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Longtime Off-Grid/Vanlife Adventurer - On the Road In North America

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You are here: Home / Archives for travel

LONGER THAN A MEMORY

by Road

Icy road east of Boise City Okalahoma
US 412 East, Boise City, Oklahoma
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, I’m sure. It was after a huge blizzard turned ice storm in the peculiar part of Oklahoma where the panhandle touches four other states.

I was running blind with two lady truckers as we wound our way down through darkness in Colorado, trying to get through on any road still open in the storm.

Chatter on the CB told us the interstate ahead was fouled with jack-knifed trailers and four-wheelers sliding into each other with cars scattered like matchsticks.

I found a way around and led our little convoy over to La Junta and Lamar and then south towards Oklahoma. We were the only ones out as the blizzard howled on.

‘Driving by Braille!” one called out on the radio. That’s when you can’t see the road or where the lanes are, so depend on rumble strips to let you know you’re at the edge.

We hit the two lane, roaring through intersections in the dark, our headlights the only competition to the one or two streetlights in small towns covered in snow. I asked one of the lady drivers to get her truck out front and run lead. The snow was getting too deep for my van to plow through so I brought up the rear.

She couldn’t see on one windy turn and tapped her brakes, red brake lights magnified by falling flakes. The gal behind her, in front of me, slammed on hers to the sudden light, her trailer sliding half sideways and back. I hit mine too, counter steering my fishtail just like I knew what I was doing, sliding within inches of kissing the ass of that trailer.

We made it down to the big Love’s truck stop the far edge of Boise City sometime after midnight and all huddled into a booth to warm up, amazed we’d made it through and happy to lay eyes on each other after only meeting on the radio.

I made this image the next morning as I headed out on US 412 east of Boise City, sun shining and road glistening.

That’s a fifty mile long sheet of rugged hard ice.

Longer than a memory, this image takes me right back there every time I see it.

 

#longerthanamemory #iceroad #oklahomawinter #lonenomad #nomadlife #iceroadtrucker #straighterthanapreacher #steveearle #nowhereroad #ladytrucker #adventureawaits #roadstories #goneoutdoors #landscapephotography #onsomeadventure #myoutdoorlife #letsgetlost #blackandwhiteart #blancetnoir #artphoto 

 

Filed Under: photography, travel, vanlife Tagged With: blizzard, boise city, ice storm, lady truckers, landscape photography, nowhere road, oklahoma, photography, steve earle, travel, vanlife

MAPS! Love my paper maps. . .

by Road

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 company @Garmin, who bought DeLorme in Feb 2016, has kept the original cover for the Maine Atlas, while all other have the new cover.

DeLorme went on, of course, to develop the inReach, which set the standard for survival communication gear and is why Garmin bought the company.

I’ve owned and used several copies of the Maine Atlas over the years, starting when it was first published over 40yrs ago. The whole series is highly recommended. The back covers show how each state is divided up in pages for quick ref.

The Backroad Mapbooks from @backroadmapbooks are the smaller but equally impressive Canadian version and have proved indispensable in researching upcoming planned adventures. Highly recommended!

Last in the pic is my 2018 copy of The Milepost from @themilepostofficial, THE Bible of North Country Travel. Indispensable. Thorough. Recommended!

Links to mapbooks on Amazon, where I bought mine:

DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteers

Backroad Map Books (Canadian Provinces)

The Milepost – since 1949, the bible of the North Country. Includes Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Northwest Territories

 

………
#maps #papermaps #delorme #atlas #gazetteer #garmin #enroute #travelplans #northcountry #atlanticprovinces #maritimes #optoutside #overland #expedition #adventure #letsgosomewhere #letsgetlost #adventurist #explorer #toomanycrowdsincali #welivetoexplore #explorenorthamerica #solotravel #wanderer #graveltravel #boondocking #travelblog #getoutstayout #roadlife #ontheroad

Filed Under: books, camping, maps, travel Tagged With: alaska map, backroad mapbooks, canadian maps, delorme, garmin, map, milepost, travel, us maps

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sample package of a variety of filter materials for Roaddude Premium Face Masks
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Where Is Road?

Back Cove, Maine, working on:

  • – Premium Face Masks
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  • – prep for painting desert mural
  • – South of I-10, Another America
  • – Roaddude Food Cookbook
  • – improving storage functionality in van
  • – website improvements
  • – my tan
  • I hear it’s autumn. Is that true?

Recent Posts

  • It’s Mask Time In America
  • Adventure Rig: Coming Into Its Own . . .
  • Morning Breakfast Muffins
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Links to various things I mention in posts and on insta: linktr.ee/roaddude

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