Welcome to 2024, We Think…

/ Curt Mekemson
Do you feel a little bit nervous about what’s waiting for us in 2024 as we all travel around the world and the US— like maybe we will be up to our tail-bones in crocodiles? Peggy and I photographed this fine fellow on the shore of a small pond in Chobe National Park, Botswana.

2023 was a great travel year for Peggy and me with our trip up the Nile in the spring, 10,000 mile road trip around the US in the summer, and safari visit to southern Africa in the fall. I’ve been blogging about these experiences and will continue. I never get caught up, but, on the other hand, I never run out of material. Grin.

We also have fun travel plans for 2024. The highlight will be a three month road trip up the Pacific Coast from Big Sur to Olympic National Park. It will include some of the world’s greatest ocean scenery and is an area that I have returned to time and again during my life. A trip to the Everglades next month and a trip up into the New England states and possibly Canada’s Atlantic Provinces is scheduled for this fall. We plan on finishing off the year in Costa Rica for a month (or some other warm tropical place). Maybe we will be looking for a place to live…adding to our choices for “base camps.”

I’m a little nervous about 2024. Who knows what global warming will do to our travel adventures. We plan on being flexible. That’s one advantage of doing most of out wandering this year with our pickup and small travel trailer. At the first sign of a flood, forest fire, tornado, hurricane, or snow storm, we’re out of there! We will also memorize the earthquake/tsunami escape routes when we are driving/camping along the West Coast. One never knows when the next big one will strike.

Then there’s the election: No escaping that. We’ll do our bit to support rational, humane, environmental friendly decisions but keep it to a bare minimum on “Wandering through Time and Place.” Peggy’s and my focus will continue to be on the beautiful, the quirky, and the historical. We believe our followers deserve to have somewhere they can go that maintains a sense of perspective and humor. Speaking of humor, here are a few photos from this past year that possibly relate to 2024:

How’s this as an approach for 2024? Peggy and I photographed this ostrich in South Africa, a mile or so from the Cape of Good Hope. Was it burying its head in the sand or being hopeful? Actually, it was being practical, stuffing its mouth full of grass.
If times really get bad, a nice mud bath may be the solution. It worked for the elephants and it worked for this warthog in Hwange National Park.
Lacking mud, this buffalo we photographed in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota last summer, opted for a dust bath! Whatever works. Is that an ecstatic grin on his face?
This camel we photographed at the Pyramids seemed to have something to say about the situation…
As did this cat hanging out in the Alabaster Mosque in Cairo.
It’s more than likely that mud will be flung every which way as the campaigns get under way. This is from our trip to Burning Man last August.
It’s likely to get deep!
Maintaining balance may be challenging. We caught this giraffe drinking water in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe.
Maybe we will get lucky, however, and Falcor, the Good Luck Dragon from “Never Ending Story” will come to our rescue. He was hanging out at Burning Man.
Possibly there will be a rainbow along with all of the rain and mud as there was at Burning Man.
And we will end up the year with a smile on our face like this small hyrax we found perched on Table Mountain overlooking Cape Town, South Africa. The hyrax’s closest relatives, BTW, are the elephant and the manatee!

Whatever happens, Peggy and I want to wish you and your family a happy and healthy New Year in 2024. And safe travels! Next post: We will take a look at the closely knit elephant family and the matriarchal society that holds it all together.

34 thoughts on “Welcome to 2024, We Think…”

  2. Just wondering how the transition from Pleasure-Way to truck and trailer is going. I miss the spontaneous aspects of our P-W adventures and the present need to beware of high cross winds, high gas prices and the dreaded reservations!

    Best wishes for a Happy New Year!

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    • We loved the Pleasure Way, John. Over they years we managed one three-year trip and one, one-year trip, as well as frequent shorter excursions. The trailer is different, of course. It’s small (22 feet), so that enables us to continue to fit in smaller spaces like state parks. Gas prices are bad but not as high as we have seen them. The mileage for pulling the small trailer with our F-150 is similar to the gas mileage we got from the PW. The trailer is more comfortable that the Pleasure Way. And has a decent shower. Grin. The biggest advantage, other than cost (Pleasure Ways had shot up to $150 grand), is that we can park it and run around in our truck. We have had a challenge with the slide out.

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      • Thanks for the reply, Curt. We’re looking forward to back-roading around our home state (NM) this summer. The smallest micro-minnie and a new-to-us F-150 should work just fine. Happy Trails!

      • New Mexico is a great state to wander in, John! Peggy and I never pass up a chance to travel there. Lots of blog posts. We came close to retiring there. And once I almost took a job as Executive Director of the ALA New Mexico. Enjoy! –Curt

  3. My husband and I are only beginning our traveling adventures, but we share some of your plans for 2024. You and Peggy had a great year of travel and I loved following along with you to the historical, quirky, and beautiful places you’ve visited. Wishing you all the same in the year to come. And a little peace on earth, climate consciousness, and human sanity on the side. Happy 2024!

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    • I don’t know which part you will be sharing, D, but it is really hard not to spend time on the beautiful Northwest Coast when you live as close as you do!
      It will be a different kind of travel year for us, spending it mainly in the US. Our goal this year is to spend chunks of time in places, like one to two weeks in the areas we land.
      We’ll keep our fingers crossed!

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      • Our plans aren’t all in place yet, but we’re thinking North Cascades, Olympic Peninsula, and Bar Harbor, Maine (to visit two brand new grandsons)! We have some space to fill in the mid summer. I wish you happy travels here while the world settles down a bit.

      • North Cascades and Olympic Peninsula are on our agenda for the summer. Bar Harbor is on our agenda for next fall. We once spent a happy Halloween there carving pumpkins…

  5. Thanks for your reply on my recent post after years of site neglect…. I haven’t even started exploring here again, and this was a great way to start!
    I look forward to spending some time looking at your adventures while I consider telling a bit about ours. This is the first year in a decade we are letting our RV sit through the winter while we travel without it. Plans will take us camping in Yellowstone in September, though and possibly revisiting the Pacific NW as well!

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  6. I look forward to catching up on your 2023 adventures and hearing about your 2024 adventures. I envy the travel you have planned. We plan to hunker down more than usual, and focus more on backpacking in 2024 than we did in 2023. Now that my knees are better and Pedro’s shoulder is better, we want to do that hard physical labor while we still can! One of these days we want to backpack through Banff, but I think that trip requires 18 months of planning due to its popularity. My girlfriend Margaret wants us to hike around Crater Lake with her and her boyfriend this summer, which will be fun. Hopefully we get a chance to see you both in June!

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    • “Now that my knees are better and Pedro’s shoulder is better, we want to do that hard physical labor while we still can!” And hopefully far into the future, Crystal. Crater Lake would be fun. And not too far north of there, Three Sisters. The Rogue River Trail is great for a conditioning hike in April. Peggy and I used it to prepare for my 750 mile trip and the 300 she hiked with me.
      My first backpack trip ever was out of Banff in 1969. My first wife and I stopped in Seattle on our way up and bought our gear from REI in Seattle when that was the only store it had. It rained for so many days on our Banff hike, I said screw it and Jo and I headed back to California to finish off our backpacking adventure in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. On the way, we stopped at Denny’s for lunch, just in time for Neil Armstrong to set foot on the moon!

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  7. All the best in 2024!
    I’m not going to read anything remotely about politics, climate, environment etc this year. I expect the world won’t be any better or worse by the end of 2024 for the vast majority of people no matter what the governments, environmentalists, etc attempt to do or try to make people believe! I’ll just keep doing what is best for my little corner of the world, my family, my friends!

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  8. I love the crocodile, the buffalo cracked me up, and the giraffe is gorgeous. Your photos and narrative are exquisite, Curt, and I wish you and Peggy another wonderful year of travel in 2024. I hope the weather cooperates with you, and we’re worried about the election. But moving on…we’re not retired yet, so we have to choose wisely. Visiting the kids is always on the map, TN and CO, and then we have our sights on Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Not to mention, some local backpacking and weekend getaways. Anyway, have fun and be safe!

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    • Ha, I’ve got my eye on Point Reyes, and Big Sur, and the Redwoods and points north up to Olympic National Park! All areas I’ve loved and wandered through for over 50 years. 🙂

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  10. Thank goodness we can live vicariously through you and Peggy at the moment, Curt. Our virtual travel guides remotely. Lots of mud slinging is in store for sure but you have the right idea to find the moments and rainbows in nature and find the best optimism as possible. Love your pictures and optimism and smart idea of studying the map for quick escape if need be❣️

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  11. The light green eye of the crocodile in your picture is full of hungry avarice. He wants his meat and he wants it now. But still, as a model of patience, the crocodile waiting in the watering pond is a good example.

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    • I’m pretty certain that it wouldn’t have passed up an arm or two, Greg. I watched two crocs fighting later. Quite ferocious. Your drag racing story pulled me along to the end. I had to see what happened. I was reminded to the old song, “Dead Man’s Curve.”

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