Dearest Readers,

You currently exist in two camps. There are those of you who are very curious about how our Electric Forest plans went down, and those of you who will be surprised to learn that Adrian and I never did have tickets to this event.

A quick explanation: We tried to do work exchange, but they didn’t want us because we’re Canadian and don’t have work visas. Apparently you need a work visa to volunteer your time in the United States. America the free! But whatever.

We snuck into Electric Forest and it was no big deal. In fact, we made it a much larger deal than it really was. But here’s what happened.

It all started at a Walmart in South Haven, Michigan near where we woke up that morning. With our giant bags wedged into a shopping cart, the two of us perused the little girl’s clothing section, looking for colourful bracelets. We also got ourselves a red bandana and a yellow fabric paint pen. Later we did this with it:

The bracelets don’t look at all like the actual festival wristbands, but they were passable from a distance of 5 feet or more. They actually came out very beautiful. We’ll both be wearing them for a while. Read More »

Throughout our travels, we’ve heard many a horror story about our hitch hiking kin out there on other roads. There’s the ones that end in “…nobody ever saw him again”, but those are a snooze. The ones that really get to us are the ones that go “he’d been waiting 23 hours for a ride” or “I walked 20 miles and people just drove by laughing.” In our happy little world, stuff like that doesn’t just happen. We’re used to cruising around, skipping the entry fees into National Parks, and calling 45 minute waits extremely long. We hitch dirt roads with confidence and make tentative plans based on what time we expect to arrive places, waiving the concerns of our drivers when they tell us our daily destination goals are a tad optimistic.

All the way through Washington, Montana, Wyoming and Utah, we’ve been betting on a solid 300-500 miles* per day, even when we don’t get started until noon or later. Therefore, we felt more than confident that we could hitch the 1500 miles from Durango, Colorado to the Electric Forest Music Festival in Michigan in 5 days. So confident, even, that we decided it was totally reasonable to squeeze in a 6 hour hike before getting started on the first day.

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This is an official public health warning, brought to you live from The World’s Largest Truckstop in Walcott, Iowa. There is an epidemic sweeping the nation: Backpacker Body. If you are exhibiting some or all of the following symptoms, contact your nearest gas station immediately to request something… anything with some sort of nutrition and keep on going.

Symptoms may include:Read More »

Those of you who were around before our trip began may recall Adrian and I going on and on about desert canyons and red rocks and crazy amounts of stars. During the four days we spent in Moab, Utah, we saw all those things. However, there was still something we really wanted to see, and that was a slot canyon.

This is a random picture of Antelope Canyon found on google images. It’s one of the many photographs we saw of this ridiculous place. We could hardly believe the place exists, but it does and we were only about 250 miles from it. We decided we had to go.Read More »

As will surprise absolutely no one, I’m having a little bit of trouble keeping up with this blog. However, it’s not for lack of writing. I’ve got thousands of words written, but I can’t put them up here for a few reasons. First of all, they’re really long and the nonfiction writing classes I’ve taken have taught me that nobody has time for that shit. Secondly, it would involve admitting to a little too many activities in legal grey areas. And last but definitely not least, my mom reads this blog.

How to sum up what the hell I’ve been doing when I’ve got more new friends and experiences than I can keep track of? These are the places I have slept since my last blog post. Hopefully these details will help get the gist of what I’ve been doing across.

June 7th- Chez Amanda (Jackson Hole, Wyoming)

Minutes before the McDonalds closed and we were kicked to the curb, I listened to the voice of a woman who’s face I had never seen explain to me that she wasn’t home but we were welcome to let ourselves into her apartment and stay for the night. Confused, I thanked her and agreed to let her dog, Archie, out in the morning.

We walked the few short blocks to her apartment, tried the door that matched the address we were given, and were greeted by the friendliest cat I’ve ever met… but no dog. We double checked that we had the right address and then went around opening all the doors just in case this dog shared my dog’s habit of sitting behind closed doors, making no sound. I checked the cat’s tag to make sure he wasn’t named Archie, but his name was Puss. There was no dog.

There was, however, stuff written in crayon all over the walls. There was also burnt sage on the stove and the microwave was used for storage, so we figured we were in the right place.

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Yellowstone National Park! A place shrouded in mystery and myth. Who knows what is true and what is not? Adrian and I decided that we owed it to the public to confirm and debunk the commonly held beliefs about the world’s first national park.

#1: There are animals all over the place- FACT!

This is me making dinner next to our friendly neighbour-bison. He just hung out and shat everywhere. Super nice guy.Read More »

Okay, let’s cut to the chase. I’m writing the from a coffee shop called Butterfly Herbs in Missoula, Montana. Needless to say, we made it across the border. We accomplished this mostly by not being idiots the second time around. We told the guard that we lived with our parents and emphasized the student thing more than the aimless traveller thing. We were told “have a good day” and were waved on through. Not even a search.Read More »

Quit your job. Give up your apartment. Sell all your belongings on a street corner. Throw yourself a big party and say good bye to all your friends. You’re young. There is nothing holding you back. Put what little you still have into a backpack and head for the nearest border crossing. You have Yellowstone geysers in your heart and Arizona desert stars in your eyes.

What happens next?Read More »

Two out of three weekends living in the tent, so far, Adrian and I have gone camping. We left our warm, cozy backyard tent behind and headed out not quite into the wilderness, but to some pleasant spots involving trees and water within easy commuting distance of the city.

Since people who sleep in beds often break out the tent for a weekend, one might think that people who sleep in tents might seek out a bed for a weekend. However, that appears not to be the case. People who sleep in tents, it turns out, ditch the tent and spend the weekend sleeping wherever they please with nothing but a sleeping bags.

The first trip was to Britannia Beach, where we intended to jump a few fences, pick a few locks, and take ourselves on a private tour of the mining museum. However, we ended up just starring into the mineshaft for a few minutes before mutually deciding on a resounding ‘nope-nope-nope-nope-nope’. After that, we walked around reading the information panels with flashlights like we were tourists before climbing up on top of the giant dump truck to get some sleep.

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My name is Allie and I live in a tent in Vancouver. No, I’m not a bum. I have a job, I bathe, and I’m not crazy. I’m a normal person. I just live in a tent. When I tell people that, I get a wide variety of responses– everything from “You would.” to “That’s a great idea!” to “That’s nuts, I could never do that.” But mostly I get a lot of questions. I’m kind of getting tired of answering the same ones over and over again, so this is my living in a tent FAQ:

Where exactly is this tent?

My friend’s back yard, near Cambie and King Edward. Super close to the train station. It’s a great location, really.Read More »