Up front: “Cirque Dreams” a print of an ink and watercolor portrait of the Cirque of the Towers in Wyoming’s Wild River Range by Craig Muderlak
Drum roll, please… this is my 500th post on the Blonde Coyote! A look back at my very first post from June 2011:
Until very recently, I resisted starting a blog. I already make my living at the keyboard as a freelance science and travel writer and I didn’t want to commit to spending any more of my time staring at a computer screen. But lately, friends have been asking me for travel tips, especially road tripping advice and since I’ve been living on the road for the past six years, I have a lot to share.
Traveling is more than a hobby for me; it’s a way of life. Everything I own, including my two dogs, fits neatly in my car and I am ready to pack up and hit the road anywhere at anytime. In the past six years my dogs and I have crossed the country ten times, taken countless regional road trips, hiked thousands of miles in the lower 48 states and lived in nine states on both coasts: PA, OR, MD, VA, NM, MT, MI, WV, and ME. I have seen a lot of the world and have no plans to settle down any time soon.
I know not everybody is willing or able to convert to full time vagabonding, but traveling doesn’t have to be exotic or expensive. All you really need is time and a good pair of shoes. I would love for my friends to see more of the world, whether they are exploring their own home towns, a neighboring state, crossing the country or heading overseas. Stay tuned to The Blonde Coyote for travel tips, updates from my adventures on the road and lots more!
A new form of transport for the Teardrop: the Rattler’s first ferry boat ride out to the Olympic Peninsula!
Now, just over three years later, the intent of the Blonde Coyote has remained the same but my own mode of travel has evolved quite a bit. I bought my rolling home on the road in March 2012, as a 30th birthday present to myself. After living out of my car between housesitting gigs for six years, I was craving some personal space but I wasn’t willing to settle down in one place. The trailer has given me exactly that and after my third summer living in it, I have it decorated just so with an eclectic mix of micro-art and mementos from my journey. In celebration of my 500th post, I thought you all might enjoy seeing some updated pix of my dream home on the road.
My work station, where I write most of my posts, surrounded by some of my favorite images and an original painting by my sister.
The painting at lower left was sent to me by a reader who based it off one of my photos of Mount Elbert. Other mementos from Key West, the Rio Grande Gorge, Vedauwoo, Wyoming and the Grand Canyon.
The best Art of all…out the door
Stay tuned for 500 more posts! 🙂
Travels with the Blonde Coyote 
Congratulations! I always enjoy your posts and pictures of your adventures, and am pleased that there are still people with free sprits enjoying the adventures of life in todays tightly scripted world. Keep up the wonderful work!
Congratulations! And thank you for all the places you have taken us!
Yes, congrats on 500 posts. I have enjoyed each and every one!
Congrats, loved them all. You make me want to get my granddaughters outdoors and give them a since of adventure, and for that I thank you.
Thanks for the insight into your travelling world and congrats on the 500th post – what a milestone.
And thank you for all 500…delicious!!!!!!
Congratulations on your 500th!! Love your post and your outstanding photography. Is that a fake (or real) tarantula to the right of your hat in the 3rd picture?
Time flies when one is having fun, looking forward to another round. Enjoy, and go well.
Congrats, Mary! I’ve been following your blog for awhile and always enjoy your beautiful photography and informative commentary. I am on the opposite end of the lifetime spectrum from you but I’ve found so much inspiration from your travels (and others who live a similar lifestyle) that I’ve recently purchased my own sweet little teardrop camper. I have decided that it is never too old to have a happy childhood so I look forward to my own travels filled with exploration and wanderings. Again, congratulations and I hope you post at least 500 more! 🙂
Living the dream–well done. Keep the great posts rolling, and thanks!
That really does look like a dream home! It makes me fantasise about swapping our house (and mortgage:-( with a camper van like yours! Speaking about that: it looks very unusual, and I love its design (& interior!). Rounded, with roof windows/openings, I love the location of doors and windows, and it also seems quite sturdy. Where did you get it – is it home made / home altered? (I don’t think I have seen anything like that here in Australia)
Stupid me… The link explains that… just ignore my comment please:-)
WooHoo- 500! you are an inspiration!
Hi Mary,
I found your blog some time ago. I don`t remember exactly how.
Inspiring attitude and way of life…
My name is Claudio (Del Luongo), 52, Italo-German (living high above Lake Garda (I) and in Bavaria). Stopped working 12 years ago (professional freelance translator/conference interpreter, mainly German/Italian) for reasons similar to what you describe. Rather live on way less money but really experience and enjoy your life (short enough, this very improbable and casual chance we got to experience our planet, and surroundings, as far as humanly possible). I could start a comeback now, the Internet makes it possible to write and travel, as you do.
As I could see from your blog, we have very similar views about live. One „small“ difference is that I have a daughter (15, going to school under the towers of Neuschwanstein (D) and a „lady“, we have been together for about 22 years now. I’m taking most of my trips alone, as my partner still works (from home) and is very happy doing so. Those trips tend to be 4 to 5 weeks long, but some years from now our daughter will be independent so I’ll be able to further „downsize“ considerably and the trips will get longer, probably the rest of my life will basically become a long trip, similar to yours.
Our planet ist about 5 billions years old (probably next to nothing compared to the age of what we call universe or cosmos, not having really a clue what it is all about, its real dimensions an so on), we humans have been here for about 2 millions years, living almost 99.9% of this time in the complete wilderness. Only about 10,000 years ago we started to live in farms, villages and the like. Our genetical information is therefore still almost completely orientated towards a life in the wilderness, most of what we have learned for surviving in wild spaces is still there, in our genes, but unused, useless and therefore causing a loss of balance in our spirits.
This could be a reason for our longing for a simple life in the wilderness, in wide spaces, in silence, as nomads, getting to know new things/people, leaving behind this crazy industrialized world we live in today. And Europe is far more “packed” than your beautiful States…
I could write a lot more about my reflections on this, but that would get too long. Just a hint of what could be what a lot of people miss in their daily „normal“ life. Our genetical information ist not just as old as we are, but almost 2 millions years (no, much older, it goes back to the first fishes and reptiles, perhaps even longer…), so there is something in you (and every, not only human, being, of course) that is like a very ancient self…
I like to take pictures, too, but I am not an experienced photographer. I just go by „feel“ with a small SLR my „lady“ gave me as a present for my birthday some years ago (PENTAX K 200 D). My technical „skills“ are VERY basic (almost zero, I should say). My motivation to take pictures has always been mainly to „seize“ those fantastic landscapes/lights/moments/feelings, not to reach technically perfect shots. For example, I never used a tripod in my life. If you google me you’ll find lots of my pictures, most of them taken in the American West, where I mostly travel in a rented SUV sleeping in it in national forests or public lands (for free). I hike and cycle a lot, lots of hours almost every day, have been doing that for decades now.
Wish you all the best, safe travels…
Ciao
Claudio
Congratulations! I loved seeing the inside of your home. I should have imagined it looking that way, filled with color and art!
Congratulations on the 500th! I hope I can one day get to that milestone too. I look forward to hearing about more adventures on the road. Do you do all of your traveling out of the teardrop?
Congratulations. Your blog is inspirational.