Alex Mercer 
I’ve driven across America three times. Each trip was unforgettable — and each one left me exhausted, white-knuckled, and wondering why I’d volunteered to stare at 2,800 miles of interstate instead of actually seeing the country. So this summer, I’m doing something different. I’m parking the car, booking a Superliner bedroom on Amtrak’s California Zephyr, … Read more
I’ve logged enough highway miles with kids in the backseat to know that the difference between a trip everyone remembers fondly and one that ends with someone crying in a gas station parking lot comes down to preparation. Not the kind where you fold outfits into packing cubes and label snack bags — I mean … Read more
There’s a specific moment during every coastal road trip where the chaos melts away. For me, it usually happens around mile 40 of a two-hour drive — the GPS stops barking, the highway opens up, and that first sliver of blue appears on the horizon between the dunes. That’s when the vacation actually begins. Everything … Read more
Driving a campervan changes everything about how you experience the road. The views are better from up high, the adventures feel closer, and the freedom is real. But there’s a catch that every van lifer discovers within the first week: you essentially cannot see what’s directly behind you. The rearview mirror that worked fine in … Read more
I used to be a chronic over-packer. Two checked bags for a four-day trip. A carry-on stuffed so full the zipper screamed for mercy. A personal item bursting with “just in case” items I never touched. Then, on a flight home from Phoenix last summer, the airline lost both my checked bags for 36 hours, … Read more
My dog Moose has logged more miles than most people I know. Three national parks, fourteen state forests, and enough dirt roads to fill an atlas. He turned seven this spring, and somewhere around our third breakdown on a fire road in the Ozarks last fall, I promised myself I’d stop treating his comfort as … Read more
There’s a specific moment when a cabin weekend clicks into place. For me, it happens on the first evening — cooler full of food, fire going, porch chair creaking underneath me, and the kind of silence you forget exists when you live in a city. But getting to that moment? That requires gear. And not … Read more
I’ve been driving the same crossover for five years. It’s fine. It gets me to the grocery store and back, handles the occasional weekend hike, and the cargo area has swallowed enough camping gear to justify its existence. But last month, halfway through a 14-hour drive to Utah, I realized something: my car wasn’t built … Read more
There is a particular kind of dread that settles in when you notice water dripping inside your campervan. You spent weeks measuring, cutting, and installing windows. You checked the weatherstripping. You tightened every screw. And still, after the first real rainstorm, there it is — a small trail of water working its way down the … Read more
There’s a particular kind of freedom that comes with packing a bag, telling no one where you’re going, and disappearing into the backcountry for a week. No group chat consensus on dinner. No compromising on the route. Just you, whatever you crammed into your pack, and the trail ahead. I’ve been doing solo trips long … Read more