More time for what you love
Monday March 23, Day 8 at the Farm
The adjacent property has a professionally managed fishing pond. Today we ended up with about 50 medium sized bass that were pulled from the pond. It was great repetition to learn and get better at cleaning and filleting!
First off, we’re healthy and in a safe spot on a farm in central Alabama.
Writing isn’t one of my stronger points, but my usual method of documenting this journey with only photographs isn’t going to capture all of these feelings and thoughts during this coronavirus outbreak. I’m backing up to about when our plans started to change in response to the virus. So here goes…
March 1 – San Luis Island, TX
Today we’re leaving the beach. We’ve been here for 4 nights, boondocking above the high tide line. We ventured out onto the sand with our friends, the Fethers. We were all concerned about pulling 16,000 lbs over the sand – but it turned out to be a non-issue. We biked, kayaked, caught ghost shrimp, had another family over for a day, and ended up with enough sand in the RV to remember this for a long time! Here are a few photos from the few days at the beach. What a great time this was.
Monday March 16th – Spencer Farm
This morning we hooked up and left Summerdale about 9:30am. The drive up I-65 to Marion Junction, AL was uneventful and took about 4 1/2 hours. We stopped at a rest area to use the facilities in the RV. Traffic was light and the roads were good.
We pulled into the farm and were greeted by Chip Spencer. He was mowing with the tractor. We shook hands – then sanitized. He showed us the way to the spot we’d be parking at. We had a little issue clearing a 12′ 6″ phone line with the 13′ 2″ RV just before we got to the “bunkhouse”. I guided the wire over the solar panels while Tricia slowly drove under.
Spencer Farm is a host of WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). This article we found while researching the farm prior to arriving tells the back history of how they came to be where they are today. We’re looking forward to getting to know them.
Spring has sprung, and with it, the tendency for us to want lighter fare. We typically make pasta salads, lots of green salads, and slaws, but sometimes we want something different…something with a nutty texture. This recipe fits the bill! It is versatile and pairs well with burgers, grilled chicken, and shrimp, and probably makes a delicious meatless lunch salad as well. Another bonus… if you are on a gluten-free diet, quinoa is generally gluten-free and nutritious (if you adhere to a gluten-free diet, do double-check the label to ensure the quinoa is gluten free when you purchase it). We enjoy this recipe so much that there were no leftovers of this salad tonight. Our almost 11 year old practically licked the bowl! Bon appetit!
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup uncooked, rinsed quinoa
- 1/2 cup uncooked diced onion
- 1 cup water
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided (1 Tbsp. for onions, 2 Tbsp. for dressing)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon honey
- 2 Tablespoons lime juice
- 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes (halved)
- 1/2 -1 cup chickpeas (or great northern beans) drained (depending on your taste!)
- 1 peeled, diced avocado
- 3 ounces feta cheese crumbles (more or less to taste)
- 1 small bunch of cilantro, washed, drained and chopped
Directions:
Heat 1 Tbsp. of olive oil in a pan (one which has a lid for later). Add onion and cook for 3 minutes on medium heat. Add the rinsed quinoa and cook until onion is translucent and quinoa is slightly browned. Pour in the 1 cup water and simmer quinoa mixture, lid on, for about 13 minutes (if water is not fully absorbed, turn off heat and let sit for a couple more minutes).
While quinoa mixture is simmering, whisk together 2 Tbsp. olive oil, honey, lime juice, cumin, and salt. Remove lid from quinoa mixture. Add the lime-honey-oil dressing and toss in drained beans, halved tomatoes, and chopped cilantro. When cooled a bit, add feta crumbles and refrigerate until chilled (I have chilled overnight or just a few hours and both work great!). Before serving, dice the avocado and gently mix into salad. Enjoy!
Hello! Liam here, back with another video! I’m sure you’re all wondering what life is like in the camper, and today, I got you covered. Here’s an unofficial tour of the “Beast”!
Thanks for watching! Check out my YouTube channel at HallackTube!!
So we’ve been in Big Bend National Park, doing some phenomenal hiking and exploring for the past 4 days. Today, we actually secured our campsite IN the park (difficult to do this time of year, so reserve early if you’re thinking about visiting in the winter) and decided to adventure in a different way. We went to Mexico!
Big Bend National Park sits on 118 miles of the Rio Grande River. This river provides an important habitat to many birds and animals that make the park their home. The Rio Grande also forms a natural border between the United States and Mexico. A unique partnership between the park and border patrol supports one dedicated border crossing in Big Bend National Park, into Mexico and back into the United States. This crossing, in the Boquillas Canyon area, is interesting in many ways.
After a few weeks of time back in Michigan with family and friends over the holidays, we’re reunited with The Beast and back on the road! We left The Beast and truck at a storage facility in Las Vegas (shout out to MiniStorage of Nevada for keeping everything safe!), and after returning to Vegas a couple weeks ago, we found all was as should be and we were ready to get out of the big city.
What’s cool about the National Park Service is that the give you shiny badges that say: Junior Park Ranger, all for free! Well, kind of.
As another new year draws near, we are finding it fun to pour over memories of the past year (well 6 months anyway) as intrepid adventurers. Fortunately, Jason’s photography skills make this walk down memory lane simple and enjoyable. So…here we go, sharing with all of you some of our favorite memories of our Grand Adventure. Selecting a handful of photos (of the nearly 9000) was a bit challenging, but we narrowed them down to those we felt represented our journey this far. Enjoy…we sure have!
Hello everyone! Another video from Liam! Lots more on my YouTube channel, HallackTube. I’ve been trying hard to reach 50 subscribers on my YouTube channel, so if you could check it out, and please subscribe, that would support me so much. Thanks for watching, and as always, enjoy!
This was by far the best aquarium we have visited. From sea otters, to the one million gallon open ocean exhibit, to the kelp forest, and coral reefs, plus the aviary and jellies, this is a must see aquarium. It was a one day trip for us, and it was well worth the money. If you ever get the chance, visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, CA.