THE NEW YEARS LETTER

And with that, the 2023 season comes to a close. I hope that you all had time to hang out with the people you love most and enjoy the family antics that only come up once a year.

The last time I wrote a New Year letter, it was in 2020 and bleak. It is amazing how far we have come and how much we have to be grateful for. Today, we are going to depart from the regular form (it's been a busy few weeks) and talk about the thing that has kept us all alive this year—food!

Rivers and Roads

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

Literally speaking, we are made up of what we eat. We don’t photosynthesize, so all our little molecules have to come from something.

Lately, I have been thinking quite a bit about food. On the one hand, winter means transitioning into another year on the road, cold weather, and repairing all the broken structures in the car that we filled in with structural cups. But on the other hand, it means spending time off the road at our respective families’ houses as a sort of home base… AND being able to use fully equipped kitchens! It is such a luxury that we go without for most of the year.

One question we get so often I’ve lost count is, “Do you eat a lot of fast food while traveling?”

Sure, “living on the road” brings up a strong mental image of a long-haul trucker who fuels up solely at gas stations and fast food chains. But, I would describe our eating style rather as an eclectic ethnic fusion with a strong dash of improvisation based on whatever we have in the cooler that is going to go bad first. We stop at the grocery stores multiple times a week because we are limited in space, but that means we also can pick up fresh vegetables and foods more often than many Costco-shopping suburban Americans with walk-in refrigerators (no shade toward Costco because we do guzzle down those 2.5 lb. bags of dried mangoes like there is no tomorrow).

To give you a glimpse into our cooking situation (I was going to say routine—but we don’t come close to having one of those), here are some of my all-time favorite road feasts:

• Pad Thai

• Red curry with vegetables and rice

• Chicken noodle soup

• Fried rice

• Any stir-fried vegetables (particularly charred shishito peppers)

• Skyline Chili

• Spicy penne rosa (w/ peas and chicken)

• Quinoa chopped salad (w/ cucumber, tomatoes, feta, red onion, etc.)

• Pesto chicken quinoa bowl (w/ kale, sundried tomatoes, feta, carrots)

• Elena’s salsa (proprietary)

Below is evidence of a few of these meals and a peek at our setup. This coming year I resolve to dive deeper into how we cook on the road!

Not all dinners are winners. I must say that the lowest of the low was one evening we had two hotdogs passed onto us that needed heating up, and we ended up cooking them in the quinoa water (because who doesn't want hot dog flavored quinoa, right?). I am ashamed to say we then ate them with a topping of cookout sauce followed by a side of delicately hot dog-flavored quinoa. 1/10. It was edible, and that counts for something, I suppose.

Because we are what we eat, I have been working on turning into vegetables since the quinoa dog incident. I also might never eat a hot dog again. I don’t want to be a hot dog.

PHASE V: WHERE NEXT?

Phase V, this back end of 2023, resembled the end of 2022. We traveled eastward, leaving behind Colorado, which we called home for almost a whopping two months (with a quick pitstop in New Mexico). This leg was filled with sports, the most glorious surprise presence of people I love, too much rain (It seems this year we brought precipitation wherever we went—from the west coast to the east…you’re welcome crops…sorry flooded people), wonderful home-cooked meals, leaf peeping, babies, beaches, and home improvement style building projects.

The best part of life on the road is getting to visit people we love all across the country and popping into their daily lives for a split second. The warmest, biggest thank you to all who have sheltered us (often from storms). We are excited to be continuing to roam around teaching Leave No Trace for 2024, and I do hope that our paths cross again with as many lovely folks as last year. Where are we headed, you ask?

Come the new year, we are headed to the western part of the U.S., and please… ~let it snow, let it snow, let it snow~ because we are back on WINTERFEST duty! We shall see if last year’s record-breaking snowpack is a one-time deal.

Rough Itinerary:

• Jan 7-20 Boulder CO

• Jan 24-26 Dallas TX

• Jan 31 Eldora Mountain

• Feb 7 Denver CO

• Feb 22-25 Copper Mountain

• Mar 2-3 Eldora Mountain

• Mar 23-24 Tahoe CA

• Apr 5-7 Snowbird (Salt Lake UT)

• Apr 12-14 Bend OR

• Apr 27-28 Portland OR

• May 1-5 Bend OR

• May 9-11 Portland OR

• May 17 Albany OR

• May 30-Jun 1 Mammoth Lakes CA

• Jun 19-23 Telluride Bluegrass Festival

We hope to see you out there!

Things You Didn’t Notice

GROCERY STORES

It is amazing how different the food landscape is across the country. You can almost get a sense of a community by the way the grocery store is set up, what foods are in front, and what regions of the world are best represented.

Some person somewhere once said that it is best to do your grocery shopping around the perimeter of the store. That is where the less processed foods are—vegetables, fruits, fresh breads, meat, and dairy products. In the middle are all the boxes of things. Those things last longer on shelves, and a lot of that is due to additives, preservatives, and additional processing—all in the name of convenience. We know that it is better to eat more natural foods than those “middle aisle” foods. But sometimes, the grocery store is not helping us make healthy choices.

Not all grocery stores are made equal. “Grocers have become amazingly good at selling us exactly the kinds of foods we want to buy.” And because they are businesses, they are incentivized to put the best-selling items toward the front, at eye level, or give them more shelf space.

We just about shop at a different grocery store every time. Sometimes when we walk in, we are welcomed into the produce area—the good stuff. But other times, the entrance first leads to sale areas with boxed goods and snacks. Sometimes, there is fruit at the entrance, and sometimes, there are soft drinks and candy. In those cases, the produce area is tucked away in a back corner somewhere. I don’t like those stores as much because, like I said earlier, I am trying to become a vegetable, not a hot dog.

Anyway, if we zoom out a little, at which grocery store will people be more likely to buy produce? Would putting the produce section up front help persuade people to eat healthier food? Do the people inform the store, or does the store inform the people? There is work being done to get healthy food to areas that don't have access, but sometimes, building a grocery store does not fix the problem because the people prioritize the foods they were used to buying—which, in lower-income communities, is often the originally cheaper, processed, easy-to-store foods.

Grocers with more healthy produce front and center are located in places where people prioritize buying those raw foods. This is often in wealthier neighborhoods for all sorts of reasons, including wealthier families being able to purchase more expensive out-of-season foods and having more resources to either stay home to cook or have someone provide that service.

It is important to recognize that something as simple as the layout of a grocery store could be inadvertently perpetuating socioeconomic divides. Noticing how various stores are set up and who shops where might be the beginning of seeing how we can connect people with good food again. Food and culture can be strongly intertwined, but since industrializing our food systems, we are no longer quite as connected with what we eat. The preparation of food can take work, but it can also bring people together to make stronger, healthier communities.

Cool Sips

• Health: To be honest, I thought fiber was just something that we eat to poop faster and comes in bran muffins. Lo and behold, fiber actually fuels our gut biome, balances our blood sugar, and lowers the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Why eat processed apple juice when you can eat an apple instead?

• Household: Road kill feeds over 1,500 people at one food bank in Montana! That is one way to bathe two birds with one bath (killing birds seemed too close to home on this one).

• Transportation: Though the holidays are often about cramming in as many friends and family visits as possible, I am excited to slow down a little. One resolution of mine is to ride a train. If you have time to spare, it’s better than a plane!

• Community: Some people might still be hungry after the holidays. I challenge you to feed somebody! It could be a friend, a neighbor, or a stranger. If you decide to go the stranger route, Feeding America’s database and blog is the place to start to hear about people’s food stories and how to lend a hand to those in need.

Mouthwatering

This week, you get a twofer because I have been recently on a bevy kick! And boy, do these not disappoint.

BLUEBERRY BASIL SHRUB

No, not the bush.

Shrub is a very fun acidic elixir of wonder made from reducing vinegar and sugar. It is able to be flavored any way you’d like- you can mull in berries, herbs, spices, the options are endless. This particular one is a favorite of mine and can also make for a tasty mocktail if you are looking to add some pizzaz to seltzers.

Ingredients:

• Cranberries

• Apple Cider Vinegar

• Granulated Sugar

• Cinnamon Stick

• Fresh Rosemary

• Black Peppercorns

I also recommend looking up blueberry basil shrub and jalapeno lime shrub. Call me OBSESSED.

GINGER CRAN-PAGNE

I just made up the name. It’s self-explanatory, really.

New Year's and champagne are like 🤝, but this is the year for more FLAIR. If you like the ingredients, I suggest you try mixing:

• Cranberry Juice (unsweetened)

• Ginger Beer

• Champagne

It’s delightful. Enjoy!

Game Time

RESOLUTIONS

Here Here! It’s time to ring in the new year.

I came across this game, and I think it makes for way more fun than telling myself I am “going to like running” for my yearly resolution (…it’s never happened thus far). We need accountability buddies! If you play, you automatically get someone else to give you a resolution and an accountability buddy—and all you have to do is sit there. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Cheers to 2024!