Foxfire & Freeways: Rain, a Tiny Friend & the Milky Way 🌧️🕷️🌌

Another festival weekend is officially in the books!

This was the festival’s first year, and for a brand-new event, I think things went pretty smoothly overall.

Saturday, however, came with rain.

Lots of rain. 😂

It rained pretty much all day before finally easing up later in the afternoon. Once it stopped, I found myself a log to sit on for a little while and noticed the tiniest little jumping spider flitting around nearby.

Now, for those who don’t know…

I have arachnophobia.

Spiders and I generally have an agreement where they stay over there, I stay over here, and everybody gets to continue living their lives peacefully. 😂

But I know jumping spiders are generally harmless to people, and this little thing was actually kind of cute, so I decided we could share the log.

Apparently, the spider interpreted “share the log” as “please climb all over me.”

I had absolutely no idea it had crawled onto me until suddenly…

THERE IT WAS.

Literally dangling in front of my face. 😂

Somehow I didn’t completely lose my mind.

I gently offered it a finger, it hopped aboard, and then started happily wandering up and down my hands.

So I let it.

Eventually I put my tiny friend back on the log so it could go about its merry little spider life.

Except…

It came right back. 😂

Apparently I’d been adopted.

For most of the day, my tiny eight-legged festival buddy kept hanging around me. By the end of the night I wasn’t sure where it had wandered off to, but wherever it went, I hope it’s still out there happily flitting around.

Not exactly the friendship I expected to make at a festival, but here we are.

Later that night, things picked up with late-night music and a little partying after dark.

At some point I pulled out my phone and took a few pictures of the night sky. I didn’t think much of them at the time.

Then we got back to the camper.

I started going through my pictures…

And realized I’d accidentally photographed part of the Milky Way. 🌌

HOW FREAKING COOL IS THAT?!

I love anything involving space, so discovering that in my pictures made my night. My phone’s night mode picked up far more than I could see in an ordinary photo, and suddenly there it was—a piece of our own galaxy stretching across the sky.

There’s so much out there that we haven’t even begun to explore.

For now, I suppose we’ll have to stick to exploring Earth.

Give us a few years before Foxfire & Freeways: Space Edition. 😂🚀🦊

Sunday brought better weather and quite a few more people to the festival. Overall, it was just an easygoing weekend—the kind where nothing has to be huge or dramatic to leave you with a few memories worth keeping.

A rainy Saturday.

A tiny unexpected friend.

Music beneath the night sky.

And a galaxy hiding in my camera roll.

Not bad for a weekend. 🧡

Then Monday morning came.

We packed up, hitched the camper and pointed ourselves north toward Seattle.

We thought we were simply heading into the city for our next adventure.

Seattle apparently had other plans. 😂

What followed involved enough sights, surprises, chaos and “well… this wasn’t exactly how we pictured today going” moments that there is absolutely no way I’m squeezing it onto the end of this story.

Let’s just say…

Seattle didn’t give us a visit.

Seattle gave us a whole damn chapter. 😂🌆🦊

And that story is coming next.

Until the next mile, keep the fire lit and the road calling. 🦊🔥🛣️

🐺☀️ Meet Sunna — Our Four-Legged Road Warrior 🦊🛣️

You’ve met Bug. You’ve met Mama and Papa.

Now it’s time to meet the furry member of Foxfire & Freeways who somehow manages to take up an impressive amount of space in the camper. 😂

This is Sunna. ☀️

Her name comes from Sól/Sunna, the Norse personification of the Sun, which seemed pretty fitting for a pup joining a family that spends so much time around Viking festivals, music and life on the road.

We picked Sunna up in Texas when she was just a little pup, and she pretty much jumped straight into our crazy lifestyle.

Camper living.

Long road trips.

Festivals.

Campgrounds.

New people.

New dogs.

Mountains, deserts, forests and beaches.

She’s growing up on the road right alongside Bug.

And those two? 🧡

Watching them grow together has been one of my favorite parts of all of this.

Sunna is his four-legged partner in crime, occasional snack-sharing buddy and furry shadow. Bug absolutely loves her, and she has learned that having a tiny human around can be VERY beneficial when food is involved. 😂

She’s also a daddy’s girl.

When Chris is playing drums at a festival, Sunna is perfectly happy finding herself a shady spot where she can hang out and watch her dog dad play.

She’s curious about everything, always watching what’s happening around her and slowly figuring out this big weird world we’ve dropped her into.

She’s also still very much a puppy.

Which means she’s sweet, smart and adorable…

And occasionally makes choices that leave us wondering what exactly was going through that furry little head. 🤦‍♀️😂

She’s been through training, continues learning as we travel, and somehow seems to take every new place in stride.

One day she’s sitting beneath the trees at a campground.

The next she’s watching festival crowds go by.

Then she’s sticking her paws in Pacific sand and deciding whether or not she likes whatever food Mama just offered her.

Apparently pickles made the approved list. 🥒😂

She’s growing fast, learning constantly and becoming just as much a part of these stories as the rest of us.

Our sunshine girl.

Bug’s adventure buddy.

Papa’s biggest fan.

And one more member of this wonderfully chaotic family we’re hauling around the country.

Meet Sunna. ☀️🐺

Our four-legged road warrior and another little piece of Foxfire & Freeways. 🦊🔥🛣️

🦊 Meet Lori & Chris — Mama & Papa Behind the Chaos 🔥🛣️

Well, you’ve met Bug, so I suppose it’s only fair that you meet the two people responsible for bringing him along on this crazy adventure. 😂

We’re Lori and Chris.

We’re husband and wife, Mama and Papa, best friends, travel partners, and occasionally the two people staring at each other when something goes wrong with the camper thinking, “Well… now what?” 🤣

Chris is our musician. Put him behind a drum kit and he’s in his element. Music is a huge part of his life and one of the reasons festivals and traveling became such a big part of ours.

Then there’s me—Lori, the person behind most of what you read here.

I’m the picture taker, memory keeper and storyteller of the family. I’m happiest when I’m creating something—whether I’m writing, sewing, cooking, baking or making whatever random project I’ve decided we apparently need. 😂 Give me foxes, wolves, ravens, dragons, mushrooms, forests and anything with a little wildness to it, and I’m probably going to love it.

I’m also Deaf, so I experience some of these places a little differently. I may not hear the roar of every crowd or every song the same way others do, but I feel the drums, watch the people, notice the little details and take in the world around me in my own way.

And somehow, Chris and I work.

We’ve been through some really hard chapters together, and we’ve had plenty of moments where life looked nothing like we imagined it would.

But we kept going.

Eventually we got married, became parents to our little Bug, added Sunna and our other critters to the chaos, found ourselves with a camper behind us and started traveling from festival to festival across the country.

We’re definitely not polished travelers.

We miss turns.

Things break.

Plans change.

We get tired and cranky.

We laugh at ourselves—a lot.

Sometimes we want adventure, and sometimes we want nothing more than to sit at home in Ohio and not move for three days. 😂

But we’re building a life that feels like ours.

That’s really what Foxfire & Freeways is about.

Not pretending everything is perfect.

Just two people raising their little boy, loving their animals, chasing music and festivals, seeing as much of this world as we can, and collecting stories along the way.

For a long time, so many things felt like they belonged to “someday.”

Someday we’d travel.

Someday we’d have our family.

Someday we’d build a home.

Someday we’d have these adventures.

Then one day we looked around and realized…

Someday came along. 🧡

So hi.

We’re Lori & Chris.

Mama and Papa.

The two slightly crazy humans behind Foxfire & Freeways.

And we’re still figuring out where the road goes from here. 🦊🔥🛣️

🦊 Meet Bug — Our Littlest Road Warrior 🛣️🧡

If you’re new around here, allow us to introduce one of the smallest—but definitely not quietest—members of Foxfire & Freeways.

This is Walter, better known around here as Bug. 🥰

He recently turned one and has already spent a good chunk of his little life on the road with us—traveling through different states, attending festivals, meeting what feels like hundreds of people and somehow managing to steal hearts everywhere we go.

He loves music, dancing, exploring, french fries 😂, making new friends and, lately, discovering just how far those little legs can carry him.

He’s experienced mountains, deserts, forests, waterfalls, the Pacific Ocean and more festivals than most people attend in years—and he’s only getting started.

Some days he’s our happy little road buddy.

Other days he reminds us VERY loudly that traveling with a one-year-old is still traveling with a one-year-old. 🤣

But that’s part of the story too.

One day Bug will be old enough to read all of these posts himself and see just how much of the world he experienced before he was even old enough to remember it.

Until then, Mama and Papa will keep the memories for him. 🧡

Meet Bug: explorer in training, professional heart-stealer and the littlest member of Foxfire & Freeways. 🦊🔥🛣️

Road Notes: A Couple Days in Cascade Locks 🌲💦🦊

After all those miles of California coastline, winding roads and towering redwoods, we finally made our way into Oregon and settled in at Cascade Locks for a couple of days.

And let me tell you…

If we ever win the lottery, we might just move out here. 😂

It was absolutely beautiful.

Sometimes a couple of slower days are exactly what we need between all the driving and festivals, so yesterday we took advantage of it and had a little family outing to Multnomah Falls.

It’s not far from where we were camping, and pictures really don’t prepare you for how tall it is.

You can hear the roar of the water as it pours over the cliff, and then you look up…

And keep looking up.

And up. 😂

Standing there beneath it, surrounded by all that green with the water thundering down in front of us, was one of those simple stops that ends up becoming one of the highlights of the trip.

Afterward, we did what any family should do after staring at a giant waterfall:

We went and found steak. 😂🥩

We stopped at a steakhouse for dinner, and the food was delicious—the perfect ending to our little family day out.

Now it’s time to roll again.

We’re leaving Oregon and making our way into Washington to another campground, thankfully not too far from where we’ve been staying.

Saturday starts another festival weekend, wrapping up Sunday, and then we’ll turn ourselves south once again and make our way back toward California for another festival and a few more adventures we’ve got planned along the way.

As for how we’re getting back down there…

After those narrow, winding coastal roads, impatient drivers riding our bumper and our camper creeping along cliffs beside the Pacific…

I’m not entirely sure we’re taking the coastal highway again. 🤣

Beautiful?

Absolutely.

Would I recommend seeing it?

Definitely.

Am I ready to tow the camper down the whole thing again immediately?

We’ll get back to you on that one. 😂

For now, Washington is calling.

Another campground.

Another festival.

Another state line.

And a few more miles added to this crazy little life we’re building.

Chasing miles, one adventure at a time. 🦊🔥🌲🛣️

Until the next mile, keep the fire lit and the road calling.

Foxfire & Freeways: Grover Beach, Sandy Feet & Brave Little Steps 🌊🦊

California gave us another beautiful weekend for the books.

We stayed at a gorgeous KOA tucked away in the Santa Margarita Valley, and honestly, it was such a pretty place to call home for the weekend.

They even had the cutest little gnome village at the campground, which of course I absolutely loved. 😂🍄

Then it was time for the Grover Beach festival!

There were tons of food and ware vendors to wander through, plenty of new people to meet, and—as usual—Bug managed to collect a few more members of his unofficial fan club.

He completely stole one woman’s heart. She joked that she wanted to take him home with her.

Sorry, ma’am. This one’s already claimed. 😂

Bug also got his first taste of street corn, covered in lime, butter and chili.

His review seemed to be something along the lines of:

“This isn’t bad… but have you considered giving me fries instead?”

😂

He liked it well enough, but fries are apparently still king.

Throughout the festival he kept practicing his walking. He’s been getting closer and closer, but still hasn’t quite mustered up the courage to completely let go and trust those little legs.

Then yesterday we went to Pismo State Beach.

And something changed.

With the Pacific stretched out in front of him, Bug walked an entire yard length by himself toward the water.

Every time I picked him up, he wanted right back down to feel the sand beneath his feet and keep exploring. He found seashells, tried unsuccessfully to chase the much-faster seagulls, and even managed to get himself a mouthful of salty Pacific Ocean water.

Welcome to the ocean, kid. 😂🌊

There were also pelicans hanging around, and I KNOW they weren’t going to carry my child away…

But when you’re watching one of those giant birds with its enormous fish-scooping mouth anywhere near your tiny human, Mama Brain still goes:

“Don’t you even THINK about it, bird.” 👀😂

Afterward, we found a BBQ joint by the water, and the food was spot on. Exactly what we needed to finish off our day.

But watching Bug take those steps is the part I’ll remember most.

This little boy who has spent his first year being carried along on all of these adventures is starting to explore them on his own two feet—and of all the places to really test those legs, he chose the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

Pretty fitting for our little road baby. 🧡

Now the camper is rolling again.

We’re making our way toward Manchester Beach KOA for our next stop before continuing north to Randle, Washington and another festival weekend.

And when the road eventually brings us back down into California, we’ve already got a couple more fun stops planned that I’m really looking forward to.

For now, we’re doing what we do—collecting memories, crossing state lines, taking brave little steps and, of course…

Chasing miles. 🦊🔥🌊

Until the next mile, keep the fire lit and the road calling.

Foxfire & Freeways: Bright Lights, Bowling & Bug Takes on Vegas 🎰🦊

Las Vegas was definitely a change of scenery after all those red rocks, canyons and wide-open desert.

Suddenly there were bright lights, colorful characters and something happening pretty much everywhere you looked. 😂

We stayed at the Las Vegas KOA, and right next door was this massive hotel and casino called Sam’s Town. So naturally, one of our first Vegas adventures became…

Late-night family bowling. 🎳

Bug obviously isn’t quite ready to bowl on his own yet—he isn’t even walking yet—but I still wanted him to feel like he was part of it.

I’d let him put his hands on the bowling ball, then I’d roll it down the lane for him. Whenever “his” ball knocked down some pins, we’d cheer for him like he’d just bowled a strike.

He LOVED it. 😂

Although I think he may have enjoyed all the attention he was getting from the people bowling next to us just as much.

After bowling, we headed upstairs in search of some late-night grub and found an authentic Mexican restaurant.

Bug absolutely tore into some refried beans and cheese, while Mama and Papa went straight for breakfast burritos.

And anybody who knows me knows I’m a sucker for a good breakfast burrito—especially when there are potatoes involved. 😂

The next day we met up with a couple of friends for a late lunch, got to sit around and catch up for a while, then headed back for a much-needed nap before round two of Vegas.

That evening…

Fremont Street.

Now THAT was an experience. 😂

Lights everywhere. Music. People. Street performers. Shops. And all kinds of colorful characters around every corner.

There were even a few people dressed as giant inflatable gorillas.

Bug was NOT impressed.

They were huge.

They were weird.

And apparently, according to Bug, they were absolutely not to be trusted. 😂🦍

Eventually we worked up an appetite again and decided it was time for me to finally see what all the fuss was about with White Castle.

Movies and TV have spent years making these little burgers seem like something people would cross state lines for.

My verdict?

They’re… okay. 😂

Apparently they’re supposed to leave you craving more.

I beg to differ.

I’m glad I finally tried them, but I don’t foresee myself waking up in the middle of the night screaming, “I NEED A WHITE CASTLE BURGER!” anytime soon.

We wandered through a few shops afterward and picked up some Vegas souvenirs—T-shirts, keychains and a few little things to remember our stop before eventually calling it a night.

And just like that, our little taste of Vegas was coming to an end.

We didn’t need some huge, extravagant Vegas experience.

We bowled with our little boy.

We ate good food.

We caught up with friends.

We wandered Fremont Street.

We laughed at giant gorillas terrifying Bug.

And we finally learned that White Castle may have had one of the greatest movie marketing campaigns of all time. 😂

Another city experienced our way.

Now we’re trading the neon lights of Vegas for something completely different…

Grover Beach, California. 🌊

Another festival weekend is calling, and we’re back to chasing miles.

Until the next mile, keep the fire lit and the road calling. 🦊🔥🛣️

Chasing Miles

— A Foxfire & Freeways Song

[Verse 1]

Packed up the pieces of a life we knew,
Hitched up the camper with a different view.
Mountains in the mirror, open road ahead,
A thousand little stories still waiting to be read.

We’ve driven through the sunshine,
We’ve driven through the rain,
Broken parts and wrong turns,
Then got back up again.

There’s laughter from the backseat,
Music rolling through,
We don’t always know where we’re going
But somehow we make it through.

[Pre-Chorus]

We’re not running from the life behind,
We’re chasing something more
Collecting little memories
On roads we’ve never known before.

[Chorus]

We’re chasing miles, chasing dreams,
Chasing sunsets through the evergreens.
With a little foxfire burning bright,
Guiding us into another night.

Through the mountains, through the plains,
Through the breakdowns and pouring rain.
Wherever this wild road may lead

Until the next mile,
Keep the fire lit
And the road calling me.

[Verse 2]

Barefoot in the festival grass,
Little hands reaching as the music passed.
War cries ringing while the drums roll on,
Another little memory before the moment’s gone.

There are fireflies beneath the canvas,
Like stars within our reach,
Huckleberry summers,
And sunsets on the beach.

Strangers turn to family,
New towns start feeling known,
Funny how the farther that we wander,
The more this life feels like home.

[Pre-Chorus]

We’re not waiting for someday now,
Someday came along.
Turns out all those impossible dreams
Were waiting down the road.

[Chorus]

We’re chasing miles, chasing dreams,
Chasing sunsets through the evergreens.
With a little foxfire burning bright,
Guiding us into another night.

Through the mountains, through the plains,
Through the breakdowns and pouring rain.
Wherever this wild road may lead

Until the next mile,
Keep the fire lit
And the road calling me.

[Bridge — quieter]

Objects in the mirror
Are closer than they appear…

Funny how the dreams we thought
Were still a thousand miles from here
Are sleeping in the backseat,
Running barefoot through the grass,
Living in these photographs
Of moments moving fast.

We built a home to come back to,
But we’re never standing still,
There will always be another road,
Another dream beyond the hill.

[Build]

So let the tires keep on turning,
Let that horizon call our names.
We’ll carry home inside us
No matter how the map may change.

[Final Chorus — BIG]

WE’RE CHASING MILES, CHASING DREAMS,
CHASING SUNSETS THROUGH THE EVERGREENS!
With the foxfire burning bright,
We’ll follow it into another night.

Through every mountain, every plain,
Every breakdown, every drop of rain
This wild little life is all we need.

We’ll keep chasing miles,
Making memories,
Writing stories no map could ever read.

And when tomorrow finds us gone…

Keep the fire lit—
And the road calling on.

[Outro — stripped back]

Another town behind us,
Another sunrise still to see.

Objects in the mirror
Are closer than they appear…

And sometimes…

So are your dreams.

Until the next mile.
🦊🔥🛣️

🦊 A little note from Foxfire & Freeways:
“Chasing Miles” is an original Foxfire & Freeways song and means a whole lot to us. Please enjoy and share the original post, but don’t copy, reproduce, record, redistribute, or pass the song or lyrics off as your own.
© 2026 Foxfire & Freeways. All rights reserved.

Foxfire & Freeways: Four Corners, Grand Canyons & Monumental Views 🦊🛣️

With the New Mexico festival officially behind us, we hit the road again—and this next stretch packed a whole lot into just a couple of days.

First stop:

Four Corners Monument.

Of course, we couldn’t just stop, take a normal picture and leave.

We had a mission.

Get everybody positioned so we could be in Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico at the same time. 😂

Because when you travel with a baby, a puppy and a husband, coordinating four living creatures into four separate states for a picture sounds completely reasonable.

From Four Corners, we kept chasing miles toward one of those places you can see a thousand pictures of and still not really understand until you’re standing there yourself.

The Grand Canyon.

We visited the South Rim, and pictures really don’t prepare you for the sheer size of it.

Layer after layer of rock stretched out in front of us, changing with the light and disappearing into the distance. You know the Grand Canyon is huge—but standing on the edge and actually looking across it is something entirely different.

It’s one of those places that makes you stop for a minute.

No festival noise. No rushing to the next thing.

Just us, the canyon, and millions of years of Earth’s history sitting right in front of us.

Then it was back on the road again.

Eventually those enormous canyon walls gave way to another landscape we’ve seen countless times in pictures, movies and postcards:

Monument Valley.

We stopped there for the night, surrounded by those massive red-rock formations rising out of the desert.

Not a bad view to call home for an evening.

And somewhere between Four Corners, the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, I realized just how wild this particular stretch of the trip had been.

Four states meeting beneath our feet.

One of the largest canyons on Earth stretching out in front of us.

Monument Valley towering around us.

All within another few pages of this crazy little story we’re writing as we go.

And we’re still chasing miles.

Eventually, Monument Valley disappeared behind us and the road pointed toward a completely different kind of scenery:

Las Vegas. 🎰

From red rocks and wide-open desert to neon lights and a city that seems determined never to sleep.

We spent a little time taking in Vegas, but—as always—the road is calling again.

This morning we’re leaving the lights behind and chasing miles toward Grover Beach, California, where another festival weekend is waiting for us.

Desert to neon to the Pacific.

This trip really doesn’t believe in easing us from one landscape into another. 😂

Until the next mile, keep the fire lit and the road calling. 🦊🔥🛣️