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Fit or Fun?

by Brian on August 5, 2010 in How To, Planning and Prep, RVing

There is something about this Jeep that has me rethinking our plans. As I mentioned earlier, our existing car isn’t suitable to tow, so we’ll eventually have to replace it with something else. We had pretty much decided on getting a Honda Fit for a whole host of really boring practical reasons. It’s inexpensive, light weight, has plenty of cargo capacity, gets great gas mileage, Zzzzzzzzzz.

But lately we’ve been running into a fair number of unpaved roads, which I didn’t really expect in the North East. I’m wondering what we’ll encounter when we head west. So we’ve been thinking that the dainty little Fit might not get us everywhere we want to go. And how practical is that?

And then today we see this bad boy, tricked out for serious off-roading. It even has the requisite mud splatters to prove it is legit. But there is something else here that I can’t quite put my finger on. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but for some reason I really want a Jeep now.

Alpaca Shack

by Brian on August 3, 2010 in Vermont

We’re suckers for furry critters, so we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to stop at the Alpaca Shack in North Bennington, Vermont. Or, it could be that I just like saying “Alpaca Shack.” Whatever the reason, this small, independently owned alpaca breeder, with its postage stamp sized retail store (an actual “shack”), is not something you’ll find in any guidebook. But if you’re in the area, it’s a worthwhile stop. The effusive owner is proud to introduce you to her extremely friendly animals, all of which know their names (meet baby Vaughana to the left). In the process she will also tell you more than you ever wanted to know about almost everything, and a little something about alpacas, too.

Alpaca Advice: To see the beasties in their full, fuzzy, glory, try to visit in cooler months when they’re less likely to be shorn.

Chasing Waterfalls

by Brian on August 2, 2010 in Vermont

Friday morning we spent chasing waterfalls. More specifically; Lye Brook Falls in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Getting here requires a five mile round-trip hike over modestly rugged terrain, but the payoff is well worth it. Thanks to a recent storm, the falls were livelier than we expected. This must be spectacular in the spring.

The Road Not Taken

by Brian on July 30, 2010 in Vermont

Robert Frost Stone House Museum, Shaftsbury Vermont

The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

– Robert Frost

Academics will tell you that the popular interpretation of this poem as a tribute to non-conformity is wrong, and they are, of course, correct. But I like the popular interpretation better, regardless of what the actual words say. So screw them; trying to ruin everything with their fancy “reading“, and their “understanding.”

Perfect Pulled Pork

by Brian on July 29, 2010 in Food & Drink

As far as road-food goes, nothing can touch a tasty pulled pork sandwich. And in a delicious twist of fate, nothing is simpler to make on the road, or easier to clean up afterward.

I use a generous amount of the same barbeque rub we made earlier (recipe, here) on a four pound pork shoulder and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for several hours. Throw a sliced onion, a couple of garlic cloves and a cup of ginger ale in the bottom of a crock-pot. Place the meat in the pot, turn it on low, and let it cook for twelve hours. Remove the pork from the crock-pot and shred it with your fingers, which is easy because after twelve hours it basically falls apart into a meaty pile of deliciousness. Mix the shredded meat with an entire bottle of Stubb’s Spicy barbeque sauce and you’re done.

The two of us will get four meals out of this and only have to clean one pot. That’s pretty freaking perfect in my book.