HMS Beangle

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

Tag: Campground

  • Either cold or wet, but not both please

    Although our plan is to chase the good weather, the reality is that poor weather is going to find us sometimes — especially since we headed south about two weeks later than we probably should have for those warmer temps. Luckily we’re sturdy folk and can tolerate some cold temps. We left Michigan in cold…

  • 19 Turkeys

    When I return to a region so full of family and friends, not a lot of pictures get taken. Sorry, but it’s always been this way. For nearly three weeks, we barely saw the inside of the HMS Beangle, as we curled up in the homes of others. Running water? Right there. Heat? Turned on.…

  • Sleeping in the Forest

    “I thought the earth remembered me, shetook me back so tenderly, arrangingher dark skirts, her pocketsfull of lichens and seeds.” From ‘Sleeping in the Forest’ by Mary Oliver It’s hard not to relax when a forest welcomes you with a warm, colorful embrace. Sylvania Campground on Clark Lake is a National Forest campground in Michigan’s…

  • 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 Ok, the Fort Sisseton Historic State Park app is a bit out of date for current events (hello, two years?)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…