Serenity TearDrop Build

[western traveler]

Joshua Tree National Park. 5th Natl. Park since October. Was lucky to find one site at Hidden Valley Campground at 10AM (rock climbers destination). All the campgrounds had Full signs out by noon each day. Many sites are tight even for a TD. My build is camp able but not finished. Still learning to cook with a tripod over fire pit instead of charcoal. 5 tear tours for 7 people in 4 days. What a great icebreaker…

[Staryder61]

Ribs over a campfire, now that's my kind of camping.
And the icebreakers will continue with that teardrop..
Enjoy anytime you can camping, like you are. Make some great memories. Winter or not.
My better half and I camp all year round, in a matter of speaking. It's great.
Although we were never able to complete our teardrop. I've stayed on here.
Have made friends on here, and still believe I have something to contribute to others at times,
construction advice, get suggestions from others, among other things. Working on a van now.

[western traveler]

Thanks David,
The ribs turned out really good. Another dish for future travels.
Winter camping is easy in the Southwest, a decent place to escape Montana winters. Hope to explore
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park next and hopefully catch an early bloom.

[Capebuild]

All looks great, Ralph.... and those ribs look pretty tasty.
I may have "missed" it.... but have you been out on the road all this time since you finished your build, or are these all separate outings?

John

[western traveler]

All looks great, Ralph.... and those ribs look pretty tasty.
I may have "missed" it.... but have you been out on the road all this time since you finished your build, or are these all separate outings?
John

John, the ribs were delicious! A new go to Dutch Oven dish in the future.

No, these are separate trips. My first trip through the Southwest National Parks was part of my migration to our Winter home in San Diego. With the mild weather down here it opens up a lot of Winter camping opportunities. We are hoping to do Anza Borrego Desert State Park next week. The plan is to return home next Spring via the Coast of CA, OR and perhaps WA before cutting across Idaho to MT. The Teardrop has opened up so many options for our travels back and forth with comforts our tent camping didn’t provide.

[tony.latham]

We commonly do spare ribs for camps. But we do it a bit differently.



We cook them sous vide in a vacuum bag for 24 hours at 155º well before the trip and freeze them. All's we do in camp is remove them from the bags and sear them.

You cannot believe how tender they are. I'd tell ya, but you'd accuse me of lying.



Tony

[western traveler]

Tony, that sounds tasty! Sometimes meals need to be quick and simple. The Dutch Oven is simple but not so quick.

[western traveler]

Got another trip in down here.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Camped in a small no amenities campground with shade. There were two other TD’s there. A Little Guy Silver Shadow and a Rough Rider. Of course we all visited each other’s camp during the stay.
The Galleta Meadows Sculptures are worth a visit. Found a Long Eared owl perched in a tree near camp. It’s feathers blended well with the bark.
Edit; there were amenities, just no potable water, electricity, trash cans or dump stations. Had flush toilets and showers duh

[Staryder61]

The Dutch Oven is simple but not so quick.

We like ours grilled or smoked slow, with apple wood for the smoking. Cook extra as we're smoking. Throw the ribs, sausage or chicken on at different times. That way the flavor gets all the way thru the meat.
It's great seeing you still out there enjoying yourself.
We are waiting for the weather to give us a break so we can get out and do some camping. Missing it badly.

[western traveler]

Tony, those ribs sound good!
Got in another few days with a little San Diego side trip getting ready for a long run from San Diego up HWY 1 and 101 through CA, OR, WA, ID and home to Montana in a week. A side trip to Carlsbad Flower Ranch an historical site.
I only ate that one piece of cake. The campsite next to me got the rest. I actually lost weight on this trip!

[tony.latham]

I actually lost weight on this trip!

Remind me to do a pre-trip weigh-in in two weeks.

:thumbs-up:

Tony

[western traveler]

I just recently made a trip to Montana via the Coastal route from San Diego to Aberdeen Washington up Hwy 101 and Hwy 1 then headed inland across Washington through Olympia and picked up I-90 outside Seattle and crossed over Snoqualmie Pass and on to Spokane. From there into Post Falls Idaho. Across the Idaho panhandle over Lookout Pass Idaho/Montana and into Missoula. I continued north to home on the Rocky Mountain Front. The weather was Spring like. Sunny for the first nine days turning to heavy rain, hail and some snowfall from Florence Oregon on. I arrived home 5 hours before the storm I was staying ahead of dropped 10” of snow on us.

I camped and visited so many places along the way. Santa Barbara, Pismo Beach, Morro Bay, Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz, The Golden Gate Bridge, Point Reyes, Bodega Bay (*Bodega Dunes Campground), Sonoma Coast, Fort Bragg, Mendocino, Crescent City, The Avenue of the Giants (*Burlington Campground), Klamath, Coos Bay, Newport, Cape Lookout (*CL Campground), Astoria OR, South Bend, Silvia Lake, and Spokane WA. Post Falls, Coeur d’Alene ID and Missoula MT.

I spent 14 nights camping and traveled 2323 miles. It was a great trip but I had to cut off Northern Washington pending winter like storms to the east.

Now have 4940 miles traveled and over 50 nights total since December…

[western traveler]

[western traveler]

[western traveler]