HMS Beangle

Welcome aboard! We're sailing across North America in our Bean Stalker teardrop trailer. Come share our journey.

Tag: Campground

  • It only took 7 years

    Back in 2018, coming off a couple years of doing triathlons together, Jessica and I decided we were going to run a full marathon. We laid out the training plan. We committed to it. We found our perfect race: Grandma’s Marathon along the Duluth waterfront. It was the right time of year, we’d heard great…

  • Rest and then rush

    We’ve been to some really lovely State Parks over the years, and one of the things I value most about them is that they tend to be spots of respite from a chaotic world. Since they don’t get the press of the National Parks, they tend to be quieter overall. And without The Big List…

  • Fort Sisseton Historic State Park

    There’s an app for that! Ok, the Fort Sisseton Historic State Park app is a bit out of date for current events (hello, two years?) but the audio guides are useful and full of interesting information. I especially enjoyed the selected readings from Captain Bennett’s and Sergeant Andrew Fisk’s writings. A quote that has stuck…

  • After leaving Deadwood, we decided to head east instead of sticking around for the night. I saw that Badlands National Park had a free dry campground on the north portion of the park, so we decided to give a it go. It wasn’t quite boondocking as there were vault toilets, formal parking spots, and picnic…

  • Wind Cave National Park

    “It’s windy and there’s a cave,” as quipped by our tour guide, Ranger Franny. Wind Cave National Park’s claim to fame is the fact that the cave system ‘breathes’ in and out of a small helmet-sized hole in the ground, adjusting the internal barometric pressure of the cave throughout the days and seasons. Winds in…

  • I couldn’t remember the date today

    One of the things we decided to do early on when planning this adventure was to save the bulk of The Boy’s ashes so that we could release them at special places we find along the way. Cherish. Embrace. Let go. The past year and a half has been an exercise in living those words.…

  • Last weekend, the amazing Miss Carmen personalized the HMS Beangle and it turned out just as were hoping. She made us some cozies for the propane tanks, too. That will keep the tanks out of direct sunlight, which reduces the chance of hot, heat-expanded gas leaking out. They’re just so adorable. Let’s talk nuts and…

  • Not quite according to plan

    Back before we even arrived at the National Forest Service’s fee station on our last camping trip, we stopped for breakfast at one of our favorite restaurants, The Shaggy Sheep. After helping us sop up the coffee that I carelessly slopped across the table, our waitress mentioned that her friend says she’s never failed to…

  • 33rd is Trout?

    For our 33rd wedding anniversary, we decided to head out for a four day weekend. Our goal destination was Jefferson Lake, a high altitude reservoir lake about an hour and a half from our apartment. For the first time ever, we left for a popular area with nothing more than hope. There was a single…

  • Storage run to Des Moines

    Although our quest has been to sell nearly everything we own, we’ve been setting aside the things that we know we can’t or don’t want to part with. The question then is, What to do with them? Luckily a few great friends have offered to store some bins at their homes. Our aforementioned friend and…