HELLO, FROM SOMEWHERE

VOL 10: Everywhere

OR-A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research

It’s gotten to be very late in the oceanside neighborhood of Point Loma, California.

Earlier in the day, the first day of No Bummer Summer, my friend Bridget left work early and picked me up in a Prius full of wetsuits and surfboards, where we headed to Ocean Beach and I touched the Pacific Ocean for the first time. And then spent the rest of the afternoon hurling myself into attached by a rubber string to a foam board, so sure I’d add “surfing” to the long list of things I technically know how to do but am not very good at.

Then in the early evening we packed up and moved to Bridget’s Huge front yard of tangled dahlias and succulents and chewed up milkweed plants for the longest happy hour I’ve ever been to. Neighbors, friends, chosen family came in and out of Bridget’s little jungle, their presence and absence announced by the little squeak squeak of her chain link gate only visible from the street. New friends, new strangers all eager to sit down with a drink and hear about my first time visiting San Diego. 

But now, like I said, hours have passed and it’s late in this neighborhood. The street lights turn all the dahlias and desert plants orange, the neighborhood traffic is quiet, and there’s no more squeak squeaking. It’s time for me to say goodbye to another friend in another town. Tomorrow morning Shara and I will leave San Diego and start the last leg of our trip up upwards towards whAt we consider to be our terminus- Vashon Island in Washington. 

Before I open the gate to leave, Bridget runs into her tiny studio and comes back with her extra copy of John Steinbeck’s The Log Book from the Sea of Cortez. She says it’ll make an excellent companion to our drive where I’ll no doubt be spotting sardine boats heading in and out of coastal harbors and Peeking into tidepools on my own. 

And so with my new book rolled into my back Pocket, I say my goodbye to a friend I’ll unknowingly end up depending up for housing later (another HFS story) and make my way down the very steep hill, taking a right at the ocean and heading toward a borrowed home for one more night. 

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The Log Book from the Sea of Cortez is a journal of a six week boating expedition John Steinbeck took with his wife and friends about a year after he wrote The Grapes of Wrath. 

Bridget has two copies because she Is also sometimes called Dr. Bridget Seegers, a NASA scientist studying cyanobacteria, and at some point in her life she’s going to quit her job and recreate Steinbeck’s exact journey on her sailboat currently moored in Shelter Island. 

I’ve stalled about a third of the way through this book, and look forward to revisiting it when it’s written by Bridget. And it’s not because this book is dense (which it is), or that I find Steinbeck’s musings on sexual biology icky (which it is), but because I have a hard time listening to people make scientific “discoveries” about this world when I have enough years ahead of the publication to kNow what that discovery yielded for the land and the people that inhabited it. 

But one thing that really stuck with me was how Steinbeck’s journal does this really subtle thing of normalizing all the mistakes and blunders he, his friends, and the crew of the Western Flyer make as they sail from Monterey down to Mexico. Like the way he describes this perfectly rational decision to bring a very heavy wooden chest full of books onto a commercial fishing vessel:

We took it aboard the Western Flyer. There was no table for it to rest on. It did not fit in a bunk. It could not be put on the deck because of moisture. It ended up lashed to the rail on top of the deckhouse, covered with layers of tarpaulin and roped on. Because of the roll of the boat it had to be tied down at all times. It took about ten minutes to remove the tarpaulin, unite the lashing line, open the cover, squeeze down between two crates of oranges, read the title of the book upside down, remove it, close and lash and cover the box again. But if there had been a low table or a large bunk, it would have been perfect.

And I feel like this is the exact way I’ve been talking about our own intentions and experiences as we move past a year into living on the road. Steinbeck and Ed Ricket’s dreamed up this perfect journey for themselves, only to have snags and issues come up before they even got on the boat. But in the journal, every mistake or failure is met with a shrug, a “would have been perfect” and a push forward. Because there is simply too much story to get caught up on all the mishaps. Sure, for Steinbeck, all the camera equipment they bought and took aboard would have been perfect if only they had someone on board who actually knEw how to use it. But that’s not the best part of the story.

Things don’t work out the way you want them to, and sometimes that’s for the better. For me, it would have been perfect if I had taken every opportunity to go on a long hike in a national park, but for every hike I didn’t take I have a Junior Ranger badge and I have like 18 now so what’s really the best part of the story.

And that’s Scamp’s law, baby- for every door that slams shut from a gust of wind and breaks your door handle off, a window opens while you’re driving through a rainstorm on the interstate.

In that way, traveling for a year has helped me find myself in unexpected ways. I’ve intervened and deescalated situations to help avoid police during mental health crises. I’ve trusted my art practice enough to participate in a fundraiser for queer and trans mutual aid. And y’all I’ve actually Stuck with a creative project for a whole year.

Our blunders and mistakes are nowhere near the scale of Steinbeck’s. We never killed a sea turtle just for its shell only to throw said shell back into the ocean because we didn’t think it was pretty enough (again, let’s all wait for Bridget to do this trip).  But I think there’s a lot to reflect on. I’ve never been one for doubling back or saying “I should have done this,” but I appreciate the sentiment that Steinbeck writes in his journal:

For many errors like this, we have concluded that all collecting trips to fairly unknown regions should be made twice; once to make mistakes and once to correct them. Some of the greatest difficulty lies in the fact that previous collectors have never set down the equipment taken and its success or failure. We propose to rectify this in our account. 

So to mark our year on the road, I give you our Somewhat official best of everything (here now you have to listen to this commercial jingle that haunts my teen years). It’s the thing that we’re most frequently asked about now that we’re a year in, so I think having one big place with resources and ideas is a great place to start. Plus, if you’re planning on something similar it might help you in the future and you don’t have to do what we did and watch youtube videos for a year leading up to it! 

Some are self explanatory, some will include links, notes, etc. Enjoy!

SETUP

BEST EQUIPMENT 

Autowit Car Jumpstarter- Blessed be onto this car jumpstarter that basically propelled us from Michigan to Massachusetts everyday. 

Solar Batteries- we have a Rockpals 550 Watt battery for inside the Scamp and an EcoFlow 1300 for the fridge and our bigger power drains. It was great for the trip, but it also came in handy during the last winter storm when the power in Austin was out for days!   

Carbon Steel Pan- lighter than cast iron and easier to clean. 

LEAST BEST EQUIPMENT

WeBoost- I think this is one of the “least best” because I’m never sure if we’re using it right! It’s a cell signal booster that seemed to work in the Northeast well, but in the West had mixed resulsts. 

Outdoor showers of any kind- we researched 3 portable showers, bought 2, and never really used them. If you’re looking for a shower head to a town with a rec center!

Solar Panels- Rest in Solar Power. Great to use to charge your equipment, but easily to forget that you left them out in the wind, on top of the Scamp as you’re driving, or close to the tire of your car.

BEST COMFORT ITEMS

Hot water bottle- a warm best friend!

Heat Holders- I bought these socks from the Bass Pro Sport Pyramid in Memphis and have worn them almost every night. 

Hand pump soap that smells nice- the spiritual nirvana of clean hands. RENEW

Pour Over Coffee Maker

Books from the Little Free Library- If you have the space, make sure to stop by a Little Free Library every so often. They’re great reflections on the towns you visit, and sometimes you find some really good books to read!

LEAST BEST COMFORT ITEMS

Blend Jet- this USB-C chargeable blender is amazing, and we used it in tandem with this JOI Cashew Milk base a lot, but it was difficult to charge and kind of messy.

Cast Iron Tea Pot 

Ceramic heaters- ok, electricity talk. If you’re using a solar powered battery or your car, ceramic heaters (not matter how small) draw way too much wattage and will drain all of your energy just for a fleeting moment of warmth. Invest in a Mr. Buddy instead or use candles.

Shoes- Just shoes, don’t bring so many! Try and keep your shoe game versatile, one shoe to rule them all.

BEST ADVICE

Every so often get yourself a tension breaker. A tiny lite brite, a bright pink cowboy hat, a shirt from a gas station. Something that you can laugh at. 

Do the occasional “stealth dip". If you’re skirting around a budget and looking for a safe place to camp, use Recreation.gov to find a campsite near you with availability, then come in after 6pm and leave before 9am. Definitely don’t do this with private or state parks. 

Avoid gentrification aesthetics. All gentrification culture is the same no matter where you go, and it’s all expensive and under quality. Don’t be fooled by a wood fired pizza, or a coffee shop with a minimalist logo. They will suck all your money from your pockets and offer nothing in return. If you see a logo with no vowels, run.

Never shine a flashlight into a pit toilet. There are some places where curiosity does not belong.

BEST CAMPSITES

Old Stone House in Brownington, Vermont

Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys

Dispersed Camping In the White Mountains in Maine

Cotttonwood Campground in Big Bend National Park

Coconino National Forest in the Grand Canyon

Lost Dutchman State Park near Phoenix, Arizona

Big Sur State Park

Wild Card- Fountain of Youth, Salton Sea near Niland, CA

BEST OVERNIGHT SITES

These are places where you have to be self-contained, like stealth car camping on in an RV. 

Pullouts along the 1 between Mendocino and Humboldt- the view of the Pacific Ocean is incredible and you are often the only person there.

Forsyth Park, Savannah GA- did you know you can overnight park around Savannah’s most beautiful park?

“Street Parking East End Beach” in Portland, ME- this is THE SPOT. It’s right above a public park and you can watch the lights from a lighthouse waving all the schooners in from the ocean.

Any Cracker Barrel! Except the one outside of Boulder, don’t go to that one.

LEAST BEST CAMPSITES 

Michigan State Parks- I am open to being challenged on this, but the state parks system in Michigan has some terrible camping, They’re expensive for the region, averaging above $40 a night, and are basically dirt plots spaced 6ft away from each other. Stick to their national forests!

Rhode Island State Parks- Ok there are only like, two of them. But we stayed at one outside of Providence for one night at a pretty high nightly rate, and that was when our whole setup got infested with mice and I briefly had an out of body “The Animal That Therefore I Am” moment.

Massachusetts State Parks - These state parks are the most expensive I saw at $77 a night and are somehow spaced near or next to nothing of interest. But also, there’s not really another option aside from RV parks. Book ahead for the Cape Cod National Seashore and camp on the beach!

HipCamps- I don’t want to paint all HipCamps with the same brush. Some hipcamps like Lowgear and Old Stone House have been foundational to Shara and I’s lives. But other HipCamps say they are a beautiful farm with fresh honey and you get there and it’s a driveway filled with bees. It is the AllTrails of camping apps.

BEST APPS

iOverlander- Stop what you’re doing and download this now. It will save your life. It helps you find everything you need (campsites, propane, bathrooms, wifi!) , and gives you trusted reviews from other users that sometimes read like murder mysteries and are great for the road especially when you have no cell signal which is often.

Recreation.Gov- Very helpful for finding spots you can "stealth dip” in, or for locating the closest national forest to you.

Weatherbug- If you are a lightning freak this is the app for you. 

Atlas Obscura- One of the best parts of our trip was driving through smaller towns we’d never been and checking Atlas Obscura to find things like a statue of Lincoln trapped inside a pyramid. Y’all, America is weird and this app helps you celebrate that.

Gas Buddy- Helpful even when not camping! It’ll help you find the nearest gas station, what the gas price is, and sometimes people leave reviews about the bathrooms.

OneSec- I have been using this app to document my last couple of years and it is brilliant. Not only do I get this little perfect clip of my month, but it also encourages me to think about what I want to see as the best “one second” of my day.

LEAST BEST APPS

All Trails- Oh, it’s just a moderate hike for one mile is it? Dear reader, if you use AllTrails, remember to ALWAYS read the reviews by people hiking the trail. Usually they can report on conditions, for instance there was one trail I wanted to do to a hot spring in New Mexico but skipped because people reported getting bit by the same dog. But also, they will tell you the truth when AllTrails lies. Often times the mile count is super underrated and you will end up on a hike for twice the amount of miles it says it is.

RA Camping- This app is so difficult to use it is worth it just to go individually to each state’s camping reservation website. 

Rover- I hope to god I never have to hire another Rover ever again. I think it is the thing I’m most looking forward to in leaving this life behind. 

Vanly/Sekr- Any kind of “new” app that isn’t iOverlander is going to be a bust. Sekr is filled with (white) influencer vanlifers who “stealth camp” in places that are clearly off limits and it makes for unsafe conditions for people who are 26 and own a $96k sprinter van. Vanly is HipCamp unmasked is like, criminal. Pay $75 to stay in someone’s driveway for the night with no amenities and also you can’t step outside of your rig at all because of the neighbors.

BEST FOODS

This is basically what our whole trip has been about. Enjoy it as much as we did!

Polish sampler at Legs Inn in Michigan

Cherries (in season!) from the farm stalls in Upstate New York

A raspberry fried pie in the Amish communities of Brownington, VT

Homemade maple creamies in Browningtown, VT

Blueberry Pie from Curriers Market in Glover, VT

Oyster sampler at Island Creek Oysters/The Shop in Portland, ME

Mussels and a glass of white wine at Thurston’s Lobster Trap near Southwest Harbor, ME

Lobster roll at McLaughlin’s in Bangor, ME

Cheeseburger at Frank Allen Grill in Sevierville, TN

Pickled shrimp at the Floridian in St. Augustine, Florida

Fried Chicken at a walkup window in Alabama (near Selma). We forgot the name, but it was so good!

Combination Plate at Rancho de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico

Grilled fish tacos at Sunnie’s in San Diego, CA

Burritio (any) at Roberto’s or Don Tommy’s in San Diego, CA

Tequila, lime juice, coconut cream cocktail in San Diego, CA

Xiao Long Bao at Din Tai Fung in Los Angeles

Boni’s Tacos in Cambria, CA

Fresh produce in California- plums, strawberries, cherries!

Wild blackberries off the vine in Washington

Licorice Caramel from the Blue Heron Creamery in Tillamook, Oregon

Smoked Salmon from Brigham Fish Market in Cascade Locks, Oregon. OH MY GOD, top tier the best fish I have ever eaten in my entire life. Get in your car, go, now.

LEAST BEST FOODS

Pasties in the UP- Michigan pasties are a flavorless meat wad wrapped in tough pastry that is either served with gravy or (shudder) ketchup. Long live a Cornish pasty, a Jamaican pattie, or an empanada!

Lobster rolls in Acadia- A Maine suggestion: get your lobster roll fix out of the way in Bangor or a town outside of the Acadia area. We ate several lobster rolls in/around Southwest Harbor and Bar Harbor and they were all expensive and underwhelming. But also, I didn’t try Thurston’s so it could be good! Hold out hope, dear reader!

Pizza in Vermont- oh boy, it was deliciously different!

French hot dog cart  in Charleston, SC

Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa, AZ- honestly the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

Oyster happy hour at Point Loma Seafoods in San Diego, CA

Kogi BBQ in Los Angeles, CA- Ok Roy Choi, what is this? Y’all, am I wrong in not liking Kogi?

BEST HOT DOGS (specialty category)

Skyline Drive-In in Oak Hill, WV

El Sinaloense hot dog cart in Tucson, AZ

Hot Dog Carts in Los Angeles, CA

Hot Dog World in Hendersonville, NC- I am adding this as a congeniality because it’s good and also because I know Shara is reading this. 

BEST FRIDGE/PANTRY STAPLES

Tom Kha Soup Mix + Coconut Milk- in the winter months this will be a thing you grow to crave.

Noodle Packs from Trader Joe’s- Ok really Trader Joe’s is fantastic for either single people who work tech jobs or two people travelling who cannot wash a vegetable and need everything portioned out. These noodle packs were perfect.

HEB Beans- just the black bean and jalapeno ones.

Box of Cous Cous- Somehow a box of Cous Cous just never ends! 

Trader Joe’s Maple Pecan granola

Hot sauce- any kind, get it locally, try it from different places! Think of it like human-made honey that is supposed to reflect the environment around you.

Ultimate MVP award- yogurt. The most diverse. Put it in or on top of everything and it will save you. Yogurt and granola. Yogurt with jam you need to use up. Mint yogurt. Salted yogurt. A thing marinated in yogurt. Yogurt with chili crisp. Yogurt on a taco. Yogurt with this this beautifully illustrated seasoning packet. Yogurt when you want ice cream. Yogurt to feed your dog their medication. For all things, there is yogurt.

BEST ROAD SNACKS

HEB Sweet and Sassy Trail Mix

Ranch flavored Bugles- a word of caution you will not stop eating them until the bag is empty.

A Banana- there will come a time that one day, and it will be hard to believe, you will be the person who buys the banana in the gas station. 

Nerd Clusters- I feel like this is an illicit substance? Like I have to moderate how many I eat for fear I will go into another dimension and never come back. It is candy DMT.

Regional Chips- let a selection of gas station chips become your regional culinary guide. Cherry BBQ in Michigan, Adobada in New Mexico, whole brands you’ve never heard of. Live a little!

Peanut M&Ms

Van Holten’s Giant Pickle in a bag- I suggest you read Jamie Loftus’ article on this or her book about hot dogs! Also, if you can get one, there is an elusive pickle in a big that is a kosher one that needs to be refrigerated and it is a god tier pickle in a bag. I found one outside of Yosemite.

LEAST BEST ROAD SNACKS

Seaweed Snacks- not only do they smell, but their container isn’t compact at all. It’s like eating a seaflavored listerine beath strip. Somehow, the container itself will crunch around in your car for days at your feet and good luck ever throwing away that silica packet.

Cheetos/Doritos- This is contested in this family. So I will say it can be in both categories. It’s just that the seasoning coats your fingers and you have to lick it off and then you remember that you used the gas pump and its all gross. 

Peanuts

Granola Bars- Chocolate covered granola bars especially. They are so messy!

Arizona Ice Tea Arnold Palmer- Put it back. You will NEVER finish this thing.

NATURE

BEST FOREST

Shara: Big Sur, California

Alex: Avenue of the Giants

BEST LAKE

Shara: White Mountains in Maine

Alex: Lake Willoughby in Vermont

BEST RIVER

Alex: The Columbia River in Oregon (bonus: this is where Brigham Fish Market is)

Shara: Undecided!

BEST BEACH

Shara: Acadia National Park

Alex: Bahia Honda in the Keys

BEST TIDEPOOLS

Alex: Yachats, Oregon

BEST DESERT

Shara: All of New Mexico

Alex: A tie between White Sand NP and Lost Dutchman/Superstition Mountains

BEST MOUNTAINS 

Shara:

Shara: New River Gorge, West Virginia

Alex: Singular. Mount Rainier

BEST WATERFALL

A note: this is “scenic” waterfalls, not waterfalls you can swim in/under.

Shara: Waterfalls near in the Upper Peninsula, Michigan

Alex: Julia Pfieffer Burns, California

Honorable Mention: Watkins Glen and Niagara Falls both in NY, but they were so crowded. Also the secret waterfall in Big Bend.

BEST HOT SPRING

Shara: Hot Springs National Park I think?

Alex: Snively Hot Springs, Oregon/Idaho

MOMENTS/MEMORIES

BEST STRANGERS

This trip is so largely influenced by the strangers we met along the way who saved us, who gave us recommendations, or just refilled our batteries enough to make it to the next stop. Some of you might be reading this, and if you are, thank you.

Jon and Carolee in Big Bend - Thank you to Jon and Carolee, who we met in Big Bend and who were SO kind an enthused about our trip and encouraging in a way that made us feel like we were doing the right, and also brave, thing. If you ever make it to Kepler's Books tell Carolee we say hello!

Chelsea in Michigan- Thanks to Chelsea who was the first kind stranger we met and who made us a handdrawn map of all of Michigan. Legs Inn was because of her, and I cannot thank her enough.

Erin in Providence- Thank you for giving us a place to stay in Rhode Island, and for filling our days there with so many activities that we almost decided to move to Providence!

Dee Dee Chapman in the Keys- Thank you for showing me that queer and trans people can exist and flourish anywhere and everywhere! You gave me a lot to think about in the Keys, and I hope you’re somewhere down the road on your own adventure now!

Marilyn and Jerry from Florida- We met them in Acadia, and were thankful for just seeing kind, buoyant people!

Marcy and Amy in Big Bend- We met so many folks in Big Bend, but the way Marcy and Amy stayed in touch and kept us posted on their dad’s meteoric rise as a standup comedian in a retirement home in Las Vegas was perfect. Hope to see him perform one day, if the show isn’t sold out!

Alessandra in Brownington VT- I mentioned Alessandra in the November newsletter. The woman in Vermont braiding grass as a thunderstorm rolled in. We continue to email with her and are so thankful for her existence!

Karen and Shannon and Leo in Oakland, CA- Other queer scampers! I know y’all will be in our circle for awhile, so see you soon!

Big Bend Bonnie- Y’all this campground host in the Cottonwood Campground in Big Bend DOES. NOT. PLAY. She will tell you everything you need to know, she will reserve sites just for you, and she will absolutely knock on your camper door at 3am to ask if you’ve seen a certain camper around because she’s pretty sure they’re dead.

The couple in MA who drove me to the mechanic- When the Subaru broke down this super nice couple offered to drive me to the mechanic instead of walking the two miles. The campers on the other side were rude trash so the solidarity was extremely welcomed!

Lady that made us a little “sampler” of these fried clams in Maine-These clams at Bob’s Clam Hut were very yucky and not something I would ever eat again no matter how much Guy Fieri tells me to. But we were having a really bad travel day, and I think the woman behind the counter could tell, so she gave us a big helping of free fried clams to cheer us up. And now I know I don’t like clam belly so it all worked out!

Every propane man that laughed at our little propane tank and filled it up for free- you are the backbone of this trip sir.

BEST JOYFUL DISCOVERIES

Bread and Puppet Theater in Glover, VT

Museum of Everyday Life in Glover, VT

Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa, AZ

Bob Baker Marionette Theater in Los Angeles, CA

Water Wheel Falls in the Tonto National Forest, AZ

Salvation Mountain in Niland, CA

Elephant seals in San Simeon, CA

Buying a bag of cherries from an orchard in New York

Seeing a fresh colt take its first step in New Mexico

Catching a grey whale breach off the Oregon Coast

Watching a pod of baby orcas in Vashon Island. Also, finding a sand dollar and eating fresh blackberries on the same beach

Every single sunset.

Everytime Shara and I looked at each other knowing that we’d just seen or done or eaten something that was a moment just for us to share, grow on, and grow closer.

FUN AND GAMES

Pay at the Pump- Can you work out the price per gallon at this gas station? Use your logic and deduction skills to read the information provided and then guess the correct amount!

Pictogram Memory- Click on the link to play pictogram memory! Match the images and then put them altogether to make a notable phrase that we’ve been saying to ourselves this whole year.

Wordle- Guess this month’s word! It’s the most essential item to carry when traveling.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

For this particular newsletter and postcard we’re talking about the whole of the US, so I will connect us to the Native Land and encourage us all to look up indigenous territories in our hometowns, the places we live now, the places we vacation. Let me know what you find! I mailed this postcard from land belonging to the Eastern Shoshone, Northern Cheyenne and Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes (which is now in Oklahoma).