Did you, or do you, play Tetris? Could there be any better training for packing the back of your SUV for a family camping trip? No matter whether you’re a couple headed for a long weekend or a family on a multi-state driving tour, making everything fit is always a challenge – let alone making [...]

On our trip to the Oregon Coast, we were treated to a young singer songwriter who simply refers to himself as “The Kid.” He was living in Portland at the time, and he drove quite a distance to meet us in camp. He was kind of soul and had a sort of Jack Kerouac vibe, [...]

Una Walkenhorst is a singer/songwriter from Kansas City, Missouri. Following the release of her debut album “Scars” in 2014, Una immediately had “new fans . . . coming out of the proverbial woodwork” (AXS). Loading up her ’97 Honda Civic, Una then spent a year traveling across North America promoting her music and connecting with [...]

Gator Encounters With Cajun Encounters While planning the 50 Campfires Field Trip: Great River Road, and realizing we’d end up in Louisiana, we all agreed the road trip wouldn’t be complete with an up close and personal encounter with some native fauna – namely, some toothy alligators. Getting close, in the wild, at night would [...]

I grew up fishing in the Midwest, and while I like to eat crab, I don’t know the first thing about how to catch one. That’s why the trip to Kelly’s Brighton Marina was so exciting. I had no idea what to expect. When you walk up to the shop it feels like a theme [...]

The Old Town NEXT Canoe is nimble like a kayak, and functional like a canoe. Paddling this hybrid canoe/kayak on a lake near the 50 Campfires basecamp, we loved the low center of gravity from the centered seat, combined with the open-top storage of the wide body.  Unlike our kayaks, the NEXT canoe was easy [...]