On our last weekend in the US, Marc from XP camper invited us to a camping event in the mountains near Big Bear sponsored by American Adventurist. I thought it would be fun to invite my parents, and when Richard and Ashley, who we met up with in Vancouver (who are also driving the PanAm this year) told us they were in the area, I invited them too. It was going to be a super fun weekend!

My parents recently bought an awesome new hotel on wheels Winnebego, and this was going to be Sam and my first time seeing it, we were excited. It was amazing inside, and had so much room it made our XP feel small in comparison. We especially liked the huge eating area, bathroom and large king size bed. It was prefect for my parents and I was so thrilled to see them back on the road.

Me with my parents in front of their new View RV.

On Saturday morning Richard, Ashley, Sam and I went on a hike up to a lake (while my Dad drank bloodymarys with Marc… lol). The fall colors were stunning and it was fun to go on our first hike with our new overland friends.

Desk to Glory (AKA Richard and Ashley) making breakfast out of the back of their sweet Toyota.

Hiking through the stunning fall leaves.

When we got back from the hike I decided that I was going to enter myself into the dutch oven competition that was taking place that evening (even though I had never cooked in one before). I had brought the ingredients to make pork tacos with salsa verde (also my first time making it) and I thought I would try doing it over an open fire. It was a great experience, and over the four hours it took to cook the pork, we learned a ton about how to cook with the dutch oven. Also, I ended up winning 3rd place! It had to be beginners luck, but I will say the pork tacos were amazing.

All the pros around the fire making magic in their dutch ovens.

Sam using Life Remotely’s tongs that Kobus made for us, to lift the lid of the oven.

The final result. Yummy!

The line of all the attendees waiting to try the final results.

Sam doing the dish cleanup. Doing dishes is the one thing that always sucks when you are camping.

Overall the weekend was really fun and my parents are already talking about going to the desert event that American Adventurist is having in a few months. I am going to miss them a ton while we are on the road, but I think they will be meeting up with us along the way. Let the next stage in our adventures begin, on to Mexico!