Relaunching Adventure Geek

Man, I tell you.

It is quite tedious to set up everything you need to set up a real big-boy blog site.  Even keeping everything in one technology family (Google in this case) I had untold hassle.  (Untold because I'm not telling.  Too boring.)

In any case,
Welcome To Adventure Geek!

You can look at the first launch post: First Post

In short, I want to blog about being geeky and outdoorsy.  Hope you like it.

Jon.

Is Dragon*Con an Adventure?

tl;dr Yes it is.

 

For those who don't know, Dragon*Con is a huge science fiction and fantasy convention in Atlanta that takes place over the Labor day weekend. This year close to 60,000 geeks, near-geeks, geek-adjacent and a few people who didn't know what they were getting into descend into downtown Atlanta to celebrate every aspect and object of nerd love.  I was there (my third year), enjoyed greatly and recommend that everyone within eyeball shot of this blog that they go at least once.

 

Science Ranch!

Science Ranch!

What is Science Ranch?  Science Ranch is a program for outdoorsy geeks by Science Getaways.  Science Getaways is the brain child of the Bad Astronomer himself, Phil Plait and his wonderful wife Marcella.  Their goal is to provide vacation style experiences that balance activity and exploration with equal doses of science and geekery.

 

The June 2013 trip to Bend, Oregon is their second.  I've been to both so far.

 

tl;dr If you love science and even mildly like being outside, then you must attend one of these.

 

Here is a quick breakdown of the trip to give you an idea of what you'll experience.

              

Day One:

 

Geologist Holly Brunkel gives a fun presentation on the volcanic history of Oregon.  (Spoiler: there is a LOT of volcanic history.)

 

Adventure Trailer - Introduction

Some of my favorite places are not easy to get to.  Places that are beautiful and quiet.  These places are the reason I got my Jeep.  I also like camping, but there are limits to where I can camp, and to how comfortable I can be there.  An adventure trailer, that is, a trailer that can be towed off-road that has an entire campsite within it.  You can take it to the beautiful and quiet places and spend the night.

 

So, as you can tell, I want an adventure trailer.  There are plenty of adventure trailers available to purchase, but for the most part they have two problems:

• They are not exactly set up the way I want.
• They are very expensive. 

A couple of years ago I needed a regular trailer.  A haul junk around kind of trailer.  While looking for one I, on a lark, looked up old military trailers.  Maybe I can have some fun with this.  Here is what I found:

 

Say hello to my M101A2 military trailer.  Canvas top, 5ft x 8ft bed.  One ton of carrying capacity.  And, damn cool looking for a trailer.

 

Old military trailers make excellent starting points for adventure trailers.  They are designed to go anywhere, usually fairly cheap to acquire, and nearly indestructible.  I'm going to make it the start of my custom adventure trailer.  One with all the amenities a geek would need while out in the wild.  Here are my goals for this trailer:

• Sleeps at least two in the trailer.
• Able to keep supplies for a week of travel.
• Provide water storage and the ability to access it from a bath tent and from a kitchen area.
• Provide battery powered electricity for lights and re-charge phones, cameras and tablets.
• Solar power to charge battery.
• Have an assembled kitchen area.
• Make all of this modular enough that it all can be removed from the trailer.

 

Quite a lot of requirements, don't you think?  It is very doable, though.  If it works I'll have exactly the trailer I want, and the maker in me will go nuts.  Keep a watch here as I go through it.

Jon.

 

Introduction to Adventure Geek

Adventure Geek is my attempt to reconcile my outdoorsy nature with my inner geek.  Despite conventional wisdom, the modern geek has no problem with concepts like sunlight, exercise and nature.  What there does not seem to be a lot of, the niche I'm trying to fill, is to bring outdoor and active subjects into geekdom.

 

Hopefully, I can collect information, write about things that interest me and my fellow nerds, and help mesh these two areas of myself together.

 

Wish me luck!