Category: Day to day

Top 10: Very Best Gear (so far)

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After 70 days on the road, here’s the very best gear we packed or picked up along the way

  1. MR. HEATER

Oh how we love you, Mr. Heater. You’ve brought warmth and comfort to us on the chilliest Autumn days in our very poorly insulated and increasingly holey Trailblazer. Although gassy at times, the stink is worth the heat.

2. Reading material

Our book bin is huge and heavy and we couldn’t help stopping by used book stores, garage and estate sales, and thrift stores to add a few titles to read. We also discovered Overdrive, through our local library, and have loved getting electronic check-outs for free! If you are still paying for the latest and greatest e- and audiobooks, you really need to check out (get it?) the offerings of your hometown library. You can even put books on hold and you will receive notifications when the books are available. Here’s a list of most of the books we’ve read or listened in the past three months on the road:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyUndaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Wild FrontierRed QueenSimple GeniusThe Sword of ShannaraChicken Soup for the Teen Soul: Real-Life Stories by Real TeensMy Own Two FeetA Girl from YamhillSahara SpecialGuns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human SocietiesIllusionariumAll the Light We Cannot See
The CircleEncore to an Empty RoomBlink: The Power of Thinking Without ThinkingJohn Glenn: A MemoirMagoniaDon't Suck, Don't Die: Giving Up Vic Chesnutt
To Kill a MockingbirdThe Paris WifeCinderI'll Give You the SunThe Sky is EverywhereHatchet
The Life as We Knew It CollectionCarry OnThe NecromancerThe MagicianThe AlchemystThe Sorceress
Lost on Planet China: The Strange and True Story of One Man's Attempt to Understand the World's Most Mystifying Nation, or How He Became Comfortable Eating Live SquidOne Last Thing Before I GoSo B. It
We also have Next Issue for the magazines we can’t live without–such as Jason’s growing love affair with Sunset Magazine.

3. Comfy campfire chairs

We couldn’t–comfortably–live without out very lovely chairs that transform from breakfast nook in the morning to fire and stargazing most nights. Indi chose a bungee cord chair while Jason and Wendy opted for the high-backed version.

4. Folding table

Transformer. Not only is this bad boy a sturdy 48″ table that doubles as a kitchen counter, but it also folds in half AND has a handle for easy carrying and storage.

5. Hiking Boots

Boots

Boots from left: Jason’s Lafuma, Wendy’s Lowa, Indi’s Vasque

We hike, on average, five times a week and solid boots are a must. To tell the truth, all of our other shoes–other than flip flops–could, should have been left at home. Jason and Indi got their boots second hand at Next Adventure in Portland and Wendy got her boots–new–at REI. So far, and although Indi doesn’t love hiking quite as much as her parents do, there have been no complaints from the knee down.

6. Water Container

This was a sweet little find in the Casper, Wyoming Salvation Army. As the season wound down and campgrounds whittled away the amenities, we used this container more and more since water was less and less available.

Coleman Two Gallon Party Stacker

7. Comfy and warm bedding

Sleeping on the stock Jayco mattresses for a night or two is just fine as the knots and kinks are resolved with time. However, the thought of months and months of sore backs and sleepless nights sent Wendy searching for a thin (so that we could actually close up Trailblazer) but effective mattress pad. Eureka! The Simmons Beautyrest BigSleep 3 Convoluted Foam Topper with memory foam.

8. National Park pass

Here’s the math: Each national park entry is–on average–25 USD. The park pass was 80 USD for all the national parks in the States for one whole year. So far, we have been to 13 parks with many more to visit this year. Money well-spent.

9. Headlamps

Flashlight, reading light, coyote spotter. Enough said.

10. jet boil

For a few years now, the Jet Boil has been a backpacking staple. Currently, we are equally devoted to it as caffeinated campers. A bonus is that it’s small enough to use inside Trailblazer on chilly mornings (even though the directions warn us not to).

Honorable Mentions:

Ziploc Slider Bags in Quart and Gallon Sizes. So useful when your refrigerator is a cooler

Bath in a bag. Not only have these wipes helped us to feel okay about a lack of real showers + close living but, we will keep these little babies in mind for multi-day races, too.

The small, but mighty hatchet

The small, but mighty hatchet

Over the last three months, we have found that we have too much of just about everything and will narrow down our packing lists for the next leg of our journey, starting in January.  It does feel like the beginning of something transformative, something that will stick.

Stay tuned for the next post in “tiny living”: the top 10 things we didn’t actually end up needing, or will revise/upgrade to better suit our needs. . .

10. Death Valley National Park

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You head off to a destination, maybe you’ve done some research–maybe not–and you have this preconceived notion of what it will be like. Then you arrive and realize you were totally wrong.

For us, this was Death Valley.

Other than the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Death Valley was probably the National Park we knew the least about prior to this trip. What were we expecting?

Searing heat. Sand. Desolation. Flatness.

What did we find? As we entered the park, we were greeted with pleasant 80o F (250C) temperatures, almost no sand, a surprising amount of vegetation, and a vast basin surrounded by mountains and canyons too numerous to explore.

Initially we had planned on staying in Mesquite Springs campground (another Sunset magazine recommendation), but after consulting our map we felt that either Sunset or Texas Springs would be more convenient for the limited time we had in our nation’s largest national park (1.8 million acres). Upon pulling into Sunset we were greeted to a huge gravel parking lot filled with mega-motorhomes. We inwardly, or quite possibly, outwardly groaned in dismay. However, as we continued up the hill and into the adjacent Texas Spring Campground and were happy to find at least a few trees and a bit more separation between sites.

Texas Springs Campground

So, we set up camp and headed to the nearby Furnace Creek Resort to check out the visitor center and plan our next few days. Furnace Creek was the site of an old mining community that has now become an upscale-ish resort; complete with cabins, restaurant, pub, grocery store, and the world’s lowest elevation golf course.

From here we headed towards Artists Drive Loop, only to arrive and discover, like several other park roads, that it was closed due to flash flood damage. However, on the way back to camp we found the Golden Canyon Trailhead and decided to check it out. We ended up discovering a cool little canyon that became even more dramatic on the way out due to an amazing sunset.

Hiking out of Golden Canyon
Erosion in Action

This is probably a good time to mention that we’ve never been to a place with more dramatic sunrises and sunsets and this is a case where pictures are definitely worth a few thousand words, I only wish our photography skills could match what we saw in nature.

Sunset at Golden Canyon
More sunsets please
Another sunrise
Not a bad place for a cup of coffee
Sunrise from our campground

The next day we had planned to start our day in Mosaic Canyon –another amazing hike– walking, and in places scrambling, up a narrow canyon.

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After our hike, we headed to Badwater Basin. At 282 feet (86 m) below sea level it is the lowest spot in the U.S. By the time we had arrived the wind had picked up, I mean really picked up!

 

We didn’t really expect much visiting Badwater Basin and the salt flats, but once again were blown away (almost literally) by the otherworldly landscape. A short drive away we also stopped at the Devil’s Golf Course where deposits of salt have been sculpted by water and wind to form a sharp and jagged ground that you would not want to trip and fall on.

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After getting back to camp, we discovered our bins and some other camping equipment that had blown across the campground into some bushes; actually it was the park’s camp host and our neighbors that discovered and returned them to us… camping rookie mistake. The wind was still howling, our Good Samaritan neighbor had a weather station on his motor home and informed us the wind was blowing 40 Knots. We’re not sailors so we don’t know what a knot actually is, but now we know that when you put 40 of them together, that’s a hell of a strong wind (actually Jason did just look this up and 40 Knots = 46 MPH = 74 KPH).

Wendy and Indi retreated into the tent trailer, which felt as if it was in jeopardy of being blown over, while Jason turned the truck around to create a wind barrier and moved our stove into the back of the pick-up under the canopy to whip up dinner. Later in the night the wind did die down and we woke up to rain showers… rain in Death Valley? Yet another preconceived notion blown out of the water.

As we packed up the next morning, it was with a little sadness because the rest of this leg of our journey– Las Vegas, Kanab, and St. George– will be spent in a hotel, an Airbnb rental, and with friends, so our camping nights in Trailblazers are finished (maybe for good if we upgrade our trailer over the Christmas holiday back in Oregon).

So long Trailblazer

So long, Trailblazer

Death Valley gets six huge thumbs up from the Windusts.

Next stop: Viva Las Vegas!

8. The Grand Canyon National Park (South Rim)

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http://www.legendsofamerica.com/photos-arizona/FlagstaffAZ-66Postcard.jpg

Our last night in Monument Valley had been our 13th in a row in our tent trailer Trailblazer. The original plans had us heading straight to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, but civilization was beckoning. One of the best things about our year so far has been a lack of reservations and definite plans. Although at times this has been a challenge for those of us type A personalities (i.e. Jason), it’s been great to be able to change plans on a whim. So, we rented a place on Airbnb in Flagstaff, Arizona and spent two wonderful days lounging around, getting our tech fix, going to thrift stores to piece together Indi’s Halloween costume, and (Jason) getting to soak in two full football games–unfortunately they were both Oregon State and Dallas Cowboy losses, quite a common theme this year. We were also pleasantly surprised by the cool town of Flagstaff with the same great vibe we’ve found in other college towns and much greener than what we ever expected to find in Arizona. We spent a ridiculous amount of time in Bookmans Exchange, finding amazing deals on secondhand books. It was like a smaller version of Powell’s City of Books, a favorite destination in Portland, Oregon. If you find yourself in this town, also be sure to check out Beaver Street Brewery and Whistle Stop Cafe for lunch. Windust stamp of approval!

The downtime also allowed us to reach a couple of big decisions. First, we withdrew Indi from her online school. We were finding access to the internet a challenge, and more importantly, we felt like we didn’t have the time to incorporate what we were seeing and doing on the road into her education, a huge reason we went on this trip. Check out “Parks as Classrooms” for more information on what/how we’ve been teaching Indi (and learning ourselves!) through experiences in these beautiful and diverse environments.

Secondly, as much of a trooper as Trailblazer has been, we’ve decided to upgrade to a small, hard-sided trailer for the second half of our journey. The thought of a non-leaking roof, no drafty gaps, and being able to cut down the time we spend packing and unpacking are proving to be too alluring. We’ll miss the ease at which we can pull a tent trailer, but if we get something small enough we hope that it will still be A-Okay behind the truck. We’ll most likely buy something used when we are home for the holidays and then resell it at the end of the year.

That's a mighty grand canyon

That’s a mighty grand canyon

Onto our 10th national park, The Grand Canyon. We’d heard the Grand Canyon is hard to describe, and with my limited writing skills (Wendy would probably have better luck), I won’t even try and express the scale and majesty of the place. Needless to say, we weren’t the least bit disappointed. I don’t now if our first glimpse of the canyon from the South Rim was the best I’d ever seen, but it’s definitely in the top five. We camped in the park at the Mather Campground on the South Rim, a sprawling but well laid out campground. You never felt too close to your neighbor, and it helped that it was mostly empty. We continued to be blessed with great weather. The nights were chilly, as is to be expected when you are 7000’ (2130 m) above sea level, but the days were sunny and beautiful. Our best memory from Mather was finding us surrounded by a harem of Elk, and the large buck that wandered up to us.

During our three nights in the Grand Canyon, we did a short hike to the aptly named “Ooh Ahh Point”, walked the Rim Trail, visited the impressive “Desert View Watchtower”, and listened to a great ranger lecture on the history of the California Condor.

Ooh Ahh Point

Indi at Ooh Ahh Point
The hike down was a lot easier than the hike up

Desert View Lookout

During our last evening, we decided to have a sunset picnic on the rim. Despite being on the road together for the past 50 days, I guess Wendy and I still need to work on our communication. We got a late start, and I drove us to a part of the park she wasn’t expecting. On top of all this the clouds rolled in and hid the sunset that we were too late for anyway. But all was not lost. We set up on some rocks in front of one of the lodge’s restaurants, enjoying our 99 cent cup-a-soups while feeling sorry for all of the people behind us spending 10 times the amount on their soups… without nearly as good of a view. To Indi, these “campers” have become known as the “fancy people”.

The time went by quickly and before we knew it, it was time to leave. Both Wendy and I felt the pull of the Colorado River and were disappointed that we weren’t able to hike to the bottom of the canyon on this trip. At the same time we’re confident we’ll return.

Tiny Living

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Trip Statistics thus far…

Days on the road – 51
Miles Driven – 5231
States Visited – 8 National Parks Visited – 10
Breweries Visited – 7

Be forewarned, this will not be a glamorous blog post. No photographs of stunning natural beauty or attempts to describe wildlife sightings. This post is about real life on the road. Just like your life, there are some good things, and some not so good.

Showers… apparently you can go days without bathing and not have any serious health problems. However, we do go through a lot of baby wipes. This just might fall on the “con” list for Wendy, I guess its just a matter of perspective.

Also hair experimentation…

80’s hair (albeit much thinner) and full beard… yes please
Blue semi-permanent die job, why not?
Mt. Rainier

Then there is our “tiny home” A few years ago we purchased a used tent trailer, a 2000 Jayco, dubbed “Trailblazer”.  Originally we had planned on using it for a few camping trips each summer, not as home base for close to a year. With a little more foresight we might have gotten something a wee bit newer/bigger/nicer. Regardless, so far we have been happy in our little home, but are debating an upgrade for the second half of our year on the road as some small problems start to rear their ugly heads.

Everything looks so nice and organized, doesn’t it (Indi did a great job labeling for us)? Well this is what it looks like right after we set up camp. After a couple of days of living in it, Trailblazer looks more like someone threw a grenade into a gypsy wagon, with clothes and all of Indi’s sparkly fabric (she has taken up sewing) strewn about. And yes, even with Indi’s curtain, “privacy” can be an issue. I would put this firmly in the challenge category, but this can be overcome with a bit of creativity (definitely in the positive category).

Probably my least favorite part of our new life is the constant packing and unpacking. When camping, we try to stay at least two or three nights to minimize this. Here, you can see our supplies in the back of the truck:

SONY DSC

We are discovering how little you really need to still be comfortable and are looking forward to our holidays back home in Oregon were we can shed some of the items we thought were so necessary before we left.

While in bear country, not only did we have to set up and break down camp when we arrived and left, but after each meal all of our food, dishes, and stove had to be packed away in the truck or in the bear box.

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We try to break up our camping with stays in real houses, either relying on the generosity of friends and family, or Airbnb short-term rentals. This allows us a little time to get caught up on laundry, clean our trailer and supplies, and get some much needed grown up alone time.

Anyone know what this is?

Anyone know what this is? A sink? A toilet? Nope, in bear country this is where the second class citizens (those of us not in RV’s with running water) do dishes since you aren’t suppose to have any traces of food anywhere in your camp.

Dishwashers

And what about entertainment? Thus far, our days have been filled with hiking and exploring whatever town we might be in. And once we settle back into camp… naturally, we have all been reading a lot more. Indi has taken up sewing and continues to enjoy her arts and crafts (mainly bracelet making and duct tape “stuff”), when Wendy feels like I need to be humbled, we play Scrabble (if my fragile ego can’t take another game of Scrabble, we’ll play Cribbage). One of my favorite pastimes is staring into the campfire.

Indi’s new hobby
Getting humbled once again playing Scrabble
If you like to camp you understand

So hopefully that gives you a little taste as to life on the road. Don’t get me wrong, we do love it, and if you enjoy lots of quality time with your family I’d recommend it to anyone. I’m sure we’ll get better at it as the year goes on, too. More posts to come on cooking, setting up camp, and home schooling.