Early Car Camping
I love finding old images like this. They show that we never really change yet are on a continuum of adaptation. The bows that support the canvas top on this (I believe aftermarket) truck bed are...
View ArticleA View from the Vardo
Working away on a weekend day a little while back. Enjoying time on the prairie in my little rolling home; coffee, a banjo, and connection to a HotSpot so I can get some work done. The best of all...
View ArticleMore Wallets
Maybe this is a little mundane but I've been using the cold and snowy weather as an excuse to do some cutting and sewing of leather. I completed a passport wallet and finished up another minimalist...
View ArticleClose Call at 65 mph
Originally posted on Preindustrial Craftsmanship: I had to wait a while to publish this one but maybe I just need to get it out… I like to think I’m a safe person. At least to the point of looking out...
View ArticleCommunity of Wanderers
Nomads are not loners. In fact, humans do not do well alone in any setting. We have always been communal people, depending upon one another for help and support. Many hands make light work and it is...
View ArticleCaravans
Here's another excellent photo of a pack of vardos (caravans) in the wild. It looks like everyone came out and maybe even spruced themselves up for the photo. I couldn't find any metadata on this one...
View ArticleCampsite Life
Scenes of life on the road and around the campsites. This is part of a series of images, mostly Romany, Irish, and Scottish Travellers collected from around the internet. Many of these historic images...
View ArticleWork from the Leather Shop
Long, cold nights in the Midwest. Limited mobility due to injury. A need to create new things A desire to fund my trips later this year... This is a recipe for high productivity in the workshop....
View ArticleLeather Knapsack Prototype
Why do this? In my life-long quest for better designs and finer gear, I am constantly on some sort of hare-brained mission to make something new. Some readers may remember the earlier backpack I made...
View ArticleTraveler’s Wallet
Once again, I am producing some large, traveler's wallets. While some are waiting their finishing touches, here's the first of six. They are all of the same general size and design but each has some...
View ArticleHiking, Backpacking, or Just Enjoy the Walk
"Hiking - I don’t like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not hike! Do you know the origin of that word ‘saunter?’ It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle...
View ArticleWooden Packframe – The Final Draft
Expanding on Lessons Learned In 2012 I decided to build a wooden packframe. What started out as a Sunday afternoon project led me down many paths, from Iron-Age Europe to 21st Century military designs...
View ArticleGymnacyclidium
That's quite a velocipede indeed! Gymnacyclidium - This sounds like something for which you could be administered a shot to clear it up. I thought these monstrosities worth looking at for the danger...
View ArticleCar Camping – bathing in camp
For most of human history we have moved across the surface of the Earth as more-or-less self-contained units. Rarely alone and generally with all the stuff we owned. Obviously, this was before the age...
View ArticleBoy Scout Gear from 1925
This is a pretty good setup for any outdoorsman (our outdoors woman for that matter). By 1925, the scouts had worked out a pretty good uniform and gear setup based on many old experts not the least of...
View ArticleClassic Liquid Fuel Stoves
A look at the origins and evolution of our favorite camp stove... This post was going to be a few words about the Primus stoves we all love and some images I've collected from around the web. As...
View ArticleTraveller Life
Every traveler has a campfire has the center of daily life. The hearth has been our home for 1.5 - 2 million years now. No wonder it fascinates us and brings so much comfort. Nomads in a stationary...
View ArticleDon’t Forget to Enjoy the Ride
I know this year has been very strange for most of us but please remember... Life is Short. If you're fortunate enough to live with the means and privilege and food security, consider yourself lucky....
View ArticleOde to the Wanderer, the First Land Yacht
“About going where he likes, for instance? Are there not certain laws of the road that forbid the tarrying by the way of caravan folks, for a longer period than that necessary to water and feed a horse...
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