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Last I heard, Jackson, Wyoming is enjoying a lovely 10-degree low and taking on an inch or two of fluff during some awfully pleasant snow flurries. They say the skiing's not that great this year, either. So prepare yourself. Corners of the American Sonoran Desert are invoking cliché lyrics to Jimmy Buffet songs at 74 degrees during the day and chilling the bones at night around 45. Those are facts, so pack the bikes and come on down. 38 Photos . . . Camera: Canon 5D | Lens: EF16-35mm f/2.8L | Setting: f/14, 1/125, ISO 100 I stopped and looked around for another way. He, on the other hand, rolled by me on the passenger side, draped a wrist at 12:00 on the wheel, and entered the sludge at a creep. Life as we knew it unfolded in slow motion. The front tires touched the water and went down. They didn't stop, but they sank with such a dreamy, cartoonish pace that those of us watching had enough time to process, react, and theorize. So, we laughed . . .
If you've been to this space before, you might already know about our little love affair with funky and cool campervans. But this Volkswagen LT 40 inspires a whole new level of bliss and wonder for classic, or not-so-classic, Griswolding. Uh oh, and she's for sale. Alas, she's all the way across the pond in Scotland. It's a 1988 unit that underwent a two year rebuild by a dad who intended to take his family of five through Africa, but as Jed from Campervan Culture tells us, the plans changed. The project was completed in 2010, including a shiny new 2.4 TD motor. It's almost a shame to put so much energy (and cold, hard-earned cash!) into a such a significant project only to have to part with her before a grand voyage. The van in its current state has hardly been driven around the block with a mere 3400 kilometers (2100 miles) on that new engine. Watch this video and hang on till 0:38 and enjoy the sweet sound of her purr . . . Camera: Canon 5D | Lens: EF24-105mm | Setting: f/6.3, 30 sec, ISO 1000 You don't have to be all that hardcore to be out in the Sonoran Desert in winter. During the day, the ol' mercury could easily rise to to a steamy 80 degrees. At night though, it's not uncommon for the shiver point to begin around 55 or 54 and bottom out at 35. You'll get just a light frost in the morning. It ought to be a crime. It has some downsides. Like scorpions and a lot of . . .
Somewhere along the road to progress, civilized automotive manufacturers decided the "gas light" was a good thing to add to the dashboard. In most cases when that little red orb illuminates, you're supposed to feel some gratitude but you don't, do you? It's really like getting your final warning. Under the best of situations running out of gas is a downright drag, so a little hey-bro-put-somthing-in-the-tank ought to be a nice reminder; instead it's more of a bummer, the jig is up. Well. As far as running out of gas is concerned, this was not the best of situations . . .
After a moment of hushed awe, may the words of many Jeep addicts, critics, connoisseurs, and paramours fall upon your ears with a smile: this thing is downright sexy. For nearly 10 years now, American Expedition Vehicles (AEV), an inventive if not inspiringly diabolical company in based in Montana, has been producing a much-admired franken Jeep they call the Brute. As simple as I can state it, the Brute is a not-so ordinary converted Jeep with a lift, larger tires and modified body with a pickup truck bed behind the two-seater cab. The awesome of a Jeep packaged up with the utility of a truck. AEV also offers a 470-hp (not a typo) Hemi engine conversion making this beast, in the words of the company's president and founder, Dave Harriton, "more AEV than it is Jeep." The problem, aside from the colossal ding to your Swiss bank account, is . . .
You need some kind of contraption to get you and the munchkins to the crag. To the break. To the trailhead. To the put-in. Or you just need a machine to get you down a dirt road that'll get you to a sweet spot on the coast of Baja. But vehicles reach into your life far beyond "a thing to get me from A to B." They become an extension of your personality, for better or worse, and I like to think of it as a delicate coalescence of superfluous love affair and absolute necessity. I could be wrong. In the quest for the ultimate adventure vehicle, family or no family, love at first sight is rare. Maybe not impossible, but certainly rare. When we bought this 2005 Nissan Frontier Crew Cab, we also had a 2002 bright red Jeep. So I wasn't sure, really, how I'd get along with this new truck. But we drove it home and went about the business of, oh, slowly tweaking some things to make it suitable for our style of travel while adhering to the old wisdom: "Pay no attention to anything not nailed down."
My buds bombed my inbox a few times this summer. Several of them hit the backroads of the American west on solo trips, just Dad and the kids. Nearly every one told me some variation of this: "Just got home, bro! I'm beat, exhausted, dirty, smelly, didn't get enough sleep, didn't rest enough, it was more work than it was relaxation, totally kicked my ass, but I'm looking forward to doing that again!" They so perfectly summed up parenthood, didn't they?
Oh, come on now, it looks much more complicated than it really is. Though they're atypical, roof top tents could very well be the answer to the comfort woes of those who don't approve of sleeping on the ground. Inside (and up top) is a pleasant foam mattress the size of a queen bed. Plus you'll appreciate that private stand-up space within the walls of the lower room when it comes time to change your underwear, take a shower, or bail out of the rain. As you can see, one entire side of that lower portion also detaches and rolls up; it could also be staked outward in awning fashion giving you a lovely veranda under which to sip morning coffee, listen to songbirds, and get amped up for a bike ride in the pines. Or whatever. Like all things in life, this comfort comes with a trade off or two . . .
In a less discerning phase of my life known as "my late 20's to my early 30's," I was simultaneously a Jeep owner and a contributing editor for JPFreek Adventure Magazine. The magazine held the ground, and still does, as an adventure lifestyle publication that covers the not-so-odd mixture (and apparent subculture) of an active life and the fun of owning a Jeep. During those hazy days, my editor launched a column called "Jeep Jobs" and assigned it to me a few times. We'd locate professions, fields, departments, geeks and gophers who used Jeeps in their day jobs, interview them, and share the joy with the readers. We found some rock stars out there. This one was one cool mom with a cool Jeep.
It's not too frequent that I take a fellas-only trip, and that's either a bummer or something my doctor would applaud. For instance, three days of living on hotdogs, cheeze puffs, and mediocre-at-best canned light beer (vented wide mouth!) doesn't do a body good. I'm not letting out any deep secrets about trips with the boys. That's the menu - likely all across the land, give or take an ingredient. Everyone knows it's an unusual dude who cooks in favor of nutritional value, balance, and class when there are no lovely blondes, brunettes, or red heads nearby to impress.
Anyone who's pulled off a long term camping road trip with the family understands that it's not always high on stoke and low on tantrums. Thankfully, the most thrilling parts of a trip actually come decidedly as the answer to a problem. Believing we had more choices and time than possible, last summer in Baja we tinkered around far too long one day before looking for a beach to camp on. That's kind of typical in the Stephens Family, which is probably why our friends get headaches when we invite them on a trip with us. A few days before, a pair of surfers grabbed us by the shoulders and peered square into our eyes and declared "You like fish tacos, bra? Let me tell you where the best fish tacos in Baja are . . ."
We're four years into ownership of a 12v refrigerator, specifically an Engel MT35, and there's no shortage of questions about it from our readers who've never seen such a critter. The majority, of course, wonder what the downsides are. Is it really worth while for camping and adventure road trips? Won't it kill your battery? What's wrong with a cooler and ice? Can it really keep popsicles frozen? Well, read on.
Ah, Utah. Utah, Utah, Utah. You look so lovely today. Now check out Darren and Donna's 1964 Canned Ham trailer they scored on eBay. Like most of us first time parents with a backpacking habit (or insert your own form of outdoor adventure), they had a miserable time tent camping with their fresh-born little one who just couldn't manage to go to sleep at night in a tent. But they didn't give up too easily.
What makes this video so perfect for AdventureParents.com isn't that it's a superb adventure story enlivened by non-stereotypical rock climbing action and the thrill of getting to it. Yes, this short captivates your attention in the first minute, don't worry. But watch for the thread that runs in and out of it on growing up, having a family of your own, all that mental clarity you had when you were young, and what those things mean to your approach to adventure of any sort nowadays. The thing is, you see, you can take three serious rock climbers (Mark Synnott, Alex Honnold, and James Pearson) of varying ages and backgrounds to the opposite side of the planet, pack them into a small convoy of crusty Land Rovers and point them into the south eastern part of the Sahara Desert, a region called Ennedi in the country of Chad, for an 800-kilometer drive across roadless desert where they'll attempt to make incredible first ascents up some wicked rock towers, and guess what? Right, it'll be a seriously amazing, sick adventure composed with interesting cinematography and storytelling. But that's expected, right? Take the armchair and enjoy.
Much as I appreciate dirtbagging, and much as I appreciate my own outfitted truck, I don't see much wrong with just browsing the menu from time to time. At the end of the day, or, rather, come my three-day weekends I go back to my own beloved version of how to git-er-dunn. And it looks nothing like this beauty. Although we do ride in a Nissan. But we don't have a custom camper like this, and our candle light is a campfire when permitted. I like the refinement of those matching drapes and seat cushions. Do your truth. I know I called this "Camper of the Week." There's a little voice in my head saying, "YES YES YES YES keep doing this every week." Right now this is a fanciful whim of the moment, but what the heck . . .
Ara Gureghian's life on his motorcycle is much more than carefree fun times on the road, and I have to be careful of what I say here. He calls it his therapy and promise to his son, Lance, who died from cancer at just 26 years old. I gather from his writings that he and Lance planned to hit the road together one day as a father-son duo on motorcycles. Ara now travels with his little buddy Spirit, a rescued pitbull, and they've been all over the country on their motorcycle sidecar get-up . . . Watch this video.
This meal, combining the healthy protein of shrimp with a Latin-style vegetable blend of serrano peppers, onion, cilantro, red pepper, and garlic packs quite a nutrient-rich, sensory-loaded punch. Prepare this meal at home and your family will rave about it. But it goes better served with a splendid view of the spires in Valley of the Gods, or with a sunset at the Sea of Cortez . . . it will take an evening in the great outdoors spin the dial up to 11 on a scale of 10.
Three-and-a-half years ago we crossed into Sonora, Mexico at the little border post at Sasabe, drove that long washboard madness known as the Altar-Sasabe corridor and I doubt we'll ever do that again. Not because of the washboard - rough and long, yes, and otherwise just fine. It was those guys wearing ski masks in August carrying machine guns that tipped the scales for me. "If they block the road," my gut insisted, "I'm going to ram them." There were two of them. They had staged a silver Jeep Cherokee with bald tires, and probably hitting on just five cylinders, perpendicular to the road, and backed up onto the berm on the left side of the road. When we approached from a quarter-mile away I could visually make out the two figures, but not their masks, nor their guns. But I knew. I knew.
There's a reason why I came up with 3 Adventure Facts about Utah last week. That's where we went for six days, just for fun. Here is a sample of photos for you.
We're all kids deep down inside, which means we find comical uses for anything that helps produce speed. Hill, soft stuff, board. Let's go. Here's a peek into the joy of sandboarding.
You don't have to be all that offbeat to appreciate a Volkswagen Bus of any species. Just a bit. The window from 1985 to 1992 in the life of the VW Vanagon was a particularly splendid one - coinciding with the pinnacle of popularity of the mullet, that's when Volkswagen produced the full-time 4WD Syncro version. Drool. The really really killer versions were further refined by Westfalia, a German camper conversion company that installed the pop-top camper. Let's put it all together for accuracy, posterity and blatant SEO: Volkswagen Vanagon Syncro Westfalia. All those names . . . if it weren't for the pronunciation, you'd think it was Italian. John Franzen, a Syncro owner, has a cool story about his van....
On my way home from the Mojave National Preserve, not one, not two, but three strangers eyed my truck, slid their sunglasses down their noses, grinned in a funny way, and said, "Well, it looks like you had some fun." Each one, word for word. Must I say it? Yes. Road trips are all about weird encounters. Take the scenes in My Cousin Vinny - a New Jersey-Italian pair thrust into the American South with "mud in da tie-yuz."
Yes, you're looking at two spare tires. Giant ones. And a canoe. What the hell kind of weekend family camping trip is this, Stephens? Well, it's not. This is what a round-the-world family camper looks like, and it'll take a little longer than a weekend. There's just one problem with this photo . . . |
