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Category: Dad's Dirt Roads: A Blog
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on Sun May 19, 2013
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by Mark Stephens
You could wager that the modern SUV exists because of Land Rover, the original sport utility. Like 'em or not, the Land Rover has very few rivals, equals, or contenders. It's a fine line Land Rover walks in attempt at a graceful balance of true ruggedness, capability and classy syle. Arguably, the car maker has been pulling it off for a long, long time. Over 60 years in fact . . .
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Category: Dad's Dirt Roads: A Blog
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on Mon May 13, 2013
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by Mark Stephens
The best places to roll out the sleeping bag, cook a meal, cuddle with your sweetie and gaze at the stars are rarely easy to get to. Rightly so. I'm a believer in the yin and the yang, that there must be a price to be paid when you want the ultimate campsite. One of these high ranking sites, in my book, is the oddly named Murphy Hogback camp found nearly dead center in the backcountry of southern Utah's Canyonlands National Park.It doesn't have much. Just three lonesome sites that share a pit toilet and no running water. Sounds like fun, doesn't it . . . ?
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Category: Dad's Dirt Roads: A Blog
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on Fri May 10, 2013
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by Mark Stephens
Before my wife became my wife, she gave me a backcountry permit for the Grand Canyon. So we spent a spring break with four friends camped on the Colorado River at Phantom Ranch. It was March 2001. Other friends who didn't join us hooked us up with some bulk dehydrated meals that they had stashed away years earlier in preparation for the Y2K bug that they were certain would collapse modern civilization on January 1, 2000. "Well," they laughed, "we don't need them now. Why don't you take them?"
They were big bags, too. Like the size of a giant bag of Tostitos, but 3 or 4 pounds apiece so they could feed 10 souls in one go. Despite the funky apocalyptic juju, we took the meals and left for the Grand Canyon . . .
