Kicking Off the 2025 Camping Season – 3,400 Miles, 7 States, and a Whole Lot of Memories

Our first big trip of the 2025 camping season took us through seven states—New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming covering more than 3,400 miles in total. Along the way, we hit a few major highlights that made this journey unforgettable:

• Attended Overland Expo 2025 in Flagstaff, AZ
• Visited family in Cottonwood, AZ
• Spent time with family in San Diego, CA
• Explored Yosemite National Park and added a new stamp to our National Park Passport
• Reunited with long-time friends (practically family) in Phoenix, OR

What made this trip even better was the timing late May gave us ideal weather: not too hot, not too cold, and just right for travel. Of course, we had our trusty eBikes with us: Kelly’s trike and my XPeak. They came in handy more than once.

This was our first year with our 2020 Forest River Micro Lite 21FBRS, and so far no issues. My 2018 EcoDiesel got a set of airbags with onboard 100% duty cycle air compressor from Timber Grove to assist the rear coils and improve the ride.

We only got to make two (2) camping trips this year due to the the pandemic (COVID-19).

• Our first trip was to Mount Rushmore were we got to relax and take in the sites for a well deserved long weekend.
• The second trip was to attend our son’s wedding in northern Idaho in late June. We have made this trip multiple time with and with out a trailer. On this trip we decided we were going to take our time getting there and getting home. Because of the pandemic we did not site see anywhere but we just relaxed and enjoyed the surroundings.

With the leaves turning and the nights starting to dip into the below freezing numbers my wife and I decidedm to go ahead and winterize Escape Pod along with deactiviating wally (dish receiver). It was a very sad Sunday.

The picture above is me settling in our new travel trailer (TT) nicknamed ‘EscapePod V2’. It is a 2020 Forest River Micro Lite 21FBRS.

For those that know me this is our second TT. Our first one was totaled in an accident ((Truck, TT, and me) and ice) in October 2019 on the way home from Idaho. We had some good memories and vowed it would be replaced.