Trailblazers' Toolkit: 15 Tips for Epic Camping Experiences & 10 Must-Haves- Part 2 Sponsored by Uco Gear)

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Episode Transcript

Alexa (00:01):
*THIS TRANSCRIPT HAS NOT BEEN REVIEW O Hi, I'm Alexa and.

Rory (00:07):
I'm Rory, and together we are.

Alexa (00:09):
The.

Rory (00:09):
ROAMies R.
O

Alexa (00:11):
We are married To each other.

Rory (00:13):
Right, we are a touring musical duo.

Alexa (00:16):
And our music has taken us to all kinds of places all
around the world and keeps usalways on the go.

Rory (00:21):
So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while
running around working to keepall your plates spinning.

Alexa (00:27):
And we hope, to facilitate your busy lifestyle
and feed your inner travel bug.

(00:32):
Mm-hmm.

Alexa (00:37):
Hi everyone, welcome to our latest episode sponsored by
UCO Gear.
We are so excited to tell youall about them.
But first, all right, rory, weforgot last episode to do our
dumb world trivia, world traveltrivia cards that we're doing

(00:58):
this year, so now we have todouble up on this episode to
make up for it well, it's dumbthat we forgot right, all right,
y'all.
We're going to tell you theanswers at the end, so you have
to stick around to hear theanswers.
But here are the questions.
The first one, the dancinghouse, is a curvy building that
can be found in which europeancity that's an easy one.

Rory (01:21):
I've walked past it and driven past it many times, so I
know this building.
I can see it in my head rightnow it's next to the river.
I'll give you a hint.
It's next to a river.
That's an easy one.
I've walked past it and drivenpast it many times, so I know
this building.
Wow, I can see it in my headright now.
It's next to the river.
I'll give you a hint.

Alexa (01:31):
It's next to a river, and there's a famous bridge that
goes across the river Okay Great.

Rory (01:35):
Yep, it's a very old Eastern European town city.

(01:40):
Okay.

Rory (01:42):
Famous for its music, now its symphony.
Okay, famous for its music, nowits symphony hollywood does.

Alexa (01:48):
Hollywood does recordings over there with the symphony
because it's cheaper, so givingeverything away I'm just saying
people, might you know it's ahint okay all right.
The next trivia question is thestatue of liberty was a gift to
the usa.
From which country?

Rory (02:03):
another easy, easy one, come on.

Alexa (02:05):
Okay, I'm from.

Rory (02:05):
South Louisiana.

Alexa (02:07):
All right, rory, so you read the next ones that are
compensating for missing them.
Last episode.

Rory (02:14):
Am I reading the?

Alexa (02:15):
You're reading the question, not the answer they
have to wait for the end for theanswer Both of them.
There's two questions per card.
These are just random drawings.
Okay, go.

Rory (02:25):
Who is considered the founding father of Mongolia?

Alexa (02:32):
We've never been to Mongolia.
We need to go.

(02:35):
Yeah somebody told us recently that we really need to go there
.

Alexa (02:38):
Yep, all right, and what's the next question, rory?

Rory (02:42):
Which city is home to the statue of Christ the Redeemer
man tonight?
They're just such easy ones,Come on.

Alexa (02:51):
Well, I mean, I just picked the random cards from the
deck All right.
So y'all can.
If you don't know the answersto any of these, you have the
whole episode to figure it out.
While you're listening, you canbe thinking about the answers
or you know.

Rory (03:06):
No Googling, come on.

Alexa (03:07):
Right, and now let's dive into part two of our
conversation with Craig and DJ,and we're going to finish
learning all of our 15 tips forcamping.

(03:20):
You're bringing animals onto those trips too, it's a whole
different thing You're puttingout, the water bowls.
You have to bring all the tothose trips too.
It's a whole different thing.
You're planning out the waterbowls.
You have to bring all the foodthat they will not eat.
Yeah, Making sure that they'recomfortable and you lose all
that seat space for them.
Yes, you're still overpacking,but as long as it can fit in the
car you're fine, yeah, ifyou're going backpacking, you

(03:41):
definitely want to be morecareful, because that's going to
be a situation where everyounce matters.

Alexa (03:45):
Yeah, so what's your next tip?

(03:48):
So the next one we have is you want to plan activities for
yourself and for a group.
If you are going with a group,and so things like that, I mean
you can bring a deck of cards.
That's an easy one to do,bringing a book, so that way you
can like sit alone.
We always like to bringhammocks on our trips and so
there's nothing like being at acampsite reading a book, sitting

(04:09):
in a hammock, it's kind of likethe idealistic experience and
so like planning on thingsbecause you are there to enjoy
the nature and the natural worldaround you, and so planning
time for you to spend byyourself, but also planning time
for you to be with other people.
If you are going with a group orjust your spouse or partner, it

(04:31):
allows you to like not justdefault to old things like going
like just watching videos onyour phone or doing things that
you'll be doing at your househopefully you won't have
reception, exactly, yeah, payingyourself to be out there and
enjoy it, and so, like peoplebring drawing pads or, yeah,
board games some of our friendsactually bring paint and they'll
paint while they're out innature because they get inspired

(04:53):
.

Rory (04:53):
A lot of our friends bring their knitting or crocheting
and continue to work on theirprojects that way or those types
of projects cool, yeah, reallydepends on what you're into.
If you like it at home, you'reprobably gonna like it outside,
but just make sure it doesn'teat up any electricity yeah um,
I think our next tip is well,this is, this is my tip.

(05:15):
Actually, my rule this is myrule is that no one else wants
to hear your music when you arecamping, no one else wants to
hear your music when you'recamping, bring your headphones.

(05:24):
Listen to your music, hear your music when you're camping.
Bring your headphones.
Listen to your music in yourheadphones if you want to listen
, but when you're out in nature,people want to be out in nature
.
They don't want to hear yourmusic, which, even if they liked
it two campsites over, it's notgoing to sound the same.
So, yeah, so be courteous,please don't share.
Yeah, that's one thing you don'twant to share when you're on a

(05:46):
campground.
And so just be cognizant ofother people are there to enjoy
the space also.
There's a few exceptions.
Yeah, I will put a caveat onthat.
Like there are some situationswhere people bring and this is
one of those can go either way.
Someone brings a guitar and youhave a group of musicians who
are out there playing.
We ended up the site where itwas this whole group of people

(06:07):
and they were at the next sideover and it was this very
beautiful uh thing.
They were all singing in agroup and playing different
instruments and it was just areally nice experience to be on
the periphery of but, that canalso go badly, depending on who
is holding those instruments andsinging those songs.
So, just be cognizant.
Our other caveat for that is ifyou are dispersed camping and

(06:30):
there are not other peoplearound you, then feel free to
play your music on loud, Becauseat that point it's just you.
And if you are done listeningto the sounds of the birds and
the crickets and the wind goingthrough the trees, by all means.
Yeah, but also realize that thatnoise carries, especially like
if you're desert camping.
We were out in joshua tree and Imean we were probably three

(06:53):
miles from the next groupdispersed camping and I could
still hear them.
So yeah, yeah, there's, uh,there's definitely different
situations in forests it's alittle bit more.
There's a lot more noisecancellation in the trees and
stuff.
So it's safer Things to absorbthe sound waves.

Alexa (07:11):
And plus that's going to run down your battery or use up
electricity in some capacity.
So that's another good reason.

(07:19):
Which brings us to our next step, which is watching your car
battery and maybe bringingjumper cables, because we have
known a lot of people whose carbatteries have died because
they've turned their, theirauxiliary power, on to recharge
their phones or their headlamps,or let the door open and let
the light on all night so weactually have a little

(07:41):
independent what would you callit?
The thing that starts the car?
Yeah, so they have these littlejumper packs.
That would you call it, thething that starts the car.
Yeah, so they have these littlejumper packs that are basically
backup batteries now and they'rereally compact and you can put
them in your car and they chargeoff of your car, so if you
haven't charged it before, youcan just plug it in the back on
the way to the campsiteno-transcript.

(08:09):
I mean, if you're driving allthe time, you're not really
having to deal with it andyou're taking your keys out of
your car as soon as you get home.
As soon as you end up in asituation where that car's going
to sit for a while and youmight be going in and out of it,
your battery might not be asgood as you expect it to be Also
great if you have an old Camrythat's 20 years old and still
running and on occasion, justdecides it doesn't want to start

(08:30):
anymore, so I like to keep itwith my spare tire, and then
it's just ready to go when Ineed it.

Alexa (08:36):
Yeah, well, and that's exactly like I was thinking.
That's when you were talkingabout emergency preparedness and
just someone who is on the goall the time, something like
that.
It's just a good, that's a goodidea to have in your car.
It's just kind of a smart thingto just kind of always have.

(08:51):
We should put a link to that in the show notes too, yeah,
yeah folks can grab somethinglike that, and that's when those
items, too, that you have tocheck on on occasion, right,
because it won't hold the chargevery long, so you do need to
make it kind of part of yourroutine to take it out and
recharge it every once in awhile, gotcha yeah just like
you're gonna check the food inyour emergency kit

(09:12):
exactly check in dates, makingsure that things are ready when
you do need them yeah wedepending on what we're doing
too, like we have a solar panelthat we'll bring if we need to
charge things, so like, like andthat's.
I mean even stupid littlethings like lights around a
campsite, having the ability tohave that stuff charged, so that
way when it does turn night,you aren't necessarily turned

(09:34):
off and you can still cook ifyou came home a little bit too
late.

Alexa (09:38):
Yeah, nice.

(09:39):
Bringing ability to do those sorts of things and enjoy the
site a little bit longer.
I think you don't want to stayup too late.
You are there for the naturalexperience and shutting down.
I think it's always been a goodway to reset my sleep cycle.

Alexa (09:52):
I mean, we are creatures of art, exactly, and so we tend
to bring in some of that intothe campsite.

(10:00):
One of the things that we like to bring, though, are little
fairy lights that have a solarpanel attached, so that's how
they charge themselves, and thenyou get these pretty little
twinkly lights at night time, soyou know where the tree
branches are and you don't hityour head on the way to and from
your tent.
But they're also really prettyand very subtle.
They're not going to takeanyone too much out of the

(10:21):
experience by seeing them atyour campsite.
But they're just some additionalstars to the starlight.
That's great.
Our next tip is consideringyour trash pack out.
If you're going to a site whereit's pack in, pack out, or if
you're going backpacking, thenyou need to bring all of your
trash back out with you, and soyou need to make sure that you
have trash bags available andthat you aren't emptying any

(10:44):
containers that you're puttinginto that trash bag, so you
don't end up with a big wet messin your car at the end when
you're packing it back out.
And you do want to make surethat you're not leaving trash
behind, because it does take solong to break down, and it can
really ruin the experience forother people to show up to a
campsite or to a hiking trailand see trash all over.
You also have to plan for thefact that when you're in these

(11:06):
campsites, you're dealing withwilderness and there are bears
and other animals that are goingto get into that trash.
So you can't just leave thingsout and be able to go clean up
in the morning, because thenyou'll have a bunch of critters
running through your campsite.
We've had raccoons, bears,squirrels, all sorts of things.
And you want to think aboutwhere you're putting it.

(11:27):
Her brother one time was campingand an animal ate its way.
He had a bag of marshmallows inhis tent.
Yeah, in his tent he had a bagof marshmallows and they ate
through the wall of the tent,got inside, grabbed some
marshmallows.
Run to a perfectly good tent,exactly.
And so, like when you have thattrash, I mean you can put it up
in a tree while you're there, umjust, or you can put it in your

(11:48):
car, although they don't alwaysrecommend that, because bears
know how to get in the cars now,yeah, and so just planning a
lot of places now have bearboxes and so it's a little box
where you can store all thatstuff, so making sure you're
putting your trash in there tooa lot of people will hang it up
on a tree and leave it thereuntil the end of the trip, but
realize that you'll have foodthings in there.
You'll have scraps.

(12:09):
You'll have things that otherthings want access to.
And so planning for that Trashmight draw critters that might
then find your uneaten food,right Right, and then you might
be out.

Alexa (12:28):
And also, like my parents , had a cabin in angel fire, new
mexico, and a bear came in andmy parents had a box of snickers
in the cabinet and the bearcame for the snickers.
But there are claw marks onthose cabinet doors.
So the bear not only broke intomy house my parents were not
there, the house was locked up.
The bear got into the house andthen opened a cabinet door and
got the Snickers off of theshelf behind a closed cabinet

(12:51):
door and found his way out andmy parents knew it wasn't a
burglary from a human because ofthe bear claw marks that are
now permanently on those cabinetdoors.
So yes, we can attest to thefact that animals can destroy
your property um, it'd be veryexpensive yeah, and it's all
because, well gosh, I didn'twant to take the extra five

(13:13):
minutes to put my trash where itneeded to go, exactly.
So that's sounds like a lessonthat we would want to learn from
other people and not learn thatmistake on our own.
Yeah, very good, yeah.

(13:24):
You want to be very careful, and I mean there's certain
things that you won'tnecessarily think about until
after it's gone bad.

Alexa (13:31):
So like pouring, which is why we appreciate you telling
us all this stuff now.
It's really great.

(13:37):
Pouring out some pasta water on a fire.
I mean, that's kind of thingslike if you put certain food in
there, if you're putting sausageor something, you're allowing
for all the smoke now to come upand fill the air and now, like
you, have drawn a bunch ofanimals to your fire.

Alexa (13:55):
I'm sorry we're laughing because their dog is snoring.
It's right next to us.
He's so cute, she's so cute.

(14:04):
She's a next to us.
He's so cute.
She's so cute.
Yes, she's a horrible camppartner.

Alexa (14:08):
So if you hear snoring folks, it's the dog.
All right, hopefully, okay, goahead.

(14:14):
No, no, I was going to say when it comes to animals that
are in the campsite.
Having animals with you ishelpful.
Okay, like having dogs with youdoes scare away some of the
other animals that might comearound, but when it comes to
nighttime and your dogs aresnoring in the tent, they're not
they might still come eat yourmarshmallows, exactly, yeah I

(14:38):
think that leads us into thenext thing, which is always
putting out your fire.
This is something that I alwaysdidn't do, because I thought it
was very it was very nice towake up in the morning, start a
fire with the coals that arealready in there, yeah, but with
the fires that we've seen allover the country now.
I mean it's very easy for, andespecially at night, winds pick

(14:59):
up.
Things happen.
It just takes one spark inorder to start a fire and ruin
everybody's experience, and somaking sure that you put it out
every single night once you'redone with that fire, and so like
pouring water in it, actuallymixing it up, putting what is it
?
sand, yeah yeah, so burying itis actually the most water
efficient way to do it right, soyou don't waste all of your

(15:22):
good water, although it doeswork with pasta water or you're.
You know you're actually yourleftover dish water is a really
good use for that.
But drowning the fire,unfortunately, you know, can be
a big water waste and also meansthat the fire might be harder
to start the next day.
If you've got now a wet, if it'sall wet, fire pit, and so the
best way to do it is actually tobring a little shovel with you

(15:44):
and we have a little fold up onethat we bring with us and just
to turn the dirt over the sandthat's in the pit, over to bury
the coals, and you just smotherthem out.
And you just want to make surethat you're feeling all around
the fire pit to make sure thatthere's no hot spots and, if
there are, that you turn thoseand smother them again.
The fire part of it can reallygo bad south.

(16:06):
We want to be able to continuecamping.
A few years back there was areally bad one in Angelus
National Forest and we werewatching those fire lines as
they slowly grew quicker andquicker to one of our favorite
campsites.
Yeah, it was terrifying, it wasvery terrifying, and they
crossed right.
So they went over our favoritecampsite, which it's the very

(16:29):
best first-come, first-servedsite that we know.
It has water, it has restrooms,it has trash facilities, so
it's a really nice, easy placeto go to.
It's just this oasis and it'sall these gorgeous old trees and
it would take decades, if notlike hundreds of years, for the
site to recover.
And we watched the fire linecross over that campground and

(16:51):
we thought we'd lost it foreverwe're fortunate it's still there
.
It somehow survived the fire,but everything around it was
burned and you know you, youlose a lot and you're not going
to get any of that back quicklywhen you get a big fire like
that.
And I mean the animals that arein those areas, too, that are
living in that situation.

(17:12):
We're just borrowing it whilewe're camping.
They lose their homes in thosesituations.

Alexa (17:16):
If not their lives, and then people lose their homes.

(17:19):
when the fire hits Exactly.
Yeah, it goes even further now.

Alexa (17:24):
Yeah it's a big to-do.
That's not a good situation, soput out your fire.

(17:31):
Put out your fire, always put out your fire, let's see.
And then our next tip isbringing soap to wash your
clothes.
We bring a couple littlelaundry detergent pods with us,
but a friend of mine I wasspeaking to recently had
recommended naphtha soap, whichis a bar soap that she uses for
washing your clothes when she'scamping.
That also, apparently, isreally good for poison ivy,

(17:55):
because it'll help to get theoils off of your skin and make
the reaction less severe if youend up accidentally touching it.
So, um, so it's like a doubleduty soap, yeah, and yeah that
multiple actions there.
So you're packing less things,right?
Yes, I, I have to say we'vealmost never used soap when we

(18:15):
bring it camping, but you know,if you ended up in a situation
where your clothes got reallydirty and you really wanted to
re-wear them, it just seems likea nice smart thing to have,
okay, you?

Alexa (18:24):
don't normally wash your clothes while you're camping
because you're gone few enoughdays and yeah you can be stinky
if you need to anyway, it's kindof part of it.

(18:33):
You're supposed to be stinky.

Alexa (18:36):
You usually wear the same thing over a couple days yeah,
yeah, you definitely won't needas many clothes as you think
you're going to need yes, andwith everybody working from home
, or so many people working fromhome, you're used to stinking
anyway.

(18:48):
Exactly, yeah, yeah, you can't even tell anymore.
No, it's all good, it's all good.

Alexa (18:55):
This poison ivy made me think of mosquitoes.
Oh yes, I think mosquitoes areevil.
They love me.
Oh yeah, rory is a little moreimmune to them, but I have, I
guess, type a blood or something.
Whatever it is that they love.
I think I don't remember myblood type, but whatever mine is
that's what they love.
Yeah, any mosquito tips for mestand near craig they will go

(19:20):
after me and they leave marksmaybe, maybe it's because we
have freckles, we need to do astudy on that we do we do Not
the blood type?

(19:30):
it's the freckles, the big thing, yeah, just staying
covered fully, making sure thatyou're wearing clothes that are
covering all parts of you.
At least that's my solution,because I am such a magnet to
mosquitoes.
They do have different sprays.
They say the most effectiverepellent is DEET although it's
not exactly the mostenvironmentally friendly thing

(19:50):
and it can make you sick if youuse too much of it, but my
friend who used to work clearingtrails said that was the only
thing that ever worked for thoseones, and he was in the Pacific
Northwest.
And so I prefer to wear clothesthat cover everything and then
spray the clothes with something, so it's not necessarily
touching my bare skin.
Yeah, really, I just don't wantto have that bug spray feeling
all over me.
The whole rest of the campingtrip, because it's just so hard

(20:12):
to get off and you know you'reprobably not going to be
showering when you're on a shortcamping trip, and so generally,
yeah, just covering up is yourbest bet with kind of loose
fitting clothes that they can'tbite you through like a thin
long sleeve.
Yeah, and being aware when theydo feed too, because they
usually feed as the sun's comingup and as the sun's going down.
So those are the times you needto be most aware of what you're

(20:33):
doing and being prepared to becovered, because that's when the
ones who are going to want totake your blood are going to
feed it.

Alexa (20:42):
And that reminds me I did do a TikTok video where I show
that I sprayed clothes.
Oh yeah, so you have remindedme, so I'll put a link to that
in the show notes too.
Oh yeah, but you can pre-sprayyour clothes and let them, you
know, and it lasts like sixmonths of washing.

(21:00):
Oh, nice Really.

Alexa (21:02):
Yeah, so I did that before we left for our camp in
finland last year, but our campis like at a dorm, you know so
we're not camping, camping.
I think that that spray alsohelps with like ticks and stuff.
Do you have you guys run intoand it might not be so, like my
parents live in kentucky and sowe have a lot more ticks there
than california but have you runacross?

(21:24):
anything like that or little red bugs or critters definitely
had ticks, and usually what I'veseen them on is the dogs those
are the ones because they'rerunning through the grass.
They're the ones who are themost likely to get them.
So checking your dogs if you'rewearing long pants, I mean
you're.
You're a lot safer as long asyou're like being care, you're
being careful where you'restepping.
But we have a friend who washiking and got bit by a tick and

(21:48):
developed this rare A meatallergy?
Yeah, this rare disorder thatyou get where.
Now, if she eats meat, she.
She needs to use an EpiPen orget to the hospital.
Yeah, if she gets really sick.
Yeah because it will kill her.
Yeah, so it's not in this areaout in California, but in other
areas I think she was living inIndiana at the time in some

(22:11):
areas there are ticks that willgive you a meat allergy.
So, yeah, in those areasespecially, you want to be
really careful to make sure thatyou're wearing long pants or
avoiding walking through a brushwhere the ticks tend to sit,
because you know they're notgoing to come after you.

Alexa (22:24):
They're gonna happen upon you when, when you go through
their their territory orwhatever where they're hanging
out, but just like a spider web,you're walking through their
yeah areas

(22:36):
tall walking shoes are good and checking yourself for ticks
too, because a lot of tick does.
Tick-borne diseases can beprevented by removing ticks in
time.
I think and maybe don't quoteme on this, but I think Lyme
disease, yeah, if you get it offwithin a certain period of time
, they don't necessarilytransmit the disease, and so you
can protect yourself from that.
Yeah, and they don't bite rightaway.

(22:57):
They usually crawl into a darkarea.
So it might not be the firstthing you want to do when you
get back to your campsite, butdefinitely checking your body
and making sure having a goodfriend who can look at something
you can't reach, or a feeling.

Alexa (23:12):
I think there's a country song about that.
Oh yes, yes, but we won't gothere.

(23:20):
This next one is more about safety.
This is something that we'vetalked to a friend about who
goes camping and actually does alot of backpacking.
He always, when he goesbackpacking, he puts in his car
a note in the windshield sayingwhen he left, when he plans to
come back.
So, that way, if he doesn't comeback, they are able to identify

(23:40):
his car and where he actuallystarted off from.
We had somebody who was fairlyclose to us.
Their teacher was in thePacific Northwest and went
hiking out in Mount Rainier anddisappeared, and this was last
year and they still haven'tfound him.

Alexa (23:53):
Oh, my yeah.

(23:54):
And so those are situations.
I mean, those are worst casescenarios.
But they found his car recently, in the last month or two.
Oh wow, where if?
they were able to find that thatsooner, if somebody had seen
that car and seen a note sayingI was supposed to be back on
this saturday and it's two dayslater they could have redirected
their search to more in thatregion.
Right, and so being able toplan like that.

(24:16):
Now we have a discussion aboutthis.
Regarding security, you don'twant people breaking into your
car especially with saying like,hey, nobody's gonna be here for
a couple days.
Yeah, yeah, yeah but you got tothink about, really weigh your
situations.
If you're hiking by yourselfand you need to, be in a really
dangerous area.
Yeah, yeah or yeah, you justhave no way to communicate with

(24:36):
anybody.
You don't expect anybody elseto run into the trail.
It's the safety.
Risk is more on you being foundin case something goes bad than
somebody breaking into your car.
Right.
And so planning out for that andjust I think, like putting how
many people are in your party ifyou are doing that, Just making
sure that before you go tellingpeople where you're going to be

(24:59):
camping, this is the campsitewe're going to be at.
This is what we're planning todo.
This is the campsite we'regoing to be at.
This is what we're planning todo, Just so that way you have
somebody who knows where to lookfor you in case the worst thing
possible happens.
And when you're planning to getback.
I don't know if you'vementioned that, yeah, yeah, I
mean they have a lot of cooltools.
now they have these.
They have a lot of GPS trackingtools, I mean they have watches

(25:21):
Satellite phones.
Satellite phones yeah, and solike if you really get into it.
There's a lot of technology toprotect yourself.
Now, if you're at a campsitewhere you're going on little day
hikes that are less than 10miles.
And well populated, wherethere's other people walking
through those.
Yeah, you don't have to worry somuch, but definitely, as you
start getting into these moreisolated regions or you're doing

(25:43):
dispersed camping, you want tothink about that a little bit
more?
Yeah.

Alexa (25:47):
That's just a general good travel tip anyway, and
especially if you're travelingsolo.
Just to always let someone knowthis is where I'm going and you
can always have your.
Find my Phone on Try to keepyour phone on you and if you
have an iPhone you can do theFind my Phone Like with maps I.
I can like share my locationwith people, but you can't

(26:08):
always count that your battery'sgonna last and you know that
kind of thing.
So, yeah, so just alwayscommunicating with someone.
Hey, just make sure I check inwith you by this time exactly.

(26:20):
If you don't hear from me by saturday, send out the dogs.

Alexa (26:22):
Yes, yeah, yeah yeah.
Our friend smart, who does thatnote in the windshield also
will text his wife in themorning, if you don't hear from
me by.

(26:25):
Saturday send out the dogs.
Yes, yeah, yeah, it's justsmart.
Our friend who does that notein the windshield also will text
his wife in the morning and atnight, because he keeps the
phone off the rest of the day tosave the battery.
Right but he messages her justso that he's you know.
Checking in and letting herknow like I'm still okay without
too much time passing Right.

Alexa (26:41):
And that's also good too, like if you just need some me
time and you need to get away,that's fine and have your phone
off if you need like aunplugging retreat, it's still a
good idea to okay my phone isgoing to be, off.
Don't expect to hear from me.

(26:58):
Yes.

Alexa (26:59):
But I will check in these days.

(27:02):
At this point, if you don't hear from me, then you might
want to, Then we care yeah itmight worry you a little bit
more.

Alexa (27:09):
Yeah, that's just always a good tip in general, even if
you're not camping.

(27:13):
Yes, yeah, traveling.
So the last thing is kind ofthe antithesis of what we
started, but you don't need toplan it all out.
I think a lot of people gethung up and all of these things
you have to prepare for, but alot of times, especially if
you're just beginning camper,you can go out and you're
probably being close enough to astore nearby where you can get

(27:34):
more ice or you can get a knifeor you can get firewood so I
mean or drive to a hotel.

Alexa (27:41):
If you just really get in this room, exactly, yeah, you
can always get away.

(27:46):
You're in your car, you just pack it all back up and you head
home and so like, if you areafraid of like, oh, I don't have
everything I need and I'm notprepared.
This is too much I have tohandle.
Don't worry so much.
If you have a tent, you'llprobably be fine.
I mean you can and food Well youcan and food well, I mean you

(28:09):
can like go out to dinner andcome back.
Yeah, we like to plan so thatway.
Once we're there, we're therebut you don't have to worry
about losing any street cred ifyou have to leave your
campground.
Camping is an experience toenjoy and if you are going and
you still have to go into thelocation to get things you're
still enjoying the experience.
It's not like we're living outin the woods for three months at

(28:29):
a time.
It's something where you'reenjoying nature for what it is
and even if you're making a daytrip out of it and then leaving
and going back at night.
That's okay you're still goingout, you're getting away from
your normal life and you'rereflecting on the things that
you have to deal with on aregular basis and that can be
really powerful as wellabsolutely.

Alexa (28:50):
I agree 100.
That's awesome, and I love theday trip idea too, because
there's so much you don't haveto think about, just go yeah, a
lot of the campgrounds too.

(29:01):
They have a camping site and then next to it the hub the day
use area.
And so people go.
They have barbecues there, theyset it up, they sit in the woods
, they go for hikes.
We have a church camping tripthat we do every year and we
have some members who needdevices to sleep with like a
CPAP or a bipod machine, and sothey usually stay at a hotel

(29:26):
nearby, and then that way theycan use the machine when they
are sleeping, and then they justcome and hang out with us
during the day.
There you go.
That works great for them, andit is good to have some downtime
right, you don't want everyminute of your day filled
because that's you know, campingis kind of about getting back
to basics and just being out innature, and it's nice to just
kind of have that time to justsit in the hammock right and
stare up at the treetops or thesky or the clouds.

(29:47):
I'm gonna go chomp some wood now, or I'm gonna just go throw
some sticks and stuff or maybeyou find a trailer trail that
you didn't know was going to bethere.
Now you have some extra time tohike right because maybe you,
you know, didn't plan for it,but you, you get to explore
something new and exciting carvesomething, yeah plenty of
things to do out there if you'reone of the people who are

(30:09):
afraid of everything you have todo.
You can definitely get away withjust showing up just show up.

Alexa (30:15):
Yeah, I love it.
I love it well.
Thank y'all so much.
This has been so helpful.
It's great to have all of theselittle things to think about
and, like you said, we're notgoing to get everything perfect
every time but there's just somuch helpful information here,
so I hope this is a greatresource for a ton of people and
I just I really appreciate yourtime and wish you the best next

(30:38):
camping trip that you have.
I hope that it's a great one.

(30:41):
Thank you, thank you, we're looking forward to it.
Do you?
Have one planned Not yet no,it's just been too cold.
It's been raining a lot.
So now it's starting to getsunny again, we're starting to
look at it.
Maybe at the end of the monthwe'll just get away.
Yeah, all right, just go for it.

Rory (30:58):
Exactly.
We're sure you enjoy theepisode with Craig and DJ
learning about 15 wonderfulthings.

Alexa (31:06):
All the things you need to know about camping.
So thank you again, craig andDJ, for all of your wonderful
stories and insight, and y'all,we are not stopping there.

(31:17):
Nope.

Alexa (31:18):
We finished up camping tips, but now we are going to
introduce you to UCO Gear.
Now we are going to introduceyou to UCO Gear and we've got
withU with UCO Gear here with usto tell us 10 must-haves that
you need when you go camping.
So we are excited to hear aboutthis super cool gear.
You guys can get your hands onit.
You're going to visitucogearcom U-C-O-G-E-A-Rcom and

(31:47):
you are going to find all ofthese wonderful products there,
and we're also going to linkthem in our show notes, and we
are just excited.
So let's dive in.
Brooke, welcome to ThePodcast O R Romy's podcast, and
we're excited to hear from you.

Rory (31:56):
Welcome.

(31:57):
Thanks, I'm excited to be here .

Rory (32:00):
Well, I've got yeah, I've got running through my head you
cold gear like it was asuperhero program.
It's like you cold gear.
I can hear that, wow, he'salready making you a jingle.
I'm just saying, yeah,superhero camping equipment must
have.
And today we're going to learnthe 10 must haves of UCO gear

(32:23):
from Brooke.

Alexa (32:25):
Hey and Brooke, before we dive into like the nitty gritty
, you are our second Brookeinterview of our podcast this
year.
We had a previous episode withBrooke from Her Packing List,
who was teaching us how to packlight, and what's so fun is that
the things that you have totell us about today, because I

(32:47):
have an inside scoop that I knowa lot of the things you're
going to be sharing with us.
They are super compact and justsuper travel friendly and so,
just like all of the Brooks thatwe're having on our episodes
are just like super amazing.
So, anyway, Travel goodness.

(33:04):
That's what I absolutely love about Yuko Gears products is
that they are designed to beportable.
They're lightweight, theycompact really nicely and you
can pretty much take themanywhere.
Yuko stands for utility andcomfort in the outdoors, so we
try to make adventure-proofessentials that are durable.

Alexa (33:25):
See, I mean that's kind of I'm kind of rough on things.
Lori said we can't haveanything nice in the house.

Rory (33:32):
Rough on our relationship.
Rough on, I mean, oh man.

Alexa (33:36):
So the fact that they're durable is also a very good yeah
it is, I love it yeah also avery good.

(33:43):
Yeah, it is, I love it, yeah, yeah.
And I can even go as far to saythat we started Yuko with the
original candle lantern back in1971 and there are still people
today that bought the originalones, that are still using them
since 1971.

Rory (33:56):
That's amazing.

Alexa (33:57):
Talk about durable gear and how long have you been
working at or for Yukuko?

(34:05):
Yeah, so I've been with Yuko gear since May.
I'm actually just coming uponmy one year anniversary.

Alexa (34:12):
Okay, and you go to UCO for the utility and comfort in
the outdoors.

(34:20):
Yeah, very cool, and that's the outdoors is very broad.
For us it means from openingyour patio door and sitting on
your back patio to backyardcamping, to being in the back
country and super lightweightbackpacking stuff.

Rory (34:36):
See, I love it because we travel so much.
For us it also means when wetravel sometimes we go to places
overseas that well, we want tohave a fork with us, we want to
have a spoon with us orsomething like that.
We want to have sort ofsomething with us because we
know we're going to need it.
We got to have a cup orsomething, and it's really hard
to find something that travelswell, that you can do that with,
that's reusable and that isdurable and that's not metal,

(34:59):
it's true.

(35:00):
I mean, I am an avid user of our six piece mess kit that
comes with a spork, a plate bowland a cup and I have everything
that I need.
And then I also always carryaround our eco three piece
utensil set, which is made ofcover recycled polypropylene,
and it has a knife, fork andspoon and a carrying case.

(35:21):
It's amazing that I can justcut my bagel in a hotel room and
spread some peanut butter on itit's not going to snap in half
like a plastic knife would andjust wash it and use it again.
I don't have to throw it awaylike you do with single-use
plastics I love it.

Rory (35:35):
It goes right back in your bag.
You got it next time you needit.

Alexa (35:38):
I love that stuff like that I constantly break plastic,
plastic wear, so I'm glad thatI will now have my Yuko gear.

Rory (35:46):
We're traveling.
No more snapping of plastic.

Alexa (35:49):
Yes, you probably already touched on a few of the items
that you're going to be coveringfor us.
What would you say?
The 10 must haves from Yukogear?

Rory (35:59):
Yeah, so I mean, first of all, I'm sure it's really hard
to narrow it down to 10, but ifyou have your two, let's call
them your 10 highlight that youlove best.
See, your dog loves them aswell.
That's awesome, he sure does.

(36:14):
He loves being out at the campsite.
He loves traveling around.
I can put him right in mylittle backpack and he just goes
everywhere with me.

Rory (36:23):
And you could use a little yuko thing for a dog bowl I do.

(36:26):
I that's absolutely what I do, rory, you took her, I'm sorry
about that sixth?
item or whatever.
Okay, all right and now we'returning it over to you, brooke
so the first item that I have onour list is actually what we
started with back in 1971, whichis the original candle lantern.
Okay, the original candlelantern.

(36:48):
It chases the chill away.
It's lightweight, collapsible,it's windproof.
It's a trusted and time-testedlantern that you can have around
the campsite to brighten upcamp or the backyard.
It fights off dampness.
It provides cozy heat andnatural light for up to nine
hours per candle if you're usingour paraffin or citronella

(37:08):
candle, but we also use abeeswax candle as well in it,
which can last up to 12 hours.
And what's great about thecandles is that they're
smokeless, so you don't get thatblack ring around the glass.

Rory (37:22):
Nice.

(37:23):
A lot of oil candle lanterns or just regular candles that
give off that black smoke.
Yeah, these are spring-loadedcandle lanterns, and what's
great about the spring-loaded isthat you always have
candlelight.
I was just wondering about that.
That's so cool.
Yeah, it's really, reallyawesome.
And another interesting featureto it is that it has like a

(37:44):
little glass chimney that slidesdown for lighting, so if it is
really windy, you can stilllight it by using one of our
stormproof matches that arewindproof, and the candle is not
going to blow out because it'sgot the glass actually
protecting it from the wind,which is really nice.

Alexa (38:00):
That is so cool.
When you first mentioned thecandle, I thought, gosh, it
would be so cool if there waslike a mosquito fighting candle.
And then you mentionedcitronella and I'm like what?

(38:10):
Yeah, and what's even great about the citronella candle is
that it doesn't have that over.
It's not an intense citronellasmell.
We have 0.5% citronella oil init, so it just gives a very
light aroma okay but is it goodat fighting off mosquitoes?
Oh, absolutely yeah, okay,absolutely, it does exactly what

(38:32):
it's supposed to do.

Alexa (38:33):
Okay, good, good, good she'll love that because, yes,
gets big old yeah, well well,well, well, mosquitoes like you,
yeah, yeah, they really do yes,and we had also talked about
that with Craig in our interview.
Craig and I both are very likemosquitoes love us, so yeah,
yeah, great.

(38:53):
I thought there's a good solution.
The candelere, which is a threecandle burner, and the
candelere you can put threecitronella candles in it for
nine hours each, or you can burnone at a time and you get 18
hours, but it also lets offenough heat that you can boil
water on top of it.

Alexa (39:14):
Yeah, it's wow, yeah wow, that's very cool so you don't
need gas, you just need those,those matches, those super cool
matches, the stormproof matchesthat are windproof, waterproof
and submersible.
Yep, okay, come on yeah.
Serious phosphorus or somethinggoing on?
Are those matches maybe numbertwo on our list?

(39:35):
Those matches are number two on our list, oh my Yep.
So the stormproof matches.
What's great about these isthat they burn for up to 15
seconds.
They can light a campfire, astove, a gas barbecue, your
lantern, regardless of theweather, whether it's pouring
down rain and super windy or youhave snow falling down, and it

(39:59):
even relights after beingsubmerged in water.
So if it gets wet or you canliterally like strike the match,
put it in water, pull it outand it will relight.

Rory (40:07):
Wow.

(40:08):
Yeah, next to the candle lantern, one of our best selling
items.

Rory (40:12):
I guess so.

(40:13):
Well.

Alexa (40:13):
I love we've talked about in this episode with our
camping supplies.
We've talked about it with ouremergency preparedness, that
this is a great emergencypreparedness item, that if
you're not an avid camper, orcamper at all, anyway, you need
to grab these for your emergencykits.
Have some in your car.

(40:33):
What a great tool keep them in your go bag yeah, and I can say
I was at an event this lastweekend trying to light some
candle lanterns and I did nothave stormproof matches on hand
and the winds were like 20-30miles an hour and so it, like
every time I use this littlelighter, you know, it just kept
going out.
Every time I couldn't light acandle to save my life.
I was like man, I need to keepthese matches in my glove box so

(40:56):
I don't have them regardless ofthe weather right, absolutely.

Rory (40:59):
I gotta buy a pack for Paul, my brother-in-law.
He loves, he's a big timecamper.

(41:04):
Our next item would actually be our flat pack small and
medium portable grills and firepits.
Okay, what I love about theseis that they collapse down, so
they're really compact.
You can take them anywhere.
They set up in less than 30seconds, you can use charcoal or
wood in them and they're verylightweight.
I have one that I use at mycabin.

(41:24):
I have a small one.
I can fit two pieces of salmonon it, two steaks with like
eight or nine charcoal blocks,and it's super easy to clean,
like you could throw it in adishwasher.
It's all stainless steel.
It comes with a canvas case.
It safely contains fire andkeeps the fire off of the ground
of the ground and then thesides of the grill is a really

(41:46):
great for getting air in to makesure that your coals get nice
and hot, but also serves as awind break as well, and the dual
purpose that it's a fire pit aswell as a grill yeah so it's
gonna cook your food, it's gonnakeep you warm and it's gonna
keep the wind at bay, so it hasa better chance of sticking
around.
It is but you can also pack itin your backpack while you're on

(42:07):
a trip.
I mean, our small one weighsabout a half a pound, and so you
can have a nice small fire outin the backcountry that's
completely contained.
You don't have to worry aboutanything else, you know catching
on fire or anything like that.
Yeah.

Alexa (42:20):
When it is collapsed, what are kind of the dimensions
you mentioned?

(42:24):
it's lightweight but what are the dimensions for it to be able
to fit in a backpack?
Yeah, our medium flat packgrill and fire pit is 13.5
inches long and 10.5 inches wideand 1.1 inches thick.
And then our small grill.
It's much, much smaller.

Alexa (42:44):
It's nine inches long and 6.75 inches and one and a half
inches thick yeah, easily,easily put into backpacks yeah,
the smaller one, I mean, otherthan the thickness, which is
only an inch or so, is smallerthan a sheet of paper, and then
the medium size is a littlebigger than a sheet of paper,
and then the medium size is alittle bigger than a sheet of
paper yeah, probably like thethe size of a notebook amazing.

(43:08):
Yeah, that's awesome okay, cool, our fourth item, when I'm
just kind of taking you aroundthe campsite here yeah it's our
six-piece mess kit.
Okay, our six-piece mess kitcomes in a couple different
colors, but it's built on thesuccess of our four and
five-piece mess kits.
It gives camp couple differentcolors, but it's built on the
success of our four andfive-piece mess kits.
It gives campers, adventurersand people who just like eating

(43:29):
lunch in the break room the bestof both worlds.
So each one contains a switchspork, and if you don't know
what a switch spork is, it's afork, spoon and knife and they
they actually connect togetherto telescope, and so the the
length of the fork or the spoonallows you to get into those
freeze-dried bags of a campingfood.
You don't have to get yourhands all dirty or anything like

(43:50):
that.

Alexa (43:51):
Or it can cut open your food earth sauce that we talked
about in our last month'sepisode.

(43:56):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
The mess.
Kit itself is a plate and abowl that has a gasket, seal
around it and locks together.
And then it also comes with acollapsible cup that can be used
to drink coffee out of, or somebubbly, or or water out of a
stream, yes or water out of astream, although it should be

(44:17):
filtered first.
Absolutely.

Alexa (44:21):
Well, one thing that I love about those cups, the
collapsible.
Again we, if we're talkingabout you, give us a lesson on
how to collapse it quickly,because it's almost hard to

(44:46):
collapse, because it's notflimsy, which is great.

(44:49):
It is not flimsy whatsoever.
It's made of ultra durablepolypropylene and silicone.
It's best to just kind ofcollapse it with two thumbs
underneath and then push down onthe top and up with your thumbs
and it goes right inside, okay.

Rory (45:05):
Awesome.
That makes sense.
What I love about them we wehad this collapsible plastic.
You know they have the plasticones that fit down into each
other.
The collapse, they're so easyto break, so not durable, and
then they sometimes leak.
And when I saw these I was like, okay, I'm really digging that,
yeah, it's a game changer.

Alexa (45:23):
Yeah, the other thing you and you, you mentioned this,
but I just want to highlightthat those can hold hot or cold,
and so, if you want to makeyour tea, your Vigabond tea,
which is my tea line, if youwant your hot tea, or if you
want, you know, your cold drink,like you know, I, I usually do

(45:46):
my vitamins or my greens powder.

Rory (45:47):
I usually want cold for those or your trail coffee when
you're camping.
Right, you know, we'll makecoffee pot and filter it out I
mean all those things.

Alexa (45:53):
So I just love that it can do hot or cold and they are
dishwasher safe, which again isvery high on my priority list.

(46:00):
Yes, because's huge.

Alexa (46:01):
Yes, because even if I'm camping, I probably would wait
to clean them until I got home.
I like to wash dishes.

(46:09):
Oh man, that's really great.

Rory (46:12):
Yeah, I've been camping for more than one day.

(46:16):
And in addition to being dishwasher safe, they're also
BPA free and you can use them ina microwave free and you can
use them in a microwave.
So if you are traveling to ahotel or something like that,
these are also really great tomake oatmeal in or, uh, like
heat up some hot water.

Alexa (46:29):
You know things yeah, that's awesome and even, like
you said, like taking it to work.
If you, these are great, juston the go.
You don't have to be camping touse these items.
And so this is for your on thego everyday life.
Take it to the office, put yourleftovers in it, heat it up.

Rory (46:44):
You're good, check it out.
Here's a plug All you mom anddads out there who have kids
that are going to college, orall of you guys going to college
and live in a dorm I lived in adorm we could have a microwave.
That was it.
You're really limited.
And then like, what's microwavesafe that you can use again and
again and again?
That's not going to make yousick because you're putting
plastics in the microwave, thesethings you can make your ramen

(47:07):
noodle in Yuko gear.
I mean, how awesome.
That's the first thing Ithought of.
Oh, in the dorm room, this istalk about a game changer.
This is awesome.

(47:16):
Yeah, man, absolutely, and they're super easy to clean.

Rory (47:20):
That's it.
Yeah, five for your, for yourcollege kids yeah absolutely so.

(47:26):
Our fifth item is actually of the same vein.
It's our eco five-piece messkit.
This one does not come with acup, but we do have a
collapsible eco cup as well, inlarge and small.
The large one is my favoritebecause it comes with a lid, and
I'm I'm a sometimes I'mconstantly like knocking things
over, so it's really nice tohave a lid on it.

(47:47):
So my cup or I have a dog thatjumps on me and spills, like you
know you know, yes, um yeah, sothe the eco line that we've
created.
all of the materials arepost-consumer and
post-industrial plastic wastethat's been transformed.
So we take existing plasticsand create these amazing

(48:08):
products with them.
These are recycledpolypropylene.
They meet FDA, food saferequirements, again, bpa free,
dishwasher safe, microwave safeand all that stuff.
The five piece comes in threedifferent colors, but it
includes a switch spork whichhas the fork, knife and spoon,
and a mess kit which is lockingso it can lock on both sides,

(48:32):
and then you have your plate andyour bowl and a tether which
ties everything together.
I don't leave home without oneof these in my bag when I'm
traveling.

Rory (48:41):
Yeah.

(48:42):
From looking at it.

Rory (48:43):
It looks like that the pieces fit together so that if
you have leftover food, youcould actually store your food
in the same pieces.
And what am I trying to say?

Alexa (48:52):
The mess kit can become like a Tupperware case in a
sense, right, because it's got atop and a bottom.

(48:57):
Yes, and they walk together, so it keeps it intact.

Rory (49:02):
Yeah, so that's nothing's not camping and traveling, but
again, I just keep thinking ofthe dorm room.

(49:07):
Yeah those little fridges your own kitchen, take it out heat
it, eat it.

Alexa (49:11):
You got your plan everything you need yeah, yeah,
does it, because it's kind oflike a bottom and a top that are
covered when you pull apart.
Is that your plate and yourbowl?

(49:24):
Yeah, so the lid serves as a plate and the bottom serves as
the bowl.

Alexa (49:29):
Yeah, Okay, yep, and then when the lid is on, does it
keep your food hot for a certainamount of time, or anything
like that, or is it just morelike a Tupperware container
would be, in the sense that it'sjust going to store it?

(49:44):
Yeah, so actually what I do is I use them to make oatmeal in,
like when I'm camping.
So I'll open up some oatmealpackets, pour them into the bowl
, add hot water and throw thelid on it, and it actually cooks
up my oatmeal perfectly andkeeps it warm.

Alexa (50:06):
Yeah, I love it.

(50:06):
That's awesome so yeah, keep your food warm for a little bit
of time.
Yeah, and I can even transportthe oatmeal as it's warming up
and cooking right, because ofthose locking mechanisms on the
mess kit and the gasket aroundthe plate.
I can like it's.
It's not gonna like drip liquidout or anything like that.
Nicely, we're gonna go to myfilson bag and go that is so

(50:29):
cool wow okay, that just becamemy new best friend, okay, okay.

Alexa (50:34):
So next, what number six?

(50:38):
number six, five or six, I I think six, six.
So another really importantthing to have around the
campsite is our Ingle Switchlockknife.
Now we are just getting readyto launch these knives in July.
They're not even on the marketyet, but this is the ultimate
campsite companion, designed totackle tasks with ease.

(50:59):
But it's also approachable forall users.
So our knives were designed fornovice users, not someone
that's like a knife collector oranything, although we do love
that they also enjoy our knives.
This is a slip joint knife thathas a switch lock push button.
That instills confidence and itmakes it very user-friendly.

(51:20):
The shape of the knife, the waythat it holds in its lanyard
loop, makes it substantialenough to handling demanding
tasks.
It has a black tini coating onthe blade which keeps the knife
blade itself protected, and thenglass reinforced nylon scales
on the handle, which makes itreally nice to hold.

(51:41):
Yeah, and it sounds like youcould use it with just one hand
if you had to open absolutelyand close it again yeah, so it
has a nail nick in it, so itjust opens right up and you just
push that button and it closesright up.
Yeah, that's really, it handlesreally nicely and you can do
anything from like cutting opena bag to taking pieces of wood
and making fire starter with ityeah, shaving off how durable it

(52:03):
is.

Rory (52:03):
yeah, yeah, small pieces of wood and making fire starter
with it.
Yeah, shaving off small piecesof kindling or something to
light super fast.

(52:08):
Right, you don't have to worry about the blade bending or
breaking or anything.
Awesome.
Yeah.

Alexa (52:14):
Right For your little portable fire pit.

(52:19):
Yeah, I mean making Tinder like there was a time when I was
a kid where our parents wouldsend us out to go collect all of
the sticks for Tinder, right?
Yes.
Okay, you're going to go spendlike six hours, you know, out
there like collecting all theTinder for the weekend, you know
.
So we can start all of ourfires.
You can just sit there and likeget a stick and like thread it

(52:39):
with a knife and you don't haveto be out there all day looking
for things that that might bewet or yeah, not completely dead
yeah, that's awesome, and andthose shavings will light a lot
faster than some of the kindling, or that is so true yeah yeah,
um, so kind of segueing intofire starting.

(53:00):
We just recently launched ourflat pack smokeless fire pit and
grill.
What's great about this and whyit's so essential, is it flat
packs down and you can take itanywhere with you.
It weighs 14 pounds.
It comes with a canvas casethat has shoulder straps on it
so you can carry it over yourshoulder.
You can pack it into the backof your car.

(53:20):
It's it's a rectangular and thiscan be like for state park
camping, backyard camping, beachcamping or just kind of having
it around.
It sits pretty low to theground.
It has radiant holes on theside, so with a lot of smokeless
grills the heat just kind ofgoes straight up.
But this one, you actually getheat all around the fire pit,

(53:40):
which is something that makes itvery unique.
In addition to it flat packingdown, it additionally has a
double wall construction thatcreates superheated air channels
that exit at the top of thefirebox, which combusts the
smoke more thoroughly thanregular fire pits.
So the other really cool thingabout this one is that not only

(54:02):
is it long lasting and it'sreally durable stainless steel
that's rust and also corrosionresistant.
You can grill on it as well andyou can put 16 inch corded wood
into it.
A lot of smokeless fire pitsare more round and you have to
chop the wood down more.

Alexa (54:21):
This one, you can just go to the store, get your firewood
and it's going to fit right inthere 16 inch, that's huge man,
that's big yeah, and you can useour strikeable tinder to light
the fire yeah, with the coolmatches from yuko gear, you
don't even need the matches oh,it strikes on the box and you
can just throw it in to startthe fire.
Oh, nice yeah pretty cool, verycool just to kind of sort of

(54:48):
dumb it down for me what thisproduct versus the fire pit that
we fold in our backpack, the?
What are the?
the differences are basicallysize well, so yes, size, and
this one is smokeless yeah okay,you're not going to walk away

(55:10):
smelling like charcoal or acampfire smoke okay, so the
small one that folds in mybackpack is going to release
some smoke, of course, and it'ssmaller and I would use it for
more personal, whereas this bigone, it's going to surface,
service more people and besmokeless.

(55:29):
Yeah, this one here.
I mean, it's like a two-in-one,where the because it's a
smokeless fire pit you can havefriends and family gather around
a fire and everybody's going tofeel really warm and, if you
want, you can make eight burgerson it, you know.
Whereas, like, the smaller flatpack is more for backcountry

(55:51):
camping, even if you want to doit on a patio or something like
that, where you're not taking upas much space.

Rory (55:57):
And it's got that double wall construction for
superheated air to combust thatsmoke.

(56:02):
Yes, it's a pretty incredible design.
Yeah, what's great that I thinkabout is that you could just
pack it down.
You can pack it down.
You can take it anywhere.
You know, I love sitting on thebeach and listening to the
ocean waves come in and also notfreeze or smell.

Alexa (56:16):
Like you know, I'm leaving we lived in la for so
long and never went to the beach.
I mean, we did go, but likebarely because we were wusses of
like.

Rory (56:26):
Well, it's just gonna be cold, always cold at the beach
yep, you know, in the eveningand the sun's going down, it's
like, okay, that's the coldestplace to be, and so southern
california is the beach whichseems.
I'm from south louisiana, itain't that way.
So the beach is supposed to behot, oh man yeah, much different
than louisiana, isn't it muchdifferent?

Alexa (56:47):
yeah, man, I know I didn't get in the water, so,
yeah, so I love that, like evenjust being at the beach can be
you.
You can use all of these items.
Yeah, I love it as a carry casewith the shoulder straps.

Rory (57:02):
That I was immediately like oh, that's awesome.
Yeah, so it also has.
And you said you can grill onit, so does it come with the
grill?

(57:09):
It does.
It comes with a stainless steelgrill grate that sits right on
top.
It is the.
The grill itself is 9.5 incheslike long and 16.4 inches wide,
and so you can fit probably likesix good steaks on there and
roast them over a smokelessgrill see, that's great because,
like backcountry stuff you're,you're having to create

(57:32):
something to hold it over thefire.

Rory (57:33):
In this case, you've got it.
You've got the grill that comeswith it, that is.
That is very cool.

Alexa (57:37):
I bet you could take that grill top and put it in your
dishwasher, you sure?

(57:41):
can?
I'm just saying I bet you allright you just sold her.
Absolutely.
And so, while we're talkingabout the smokeless fire pit,
what people love to do whenthey're sitting around a fire is
roast marshmallows.
Right, right.

Alexa (57:56):
That's what you have.

(57:58):
An essential item is our roasting forks.
And our roasting forks areactually pretty different than
your typical roasting forkbecause we always have to put a
unique design spin on it andmake them an adventure and an
essential item.
And so with our roasting sticks, they have a rolling wheel on
them and you know how, like whenyou have kids well, I've got

(58:20):
kids and when they're roastingtheir marshmallows over a fire,
they'll stick the themarshmallow in there and it'll
catch on fire, and then they'llbe like swinging it back and
forth and back'll stick the themarshmallow in there and it'll
catch on fire, and then they'llbe like swinging it back and
forth and back and forth and themarshmallow will fly off.
Yeah, these ones have like athumb wheel that you can like.
Just move the thumb wheel andit rotates the skewer in a

(58:40):
circle get out of here roast onyour marshmallow so you've got a
marshmallow on a spit thatrotates.
Pretty much.
Yep, wow, it's so awesome andthe handles are made of recover,
recycled polypropylene, sothey're made from
post-industrial plastics.
And the skewer itselftelescopes down and telescopes

(59:05):
out to 11.5 inches.
The roasting stick itself ismade of stainless steel, so it's
more durable.
So you're not going to get ifyou put a hot dog on it.
It's not going to droop downand you're going to be like you
know it's like it's going tosturdy, durable product.
Your hot dog is going to standfirm and it's going to get a
really good roast on it.

Rory (59:25):
And you can rotate it.

Alexa (59:26):
so you can roast the hot dog too, and it's not going to
fall off, yeah, and you don'thave to spend time with wire
hangers and poking yourself inthe eye with wire hangers well,
things like that apparently okayso it's a measurement too,
safety measure to have that.
Yeah, that's awesome.

(59:44):
Are we on number nine?
Sure I think so.
Yeah, okay let's say we're onnine yeah, we'll call it nine
another item that I think isreally essential and more fun to
have around the campsite,especially for kids, is our ice
cream ball okay, I am so excitedto hear about this.
I like, oh, my gosh, okay goyeah, so you can make delicious

(01:00:08):
ice cream anywhere, butespecially at the campsite, by
just adding some naturalingredients such as cream, sugar
, vanilla, and one end of theice cream ball and then adding
ice and rock salt any other end,and then you shake it, roll it
around, kick it around softlyfor about 20 minutes and then
you're it around softly forabout 20 minutes and then you're

(01:00:29):
going to have ice cream.
And it's such a fun thing forkids to play with at the
campsite because, one, it keepsthem occupied, two, it keeps
them exercising and, three,they're hungry for ice cream
afterwards.
Right, it's like you get to dosome work and then you get to
have a reward, right, yeah yeah,burn the calories underneath
the calories, Exactly, exactly,so fun.

(01:00:50):
Yeah, it's a really neatproduct.
We've been making it for a longtime.
It's constructed from food safeand BPA free materials.
It does come with a simplerecipe booklet and it has built
in handles that actually make itreally easy to open the ends
and get it cleaned, and thingslike that.

Alexa (01:01:07):
Okay, and about how big?

(01:01:09):
is it.
The product weight is two and ahalf pounds.
The capacity for ice cream isone pint of ice cream.
The ball itself is 20centimeters of diameter.
Okay, so is that like my?

Alexa (01:01:19):
head, no like a pint of ice cream.

Rory (01:01:21):
That's amazing.

Alexa (01:01:22):
I can't wait, I got to get one.
Yeah, and you can always go toour website for some tips and
tricks on it as well that's goodenough now can you, like you
said, in 20 minutes you'll haveice cream, but if it's just in
your bag all day and you'rehiking, is that enough jostling?
And is it okay if you wait anhour or does it like?
Does it need to be 20 minutes?

(01:01:43):
yeah, I mean, I think, like the, I think about 20 minutes to
maybe 30 minutes might be max,just because your ice might
start melting and okay, if yourice starts melting then it's not
going to be as cold for the icecream.
Yeah, just to get that ice,getting that cream and sugar and
flavoring, all nice and mixedup and cold and yeah, okay yeah,
I don't know if you've seen thevideo.

(01:02:03):
We do have a video on youtubeon how to use as well oh, that's
great.

Alexa (01:02:07):
Yeah, we haven't seen that yet, but we will link to
that.

(01:02:10):
Yes.
Yeah, definitely in the mood formaking ice cream in the
summertime, that's for sure.

Rory (01:02:14):
I can see myself strapping it to my leg and taking a hike.
And then I've got ice cream.

(01:02:22):
Yeah, I don't know about backpacking.
I don't know if I'd want thatextra two and a half pounds.

Alexa (01:02:26):
I mean you got to burn calories to eat the ice cream,
so yeah, the reward after thework Absolutely, absolutely.

(01:02:38):
So I think the last item that I have on our list is and it's
just because eventually it getsdark out, right, and so you need
some illumination around thecampsite.
Our Sprout LED lantern is oneof our top movers, and what
makes it really interesting isit has a couple different modes

(01:03:00):
of light.
It has a lanyard loop that'smagnetized so it connects to the
LED light itself, but you cantake it with you if you have to
leave your tent to go to thebathroom, and you don't have to
mess around with undoing thelanyard or something like that.
You know, you just take it offthe magnet.
It has a push button foractivated low, medium and high
light.
It has a moonlight blue colorand a white light mode, and then

(01:03:22):
it comes in four differentcolors.
Wow.

Rory (01:03:24):
Mood lighting.

(01:03:26):
Yes, the blue light on it.
I love the blue light featurebecause one blue light has been
known to keep bugs away.
You know you probably noticedlike those zappers and stuff
like blue light, so it helpswith that, but it also doesn't
make, like the white light, sobright.

Rory (01:03:42):
You know like there are a lot of people who are sensitive
to different kinds of light andthat blue light mode is just to
see a nice ambiance at anighttime Very cool and you guys
have an amazing website wherepeople can go and learn more
about all the products you'vementioned, but also all the
other products you guys have,because I'm super intrigued now
as I'm sure everyone listeningis to go and check that out, so

(01:04:04):
we'll put a link to that.
But what is that website?

(01:04:07):
It's yukogearcom, yukogearcom.
That's easy enough.

Alexa (01:04:13):
Yukogearcom.
Yes, and be watching oursocials throughout the month
because we're going to behighlighting some of these
products on our socials.
You can follow Yuko Gear onInstagram at Yuko Gear yeah, go
figure.
Follow us at TheRomies andfollow Yuko Gear at.

Rory (01:04:34):
Yuko Gear, yukogearcom and Yuko Gear on all socials.
Make sure you follow Yuko Gear.

Alexa (01:04:43):
Well, Brooke, thank you so much.
This has been super fun.
We are excited to dive in andput these products to use.
We are excited.
I can't wait to get my hands onthat ice cream ball, because
I'm just going to go and havefun with that.

(01:05:01):
You never heard ice cream.

Alexa (01:05:03):
And I told Brooke that earlier.
I really want to try like veganice creams and stuff like that,
so I'll probably be trying likeweird things, but I'm allowed
to oh poor you Cookie.

Rory (01:05:15):
I feel bad for your gear.

(01:05:17):
That's what makes it an adventure right.

Alexa (01:05:20):
See, my cooking is an adventure, we can say that for
sure.

(01:05:26):
That's the thing we want to foster connection and add
excitement to adventures, andthat's what our products are
doing.

Alexa (01:05:31):
There you go.
That's so cool.
Love it Case in point rightthere.
Yeah, it's been great.
Thank you so much.

(01:05:36):
Yeah, thank you.

Alexa (01:05:38):
All right, before we wrap up everyone, we've got to do
our answers to our trivia, aspromised.

Rory (01:05:51):
This is the A part of Q and A.
Okay, are you going to give theA and then we tell the Q, or
what?
No, we give the Q first.
Okay, yours are first.

Alexa (01:05:54):
Oh, I'm going first.
Okay, so, rory, the DancingHouse is a curvy building that
can be found in which Europeancity?

Rory (01:06:03):
Ready.

Alexa (01:06:03):
Yeah, I'm ready.
Prague, all right, good job.

Rory (01:06:08):
Charles River is right next door.
Remember I gave you guys thehint.
Charles Bridge, rather, isright there by it.

Alexa (01:06:14):
We got to record a music video in Prague years ago.
It was super fun.

Rory (01:06:17):
It's across the river, though, from the castle in the
old part of Prague, but anyway,yeah, if you haven't been to
Prague get there.
Wonderful city, yeah.

Alexa (01:06:25):
To me it was like Paris, but like with its own style, it
was just super cool.

Rory (01:06:31):
Eastern European Paris.

Alexa (01:06:33):
Yeah, it was super great.
Okay, the Statue of Liberty wasa gift to the USA, from which
country Rory go.

Rory (01:06:39):
France.

Alexa (01:06:40):
Very good, very good, alright.

Rory (01:06:42):
Who is considered the founding father of Mongolia?

Alexa (01:06:47):
Ready Genghis Khan.

Rory (01:06:50):
Genghis Khan is correct.
All right, okay, see if you canget this one.
Which city is home to thestatue of Christ the Redeemer?

Alexa (01:07:01):
We've actually been there .

Rory (01:07:02):
We've been there, been to the statue.

Alexa (01:07:06):
Rio de Janeiro.

Rory (01:07:07):
Oh, so close the correct answer is Rio de Janeiro.
Oh, so close.
The correct answer is Rio deJaneiro.
Oh, you were so close, I was soclose.

Alexa (01:07:16):
Well, we hope you guys had success.
At least you got one out of two.
I hope y'all had success withyour answers to these trivia
questions.
Thank you so much for joiningus and we have some super fun
episodes coming up for the restof the year, so we are just
cooking them up and excited toshare with you.
But you'll have to wait untilnext episode.

Rory (01:07:37):
And you have to stay tuned , stay tuned.

Alexa (01:07:38):
We'll see you then, bye-bye.
Now, we hope we've inspired youthis episode, so join us next
time.
Please subscribe to rate andshare our podcast with your
friends or you know whomever?
And please like and follow uson Instagram, youtube and
Facebook.

Rory (01:07:53):
We are also on X and on all social platforms.
We are at TheRomies.

Alexa (01:07:59):
That's T-H-E-R-O-A-M-I-E-S and our main
hub is our website Atwwwtheromyscom, that's right,
that's d-h-e-r-o-a-m-i-e-scom.
We'll be there until next time.
Yeah, thanks for listening.
Bye.