Diana Pace, a retired nurse from Roseburg, Ore., has been camping most of her life. She tent camped and backpacked with her sons until they off and on until they were in their mid-20s. And then, sometime in the 90’s, she went on a hiking trip with a friend who owned a VW Vanagon.
“I loved it,” she recalls. She set out to get her own small recreation vehicle.
In 2000 she found a 1994 Ford Aerostar converted van. “I quickly started traveling to national parks. I love visiting nature and special natural monuments and viewing the wildlife.”
In January this empty-nester snowbirded south to dry camp and hike near Quartzsite and Lake Havasu in Arizona; Joshua Tree National Park in southern California; and Lake Mead, Lake Mohave and Death Valley National Park in Nevada.
In the summer of 2015, Diana made her epic, solo 6,080-mile journey from Oregon to 14 national parks and monuments in Montana, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
To read more about Diana and her solo travels across the USA visiting National Parks, click HERE for a profile on WomenRVers.blogspot.com.
Photos: Diana Pace and her 1994 Ford Aerostar camper van. (Bottom) Visiting Sierras Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park. (Courtesy of Diana Pace)