Overland Expo 2012 Road Trip
Photo by Brian Dorr
I’m back from our epic Overland Expo road trip! And I’ve been a basket case every since. I really need to catch up on my sleep but the buzz from the trip has kept me going…
It was a nine-day trip with a couple of days offroading across the Mojave Road trail, several amazing days at Overland Expo 2012, and with quick visits to Meteor Crater and the Grand Canyon… Not bad!
There will be lots of posts from this trip coming soon, as I work my way through the 900 photos I took, the GoPro videos, and so on. In the meantime, if we’re friends on Facebook be sure to check the photos I posted there, as well as the ones that I sent out to Twitpic while I was on the road. I also recommend that you take a look at Bryon Dorr’s Exploring Elements site where he’s got some great coverage of OX12, including several galleries of great photos.
In the meantime I thought I’d do something a little different here, by adding a recipe of sorts.
With 9 days on the road and 8 nights of tent time, I knew I’d have to be self-sufficient for a lot of meals. Somehow an idea appeared in my brain for a tasty mix of fresh veggies I could prepare ahead of time and use in several ways while on the road. I dubbed it the Versamix because of its versatility.
Versamix ingredients:
- 1 each red, orange, and yellow bell peppers
- 1 red onion
- 1 cluster of garlic
- 1 bunch of cilantro
Prep is easy: dice everything up and mix it together. I stored it all in a Lock-n-Lock container.
This mix worked great on the week+ trip. It mostly went into the scrambled eggs I made on several mornings, but I also put it into the fry pan with the brats I cooked up one night for dinner. It would also make an excellent topping for pizza, and I’m sure it would have other uses as well, like livening up a soup.
The super pro tip I have after using this mix is to suggest that you use one or more smaller containers on the road rather than one large one. By the end of my trip I’d used most of the mix, but the last 10% in the Lock-n-Lock still used up just as much room in my Engel fridge. Putting the mix into several ziplock sandwich-size bags might be a good alternative.
With dinner
With breakfast
That’s all for now. Look for more posts about the OX12 road trip coming soon.
I love the versamix idea! Thats something I’ve done before and has worked really well. I would also add in potatoes as they are a pretty durable veggie and fresh garlic. My wife has a Pampered Chef garlic press that makes it super easy to get the most flavor out of the garlic too.
I’ve also pared down my food prep by using a 1 gallon baggie (non zip-type). It works great for mixing eggs, pancake mix, seasoning veggies, whatever! And when you’re done with the bag, it doesn’t take up much room the in the trash either.
I’m looking forward to all the posts about the trip!
May 26th, 2012 at 4:16 pmGood suggestions, Dan. I diced the garlic up this time but considered using a press as well.
Another tip I learned from someone else before this trip was to crack my dozen eggs into a Nalgene bottle for the trip. That worked great, although again the last 2 eggs were taking up a lot of space. 🙂
I was hesitant to rely on baggies much, because of the slamming around offroad and the big elevation changes (we went from sea level to close to 9,000′ elevation) and I just didn’t want to risk having to clean up spilled raw egg, etc.
If anyone else has more food storage/prep tips, feel free to post them.
May 26th, 2012 at 4:28 pmHi there… I don’t mean to sound like a snob but Zyliss makes the best Garlic press. Have you ever considered no refrigeration? Just a thought. 2000+ nights and days I would not trade the way I cook. Simplicity.
May 28th, 2012 at 7:02 pmAnyhow, caught your Blog from Roseann. Very nice.
Stay safe… we are on to “Bisti Badlands” now and Colorado for a few months.
Ara and Spirit
Hey Ara, thanks for chiming in! I think I will need to be sure to take your one-pan cooking class at OX13… After the 9 day trip, I’m definitely a fan of the fridge for cold beer & drinks, and it’s nice to have consistent temperatures for storage the entire time.
It’s good to have options so I’m always interested in what works well for others.
Enjoy the Bisti Badlands and Colorado, ride safe, and give Spirit a pet on the head from me!
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