A Roamin Q & A

Recently, the Roamin Gnome team asked the world (or at least those who are looking) if they had any questions for us about our journey thus far. The questions will be answered today in addition to some that we thought the readers might gain from.

Sara K. asks: "What was your favorite and least favorite hike"

• My answer might be a bit biased but my favorite hike was in the precursor to the US road trip. Our three day backpacking across the beautiful mountains and lakes of New Zealand's South Island on the Routeburn Track was bar-none the best. Accommodations were well set in advanced, the weather held out JUST long enough (despite the downpour on our last day) and the company was pretty great. Oh yeah, and of course I was able to propose to Liz on top of the highest point, Conical Hill, with both fathers as witnesses during the second day of the hike.

• Our least favorite hike was to Cliff Lake near the Courtright Reservoir in the Sierra's. Sock related issues led Liz to form a seething blister which hurt and hindered the hike. On top of it, we trouped out too late and were unable to reach the destination. The dog continually tossed in the tent and it was a fairly sleepless night. We struggled on the sandy granite soils and the tiny rocks kicked into shoes frequently. In addition, the road to and from the trailhead was a sickening serpentine which made things just a touch worse. We told ourselves we would attempt another go with better gear and better time management but instead opted for other adventures. Maybe one day...

Robin S. asks: " Do I miss Hillmann Consulting (former employer)"

• I sure do. A few times of week, I will take a moment to remember the past including employment. Hillmann Consulting was and is an amazing company to work with and I do miss the people that worked in the friendly environment. Every so often, we will see doppelgangers or a last name of those in our past and it will remind us of where we came from and what we have learned in those times since then. I would not oppose to working with Hillmann and Co in the future [undefined] but have NOT missed the indescribable frustrations of commuting into NYC on the regular; sometimes night/weekends and always rush hour.

Daniel K. asks: "Have you done any WWOOFing and if so, how was it?"

• Liz and I spent only two weeks total WWOOFing in this great country. To start off, our options are greatly limited due to the fact that the dog must be welcomed. Our first farm, Sylvanaqua, located outside Charlottesville VA was run by a small but growing family on two plots of rented farmland. They had been working in animal raising for a few years and were not new to having WWOOFers work along side them. Unfortunately, the week we worked with them was an absolute washout and each day we returned soaking wet and tired. Luckily, Annie was an amazing chef and her food would put a smile in your belly and back on your face. Additionally, Ziggy got along quite well with their spunky pups Mini and Beebop. We hope to have Sylvanaqua help with the wedding dinner in the future [Free range Hog Roast anyone?]
• Our second week of WWOOFing was spent with Pepper and the gang at Stone Feather Farms located outside Purceville VA. We obtained a more agricultural side of farming with hopes of growing killer veggies for her organic Salsa she made and sold locally. Weeds were pulled and baby plants placed in soil to align with the lunar cycle. Big Jim, another WWOOFer at the farm, followed these cycles religiously in order to provide Pepper with an amazing bumper crop for the two years they have worked together. Once again, Ziggy got along swimmingly with their Corgi Catie and luckily the Virginia rains didn't hit us as hard.

• To read more details about our WWOOFing adventures, please follow the link below to my prior posts on the subject.

Sylvanaqua Farms

Shayna K. asks: "How have you changed since you've embarked?"

• I am still the type A/B person on the inside but with practice and opportunities, I have learned to let things slide a bit. Our adventures have led me to say "YES" to certain things that would have normally been outside my comfort zone such as inadvertently ordering cow brain tacos in Las Vegas or noshing on a fresh killed rattlesnake that was hand delivered, still dripping blood, by a machete wielding man in the hills outside Ojai California. We have also come across many people in this country who have a story to tell and with this opportunity, we took the time and chance to hear what they have to say; weather the quotes are a bit nonsense or right on target, the open-minded ability to talk with strangers about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness has led us to a better understand of the world and its many facets. We have all been raised differently in different environments and to taste and explore the options of this world has been a thought outside the box.
• Additionally, with a free floating agenda, we have the time to actually see and learn about places that most would fly by. Some days we are in hard travel mode and destinations need to be reached but when relaxed, we can explore new places, learn new facts and meet new people. The hustle bustle of NYC taught me to walk swiftly and don't talk to strangers. Now I have to time to saunter and chat.

Daniel V.K. asks: "When are you coming back to the east coast?"

• This is a loaded question. Post New Years, we will be heading back east bound to continue our journey. Texas and the Southeast states will take some time to explore and we hope to do some more WWOOFing opportunities in that region until spring. We have also been given some good tips on places to see on the east coast including Asheville NC. I don't think we will come back to the NYC metro area to settle but will be around to visit relatives, parents and friends as we can. Come summer, we would like to try and reach the New England states (*New Hampshire and the lot) and might have to settle for some more seasonal work at that time before the next chapter unfolds. We still have a lot of unknowns but we have found attraction to areas of Virginia and of course MOAB, UT stole my heart.
• We will be back in Moab in a few weeks to keep exploring and hopefully get in on a folk music festival on the 4th. I have also been looking at property to buy. Moab is expanding fast and a 10 acre parcel of undeveloped land can grow from 50k to 75-100k within a few years when the developers come to plant the next communities. The town captured out attention with its diverse and colorful people, the amazing desert atmosphere with climbing/quads/mountain biking galore and the quaint co-op, beautiful library and even a hand spun thread store for Liz. Its a unique, non-cookie cutter / sans big box stores atmosphere on par with Flagstaff and a few other places we have seen that have the potential for personal growth in a caring community.

Here are a few more self asked questions from the gnome to the gnome

Favorite National Park Visited: Capitol Reef was a huge unexpected trip. We only planned to over night near the Park but as you drove down highway 24 which runs through the park, you realize that CR is very different from the rest of the lot. When we attended this park, the campground was full but that's OK because CR Visitor Center has a board of local free or cheap places to stay nearby including maps of BLM (public use) lands so you don't end up trespassing on someones desert. VERY HELPFUL :) Also, the park is both hiker and car dweller friendly. You can explore via your car fairly well and will still enjoy the beauty of the area but the short hikes are tempting to get your feet dirty. It is not over populated (yet), there are free-to-pick orchards onsite with a donation bin, a store that sells local made pies/pastries, jams and pickled items. Did I mention that the landscape is truly amazing! 

Also, make sure to buy an annual pass to the parks if you plan to visit 2-3 parks that year. The $80 pass paid for itself and we have no regrets since most parks charge $30 admission.

Hardest Challenge on a daily basis: Food consumption. As warm blooded creatures, we feel the need to feed every few hours. When you are a busy bee like us, it can be a challenge to muster the ability to make a meal three times a day; especially with limited road supplies. Liz has done a fantastic job as chief chef making sure we get the meals we need. One challenge is finding fresh fruits and veggies that aren't GMO and Pesticide ridden or shipped from around the world. We usually dont stick around enough to find and get to the farmers markets. 

Another challenge is spicing it up. We have a spice cabinet on board that Liz utilizes to its fullest but in addition to spice, its important to have varied meals. We have been in burrito mode for a while since its an easy handheld meal with minimal ingredients and little clean up. It's also versatile as you build to desire. We like having snacks in the car for those long stretches of highway with nothing in between. Costco has provided a bounty of nature valley peanut bars and fig bars which are delicious and sort of healthy. Better than chip bags each day. 

--Additionally, we consume ALOT of water; both in/on our bodies and for cleaning. Living in a house, you have little idea of your daily consumption. Run the sink or shower too long; NBD. It can be a struggle to have enough freshwater but we have managed by using a 5 gallon flexible water jug in the trunk (we like the flexible ones since it adds space as it empties), in addition to numerous 1 gallon jugs in the foot wells of the back seat. On board the camper, we have a 10 gallon holding tank for washing dishes and hands but this reserve is only available when pop'd up.

Financial Battles are another thing to keep in mind before you hit the road. When you have no income, every penny counts and making sure your bank accounts are working with you and not against you is important to track. 

• Liz realized that her bank, Wells Fargo, would charge $25/month for a 'maintenance fee' when her account was below a certain threshold and to avoid such a charge, she needed to either have X deposits per month or 10 debit charges a month. This isn't common knowledge and so when these charges popped up, she inquired and with a local branch and found the small print stipulations that might not affect someone with a steady income and spends regularly. If we are stationed and supplied somewhere, we could go a week or two without spending a dime and living off our stock.
• One trip to the grocery could cost a couple hundred dollars so its important to weed out the snacks and cereals you might want but not need to survive. Buy the generic/bulk version of just about anything but make exceptions from time to time (we like to treat ourselves to Black Label Bacon every once in a while). We buy from the bulk store to refill stocks on board including canned goods and the Dogs Food. Meals might be meager at times so make sure you eat your moneys worth when a bounty is present; I call this opportunistic eating. 
• Have an emergency stash (or multiple) of cash on hand. Credit cards are accepted most places now but its worth it to keep a few hundred on hand just in case. Additionally, make sure you have enough money to bail out of your adventures or get it going again. Determine your threshold in your bank of when you might need to call it quits, settle down or ship back to mah and pah.
• Consider the price of gas. When you add miles like there's no tomorrow, you will inevitable have to fill your rig and your wallet hurts. Use an ap like GasBuddy to help you find the cheapest rates in your area. Once again, every penny counts and can save a lot of money in the long run. We tend to hit Costco if we can since its bar-nun cheapest gas in town. Not every place has Costco gas though so we take what we can get. We also run with a 2-gallon spare can on board as a safety net. It has saved us a close call and also got it down the road to a better gas price.
• Spend the money to secure your success. This might seem counter intuitive to our spending sector here but we made sure the Subaru was in top condition before initial departure and after leaving Dinkey Creek 4 months and a couple thousand miles later; we spent a small fortune reconditioning the camper to a livable, movable space including a new axle to the tune of a grand (Estimated $2,300 spent on the gnome including purchase price and numerous modifications). We purchased a GPS and other numerous gadgets to help us live a mobile life which all cost a pretty penny.

Yosemite and Onwards

Goodbye Dinkey, Hello Highways

The Roamin Gnome got air in the tires and the Subaru had a tune up to a sum of $1,500. We were ready for action and the open road. The destinations include Denver → Saskatoon → San Diego → Phoenix AZ. The in-betweens were to be decided.

After leaving Dinkey, we posted up our camp nearby in the Swanee Grotto while the Subaru was worked on. With all fluids swapped and a few other unexpected fixes that lingered, we hit the road heading north. The route to our campsite right outside the south entrance of Yosemite was twisty and seemed much longer than the 2.5hr suggested time. We arrived at the Goat Meadows Snow Play Area and found our spot fairly quickly; large lot with private entrance and access to sun for the panels. GREAT. We spent a few days exploring the area of Yosemite. Glacier Point, Sentinel Dome and Vernal/Nevada Falls were excellent points to seek out and enjoy the magic of the area. Even though we traveled in early October, Yosemite was still crowded and hectic. There is just no way around the crowds unless you plan to hike the solitude of the Yosemite Wilderness which requires some trail studies and skill sets.

Viewing Vernal Falls from above.

At the top of Nevada Falls

Atop Sentinel Dome

Post Yosemite, the Gnome took Kaiser Pass to the northeast out of the park and into the Mono Lake Region. Two days were spent exploring the region but a few more could have been had. While in town, we had many explorations including the Mono Lake tufa's at Sunrise. The cold morning air chilled me to the bone but Liz powered on to capture some amazing photos of the tufa's as the sun rose. A tufa is a towering structure formed from calcite deposits in the saltwater lake. Some of these structures stood 15 -20' tall and were a valuable ecological resource for the areas bird and biological wildlife. On the way back from the tufa exploration, we stopped at the nearby Panum Crater which offered a short hike to either the rim or the plug of the volcano which hasn't erupted for at least 350 years. Should be safe. The Panum Crater lies along the Mono Lake fault line which is responsible for the chain of other volcanic mounds which line the area. Panum was fantastic for its rich obsidian and pumice rock formations.

Furthermore, we also made a visit to Bodie which is a historic ghost town a few miles north of Mono. The town was fairly inexpensive to access and the 2$ informational brochure was needed in order to read what which building was known for. As you walked the main streets, you could almost feel the stagecoaches blow by or the saloon brawls breakout. Unfortunately, due to two major fires in the late 1800's and early 1900's, the towns size had burned down to just 10% of its once magnificent size of ~8000 residents to a handful by the mid 1900's. By the 50's, the ore had gone dry and the people left for other explorations leaving the town to collect dust.

Before we left Mono, I urged Liz to drive out to one last adventure at Black Point. The miles of dirt road eventually lead to a parking zone and a suggested hiking path. We opted for our own hiking path and went straight up the terraced hill. Each terrace was filled with scrubby and thorny brush and once summited, would reveal the next unforeseen terrace. It was fairly grueling to say the least. Once on top, we quickly realized that the volcanic fissures we sought were on the other side of the peninsula and thus our hike continued. Eventually, we reach the fissures which ranged in length and depth from 10-80ft deep. The volcanic activity of this area was breathtaking and reminiscent of some sort of Indiana Jones exploration.

We packed our gnome and headed south. A quick stop by Devils Post Pile once again had us in awe of the geological powers in the area. 

On to the town of Bishop where we hoped to camp at a cheap campground called Grandview. Unfortunately, Garmin decided it would be best to direct us up a very rough dirt road which may or may not have led up the mountain slope. In the waning sunset, we consulted our options before delving too far into the world of 'dark off roading'. Liz determined that Garmin was full of it on this route and found an alternative which would take an extra hour. As we turned on the road to begin our climb to the campground, we noticed another campground right near the highway. This unnamed campground gave us a safe place to call it a day and included showers and a water supply. We gladly paid the $15 to spent the night. In the morning, before check out, we drove up the road to find the Ancient Bristlecone Pines at 10,000ft elevation. The pines, which were nothing spectacular in size, are the oldest known living organism on the earth. Their bark, weathered from years of snow and sun and the occasional fire, showed some signs of wear and tear but when the dendrochronologists got involved, they noticed that the rings of these pines aged back thousands of years. The oldest living tree was deemed Methuselah and aged back 4,500 years. Some of the fallen pines were dated to 11,000 years old. This find actually reinvented and recalibrated the carbon dating system for high altitude organisms, since now they had a visible scale to measure carbon decay rates at. Ziggy enjoyed trotting down the deserted freezing cold trail at high speeds to pee on the elders before mom and dad saw his deeds. The afternoon was spent driving the 5+ hours to Garnet Hill outside of Ely NV.

Arriving in the dark, the GPS once again led us to a extremely rough and impassible road in the hills of an unfamiliar place. We managed to make a jackknife turnaround in the dirt gully and started to head to Plan B which was 45 minutes away in the wrong direction. As we drove, we passed a sign for Garnet Hill (3 miles) and seemed like a much better option than Garmin and Plan B combined. The road took us up a hill as expected and in the dark, we managed to find, set and explore camp. Dinner was prepared and sleep was inevitable.

In the AM, we rose to explore the top of Garnet Hill which featured a free to explore policy. With hammer in hand, Liz and I began to split large rocks while Ziggy watched. The first few were nothing to be desired but upon further inspection, small maroon to black garnets were located in the smashed rock. A few are left to be extruded but we were satisfied with our haul. With rocks in pockets, the gnome bounded on towards Utah with the destination of Capitol Reef. I had no expectations or knowledge of the area and maybe that made for a bigger surprise.

That night, our free campsite lead was a straight success and we made camp before dark! WOOHOO. Laying in the camper bed, Liz remarks upon the high winds and being in the camper, makes suggestions for a safer option. We would hate to be stranded without a roof or risers let alone a rip to our precious and frail canvas. We opt to drop the top. The gnomes roof descends for the night and the tent is erected. The wind continues into the moons full glow and blows anything under 10lbs towards the butte face. We came to realize that the tent wasn't even an option. It was Texas all over again. Rocks were placed on the camper to keep the roof and canvas down and the tent was abandoned. Subaru's 'roomy' outback seats became the beds for our limited nights sleep.

Groggy and grumpy, we settled our camp in the morning and headed into Capitol Reef. We were not expecting the beauty and amazing geological structures that were in the park. Think Zion meets Bryce but less crowded and a majority of the viewing areas are along Highway 24 and thus free to see. If you wish to access the other parts of the park, you can pay a small fee via drop box. Additionally, the historic orchards on site are still maintained and free fruit picking is encouraged with a small donations box on site. Dont worry, the resident deer don't bite. We grabbed a few apples and dropped a few coins for our drive in the park. Make sure you're vehicle is capable of the terrain of the off road areas. Since Capitol Reef was just a stop through and our nights sleep was lacking, we decided not to pursue any of the trails this day but hope to be back soon enough for further exploration.

On to Moab we drove and arrived around 4pm. Our first campsite was about 10 miles from town. We pull off the highway and onto the dirt road and notice the massive amount of campers in the area. Every turnout had a tent or campers or someone car camping without much room to spare. In addition to this overcrowding, we checked the weather for the evening and next day and gusts of up to 30mph were predicted again. The desert doesn't offer much in the way of wind breaks so a night in a hotel was our option for a good nights sleep. We hastily got on our phones which luckily had service and surfed for the pet friendly spots in town. A couple calls led to more misinformation than we could handle. Then, Liz remembered that sister Kathryn stayed a night and two weeks more at the local Lazy Lizard Hostel. One phone call to Brett and he assured us a cabin was ready for our arrival. The cozy bunk beds let mom and dad take top while doggie bunked on bottom. As the night went on, we could hear the wind howling outside and we felt the struggle for our tent neighbors, many of which woke in their cars. We, well rested, arose and explored the center of town with its many gift shops and eateries. The gnome team located camp two and headed there after checkout. This camp is on the other side of town (opposite of Arches NP) and had about 3 other camps set. Plenty of room to find our spot and behind some berms too so any additional wind will blow over and not decimate us. Arches will be explored over the next couple days and we will be Denver bound by the end of this week.

Post Denver, our plans are still loose as we aim to stay warm. A journey south of Denver may loop us through Great Sand Dunes, Natural Bridges, Mesa Verde and Escalente which has been highly recommended by numerous people on our travels. Then a shot north to Canada in November where we will have a house to stay in. The gnome plans to stay state-side at storage while we explore Canada. That's about it for now. Thanks for reading and getting caught up with our activities.