All I want for Christmas is... camping gear!

Bethany here, the other half of this dynamic duo. Like Ike said, we are in trip-prep mode. Hard to go back to our jobs after taking some time off in December and knowing that our trip is only 4 months away. In the mean time, here are gifts that our awesome family gave us for Christmas (thanks!) that should be helpful on our trip. We asked for the bigger items, but they found all the smaller stuff which is pretty spectacular. Not sure that all of these items will make our packing list, but I'm guessing most will. We'll post gear reviews once we set out on the journey.

Here's a description, working left to right & top to bottom (ish):

*Lots of Under Armor t-shirts for comfy, quick-dry clothing.
*Set of interlocking plastic bowls
*eno double hammock
*Under Armor hoods for cold nights in the sleeping bag
*Norwex quick-drying towel & REI quick-dry towels (jury's out on which is better... will test out soon)
*light-weight rain jackets
*REI inflatable pillows
*small bags for packing
*How-to book on car camping (haven't read it yet)
*Bear mace (here's to not having to use this!)
*Bear vault (yes!!)
*collapsable water bottles (curious how these will hold up)
*various fire starters
*Tent repair kit
*Skin & wound spray (not exactly sure what it is, but sounds helpful)
*cup holder with keychain and zippered pocket
*binoculars
*soap sheets for body wash and laundry soap
*pocket saw
*pocket knife
*padlocks for our Yeti cooler
*LED lantern
*Tenacious tape
*compas
*cutting board
*Go girl (so I can pee standing up!)
*iodine
*marshmellow roasting sticks
*Mosquitno bracelets
*hand warmers
*can openers
*Blister medic

Welcome to the Nomadizens Travel Blog!

Good Morning and welcome to the nomadizens travel blog. I'm your fearless leader Ike and I'll be your pilot throughout this initial expedition. If you're here for pictures of awesome scenery and expansive vistas....you'll have to wait. The trip is still several months away though, so these early posts will be relating our trip preparation experience. This whole trip started as a gleam in our eye several years ago after I found a blog from another couple traveling the Pan American highway. "Wouldn't it be a blast to do one last trip before we settle down?" "Yeah! We can do it after I get fired!" And so then 2012 came "Hey Bethany! I'm still going strong! Let's go next summer!" And so then 2013 came "So Bethany...work is still great and I think it would be good for me to continue working." *Bethany rolls her eyes* And so 2014 is here. We're not the first nor the best prepared of people doing this trip, and we're referencing other people's work to help us get ready. http://liferemotely.com/ released a free e-book that has been instrumental in our preparations so far. There is a strong consensus among the overlanding community that late-80's through mid-90's Toyota 4Runner's are the best option for undertaking these trips. Legendary reliability with a prolific number of them on the road means that if something goes wrong, there will be plenty of parts laying around for us to use. Bethany and I spent several fitful weeks trolling through Madison's Craigslist to find available vehicles. After several failed trips to examine some vehicles in the area, we stumbled across one for sale less than 10 minutes away from our apartment. We looked at the vehicle in person and loved it, but didn't feel like spending $5000 on it. So it was a pleasant surprise when we got home and realized that the posting price was actually $3500! It's important that vehicles you'll be spending a significant portion of time with have a name, so naturally Bethany decided upon "Sweetcakes", our cat Hammer's original name. After our purchase, we've since returned sweetcakes to Washington to have her completely tuned up. Our plan is to improve as much as we can now to avoid having to deal with it going wrong on the road. These include: Flushing and replacing all of the fluid Replacing the tires Fixing the Parking Brake Replacing the rear brakes New shocks New belts Modifications to the vehicle to make it overlanding ready are still outstanding. These include: bedding platform power source We're seriously contemplating going with a solar panel setup for a vehicle as detailed here. Upcoming post will detail the gear we're going with. Stay tuned as we continue preparing for takeoff!