Outland Adventures

 Hey Y'all! We're into the second month of this year already?! Wow. February: 4th Tue- Last Year's & This Year's Travel Bucket List  Video- Bucket List 6th Thu- Goal Progress Video- BMW Museum Greer, SC 11th Tue- One Year Full Time! Video- A Year In 13th Thu- Happy Valentine's Day! Plans? Video-  What's New With The Van 18th Tue- Get To Know Us Questions Video- Day In The Life 20th Thu- Our Favorite Things/Places in 2024... Video- Camp Side Breakfast 25th Tue- All The Places We Spent A Night in 2024 Video-  Analytics Comparison One Month, Goals 27th Thu- March Schedule Video- Warriors' Path Campground Tour Do you have any questions, video, or blog ideas for us? Leave them in the comments below, or tag us on social media: https://linktr.ee/outlandadventures Thanks, The Outlands Our Latest YouTube Video:

 Hey Y'all! We shared our recent purchases, in a previous blog here: https://outlandadventures.blogspot.com/2025/01/van-life-amazon-edition-recent-purchases.html Unboxing Video: Today lets review those items! 1) Our new mattress, best purchase in recent memory.    It's thick and fluffy, and oh so comfortable. All while still allowing plenty of head room for sitting up on Chris' side of the bed.  LOVE IT! 2) Tire Cover- Came out great. Fits the spare well, QR code works, A+ 3) Window tint, not much to say here... it's the right shade and it sticks.  4) Double Sided Tape- it does the job and is thinner than most, but I'd like even thinner. The backing is a bit hard to remove, but not impossible. It's better than most, but not perfect. 5) Headphones- I like them, they fit over ear nicely, sound is good, and they're comfortable. 6) State Map- Exactly as advertised as far as we can tell. It's been too cold to put it on. 7) Binoculars- Chris used them for phot...

Hey Y'all! Let's talk food! We both have found a new love for cooking, and trying new things. Here's our top 3 recipes right now! I'm using the word recipe loosely and assuming you know the basics of cooking.  1) Taco Salad There's a lot of different taco salad recipes out there, but we don't like any dressing with ours so here's our ingredients list: 1lb Ground Beef (or Ground Turkey, whichever was cheaper) 1 Mild Taco Seasoning Pack Lettuce (again whichever we have on hand) 16oz Black Beans 12oz Corn Rice, sometimes, other times we omit it (Depends on how hungry we are, and what we have on hand.) Tortilla Chips Shredded Cheese, typically the taco or Mexican blend of the store brand Avocado, or guacamole Sour cream Tomatoes Salsa Bell Pepper  To start we brown the meat, then add the seasoning packet along with the beans and corn to the skillet (or grill it all up together on the Blackstone) and let that simmer while we cook the rice. Once both of those are ...

 Hey Y'all! Do we have travel plans?  Where? When? Well... Not really, at least not yet. We are currently having to stick around NE TN for the next few weeks, for Amanda's radiation treatments. This Wednesday is the body scan appointment, then about a week later radiation should start. After that just two weeks of treatment, and we're done here for 3 months! (When she'll get another scan, and checkup.) After that we hope to have secured a work kamping gig.  After much deliberation, conversations with each other and campgrounds, emails with various companies, etc we've realized while we're open to just about any location, we really don't want to spend a full season (April-Oct or so) anywhere. So now we're focusing on short term, 30-60 day jobs. If you have any suggestions let us know in the comments below! If we don't have a gig right away we're thinking it's definitely still "go south" weather. Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, are all...

 Hey Y'all, While staying pretty stationary here in NE Tennessee we took the opportunity to order some things for Brunilda (the van) we've been needing. Not all these items are from Amazon , but most are... 1) Our new mattress - We purchased ours and it arrived just in time for Christmas, when we swapped it out. A new mattress was much needed, and it's made a huge difference. We opted for 8in as it's what was in here before. It's thick and fluffy, and oh so comfortable. All while still allowing plenty of head room for sitting up on Chris' side of the bed. (Though the new 8in is a bit more firm than the old mattress was.) 2) New Tire Cover - As we mentioned before, our last one was just thin, cheap, and plain black. This will be the new one, sorry for such a small picture- it hasn't arrived yet. We're excited to see our logo on the rear! 3) Window Tint - We went with the 50%. It'll be on the front three, and all the rear door windows. The blackout vin...

 Hey Y'all! Welcome to winter! So, because of doctor's appointments, holiday's, etc. we've been sticking around NE Tennessee this winter. It's our first true winter in the van, since we didn't go Full Time until mid February 2024.  What are our thoughts, tips, and tricks? Glad ya asked! Weather? As you'll see in the pictures the weather can change a lot in the winter, especially here in NE Tennessee. We've had day's in the mid 50s and slightly above, and days it didn't really reach much above 20 (degrees F) for the day. How do we fill our days? We've adapted pretty quickly, and learned we really like winter nature watching, and hiking. Neither of us are going to shout a love for winter from the mountain tops, but there is a quiet beauty to it all that we have grown to love this past month or so. Some days though, we just really don't want to get out in it... On those days we watch the nature unfold from the warmth and comfort of the van. ...

 Hey Y'all! This time last year we posted a blog titled "Where DO We Want To Go This Year?" .  (It proceeded the where we don't want to go blog...) At the top of our list was Alabama, and although it was a bit later- April vs February, we did dip our toes into this beautiful state. We absolutely loved the areas we explored: Cowford Campground Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge Small towns like Athens, and Scottsboro Unclaimed Baggage TN River Wheeler Lake and so much more... We anticipate a return to Alabama in our future to explore more of this state! We did spend a lot of time in Central Indiana this past year. We redid the entire van layout, added insulation, carpet, and a real bed while there.  We also visited family, many local parks, and even a water park.  In Southern IN we visited Oakridge Campground, several parks and towns, and spent a day in both Evansville, and Owensboro, KY. We watched the eclipse from here too.  On a different trip through IN we sta...

 Hey Y'all! We like to call them goals rather than resolutions, and this year we have some good ones! Feel free to share yours with us in the comments below, or on any of our social media . This year we'd like to grow each and every one of our social media platforms, do more, and see more of this vast country! 2025: 1) Post daily on at least one of our social media platforms.  Tuesday's and Thursday's will remain blogs and videos.  Saturday's and Sunday's will be something quick and fun, like a picture of what we're doing. Monday, and Wednesday are currently anything goes.  These posts can be on any, or all of our social media so be sure to check us out everywhere. 2) Get more active on Instagram, add Amanda as a user to that account as well. -DONE! 3) Work on Work Camp Resume, finish by mid- February. Apply for jobs ASAP. (This is dependent on Amanda's treatment schedule.) 4) Purchase and use VidIQ, especially to aid in thumbnail and descriptions on vid...

 Hey Y'all!! Well, it's a bit late but Happy New Year! We've celebrated with a trip to a local state park (from the 28th-11th). We've really enjoyed nature watching, hiking, and playing a bit of Pokémon Go again. The snow todays is pretty, and after we catch up on blogging, and some cleaning up we may venture out on a hike too! If you follow us on other social media you saw our battle with the wind a few days ago. It was WINDY. We've posted four new videos in the past week, so be sure to check those out as well: https://www.youtube.com/@outlandadventures The 7th I (Amanda) have an appointment, again, because the scans I had recently did in fact show growth... So we'll learn the treatment options then, and move forward, again. I feel great, and am okay otherwise! We're going to aim for 2 videos a week moving forward. Tuesdays will be more unedited and shorter, while Thursdays videos will remain more long form. Both days will be a mix of van life, travel, and...