Woke up to snow on the ground, a surprising sight I was not ready for. I am quite ready for spring to be here but this snow is a sign that winter is not quite ready to leave. Today’s plan is to hop in the truck and head out to a local trail on the northeast side of town. A bit of a drive for me, but I do love a good drive. The morning was clear and crisp and perfect for a stroll down an unknown trail to me. I was up early enough that the roads were empty and still had frost and snow covering them before the sun hits them. Continue reading
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I am going to jump straight to the answer and save you all time. The answer to the question of which is better a cooler, an electric cooler, or a fridge? The answer might shock you….
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Are you planning your first camping trip with friends or have you been invited to go on a camping trip in the near future? I am sure your friends and family have bombarded you with tons of information on what products to buy. If you are not sure if you will even like camping here are ten tips to help you get ready for your first camping trip.
The weather is warming up and many of us will be heading out to enjoy our favorite outdoor activities. Being prepared for a quick hike or a full weekend adventure is important and before you arrive you leave making sure you have everything packed and accounted for is key. Your gear checklist is all checked off but did you check everything you need? Here is a list of things that I make sure to do before heading out.
Campfires always bring people together as does camping. This last weekend was my first annual Freeze Your Butt Off campout or FYBO for short. A camping weekend that takes place at Kickapoo State Park in Illinois. This trip allowed me to check off another State Park from my list as well as get to test out some of my new camping gear.
Before you start with the whole …. there he goes again buying more gear. I admit I might have a slight minor addiction to camping gadgets but all of this gear was purchased prior to the Jeep crapping out and me getting the 4 Runner. This means that every trip this year will be a new experience. New vehicle, new-ish gear, and new places…
Having lived in the southwest, I became addicted to visiting ghost towns and mines. A saying among my friends is “West is best” when they talk about the amount of adventure that can be found in the Southwest. Sure, I enjoy hiking out east, but out west has lots of very unique places to explore. With an endless amount of BLM land and dispersed camping, you can always find plenty of places to get away from the hustle and bustle of towns. I have only lived in the Southwest for over five years now. I wanted to recap a few of the places that I have explored.
While watching several videos the other day they all ended up having a similar theme. They were about books, reading, and what inspired people to write or follow their passions. Watching these caused me to think back to what started my love of reading and writing. I am not honestly sure of the exact point where this happened. I have photos of me asleep with a book in my hand and I once had a paper folder full of handwritten pages. That folder held the pages of a never-ending story about a young boy on an adventure. I can, however, tell you about one of the books that started it all.
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. I read that book time and time again wearing down the spine and pages. If you have not read the book it is a telling of a man’s childhood. He tells of earning money to buy two hunting dog puppies, raising them, and teaching them how to hunt. There is more to the story but to tell that might spoil the story, so I will stop there.
Every summer growing up I would visit my grandparents for a week. We would split the week between the two sides of the family. My mom’s parents lived out on the farm, and my dad’s parents lived in town. While I enjoyed visiting both sides, I enjoyed staying out on the farm the most.
Grammy and Grandad would get up early and turn on the radio every morning and tune it to KFMA news on the AM band and listen to the farm reports except on Sundays. We would eat lunch promptly at noon and dinner at five. Decades of farm life and the schedule it required were still ingrained into every aspect and decision they made each day long after farming was not a daily part of their lives.
When we were not keeping busy on the farm Granddad and I would go fishing. We would hop into his old Chevy pickup truck. While it did not have hundreds of thousands of miles on it the truck was full of dust and was worked as it was intended to be used on the farm. If you live on a farm or have ever visited one you know the smell. Road dust, corn, and bean dust, layered upon layers for decades stored inside and out in that truck. He always took good care of his machines but the country road dust could never be cleaned no matter how you tried. Despite all the dust it still looked like it did when he bought it brand new so many years ago.
A warm week brought on a spur-of-the-moment desire to go camping. Camping always calls to me however the midwest had been seeing some unusually cold days. Some of the midwest saw negative 40 deg Fahrenheit which all sane people did the bare minimum outside and hibernated. Luckily for Winston and me, we were able to spend Christmas with my mom. Thankfully the cold temps did not last all winter. With an overcast weekend, the weather was just warm enough to head out to camp. This would be our last of the year and first of 2023.
Knowing all of my friends would be busy fighting colds or covid I did some looking around to find a good quiet spot to go camp. Winston has not become a seasoned camper yet so patience and quiet camp sports are what he needs to get there. I settled on a spot about two hours from the house. Almost in the middle between Saint Louis and home. Mccully Preservation. I found the camp through Hipcamp an app that allows you to book a night on private land akin to VRBO or AirBNB but for camping.
I debated camping was how I wanted to spend NYE. I knew I did not want to go to any big parties so it was either stay home or go camping. Camping a couple of hours away gives you a safety net so if something unplanned happens you can just head home. I spent the day on Friday collecting and organizing my gear. This would be the first time using the new tent. I quickly collected the gear and tossed some of it in the truck. We settled into a quiet evening of watching youtube and playing with Winston’s Christmas presents.
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No matter where you ask this question you will always get completely different answers. The “official definition” is summed up to be any type of self-reliant travel overland with the primary goal of going to remote destinations. Visit any “Overlanding” Facebook group or troll comments on Instagram and you will quickly find that there are very large factions that support many different ideals.
