids the heartland.
WHEN: 2021 spring departure
We will both have both vaccine jabs by mid-March… soon as we can after that, we aim to bring you fresh travel tales and pics. In the meanwhile, you can check previous adventures from the list below or from our handy navigation menu above.
HOW: If we learn a new how-to, we’ll share it
For instance, how to choose the right RV for you and your abilities. We attended RV shows and visited dealerships. We found ourselves overwhelmed. Check out our checklist guide (coming soon) with free downloads. We are not influencers, but we will make some recommendations based on our experiences and abilities (Products, coming soon).
OUR TRAVELS SO FAR…
My harrowing after vaccine travels, and how to deal with disasters
A two-hour ride to Mike Roess State Park A couple beautiful short hikes in the Mike Roess State Park ended with a gorgeous sunset. At dark the nightmare of post-vaccine covid symptoms attacked me. Since 2020 was the Twilight Zone year, we called our 2021 travel plans, The Outer Limits tour. We were avoiding people…
Dual passport? stamping around Ward Charcoal Kilns, a Nevada State Park
Like addicts, we live for national park Passport book stamps. One daub of social media marketing crossed my eyeballs, and I ordered Nevada’s free state park passport book, as you can too. Easy. Call (775) 684-2770. Blank book in hand, it seemed only natural to visit any state park on our way to Great Basin…
Disabled traveler checklist for finding and buying the right RV the first time, plus other handy lists
One of the first sales people we approached told us that people often trade in their first purchase within a year or two. She recommended that we try-before-you-buy and go to lots of RV shows. After my head injury, my speech and memory therapist found me awash in LISTS. My concussed brain struggled to organize…
WHY? Why did two nature lovers choose a motorhome lifestyle?
Two very strange problems answer this question: Chiari Malformation (CM) and Syringomyelia (SM). Otherwise we would happily cruise while making a smaller carbon footprint in a B or B+ camper van. I was diagnosed with two rare and serious neurological disorders in 2014. The first — chiari — causes the second. Basically my brain is…
The best state park near Vegas: Valley of Fire offers eerie desert vistas and traces of native peoples
Oh the humanity. We’ve seen a bit of everything homo sapien. We hiked for ages to ponder on petroglyphs dating back thousands of years, yet caught a young couple carving graffiti in a rock wall along the trail on our way back. During another Valley of Fire outing, as we enjoyed a picnic, a couple…
How to have a blast in Vegas on the Fourth of July
Our first tip, tongue-in-cheek: make sure the fireworks actually happen on the Fourth. One year, I couldn’t believe I was able to book a reservation in a penthouse restaurant on the Fourth. Only to discover, the show would be on the 3rd. D’oh! Read on to see our pics and learn our opinion of the…
Preserve your Vegas bankroll like a local and experience Springs Preserve
Springs Preserve, a well kept secret from tourists, but locals know this Central Park of Vegas offers days of delights.
Hike up Exploration Peak for a selfie with an all-encompassing but lesser known Vegas background
During our stays in Vegas, we explore, so “Exploration Peak” seemed like a no brainer. Locals recommend this hike for the scenery and the exercise, but if you go, do apply caution… Our dear friends the Lewises told us about a nearby scenic overlook hike. A stop for a sub and short drive later, we…
Viva Las Vegas living: keep your wallet fat with our beat the house budgeting and other top tips
Don’t let the allure of the lights blind you out or break your bank. Want to know when and where to grab the best pizza for half price? scrumptious BBQ and free beer? Spend a few minutes with us and bookmark this INTERACTIVE MAP post… When you work in Vegas, you live Vegas. But you…
A short trip from Vegas to Tonopah leads through the ghost town of Goldfield and into its Santa Fe Saloon
We set modest goals when we depart. Takes awhile to get it all together. Never plan to leave early. Never plan to go far. So about a year ago, we pointed RVoyager in the direction of Tonopah. En route North and West into the desert away from Vegas, we eased onto the dirt streets of…
Red Rock and roll: must-hike trails in the National Conservation Area nearest Las Vegas
Tired of bright lights and city sights around Las Vegas? Head to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Starting with the first stop off the one-way drive, people scamper down as many as 26 hiking trails to see desert plants, wildlife, and geology… RVoyager ported a few nights at the North Las Vegas Elks Lodge…
Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge: Juxtaposition of life adjacent Death Valley
Tens of thousands of years ago. Way way back in the BCE. High atop a mountain like, say, Mount Charleston near current day Las Vegas, snow falls. Flash forward today. Those same fossils-old snow molecules glisten in the meadow before you… Our drive through the dry Mojave desert led into Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge,…
When Marta Becket said she needed some space, she meant S P A C E and thus, the Amargosa Opera House
Imagine culture in the middle of nowhere. Sort of somewhere close to the brothel towns just outside Las Vegas and the first signs of life around the corner from Death Valley… The story of a Borax mining community goes awash against the colorful artistry of ballerina Marta Becket who revived a theater in need of…
Been to the Desert in RV with a name, felt good to get out in the rain? Death Valley National Park surprises
Desert = Hot, Dry, Sand. We canceled plans to see the Grand Canyon because the weather turned cold and rainy there. Instead we head to Death Valley National Park and find it’s not hot or dry… This was our second trip to the park but the first was short and we didn’t explore much. With…
London Bridge is going up, going up, going up in Lake Havasu City
What would you do if your famous bridge was falling down? Sell it to a desert town in America… Thanks to Elks, we slated Lake Havasu City, Arizona for a “check it out” overnight en route elsewhere, not as a destination per se. RVoyager warped From Lake Havasu City Elks Top of the hill view…
Introducing the 1300s: a mystery on which we obsess again while touring Casa Grande Ruins
In our travels to the Western U.S. we began to recognize a common thread weaving together abandoned sites. The occupation of sites ended close to or within one particular century… the 1300s. Gone. As if — POOF — people vanished, leaving only traces of their civilizations in the ruins of structures we visited… …Where did…
Drink in a Tequila Sunrise shade of sunset in Saguaro National Park
You probably picture bad guys with six guns riding horses in the dusty heat. Yet, one huge scenery staple for macho Western movies, the iconic Saguaro, surprised us with its feminine side… Thanks to Westerns, I used to think a drab monochrome of tumbleweeds, rocks, and bare dirt dominated the desert landscape. So the colorful…
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