K2R2’s One Year Anniversary!

The K2R2 adventure is one year old today. That is one orbit of the earth around the star we call the sun that defines so much of our lives. Most of us will see seventy of these orbits and if providence smiles upon us perhaps eighty to ninety trips around the sun. Many wonderful things have happened during this last year.
We have traveled to and fro across this fine country. It has been challenging and fun. Our experiences are based on a twenty five foot radius around the K2R2 and this is what we have discovered:
America is a great country! The American people are wonderful! And after over 30,000 miles the backroads and byways continue to astonish us with America the beautiful. Seeing the different areas of the country during the four seasons makes the same landscape we passed through a few months earlier take on entirely new and different perspectives.
The drivers in big cities (over 10,000 inhabitants) are crazy, dangerous, and are best left to their own perfidious driving habits. Interstate highways (known to most full-timers and overlanders as “The Slab”) are best traveled at right angles, driving either over or under them. This allows one to avoid the food monotony of the next exit and find the hidden culinary jewels of these United States.
Visiting family without having a set time frame is great. Retiring and moving into the K2R2 fulltime has allowed us to be with our family multiple times a year. With loving family across the fruited plains it has been the gift that keeps on giving. This may need to be fact checked with our various hosts.
Living outside in the natural realm has been great, some of the good: Syncing of our circadian rhythms, wildlife, peaceful campsites, awe inspiring vistas, mealtimes, happy hours. Some of the bad: Exposure to the elements; rain, snow, sleet, ice, wind, lightning, hot, cold, insects, etc. and some of the the ugly: Bad roads, dump stations, and an unshaven Paka.
A special thanks and kudos are due Paul Revere for the improvements he made to the humble Dutch oven. The only thing it can’t do is make ice cream. It is after all the national cookware of Texas.
The K2R2 is small but has become our home and it is a relief to return to it after any extended absence. Being able to share close quarters with your best friend is a dream come true.
Stay tuned for the next orbit!