For the past month or so, we've had a non-stop train of people passing through our homestead. Besides Dan, Julia, Pete, and Natasha, all of whom stayed for a few days, we've had a whole slew of other folks and friends come for short visits. A few weeks back, my former apartment mate, Bobbi, and her husband, Mark dropped by and we hung out on our land for an evening. The following morning, they took me out to breakfast before leaving town. Thanks guys!

A few days ago, Gary, one of the generous donors who pledged at the “cooking lesson on our land” level during my kickstarter campaign for Bike. Camp. Cook. arrived. Unfortunately, on the evening of his visit we had a torrential rain storm. While we hid out in the workshop by candle-and-headlamp-light, I tried to focus on his cooking lesson, but most of my brain space was occupied with thoughts about our house getting ruined.

The winds were so extreme that I had to leave mid-class to fix a minor tarping failure with Tyler. When we came back from the worksite (soaking wet), Gary offered each of us a towel from his own pack. What a sweetheart! Once the brunt of the storm had passed, it was fun just chatting about our adventures—Gary had recently spent twenty two months cycling through South America!

Immediately following Gary's visit, we hosted Bruce and Andrea, a delightfully fun and like-minded couple who also pledged for cooking lessons. We had a fantastic time! While making recipes from my cookbook, we also reminisced about our respective travels. They drove the Mongol Rally (in a big blue Astrovan—"Big Blue Bus"—with a wheelchair lift) the year after we did!

(Bruce and Andrea even helped out with our house! Thanks you two!)

A couple of days after Bruce and Andrea headed home, Tyler’s co-worker, Boaz, called to say that he happened to be in the next town over, and could he come over to say hi? Of COURSE, we said! So, he dropped in with his friend Anne. We gave them a tour, and it was so much fun to have them blown away by our progress. Boaz looked at me very sincerely and said “Congratulations on being awesome” in a completely not tongue-in-cheek sort of way. I busted up laughing and thanked him.

Anne, meanwhile, was a wealth of information about our area, having grown up here. She told us about a nearby community of straw bale and cordwood houses (only 15 minutes away?! What!?), and a whole host of likeminded people who would be great resources. Somehow, we only wound up with these jokey car-shots of the pair, but here they are!

And THEN, on the same day that Boaz and Anne stopped by, my mom’s dear friend since college, Lisa, came over with her husband Steve! Though they've known me since I was born, we rarely have the chance to visit anymore—it was such a treat to have them on our home turf. We gave them the tour and they were pleasantly blown away, too. Afterward, they took us out for beer and burgers and we spent a fantastic evening together before they took to the highway on their road trip to Colorado.

Phew. That's all. For now. Thanks for visiting, everyone!