Life on the Road — What We Saw, What We Read

Today's post is a brief pause from the traditional notes on the places we've been. We planned for this adventure for almost a year. We carefully researched the John Muir Trail, planned our route across the western National Parks, and evaluated the type of gear we would need. We imagined our evenings cooking outside, the sun setting behind the mountains, forests, deserts, or valleys of wherever we would find ourselves. All that being said, so much of our trip has been off the cuff. By staying flexible in our itinerary we've been able to follow the good weather and find ourselves in unexpected places. The primary purpose of this blog was to share our adventures with our friends and family. However, our other goal was to show our readers that this experience is within the realm of possibility for anyone who might be interested!

Preparation
Leaving our jobs and our home was an easy decision (we knew we wanted to travel) but not as easy of an undertaking. We spent months planning how to reduce our belongings and how much we would actually need to take with us. Here is a list of some key questions we asked ourselves:

What gear do we need to cook, clean, and comfortably sleep?
How much food should we have on hand and how will we store it?
What medical supplies do we need to bring?
What do we do about health insurance?
How much can we spend each month?

Finances
As we were planning, we carefully budgeted for the two phases of our trip. The first phase, including the JMT and camping at National Parks would be a bit easier to plan- we knew generally where we would sleep and our estimated costs for transportation. To reduce our spending we would do our best to stick to these goals:

Meal plan!
Find free accommodations during at least 75% of our travel time.
Avoid tourist traps.
Use our National Parks Pass!
Set up a "base camp" in a central location to reduce our overall driving.

Meals
Not going to lie, we like to eat. We spend most of our time hiking, climbing, or just working out which means in order to sustain happy demeanors we need to feed ourselves. If you read our JMT posts you'll know we spent almost every day on the trail wishing we had more to fuel our trek. Now that we are car camping we will not make that same mistake! Meal planning has been one of the best ways we can eat a reasonably healthy diet and watch our budget.

Without getting into an economics discussion, it is just sort of common sense that buying breakfast for two at a restaurant rather than buying a carton of eggs is going to be more expensive. We have the luck and privilege to not track our grocery budget down to the dollar, but we still make sure that we are not eating out for more than one meal per week. Our typical meal plan allows us to cook more for dinner in order to have enough for lunch the next day. We also have a variety of breakfasts and snacks to keep us full. Though we are not eating as healthy as we might have been when we had a kitchen and a refrigerator (we're eating more PB&Js than we used to...but only because they're so delicious) we are still managing to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables!

Here are a few of our go-to dinner meals:

Sweet potato and black bean burrito bowls
Lentil noodles with sauteed vegetables
Chana masala with couscous
Spicy black bean soup with couscous
Huevos rancheros
Tofu stirfry

Our typical snack items we purchase include:

Almond Butter & Peanut Butter
Apples and Bananas
Nuts
A few Clif bars for emergencies
Raspberry Jam...because it's delicious

Before leaving a populated area for an extended stay in our cozy tent, we plan out our meals, write out our grocery list, and purchase everything we need for the week. In truth, we are not so strict. We usually find ourselves within proximity of a grocery store every few days and can restock on vegetables (and maybe chocolate) when we run low.

Preparing to make breakfast and --oh, hello there!

Camping
One way we have been able to stay on budget is to research free campsites near our route. Don't get me wrong, paying fees for the services that national and state parks provide is imperative to the preservation of our public lands. However, for two people on a budget, sometimes those fees can really add up. Most campgrounds within park boundaries range from $20-$35 a night and often fill up quickly. We choose to stay on BLM land often located just outside the parks we want to visit for free or at most $5 a night! Most of these sites have pit toilets, but no water, picnic tables, or trash service. It seems like the last fact has been an open invitation for previous campers to throw trash into the makeshift fire rings- a disappointing fact we've encountered along our trip. We pack out our trash and are dedicated to protecting the lands we visit. We also carry a collapsible 5 gallon water jug with us which we fill up every day at rest stops or visitors centers to use for drinking and cooking. Our collapsible aluminum camping table has been quite handy for our camping needs. As for the bathroom situation- we're used to it by now!

Every so often we decide we need a break from the camping life. It's usually just for a day or two every couple weeks. We look for Couchsurfers in the area and when that fails we look for an Airbnb private room. We've been surprised that the private rooms we've booked have been cheaper than some campsites in the parks! Over the past week we spent $0 on campsites (though there are ancillary purchases to consider, like propane for cooking and firewood for occasional campfire nights).

Our cozy setup on BLM lands outside Arches National Park.

Showers and Laundry
Since the JMT, we are proud to say we have not gone more than 3 days without showering! One way we've managed to keep this up was to take advantage of great community resources in the towns that we visit. Every town we've visited so far has had an incredible community center, equipped with a pool, a fitness center, usually a hot tub, and of course, hot showers! Every few days we venture into a nearby town for a good workout and a shower!

We also usually stop into the local laundromat followed by a coffee shop or library to catch up on our blogging!

Entertainment
My mom recently asked me what we do during the our evenings. Well, we actually get to do a lot of what we did before we started living out of a car/tent: we read! Except now, a good portion of our evenings are spent under the stars wrapped up in our jackets before climbing into the tent.

Some nights we listen to podcasts in the tent or even watch a movie! Just the other night we cuddled up under the stars and put on the classic City Lights.