In the POD - Petrified Forest National Park

Blue Mesa

Petrified Forest National Park 

I did not expect this! 

At over 220,000 acres, Petrified Forest National Park is one of the best places to see fossils from the Late Triassic Period - remnants of prehistoric forests that are now petrified wood. But there is so much more to see and explore here. There is one road through  the park - a 28 mile meander through what looks like another world, a foreign landscape of painted desert, grasslands, Native American ruins, and the “forests” of petrified wood. It was stunning.

 

The painted desert 

Petrified Forest National Park

When one first enters the park on the northern edge there are many pull outs to enjoy the vistas of the painted desert. Sprawling out in front of you - and below - it is difficult to get a sense of scale and distance. The colors pop and I’m sure that, depending on the light/ time of day it becomes a never ending changing canvas of colors. 

2 happy campers! 

Heading south you pass through sprawling grasslands eventually coming upon Puerco Pueblo. These archeological ruins are the ancestral home of native people who lived and thrived here between 1250 and 1380 CE. Both at this site and at another in the park there are over 650 petroglyphs! Tim and I kept coming back to the history we have witnessed over the past week ….. we are neither the first, nor the last. We share this world - whatever your world is - with a past. And that past is history that needs to be acknowledged. 

Petroglyphs 

From there you drive through another painted desert -  The Blue Mesa - however this one is mostly blues and purples! There is a beautiful 1 mile trail down into the badlands and you begin to see the colorful remnants of the petrified wood that is the namesake of the park. 

Overlooking Blue Mesa

At two other stops along the route -  Jasper Forest and Crystal Forest - there are the greatest concentrations of petrified wood. In Crystal Forest there is another 1 mile loop trail that takes you among a “forest” of these specimens. 

Petrified logs

So how did these trees become petrified-  basically turning them into rocks? First a bit of history- 225 million years ago this area of the SW was a tropical landscape with abundant vegetation and giant conifer trees that reached 180 feet. When those huge trees fell along the banks of the many rivers it was buried under sand and mud. This deep burial seals it away from oxygen and bacteria preventing decay. Eventually, silica from volcanic ash in the groundwater infiltrates the tree replacing the organic matter with quartz….. hence, petrified. Different minerals in the water create a rainbow of colors that can be seen in many of the pieces. These petrified specimens are stunningly beautiful- from tiny shards to massive trunks that are strewn across the landscape.

Gemlike colors!

For scale…

It was a very full day! We slept well that night- lulled to sleep by the sound of trains passing in the distance. It is a sound that we both love…..

When I awoke there was a dense, cold fog laying over us. As I looked out the window all I could see was the headlight of the train in the distance, coming our way. 

Heading westward.

In the POD - Hot Springs National Park

 

Hot Springs!

Hot Springs National Park was designated as a National park in 1921. It’s 5,500 acres of forested mountains surround the downtown area of the city of Hot Springs, Arkansas - creating a true urban park.

In the early 1800’s explorers in the Ouachita Mountains were told of the hot waters that people would soak in to “recover their health” and in 1832 Congress declared a four square mile reservation to protect the water for public use. By the late 1860’s  the area began to draw many people lured by the promise of improved health and at the turn of the century Hot Springs was among the most visited health resorts in the U.S. boasting many fine hotels and opulent bathhouses. Today there are 9 remaining bathhouse buildings - most repurposed. 

We visited the Fordyce Bathhouse which is now the park’s visitor center. Built in 1915 this elegant building houses, as a museum, separate men’s and women’s baths, dressing rooms, massage rooms, a gymnasium and social areas set up to recreate what it looked like in its heyday. The men’s bathing area features a large domed stained glass ceiling with a sculpture of Hernando DeSoto and an “Indian” maiden as the room’s centerpiece. Questionable at best…. Needless to say, the women’s  bathing area was quite utilitarian. 

Fordyce Bathhouse men’s bathing area

We were scheduled to have hot spring baths and massages at the Buckstaff Baths, the only bathhouse on the row to operate continuously for over a century, but our reservations were canceled at the last minute due to Covid. 

Buckstaff Baths

We did, however, find a bathhouse that offered us something that made us both quite happy. Superior Bathouse Brewery! Yes! The only brewery located within a national park, it occupies one of the remaining bathhouses, and it uses the park’s thermal spring water as their main ingredient. Okay…. So instead of sitting in the thermal water we drank it and instead of getting a massage we drank it! 

All good.

Superior Bathhouse Brewery

As one enters the park on foot, running behind the row of bathhouses, there is the Grand Promenade. Wide, bricked and surrounded by plantings this walkway was the outdoor accompaniment to the indoor “health restorative”. The promenade is .5 miles one way and is the entry point for many of the trails that run up into the park. There is also a one way loop drive inside the park to the top of Hot Springs Mountain. Along the drive there are occasional pull outs for additional access to the many trails within. 

The Grand Promenade 

The loop road was steep and winding (similar to most of the roads we have encountered here in Arkansas!) Near the top there is a tower that will carry you up 216 feet to an observation deck for views of Hot Springs Mountain and the vast Ouachita Mountains. It’s an approximate 1.5 mile trail hike to the tower from the park entrance. It was difficult to get any good pictures inside the park because the trails are all quite narrow and tree lined.

The most amazing thing about this park is the geology. Unlike many hot springs - like Iceland, which are volcanic in nature - the springs here are created by a complex system of of faults and fractures in the rocks. Rain and snow trickle into cracks of brittle rock ( novaculite and chert). Gravity pulls the water downward into the earths’s crust and the water’s temperature increases with the depth. When the water eventually reaches a major fault on Hot Springs Mountain, pressure propels it back upward. Through carbon dating experts have determined that it takes almost 4,500 YEARS for the water to complete this journey! It emerges from the springs at @ 143 degrees F. 

Wow! 

Most of the hot springs within the park have been capped/covered since the turn of the century in order to protect them from contamination, however, there are 4 on display along Bathhouse Row where you can touch the water. There’s are also 3 additional thermal spring fountains and 2 cold spring fountains where you can fill up bottles. 

While visiting Hot Springs we stayed for 3 days at  Lake Ouachita State Park. Approximately 30 minutes away it was nestled in the mountains….. so quiet and peaceful - we saw only 3 other campers the entire time. There was ZERO connectivity in the park but it was actually quite welcome for us right now…. Lots of conversation over what we had seen in the past week. 

Lake Ouachita State Park

Today was a POD care/self care day. Before moving on to our next stop we spent the morning taking stock, filling/emptying tanks, cleaning and replacing water filters etc. We also then found a laundromat because, yeah, you have to make time for that. We took our time through the rest of the Ouachita National Forest - more winding roads. 

Tonight we are spending the night at Lake Dardanelle State Park - another pristine mountain lake.

Lake Dardanelle State Park

in the POD - the weeping time

*Photo of museum from their website

Water surrounding you, swallowing you. An ocean that is angry and loud.

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That is what you are confronted with as you step inside the first room of the Legacy Museum: From Slavery to Mass Incarceration, in Montgomery, AL. It is just you and a 20’ tall video screen of churning and crashing waves - seemingly shot from the water line - and  the constant roar of a storm. A bit shocked by the sight and sounds you stiffen up and push back.  But the longer you stand there watching the weaker you become…… and you are lulled into the abyss.

 Helpless.

The Legacy Museum, opened in the spring of 2018, is housed in a warehouse building that once stored cotton and is steps from one of the most active slave auction sites in America. Using sculpture, text, video, holograms, first person accounts, and photos the museum painstakingly shows how slavery, after Reconstruction, was “dusted off and repurposed” in the American penal system.

There are many “ghosts” that guide you along this journey - from the haunting sculptures of faces and torsos that rise up from the depths of the ocean as you are pulled through the second room, the life size holograms of human beings in cages crying out for help, the towering walls lined with clear jars filled with the dirt from lynching sites and the inmates sitting on the other side of the glass connected to you by only a telephone. So many untold stories. So many continue to be untold….. 

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Memorial for Peace and Justice 

Memorial for Peace and Justice

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A short shuttle bus ride from the museum is the Memorial for Peace and Justice. Water is an important element here as well. It is the tears for those lost and it is the tears that allow us to heal. The memorial seems to be growing out of the top of a hill and as you walk up the angled walkways it’s hard edges of concrete and metal come into focus. Rusted metal coffins emblazoned with the county and state and the names and dates of those lynched are hung from a wooden ceiling. I do not know how many counties are represented - all I know is that it was overwhelming. 

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“Over the course of three days, while the rains poured down on the open square in the center of Montgomery, over 450 men, women and children were sold off. It became known as the weeping time.”

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in the POD - an extended road trip .....

 

Wright Brothers National Memorial

Kitty Hawk, NC

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With the world, once again, begging us to engage we decided to take our newly completed POD, our vaccination certificates, and the need for adventure out for a spin.  A 3 week spin. The first goal is to continue to test the systems of the van in new situations, off grid, and in heat. The second - and probably the most important - is to reconnect with distant friends that we have not seen in years! 

Our first real stop was in Raleigh, NC to spend an afternoon and evening with some dear friends that we have not seen in 7 years since they relocated from Florida to NC! Allyson and Mike have created a wonderful home for themselves and their two young girls, Emma and Morgan (and their dogs, Bailey and Zipper!) - each of them welcoming us into their home and life. We all caught up and settled in for relaxed conversation and an amazing dinner that Mike had prepared! I must admit the fig, arugula, prosciutto, goat cheese and SMOKED walnut pizza was my absolute fav!!! As well as the smoked Bourbon Old-Fashioned!!! Mike is VERY into smoking.

The thing about relationships with good friends ..... they never dissipate! 

Alas.....There are no pics from this perfect get-together .... we were too busy enjoying the company! 

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We left Raleigh the following morning and headed east to the Outer Banks. The Outer Banks are a 200 mile string of barrier islands along the South Virginia and North Carolina coast.  Traversing over 10 miles of bridges we entered the series of islands just south of Nag's Head and headed south along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. 

Along our right we could see the low grasses that led out to the intercoastal and on our left were, first, stilt homes piled together and then ..... dunes. 

It was 60 miles of this - and a few bridges - to get to the south end of Hatteras, Frisco, NC. We camped at Frisco Campground, a NPS maintained campground. Scattered among the dunes the camp was bare, isolated, and perfect. 

the boardwalk from the campground to the beach

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We love barrier island beaches - and this 60+ miles of beach was over whelming to say the least. However, I was very surprised as we climbed over the dunes to reach the ocean (yes... you can actually walk on all these dunes except for those areas specifically marked by the rangers) because I did not expect to see a beach filled with  SUVs! All of the beach is 4 wheel drive accessible - which I guess makes sense because it is so big and wide. 

The picture below does not clearly capture the number of vehicles - all lined up next to each other - with added tents, awnings, inflatable pools, fishing equipment.......

I believe it was the most crowded beach I have ever been on!

Frisco Beach, Cape Hatteras NC

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It truly is a beautiful beach. The water was crystal clear and quite warm. We walked the beach in awe of the amount of people and, unfortunately, also in awe of the amount of HUGE "Trump 2024" flags planted in the sand ...... ugh. We headed back to camp after a few miles deciding that an early morning beach walk might just be a bit more relaxing. The evening was star-filled, quiet and very warm.

peaceful.....

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The next day we visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kitty Hawk. Of course, we all learned about what these men had accomplished - but it was really quite inspiring to see the spot - the approximate 100' high sand dune (now planted with grass so that it does not shift/disappear) that they had carried the glider up for each test, the wooden shacks they lived and worked in, the markers where they did each of the four test flights from ...... each flight teaching them something new and each flight going just a bit further! 

The exhibit in the visitor center was also very well done explaining their process and the principles of flight that they slowly learned and there is also a replica of the plane they built for these first historic sights. 

Replica Wright Brothers airplane 1903

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We saw the original plane at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. However, that one is suspended very high above and actually difficult to see up close. It was wonderful to be able to walk fully around the replica no more than 10' away and truly understand the scale of it.

monument on the dune at Kill Devil Hills

Wright Bros National Memorial

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Wanting to experience another NPS camping site on the Outer Banks, we moved into Oregon Inlet Campground which was much closer to the center of the island near Nag's Head. 

Also nestled within the dunes, this campground did provide some electric hook-ups (which we did not choose) but the slots were spaced very close together and it definitely was not as relaxing as the last. 

We were only there for one night ...... so it was fine.

The walk to the beach from the campground was actually lovely and our early morning dip in the ocean was divine.

morning over the dunes

Oregon Inlet Campground

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The next morning we headed to Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. It is the home of the first Roanoke settlements of the 1500's - well known as the Lost Colony - as well as the first Freedmen's settlement in 1862 during the Civil War. 

The visitor center was filled with artifacts and displays of historical information.

I cannot say enough about the NPS and the multitude of sites that they oversee, support, preserve and teach from. At every site we have visited we have always encountered rangers that have been knowledgeable and welcoming. 

We attended a ranger talk on the first Freedmen's settlement which was very enlightening, informative and just so happened to be delivered to us by a young, female Black ranger on June Thirteenth! 

Seemed like the exact thing we should be doing at that moment in time.

Roanoke Island looking into the sound

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Besides the visitor center Fort Raleigh has a few walking trails, a theatre that has produced "The Lost Colony" play since 1937 (!), and archeological evidence of structural berns used for protection. Its well worth visit - history!

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And of course .... we found a brewery!

Outer Banks Brewing Station

Kill Devil, NC

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in the POD - welcome aboard!

Dining table set up in the cab area. 

Seats swivel to accommodate.

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We are actually DONE ..... and boy does it seem strange to not have lists upon lists of things to do every single day! It has been an arduous, but enjoyable, 10 month process. Countless hours, a whole lot of learning, lots of experimenting and lots of doing over, and over, again. And we did it without killing each other in the process and are still looking forward to spending extended amounts of time in @ 190 sq ft together!

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POD 3.0 comes in at 25' (plus an additional 1' for the bike rack/bikes) and 9,000 lbs fully loaded. 

Here she is...........

Looking from the cab to the back of the van. 

Seven storage units above, 9 drawers in kitchen, 4 deep under-bed drawers in the bedroom and one closet. 

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Kitchen has expandable counter, convection oven, both regular and filtered water taps, 

and a induction cooktop as well as a propane burner stored in the bottom drawers.

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Behind those doors is the bathroom - toilet and recirculating shower. 

Refrigerator and additional counter round out the kitchen area.

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Bedroom. 

Beds can convert to a full bed or we can add a 1/2 bed in the middle for Rosie.

Dining table can also be set up back here.

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Cozy sitting, reading, and sleeping spot with custom made bed sacks and wall storage with charging station. Also personal reading lamps and fans.

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Closet

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We have a few short term (3-4 day) outings booked over the next month. Horseneck Beach, Nickerson State Park, Salisbury Beach and Wells State Park will allow us some off-grid time to work out any issues before we head into longer treks. 

Of course, there are still a few things to finish up. But, right now, they are just details. We're sure that once we spend more time in it we will want to modify and change a few things - we'll have to see how she behaves in day to day living. 

Looking back to the front which has over cab storage. 

For travel the portable table top is stored on top of the 2 person jump seat.

It can also be used in this position at bar height.

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Nothing but the road ahead!

Happy trails! 

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in the POD - busy bees

living their best life....

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 SO you might be asking.... what the hell have you been doing for the past three weeks?!

Well we haven't been resting on our laurels and there is not any significant visual change to the van. We have filled the time with lots of little things, lots of decision making, a few changes and some waiting on various parts to move forward with. 

All good.

First, we finally got the running boards put on! It surely has made it much easier getting in and out of the van. There is one at the driver's side door and then this one on the passenger side - spanning both that door and the big slider.

Side running boards

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The 6 solar panels are now fully mounted and installed on the roof. We are using Renogy 175 watt panels which are directly connected to a Renogy Rover 60 amp charge controller. The controller is then connected to the battery.

6 solar panels on the roof of the van

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The panels are mounted on aluminum frames made from 8020 aluminum profiles. The panels along with the structure are secured with stainless steel screws.

you can see the main frame as well as the framed sections of panels

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Over the past few weeks a lot of time has been spent on the "garage" - discussions, drawings, placement of equipment, mounting systems, un-mounting systems, moving those systems to a new spot, remounting ..... you get the picture. Basically trying to find the most efficient placement for everything that needs to be there. 

Ultimately, the structure within the garage will be built out of the same 8020 aluminum profiles that we used on the roof. I suggested that we first do a mock up out of wood so we could get an actual sense of what fit where/best. This worked out great -  we learned a lot and changed the position of a number of systems all for the better! 

Now that the plan for the garage is set Tim was able to order the balance of the 8020 aluminum and has begun creating the rest of the wiring and plumbing lines that run into and out of here. 

mock up of the garage

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progress report on other systems:

Toilet and black water tank have been set up and the system has been tested. It works!

No pics yet..... because it has all been dismantled while we rebuild the whole bathroom frame from 8020 aluminum profiles.

Rear view camera has been installed. The Sprinter comes with a fantastic back up system: camera, and sensors that depict the whole backup experience on the dashboard video screen, and includes beeping if you get too close to anything. Very cool and very useful. That said, because the back doors have no windows, the van did not come with an inside rear view mirror. So we purchased a dash cam/rear cam that uses a rear view mirror style screen. Now we can watch our rear! with the dash cam full time, while recording both the dash cam and rear cam while driving. 

in the POD - the adventure continues

the "garage"

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Our break from installing windows didn't mean an actual break from our list of all the 

things that need to be done on our van. And, I'm not actually sure how this happens but that 

list seems to be growing.....

sound dampening and 2 layers of insulation installed after the windows were put in

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I finished the layers of insulation around the 3 windows. I know, it looks so simple ... and yet it took me close to a full day to complete because of all the odd angles and some really small spaces. 

While I did that Tim began work on the "garage". The garage is, for us, the last 2 feet of the van and will hold all the infrastructure systems for the van. This is all the stuff that Tim had been testing and assembling on the porch earlier this spring.

The garage will house:

300 amp hour lithium battery and 3,000 watt Magnum inverter

30' retractable 30 amp shore power cable

All the electrical control systems including a Renogy solar charge controller

12 volt and 120 volt control center

12 volt air conditioning system

Portable 1800 watt generator

Diesel fired hydronic heating/hot water system - powering the radiant heat in the floor and walls and the kitchen and bath hot water

Filters and UV sanitation for the recirculating shower

Retractable hoses for both fresh water and sewage

and ..... this list may grow.

radiant heat added to the garage

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Radiant heat panels and tubing were first added to the floor and walls of the garage followed by the flooring. Radiant heat panels are currently being added to the rest of the floor and walls of the van.

beginnings of the garage install

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Tim is building a metal frame system to hold and support the mechanics of the garage. The main control panel - seen at top in the photo - will face into the van for easy accessibility. 

In the week ahead the focus will be on getting the radiant heat panels and tubing in, continuing work on the garage and infrastructure systems, and possibly getting the flooring in. The final two windows have been delayed and are not scheduled to arrive until the end of the week.

Each day we find ourselves with a new question, sometimes a different plan, sometimes a change - yet, all of it, a welcomed challenge. We have no one to please but ourselves.

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Oh ... and we did install an additional fold up passenger seat. It's for Rosie.

two passenger fold up seat behind the driver


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Rosie checking it out.

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in the POD - one step at a time.....

The scariest cut of all - making holes for the windows!!

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And so it has begun. 

On July 1st, we took possession of our new van, a Mercedes Sprinter on a 170" wheel base with an extended body.  Our total length is 24.5 feet, a dramatic increase from our 19 foot Roadtrek Agile (also a Sprinter chassis)!  

Tim had already put months of work into this project - researching electrical, solar, plumbing systems,  designing the layout, and creating a spreadsheet with all the needed parts (with links and costs). Once we decided to move forward with up-fitting a new van ourselves he began ordering parts, pre-assembling the internal systems and testing them..... over and over. The back porch has become the "workshop" and storage facility for windows, water/waste tanks, radiant floor panels, hoses, generator ....... and the roof has been the testing ground for 6 solar panels which are currently running a small fan as well as the new refrigerator for the van. 

Over the past 25 extremely HOT days we have been working non-stop. So far most of all the work has truly been the grunt, totally non-sexy part of the up-fitting. Yup, all the stuff that, ultimately, will never be seen - but are essential to how we want to travel.

This is where our story begins.......

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Step 1

Remove the wall panels that the van came with.

Apply the sound dampening material. 

Vans are a whole lot of metal speeding down a highway. When they go over bumps the metal rattles. And rattles are super annoying.

These Noico Solutions panels come in fairly large @ 18" x 29" sheets that can be easily cut with a scissors. They have a self adhesive back and we used a small metal brayer to firmly attach the panels to ALL the interior walls, ceiling and wheel casings. (Note: At this point we did not do the 5 sections where we will be adding windows. We will complete those spots after the windows are in)

This was a tedious job but once we found our groove it went fairly quickly. We also began adding the next 2 layers of insulation (steps 2 and 3) as we completed each side of the van.

Tim using a brayer to secure the Noico panel

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My job was, mostly, measuring and cutting ......

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Step 2 and 3

Apply Reflectix - a double reflective insulation and Foamular Insulation Sheeting.

On top of the sound deadening panels we added two layers of insulation. This will help keep our traveling Pod cool in hot climates and warm in cold climates! Strangely enough we have found ourselves traveling  to many cold areas and have often awoken to below zero temps and a few frozen pipes. Yeah .... not great.

 Which brings me to an important piece of info about Tim's plan for our new Pod. Most upfitted van units place the holding tanks under the chassis and run all the water lines in the outside walls of the van. (I bet you can already see the problem.) This is NOT how Pod 3.0 is going to do it! Everything will be inside our layered and cozy interior! More on that when we actually get to installing all the cool things that Tim has been diligently testing on the porch .........

Back to the grunt work.

Both the Reflectix and the Foamular sheeting had to be cut to size to fit in all the nooks of the van walls.  Each layer was glued into place using Loc-Tite construction adhesive. We then filled any remaining spaces and cracks with Great Stuff spray foam. Once the foam was completely set/dry (@ 24 hrs) it was trimmed to be flush with the final insulation layer.

Reflectix and the Foamular sheeting process

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Ceiling completed!

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Nothing to see here!

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Once all the insulation was completed we put the original wall panels back in place. The walls are now ready for their next layer ..... but first the windows need to be installed.

This was by far the scariest (for me) part of this whole deal - cutting holes in a brand new van!! I mean its not like you can "stitch witchery" it back together. I truly wanted no part of this process but Tim insisted that "we're in this together, if we fail we fail together." (Yeah... something like that.) 

And we did it together! 

And we are still speaking! 

And we currently have 3 windows installed!! 

the first cut is the deepest....

Creating the first template  (we will have 3 different sizes) was a bit nerve wracking - like creating a costume pattern that has to be perfect on the body the first time it is put on. Ugh. We started with the smallest of the windows - which will sit above the galley counter. Our first window took us approximately 5 hours to put in.

First window completed. 

Once the hole is cut a frame is constructed on the interior of the van - this is to both support the window as well as make it flush with the finished wall. The frame is constructed of laminated PVC boards and attached to the wall with 3M VHB (Very High Bonding) double sides tape.

Attaching the frame.

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Our windows are Arctic Tern manufactured by Tern Overland and supplied to us by campervan-hq.com.  They are made in Europe and feature double pane acrylic glazing and include a separate interior cover panel containing a retractable screen on top and a black out shade with a reflective exterior on the bottom.

Arctic Tern windows with retractable screens and 

blackout blinds.

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Open window on driver's side

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Sliding door and Galley windows

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We are taking a break before adding the last 2 windows - because they won't be here until next week.