The Avocato

It has taken about two leisurely weeks to build Roscoe's galley so far.  I'm basically finished with the big stuff and now just need to get a second coat of polyurethane on it and secure it down in the back of the Jeep. What problem does this solve?  No real problem, just one step toward a nicer way to car camp and explore and have fun while minimizing in-camp set up time. This post is about the galley system I have built.  It's not an original system...I have basically ripped off the ideas of several I have seen online and built my own to suit our needs.  You can buy them if you want but they cost about $2500 and I say no to that, so I built one for $425.  Sure, it's probably not going to last as long as a professionally built one, and it's a lot heavier, and the drawers will surely sag and bust prematurely and the entire unit will most likely become a deadly projectile in a high speed collision, but $1600 in savings and the satisfaction of a wood-working j...

Winter is for working and making $ for summer adventures but my current job is only giving me 30-33 hours a week so I find myself with more free cold-weather time than I care for.  My current job pays by the hour and is supposed to be full time but it turns out it's really not.  Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes not so much.   I've got a kitchen staff of three people who need to pay their bills.  They're young and poor and mostly hard workers so I often leave work early to give them the hours I would use up if I was there. I'm essentially a low-rent Oscar Schindler. I've got some passive income so I can handle skimpier-than-I'd-like paychecks for a little while. Skimpy paychecks--that's not so good.  On the other hand, my employer is cool with giving me July off to hike the Sierra Nevada, so that's great! Balance.  Try to find it when you can. So with all this time I got Roscoe's roof rack installed.  Rhino Rack Pioneer syste...