Category: Uncategorized

  • A last little getaway

    After Michael gave his notice at work, we took the opportunity for a little getaway and headed up to the high country with the dogs and the bikes. I apologize for these pictures – they are definitely not up to my standards. But with the house sale going on (inspections and appraisals and such), I didn’t make…

  • The Big Announcement

    This one’s a doozie, I’d say. It’s been in the works since last October, and everything is falling into place. It’s time to let everyone in on the secret: Michael and I are going to run off and be adventurers for a year. In Taco Negro. We’re bringing the dogs, our bikes, and our running…

  • Pros and Cons of the rooftop tent (RTT)

    So I belong to the group on Facebook called Pickup Truck Camping. It’s moderated by a guy named Ryan Shauers, author of a book called “Big Travel, Small Budget: How to Travel More, Spend Less, and See the World.” I read the book a while back and I think it’s pretty cool. Ryan has traveled…

  • Paleo banana almond butter pancakes

    Well, we finally came up with a pretty good recipe. Yay!   It took a couple of attempts, but Michael helped me come up with a recipe for these awesome pancakes. On the first attempt we used almond flour. They were tasty, but we needed an entire cup of almond flour. Not ideal. Why? Well,…

  • Camping Coffee Options

    Ah, coffee. What would I do without you? I’m guessing 15 to life. There are a few options for making coffee while camping, and for us none of them involve plugging in our reliable drip coffee maker. We’ve experimented a bit over the years – here are our results. Instant: Not necessarily the cheapest, most…

  • The search for a waterproof duffel

    It’s starting to feel like a needle in the haystack, I tell you. So we have a plain old duffel bag from REI. Pretty sure I got it on a prodeal, which accounts for the horrible color scheme. At 84 liters (5100 cubic inches) it’s plenty big enough for all our clothes on a 10-day…

  • Last day… for this trip.

    So we arrived just before dark at the dispersed (i.e. free) camping at Bookcliffs. I didn’t take any pictures until this morning, and I still can’t believe it. This place is empty. I mean, empty. I couldn’t believe it! Moab was packed. It took us 30 minutes just to get inside Arches NP yesterday. And yet we’ve got…

  • Leaving Moab

    Remember how I said instant coffee wasn’t bad… but that didn’t mean it was actually any good? Yeah. Done with instant coffee, we packed up camp and headed straight into town. Both of us were looking forward to revisiting the Eklecticafe. I think they have the best coffee in Moab, in addition to great food…

  • Creative Cooking in the Desert

    Some pretty cool things happen when you travel with a chef. First of all, he got Vera (the world’s most temperamental stove) to work on a regular basis. Second, he makes some pretty fabulous meals on that stove. Example? At some point I noticed two bananas on the dashboard in the truck… turning black in…

  • The Moab International Tiny Tot Motor Speedway

    Upon returning to Moab our first order of business was to ride one of the newer trails there – Navajo Rocks. First opened in 2014, Navajo Rocks is a network of almost 20 miles of trails. And it’s fabulous.

  • Adventure, also known as Type II fun

    I read this interview with Conrad Anker, and in it he described the three types of fun. Type I fun is something that’s fun to do and fun to talk about afterward, like going to the movies. Type III is fun while you’re doing it but not afterward, like drinking too much and having a…

  • Breakfast with a view

    While we sleep in the roof top tent, the dogs spend each night in the back of the truck. They don’t seem to mind – in fact, they readily jump up there (well, Bailey does. Elvis gets carried) as soon as the sun goes down. Before we go to bed I try to them out…