Our beloved Coyote Hawk turns three at the end of this month. We drove her home from Southern California on November 29, 2021. It has been three years of wonderful adventures with 227 nights spent inside and more than that parked at people's homes and sleeping in THEIR beds. She has been a wonderful investment.
People's homes
Coyote Hawk began her adventurous life in our driveway, plugged in, with an electric heater going, on December 1, 2021. That was our first night in her. We had no idea what we were doing and weren't sure we'd survive it...lol. The house was close in case we forgot anything or got too cold. We slept in down sleeping bags and made coffee and tea in the morning, just for practice. We've come a long way.
It turns out one of our favorite places to camp is in a loved ones driveway! We have our own space, don't disrupt the host family and their sleeping arrangements and don't have to pack and unpack bags as we go visiting. It's a win-win situation!
Our usual spot in the family lot in San Geronimo, CA.
The family farm in St. Paul, NE
Critters outside of Ellen's sister's house in Bellingham, WA. And, parked outside her niece's house one night while on the Washington trip.
The front yard, out by the pool at my sister's house in Mariposa, CA.
Beside the garage of more framily in the North Phoenix area.
House sitting for framily in Tucson, AZ. This was a GREAT setup as we stayed in the camper but had house access AND a car to drive!
Having such a nimble vehicle has allowed for us to get into some pretty tight places as well as getting down to the water in places I would NEVER drag a trailer.
Our second trip to Bahia de Los Angeles, BC (Baja California, not British Columbia), found us at the same palapas as the first. Close to the beach, ready to snorkel or paddle board in a moment's notice.
On our first trip to Baja we stayed at this little place in San Felipe for an overnight. It was...interesting.
We were due to spend several days on Padre Island National Seashore. The winds had other ideas. This was our first beach experience and I'm pretty sure we still have sand from there imbedded in the rig somewhere.
We haven't canoe camped at Lake Powell since Coyote Hawk has entered our lives. Instead, we have been to Lone Rock Beach twice, camp near the water and spend the days paddling. Are we done with canoe camping? Not sure...
National Forest and Army Corp of Engineers provides for some very nice camping.
Boondocking on the North Rim outside of Grand Canyon National Park.
Sugar Bottom Campground outside of Iowa City, IA. We met the most lovely couple here and still follow each others adventures via FB.
Davis Lake Campground outside of Houston, MS where Ellen lived for a short time.
Schwarz Campground in Oregon. A one-night stay on our way to Bellingham, WA.
Kaibab Lake in Williams, AZ for a one-night full moon paddle with a dear friend.
We tend to steer clear of KOA's and private campgrounds but occasionally there doesn't seem to be a choice. They have been some interesting times for sure.
These two images are KOA's, which are always guaranteed to have nice facilities even if the campground itself isn't remarkable. Above is outside of Picacho Peak State park on I-10 in Arizona. We were escaping a big winter storm and needed a last minute locations. Thanks KOA. Below was in Galveston, TX.
This is outside of Dollywood in Tennessee. It's an RV "Resort". And yeah, we were the smallest rig there by FAR.
Once we got blown off the beach at Padre Island we landed here in Harlingen, TX where Ellen lived as a child. We were surrounded by mobile homes owned by Canadians who had just left to go back home for the summer.
A nice little campground outside of Sonora, TX at Caverns of Sonora, a privately owned cave system.
Here's a funny little campground in Terlingua, TX outside of Big Bend National Park.
City Parks
Winton Woods. We stayed here for a week once while visiting family in Cincinnati.
Brady Lake Park in Brady, TX. A stopover for us heading out of the area of totality for the April solar eclipse.
Regional and County Parks. We have three favorite parks in the Phoenix area, part of the Maricopa County Regional Park system. Each one provides us with a different activity when we are ready to escape the cold of a Flagstaff winter for a few days.
McDowell Mountain Regional Park is our go-to for mountain biking.
White Tank Mountain Regional Park has great hiking and biking.
Lake Pleasant Regional Park allows us to paddle board in winter. It also has good hiking and biking. AND...DONKEYS!!
This is a county park we found outside of Provo, UT on our way home from the Pacific Northwest. It was empty, and odd but had a great trail to ride our bikes along a river.
Tehachapi Mountain Park on our way to see family in California.
Gilbert Ray, a Pima County Park in Southern Arizona know for its mountain bike trails.
State Parks have become our favorte place to camp. They are beautiful and way less busy that the National Parks. Here are a few...
Oregon
A beautiful State Park in Tennessee. Henry Horton. The big plus to a place bigger than a tent is that when the weather turns to crap you have a place to escape to and room to move around.
Another New Mexico stop, City of Rocks State Park.
Coming back from our Texas solar eclipse trip in April we stopped for anight at Bottomless Lakes State Park in New Mexico.
We stayed here a night or two, Picacho Peak State Park, on our way south.
We met up with my brother here at Abilene State Park in Texas on our way to the eclipse last April.
Patagonia Lake State Park is a beautiful place in southern Arizona in winter for birding.
While visiting New Orleans we stayed at Fontainebleau State Park. Here we ran into a young couple living in an old Four Wheel Camper on an old 1978 Ford pickup. They were fascinating to talk to.
Catalina State Park in Tucson is also a wonderful winter birding area in southern Arizona.
Kartchner Caverns State Park has an amazingly beautiful cave tour.
We camped at Cherry Crreek State Park for a good ten days last summer while visiting family and friends in Denver.
South Llano River State Park was armadillo heaven when we passed through in April. When we returned in October two years later we didn't see a single one.
On our way to Big Bend National park we drove through Big Bend State park and spent a night at Grassy Bottom campground overlooking the Rio Grande.
National Parks, they're big and busy. We've only stayed at a couple, Grand Canyon and Big Bend National Park. We've also stayed at a couple of recreation areas...Glen Canyon and Gila Box.
We were welcomed to our first camp experience at Grand Canyon by a monsoon rain. Thanks for keeping us dry Coyote Hawk!!
This is Big Bend. On the left is a backcountry campsite with a bear box. We are watching a storm dump rain on the Chisos Mountains that would eventually flash the arroyos in the lower desert where we camped. To the right, our camp in Chisos Basin at 5,000 feet in elevation. It was considerably cooler than the desert floor.
This is our camp at Gila Box Riparian Natural Area. It is located near Safford, AZ along the Gila River of Eastern Arizona.
This is the campground at Lee's Ferry overlooking the Colorado River. Lee's Ferry is where all downstream river trips launch from and where upstream backhaul trips depart from before floating down to the ferry.
That's it in a nutshell, Happy Birthday Coyote Hawk!!
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Great to see you all are getting great use with it! Wishing you even more great adventures!
I can’t believe it’s already been 3 years! What a great purchase that has been! We’re in Los Gatos now, so keep us in mind if you’re out in California.