Blog: All Posts

What an unprecedented time we’re going through. It’s mask time in America, both physically and metaphorically. A novel virus sweeps countries around the world and spreads to America; the full story yet untold. Race-related protests sweep America and spreads to other countries; that full story too, yet untold. Either event on its own would be […]

I’ve had this adventure rig for two and a half years now. I’ve hauled it around America more than 600 nights and over 35,000 miles. This rig lets me wander and explore far more than not. I use it for extended basecamps and quick overnights in all kinds of weather and environments. It is my […]

Whether home or in camp, these Morning Breakfast Muffins are a perfect, healthy morning snack. I’m looking forward to making these the day before an adventure as an excellent bring-along snack for day hiking, biking and canoeing. I like cutting them in half and grilling them lightly before spreading with cream cheese. If you bake […]

Under the dark sky bonanza of the borderlands you will see more stars and constellations than you ever thought possible. Even nights before the Milky Way appears, when moonlight shines bright, or not long after sunset as in this image, you will see so many stars you may have a hard time picking out familiar […]

THIS WEEK’S ROADDUDE FOOD: Red Curry Lentils with Sweet Potatoes & Spinach Most of my cooking on the coast of Maine in winter is with an eye towards comfort food, warm and tasty, though often with an eye towards meals I can prepare later on the road in my camp kitchen, too. This week I […]

Wanderin’ South of I-10 from Jacksonville to Los Angeles, that part of the country below Interstate 10, is to be in Another America. Nowhere is that feeling of being in Another America more evident than when south of I-10 in southern Louisiana. One of the last truly regional areas in the United States, south of […]

DESERT LIFE IS THE RIGHT LIFE… though I’m digging having the Maine Coast Life in-winter-with-fam be the right life while preparing for Desert Life. Then Desert Life; that’s the one I’m after. I might fit in some Gulf of Mexico Life (this image is on the Gulf) and some Bayou Life. Maybe a little Ozark […]

More and more backcountry camping spots are discouraging or forbidding the digging of catholes. FTWDK, catholes are for squatting over. They should be at *least* six inches deep, seventy-five feet from any trail, and at least two-hundred feet away from any water or camp. Social media has increased the visitation to backcountry and off-grid places […]

Hard to tell with the zoom of the phone cam foreshortening things, though camp isn’t quite as close to shore as it appears. Still, too close to dump grey water from the sink, so I walk it up a good ways. Then it has far more earth to filter through before getting to the lake. […]

There’s a road, in Oklahoma Straighter than a preacher Longer than a memory And it goes, forever onward Been a good teacher For a lot of country boys like me ~ Steve Earle, Nowhere Road I need to dig into my files to see when I made this image. Fifteen or more years ago now, […]

Treated myself to an early xmas of sorts and got a bunch of stuff I need for the road, since I’m likely to be on the road and in the desert for xmas. – Got a front receiver hitch for my van so I have a solid front recovery point, though also the capability to […]

I have favorite spots around the country for making images. I’ve scouted them for angle, lighting, night sky views, and overall vibe. Sometimes I look a long time before finding one that feels right. A recent favorite spot, though, wasn’t scouted, chosen, or contemplated. It was just there, at the edge of camp. All I […]

Been a few inquiries about and requests for my night sky images. This one, I think, is one of my best. It was made in early spring of last year between Alpine and Marathon in far West Texas. It’s a single frame shot, the result of many long nights playing in the Chihuahuan Desert borderlands. […]

Easy to tell what I’m researching and thinking about as far as destinations when you see which map books I have out. The DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer map books pretty much set the standard when they started publishing the Maine Atlas & Gazetteer In 1976. It was their first product, and I’m tickled that Swiss […]

Books, boots, and hats, pretty much in that order; that’s what I most depend on in life. Books. Far as I’m concerned, one can never have too many books. Books can be powerful, magic, things if you let them. The titles of these two books are self explanatory and help fulfill my insatiable curiosity about […]

Hornbeck Nomad 14 On Still Water At Sunset The water was so calm and still I didn’t even moor the canoe. She just sat there. I almost wrote “and didn’t move a muscle.” This boat is as close to a living thing as I’ve ever put on water. She glides smooth as glass, responsive to […]

When I was a teen, every once in awhile I’d stop into a Chili parlor in downtown Cincinnati. I was fascinated by the Greek men sitting in the back corner, all wearing white shirts and ties and reading Greek newspapers. They cooked up and served a spicy Greek meat sauce over spaghetti topped with onions […]

Well dang. Testament to what can happen when I sit and put my mind to something. After my post two days ago I just had to keep at it, so got some other tasks out of the way and sat down to start designing a draft logo that I can use on my site, vehicle, […]

Been working on ways to incorporate a Roadrunner into a Roaddude logo. This stylized Roadrunner is one I’ve been wearing for ages, usually on a black leather jacket I’ve also had for ages. Gets a lot of comments. I found it on an Indian res in New Mexico, maybe southern Arizona, I don’t remember now. […]

 I’ve been off-grid and camping since early May, with just a few nights here and there under a “real” roof. As in a roof with a building under it. I like my roof more, to be honest. It’s big and has a moon and stars. Which means jamming all I can for tasks that need […]

I’ve had the domain roaddude.com for several years. I made a few posts about things like installing a roof vent in my van and wrote a few pieces about places I’d been and posted some images of favorite places, but just never did much with the site on a regular basis. It lay fallow for […]