Perfect Van Life Meals?

It can be really easy to pack a bunch of junk before hitting the road, since “junk” tends to last longer, have extended expiration dates, be easier to eat on the go out of the package, and require less work….

But I have been intentional that I don’t want van life to turn into “Megan eating junk” life.

So I’ve been on the lookout for good nutritious meals and meal replacement shakes, oatmeals, and soups to sustain me on the road while also fueling my runs and rides along the way.

I’ve mentioned these guys in my previous posts but they warrant additional followup mention here again: my friends Zora & Josh the Colorado husband-wife duo behind Wild Zora — they make soups, oatmeals, bars, dehydrated meals and so much more … and the ingredients are high quality - organic and intentionally chosen!

I recently brought their oatmeal along on a journey and was reminded again just how GOOD it is … you can make the oatmeal right in the bag and have ZERO dirty dishes to clean up — plus it REALLY fills you up.

=Powerful fuel for your adventures + supporting a CO based company owned and operated by a family I know and love. By the way- yeah- they gave me an affiliate code but I’d be proselytizing this product even without any kickback. Seriously it’s that good. Vegan options. Paleo options. Something for everyone.

Using my link below, you’ll save 15% on your Wild Zora orders and I’ll earn 15% commission. WIN WIN!

—-> Click HERE to order!

---

As a second road trip-adventure fuel option, I began hunting for the ideal protein powder/complete meal replacement mix … something I can drink while driving ;) Something that will keep me awake while I’m driving and won’t send me into carb-sleepy-time.

Enter— HUEL.

HUEL’s product, label, and website is clean- the marketing and branding is genius. You get a free shaker & T-shirt with your first order too. The peanut butter protein mix is YUM. 😋 They also make a coffee-protein powder for a little energy boost. And low and behold, they not only make delicious protein powders, they also make savory meal mixes that only require hot water and are PACKED with loads of vitamins & minerals!

The spicy Indian curry is SO good —and it comes with a cup for mixing and eating, so all you have to do is add hot water ! 🍛

If you decide to try some HUEL, I would be delighted if you’d use my affiliate code/link here:

https://huel.mention-me.com/m/ol/pb5bo-megan-hottman

Campsite experiment

So after parking the van for a couple weeks now, it’s funny how much I was itching to get her back out into the wild.
(Truthfully I was needing some wilderness and so was Ramsey but I didn’t know just how much until we got out here).
and— it is her (the van’s) one-month anniversary so I felt a celebration was in order! ;)
For this third outing I decided to try a campsite in a regional park - which boasts hundreds of miles of trails. Far enough away from city life and hustle bustle but contained enough for me to feel safe and not a super far drive to get here.

While I knew it would mean camping near other humans, I also continue to learn and refine my processes & I feel like these baby steps are best done when civilization is still fairly nearby.
Plus- restrooms. *And this one came with an unexpected bonus: a hot shower !

Ramsey and I loaded up and went to the park. When we arrived I learned all tent spots were full because- wait for it … there is a bike race here today !! Hahaha. Seriously that struck me as funny. I was attempting to get away & I got myself right into the middle of a mountain bike race. 😆
LESSON: always check your target park or campground website in advance for special events & to ensure there will be a tent spot /campsite. 🤦‍♀️

Well- luckily there were still spots in the overflow parking which TBH is the best area since it’s removed from the mayhem of the main camping areas where the racers are all staying AND it has the newer restrooms. I found myself parked near three other vehicles and their occupants proved to be super friendly neighbors. Each of them taught me something new tonight. So for that and the conversations I am super grateful. I do love talking to strangers.

Once we parked and settled in, we set out for a nice long midday run/hike. Ramsey was over the moon to be out here doing the work. This is where she truly thrives. She is the opposite of a couch potato !

Post run, I tried to chase rehydrating with a tall bottle of Skratch. I feel like hydration is a battle I am constantly losing out here in the desert 🐪 😓.

After that I came back, changed, and got on the Cannondale Fsi hard tail mountain bike for the dusk golden hour trail bliss. Hardly anyone was out there- I assume the racers were all resting up for tomorrow and the light and vibe out there was soooo good.
The paparazzi snagged a couple pics of me wearing my brand new Champion System 3/4 trail jersey with our latest custom design featuring my spirit animal, the hummingbird. We called it the BE FIERCE kit. It’s rad. (Artwork by my friend Luis Soto). Something about the desert 🏜 + the mindset I was in + the new kit gave me wings. 🐦 The simplicity of the singlespeed always brings me joy, too. No complications- no fuss.

Once back at the van, it was time to hang out my gear to air dry for a 2nd use tomorrow. I’m not gonna lie I had a lot of fun setting up these photos. (Side note: if van life has taught me nothing else so far it’s that the smallest littlest tasks are worthy of extra time and attention and reward me with the most joy).

Ramsey and I took in the incredible sunset tonight and went for a quick walk before dark. I tell you what- I am a mountains and colorado girl in my soul forever, AND the desert has also always had a piece of my heart ever since I was a little girl. 🏜 🌵

Grandma Jane wintered down here and after years of visiting her during the winters, I always wanted to spend my winters here too. Not when I eventually retired mind you- but as soon as it was possible.
For the first time ever, and it’s worth really noting this and me celebrating it, I am finally living that dream and it’s my current reality. Covid has made lawyering possible from anywhere with everyone on zoom and I am taking full advantage. 🙏🏼

Last, it was time for my most favorite part of vanlife: meal prep. Tonight’s random meal consisted of a noodle bowl, blueberries, salt&vinegar chips, hot chocolate and seltzer. Not the healthiest ever, but it really hit the spot and it was all doable with hot water heated on the van stove.

The night ends with me typing this blog while my legs are up recovering and getting ready for another active day tomorrow. 😊

In summary it was the perfect day- dog, van, sun, outdoor movement and exercise, dinner, rest, camera and photography practice, a little contemporaneous blogging and … I’m off to catch some 💤 😴 so I can do it all again tomorrow.

Stay hydrated and energized on YOUR adventures! I recommend Skratch Labs (made in Boulder, CO!) drink mixes for your bike rides and trail runs! Order some using the link below!

**As an Amazon Affiliate I may earn commissions from your purchases.

Christmas 🚐…

Tonight marks the second night in the van. The photos show the Instagram version. Gorgeous right? A friend suggested we set up camp for sunset and the overnight up on a semi-close mountain, overlooking the valley from about a mile-up. Sounded ideal. We had the place virtually to ourselves, it being a holiday at all.

Seemed like an awesome plan in theory.

Reality was something else. ;)
LESSONS:

1) don’t pack and leave quick after a big bike ride without eating something first. Or I’ll be hungry when I get where I’m going. Like. Real hungry.

That’s important for this point: 2) don’t ONLY pack foods that require hot water to consume. After driving quite a ways -including over tough gravel roads replete with washboards and such- (this drive wasn’t for the faint of heart), I arrived, -unpacked, -and set up camp ONLY to realize I could not get the stove to work AND all foods that I packed require hot water to eat (oatmeal, dehydrated meals, coffee, hot chocolate). Add this to my aforementioned hungry stomach, and it does NOT = a happy Megan. 😠

We (and by we, I mean me) learned: Always pack extra snacks that don’t need hot water. AND-Always check things like the stove BEFORE unloading everything and setting up camp. And don’t start an adventure on an empty stomach.

Ok so I loaded back up. Mad myself, you can be sure. Battled that doggone bumpy road back into a nearby town. Found a grocery store still open at 7pm on Xmas eve and bought myself a set of California rolls & a bubbly water dinner. Then I drove to a trailhead that is far off the beaten path and settled in …. Anddddd realized user error was the problem with the stove before. 🤦‍♀️… that’s right. I got it to work. Geez Louise. 🔥

So— I rehung the Xmas lights inside the van. 🎄 Made myself some hot chocolate. Settled in for an amazingly quiet and different kind of Xmas eve.

Solitude…. It’s a way to reframe being alone. Loneliness inherently carries negative connotations… Solitude is empowering IMHO. I can honestly say I enjoyed my solitude out there and did not feel the least bit lonely. Ramsey and I had a wonderful time.
It was so quiet.

“Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self”

— May Sarton

And then- oh my gosh - Christmas morning …. what a view outside those 🚐bed windows …! We were gifted with an incredible sunrise. 🎁

I made coffee for the first time ever in the van … (could that be any more enjoyable ?! Life’s simplest pleasure and most divine!) … and then we got out on a nice early hike. A second coffee and some apple turnovers plus 9 miles of fresh air hiking & sunshine vibes made this one ideal Christmas morning. 🙏🏼 🌲 🌄 🌵 🐶 ☕️

Talk about a room with a view !

Thank you 🎅!

“I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.”

— Henry David Thoreau

---

Here are some photos from the very FIRST van overnight a few nights ago ….

I would love to say these beauties were taken at my campsite. But no. The truth is that the sunset that night was at 4:48pm and I wasn’t ready to stop driving. And so it came to be that I ended up parking in a Holiday Inn parking lot to sleep that night around 9pm. Not winning that’s for sure.

LESSON: That’s the night I learned to choose a spot that is NOT right off the main road.

yes—so many things to learn - that’s why I’m showing myself grace as I go. This is all a master class in life and I’m ready to soak it up.

Here’s the book I’m currently reading; it’s an ideal book to ponder while I’m out exploring and camping in the van. It’s a book I need to read slowly, not rush through, and really process. It’s been recommended to me so many times by so many people - and I’m really enjoying it so far.

*NOTE: As an Amazon Associate I earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

** Speaking of vanlife and healthy hot oatmeal to kick off my daily adventures on the road— allow me to introduce you to my friends over at Wild Zora! Founded by fellow EO members/husband-wife duo Josh and Zora up in Loveland, CO, these products are amazing and PERFECT for van life as well as healthy life in general.

Using my link below, you’ll save 15% and I’ll earn 15% commission. WIN WIN!

—-> Click HERE to order!

Van Life: And So It Begins...

I am in a season of immense grief.

Like- the kind you can’t see the end of, the kind that grabs you by the throat at the most unexpected times, brings you to your knees sobbing… that kind of grief.

My grandmother was diagnosed with COVID in early November and was hospitalized - she went downhill quite quickly, and passed away on Thanksgiving. I was so fortunate to be able to fly back to Omaha to see her just days before she passed. But given the cruel reality of the COVID situation, we weren’t able to sit with her, to hold her hand, to be in her room- we were forced to peer in at her from the building’s exterior window- and to speak to her using our cell phones talking to her via her room’s speakerphone.

By the time I got to see her, she was no longer speaking, eating, or drinking. But she could still wave- and hold eye contact. It was two days of freezing rain and sleet, soaking through my puffy jacket, as I stood outside her window weeping and talking to her - until my phone battery would die. At which time, I’d walk back to my hotel, plug it in to charge, try to dry my soaked shoes, before I’d go back once again to her window.

A few days after seeing her - I learned from my father that she’d passed away Thanksgiving evening. The reminders to call her Sunday night still pop up on my calendar- and I’ve still got a few of her recent voicemails. It’s surreal, to be in this world now, without her. I don’t know that it will ever fully set in.

She and I would LAUGH uncontrollably… ;)

I had the amazing honor and privilege of writing her eulogy… and it should have been delivered live, in a church packed full of people who came to see her off and pay their respects… instead, it’s been recorded as audio for a website link that will be live for 30 days. A virtual funeral…. this is the age we live in.

A week after her passing, I drove to Gettysburg SD, my birthplace, and the site of her burial, for her “wake” and cemetery graveside service. There were 5 of us present. It has been so hard to see my grieving dad and uncle mourn the loss of their mother. Our entire family has been rocked by this loss. Yes, she was 94.5… but she was also active, healthy, and independent just weeks ago. It feels surreal.

Yet. Here we are.

Oh my sweet Grandma Jane, you are so very missed.

At some point in this midst of this, a good friend in Nebraska texted me telling me he was selling his built-out van, (since he and his wife loved life on the road so much, they’ve decided to upsize from van to motorhome). I told him I’d keep an ear out for someone who may be interested…. it wasn’t even remotely on my radar but I figured I’d find someone to check it out.

On my solo 9-hour drive home from the funeral in SD, I began thinking in earnest about the van…. I asked for more information about it, and the more details he sent and the more photos I saw, somehow I began to sense that it was the right move for ME to buy his van. I can’t explain it … I didn’t have any specific plans for it at the time- I didn’t have any real intention towards it— but my gut told me to just trust it.

And so, a week after the SD trip, I went to Lincoln, Nebraska, grabbed the van and drove it back home. This was a Wednesday. The entire drive home I began envisioning things I could do with the van-trips that I could take, the options it gave me and my 2 dogs to road trip without having to mess with hotels, etc. In the era we’re living in of COVID, this is a huge benefit. We would be totally self-sufficient, and could see things off the beaten path, via van trips.

With much of law practice shifting from in-person to online/virtual, I can work remotely while maintaining the same caseload I’ve maintained for years - so long as I’ve got internet, literally anything is possible.

I can represent my clients well - perhaps even better than every before -from anywhere.

Yes. Please.

When I arrived home, I “christened” the new ride by making a cocktail in the “kitchen” at the end of my driveway…. A negroni — (the alcohol-free version, thanks to Lyres) - delicious:

The next day, Thursday— two weeks after we lost Grandma Jane…. my beloved peanut butter pitbull, Phoenix, began crashing hard on me. At 14.5 years young, she was the human equivalent of 100 years old. And while she’d been given a dire prognosis back in July, she’d continued to go on walks, beg for food, cuddle and be her true self all summer and fall. Until Thursday night. I stayed up all night with her on the couch and by Friday morning it became apparent she was telling me she was ready to go.

Friday afternoon, December 11, I found myself at the vet- holding her in the “rainbow bridge” room, telling her goodbye— overcome with sobs and emotions — and even shock once she was gone …. my immediate reaction was, “NO! I change my mind, bring her back!” Oh my God, that agonizing pain- the way part of your heart gets ripped out.

I don’t know how I ever drove myself home.

Phoenix rode in the van only once - that one, last drive together - to her journey over the Rainbow Bridge. I wish the vet’s office had been hundreds of miles away. I wish our drive had been longer together. I wish I had more time with her. Ah… I wish. So many things I will miss about her. And my heart is so full of gratitude for having had her by my side for 14 and a half years. What a gift and blessing she was.

Oh my sweet Phoenix, you are so very missed.

“It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them, and every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are.”

— -author unknown

It is devastating and heartbreaking - grief stacked on top of grief.

And let’s not forget, we are in the midst of continued COVID lockdowns and limitations, holidays looming, the days are short and the nights are long and the weather is cold. I struggle with friends and family I’d love to see and hug, who say we cannot be together, while I observe them socializing with others or breaking their own rules... I know no one really knows what to do during all of this, but as someone who craves her support system now more than ever, It’s been a brutal and isolating combination of multiple forces overlapping all at once.

I have responded to this by sleeping... A lot. I put myself to bed REALLY early these days.

I also know it won’t always be this painful.

The sun WILL come out tomorrow — perhaps not in my heart for a few weeks or months- but it will be bright again someday. I am just in one of those really hard seasons right now… I can’t see when it will end, or how … all I can do is trust in the knowing that someday it will feel better.

And so, this is how my van life story begins:

In grief.
In deep sadness. In pain.

Should we run from it and busy ourselves into avoiding it- or should we sit in it fully, until it subsides?

I don’t have the answer to that. I am taking it as it comes.

This entire year has been about surrender for me. Now more than ever I am in full surrender mode. What’s next?

I don’t have to know.

What I do have, is a new van, and my dog Ramsey, by my side. And together, she and I — we’re going to go have some adventures.

If these past few weeks, plus a near-death experience back in October, have taught me nothing else, it’s to get busy livin’ …

---

Where did I begin my vanlife research? Well, with books, naturally…. Here are the first 3 I’ve purchased and read. The 2 vanlife books are really helpful and inspiring! I specifically chose one by a male author and one by a female author, one more focused on outside-the US travel, and one focused on travel w/in the US. And- The Parks book is like a road trip wish list!

*NOTE: As an Amazon Associate I earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

** Speaking of vanlife and healthy foods for my adventures on the road— allow me to introduce you to my friends over at Wild Zora! Founded by fellow EO members/husband-wife duo Josh and Zora up in Loveland, CO, these products are amazing and PERFECT for van life as well as healthy life in general.

Using my link below, you’ll save 15% and I’ll earn 15% commission. WIN WIN!

—-> Click HERE to order!