Outland Adventures

 Hey Y'all! We can't believe were 5 months into the year already! April was a ride huh? Storms, hot, cold, windy, crazy! We slowly wandered towards NW Indiana, spent almost a week in Kankakee, IL, and then on the 14th arrived at our workamp position(s)! We've worked, and done some exploring of the nearby areas, but those were also tied in with running errands. Our next day off we plan to head to Kankakee Sands, and the Bison viewing area, if the weather permits.. But yeah, it's MAY! May Schedule: 1st Thurs- Re-Organizing The Van Updated Van Tour 6th Tues- Upcoming Travel Plans Travel Prep Short 8th Thurs- Things To Love About Van Life Kankakee, Illinois 13th Tues- No Blog/Video 15th Thurs- DITL Day In The Life 20th Tues- Workamping One Month IN 22nd Thurs- NW Indiana Adventures Where We've Been 27th Tues- Memorial Day Prep Short 29th Thurs- June Blog & Video Schedule Dash Cam Video! Any blog or video ideas? Share them below! Thanks, The Outlands We'd like to...

 Hey Y'all, The Great Aspects of Van Life: Freedom, Adventure, and Simplicity Last week we wrote about the things that sucked, and it isn't all glitter and rainbows, but van life is truly fantastic. This week we'll share why: In a world that's always moving faster, more people are choosing to slow down — by living life on the open road. Van life isn’t just a trend; it’s a lifestyle revolution that speaks to freedom, adventure, and living simply. If you’ve ever dreamed of swapping your daily routine for a life filled with sunsets, new cities, and a home that moves with you, van life might just be the answer. Here’s why so many people are falling in love with life on four wheels: 1. Ultimate Freedom Van life offers a level of freedom that’s hard to match. You’re not tied to a single place, mortgage, or traditional schedule. Want to wake up by the ocean one week and in the mountains the next? You can. Your van is your passport to endless destinations, with no need to bo...

 Hey Y'all! Van life is often romanticized as an adventure of freedom and simplicity, but it’s not always as idyllic as social media makes it seem. While living in a van can offer unmatched flexibility and an opportunity to embrace minimalism, there are definitely some aspects that can suck. Here are a few things about van life that can drive even the most enthusiastic van-lifer a little nuts: 1. Limited Space The whole idea of living in a van means you’re living in a small space, and this can feel cramped, especially when you’re spending long stretches of time inside. The kitchen is tiny, the bathroom situation is non-existent (unless you have a fancy van), and personal space can feel limited when you're trying to relax or sleep. You’re basically living in a mobile closet. 2. Finding Places to Park While it’s exciting to travel freely, finding a good, safe place to park your van every night can be a real hassle. You can't just park anywhere. Many cities have laws against o...

 Hey Y'all, So, what have we been doing? Some of it we've shared here in the blog (Like our first Loves RV stay) some we've shared on our social media accounts: linktr.ee/outlandadventures We started out March in NE Ohio, Chris' best friend (more like family really, and that's how we generally refer to them) had just had surgery on his ankle. We visited with them, attended a basketball game, a dance competition, several parks, played bingo, went to Quality Inn with an entire indoor play area with pools, hot tub, mini golf, arcade, and various play areas. I'm sure there was more, but those were the highlights! After we left them we spent a few days in Findley State Park, before heading further west, we spent a night in Delphos, OH... Pretty area, but the weather didn't really cooperate enough to enjoy outdoor recreation. That brings us to April... From there we traveled onward, crossed the state line, and spent a week in Decatur, Indiana.  While there we enjo...

 Hey Y'all! The first recipe blog can be found here- https://outlandadventures.blogspot.com/2025/01/whats-cooking-our-favorite-camp-side.html We're really loving exploring all the things we can do with outdoor cooking. Here's a few more of our favorites: Again, we are assuming you know how to cook/understand the basics. 1) Breakfast Burritos Ingredients: 1   lb breakfast sausage 6   eggs Guacamole Salsa (2T ish, each) Sour Cream (1T each) 1   can (4 oz) Chopped Green Chiles, drained 1   cup shredded cheddar cheese (8 oz)  Pepper to taste 4   (12-inch) flour tortillas Pretty simple. Start the sausage in your pan or on your griddle, when it's done add your eggs, pepper if you want to, when the eggs have started to cook well add the chiles. While that's doing it's thing warm your tortillas, either on the other side of your griddle or another pan. Trust me warm tortillas are better. Once those eggs are done add your cheese. Assemble however you like. Somet...

 Hey Y'all, Well we just got here , so there's not a ton of information yet. The season starts April 25th, but they've said it doesn't really pick up until the end of May... Our first impressions? The owners are very nice, and we toured the campground with them yesterday afternoon, chatted a bit, and then settled in our spot. After that we walked the grounds ourselves to get a better feel of the place. It's an older park, the sites are quite large, there's a pond, playgrounds, bath house, etc. We wish there was laundry on site, but the laundromat is only about 10min away, as well as savalot, dollar tree, and a few other little places. Anything big is about 30min in any direction. Last night was windy!! It's also very very quiet since the season doesn't open until next weekend. The view of the stars last night was amazing, but it was oh so windy, so we didn't stay out long. We're in for another windy day today and then supposedly it lightens up si...

 Hey Y'all! As you know we've traveled to central Indiana several times, and we did southern IN last year for the eclipse . We've really grown to love Indiana, and are excited to explore the western side of the state. We haven't done much yet... It was our first time staying at a Loves RV. (This one is in Demotte, IN.) We're glad it had laundry, and the showers were spacious, clean, and hot! It was a bit pricey in our opinion, at around $60 with tax. It also offered: walking trail, 2 pavilions with grills, playground, dog park, pickleball courts, basketball court, and a small camp type store open from around 7am til 2ish daily. (Seems understaffed, no set hours.) Extremely well lit, glad we have the blackout shades. Each spot on the outer loop had some grass, picnic table, and fire ring. Inner loop had spots with some of those, all of them, and none. The trade off is the inner loop is all pull thru and outer loop all back in. Overall it was quiet, and felt safe. If...

   Hey Y'all! I failed a bit at picking up the camera on our travel day, but we didn't do much. I spent the morning searching for showers, and was unsuccessful. So, we decided to just give that up and travel on. We hopped on state and US highways, and traveled through many small towns, and several blink and you've missed it spots. The running joke is that OH is flat (lies!) however we did find a pretty flat spot in NW OH off 224 West. The road is pretty good through Ohio but gets rather bumpy and significantly narrower in IN. We stayed in a hotel through the storms, it really worked out but being on the third floor through the high winds was scary. We just couldn't find a campground that was open,  and/or with water on.  We stopped a few times to stretch, but outside of winter fields and a few wind turbines there wasn't much site seeing happening. We do enjoy driving thru the small towns though, and promise a dash cam video on Outland Adventures YouTube soon! https:...

 Hey Y'all! Recently we enjoyed a week at Levi Jackson . Here's our opinion, and some more information about this park in Laurel County KY. While at Levi Jackson Park we spent a day exploring the campground (we had the nicest "neighbors" here), while being followed by a beautiful black cat.  The following days we hiked several trails, and explored the park. Even though it's the off season we enjoyed seeing the museum property and mill. We saw quite a few deer, lots of wild turkeys, and tons of woodpeckers.  We then had 2 days of snow. We spent that time utilizing the laundry facilities, catching up on blogging, reading, and other indoor tasks. After the snow cleared we checked out the local library- which had a Muppets exhibit! We also checked out the local flea market, and the downtown area, as well as a few additional parks. We spent another day hiking some trails, and exploring all the playgrounds throughout the park before it was time to move on. A bit of hist...

Hey Y'all! I don't know about you, but for us March really flew by! We spent the month in NE Ohio visiting some places we haven't been, and a few we have. We added 2 new libraries, another nature preserve, and a state park!  We also visited a few local parks, thrift shops, lots of restaurants, and a few hotels. We saw all kinds of wildlife- including Bald Eagles, and black squirrels. Hawks, and all kinds of other birds, a few herons, geese, and ducks. Racoons, gophers, turtles, deer, and more! Here's a few pictures from the month: Chris did get the big camera out, but we haven't moved those over yet... Thriftin' Food & drink at competition. Indoor/Outdoor pool. Drury Inn Columbus Wore out from the park! Sexy Sweatpants Man setting up camp. Spot 142, on the main drag, but close to the toilets. Nature Center/Store (Closed) Love Storybook Trail 600!!!! The weather was insane, as Spring in Ohio is know for. We has snow days, and days it was 70 degrees & sunn...