INTRODUCING “WE ROLL WITH IT”

Hi there! I’m Kate, my partner Levi and I along with our dog Jits have been living and traveling full time in a van for the past year and a half. I’m from Australia and Levi grew up in Alaska. After meeting in New York City we both realized we were ready to trade the skyscrapers for mountains and the open road.

I told Levi I wanted to live in a van on our first date. The next day he texted me a photo of a van he’d seen and we basically started planning right there and then. We both grew up in outdoor adventure families and had both done a lot of camping and traveling but restructuring our whole lives to live on the road full time would still be a challenge. Here’s the thing with deciding to become a full time nomad: it’s never the right time. Eventually you just have to take the leap.

The two of us love to travel and we find that if we are in one place for any lengthy period of time we become stifled. The van life gives us the freedom we need to stay motivated and inspired all while enjoying all the comforts of home. Today’s digital world allows us to run our business from the road while offering our clients content creation, marketing efforts, social media management and product research and development. Our nomadic lifestyle means we are able to test and shoot gear in a vast range of environments over a short period of time which provides our business a unique edge.

PARTNERING WITH TOURIG

Along our travels last year we met Eric Miller, Co-Founder and CEO of TOURIG. Eric’s passion for the van lifestyle was infectious and we immediately fell in love with his enthusiasm. We became inspired by the drive to push these adventure vans further in capability and comfort. As we visited the home of TOURIG in Golden, Colorado we came up with a new idea to drive the TOURIG brand. Taking our skill set and our full-time travel schedule, we were able to create something very unique. We could generate content in the form of photo and video for TOURIG while sharing an authentic and intimate view of the brand connection to our lifestyle. At the same time we would be TOURIG’s full time road show, attending and hosting events, providing R&D on new product innovation and acting as traveling sales reps for the TOURIG brand.
Levi and I had built our first van ourselves and spent a year working with brands within the overlanding and vanlife community so we were able to bring a certain level of influence to our new TOURIG. We had learned a lot from our recent journey and knew that TOURIG was at the top of the game in the adventure van space. For our second van, Levi and I wanted a van that had better off-road capability and something that pushed the van to have the travel range and feature set of other extreme overland rigs.

TOURIG embraced the challenge and together we are now building our new van dubbed ‘Bruce Banner’! Tough on the outside, Bruce will have all the creature comforts TOURIG is known for, including a lithium battery system (which is new to us and we are very excited about), stainless steel interior shower, exclusive TOURIG Airliner Cabinets, beautiful LED ambient lighting and many other features throughout. Bruce also has a few new concepts on board which we will be product testing before they come to market. (Follow @myTOURIG to see the build in progress).

WHERE TO FIND US

Keep your eye out for Levi, Jits and myself on the road in our newest TOURIG, ‘Bruce Banner’. We’ll be traveling the country throughout 2020 attending a lot of overland, 4×4 and adventure van events where you can meet us and see the van in person, Click here to see a list of events we will be attending. We will also be hosting nine Weekender Rally’s where you can join us for a show-n-shine followed by a group cruise. Click here to see more about our TOURIG 2020 Weekenders Rally Series.

Our goal is to share with you on social media the finer details of a TOURIG build and how we use our rig for work, play and day to day life. The outdoors is our happy place and we will be packing our van ready for all kinds of shenanigans. You’ll get to see how the van is the core of everything we do and we aim to inspire you to start your own unique adventures.

You can follow our journey online on the @myTOURIG social media channels and our own channels @werollwithit. We will also be contributing more journal entries here. If you have any requests for topics please submit them to experiences@mytourig.com. We look forward to meeting as many of you as possible

A definitive list of some of our favorite spots to climb and car camp in the United States

Of all the climbing areas we’ve been to throughout the country, these are some of our favorites in terms of not just the quality of climbing but the quality of camping, too. If you’re looking for your next climbing trip and want classic routes with access to some quiet car camping spots with beautiful views and flat places to park, look no further. Here’s our top picks. 

JOSHUA TREE

This national park contains spectacularly sculpted formations of a type of rock known as monzogranite and is a mecca for rock climbers around the world. Entry to the park is $30 a day or you can pick up a yearly pass to all USA parks for $55. Campsites are available within the park where you can find spaces right next to climbs or there is free BLM lands just outside the park.

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LOVERS LEAP

Located in Lake Tahoe, this area is a very tall chunk of mostly vertical granite, containing hundreds of cracks crisscrossed with thousands of horizontal dikes. These dikes are key to reducing what would otherwise be very steep and difficult traditional routes, into routes with good rests and abundant holds, resulting in an area with relatively moderate grades. There is a campground at the base of the climbs however it is more suited to tent camping, for vans we recommend exploring the forest roads nearby to find a nice flat spot.

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THE TETONS

Grand Teton National Park offers climbers an array of climbing types, positions, settings and conditions. There’s everything from two-pitch sunny cragging to mixed alpine endurance testpieces. Like Joshua Tree, the park has an entry fee and paid campsites can be found inside. If you’d prefer to camp outside the park, you can drive just 30 minutes down a forest road to free campsites that are both well maintained and have a great view of the Tetons.

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SAWTOOTH CANYON

Sawtooth Canyon campground is located 20 miles south of Barstow, CA. Also known as “New Jack City,” it has 13 campsites that you can stay at for free for up to 14 days! The area is listed as ‘primitive camping’ but with each site having it’s own shade Ramada, picnic table, fire pit and a grill it looks more like glamping to us!
TOURIG tip: head up to the group campsite where the bbq has its own spit roast set up and enjoy routes right out your door!

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CITY OF ROCKS

City of Rocks
Located in Idaho, the City of Rocks granite is internationally renowned among climbers. There are over 600 routes here, both traditional and sport. Park entry is free and you can grab a camp site for just $13.

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ELDORADO CANYON

While technically not a camp and climb as you can’t camp at Eldorado, we’re slipping this one in as its in our own backyard and the climbing is pretty classic! It consists of steep, beautiful conglomerate sandstone walls of up to 700 feet high, in brilliant shades of gold and red that give you the real Colorado feel. Daily fees are just $9, make the most of it and stay the whole day with a lunchtime nap.

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