Archive

Since We Last Spoke

I’ve been busy lately and haven’t had too much time to update this thing. Here’s a rundown of the past month.

We bought a Toyota Prius. Barcelona Red. Love it.

Laura and I have been doing lots of planning for our house. Learning about concrete foundations, suspended concrete decks, solar power, standby electric generators (and the fact that ALL of them run on fossil fuels), rainwater harvesting, low power refrigerators, split ductless air conditioning, induction stove tops, composting toilets, water tanks, ceiling fans, doors, windows, and UV water sterilizers. Whew! Eventually we are going to write about it all over at Our Farm Adventure, which is just getting off the ground.

We’ve also been working on a year-long road trip through the U.S. and Canada that we’re going to take when I graduate in 18 months. We going to start in Georgia, go down and up Florida, across the Gulf Coast through Texas to Big Bend National Park, then up through New Mexico to see caves and desert, north to Denver, west to Salt Lake City, south to the Grand Canyon and Phoenix, west to San Diego, meandering north through California, Oregon, Washington, and B.C… and then… to Alaska! After Alaska, it’ll be back down through Alberta to Yellowstone National Park, northeast-ish to Winnipeg, east over the Great Lakes, to Toronto and Niagara Falls, then back north again to Ottawa and Montreal, south to Burlington, VT then east to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, north to Québec, northeast along the south side of the St. Laurence river to the eastern peninsula at Parc National Forillon, then south through New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, then back towards Maine and finally south down the Atlantic coast home to Georgia. Fun! Got any ideas of specific places we should go or things we should see? Let us know.

A few weeks ago, we went to Georgia to check out our land and see family. Laura learned to use a machete. I got chiggers (sorry, no pics). Maybe next time we’ll make more progress on the land… because we’re never coming in the summer again (too many bugs). Hello, October! But we did discover that Toccoa has a beautiful downtown (even if it’s kinda sad in a historical context, like most small towns). One thing we do love? The Amtrak station. While we were down there, we saw my dad, my PaPa and MaeMae, MeeMa, Aunt Nina, and brother Whit.

I got a writing gig over at Accidental Hedonist. I’ve been reading Kate’s food blog for some time now. 3, 4 years? I forget. Anyway, my articles go up every Wednesday until the end of December. You can read the introduction to get a feel for what it’s about, or check out the first entry on Okra

Happy Birthday, Mom

My mom would have been 61 today.

Here she is about 27 years ago. Best mom ever!

Mom 1981

Rasta Squash

My friend Meagan invited us over for a potluck last night. I made a kickass squash casserole off the top of my head (if anyone wants the “recipe” let me know and I will write it up). It was pretty much gone during the first serving. After dinner we walked downtown to see The Wailers play a free show at Moore Square.

Click the photo to see a short video snippet (ignore the poor audio quality, it was done with my digital camera).

Fun!

The Wailers

Following Dreams

This past Tuesday, we met up with Brett (amtrekker.com) through the couchsurfing website. He originally wanted to sleep on our floor on Saturday, but we were at the beach. I gave him a call anyway, and told him that if he was still in Raleigh on Tuesday, he should join us for trivia night at Napper Tandy’s pub downtown. So he was, and he did.

Right now, he’s traveling all around the country trying to cross off a list of 50 things he wanted to do before he goes back home. A few examples of ones he’s finished: Enter a hot dog eating contest, see a live taping of the Colbert Report, and tell Donald Trump “You’re Fired”. He still hasn’t gone into a coal mine or learned to make moonshine yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

So far his journey has lasted about 10 months. His family didn’t think he’d last 6. At this rate, he should be home around September.

He’s just a normal guy on a mission, proving that anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it.

Check out his blog for some inspiration.

Me, L, Brett

Stealth Dune Camping

L and I went to the beach last weekend.

Since there was no plan, we decided to just drive east on Hwy 64 until we hit the Outer Banks, then head south until we found a suitable place to set up camp. Despite that it was Memorial Day we didn’t run into much traffic, making it easier (and less frustrating) to take a look around, enjoy the scenery, and scope out a good place to spend the night. We decided that Pea Island was it.

Ignoring the “Day Use Only” signs, we hid the car behind some construction equipment on a side access road near the dunes. L grabbed the tent and the daypack, while I carried the blankets and air mattress… up and over the dunes into a little hidden pocket that we’d discovered earlier. Nobody could see us, but if we climbed to the top of the dune, we could see everything.

It’s good to get away!

L + Tent = Happy

Flickr Set: Pea Island Camping




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