We’re in Canada! This is my first time to grace the country with my presence. Ben has visited Montreal once a while back, but it’ll probably be a new experience for the both of us. The plan is to camp out for 2 nights at a Walmart located on the southern end of the city. It has a Metro station across the street which, for $18, will let us access the entire city easily. The three big things on my radar are:

-Old Montreal & Port. Listed in all the guide books & resources I’ve seen, it’s got a lot of history, shops, and cafes.
-The “Underground City” is a bunch of underground shops, businesses, & malls that connect off the Metro.
-The old Olympic Park has an indoor pool that we can use ($4) for exercise & to catch a shower. It has the added benefit of being an environment worthy of our physical prowess.

If you have any recommendations let us know!

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I got the chance to go on a weekend-long camping trip a few weeks ago with my brother, Jonathan. Along with many other things, one of the topics that often came up with a sense of vigor, paralleled only by fans of Nascar talking about Dale Earnhardt, was the glory that is: Hot Sauce. More specifically, Texas Pete.

Jonathan adds Texas Pete to everything…pizza, eggs, chicken, sandwiches, cereal, beer…you name it, and the Pete is right there on it.

I’ve often been perplexed by this behavior. While I find hot sauce to be a mystically delicious element essential to the Earth’s being, I never found it necessary to add to everything and certainly never envisioned caching a full bottle, or even half a bottle.

On this trip, like the essence of water, Texas Pete has become a thing of necessity. It doesn’t need cold storage and, as Alexi noted last night, it has the right balance of salt, pepper and vinegar to add a never-overpowering flavor to just about anything.

As we were finishing up our amazingly delicious burritos, made with left over cow’s arse, I noticed that the bottle of Texas Pete was almost gone…after only two weeks of making use of it.

At first I wanted to cry since we were almost out. In fact, I’ll even admit it…I shed a tear.

But then I realized the inherent cosmic glory that radiated from the situation - not unlike how a golden God beams its energy over the land of its people - and was, again, at peace.

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This sleepy little city, in this sleepy little state, made us really, really tired. No, seriously. We’ve been going to bed at 10:00 and waking up at 9:00 for the past 3 nights. But it was probably good for us. We used the extra time to get burn some calories, do a little fancy cooking, and enjoy a couple of campfires. Not to mention that the trees are starting to turn color. The only downside of the season was a strong wind every day but the morning that we’re packing up to leave. This prevented the awning from being deployed, something we’re both looking forward to.

There’s not much else to say about South Hero, Vermont, so I’ll let the slideshow do the talking after the cut. Read the rest of this entry »

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To stick with the food theme, we decided to show you guys what it’s like to cook in the van kitchen. I’m no Julia Childs but you should get the idea. Notice that we’re not only being constrained by space, but also our $100/wk. (umm.. attempted) budget.

Note: The content of this video may cause more sensitive viewers to lose their appetite.

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Did you know that you can get 2lbs. of “Round Steak,” whatever that is, for about $3? We found that out last night when we drove into town (Milton, VT) to do some grocery shopping. Pound-for-pound, that’s gotta even give tuna a run for it’s money, and certainly is tastier. Ben busted out his camping grill and cooked up a 1/2lb for each of us along with some greens:

What a pleasant little meal. But it’s fairly 1.0 for our 2.turbo-charged road trip. I knew from intuition, and past experience, that putting un-ground meat on bread is delightful. Ben took only a little convincing, and then he was sold.

Behold, the Steak Sandwich. Brought to you by Road Trip 2.0.

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We’re not in Burlington. But we drove through it. Little did we know…

• Burlington is the largest city in the U.S. state of Vermont.
• With a population of 38,889, Burlington is the core of one of the nation’s smaller metropolitan areas.
• Burlington is also the smallest U.S. city that is the largest city in its state.
• As of 2006, the Burlington metropolitan area has an estimated population of 206,007, approximately one third of Vermont’s total population.

I was wondering where everyone was and why it was so quiet.

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Despite the sound of “living in a van,” we’ve been in luxury’s lap for a majority of the trip. From mansions to apartments, there hasn’t been very many nights where we’ve been on our own. It also has given a sort of rushed feel to the whole trip, trying to park the van in downtown areas before we’re late to meet up with people. So we decided to just get away for a few days. The first attempt (Phippsberg, Maine,) didn’t pan out, so we’re on Round 2 in South Hero, Vermont, at the Apple Island RV RESORT. It’s pretty sweet, and it’s only $15/night (thanks to Passport America!) Here’s what we plan on doing here:

• Exercise: Ben on the bike, Alexi running.
• Eat cheap: Canned tuna.. again. Also looking for some of that Vermont White Sharp Cheddar.
• Work on our projects & businesses.
• Read.
• Relax!

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Who knew that RV parks had seasons? More specifically, who knew that the RV park in Phippsberg, Maine closed on the very day we were to arrive? Well, we do, now.

We sat in the van and cried for a little bit, then got on Ben’s Verizon Internet card to find another option. Since Vermont’s on the way, and Ben can’t stop talking about the sharp cheddar you can get there, we decided to hit up a park there that IS open this time of year. But all wasn’t lost! We got some killer lobster rolls before we left.

All in all, we rocked Maine pretty hard. Probably best we left early.

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Boston was a blast. We saw history, boats, smart people, and culture. We slept in peaceful neighborhoods, and partied with the college kids. And most importantly, we had great people to show us around and make it an all around good time (thanks Jankowskis & Ben!)

Full details after the cut.
Read the rest of this entry »

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I’ve been riding my bike in and out of traffic all through Boston for a lot of this afternoon. I have to say that this city feels really, really good. There’s something about it, its charm, character, feel, whatever you want to call it, that I really like.

This park, for example, juxtaposes the nature of its ancient willows with the horizon of a just-big-enough modern city showcasing the John Hancock building. It seems like this is what New York City’s Central Park might have felt like at one time before it became tainted with a name.

It’s clean, but not too clean like a hospital or the city I grew up in. It feels safe, but vulnerable. There is a sense of wisdom here.

Or maybe it’s just the fresh New England air.

Either way, it is because of these moments that I recently discovered my love for travel.

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