Apps vs. Maps

This summer we started out with an atlas and a road and recreation map of Utah, expecting to have no troubles whatsoever finding our way around the United States. Unfortunately for us, road maps do not give you the location of niceties such as grocery stores, In N Out burger locations, and the occasional late night hotel. We also had difficulty finding our way around cities as our maps did not show them in enough detail. Who cares that Rec Outlet is on State street and 3300 when we can't even find those streets on our map?

Then along came the smartphone. Janelle's smart phone to be exact (Ryon is still content with his Motorola Razor). We suddenly had access to not only our exact GPS location, but the location of food, lodging, and information about our food and lodging. We no longer spent hours driving around in search of a McDonads so we could use their free WiFi to look up directions to our next location. And when friends gave us directions their house, we could stop them mid sentence and tell them that we could simply enter their address into our phone. Ooh lala.

But alas! Smart phone did not solve all our problems. We soon discovered that smart phone had an especially difficult time differentiating between neighborhoods and BLM land, and was not very adept at showing us how to access campgrounds via forest service roads. This was road map's expertise, and we could easily find places to camp with the help of both road map and smart phone. Ha! Smart phones do have a weakness, they can't show you how to get to prime forest land where the camping is free, nor do they show you the backroads necessary for backcountry access. I say this of course, with my completely map-biased opinion, having done absolutely no research on the matter. There probably is an app for that after all.

Waiting for Ruth

When you live in a home, there is always necessary maintenance to keep your house in livable conditions. When your home is your car, that maintenance becomes just as, if not more important. Fixing pipes, plunging toilets, doing the dishes, etc. can be compared to 3,000 mile oil changes, tire rotations, and the occasional wash and vacuum.
 

Cleaning out the closet. It's useful to have friends with front yards so that we can effectively organize. Funny story about this day, we joked about how it looked like we were having a yard sale. Not long after that a couple of Indian men walked past and one pointed to my shoes and asked, "how much?"

Before going on a long trip, Ruthanne (our Subaru) must be checked out and in working order lest we find ourselves stranded on a desolate strip of highway in the Nevada desert. And believe me, you do not want to be stranded anywhere along the Nevada/Oregon 140, potentially the most yawn-inducing 100 mile portion of highway to exist in the U.S.

So here we find ourselves, in a local West Jordan coffee shop waiting for Ruth to get her scheduled maintenance before we head out, hoping that the bent rim that we were recently informed of won't hold us back more than a couple hours.

Muffin time!

Cookin'

I wish I could say that we've mastered the art of cooking outdoors but it simply isn't true. The fact is the vast majority of our dishes include either pasta or tortillas. Its not that we don't enjoy Italian or Mexican food (being from Arizona we actually adore Mexican food) but we have yet to break out of these staples. Same goes for breakfast and lunch which usually consist of eggs on toast and a ham sandwich respectively.

 

Fajitas!

I miss the good old days of oven cooking: quiche, lasagna, baked chicken, casserole, and chicken pot pie, all my specialties. I suppose we could get a Dutch oven and cook some really delicious meals, but the fire ban in Utah for most of the summer has discouraged us from even pricing them.

 

 

Salmonella time!

But even then I am perhaps being too harsh on us, the fact that we don't eat boiled hot dogs and powdered potatoes for every meal is a feat in itself. And today I spotted butternut squash in the grocery store. Yum! A stovetop delight, butternut squash first softened in a skillet filled with an inch of water then sauteed in butter and topped with a heavy sprinkling of fresh rosemary and thyme is one of our favorites- and perhaps tomorrow's dinner.

Showers

The other day I walk out of my doctor's appointment (yes, hobos who live out of their car still go to the doctor from time to time) to find Ryon standing next to the parked car shaving his mustache in the passenger side mirror. Unfortunately I didn't think to snap a picture until a day later because for the first time I was suddenly so acutely aware of how homeless we actually are. And how funny the situation really was. 

This incident got me thinking about showers. Showers are one of those things that you take for granted when you live in a house. Cleanliness is a term that has a whole new meaning for us now, we rarely get showers the whole 8 days we're on trail and we often stink worse than the kids. Staying clean is almost impossible when you sleep on the ground. But this does not mean we do not have options on trail. Dunking in streams and lakes is not only fun for the group, but provides an opportunity to scrub off the dirt around your ankles. Baby wipes--something we carry with us on every expedition, are offered to the kids so that they can wipe off their grimy feet, legs, hands, and faces while on trail. And lastly, bladder showers provide the best opportunity for getting clean while on trail. Setting your water bladder on a hot rock in the sun for an hour will heat up the water to an optimal temperature for bathing. Scrub with some Dr. B's Magical crazy soap and you're good to go!  

Homemade woodsy bladder shower

Of course, we have plenty of opportunities to clean up when not at work. Our number one choice is the luxurious showers of our friend's houses. A private bathroom all to oneself is golden. The place we shower most often is actually at the field office where the kids shower once a week. BEWARE, foot fungus ho! Dirty kids = the most disgusting showers of your life. But plenty of guides shower there anyway. Nothing beats free hot water! Thirdly, we have discovered that (no duh!) showers are available at all public pools. Most will let you in for a reduced fee just to use the shower or you can pay full price and enjoy a nice swim before soaping up. And of course, you can always construct a woodsy bladder shower like the one above of your very own! Just be sure you're not in a busy campground before setting up.

The other essential element to staying clean? Clean laundry. This is something we can not take care of at work. Once in a while we are able to use the laundry at a friends house, but most of the time we find ourselves at the laundromat. If you can find a laundromat with free wi-fi you're living the high life!

 

Who says you can't mix business with pleasure??

Actually, whoever said that never worked in our industry. 

We decided that this summer was going to be all about camping and experiencing new places and we were able to do that this week by going to Yellowstone National Park, a place neither of us had ever been before. We were able to recruit two of our friends from work to share in the fun and set off to see another piece of the beautiful American West!

We drove through the Grand Tetons at twilight and camped at the edge of the park, at a site that cost us $37! For camping! Determined not to let that happen again, we got up early (9:30 am?) and drove through Yellowstone headed for a camping area that prohibited generators. We got there 15 minutes too late and decided to hit up the backcountry office as originally planned. We were able to get a sweet site 1 mile from the trailhead for 3 nights for FREE. 

 Look at that view!

Of course, this also meant carrying in all our gear and a cooler, but being seasoned backpackers, we had no problems at all. 

Yellowstone is in bear country, so you need to be sure to hang all your food and smelly cosmetics. Cooler included!

 

We utilized BBQ pits at a picnic area to cook our delicious meal of chicken legs and bell peppers. 

Upon arriving at the park I (Janelle) will admit, I had no idea what to expect. I was trying to remember the NOVA and National Geographic documentaries I used to watch on channel 8 growing up. The only thing I could conjure up was memories of large meadows with bison and snowy landscapes showcasing wolves attacking their prey.

We saw plenty of wildlife including bison, marmots, the standard chipmunk and squirrels, 

and this huge bull elk, standing just 20 feet away on the other side of a stream. 

What we saw the most of however, were Yellowstone's fantastic geological and hydrothermal features. Water is everywhere, with beautiful rivers, streams, waterfalls, and even a lake (did you know Yellowstone has a giant lake??) filling the canyons and crevices of the landscape.

 Mammoth hot springs. It looked like there was snow everywhere!

  

The 300 foot waterfall in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

 

 Perhaps the most beautiful thing we saw on the trip, 

the Grand Prismatic Spring appears to be made of every color in the rainbow! 

 

And of course, Old Faithful!

While we definitely saw some awesome stuff on this trip, we realized just how huge Yellowstone actually is and would love to go back another day to experience more. Perhaps sometime during the winter??

Couch hobos

A theme that has started to emerge throughout our trip has been the presence of couches. Couches, spare beds, and floors. We figured that we would go on this adventure and spend all or the majority of our time camping in really sweet locations. Yet, it has become quiet the opposite. Instead, we have become those smelly friends of your roommate who take up precious tv viewing space on the couch every couple of weeks.

 Yes, we have become couch hobos. 

We're not super excited about that fact except that we love the people we have had the pleasure of nabbing couches from and happen to have an excellent time hanging out with them. Karaoke, dancing at the bars in Flagstaff, BBQing and playing Texas Hold 'Em-opoly (yes, its a real game and its awesome) has consumed a lot of our time with friends. And while we do spend a lot of time indoors, we have done our fair share of frisbee playing, slacklining and yes, even camping (thanks Allie and Sam!) all in the great outdoors and in the presence of friends.

We're just hoping that the delicious meals we make for each of our hosts keeps them open to the idea of letting bums hang out in their house every couple weeks.

Next up, Yellowstone!

May/June Recap

Obviously we’ve got a little catching up to do. Here’s a recap of our last month!

After our wilderness first responder course in Moab and job training in the Mt. Pleasant area, we drove to Grants Pass, Oregon to visit Janelle’s family.   

 Eating on the road!

We spent the majority of our time playing couch potato,  watching Netflix, and gorging on cherries growing in the front yard. After going non-stop from finals, to graduation party, to graduation, to WFR in Moab, we were ready for a long rest! 

We weren’t entirely lazy though, we managed to find a beautiful venue for our wedding and set the date for June 22, 2013. In addition, we spent our first weekend at the Grant's Pass Memorial Day Boatnik weekend celebration! There was a carnival, speedboat races up and down the Rogue River, and the first annual Boatnik Beer Festival! We definitely made sure to check that out. 

Lindsey's rabbit Scooter loves cherries as much as we do. 

Boatnik!

 After Grants Pass we decided to meet our good friend Amy Hafer at Smith Rock just outside of Bend, Oregon where we partook in some epic rock climbing. The scenery was beautiful and Janelle lead her first climb! 

We then traveled to the Portland area to visit Janelle’s grandmother, aunts and cousin. It was good to see family, even for just a short time! After Portland, we headed east along the Columbia River Gorge and saw amazing Multnomah falls. It was really foggy out but still a gorgeous drive! 

 

We traveled through Oregon and Idaho for 2 days with the intention of being back to central Utah in time to work our first 8-day shift in the field.  It rained nearly the whole way, but we were able to find a slice of history...

Super excited for the Oregon Trail!

Bryce Canyon seemed to be a good place to spend our last weekend before work and so we spent a day hiking among the hoodoos. 

 

 

First week in the field was AMAZING, Ryon and I are so thankful to have such awesome jobs! Ryon worked with one of the boys groups and had an itinerary of day hiking in Arches National Park. Janelle went backpacking with a group of boys and girls in a wilderness 2 hours north of Arches.

During our first off week we laid low, couch surfing a bit on the couches of old college friends, thanks for your hospitality, guys! You know who you are. In between we spent a night up in American Fork Canyon, and went for a day hike up to Silver Lake, where we jumped in the freezing snow melt. 

 Cold, but worth it! 

 Ryon and... wait a second

 Ok, Ryon and Janelle at Silver Lake! 

Tomorrow we start another shift, our itineraries are unknown at this point, but now that we’re caught up we’ll update the blog next week!