Thursday, June 23, 2011

13 days

It's getting so close now. We have a few things left to do to prepare, but we're pretty much ready. Today we get the hitch installed on the car for the cargo carrier, The cargo box arrived last night. We have 95% of our gear and we're doing a test camp this coming weekend. The excitement has my stomach doing somersaults.

I have 5 paintings to do... 3 of which must be finished before we leave. The others can always be finished on the road. I have several painting and drawing workshops to teach this and next week as well. Add in trying to see all of our friends and the 4th of July weekend festivities and we're pretty loaded up. Tomorrow I head to Vermont for 1 day at Wanderlust... a yoga festival that I will make full use of.

The hardest task now is reducing what we're bringing. I opted for a rear carrier to save on fuel consumption, and with it being just C and me, we can put the sleeping stuff on the back seat and leave the trunk to all the gear. I'm glad that we're just taking the car, it will make the trip much easier than towing a pop up. Off I go now to pack the cargo box. Wish me luck.

breath... :)

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Tent, GPS, etc

So this week, I ordered our GPS (garmin 1690) for the car, thanks to an early birthday present from one of my besties... I ordered eco route, a diagnostic tool for the GPS that gives me the best gas mileage route and monitors my cars sensors to let me know if there's trouble and to help me get better gas mileage.... Also... my awesome future sister in law is lending me her eTrex Vista for the trails. I ordered a stereo for my car (mine hasn't worked in about 2 years) Best Buy was having a special... free stereo with a GPS purchase... how perfect?

...and, thanks to lots of advice, we bought our tent... a Coleman instant tent, we've put it up and taken it down and it's super easy and only takes a couple of minutes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_06X3f-IcM&NR=1 it had really great reviews as far as not leaking or falling down in bad storms, so we're going to give it a shot. The fabric is twice the thickness of a regular tent too, so we should stay nice and warm when we close it up at night.

I pulled all of our camping and backpacking gear out of storage and took inventory...

we're soooo close, I can't wait.

a lot accomplished this week: Itinerary

I'm removing the itinerary for security... but email me if you want to meet up somewhere.

~Heather

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

route is set... sort of

removing the itinerary for security, but email me if you want to meet up!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Next up GPS

Okay, I need the best recommendations for reasonable GPS's both for hiking and driving. Not sure if I can find one that does both or if I have to get one for each.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Narrowed our search... which one now

Cabela's has 2 options
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Big-Country-Tent-with-Screen-Room/746525.uts?WTz_l=YMAL%3BIK-517569

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Family-Outfitter-Convertible-Tent/714620.uts?WTz_l=SBC%3Bcat104795280%3Bcat104779080%3Bcat105590880

I like this one because it's really tall inside... making my daily yoga ritual easy to keep up. Not crazy about the lack of breathability with the rain fly on... or that the zippers for the rain fly are all on the outside. It also mentioned that it's kind of cold in one review.

LL Bean

I also looked at the Alaskan series but the 4 season nature makes it possibly too warm for most of the camping we'll be doing, plus to get the size we want would be really expensive.

http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/68612?feat=pprv

I like the awning that comes out from the front of the screen room where I could set up our cooking stuff.


1 other possible with a much better price

Moab Sports
http://www.moabsports.com/web-pid-2628229-Eureka-Tetragon-1610-9-Person-Tent-item.htm#thumb

I've read a lot about Coleman being reliable... but, I am skeptical, I like the lifetime warranty that comes with Cabela or LL Bean. I'd love this Kelty tent but I can't find it anywhere http://www.moabsports.com/web-pid-2628229-Eureka-Tetragon-1610-9-Person-Tent-item.htm#thumb

I like the price and Moab has a 365 day return policy.

Everything from REI was either too small or too expensive.