Oh boy, the alarm came far too early for our Taranaki hike day. I think I set it for 4 a.m., but ugh. 😬 Yuck. I mean, we didn't get to bed until like midnight or after, and with so many nights of lack of sleep in a row, my brain was just screaming, "no!!!" … Continue reading 2022-12-11 — Mt. Taranaki

The 10th was mostly a chill day. After getting up early in the morning, and walking through the tunnel down to the beach, I realized I was in a place that I really would like, except for is a little bit bad timing. The weather wasn't great, raining a little bit, and there wasn't any … Continue reading 2022-12-10 — Mostly Chill

You already know about this day a little bit, as it's the day that I started trying to catch up from being so far behind on my journal entries. We woke up in the morning in the upper parking lot of the aranui caves hiking/walking/tourist area. As it was early, like usual, I took the … Continue reading 2022-12-09 — Rusty, The Hedgehog

December 8th brought some of its own sagas to bear. Gratefully, none of them were on the order of those of the previous day. We woke up and headed into town. Chase called a few repair places to see if anybody could do the repairs, but nobody could. One said that they might be able … Continue reading 2022-12-08 — Cell Saga

The 7th started off much different than every other day I have had on the trip. I woke up at 4:00 something, I think around 4:45, maybe? To find the Chase was not in the car with me. I wondered if he had even come back or if something had happened to him and the … Continue reading 2022-12-07 — Sacrificial Measures

I again woke up first as I always do. Gratefully, though we were on a fairly busy Street, nobody bothered us during the night, parked in the parking lot there. I think people are less likely to bother us because we're just a wagon and not a camper? It wasn't long after getting up that … Continue reading 2022-12-06 — Luke Warm

So, I woke up that morning with a little bit of a surprise. Chase, unbeknownst to me, had asked his boss if he could extend his trip a little bit longer, so when we were both awake lying in the back of Sophie, come morning, he looked at me and said something like "I'm staying." … Continue reading 2022-12-05 — Door Handle

We got a bit of a later start on the 4th then what we were hoping. We had a very long hike ahead of us, and didn't want to get a late start, as we were going to hike to the top of red crater, hiking on the foothills of Mount Doom and then passing … Continue reading 2022-12-04 — Mt. Doom

As usual, despite having gone to bed very late, I wasn't able to sleep very well, so I was up early again and down by the road just looking at Mount Doom and the neighboring mountain in the early morning light. It was sitting on the side of the road there that I realized the … Continue reading 2022-12-03 — First Hike

I woke up that morning and headed down to the river, as usual, to think and stretch and whatnot. This time, neither of the girls joined me to chat, but they and Chase came down later as we got ready to head out for the day on our various activities. Chase and I spent quite … Continue reading 2022-12-02 — Rib Eye