ROVA Thirty: April/May 2022

The dark spaces of landscapes at night used to make me afraid. I’d wonder what or who was out there (summer camp horror movies have a lot to answer for!); I’d imagine wandering off and getting lost or injured; or I’d just feel a little lonely as I gazed into the void, wondering when I’d figure it all out. But the more time I’ve spent underneath the stars on my adventures, the friendlier the darkness has become. I wouldn’t say that I’m comfortable wandering into the woods alone at night (I might not quite be over my fear of Jason Voorhees yet), but I don’t feel apprehensive in dark landscapes anymore. My comfort zone has slowly extended beyond the ring of light thrown by a lantern and, as a result,…

For the Earth Showing up for the Earth is a no-brainer when you love the outdoors as much as we all do. In 2022, Earth Day falls on April 22nd with the theme “Invest in Our Planet,” and you can get involved with hundreds of events across the country, from cleanups to presentations, conservation and demonstrations. One day spent picking up trash, improving trails or educating ourselves or others on conservation is a small price to pay to keep enjoying our wilderness for years to come. earthday.org Read Trip Long drives can be soul-sucking, monotonous slabs of time that you feel like you’ll never get back. Or, they can be the perfect opportunity to get literary. The average audiobook runs for around 10 hours, and the choices of genre, author…

Dry Off in Style Soon, we’ll all be spending time by the water as we soak up the spring and summertime rays. Lakeside, beachside or poolside, you’ll want a distinctive towel so you can spot it easily on your return to shore; but you also want something that’s compact, quick-dry and ecologically responsible. Slowtide’s beautiful micro quick-dry towels are made from 100% post-consumer waste, are compact and sand-free, and boast designs that are nothing short of super-rad, including collaborations with Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead, and Keith Haring. $49, slowtide.co Water, Water Everywhere There are tons of great water-purifying products on the market, but many of them only allow you to purify a little water at a time, using individual bottles or personal straw purifiers. This MSR AutoFlow™ XL Gravity…

Craig and Victoria We travel full time with our two border collies. We didn’t always dream of RV life, but knew that we wanted to see more of God’s beautiful creation. It was like one day we suddenly realized that our distant dreams of traveling could be our reality full time. Just a few weeks later, we bought an RV, renovated it, sold everything and hit the road. Instagram: @wildrvlife Kerisa and Anthony To pay the bills, Anthony is a workcamper and virtual personal trainer. I (Kerisa) own a digital marketing agency and am a travel blogger. We’ve been full-time traveling in our 17-foot trailer, along with our cat, Tiskies, and dog, Butters, since November 2020. Our goal was to visit the lower 48 states before we got married last…

Travel is not the blind step into the unknown that it once was. Regardless of how adventurous our endeavors may be, we are tethered to the familiar by the devices in our pockets. Still, the new and the unfamiliar retain the power to transform us for the better, but only if we let them. Spend a few minutes (or hours) mindlessly scrolling through Instagram and you’re bound to encounter some striking photo of a distant land paired with a well-worn quote detailing how travel inspires us, helps us strive to become better, and gives us empathy for our fellow man. In his work The Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain claims, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome,…

Picture this: You’ve just spent the day driving along roads that wind through dense deciduous forests full of trees that spread their branches across the road, providing that perfect mix of dappled sunshine and glimpses of deep-blue skies. You’re listening to your favorite road-trip playlist, and you’re just about to stop driving for the day, the sun sinking lower on the horizon. It’s one of those summer days that’s comfortably warm, with a light, refreshing breeze that smells like childhood memories of summer camp and nights spent cooking out under the stars. You notice there’s a lake coming up in a few miles, and you want to check it out. There’s nothing wrong with just stretching your legs by the water’s edge, but you could make the experience endlessly more…