I learned a new word today and I think it’s absolutely hilarious. The word?

“Touron”.

It is a combination of “tourist” and “moron”. It was used to describe the asshats (another favorite term…) who think they can just walk up and pose for vanity shots for IG with the wild animals in Yellowstone. So damn funny, though not quite as funny as when the animals decide to take care of the problem.

I had never heard that one before reading it just now. I am more familiar with the term “cityot” (“city” and “idiot”) but the meanings are the same – stupid people. And, unfortunately, they are everywhere.

—————

I’ve been sick this past week but slowly getting a little better. It has been very frustrating; I have so much I need to do around here but I didn’t want to push it too much and get as much rest as possible to help myself get well. I need to mow but just can’t do it yet between being sick and the storms.

I did start feeling better so a few days ago I started easing back into busyness, meal prepping like crazy. I have found that going out camping for a several days (more than just a weekender) and not cooking much (or at all) is pretty awesome. It leaves more time to party, hike, and just kick back.

It’s so hard to cook for one person so I figure that I might as well make the best of it; if I’m burning kilowatts at home I am making several meals.

I made up breakfast burritos, low-fat bean & cheese burritos, grilled plant-based burgers, roasted potatoes with bell peppers & onion, olive oil and spices. Tomorrow morning I will get some salmon marinating to put on the smoker tomorrow afternoon (my first try!) and will roast some carrots on the grill. I will also make up some small portions for mac & cheese. Everything is fairly healthy and I try very hard to keep everything in the parameters of my diet unless it’s the occasional splurge day.

Tonight, I went off the hook again. I took one of those plant-based burgers I grilled and put a single piece of somewhat-crispy prosciutto on it, then a little smoked gouda on top. I then thought I would use a croissant – yes, a croissant – as a bun with just a little Colman’s Mustard (the good stuff) and some minced onion. It was very good and I make it again.

It may sound strange but it’s good to try new ideas. I remember thinking a gooberburger didn’t sound right but then I made one at home. It was delicious. In case you don’t know, a gooberburger is a burger with peanut butter on it. I didn’t really know what else to put on it so I just went for the Jif Natural and a toasted bun.

I know I have talked about this previously, but having some ready-made meals to start your trip makes things very easy the first few days. It is really nice to be able to totally decompress and not have much to worry about when it comes to cooking while camping. My new rig has a decent-size fridge/freezer, and I have found that I can load up even more stuff. My old Scotty trailer had a tiny fridge so it was hard to store much and I have learned with this one I can probably load up a solid week’s worth of prepped meals to go along with fresh fruit and my snacks.

I figure I will cook on the road on longer trips even while I still have stuff in the fridge; I like to mix up my menu. When I do cook while out I will just prep a bunch like at home and load up the freezer/fridge since I will also have enough emptied containers to put stuff in. Of course, there are those splurges like a hot dog or two roasted over a fire, some roasted corn on the grill with Kerrygold butter and parmesan, and maybe a s’more (even though I am not a fan of roasted marshmallows). If you are trying to be out camping, relaxing,n partying, taking it easy…whatever, then meal prepping is the key to making that happen.

—————

I have mentioned my old Scotty Hilander before and it has been in these posts since the beginning. It was deemed a total loss due to hail damage last year and it was taken away July; after that is when I bought my GeoPro. Just out of curiosity I did a search for the Scotty…and I found it! There is one thing on it that made it easy for me to identify by the pictures. I was surprised to see it online.

—————

Just before I got sick I picked up a stabilizing gimbal for my iPhone in order to shoot better videos. Needless to say I have not had much time to really experiment with it but I have played with it a little bit and it is really cool.

This week I hope to get out and play around with it so I can get used to how it works. I have been cramming on videos from different people for how to basically use it and for some cool hints and tips.

I made a little progress working on my vlog idea and have been looking at videos about that process too. It will be a big change and will be some work but I am looking forward to it. I have a month of blog hosting left so I need to get up to speed. I’ll shoot some footage and see how it comes together. I want it to look good, of course, but I don’t want it to be overproduced.

—————

That’s all I have for tonight. See you next time around.

Shawn