FAQ - Questions People Keep Asking

You got questions. I got answers.

Dave's FAQ card

My uncle recently broke his elbow. He was looking at his phone and tripped over a curb and fell. A pretty fitting way for that to happen if you know Dave. When he showed up at Thanksgiving dinner, he was obviously foreseeing the barrage of questions about the injury and decided to get ahead of the curve. Upon walking in, he gave out notecards explaining all the questions people would have about it. I was impressed by the simplicity and ingenuity; "Great, now that's out of the way. How have you been?"

In a similar spirit, I thought to make a post explaining everything people want to know about how my trip has gone. This isn't about being annoyed by the questions; I'm glad people want to hear about it. Rather, it's simply a matter of efficiency in covering the basics. Also, I can go into more detail in written form than I otherwise would in conversation.

Q: What was your route?

I started off driving to Minnesota from Chicago. I went to Voyageurs National Park for a few days, then visited my friend Alex in Minneapolis. From here, I drove through South Dakota and spent a few days in the Black Hills and Badlands National Park. After this I was off to western Wyoming to see Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Then I went way north to Glacier National Park in Montana. From Montana, I went to Yakima, WA, and spent a few days with my friend Ethan, before checking out Mount Rainier and driving north to the North Cascades mountain range.

Sol Duc Falls in Olympic National Park

Next, I spent 5 days exploring Olympic National Park on the northwest coast of Washington. Then I headed south to Seattle, Portland, Mount Hood, and the Sister Mountains, before landing in Northern California at Redwood National & State Parks. After this, I drove to San Fransisco and stayed with my friend Kellie. Then it was Yosemite and the Sequoia National Forest while I made my way south to Utah. I met my sister, Caitlin, in Utah going to Zion, Bryce Canyon & Arches National Parks, among other things. 

The homestretch took me through Colorado via Durango, Gunnison National Forest, and Denver. Finally, I ended with Kansas City for Thanksgiving with the Hodi. 

Q: What was your favorite part?

Giant Sequoia at Yosemite

This is tough since I loved all of it, but I would say 3 stretches stood out above the rest. First was the Grand Teton & Yellowstone portion, which was early in the trip and blew me away. In fact, Yellowstone finished at #1 in my National Park Power Rankings (coming soon!). I have 2 full posts on these if you want to read more.

Another awesome stretch was right after San Fransisco, where I saw Yosemite, Sequoia National Forest, and King's Canyon National Park. Yosemite was jaw-droppingly stunning, sights you just can't get anywhere else, and my favorite campsite of the trip was in Sequoia National Forest. The forest was barely open due to a nearby wildfire, so the campsite I found was secluded and beautiful. I found 3 Giant Sequoia trees a short walk from my site, and I had some of the best stargazing of the trip here.

Finally, I met my sister in Utah and spent a week heading eastward across the state. While I had high expectations for Utah, it ended up far exceeding them; it's stunningly beautiful and surprisingly diverse. Zion National Park was amazing, of course, but another favorite was Dixie National Forest, where we camped for a couple nights. This was another secluded site (It was early November) and although Caitlin was worried we were going to be attacked by mountain lions, we fortunately escaped unscathed.

Q: Sounds like a great time, but didn't you get bored with all the driving and alone-time? What did you do in your free time?

Some of the drives definitely got boring, especially when there was no cell service. But I found ways to entertain myself. Music made up a large portion of the drives, and when I got sick of what I had downloaded, it was podcasts. Otherwise, I'd talk on the phone with folks if possible, and that was pretty much it.

Campsite in the Sister Mountains, Oregon

As far as what I did on a nightly basis, I really kept quite busy by setting up/breaking down camp, cooking, cleaning, building a fire, things like that. And my days were filled with hiking, biking, driving around, seeing sights, swimming (when it was warm), etc. But when I needed a break, I would usually set up my camping chair somewhere quiet and read or write. Similarly, at night, usually around the fire, I would read/journal, sometimes have a drink or 2, or just think and watch the stars. And of course do my nightly yoga/PT before bed.

Q: What did you eat? Was it hard having camping food the whole time?

Breakfast for dinner was a staple

Breakfast was simple; coffee and oatmeal for the most part. I would usually put fruit—like raspberries—into the oatmeal, and coffee was made with a percolator, which is a great camping solution.

Lunch was mostly just snacking throughout the
day. Granola/protein bars, apples, nuts, trail mix, sardines, etc. Or leftovers from dinner a previous night.

Dinner was where I got creative. A staple was boxed jambalaya, to which I would add some combination of chicken sausage, hot italian sausage, beans, corn, cauliflower, etc. I also did eggs and bacon/sausage for dinner a lot. Or some other random assortment of whatever was in the cooler. I usually prepared this over the campfire, but if needed I had a 2-burner propane stove for cooking.

I never really got terribly sick of the food I had, mostly because I was so hungry by the end of the day I would have eaten anything. I did my best to keep things healthy, but it has definitely been easier to have vegetables now that I'm back.

Q: What sorts of things did you listen to/read?

My new music playlist

Hoo boy, there was a lot. Early in the trip I was constantly bumping the playlist that I made pre-trip, but I quickly bored of this. Later on, there was a lot of Mac Miller's Swimming (RIP), Frank Ocean's Blonde, Anderson .Paak's Malibu, Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterly. I also kept up with the All New Indie & New Music Friday playlists on Spotify, to stay on top of new releases. My recent favorites have been An Evening with Silk Sonic by Silk Sonic (Anderson .Paak & Bruno Mars), Friends that Break Your Heart by James Blake, Surrender by RÜFÜS DU SOL, and Intimidated by KAYTRANADA. I have a playlist with all my favorites of the year here.

I got really into Dissect, a musical analysis podcast that deep-dives a different album each season. I'd highly recommend checking out the seasons on To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar, and Swimming/Circles by Mac Miller. I also kept up with a few sports podcasts, mainly The Solid Verbal (college football), 3 Man Weave, and Titus & Tate (college basketball). Same with news and news-adjacent podcasts like The Daily, Planet Money, and The Journal.

Hangin with Roscoe and his tongue at Thatcher Woods

As far as books go, my favorites have been A Visit from the Goon Squad, Into Thin Air, Crying in H-Mart, and Midnight in Chernobyl.

Q: So what's your plan now?

Hahahahahaha...yes. plan. I have one of those for sure.

jk, I have some thoughts, I'm working on a further post to expand on this. For now (until the new year), I'm taking it easy: continuing to do things that make me happy, looking for new hobbies, ebracing creativity, reading, learning, catching up on TV/movies, and enjoying time with family and friends. When 2021 comes, I'll have to figure out how to make money... not as fun.

Landsacpe Arch in Utah