Starling Travel

Mike and I left Memphis and started on the long journey back to Utah. I was driving and in a bit of a road trance when Mike asked,

“Do you want to see the Laura Ingalls House?”

“What? Yes! Of course I would!”

He replied, “We just missed the turn off for it.”

It was all I could do to not slam on the brakes and attempt a u-turn on the interstate.

“It can’t be the Little House on the Prairie. That wasn’t in Missouri, was it? I thought they lived in South Dakota.”

Mike pulled out his iPad, doing research while I looked for another exit.

“It was the house she WROTE the books in. Take the next turn-off.” (Continue Reading…)

Since Little Rock is so close to Memphis, Mike’s mother wanted to see Graceland, Elvis Presley‘s home and final resting place. We agreed to go with her because it was the only thing she really wanted to do on this trip.

We stayed at the Graceland Campground across the street while they stayed at the Heartbreak Hotel. Both properties were extremely clean and well-kept. It felt like we were staying at The Disneyland Hotel, except instead of going to Disneyland, we went to Graceland.

When the tour bus took us across the street and dropped us off at the famed house, I was surprised at how SMALL the house was compared to my imagination. (Continue Reading…)

We took the Sea Eagle kayak out on Sand Hollow Reservoir in Southern Utah last weekend and it was a peaceful trip.

We watched the people jump off the huge cliffs. It was pretty nervous making.

Then, we made our way to the island.

There, we found a lovely little hollow where we could snorkel and watch the fish. They had NO fear and let us swim right up to them.

The only problem that we had was with the kayak. The fuss and burden of pumping up the kayak before we went out was bad enough, but once we got out on the water, our SE 370 kept going in circles. We believe the heat (it was 102 degrees), made it so floppy that it just couldn’t track well.

Stacey and Dan did much better with their fancy boats, but our poor little inflatable just couldn’t take the Southern Utah desert heat. It was a wonderful kayaking adventure, but next time, Mike and I might need something a little more substantial.

Found in Mom’s Basement has a ton of vintage travel posters from United Airlines, but I particularly like this one for Miami.

I love the bold lines and colors that represent a relaxing day in the sun. I hate flying, so the thought of getting on an airplane so I can relax in the sun seems counter-intuitive to me, but I’m sure I’d feel differently if I were suffering through the thick of winter right now.

Mike and I have loved how convenient our teardrop trailer has been, but we’ve actually found a site that makes having one inconvenient.

We were at Quail Creek Reservoir and the campsites have a bit of a hike from the picnic table and shade to the trailer. In fact, we can’t use our little galley at all, so we just set up our camp kitchen under the shade.

I tried something different with the water in an effort to make a nice water faucet for the sink. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked well enough to wash our hands and rinse dishes.

You can’t beat the view from my bed, though.

Despite the inconvenient campsite, we had a lovely weekend at Quail Creek and can’t wait to go back!

The best thing about the Little Rock North KOA was that they are so close to the Big Dam Bridge. They loaned us bikes and we were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery without hauling our own bikes for 3000 miles.

(Continue Reading…)

On this trip, Mike and I spent the most time in Little Rock. Mike and his father were taking a class there, which was the whole reason for the epic journey in the first place. So, we spent our most time at the Little Rock North KOA than any of the other campgrounds, yet I have the fewest pictures from them.

Ironically, they were the best campground we stayed at during the whole trip. The bathrooms had plenty of stalls and showers, so I never had to wait. They were clean and because we were in a teardrop trailer, they put us close to them so we didn’t have to walk far. (Continue Reading…)

Growing up in Utah, I was a bug-lovin’ girl. I caught every kind of bug that inhabited our neighborhood. When Mike was a kid, he went so far as to have a fully stocked terrarium with pill bugs (armadillidiidae) and plenty of food for them to eat. The terrarium was such a healthy environment for them, they reproduced. Tons of tiny, white baby pill bugs grew to adulthood under Mike’s care.

So, both of us were fascinated by the lovely variety of insects available in the South. We’ve already talked about the Oklahoma Fireflies on our trip, but the day we left, we were swarmed with a huge variety of butterflies and moths.

The first, we saw at the gas station in Oklahoma right before we left the next morning. I believe it’s a Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus). There was something the matter with him because he could barely fly and let me take a photo of him.

I wish I had (Continue Reading…)

Our third day traveling was through the last half of Kansas and into Oklahoma. Since the Salina KOA sounded like road noise all night, we decided that we wanted a more rustic campsite. We decided on Gore Landing.

We found it on the Camp Where app by Big Nerd Ranch, Inc. [iTunes link]. I looked through comments about the site and one of them mentioned that there was no sign for the campground on the main road. They weren’t kidding.

We drove off the main road, following the GPS coordinates and all we could see for miles was corn fields and trees.

We were certain that all we were going to find at the end of that road was an angry farmer with a shotgun. (Continue Reading…)

We filmed a tour of our Teardrop American Outbacker at the beautiful Oquirrh Lake. Take a look at it here:

Remember, camping isn’t allowed at Oquirrh Lake. We just filmed our trailer there because it’s so pretty. You’re welcome to stay the day there, fishing and enjoying the sunshine, however.

• Oquirrh Lake on Google Maps
• Daybreak website
• Teardrops and Tiny Trailers on Starling Travel