Lowes Travels

Explore the world with us

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page“

– Augustine of Hippo

About us
Kluane Ranges

Hop in and join the ride

Welcome to our refreshed blog site!

When we retired in 2012, we documented and shared our adventures as we traveled and explored our beautiful country for eight years while living full-time in an RV we named Betsy. This was how our blog site was born. We then sold our beloved “house on wheels” and have taken root in a sticks-and-bricks home in Arizona. Since then, our travel goals have been focused on seeing what’s out there in the rest of this big world. We’re now exploring as many countries as we can while we still can!

Our RV Travels

By September of 2016 we had achieved our goal of exploring all 49 states (Betsy can’t do Hawaii!).  In Canada we wandered through 8 provinces and 1 territory (Yukon), and in Mexico we headed across Sonora twice for extended beach parties.  We’ve traveled through 6 time zones and crossed the borders between the U.S, Canada and Mexico 30 times.  That was one heck of an adventure!

Our Interactive RV Map…
Click on the above image to see all of our 2012-2019 RV travels in uMap.  The pins in the resulting display can be selected to access Steve’s campground reviews and other information.

Below are links to our travels by individual year:
Aqua       – 2012 West coast
Brown     – 2012 Alaska
Blue        – 2013 East coast
Purple    – 2013 Canadian Maritimes
Green     – 2014 route
Red         – 2015 route
Orange   – 2016 route
Pink        – 2017 route
Black      – 2018 route
Lime      –  2019 route

Our world travel map so far…

Most Recent Travel Tales

Here are a few snippets of our adventures.

  • Our Alaska adventure parting thoughts and stats

    Our Alaska adventure parting thoughts and stats

    Above is Our Alaska Adventure Route, the red pins on our way in and the purple ones on our way out. Exploring Alaska on our first year of full-timing was considered ambitious and brave by some of our friends.  But we’re so glad we did it!  The experience taught us…

  • Do NOT Travel To ALASKA, if…

    Do NOT Travel To ALASKA, if…

    DO NOT TRAVEL TO ALASKA, if… 1)   You don’t like dealing with unpredictable weather. 2)   You hate it when your GPS signal sometimes gets lost because you’re so far north. 3)   You don’t like people who work at a more leisurely pace than you’re used to.…

  • Leaving Alaska thru the Inside Passage – Alaska Marine Highway

    Leaving Alaska thru the Inside Passage – Alaska Marine Highway

    When we were planning our Alaska adventure early this year we learned that the classic itinerary from the Western states is to drive the Alaska Highway one-way and take the Alaska Marine Highway the other way, or vice versa or backtrack the same way again.  Also, the mantra for…

  • Unparalleled Uniqueness – Bryce Canyon National Park

    Unparalleled Uniqueness – Bryce Canyon National Park

    Moving to Ruby’s Inn RV Park from Cannonville was probably the shortest campground move we’ve ever made, a mere 13 miles to get us right outside Bryce Canyon National Park for a week. A little heads-up here: this post is loaded with vibrant images of rocks galore! Prior to the move we…

  • This Place Rocks! Capitol Reef National Park – UT

    This Place Rocks! Capitol Reef National Park – UT

    Leaving Moab, we headed west and were soon enough on Hwy 24, a designated scenic byway.  Steve tried to focus on driving while craning his neck as we passed stunning views. Enormous exotic rock formations in shades of gray and maroon loomed out of the landscape all around us, as we cruised…

  • The hiking frenzy continues – Zion National Park, UT

    The hiking frenzy continues – Zion National Park, UT

    In a way it was a good thing our planned hike at Kolob Canyons the day before fizzled, for it allowed us an extra day of rest before tackling another bunch of hikes.  Having completed all the classic and strenuous treks we were interested in (click here and here to see them), we…

  • Final Days in Antarctica: Our Epic Trip of a Lifetime

    Final Days in Antarctica: Our Epic Trip of a Lifetime

    This last post of my 7-post series details the final stretch of our trip. If you’ve just joined us, be sure to check out the beginning of our adventure here. For this finale, buckle up and grab your favorite beverage — it’s going to be a cold and wild…

  • We Made it to Antarctica!

    We Made it to Antarctica!

    After two days at sea we sailed into Fort Point, Greenwich Island, our first stop actually in Antarctica: We were thrilled to make our first Antarctic landfall at Fort Point: Fort Point got its name from its jagged basalt spires that stand out in the landscape. This formation is…

  • A Massive Iceberg and Weather Balloons at Sea

    A Massive Iceberg and Weather Balloons at Sea

    It takes about two days to reach the Antarctic Peninsula from South Georgia Island by sea. While cruising, we came across the largest iceberg in the world, and our Captain lingered for a couple of hours as we viewed it close-up. Later, we watched a weather balloon launch and…

  • Jewels of Jordan

    Jewels of Jordan

    Day 52-56, Sept 8-13, 2022 This was the final leg of our 56-day itinerary with back-to-back cruises. It ended in Jordan, which was a post-cruise extension of our Pharaohs and Pyramids River Cruise. After a week on the Nile River, we boarded a plane from Luxor back to Cairo…

  • Templed-out, but still wowed – Upper Egypt

    Templed-out, but still wowed – Upper Egypt

    Days 46-50, Sept 3-7, 2022 This is the 5th of 6 blog posts covering our Pharaohs and Pyramids River Cruise. If you missed our previous posts, feel free to review them here. During our seven days cruising the Nile River, we visited 9 temples. And yes, we were templed-out…

  • Life On And Along the Nile River- Upper Egypt

    Life On And Along the Nile River- Upper Egypt

    Days 46 -50; Sept 3-7, 2022 For this post I decided to take a break from talking about temples, tombs, pharaohs and queens. Instead I’ll share scenery of life on the river, along the river and on board the ship as we cruised upper Egypt for five days. We…

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23 responses to “Hello there”

  1. Marlene Graeve Avatar
    Marlene Graeve

    This is a lovely resume of your travels. Marlene Graeve. (Rod’s sister)

    Reply
  2. Bev Kawalec Avatar
    Bev Kawalec

    Mona Lisa, I have been thoroughly enjoying your blog. The posts from the places that we visited on the World Tour bring back wonderful memories, and the posts from new places introduce me to new places to discover. Thank you for all your beautiful photos and interesting commentary. Bev

    Reply
  3. Ayn Sandalo Dietrich-Williams Avatar
    Ayn Sandalo Dietrich-Williams

    This map, alone, is inspiring! What a well-organized collection of views and stories. Love it! Ayn SDW

    Reply
  4. Debbie L Avatar
    Debbie L

    We LOVED following your blog. You two were such inspirations to us. We got off the road January 2019. I can related to going from the 400 square feet to a house! Amazing!
    I heard from Ingrid that you turned some of your blog into a book. I’d love to know what platform you used. I need to think about saving what we can and take the site down….

    Reply
    1. Lowe's Travels Avatar
      Lowe’s Travels

      HI Debbie, we are loving our new digs. I will send you email of the list of blog to book companies that I researched. I have several books since not one of them can print the book the whole blog, so I categorized them by regions instead of in chronological order.

      Reply
      1. Debbie L Avatar
        Debbie L

        Thank you! I received it. Good idea to do yours by region. We never made it very far out of the east coast. But nearly 7 years of GREAT memories!!!

        Reply
      2. Timothy Olson Avatar
        Timothy Olson

        We just discovered your blog and I believe we are the proud owners of your beautiful rig. I doubt that we will continue your blogging legacy but we promise to continue your pursuit of adventure!

        TIm and Jane

        Reply
        1. Steve Lowe Avatar
          Steve Lowe

          Congratulations, and we hope you have many wonderful experiences in Betsy as we did for many years!

          Steve and Mona Liza

          Reply
  5. Sun Yi Avatar
    Sun Yi

    Hi guys I just spent half the weekend looking through all your blog posts. I think I got through every single one of them, though I’d be lying if I said I read every word. Amazing journeys and they definitely helped me plan out some road trips I hope to take with my family starting in a few years. Again it was an honor taking care of you as part of your cancer journey. If you are ever in Chico, please drop me a line.

    Reply
    1. Steve Lowe Avatar
      Steve Lowe

      Thank you for commenting, the hours of “slogging through the blogging” are worth it when we learn it was helpful to someone. We wish you and your family all the best in your move, and thank you again for everything you’ve done for me.

      Reply
  6. Ron Preuit Avatar
    Ron Preuit

    Miss you guys already! Safe travels and keep us posted!

    Ron and Marilyn

    Reply
  7. Thomas Schultze Avatar
    Thomas Schultze

    Hello –
    For a planned book on Hudson’s Bay Co.historical posts and depots and their reconstructions I would like to ask permission to use your photograph of the ‘Big House’ at Fort Edmonton Park, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
    This for an online, non-commercial publication.
    Thank you very much.
    Thomas Schultze
    Nova Scotia, Canada

    Reply
    1. Lowe's Travels Avatar
      Lowe’s Travels

      Thank you for asking, you may use it and be sure to include credits to Lowes Travels.

      Reply
  8. Charlotte Anderson Avatar
    Charlotte Anderson

    Hi!
    Thank you for the Birthday wishes.
    Hope you both are well!
    Love you,
    Charlotte

    Reply
  9. Manny Hernandez Avatar
    Manny Hernandez

    Hello Steve and Mona,

    Great to see you joining us in the World Cruise. I am browsing around and I have to say what an amazing blog and what an amazing history. Absolutely love several of your blog posts and got many more to check out.

    My wife and I are kicking off our travels and our blog with the World Cruise. We figured what better than a World Record-Breaking Cruise to start our blog. If you will like to swing by and check it out is https://embarky.io/about-us

    I hope to see you and your beautiful wife around on the tours. We have plenty coming up from here to London.

    Regards,
    Manny and Yadi
    IG: @embarky

    Reply
    1. Lowe's Travels Avatar
      Lowe’s Travels

      I would be very happy to meet you. We are on deck 7. I’m wondering if we were on the same tour Bayeux Tapestry one day last week.

      Reply
  10. jim woodard Avatar
    jim woodard

    Im new to RVing and enjoy your blog and travels! I’m curious to know what roadside assistance company you use?
    thanks, jim

    Reply
    1. Steve Lowe Avatar
      Steve Lowe

      Good to hear from you, Jim. We’re using Coachnet to handle roadside emergencies including blown tires and towing only. They offer many more services but we’re on one of their basic plans. Hope you’re enjoying RVing! ~Steve

      Reply
  11. Jeff swanson Avatar
    Jeff swanson

    Steve, great meeting you and Mona Lisa in Lone Pine.
    Love your coach!!! Lol same as ours. We look forward to following your travels and sharing stories.
    After u left today I was going thru stuff in the basement and came across a complet setup like yours for clean out, I was surprised and happy and will be installing it soon.
    Great travels, jeff

    Reply
  12. Bev and Marc's Travels 2012 Avatar
    Bev and Marc’s Travels 2012

    Hello! We have lived vicariously through your blog for several years, enjoying your stories and great photography. Through your blog, we discovered Tucson and Desert Trails RV Park and have been going south for the last few winters.As Canadians we have travelled to many places in the US, often following your journey. Do you still have plans to be at Justin’s this Christmas? We will be next door at Desert Trails and would love to meet you both!
    Bev Sitter and Marc Spencer

    Reply
    1. Lowe's Travels Avatar
      Lowe’s Travels

      Yes, we will be at Justin’s! Let’s keep in touch when the time draws near, especially that we will just be close door neighbor by Christmas.
      Glad you found our blog helpful and also looking forward to meeting up a follower 🙂

      Reply
  13. TBG Avatar
    TBG

    Hi Steve.

    I can’t recall if I already gave you this information, but seeing as you are in WA try a bottle of Quilter’s Irish Death beer brewed by Iron Horse Brewing. It can be found at most WA grocery stores, Costco, etc.

    It’s high octane, one of my favorites. A friend of mine is due to meet us in Flagstaff next week and packed a bottle for me. I can’t wait.

    Let me know what you think.

    Mark (TBG)

    Reply
    1. Steve Lowe Avatar
      Steve Lowe

      Thanks for the tip, Mark. We’re going to do a walk in Olympia today (weather finally permitting!) and stop at Fish Tale Brew Pub which has some good beer – I had a bottle a couple of nights ago. I’ll definitely look for the one you mentioned while we’re in town and pick some up!

      Reply

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