camping
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And so we come to the end
My trip has ended and what can be said now but so long and see you later, and thanks to this planet for its beauty—sometimes hidden, more often in plain sight, always within reach. I’m sorry I had to drive all over you to see as much as I did, but you can’t blame me… Continue reading
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I’m not a person who typically does things
I’m feeling a bit down the last few days, which is a little odd because I haven’t been pounding booze and the weather has been ok. Still, I’m prone to it and I think it’s because my trip is ending, and therefore it is the end of something, and goodbyes and endings always make me… Continue reading
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As it is with each sunset
My campground at The Needles in Canyonlands National Park is surrounded by high-rising sandstone formations of varying layers of pinks and whites and smoky reds, if red is a color that can be smoky. One massive formation looks like that big part of a submarine that is the first to emerge from water—the sail if… Continue reading
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A traveler’s discontent: The midwest winter that never was
The suffering of my friends and the whole of Minnesota would increase my enjoyment of the warmer climes I currently inhabit. There’s just one problem. To see weather reports of winter back in Minnesota as I’ve traveled around the American Southwest in search of an escape from something that never really arrived in Minnesota this… Continue reading
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Mmm… The layer cakes of history
It’s been a wild few days. Yesterday I left White House Campground at Paria Canyon/Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area, one of the more beautiful campgrounds I’ve ever stayed at. Before I did though, I drove through 30 miles of dirt and mud desert-crossing known as Cottonwood Canyon Road, a shortcut that will take you—if you have… Continue reading
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The most temporary of roads and a mustache of menace
Tragedy had struck at the campground, or, at least what passes for tragedy when not much is happening. The dirt and gravel road to the small BLM campground I’m staying at on the border of southern Utah and Arizona washed out last night. A woman at the campsite next to me tried to leave in… Continue reading
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I’m high as a fly on Willie Nelson’s wall
Strange stone curiosities in the deserts of the American Southwest. Last night I bought a six pack of Goose Island IPA and drank 3 of them in a Walmart parking lot just outside of Zion National Park. Vince Neil Emerson has a song that I like a lot called “ Willie Nelson’s Wall “ and… Continue reading
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‘Our F’in’ A Broke Off!’
Last Saturday, March 2, the winds were gusting to 70 mph as I drove into Las Vegas to see the Pinball Hall of Fame. Vegas is 35 miles from where I’m staying at Boulder Beach Campground, Lake Mead, which is just a few miles from Hoover Dam. Unfortunately, the pinball was underwhelming, the games in… Continue reading
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I figure there are about 10 billion pounds of boobs in the world
I’ve been in a funk for days, ever since those bastards robbed my campsite of, it turns out, $1,319, $81 short of my insurance deductible and therefore not reimbursable. But the paranoia they’ve left me with is the worst part. I’ve bought locks now for everything. I’ve locked my trailer hitch to my truck with… Continue reading
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I just got robbed while camping
Last night I got robbed on BLM land outside Joshua Tree National Park. I’d gone for a hike about 4 p.m., and after grabbing dinner I returned to my campsite at 7:45, so there were perhaps 90 minutes of darkness when it likely happened. I’m basically in a huge open flat area just east of… Continue reading
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Life is ultimately a life-losing endeavor
I’m feeling irritable today, restless. The weather has been cool with rain and I’ve been indoors all day—a mistake I should have avoided by doing something away from the camper before the sun went down. The camper is too small a space to contain a person without the aid of the outdoors as a living… Continue reading
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Strange shadows grace this land
The part of my trip where I half planned out where I was going has seemingly come to an end and I’m basically winging it week to week at this point. I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did—I’m just not much of a planner. After a week in southern Joshua Tree I’ve moved… Continue reading
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Adam like smash thing with rock
Loneliness has finally caught up with me the last day or two. I haven’t seen a friend in five weeks, which actually isn’t all that unusual for me even when I’m home. I just don’t seek out social interaction much, though I enjoy it once I’m in the situation, but on the road I think… Continue reading
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This is not a great post, it’s just what I’ve been doing
Yesterday I arrived in Joshua Tree National Park, the southern section at Cottonwood Campground. It’s a huge park, and ironically I’ve yet to see a Joshua tree because they don’t grow in this part of the park, which is entirely a different desert than the northern and western portions 50 miles away. I’m in the… Continue reading
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They just kept jumping stuff and ignoring me
I left Tonto National Forest in Arizona on Thursday after 13 nights there. It had rained for 3-4 consecutive days because of the CA “atmospheric river,” so that cut down on my activities and the trailer had me feeling cooped up. Eighty square feet is fine if you have the outdoors as your living room,… Continue reading
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The birds chirp in happy affirmation of my nakedness
This evening I took an outdoor shower. My Rpod camper has a shower head on the outside and it came with a little fabric pop-up shower that springs right up when you take it out of the bag—surprisingly roomy enough for 2-3 people if I can find some adventurous campers around. And if people aren’t… Continue reading
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I rarely feel alone when I’m outdoors
I have a tendency to excessively anthropomorphize. Once, in my younger, more experimental days, I took some mushrooms and had a 20 minute conversation with a Hibachi grill that was both adorable and enlightening. Tonight I hiked among the saguaro cactuses in Tonto National Forest and couldn’t help repeatedly waving at them, since it looked… Continue reading
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White Sands National Park – Rarity, oddity, and baffling beauty
I’m not sure where I heard White Sands National Park had 700 foot sand dunes, but the dunes were 60 feet high or so, quite the difference. Since I already wrote about the dunes potentially being 700 feet high, I thought about lying about it here, then if anyone ever called me on it I… Continue reading
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Follow along as I desecrate the west
I left Big Bend this morning and after 400 miles I arrived in time for sunset at Oliver Lee Memorial Park, New Mexico, about 20 miles from where the first atomic bomb was tested in 1945 near Alamogordo. I’ve already sprouted a tail, which I’m not too fond of, but also wings, which should come… Continue reading
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This isn’t a very good post
Tomorrow will be one year since I left on my first work-from-the-road trip with my Rpod camper, which lasted from Jan. 26 to March 31, 2023. This year I left on Jan. 4 and I’m shooting for returning to Minnesota the second week of April, just in time to do taxes. So far I’m loving… Continue reading
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My Sheclopsborg is out there somewhere
The night sky at Big Bend National Park inspires awe and imagination. Sometimes here at Big Bend National Park I look up at the night sky, at the thousands of stars that I can see and the trillions and trillions that I cannot, and I think, “There’s someone out there somewhere for me. And she,… Continue reading
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Poor decisions in aisle 3
On the plus side, when you’re camping in January there are almost no bugs, including mosquitos, the bane of humanity. On the minus side, even though it’s generally warm here in Big Bend National Park (75 yesterday, 70 today), it’s still winter, and that means many of the trees have dropped their foliage or aren’t… Continue reading
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Jan. 13, Big Bend National Park
The Chihuahuan Desert is full of pointy things that want to stab you. There are more kinds of cacti than I can keep track of, but I snapped a ton of photos of the bizarre little creatures, which must develop their points because they retain moisture and moisture here is scarce—about 12 inches of rain… Continue reading
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Is a fish a fish?
I’m about 300 feet from Mexico in Big Bend National Park, right on the Rio Grande. Tomorrow I might fish, but if I catch something, I’m not sure how to tell if it’s a Mexican fish or an American fish, and if it is a Mexican fish, do I have to throw it back? Is… Continue reading
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Pale white dot
The camper is rocking today for all the wrong reasons. Fifty mph wind gusts have been sending the sands of Monahans Sandhills State Park skyward since early afternoon, and by 4 p.m the sun’s glow had been so obscured that it looked like nothing more than a pale white dot. By 5 p.m. the air… Continue reading
About Me
I’m Adam. I’ve written humor columns for 3 print publications, so naturally that’s dead and here I am. For part of each year I travel to avoid Minnesota winters, writing about working from the road in my camper.
adam overland 