In the beginning there was Chaos. (That’s the dude’s name; get it? Greek mythology is a lesson in vocabulary, and Stephen Fry’s book Mythos drives this point home in a very entertaining way.) From chaos a plan emerged for our trip to Greece. We board an airplane a little before midnight and ask Uranus (the… Continue reading Athens
We are traveling in Greece for almost three weeks. It will be mostly a climbing trip (Leonidio and Kalymnos), but with some diving and tourism on rest days. Here is how we prepare to live large on a small budget. Step 1: Planning I’ve wanted to go to Kalymnos ever since I started climbing. Friends… Continue reading Trip Planning: Greece
This Summer has been very wet, which is bad news for rock climbers and great news for fungi. On our various hikes and rides we saw dozens of varieties of mushroom. Here’s a sampling: Some are poisonous, some are delicious; it may be difficult to know which is which. We only ate chicken-of-the-woods and black trumpets,… Continue reading Mushroom for Improvement
When you take a vacation to a remote place and don’t have internet access or even phone signal, it can be a welcome respite. When you are working remotely and trying to communicate with others, it is a frustrating first-world problem. We discovered that T-Mobile has no service from Canaan to Rumney. Worse still, no… Continue reading Getting Connected
It’s official. We are now full-timers, living in our trailer (Rubble) away from home. That is to say, we have a new home, and it has wheels. We moved Rubble from New Jersey to New Hampshire in one push. It took 8 hours, and 2 tanks of gas (we averaged 8.3 MPG, or more appropriately… Continue reading Setting Sail
According to our plan, we will spend the Winter in Arizona. Jess and I combed various websites for the best horse campgrounds. Apparently most snowbirds reserve a spot in Apache Junction for February a year in advance; now we know for next year. These directories look like they haven’t updated their styling since the 1990s, but… Continue reading Finding a Home for Winter
In 2016 we decided to live on the farm in Somerset, NJ. Jess and I researched online and visited used RV dealers, including multiple trips to Freehold. One of our requirements was a full height interior; I’m 6’3″ and Jess is 5’11”. We also wanted a bumper-pull as opposed to a fifth wheel, so Betty… Continue reading Our Rig: “Rubble” the travel trailer
So you have decided to reduce your material possessions. It may seem overwhelming. How do you begin? Make lists. Get boxes. Prioritize. Digitize. Divide and conquer. Make Lists I am a fan of Trello, but a spreadsheet or text file would do the job. Create at least 2 lists: Keep, and Toss. Personally, I made… Continue reading How to: Declutter
Everyone has used Google Maps to find an address, but did you know you can compose your own custom map? Go to https://www.google.com/mymaps and click “Create a New Map” to get started. You can manually add points, lines, and driving directions. You can also search for places and then add them to the selected layer. However,… Continue reading How to: Custom Google Map
