Dwell posted a tour of Kobayashi’s weekend retreat which is two and a half hours northwest of Tokyo. Such a beautiful space. I dream of this sort of thing. It’s got North Face tents that operate as bedrooms to the ec0-friendly cabin setup with high-quality camping and outdoor items. Mountain cabin (and basecamp) inspiration.

I just swooned over Gypsy, a big white 2010 Mercedes Benz Sprinter Van.

He had spent the previous two-month’s worth of evenings building out Gypsy from an empty panel van into a super-deluxe road trip machine, complete with recycled-denim insulation, stove, sink, fridge, queen-size bed, benches, folding table, cabinets, cupboards, ceiling fans, heater, cork paneling, bamboo and paperstone counter tops, and interior and exterior LED lighting. Gypsy was rad.

Having a 36 hour meal cooked in a cob oven is something that I must do. A cob, or earth, oven is a primitive, domed cooking device that can be made from layers of mud, clay, straw, stucco, even manure; the earthy mixture, the cob, can endure much higher heat, and hold it much longer, than an indoor oven can. Let’s make our own!

Cooking food in a water bath (sous vide) used to be expensive, now you can do it in a $20 beer cooler. Sounds like the perfect camping technique.

Fill up your beer cooler with water just a couple degrees higher than the temperature you’d like to cook your food at (to account for temperature loss when you add cold food to it), seal your food in a plastic Ziplock bag, drop it in, and close your beer cooler until your food is cooked.

I will be trying this and will report back.

I need to organize a (camping and ice fishing) trip similar to what The Outdoor Club did in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Looks like a helluva lot of fun. Who’s in?

I think I’m going to put the Katy Bike Trail on my fall plans (here are a few other bike trails if this one didn’t grab you like it did me). Maybe I should take on sponsors and pedal for a cause?

Wondering if I can build one of these camping rafts? If not, I think I’ll have to head to Holland to give one a try.