Nineteen: June/July 2020

ROVA

The magazine for epic road trips

ROVA2 min read
From The Editor
What a strange time it is to be producing a magazine about travel. With many campgrounds and national parks closed, the current crisis has been particularly difficult for some members of our community who live full-time on the road, as well as those
ROVA1 min read
Rova
Gemma Peckham gemma@rovamag.com Richard Kirby richard@rovamag.com Abby Schmidt Sam Brown Brolin Winning, John Garry, Samantha Larson, Bruce B. Billings, Leanne Hoffman, Patrick McGuire, Chris Simon, Julia Thimberg Silfwerling, Kiana Bakken, Mike Kill
ROVA2 min read
Gear Up!
You don’t put chocolate in your rooftop cargo box. Wanna know why? The sun beats down on it all day, and you’ll end up with jerry cans covered in gooey deliciousness. This leads us to our point: those sunrays could be put to better use—namely, solar
ROVA2 min read
Why The Road?
I grew up in the Philippines, where camping and fishing are some of my fondest, most vivid memories. After moving to the States, I fell in love with the outdoor lifestyle all over again around the time that Koda (my dog) came into my life. I love spe
ROVA2 min read
Rova In Your Words
Winner of the Helinox Table One Hard Top Camp Table I sat in the bathtub sobbing as I read “On the spectrum and on the road” [by Karly Mareka, ROVA Adventure Seventeen]. For the first time in my life, I felt completely understood and entirely seen. I
ROVA2 min readOccult & Paranormal
Rova Recommends
If travel restrictions are getting you down, try visiting some amazing destinations through the interweb. Virtual Yosemite is an impressive site that allows you to access panoramic views of a huge range of sites throughout the park, complete with sou
ROVA6 min readAutomotive
THE FORGOTTEN RV Living Large In The Back Of A Truck
Although it may lack the full-time livability and Insta-glam chic of #vanlife, there is another type of mobile lifestyle option for those of us who can’t afford a souped-up motorhome. Much smaller and infinitely cheaper than a loaded Sprinter or rest
ROVA6 min read
Picture Imperfect The Dangers Of Filtering Travel Experiences Through A Smartphone
Old Faithful, the iconic cone geyser that graces nearly every advertisement for Yellowstone National Park, erupts around 17 times a day. In peak summer season, an estimated 2,000 people cram together for each eruption, dutifully snapping photos for t
ROVA4 min read
The Psychological Benefits Of Rock Climbing
I’m lying in bed, willing myself to fall asleep. But, of course, the more that you will sleep to happen, the further away it slips from you. Especially at a time when the world seems to be falling apart, the news of the day leaves you reeling, and su
ROVA6 min read
The Fear Of Loneliness
As the world turns inward, I cannot help but think about loneliness. About all the ways in which I seek it out and avoid it. About how it can build me up and break me down—sometimes within the same hour. I can’t help but feel that it is both my great
ROVA4 min read
Traveling America Bird By Bird
There I was, standing on a sliver of land that extends beyond the Pamlico Sound, in North Carolina. To my back was the Atlantic Ocean and a cold, wintry wind that blasted through my coat. In front of me were the freshwater ponds that dotted Pea Islan
ROVA4 min read
The Future Of Travel In A Warming World
The carefree, exploratory euphoria that most of us associate with road trips feels directly at odds with a devastating but inescapable reality: the ways that we currently access the world through travel are greatly imperiling the planet, as well as o
ROVA7 min read
Overlanding With A German Patriarch Lessons From My Childhood
My dad loved steak tartare. For him, it was the brunch of champions. I still remember how Mom prepared it in the car while we overlanded South Africa, Rhodesia and South West Africa in the 1970s. Dad liked to decamp early and drive before the midday
ROVA6 min read
This New Religion
He introduced himself as Captain Jack Lash Lannigan, and he said that he was an Irish pirate. “You don’t sound very Irish,” I told him, and he laughed. We—Maia, Gustav and I—had met Captain Jack outside the Nocturnem Draft Haus, a bar on Main Street
ROVA1 min read
Surf City
People always want to claim that you can’t surf in the Great Lakes, and yet they are continuously in awe when you show them a picture of you with icicles hanging off your wetsuit from surfing in the winter. But the fact is that there are a lot of l
ROVA4 min read
The Way West Under A Gray Sky
A few years ago, my wife and I moved across the country from Chicago to Los Angeles. The drive excited us—it was a chance to see so many parts of America that we had long neglected. The Grand Canyon, the great American Southwest, and, of course, the
ROVA4 min read
It’s Willamette, Dammit
Pinot noir. One of the world’s most finicky grapes, thin-skinned and delicate, it can produce exceptional light-bodied red wine. Oregon’s Willamette Valley, a 150-mile-long corridor stretching from Portland in the north to Eugene in the south, contai
ROVA5 min read
Getting Hitched On The Road
I know a lot of girls don’t dream of the wedding we had, but maybe they should. The day wasn’t about the perfect dress, the floral arrangements, or the bridal party—it was about us, and what we loved. It was about making our wedding a part of the epi
ROVA4 min readCooking, Food & Wine
Lake Havasu City A Community-centric Paradise On The Edge Of Arizona
As we sit on a portion of the nine million acres of land owned by the Arizona State Trust Land Department, we’re self-isolating in the best possible place. We’re stocked up with water, we have more than enough food, and we’re surrounded by a communit
ROVA4 min read
The Simple Life In Amish Country
Many people turn to road-tripping in search of action and adventure, while others downsize and go off-grid for one purpose: simplicity. Anyone who is familiar with the logistics of life on the road knows that it’s not a choice—you have to learn how t
ROVA4 min read
Calling All Waterfall Lovers
If you thought the Pacific Northwest was the only place to experience the majesty of a waterfall as it plummets hypnotically towards you, you’re in for a surprise. The western North Carolina area is teeming with waterfalls, and many of them are fairl
ROVA5 min read
Finding Delaware
If all you know about Delaware is Wayne and Garth’s iconic tourism slogan: “Hi… I’m in Delaware,” from Wayne’s World, then you have a little to learn about the nation’s second-smallest state. As is evidenced by this classic scene, Delaware has long
ROVA1 min readEarth Sciences
Picture This...
IT’S A HOT DAY ON THE MASSACHUSETTS coast, and you’ve been driving. The sun’s heat is shifting a little as you pull into the lot at your favorite beach. All you can see is the trail, the ocean, and the sky. You slip off your shoes and start along the
ROVA5 min read
The French Route
Saint-Hilaire was asleep the night my wife and I arrived. There had been a long and hungover train ride from Paris to Toulouse, on which the only respite had been a quick stop in Bordeaux where I’d hunted down a half bottle of white, and a ham and bu

ROVA

More Issues From ROVA