Howdy everyone! My family and I recently went to Bannock Creek for a little summer/spring camping trip! I got to take Atlas out on his 2nd journey, and it went really well. If you haven’t seen one of my vlogs, I’ll be sure to post them below for you to watch. Bannock Creek is a small pull-off with dispersed camping just past Idaho City. We went up on the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend and came home Sunday morning. It was a pretty laid back trip just hanging out with the family and some light shenanigans.

Shennanigans!

It was really fun to get out camping for the first time with the family this summer! Other than some light rain on the first day, it was nice and sunny without being too hot. We did all sorts of things, including playing games, watching Adventure Time, throwing axes, foraging, hiking, and even building a zipline! It was nice to be out in nature and listen to the frogs croak every night. I’ve made some more progress on my druid studies, and I’m liking what I’m reading quite a bit. I also got to practice shooting more content with my gimbal and experimenting with motion tracking. I even shot my first clip of me playing the banjo, so make sure to watch my vlog down below if you want to see my rough playing.

Social Media Difficulties

This time around, I tried creating shorter content for use on TikTok, Reels, and Shorts, and I learned quite a bit. First, if I want to use any music in my videos, it HAS to be under a minute long, or I have to use the minimal amount of royalty-free music YouTube and TikTok have in their libraries. Second, if I record vertically and the video is under 3 minutes, YouTube will force me to upload it as a short with no option to upload it as a normal video. This means I cannot use my music if the video is longer than 1 minute but shorter than 3 minutes. That’s annoying af not going to lie. I need to watch more of other people’s content and see what they do. I learned that Instagram only lets you upload a limited number of photos, so I will either have to make multiple posts or limit myself to my favorites. All in all, I am quickly conquering the various social medias and will be a wizard in no time.

Don’t forget to follow me on all my socials:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube

Atlas Updates

I plan on making a separate blog post with updates on Atlas but here is some quick updates of things we are testing and learning about:

1. The Awning is working great!
2. My Buddy Heater works great!
3. My big under bed drawer needs a rework it feels like its going to break any minute
4. I need to get some blocks as well as a level so I can adjust the parking of my van to be level
5. Need to fix the steps to be less loose as they will will wear out faster in their current state
6. Need to seal the roof as we have a minor leak near the fan
7. My manual sink is working great!
8. I broke my solar shower first time using it when it fell off a magnetic hook i was using and tore open. Love that for me. Bought a new one and need to test it next trip
9. Got a permanent trash can
10. I want to get a collapsible storage unit to place near my sink, allowing for more storage space.
11. Bought some new pots and pans for cooking, so I don’t need to borrow from the fam anymore.
12. The Laundry bag I bought works well and hangs behind my passenger seat, but I think I’m going to want to get two so I can swap them out. I have a feeling I won’t be able to do laundry as often as I think.
13. The storage bin for my back hitch is under construction and should be done in the near future.
14. I got to test my mini generator, and it works great and is so quiet.
15. My small fridge chest works excellently, and it’s a lot easier on my batteries. I haven’t run into any power issues thus far.
16. Got some more window covers, just need to attach some suction cups to them so they stay on the windows. Also, I need to cut some custom ones for the side windows.