The camp kitchen

What a mess.

This is the latest version of my cooking setup for the big ride. I've spent hours on it, and it is still likely to change. In the past I have been woefully unprepared to eat, as hungry as I've been. Last summer, I sat at a campsite in the late afternoon realizing I had no food for dinner, and nothing for breakfast, and poor tools even if I had had anything to cook. And I certainly didn't have a few miles left in me to go in search of something. The neighboring campers, grilling a big meal for the family, took pity and offered me a plate of steak, corn and potato salad. I thanked them and wolfed it down. Best meal I've ever had.

So I want to do a better job of that. The other day I found among my camping stuff a 10-year-old freeze-dried meal -- spaghetti and meat sauce, literally 10 years old -- and cooked it up, and it was great. And a lot -- enough for two. So I'm going to get a few of those, and of course, ramen and instant oatmeal, besides my normal snack foods, just to get started.

So what we have here in the picture are fork, knife and spoon; "spatula" (this will change); scrubbers; a salt/pepper shaker; a firestarter stick; a little brass stove (just $15!); an aluminum wind screen; soap, cooking oil, and stove fuel (the yellow Heet); a little funnel; matches as a backup; and pots and pans. It seems like lot, and doesn't pack very smoothly, but, mostly, it's what I had, and I didn't want to spend and arm and a leg for the latest thing.

And now I'm thinking I could leave half of that stuff at home if I give up any kind of frying -- think eggs -- and just boil water for the instant foods. Like I said, a work in progress.

We shall see.