“I've spent many years a rambling
I'll never change these foolish ways.”
~Clutch, “Big News II”
As I’ve been gallivanting around on my motorcycle pursuing the Vagabond Chef Project this summer, my wife has continued her employment at Galena Lodge in Central Idaho. Since both she and our cat Opie are there, it’s still “home,” and when I went back home from my second two-thousand mile Vagabond Chef jaunt I expected to continue working hard on the project and get some downtime. I was only right on the first count.
The past three weeks have been crazy awesome. In the beginning I was mostly catching up on writing and getting the indiegogo campaign launched. I haven’t received a paycheck since April, so something to keep me going is becoming necessary.
Katie and I got to take our boats out on Pettit Lake for a day, then the following week we went up to Stanley and camped at Stanley Lake. It was at the Lake we hatched the idea of getting an RV and traveling around together to do the Vagabond Chef. OK, it was actually Katie’s idea. I have an amazing wife.
Then, however, attention shifted to my friends', Jimmy and Courtney's, wedding. I catered the event. We were planning on around 150 people and had a limited budget and resources. The ceremony and reception were being held outside, and this added another set of challenges to the equation. We were initially concerned about a fire ban, and the menu changed a few different times as we drew closer to the event to accommodate circumstance.
It's hard to wrap ones head around "food for 150." Here's the stack of ingredients the morning of the wedding. Since we didn't have access to refrigeration I managed to keep our cabin extremely cool and prepared everything the day of the event.
I got up and started cutting cabbage and mixing dressing for slaw. Then I cut fifty pounds of sweet potatoes into planks for grilling and mixed up a marinade for them. All told, this took about five hours. After all that, Katie and I loaded up the car and headed down to the wedding site.
The wedding was out Silver Creek at the base of the Boulder Mountains. The setting was as beautiful as the ceremony. Jimmy and Courtney had obviously worked their asses off to make their day special, and from my vantage point, it certainly was.
After the ceremony I fired up the grill and got to cooking. The best place for the grill also happened to be home to a large ant colony. I had a hard time getting the grill hot enough, and it smoked like crazy. Due to the ants the dirt was especially fine. So there I was, covered in dirt to my knees, covered in ants to my neck, tears running down a face full of smoke, firing burgers and sweet potato planks for somewhere over a hundred folks.
And you want to know what? It was awesome. Katie and I both had a fabulous time. Everyone was extremely nice, grateful, patient, and appreciative. We got to have some great conversations with a few different people both during and after the two hours I spent grilling. Unfortunately, though, after all that I was pretty whipped, and we left rather than spend the night with everyone camping out.
Catering the wedding was a great experience. It was a real challenge; one I was prepared for and met happily. Congratulations, Jimmy and Courtney!
Now that the wedding was over, attention shifted back to the RV idea. Katie and I had talked a lot together about what we wanted to do with our winter and how we didn’t like being separated all the time for the project… however, getting and deciding to live out of, an RV opened up a whole new set of challenges.
I rode down to Boise to meet with Jamie at Nelson’s RV. On their website I had found an older RV that had been well taken care off and had low mileage. We talked through a possible offer on the phone before I met with them. While I was there I met Mr. Nelson, his son Tyler, and Jamie. They were all three very personable, nice folks. Jamie showed me what was to become our ’88 Fleetwood, I checked it out, and we took a test drive.
Then I rode up route 55 to the Banks Lowman Road to head home. The temperature edged over a hundred a couple of times and hovered in the high nineties. On the steaming blacktop halfway to Lowman, we were stopped for close to half an hour while road crews cleaned up a rock slide. I’d had my hydration hose continually wedged in my helmet taking near constant sips, and here I ran out.
While stopped I talked to everyone else, and naturally the Vagabond Chef came up, so I handed out some stickers. When we got moving again I was extremely thankful to be in the front of the pack. I felt bad for the couple of guys I’d talked to on Harley’s who were stuck behind a van loaded down with rafting gear.
I stopped at a ranger station to use the facilities, fill up my water bladder, and cool off a little. Heading up to Banner Summit, things finally cooled down a little, and I realized as the heat abated I hadn’t eaten all day. I stopped again when I got into Stanley and got some food, then I stopped to fill up the tank. It was at the gas station I dropped my bike for the first time.
I’ve come to the end of long days before and had close calls with the bike loaded down with luggage. I’ve made small miscalculations that almost caused a spill. This time there was no luggage, but I’d been riding for a full day starting out at forty degrees and climbing to higher than I’d ever seen abike before. I was exhausted. I made the motion to put the kickstand down, then I started to lean the bike over on the stand… and the bike just kept leaning. I got to the tipping point, fought it for a split second, then just eased it down to the ground. No damage to me or the bike.
Some other guys on dual sports came over to make sure I was OK. I told them I was fine, just spent. They commented on how it happens to everyone. Honestly, even though there were a ton of people around, I didn’t care. I wasn’t hurt, the bike wasn’t hurt. I just wanted to get gas and ride the last forty-five minutes to home and have a very cold beer.
Part of the deal for getting the RV was giving up my Subaru. I love my Subaru. I’ve had it for almost five years, driven it all over the West, and lived in it for six weeks at one point. It’s my favorite car I’ve ever owned or driven. I’ll miss it.
But in return, Katie and I get a new home.
As of today the Vagabond Chef Project Launch is close to three-fifths funded. I’m going to go ahead and take my Big East Trip with strong hopes we will go all the way to the goal of five thousand. If we don’t I won’t get any of the money so far raised, which would be rough.
When I get back to Idaho in September, Katie and I will finish up moving into the RV. We’re planning on heading south for the winter, but plans are still undefined. We’d like to go down through California, through Arizona, and make it to Black Pot Festival (http://blackpotfestival.com/). I’ve sent some emails to places in the Florida Keys for possible winter work.
In the beginning the Vagabond Chef Project was all about my working in other kitchens and learning new skills. Instead I’ve taken this summer to travel around, build readership, and explore, but I want to get back to that initial idea. With the RV, and Katie (and Opie) at my side, we hope to relocate every few months and work in a new places, learning new things, meeting new people, and having a ton of stories to share.
