As Gary, Kit and their kids make their way around the US (and a little of BC) in a biodiesel-powered, solar-equiped motor home, they've been emailing the Berkeley office some of their stories from the road. We thought you'd appreciate reading about their adventures as well. Kit sent this one just last week...

We've been out of cell coverage for days, first time in years! It's kind of fun. Just a little update here from the family road trip. We left Vancouver area last Monday and headed across southern British Columbia. The mountains were green and came straight up from the valley floors. We stopped at a beautiful Provincial Park and everyone was friendly and helpful.

We looked for biodiesel, (by this time no cell or email),The Huskey Stations were selling "Mother Nature's Fuel." We asked if Mother Nature made the diesel as well, they said everything they sold was not petroleum but they couldn't tell us exactly what it was. The "gas " was ethanol, but they didn't know what the diesel was. Well, better than nothing. Here we go, B-whatever.



We made our way into Montana, good-bye biodiesel. We stayed in Glacier Park, and I shared some stories with the family of when I worked there twenty-seven years ago. I earned $1.80 an hour (after they took out room and board), we had to work six days a week, and weren't allowed to have cars (they were afraid we would leave on our day off and not return in time to work). We camped at the St. Mary's Lake campground, with a stunning view of the Rockies and glaciers.



We headed off to the Grand Tetons and stayed at Jackson Lake in Colter Bay Campground two days and three nights. We boated, fished, swam, hiked, ran and rode the bikes around camp. Lydia, Clayton and I went to a ranger talk on Lewis and Clark. We even got to do our laundry!



Yesterday, we broke from our normal 200-250 miles per day and hauled down to Pueblo, Colorado 600 miles. We watched the landscape change from peaks to plateaus and back to peaks again. We experienced one of the most incredible lightening storms. We're now on our way to Santa Fe, checking out the area and college for Clay. This will be the first time I've ever been there so it will be exciting for me as well.



It may sound absurd that traveling around in an RV can be a white road journey but some of the principals are holding. We're traveling light and we're not always taking the fastest route from point A to point B.



Travel Tips:

• Be cautious of swimming in undesignated areas as there may be mud leeches—even in the Tetons.


• Always get a fishing license even if there's only one hour of daylight left; Fish and Game patrol pristine mountain lakes in National Parks.


• When traveling after dark, KOA is there for you and your RV—as well as the highway noise, trains, and road work that starts at 5 a.m.


• Avoid all glassware in the RV, especially your French Press—its days are numbered.


• When desperate, and in a remote area, your engine oil funnel works well for making drip coffee if you have the filters.

That's all for now!