Vacation, work & play from May & June 2024…

Woodturning, woodcarving & vacation recap.

Its been a nice fall with some busy times and some breaks as well, so here’s mostly a photo-recap…

We head to Breckenridge, CO to participate in the 8th annual Land Cruiser Destination Club excited to wander about and meet up with existing friends and make new ones…. (Plus crafts at the end.)

It’s been a nice and relatively productive spring here, busy enough to keep the timing moving along quickly but not so busy that there hasn’t been a few chances to enjoy the time…

In April we were able to make a long-awaited journey through the northern end of Death Valley. We covered approximately 200 miles of dirt roads/trails. We had a good time and really nice weather. Our friends Danny and Lorrie lead the way as they have lots of experience out there and our friend Bill, his pup and girlfriend joined us. We also had new friends we met up with for a total of 6 then 7 vehicles. We took in Ubehebe Crater, Teakettle…

Our initial summer plans were derailed due to the ‘rona so we came up with a nice vacation plan for a mix of exploration days and zero mile days. We ventured up…

The Alabama Hills is located at the of Mt. Whitney, near the town of Lone Pine along Highway 395 and offers spectacular views and great dispersed camping. The area is made up of decomposing granite in all of the warm colors you can imagine and then backed up by My. Whitney’s white-blue rock. Its a favorite…

Beth and I ventured out to the Salton Sea area yesterday. I’ve driven by the Salton Sea along the highway, and have spent time out at Truckhaven and in the Anza Borrego area, but had never really wandered around the…

For our Vacation / Honeymoon - AKA “Vacationmoon” we packed a couple extra days into our trip to Colorado and took in some sights new to both of us, some new to me, and some new to Beth.

Camping and overlanding often means you’re moving gear in and out of the truck. Set up camp, coffee, cook, campfire, etc. Keeping things organized and in their place…

If you followed last year's vacation post you'll recall that we met up with a group of fellow Land Cruiser owners in Breckenridge, this year marks the 4th Annual 200 Series Land Cruiser Destination Club (#200LCDC) and was held in Telluride, CO. On our way to CO, we spent a few days wandering…

For the first time in years I took the week between Christmas and New Years off. It was time to get a few nights of camping in, ultimately ending up in Vegas to attend a wedding with Beth. Christmas Day I had everything loaded and ready, so the next morning I was on the road about 6AM. 

...Whenever I get to drive through southern Utah there are two must-dos along the way. The scenic highway 12 and Goblin Valley. As we made our way towards that direction from here in SoCal, we stopped along the way in Vegas for lunch and a walk-through of the Bellagio to stretch our legs before stopping at our destination for the day in St. George. We wandered the town a bit...

This March, approximately 200 people gathered south of Searles Valley in southern California at a unique spot named as Trona Pinnacles for a weekend of camping, campfires, some off-road training and unofficial...

Southern California deserts saw substantial rain this year and the wildflowers are exploding out there. I was keeping an eye on the wildflower reports and this Saturday...

Going from a truck to a SUV made me rework my camping gear, and that included making a smaller Chuckbox (camp kitchen). I had also changed stoves from a larger Coleman to a smaller Cook Partner steel stove, so my old Yellow Chuckbox was a bit big and...

Three hours (or so) outside of Las Vegas is a place with some real magic that’s known as Little Finland. Its a small spectacular landscape feature found on BLM land and accessed via...

I began planning for a long vacation (two weeks) earlier in the year. It had been six years since taking that much time off. I began looking at a big route through the Four Corners Area (UT, CO, NM, AZ) back in the beginning of the year...

Earlier this year I traded in my Tundra for a low-mileage 2014 200 Series Land Cruiser, which lead to a complete resorting of my camping equipment. Coinciding with a long vacation a group organized on iH8Mud.com was organizing their second annual 200 Series meet in Ouray, CO. The timing was perfect so...

On a whim I decided to spend the weekend out exploring Anza-Borrego State Park. I’d never spent any time there so I really looked forward to exploring and taking some pics. I know my Great Grandparents spent time camping and rock hounding out there, so its been on my bucket list...

About a year ago a friend of mine (@aventuraseeker) mentioned an event called Land Ops (www.LandOps.com or www.meetup.com/LandOps/. In short, a Land Ops event is a group activity of four-wheeling and geocaching with HAM radios used for communications and control. After lurking on their site for a while I made it out to one of their mini-ops and was totally...

I was catching up on some overland forum reading and saw mention of this place called Little Finland in Eastern Nevada. I had never heard of it and did some quick research and quickly put it on my proverbial to do list. Fortunately I was headed to...

Some months ago I got pitched a free two-night stay by a very nice and successful sales woman from Hilton Grand Resorts. The catch: TIMESHARE PRESENTATION...

The Little Red Rust Bucket (LRRB for short) came into existence in the spring and summer of 2011 after doing research for months on small adventure / expedition trailers. They’re available for purchase but tend to be pretty pricey so I decided...

The White Rim Road (seen in the foreground) is an approximately 100 mile loop around the middle level of Canyonlands National Park. Spectacular views and a wholly surreal drive compared to a daily cross-town commute. Permits are required but relatively...