Outland Adventures

  “Roadside Oddities of the Year: Our Favorite Finds of 2025” 2025 was full of backroads, quirky stops, and little surprises tucked into towns and landscapes across the Midwest and Appalachia. From Indiana cornfields to the hills of Tennessee and Kentucky, we chased scenic views, unique attractions, and small-town charm. Here’s our roundup of the most memorable stops this year. 1. Kankakee, IL – Bison Viewing at Kankakee Sands One of our favorite stops this year was the Kankakee Sands preserve . Seeing bison roaming freely across the tallgrass prairie was unforgettable. The wide-open vistas made us feel like we had stepped back in time, and the wildlife viewing trails are perfect for a quiet morning hike. 2. DeMotte & Roselawn, IN – Prairie Trails & Windmill Views In northwest Indiana, we loved wandering along the prairie trails near DeMotte and Roselawn. The small-town charm and old-fashioned windmills made for peaceful stops, perfect for stretching our legs and s...

  🌿 The Joys of Camping in Every Season We’re Amanda & Chris, traveling full-time in Wildebeest , our 1990 Ford E350 shuttle bus conversion . One of the biggest surprises we’ve found on the road is just how different — and magical — camping feels in every season. The landscapes, the routines, even the way we connect with fellow campers all shift with the weather. Instead of chasing only “perfect” weather, we’ve learned to embrace the joys each season brings. 🌸 Spring: Fresh Starts The world feels like it’s waking up again — blooming flowers , longer days, and that perfect “not too hot, not too cold” air. Campgrounds start buzzing as travelers return, but it’s often still quiet enough to feel peaceful. Nothing beats that first campfire of the year with a chill in the air and a hoodie pulled tight. ☀️ Summer: Classic Camping Vibes Summer is what most people picture when they think of camping. Long days, swimming holes , cookouts , and kids riding bikes until the sun set...

 Hey Y'all! Ever have a product you just love? Here are our current favorites! * None of these are affiliate links, or sponsored in any way. They're just products we've purchased and really enjoy! 1) Ozark Trail Folding Camp Kitchen Table - Step up your camping culinary setup on your next outdoor adventure with the Ozark Trail Folding Camp Kitchen Table. This camp kitchen has tons of functionality and provides the campsite chef with a work surface, plenty of storage space and much more. It features an aluminum slat roll top table, a side stove shelf with an adjustable stove platform and a removable lantern holder. As for storage, it is designed with a mesh shelf and a hanging organizer rack with hooks to keep your important items nearby. It is constructed with a compact aluminum frame with matte finish for durability and has a weight capacity of 66 pounds. It also measures 41” x 18” x 31.5” making it perfectly sized without taking up too much space. When it’s time to go, th...

 Hey Y'all, We've only been living in Wildebeest, our bus, for about a week plus a few days & 600mi. That's long enough to choose some things we are LOVING about the bus and our temporary layout. Here's our list: 1) So Much more room! No more crouching, no more shuffling things, no more squishy. (I feel like that's already more than one, but we'll count it all together.) 2) She's much bigger, but still easily fits most places... everywhere we've been so far. She also feels SOLID, Brunilda did not. 3) Handles wind & weather like a champ! We had to go through a thunderstorm crossing Clinch Mtn and it was easy peasy.  4) This desk area Chris built, that we decided on very last minute. It's great for working on our laptops, folding clothes, etc. 5) So many storage opportunities, which will grow and change as we can afford more, and needs arise. The cluttered-ness is bother me, but we had to get here, and we've been busy working this past week...

 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, Hey Y'all! This one is gadget #vanlife specific, but the items from that  top 5 blog  are definitely some great products we love too! TOP 3! 1)  Collapsible Tub : We picked ours up at Aldi! Such a great find. At the time we purchased locally it was just under $10 USD. We use it for doing dishes, or washing fruits/veggies, or anything else you'd use a sink for. 2)  Folding Table/Tray : We found two of these, sitting in the floor of the furniture aisle of our local Walmart & knew we should grab them up for under $20 USD each. We have used them for working on the laptop, coloring/art, eating, outdoors to hold the radio or phones & drinks. Such a useful purchase! 3)  Lights! We upgraded our lights to these, and love them! We like the brightness adjuster and the color selector. Much better and brighter than what we were using previously. We don't ever use the music feature, or the app. The remote is more than sufficient for our needs. ...

 Hey Y'all, It's a big list! In order, from the beginning: February 5th 2024 our start date...  Prior to that we were at the home we owned in NE TN... Amanda's Mom's (TN) 7 days Amanda's Sister's (TN) 3 days Planet Fitness (Kingsport, TN) Walmart (Middlesboro, KY) Chris's Mom's/Brother's (IN) 21ish days Oakridge Campground (Rockport, IN) 7 days? Hotel in Georgetown, KY (1 night?) Warrior's Path State Park (Kingsport, TN) 2 days Cracker Barrel (640, Knoxville, TN) Cracker Barrel (Lebanon, TN) Cedars Of Lebanon State Park (Lebanon, TN) 4 days? Cracker Barrel (Franklin, TN) Cracker Barrel (Athens, AL) Cowford Campground (Athens, AL) 14 days? That's what we paid for but I remember her giving us an addition day or 3 free. Hotel in Scottsboro, AL (2 nights) Cracker Barrel (AL,GA, TN line) Harrison Bay State Park (near Chattanooga, TN) 9 days Cracker Barrel (640 Knoxville, TN) Lowe's (Kingsport, TN) Amanda's Mom's (TN) 4 days? Oh Kentuck...

 Hey Y'all! As we've mentioned before we were fortunate to experience so many places/things in 2024. There were only a small handful of things we didn't like. Here's some of our favorites. Tours: Mayfield Dairy We were pleasantly surprised with the size of our ice creams at the end of this tour! It was very neat to learn the history of the company and the Mayfield family. Our favorite part though, was seeing the packaging, and the milk jugs being made. Carnton / Battle of Franklin The tour of the house was fantastic, and the grounds are massive. We spent the better part of the morning here, ate lunch, then went to Carter House. (That was neat too, but not near as informative.) We could have easily done the day here alone, exploring the grounds. Our tour guide for the house was clearly a history buff, and did a great job of telling the history of the house, the families, and the Civil War battle that happened almost in their back yard. We've done enough of the tours ...