Adventure Is Out There
Meet Ellie 🎈 our new adventure van.
We Bought A Van
Our adventure began back in 2008. Detours, road work, speed bumps, and freeways have led us here, to August 2025, and our latest infrastructure investment is Ellie. Ellie is our 2025 Mercedes Sprinter Van, built by Geotrek Vans in Boulder, Colorado. She’s named after Ellie Fredricksen, or more accurately, love and the promise of adventure.
Van (H)Ellie?
Just a few moments into our first trek (more on that below) we realized that Ellie didn’t quite capture how badass this van is. Ellie’s sweet. Hellie's sassy.
Van H(E)llie is our travel log and adventure journal. As we tally up the miles and find new crossroads, we’ll document them here.
Adventure Partners + Adventure Pup
We’re Aubrey and Jake, tech professionals, creatives, and east coast natives with a Aussie mix mutt named Sparrow. We call Northern Virginia home and plan to take our van across the country, starting small working up and down our coast whenever we can. As we get familiar and learn the ins and outs of working on the road, longer trips will follow.
Our First Adventure ✨
We picked up our van on Wednesday, August 13th after a fast one-way car rental road trip from our home state of Virginia. After the work week and quickly getting familiar with our new rig in downtown Boulder’s teeny parking spaces, we got back on the road after some restful and much needed quality time with friends in Denver.
Denver to Omaha
For our first big leg in Ellie, we drove from Denver, CO to Gibbon, NE. Stopping at Windmill State Recreation Area for the night; an easy right off the highway campground, that allowed for after hours check-in and had plenty of last minute availability. Windmill SRA neighbors Rowe Sanctuary which is home to over one million Sandhill Cranes each spring! We enjoyed the still morning and hit up Rise & Grind, an admittedly much cooler than expected coffee spot — 10/10 would enjoy again — before checking out Rowe on our way back to the highway.
At the end of our stop we caught a stealthy roadside Blue Heron before hopping back in the van and heading to Omaha. 174 miles later we arrived at Omaha Dog Bar — hands down the best dog park/bar/eatery I’ve ever been to. Good drinks, ample and friendly staff, great indoor and outdoor space and a decent menu for both humans and pups. Sparrow was thrilled to meet new friends off leash and enjoy solid ground. If you’re in the Omaha area, Omaha Dog Bar is a must visit! You don’t even need a pup.
Omaha to Chicago
From Omaha things got — adventurous. We planned a stop at Walnut Woods State Park in West Des Moines, Iowa. A park, that I am sure under normal circumstances, is completely lovely. We, however, stopped on the hottest day of the year, and on the day in which every mosquito that has ever lived also happened to be in the park. After getting set up in camp, taking a decent nap, dodging insects, and agreeing to skip the trails we decided that if we were going to stay in the van we might as well hit the road and enjoy some cabin AC. We risked it and headed towards Chicago.
After a failed attempt at camping at Starved Rock State Park we headed into town, North Utica, and found a public parking spot that had our name on it. We took five minutes to hang the magnetic window covers and take Sparrow out for a quick walk before crashing.
Pro Tip: Not all state run camping facilities allow for all hours check-in. Many, like Starved Rock, lock campground gates before midnight. In addition to after hour check-in availability, be sure to research gate hours.
Our first off-grid night was a complete success and was just as comfortable as being plugged in at an established campsite. We made use of the nearby Love’s Truck Stop for an early morning refuel and refresh before heading back into the heart of North Utica. Sparrow ordered a pup cup and Jake and I enjoyed some local lattes and grub from Bruce & Ollie's on Mill St.
North Utica is a storybook downtown area that we’d love to revisit, especially their new Market on Mill an outdoor small business haven. Burgoo Festival anyone?!
After we were properly caffeinated, we enjoyed a quick visit to Starved Rock State Park. We learned how the park got it’s legendary name and watched White Pelicans feast along the boat locks. Who knew you could find White Pelicans in Illinois!? After the history lesson we headed to see some friends and their pup, Gulo, in Chicago. We’ve always called her an adventure dog, but this trip was putting her to the test.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
We continued east after Chicago and camped at West Branch State Park in Ohio. We arrived after dark and woke up surrounded by water, they have fantastic facilities from the little we visited (the bath house near Campsite 123 and the dog park). We didn't experience the park because we had our heart set to close out our trip home with a visit to Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Sparrow's (and Ellie's) first National Park and Jake and my 11th.
Our last day of the trip was a drizzly and dreary day, perfect for taking Ellie along Cuyahoga Valley's scenic roads. We kicked off the day with a refuel at Sheetz (you cannot sleep on MTO), enjoyed a railway stop, Bradywine falls, and the Boston Mill area where we picked up Ellie's first National Park Badge.
We Did It!
From Cuyahoga we journeyed home, enjoying lunch at Tooneys in Youngstown and a dessert dinner from Bedford, PA's The Penguin. Glad to be home but eager to get back on the road.
1,868 miles logged and plenty to go! We’ll be back at it this weekend. Subscribe to join us on the road 👇