Table of contents for Eight: August/Septebmer 2018 in ROVA

If you’re not discovering something on a road trip, you might be doing it wrong. Virtually the only way to not make a discovery on the road is if you drive with your eyes closed and earplugs in, which no road safety expert would ever recommend. Discovery is a wonderful concept, and it can happen in tons of ways! External discovery is endlessly rewarding—you find previously unknown places, like-minded people and oddities galore. In the United States, for example, a jaunt across the country might teach you that there’s a typo in the Liberty Bell (Pensylvania), or that in Longview, Washington, squirrels cross the street on bridges built especially for them. On the flip side of discovering the world around you is internal discovery—often a by-product of the good ol’…

Beyond breaking point It takes someone with a lot of grit and heart, and perhaps a generous helping of insanity, to attempt to break the world speed record for thru-hiking the 2,160-mile Appalachian Trail. Made to be Broken, the documentary of Karl Meltzer’s third—and first successful—attempt to break the record reveals a lot about endurance, pain, personal drive and ultimate achievement. And the Trail itself is one of the most spectacular film settings you could ask for. redbull.tv Poppin’ campfire treats If you believe that cheese and spicy things are two of the greatest gifts to humanity, 1. You are intelligent indeed, and 2. You’re going to love this. To make campfire jalapeno poppers, cut the tops off some jalapenos; scoop out the innards; smush a mixture of cream cheese,…

Living out on the road is a lot like normal life—except much, much cooler. Despite your newfound surplus of cool, some old, familiar problems will inevitably stalk your life on four wheels. Household economics is one of them. The difference between having the glorious adventure of your dreams and living the rest of your life in a sad, three-wheeled van often depends on keeping your finances strictly in order. The economics of long-term travel really aren’t so different from any other household balance book. The single best piece of advice is to know your enemy. If you can identify what your recurring expenses are going to be, a plan can be made to stretch each dollar as far as possible. The average person typically spends between 30 and 35 percent…

Put a piece of pie in front of me, and I’m instantly happy. Make that pie à la mode, pair it with a vinyl booth, some cheesy American tunes, and a crapload of Formica and neon, and you’re guaranteed to get me out of even the deepest funk. If you don’t stop at diners on your road trips, I need to have a serious talk with you. I’m not asking you to smash a sloppy joe or pulverize the pie cabinet like I do—just do yourself a favor: stop in for at least a coffee, and sit at the long counter soaking up the incredible atmosphere of an old-school eatery. Because it’s not just about the food (I never thought I’d hear myself say that); it’s about the culture. There’s…

Colorado is big-adventure country, where there are more 14ers than you can throw a trail marker at. But Grand Junction, on the state’s far western edge, is often overlooked as an adventure destination. Instead, it gets top billing for its wine country—which is fair enough, given that it is Colorado’s largest wine-growing region. But this foodie town doesn’t force visitors to choose between laid-back wine-swilling and outdoor recreation; it’s prime for both. Even the region’s wine festival (Colorado Mountain Winefest, in September) sets the tone: it kicks off with a 24-mile cycling event, the Tour de Vineyards, along paved roads past vineyards and bountiful fruit orchards. Wine country More than two dozen wineries sprawl along the Rockies’ Western Slope in the Colorado River Valley, near Grand Junction. Locals and visitors…

Beyond Door County’s abundance of classic Wisconsin flavor, outdoor activities, and wine and cheese sampling lies a remote gem—a place that’s difficult enough to reach that some tourists won’t even bother. I’m not talking about Washington Island, at the tip of the peninsula, which is a popular destination made accessible by a year-round ferry. Our hidden gem is even further still—another ferry ride from Washington Island, and a world away from the bustling hotspots of the peninsula. I’m talking about Rock Island, which is made up almost entirely of Rock Island State Park—roughly 900 acres of uninhabited, car-free nature. That’s right; visitors leave their cars and bikes behind, and board a small passenger ferry to access the pristine refuge that is Rock Island State Park. Arriving by kayak or boat…

When I was eight years old, my parents took me and my sisters (then aged 10 and three) out of school, and we trundled around Australia for four months, towing a Jayco Songbird behind us. Memories from the rest of my childhood all blur together—school classes, sports, friendships—but everything that happened on that trip around the giant, desert-filled country where I was born is arranged into distinct recollections of the various places we went. We climbed mountains, swam in thermal springs with turtles, discovered Indigenous culture in the desert, and paddled in gorges with freshwater crocodiles. Colors appeared that I hadn’t seen before—the red dirt of the Australian desert, the ridiculous clear blue of the Indian Ocean. I spent long days in the car, on the beach and in the…

The vast night sky looms above me, and I feel small. Millions of light-years up there, masses of stars twinkle in the moonless dark; the marvelous Milky Way is a shimmering smudge at the zenith of the atmosphere. And while I gaze in amazement at the expanse of all that is beyond man’s reach, I feel a quiet inner peace at the total beauty of it all. This is the night sky that my ancestors depended on, and it’s the night sky that I have journeyed many miles to see. Twenty feet away, my tent sits dark. The sky is clear; the moon is new. My headlamp hangs limply from my pocket. The only light that guides my steps is that from above—the same light that tucks its finger under…

I am wrapping up a year deployed in Afghanistan, and I wanted to offer that sometimes a magazine is much more than just something to read. I found Adventures Five and Six of ROVA, and they were so much more than a good read, or relevant information on travel—in many ways, they were a bridge to my family, thousands of miles away. As I read, I found myself dreaming of future travel with my kids and bride—the places to go, the memories it would build, the smiles it would produce. I found myself somewhere else with the people I love the most. I found myself everywhere... but here! Thank you for putting together a journal that is as dedicated to family and friends as it is to travel; a journal…

How do you feel about living in your bus? Gracen: Good. I love that we can travel anywhere we want to go. What’s your favorite thing about it? Darby: We can travel and explore the country. Is there anything you don’t like about it? Gracen: When I wake up I hit my head on the roof. What have you been learning about while you travel? Darby: That the mountains are beautiful. Do you make friends at the places you visit? Deacon: Yes, everywhere we go there are people to meet! Which place that you’ve visited has been your favorite? Gracen: Disneyland. Darby: Northern California because of the mountains. Deacon: Feeding the Buffalo in Wyoming. How do you feel about living in your RV? Harper: I feel awesome about it! Posie:…

If it’s a cliché to say that a trip changed my life, then I guess this story is a cliché. This road trip did change my life—irrevocably so. The trip wasn’t glamorous. Hell, it wasn’t even that far from home. But the experience was so profound that it changed the way I viewed life and my future. At 19, my life in the suburbs of Philadelphia was occupied by college classes, working and paying bills. Occasionally, my boyfriend, Josh, and I would visit the Jersey Shore, or take day trips to small towns with cultural centers. We loved adventure and new experiences, and we always seemed to do more, and even want more out of life, than our friends. Josh and I would explore abandoned buildings, find secret rope swings,…

Salton Sea I remember hearing about this accidental inland sea. It was the result of an attempt in the early 20th century to irrigate the desert, which went awry when a poorly built canal failed. The water that gushed out made its way into the enormous Salton Basin, inadvertently creating a shallow sea, 230 feet below sea level. Before long, the new Salton Sea had become a haunt for vacationers and sportspeople. There was camping, fishing and water sports; naturally, businesses popped up along the shores. Then, it began to go very wrong. Minerals from the basin began to seep up into the water from the earth below, filling the water with salt, and with no outflow, the saline became more and more concentrated. On top of that, agricultural runoff,…