Chicago Travel and Adventure Show Review

A few weeks ago, I got an email from the people putting on the Travel and Adventure Show inviting me to attend this year's show for free. Because the price was right, I decided to attend, figuring that information gathered could prove useful for planning future ADVENTURING opportunities, also figuring that this would be a great opportunity to gaze into the future of the Travel and Adventure marriage.

I send my condolences to all of those poor saps that spent the $15 on the ticket and the $13 to park, because that show was a dud. There was no excitement in any of the booths. It might as well have been an insurance and actuarial convention. It was as if the entire show was sponsored by Nyquil or Ambien. I would have thought that the guy handing out 'Visit South Africa' sales literature would have been more amped than the lady from the 'Southeastern Wisconsin Board of Tourism', but that was not the case.

I was hoping to get information to help plan future trips to Europe and China, but anything good was few and far between. I should have expected it because the purpose of a show like this is to make money and generate sales, and not to present honest and or useful information. The only information I found relating to China was trips arranged by Trafalgar, with costs that accosted the soul.

Through this misinformation gathering, I learned what I always had known.

1. Plan your own trip

2. Beware of phonies

No one that is under 65 should ever leave the planning of their trips or adventures to 'experts'.

1. Planning a trip is half of the fun

2. When you get there you will know what to expect

3. When you get home, you will be able to tell someone where you have been and what you experienced.

4. It will save you a shitload of cash(Euros, Lbs, rupees, yen, dollas, shillings, dabloons, skrilla)

Now a word about shyster travel companies. As far as I know, I have never been taken advantage of by a travel company. Women, yes. Travel shysters, no.

1. Travel shysters are a bunch of phonies that only want your money. You will float down the Yangtze river in a semi-water tight tour bus, and probably won't see anything remotely cool. And they will rape you(r wallet) Plan your own trip.

Chicago Travel and Adventure Show

Highlights:

1.There was a camel there. I took a picture of his toe, and put it on my Facebook page. Don't you hate it when a Camel tracks dirt onto your carpet?

2. If anyone knows famed travel writer and personality, Rick Steves, they know that he may or may not be gay. He is ambiguous. Not that there is anything wrong with that, he just has some unique mannerisms. Anyway, his brochure that he was handing out promoting h

is tour company had the title 'Rick Steves: Europe through the back door'. That is some seriously funny stuff that made me cry with delight. You would think that someone would have caught that before he had one million copies made.

Lowlights

1. Being there.

Feast your eyes below with Rick Steves' back door review, and the camel-toe.

Adventuring Blog Resurrection

A little over a year ago, I got really lazy with the Adventuring Blog, and I for lack of a better term, let it go to shit. It has been stagnant for over a year, and has cob webs on it. Since, it has gone dormant, I have gone on some great adventures, and the stories have gone unreported, the memories locked away. I have climbed the cables to the top of half dome in Yosemite, have seen the Florida Gators play football in the Swamp, I planned an adventure in Ireland for my parents, went climbing at Devil's Lake in Baraboo, Wisconsin and have explored the life giving microbrew beers of Boulder Colorado. From now on, I am going to do better. I am going to share my adventures, and will do my best to impart any wisdom that I can conjure up about the exciting world of travel and adventure. This is the Adventuring Blog Resurrection!

Italian Solo Itinerary

On September 11th, I will depart on a solo journey through Italy that will conclude with me meeting up with friends for Oktoberfest, a short trip to Austria, and a few days in Prague. Because I am trying to explore the world without going broke, I will be staying in hostels for this leg of the trip. I booked them online, after sifting through a multitude of reviews, and even after that, it is pretty much a crapshoot. I will be happy if I do not see any bedbugs on my trip. The itinerary for the Italian portion of the trip is as below, as for an activity itinerary, I don't like to plan that far in advance. The beauty of a solo trip is that I can do whatever I want, whenever I want to do it.

September 11th: Fly from Chicago to Rome through Philadelphia

September 12th: Arrive Rome approx 8:30 AM

: Train to Naples

September 13th: Stay in Naples

September 14th: Train back to Rome

September 15hth: Rome

September 16th: Rome

September 17th: Train to Florence

: Stay in Florence

September 18th: Train to Venice

:Explore Venice for the day

: Night Train to Munich

September 19th: Arrive in Munich 6:30 AM

Hostels: Naples: La Controra Flashpackers Hostel

Rome: The Yellow Hostel

Florence: Florence Youth Hostel

Before my departure, I have some gear that I am hoping to buy. Included in this list is a new backpack(50-60 L), sunglasses, a money pouch, maybe a new Camera, and possibly some form of ultra-lite summer sleeping bag. I will keep the Adventuring Blog a breast of these pre-planning activities.

Coming Soon: A New Contributor

Lately I have been relatively adventureless. I have been focusing on trying to move into a new apartment in Chicago, and have been saving my resources for the Euro Adventuring I will be doing in a little under a month.

My other contributors Brian and Jeff have had no dry spell in the adventure department, but what they are lacking is the limited effort and time it takes to write a summary of their most recent activity.

In an effort to add to both the quality and quantity of posts, my friend Brandon will soon begin contributing to the Adventuring Blog.

He is currently high atop of Machu Pichu in Peru gathering up adventures that he can bestow upon the blog here.

In addition, I will begin posting as to the final preparation for my trip to Europe.

Holy Roaming Empire

Yesterday I made a very impulsive decision. I read an article that basically said that anyone thinking about planning a trip should buy airfare immediately to avoid paying more as gas prices rise. I had been thinking about going to Berlin for a trip, but then changed my mind. I decided that rather than spend more time in Germany, which is an absolutely amazing country, but one that I had been to before, I would go to Italy instead.

I did some research and discovered that for people under 26 years old, STA Travel had some affordable airfare to Europe. I found a deal and immediately booked a flight for myself from Chicago to Rome via Philadelphia. I fly September 11th arrive early on the 12th and will be solo in Italy until I meet up with my friends in Munich on the 18th.

This being my first solo international trip, I am a little nervous, but also I am excited. From what I have read, traveling alone is one of the best ways to see a country, and experience the culture. Being a very social person, I don't think I will have too much trouble finding fellow budget travelers to accompany me on day trips to Vesuvius, or Capri, or Pompeii.

My itinerary is still completely in the air, but I know I want to spend some time in Naples, Rome, and maybe Venice, if I have enough time, and depending how much I want to rush myself. I still need to make a tentative travel plan, find places to stay(most likely hostels), buy a eurail pass, and figure out other the more minor details. I will post more details as I discover them, and will post an itinerary if I make one.

Vermillion Rafting Update

Rafting the Vermillion River--- SAT June 20th.

After a two hour drive, we arrived at the Vermillion River Rafting Outfitters. From the gravel parking lot we could see that the best of the best in homegrown rafting talent had arrived to challenge the raging rapids of the Vermillion, and they came prepared--outfitted with copious amounts of Busch Light and jean shorts, as well as perfectly groomed(see ungroomed) mullets. I could see that I was over matched. My lack of jorts, and the prominence of my teeth cast me into a world of desolation, I was not invited to take part in any of their hillbilly games, which included a game called "hey, let's harass this wild snake."

The only hope for me was to prove that I was not a greenhorn on the rapids. Once on the "class II" rapids, I could tell that immediately that I had been lied to. These rapids were only slightly wavier than bathwater, it was obvious that this was going to be a long day. Throughout the anticlimactic four and a half hour journey, we came across only two or three real drops, one of which was called wildcat rapids, in which I was almost decapitated by I leaping Asian Carp.

The scenery on the river was peaceful, but the abundance of trash, rusted out cars and tires on the river bank prompted my nephew to ask if we could come back again so that next time we could pickup everyone elses trash and beer cans. Although it was sunny and very hot, we were hesitant to submerge ourselves in the filthy brown-water rapids.

Will I raft again? Yes

Will I raft here again? No. The Vermillion river is probably more suited as a booze cruise rather than a real rafting experience. Although, I can think of better Booze cruise locations as well.

Vermillion River lovers send your hate mail to Adventuringblog@gmail.com

Inspirational Quote

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

-Mark Twain

Fee Free National Park Weekends

Here is the bad news: The economy has tanked. Your 401K is worthless, and if you have a job most likely you will never be able to retire. Here is the good news: This summer, the U.S. National Park Service will be offering a few weekends where you can bask in the beauty of our country's natural sanctuaries, and spend less of the money that you don't have.

For these weekends, entrance fees, car entrance fees, and park run tour fees will be waived, although you will still have to pay for camp sites.

Fee Free Weekends:

June 20th-21st Happy Father's Day!

July 18th-19th

August 15th-16th

There are 100 national parks on the list of participating parks, including some of the greats: Yosemite, Sequoia, Saguaro, Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, Rocky Mountain, Glacier, Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon, Grand Teton, and Zion.

Pack up the car, and get out there!

So living in Illinois, I have basically no local options for NPs to visit this summer. But recently, I have taken on a new role with the company I work for, and I am going to be traveling frequently to Scottsdale, AZ. These frequent business trips out west, will afford me more driving distance adventure and hiking options, and will put me within cheap flight range of a lot of great places.

I need to check out the Grand Canyon, and Zion National Park. I would also like to visit my cousin Andy in Salt Lake City, as well as my brother in the bay area. We will see. The adventures will be posted.

Devil's Lake Trip

This weekend myself and a small and select group of FIBs decided to jump the border to explore the beautifully evil landscape of Devil's Lake State Park in Baraboo, Wisconsin. For those of you that don't know, FIB stands for F---ing Illinois Bastards, and is a derogatory term Wisconsinites use to describe the Illinois residents that ignore their existence during the week only to invade their state on the weekends.

We drove up to Wisconsin Friday night after we all got out of work, and arrived at the Green Valley campground at about 9 PM. We quickly setup our tents and ignited a fire, around which we exchanged stories, memories and beers.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast we headed for the hills. We drove to the South Beach of Devil's Lake and began our ascent into the park's Eastern Bluffs. Once there, Curt expertly lead climbed a face, allowing the rest of us to safely top-rope the climb. After we broke down this line up the face, we set up another route on an adjacent face. As I was preparing to repel down the cliff, it began to rain really hard. Due to the fact that climbing is difficult, and that climbing wet granite is nearly impossible, we decided to quit climbing for the day. We hiked and bluff-cracked our way toward the lake. Once there, we followed some train tracks to a semi-secluded location which allowed us the luxury of cannon-balling into the frigid water from large boulders rather than having to slowly wade in from the beach. At this point, the rain had subsided, and the sun was blazing, and it was a great day for baptising in the cold water.

That night we grilled, had a camp fire, drank more beer, and told more stories.

On Sunday morning we awoke early, and again hiked the CCC(Civilian Conservation Corps) trail to the East Bluffs, and did more climbing. While we were finishing up climbing, an older gentleman that had been watching us climb asked if he could try out our rope. Adam belayed him while he made easy and efficient work of a climb that had really challenged us. Upon his safe return to Earth, Curt asked him how long he had been climbing, to which he replied 57 years. The man was 67 years old and was in better shape than any one of us, he was a climbing machine. He went on to tell us about the horrible gear he used when he started climbing and that he gave up mountaineering because most of his mountaineering friends were dead from mountaineering. This included his brother that had died 12 years earlier in Japan, when they were both buried in an avalanche. This man whose name was Ed said that he is currently working on a few climbing projects that include a 5.13 A climb, which is ridiculous. What an interesting old dude to talk to. You know when you see an old man with a shirt that says "Old Guys Rock!". Generally speaking they do not rock, and in fact they suck. Ed broke the stereotype, and really did rock.

When we finished talking with Ed, we hiked back to our swimming spot, and did a few dives. Afterward, we decided to do more hiking. We adventured to the Devil's door, and Balance Rock, then hiked back to our car to grill in the main park before hitting the open road back to our more civilized state.

This was a really good weekend, and was a great opportunity to reconnect with old friends, and to explore the magnificent Devil's Lake. We will definitely be back at some point this summer.

Memorial Day Weekend

It is Memorial Day weekend, and it is time to get together with family and friends to honor those brave men and women that have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and the freedoms that we enjoy. 

Besides attending my local Memorial Day parade on Monday, I will also be tagging along with a few friends to Devil's Lake, Wisconsin for a few days of hiking, camping, adventuring, and rock climbing. There may also be a chance for the more adventurous of the group to be dared into cannon-balling polar bear style into the frigid fiftyish degree water. It should also be a great weekend to take time to reflect upon those that we have lost in wars long ago, as well as in current wars. It will also be a good weekend to take mother nature on a date, and connect with some old friends. 

 

In other news, Jeff is going to be going to Bear Valley California to honor fallen heroes by drinking mass quantities of alcohol with his friends. Although he will be staying in a top of the line Cabin, the opportunity to rope swing into an iceberged lake may also present itself if anyone in his crew has what it takes. 

More updates to come. 

Survival Shelter Tune-up

It is getting nicer in the midwest, and my nephew and neice wanted to camp in their backyard. So, last Friday, I helped them setup their tent for the night, which is the tent  Ibought used at the REI Garage sale in Chicago. I then constructed a shelter for myself using two medium sized tarps, a little bit of rope, a few stakes a ski pole, and the bottom half of a Chicago Cubs "W" flag pole. 

According to the weather report that I had read several hours earlier, it was supposed to rain torrentially--this I was prepared for. I think my shelter was ideally suited for rain. 

After I made cobbler in a dutch oven on the campfire, we went to our seperate shelters. After a few minutes of lightning, my sister brought in her kids for safety. But even though there was lighting cthunder crashing around the neighborhood, I felt warm, dry and safe under the protecting arms of a few old maple trees(see. Dangerous sleeping habits)

After a few drops of rain, the storm was blown away. It was blown away by a weather system with wind gusts of 40+ miles per hour, and it seemed to be coming from both the north and south of my shelter. Unfortunately, I had not had time to test my shelter in a wind tunnel. It was not meant to endure these winds. My shelter was in a state of constant flap. I was essentially sleeping in a windsock. I barely slept. At one point I had to remove some supports and create what resembled a bivvy shelter or tarp cacoon(I am currently copywriting/patenting the tarp cacoon, so do not steal my idea.) 

Shortly after this, I began to hear the old maple trees above me begin to groan, creak, and crack. I began to worry a little about my safety. If a tree limb fell on me, what would they say at my funeral? "What an idiot!" 

What had I accomplished with my life? ......not much. 

What would the newspaper say? 

 "Pretend Survival Situation turns deadly"

 "Local Idiot crushed while sleeping in tarp cacoon"

This was unacceptable. At 4:30 AM, I brought my mummy bag and thermarest inside and slept on the couch. 

When I awoke, I went outside to take a picture of my shelter, and to gather the rest of my gear. The trees were still intact. But the tarp cocoon had been ravaged by the winds. It didn't survive the night, pictures would be too gruesome to show, just imaging what a yard sale looks like. 

I learned a few things about weather reports, and shelter placement, and that wind is the main enemy of bootleg survival shelters. 

REI Fresno Garage Sale

we got an email from an adventurer in Fresno wondering when their local Fresno REI was having its garage sale. Although it is easily googleable, I decided to post the answer for them. 

REI Fresno Garage Sale

When: 6/27/2009 9:00 AM

Where: REI Fresno

More specifically 36° 50.922' N 119° 47.406' W

The details: Members only sale. Will have great used and out of stock camping, hiking, and adventuring equipment items. Arrive early (a few hours early) for best (any) selection. 

The shot at acquiring excellent gear at rock bottom prices is definitely enticing. I highly recommend checking out this sale. 

Happy brawling!

REI Anniverary Sale

The time is upon us to stock up on adventuring gear. REI is currently in the midst of their anniversary sale. The sale includes 15% off of bikes, 20% off of some racks and boxes, and a good amount of items up for clearance. This sale ends May 10th. 

I am contemplating purchasing the GSI dualist lightweight cook system to go with my new single burner camp stove. Also, I may buy some Mountain House freeze dried food.

This is not a commercial for REI, but it happens to be my favorite store, and in a recession or not, it is always a good time to stock up on adventuring gear. 

Geocaching Success!

Okay, I did it, I went Geocaching to see what all the hype is about. First off I created a Geocaching alter ego---GatorCT. I then enlisted the help of my nephew and niece luring them with the prospect of pirate treasure. We biked to three separate cache locations. We had two unsuccessful attempts that may have been a result of human error, or muggles. At our third Cache location, we were able to discover the cache---a small black film canister. We signed our fake names, GatorCT and Bragonston. 

After one successful geocaching adventure, we are hooked, and have a healthy and exciting activity that will offer us another outdoor activity this summer. I think our next GPS induced outing will take place tomorrow. 

These caches are everywhere. Chances are there is probably one within a mile of where you are right now. Check it out at www.geocaching.com and participate in the hunt.

Watch out for muggles. 

Contributor Bio: Charley Tucker

• Name: Charley Tucker
• Home Base: Chicago, IL
• Education: Graduated from University of Florida
• Industry: Technology
• Music: All, especially Classic Rock
• Adventuring Experience: Camping, Hiking, Survival, Paddling, Trekking, Trail Running, Fishing, Rafting,     International Travel, limited climbing, surfing and snowboarding. Eagle Scout.
• Non-Adventure Hobbies: Reading, Watching Sports(Florida Gators, Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bears), Running, Playing Sports,
• Countries Traveled: USA, Mexico, Canada, England, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Grand Cayman
• Noteworthy Adventures:
• Boundary waters Canoe trip(Minnesota, Canada, 2 times)
• Philmont Boy Scout Ranch(Cimarron, New Mexico)
• Appalachian Trail(Hiked about 100 miles of the trail)
• Europe(Backpacked when I was  a Boy Scout)
• Devil’s Bridge(Sedona, Arizona)
• N.P.’s visited: Yellowstone, Rushmore, Redwood, Everglades, Badlands, Grand Teton, Mammoth Cave, Sequoia, Voyageurs, Wind Cave,  Devil’s Tower, Glacier, and probably more.
• Places I'd like to pitch a tent: Yosemite, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Zion, Joshua Tree
• Where I want to Travel: Ireland, Italy, Germany for Oktoberfest, Hawaii, South America, Mexico again
• Best part about Adventuring and Travel: I think the best way to learn about yourself is by getting out of your comfort zone, and getting out of your daily routine.  There is no better way to do that than by taking time to cut the cord between yourself what life tells you is “important” from Monday to Friday. My favorite part about adventuring and travel is exploring new situations and experiencing the unknown. Nature is relaxing but you can never know who or what you will encounter on the trail, or while traveling. Being outdoors is refreshing and you can usually tell that by the friendly people you meet along the way.Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  ~Albert Einstein

Mission Statement

The mission of the Adventuring Blog is to promote the idea of Adventuring.  Traveling, Trekking, Hiking, Camping, climbing, interacting with other cultures, learning about nature and survival, and most importantly,  getting outdoors and actively learning about ourselves by purposely pushing the limits and getting out of our comfort zone.