Back to Y-Not – Van Trip from Arizona to Maryland via the Natchez Trace

Last we left you, we had just departed Benson, AZ in our van after abundant winter season at SKP Saguaro Co-Op.

We left out on March 13 to start heading eastward, with plans to caravan with our friends Amanda & Jesse who were heading in the same direction.

We arrived back to northern Maryland, where we left Y-Not stored for winter, on April 9.

Last evening we went live on YouTube to recap the van adventure, celebrate being back aboard and commemorating Chris’ 20th Nomadiverary.

Here’s the archive if you’d like to watch:

The Caravan Miles

Bisbee, AZ

We had never overnighted in Bisbee, AZ – so our crosscountry little caravan decided to make a weekend there our first stop upon leaving Benson.

We stayed at the Harvest Host in the area, which had room for both our rigs, and planned out a weekend of fun!

Starting with breakfast at nearby Dots (yummy), attending the Turkey Vulture festival and then a burlesque show in the evening at the Grand Bisbee Hotel. And of course, just general poking around.

We were able to tempt some of our friends down from Benson to join up with us before we all part ways for now – which made it all that more fun!

Art Car World – Douglas, AZ

Next on our cross country trip, our little caravan decided to route along Historic 80 and make a stop in Douglas, AZ to tour Art Car World. Before the museum opened, we took a spin through the historic hotel down the street.

This museum is a work in progress and will feature around 30-40 amazing art cars – many of them Burning Man participants.

Art cars are vehicles that have been turned into art – from over the top decorations, to wild and crazy conversions. All of the cars are functioning vehicles and street legal.

It was fascinating to tour this facility, and definitely worth a detour down near the border.

Serendipity was in full force this visit – as it turns out, our paths have crossed with our guide Hunter before on another serendipitous occasion many years ago.

Faywood Hotsprings, New Mexico

Next stop on our caravan across country – Faywood Hot Springs in New Mexico!

We enjoyed lots of marvelous soaking time (no pics, as there were naked people). And lot of hiking, sharing in meals, stargazing and gaming.

And bonus for me – I was actually able to immerse my whole body this time. Last time we passed through in early January, I had just taken the stitches out of my knee and had to carefully prop it up out of the water.

This is now our 4th stop at Faywood over the years – always a great place to relax, recharge and soak. We find two days is about enough to enjoy it, as there’s not much else to do out there.

Ok.. now that we’re all rested and soaked, time to tackle the long slog along I-10!

I-10 Through Texas

No matter how you slice it.. I-10 through west Texas is a long long long slog.

Over the years we’ve tried many alternate routes across west Texas. As our caravan came together, we set our sites on Austin – and I-10 just made the most sense to knock out the miles.

At least it’s easy driving.

We broke the trip up into 2 nights.

First stop was the brand new rest area outside of Van Horn, TX. Texas rest and picnic areas allow 24-hours of parking, perfect for RVers. These new areas are large, spacious and have a walking trail (a much appreciated feature for those of us dedicated to closing our fitness rings every day!). There’s another similar rest stop outside of Ft. Stockton we’ve stayed at before.

For the second night, we had gotten the recommendation of Caverns of Sonora – which isn’t too far off the interstate. They have an onsite campground, and offer tours.

It was a perfect stop over for our little crew – and we thoroughly enjoyed the cavern tour.

All and all, it made for two shorter driving days that weren’t too bad to tackle.

Austin, TX – Pecan Grove RV Park

Austin – one of our favorite places to visit! It’s also my where I grew up. So the four of us decided to book spots a Pecan Grove RV Park in the Barton Springs area, right in my old ‘hood.

We’ve stayed here many times before, and it was a perfect launching pad to show Amanda & Jesse around.

We hit the ground running with happy hour and dinner at the original Chuy’s Tex Mex (right next door), with a round of mini golf at Peter Pan.

We did biking/hiking/running around Town Lake (sorry, I can’t retrain my brain to call it Lady Bird Lake) which gave us easy access to explore SoCo, downtown and UT campus.

We explored museums, walked to Alama Draft house for opening day of ‘Project Hail Mary’ (AMAZE!), played games at Cidercade (cider + arcade), saw the bats emerge from Congress St. bridge and ate at a lot of Austin local favorites.

Our first several days in town, we got around entirely on foot or bike. Pecan Grove is so perfect for that!

On Sunday, we hopped in their truck and went out to meet my brother and his family, and mutual RVing/aviation friends Larry & Maribeth at the Sherwood Forest Ren Faire.

Whew.. it was four jam packed days of exploring and connecting.

Our caravan diverged here with Amanda & Jesse needing to make more rapid miles east. We extended our stay for a couple more days to get caught up, nap and start making plans of our own for slower roll back to Y-Not.

Thank you for an amazing 10 days caravanning together, guys! A roving little neighbor is the epitome of community on the road!

Back on our Own: Natchez Trace

After checking in with the boatyard back in MD, it looks like Y-Not won’t be ready to launch for at least 2-3 more weeks (it’s been a brutal winter up there!).

So – we can slow our roll!

With that, we decided that tackle an adventure we’ve not done yet in all our nearly 20 years on the road… the Natchez Trace!

Starting in Natchez, MS and ending in Nashville, it’s 444 miles of closed National Park parkway driving through history.

We wrapped up our stay in Austin with one last bike ride around the lake, a run and started heading east.

It worked out perfectly to stop for a group fitness class hosted by my bro’s new company – GymGuyz Austin (offering in home personal training) – and catching up over lunch.

And then we ended up overnighting at a brewery in Spring, TX. It happened to be trivia night (topics were crawfish and March Madness.. we were out of our element, for sure!).

South Toledo Bend State Park, Louisiana

Next stop as we worked our way to the Natchez Trace was South Toledo Bend State Park in Louisiana. We scored a gorgeous water view site along the lake, enjoyed some biking & hiking and a swim.

And of course.. a lovely sunset!

Overall, a relaxing stop along the way.

Natchez State Park, Mississippi

We made our way to the southern terminus of the Natchez Trace in Natchez, MS.

After a bit of strolling around the adorable downtown and grabbing some lunch, we got on the trace to start our multi-day adventure.

As it was already later in the day, we opted to not traverse very far this first day – and grabbed a site at Bob Dearing Natchez State Park, just 10 miles up the trace.

We got some biking in, and then got a good night’s rest to prep ourselves for the endless sign reading ahead.

Trace means trail, and the Natchez Trace National Park is linear park that follows this historic route first carved by migrating animals, later by Native Americans and then by marine merchants returning home after selling their loot along the Mississippi River.

Timberlake Campground – Jackson, MS

First full day on the Natchez Trace had us traversing the first 100 or so miles. We stopped at every historical marker.

Combined with the 50 mph speed limit (awesome!), that makes it about a solid 4 hours on the road.

We ended up in Jackson, MS at the Timberlake Campground along ‘The Rez’ in a lovely site. Which allowed us to catch up with friends in the area.

Davis Lake National forest Campground – Tupelo, MS

Day 3 on the Natchez Trace started out with a bike ride along a dedicated trail along the trace in this area. Then we headed from Jackson, MS to just south of Tupelo.

More signs to read, more scenic driving and nature hikes through cypress swamps.

The peaceful drive of the Trace without commercial traffic… or heck much traffic at all.. is interrupted on this segment by a 25 mile detour as the NPS repairs part of the road.

This is also where one of the free campgrounds is located (there are 3 along the trace) which is also currently closed.

So we planned our transit around this, and ended our day at the amazing Davis Lake National Forest campground – which offers many first come first serve sites. For just $20 a night with water/electric.

Tishomingo State Park

Fourth full day on the Natchez Trace was all the normal historical stops and nature trails (they’re abundant!). But this day had us passing through Tupelo, MS.

The birthplace of Elvis!

And this town embraces it. Downtown is full of statues, paintings and memorials to him.

We were standing in front of the hardware store where he bought his first guitar (which closed down at the start of the year) – and two different locals stopped to greet us and make sure we knew all the highlights to hit.

We also drove over to his birth place home and toured the grounds.

The Natchez Trace Visitor’s Center is also in Tupelo, so we took a moment to visit (ya know, being visitors and all) – they have a fabulous 15 minute film to watch.

After filling our bellies with amazing tacos at Loco Taco and topping up the fuel tank (there’s not many options for dining out on the Trace, so you take them when you can) – we continued on.

We ended our day at Tishomingo State Park, which literally crosses under the Trace. Lovely lakefront sites and amazing hiking trails – including a swing bridge.

Meriwether Lewis Campground – Hohenwald, TN

Day 5 on the Natchez Trace.. more of the same.

More signs to read, more nature trails.

On this day, we crossed through the corner of Alabama and into Tennessee, ending the day at the free Meriwether Lewis campground.

Our last visit here was way back in our Oliver Travel Trailers days, as their factory in Hohenwald is just a few miles off the trace here. Which made it a great stop for commemorating Chris’ 20th Nomadiversary here, except for the lack of bandwidth to do a Live broadcast.

With about 30 first come first serve dry camping sites, these were filling up quickly. By mid afternoon when we arrived, there were only about six left.. and by nightfall, only two remained.

Last Day on the Trace

Our last day on the Natchez Trace – finishing up the final miles that dump you into Nashville.

The Tennessee terrain in the area changes .. giving a slightly different view along the drive. Spring is blooming, with dogwood trees lining the roadway. There are multiple nature hikes, including two waterfalls – that are great for stretching the legs.

We were looking forward to the culmination by crossing the iconic double arch bridge.

And we were aghast to see it lined with a chain link fence with barbed wire the entire length – with suicide prevention signs at either end.

Apparently, the temporary fence was installed a few years back after multiple pleas. In recent years, there have been over 40 suicide jumps from the bridge.

It’s quite the macabre and somber ending to the journey. And just as of this week, the NPS has shut the bridge down to begin construction of a more permanent barrier that is hopefully more attractive.

Natchez Trace Wrap Up

All in all, we split the 444 miles up into 6 days. Which was a nice balance for making miles and stopping at every historical marker.

We’re glad we finally completed this iconic linear national park – it’s a treasure. Albeit showing signs of aging with many faded out signs.

The closed parkway driving is a peaceful way to transit this area of the country.

But it is rather monotonous at times – there’s really only so many signs one can read about former stands that no longer exist, or mounds, or short nature hikes.

Would we do it again? Sure – if we were routing this way. It sure beats interstate driving. But we wouldn’t make every stop like we did this time.

Final Miles to Maryland

With the trace behind us, we wanted to get ourselves positioned within a day’s drive of Y-Not for when that call came that she’s ready to launch.

So, we sped things back up.

Knoxville, TN

At the terminus of the trace, we hopped on I-40 out of Nashville and completed our day in Knoxville.

We overnighted at Next Level Brewing right downtown – which is such a great location for exploring downtown.

An early morning run at daybreak.. and on to our next destination.

Greensboro, NC

We left Knoxville with another long driving day ahead of us – but to an AirBnB we had reserved in Greensboro, NC.

After a few weeks on the road in the van – we were craving spreading out a bit. And, it was both our legal marriage anniversary and Easter weekend – so a perfect way to mark the occasion.

On the way, we stopped for lunch in Asheville to visit our friends Jen & Deas (one of the OG RVing bloggers – Nealys on Wheels). Jen has also worked with us over at the Mobile Internet Resource Center for many years now! It was awesome to catch up.

We got checked into our cute little bungalow, and then started exploring. We picked a great location within walking distance of Elm St. – which offers lots of dining, shopping and nightlife. It is also the site of the lunch counter where the civil rights sit-ins happened back in the 60s (which is now a great museum).

Our spot was also right along the greenway trail, which was fantastic for getting out running, walking and biking.

All and all.. a great relaxing way to spend the weekend now that we’re officially back on the east coast!

Chapel Hill, NC

With Y-Not still a few days away from being ready to splash and us just a day’s drive away – we had time to stop in and see dear friends Ann & Elliott in their new home base near Raleigh/Durham.

These guys were the very first blog readers to reach out to us to meet up – way back in 2009. Over the years, they’ve become family to us, and a treasured ‘nomadic port’.

Time together is always effortless and casual.

And this time, we got to welcome their neighbor’s cat into Blooper for a morning snuggle visit.

Final Miles to Y-Not!

We got the call that Y-Not should be ready to launch.. so we thought we’d make a leisurely two day trip of it.

We selected a winery via Harvest Hosts north of Richmond. We got parked in the designated HH area (which is the ENTIRE grass field shown here – and beyond to the left).

We went to the tasting room, and enjoyed a glass.

But when we come out, our mouths dropped to the floor.

A 5th wheel had arrived and parked just mere feet from our van. With all that open space available for HH guests.. why choose right smack dab next to us?? There is PLENTY of room to spread out!

And to make matters more annoying, they set out a loud generator by the passenger door of their truck (ie. right next to our van), and immediately started running it.

Which is why we often chose campgrounds instead, or locations where it’s unlikely others will encroach too close for comfort.

Campgrounds have designated spots, and we know just how close our neighbors might be when selecting them. So we can choose what suits us best. And with electric hook-ups, no one should be running a generator right next to us (unless there’s an outage, of course).

Oh well, our conversation over our glass of wine was that we had made good time, and might it be wise to tackle DC and Baltimore traffic in the late evening instead of morning?

This sealed the deal (if we had chosen to stay, we would have of course just moved – perhaps under that tree?).

We bought a bottle to enjoy later and hit the road, breezed through the big cities – and arrived back to the boatyard to Y-Not eagerly awaiting us.

Real Time Update

And we’re back to Y-Not – what a sight to behold!

Our boatyard, McDaniel Yacht Basin, had her winter coat already removed for us – but the detailers they contracted for us were running a bit behind on getting started. We ended up ‘living on the hard’ for a few days while we she got her hull buffed to a lovely shine.

We got to work on getting systems back online. Solar panels and bimini back up, water system de-wintereized, electrical system checked over and dinghy hoisted back aboard (we stored it under the boat).

Anyone have any cocktail recipes for pink ice??

Overall, Y-Not seems to have done extremely well over this harsh winter. No funky smells or signs of mildew. All systems are just as functional we left them.

And we could not be more impressed with professionalism, friendliness, attention to details and affordability of the team at McDaniel. We’re thankful to our friends Dave & Stacey or Aboard Stinkpot for the referral.

We’ve been ‘splashed’ a few days now, and are continuing to move aboard and get things sorted. Many marinas north of here don’t even open until May 1st, so we’ll be sticking in this area a bit longer before we can move on to our next destination of Philadelphia!