Starling Travel

I found this teardrop trailer on Brian Greenleafs Blog.

Here’s what he said about it:

I saw the epitome of “tiny” travel trailers. No, this is no novelty.  After some coaxing, the owner climbed inside to show us that he can, indeed, sleep stretched out in this little marvel.  With the advent of more lightweight building materials these days, anything is possible.

The first picture I saw was this one, and I thought that it wasn’t that small.

But then I saw what was hauling and realized that it was SUPER TINY!

There is a name on the trailer that says, “Serro Scotty Sportsman,” but that trailer looked like this:

That name plate must have been a spare part added after the owner made the trailer from scratch, because I don’t think Serro Scotty ever made anything that small.

The next time I’m worried about how small my teardrop is and how I’m going to fit everything, I’ll remember this one.

We have suddenly found ourselves with a fifth grader in our house and now planning for our next camping trip is entirely different than I thought it would be. What do I do with him in the car? The drive to our camping destination is over four hours away, so I have to have something to keep him busy while we’re on our long trip.

I’m so thankful for this website:

• Mom’s Minivan: Travel Bingo and Many other PRINTABLE Car Games to play in the car

She not only has travel bingo and ideas for the license plate game, but she had printables for things I would have never thought of like a scavenger hunt, battleship and even song lyrics. Hopefully, with enough of these sorts of distractions, we’ll keep our new fifth grader busy and entertained while we get to the campground. Once we’re there, that’s another story.

Rude and noisy people are one of the MANY reasons I hate flying, but Lifehacker has a great article about how to ask people to be quiet and get their kids in line.

Their best advice is to introduce yourself BEFORE there is a problem.

I’ve found that before you do anything, however, it’s best to get on friendly terms with the people in your row. This is most easily done by an introduction and a short conversation before the flight takes off. Also, if you have the opportunity to do them a favor—such as help with their luggage or answer a question about the flight—they’ll be more inclined to do you the favor of shutting the hell up if they’re being noisy. This is important because we’re talking about two very distinct first impressions. If you do someone a favor or just come across as nice early on, you’re a nice person asking for something. If the first thing out of your mouth to the person next to you is “could you please quiet down a little?” you sound a little more like a whiney jerk (or a cartoon librarian).

Children, however, are a bigger issue because most parents KNOW their kids are being irritating, but their too embarrassed to do anything about it.

Most parents know that their kids are being a nuisance and feel really bad about it, but are also afraid to look bad and/or add to the ruckus by yelling at the kid to behave. It’s a catch 22 that makes it so they wind up not doing anything until they get home, even though the kid is making everyone, esp. the parent, miserable.

My biggest irritant is with a kid behind me, kicking my chair. Most parents don’t even notice that their kid is doing it, which makes it even harder. I saw a quote from nolite te bastardes the other day that brought it all into focus, however.

It reads:

Learning to ignore things is one of the great paths to inner peace.

If that is the case, then flying on airplanes is the surest way to enlightenment, because there is so very much that needs ignoring. Next time something is bothering you on a plane, remember that quote and think of your flight as an exercise in inner peace, instead of four hours locked in a tin can with a crowd of inconsiderates.

I found this trailer in Arco, ID right before Independence Day. It has been retrofitted to sell fireworks.

Does anyone know the make of the trailer? It kind of looks like a Lil Loafer to me, but I can’t be sure.

When we went to visit Craters of the Moon a couple of weekends ago, we stayed at the Craters of the Moon KOA in Arco, ID. Arco was the first city in the world to be powered by atomic power and the nuclear plant that powered it is still there to this day (with MANY improvements, I’m sure). The city was so blissful that we were reluctant to leave. (Continue Reading…)

From the satellite view of the park, Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho looks like a scorched blotch on the earth.

And it is… (Continue Reading…)

I want to go to Disney World. I’ve never been there and I really want to experience all Disney World has to offer. We live in Salt Lake City, Utah, however, so every time I bring it up, everyone in the family says that we should just go to Disneyland instead. It’s almost the same and it’s so much closer.

In order to convince them, I have to do RESEARCH. How inexpensively can we do this trip? Today, I did that research for a trip in February and what I found, surprised me. (Continue Reading…)

I found this picture of a camp kitchen on Expedition Portal and it just blows me away!

Mike complains that my camp kitchen is a little elaborate for camping, but after looking at that one, I feel like a light packer! The thing that surprises me is that I can’t believe that camp kitchen fit into the truck camper it’s next to. How did they get it to the site? Did they strap it to the roof?!

I like that they included a sink and grill, but it easily takes up TWICE the space those two items should. Considering how small the sink is compared to the console, it seems like a big waste of space.

After looking at this, I’m perfectly happy with my camp kitchen, especially since I’ve added a faucet to it. You can see it here:

• Starling Travel » Camp Easier with a Camp Kitchen
• Starling Travel » How To Set Up the Portal/Cabela’s Mega Camp Kitchen
• Starling Travel » How To Add a Faucet to the Cabela’s/Portal Camp Kitchen

While looking for Camp Kitchens, I found the Grub Hub Camp Kitchen. It looks like it’s lighter and more compact than my Mega Camp Kitchen, with many of the same features. There is a sink, upper storage area, and a spot for the camp stove.

They even say that it’s sturdy enough to hold a water bladder for gravity-fed water, but I have my doubts about that because I’ve tried to use a bladder like that for water on my own camp kitchen. Even though my camp kitchen is far more stable than the Grub Hub, it still swayed in the wind, so if you spend the extra money on the water bladder, it’s probably best not to fill it to capacity.

You can see it in action after the break: (Continue Reading…)

I love these photos of Las Vegas back in 1955.

You can almost imagine going into the Sands Hotel to see Rosemary Clooney (George Clooney’s mother) perform.

I just want to rat my hair in a beehive, put on some spiky heels and artificial eyelashes and jump right into those photos. See more after the break: (Continue Reading…)