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Shot this from inside my tent in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in February.

Day 13: Cactus for challenges.micro.blog.

Starry night scene with a FUCKING GORGEOUS organ pipe cactus lit by moonlight stealing the scene.
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Day 13: Page (Arizona 😜), for challenges.micro.blog

Horseshoe Bend in Arizona - the Colorado River incised a deep gorge in the red sandstone and has created a big looping bed in the foreground.
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Day 11: Sky for challenges.micro.blog

Ocean scene, two people in a kayak with dark clouds above them and sunset-lit clouds further above
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Day 10: Train for challenges.micro.blog - The most unique train car I’ve seen was this cut-out display at Steamtown NHS in Scranton, PA.

Cut away of a locomotive showing internal partsx
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Question, friends: if you happen across a misplaced slice of crispy bacon on a random sidewalk in your town, does the 5 second apply to the moment it was originally dropped, or does the clock start when you first see it? Day 9 Crispy of challenges.micro.blog

slice of bacon on the sidewalk
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Day 8: Prevention for challenges.micro.blog

Passenger seat of a car with a notebook, map of Texas, and a pair of disposable solar eclipse safety glasses.
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Day 7: “wellbeing” of challenges.micro.blog

View from the feet of someone lounging in a hammock near the edge of a cliff and a great vista
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Day 6: “Windy” of challenges.micro.blog

When I think windy, I think of the summit of Mt Washington, where they chain down the roofs of buildings and the site of the highest wind speed ever recorded on Earth: 231 mph.

Wooden building on summit that has chains from its roof to the ground and features a sign describing the record setting 231mph winds that were recorded here.
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Day 5: Serene of challenges.micro.blog

Ocean vista from hilltop, sparkling water, lush greenery, tranquil setting, perfect for relaxation.
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Foilage? Yeah, there’s a bit of that green stuff in Samoa…

Day 4: Foilage for challenges.micro.blog

Just an incredibly lush sloping mountainside of green foilage, spilling into a small ocean bay.
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How I Became A Cruiser Bike Guy

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Here’s what it looks like, @amerpie.

Downright absurd: I still haven’t posted about it on my website!

There’s a multi-layered backstory to all of this. One part of it is that my wife had secretly organized several friends to fly to Alaska for my last park, and our Aniakchak visit nearly ruined it.

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This is really going to add a wrinkle into those Visit Every Timezone quests! White House directs NASA to develop lunar time standard

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My favorite card.

Day 3 of challenges.micro.blog

A scattered pile of annual passes to US federal public lands
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Day 2: Flowers for challenges.micro.blog

Wildflowers in the foreground with a mountain ridge in the distance in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
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/Uses

This is my personal take on a /uses page. It also functions as my Default apps for 2024 post (though I'm making it a more permanent addition).

Since online reviews are so gamed and broken these days, I wanted to post my stuff so you can ask questions of an actual user of these items. I also post product reviews on my Public Notes website. Please note that these are not necessarily my recommendations, just what I own and use.

So if you have questions about any of these items, please feel free to contact me.

I'm still adding items! Last (partially) updated on July 13, 2025

Devices + Hardware

Software

Some of my favorites apps are:

Online Services

  • Hey - paid email service, love their workflow philosophy
  • Wordpress - self-hosted, has run this site since its first release (for now, see below)
  • Kirby 5 - I'm rebuilding this site in Kirby and transitioning a number of other projects to it, too
  • Micro.Blog - interesting blog/social service, I'm using it for rsjon.es and other sites
  • ConvertKit - the email newsletter service I use for several sites
  • ForwardEmail.net - email forwarding/smtp for all my domains
  • ButtonDown - Email newsletter I'm testing for #OnePostcard
  • Dreamhost - have had this hosting account for 2+ decades now. Good enough for me
  • Super - I use this to convert Notion pages into the #GoQuesting website
  • Porkbun - domain registration, slowly migrating from now-defunct Google Domains
  • Masto.Host - Use this to host the OnePhoto.Club mastodon instance
  • Obsidian Sync + Publish (I'm a Catalyst supporter too)
  • tinylytics - simple web stats that don't require cookies or other tracking
  • omg.lol - a weird mix of services and a fun community

Photography

Most of my photos come from my iPhone, but here's some better camera gear I sometimes lug around.

  • Nikon Z5 - my amateur entry into both mirrorless and "fancy" cameras
  • Nikkor Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 kit lens
  • Nikkor Z 24-50mm f/4-6.3 kit lens
  • Nikon z50 - an addition for Jen, but I'll use it too
  • Nikkor DX 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 kit lens
  • LowePro Photo Active TLZ 50 AW case - I use this with the 24-200 lens
  • LowePro Photo Active TLZ 45 AW case - use this with the 24-50 lens, or z50
  • Peak Design Slide Lite and Leash camera straps
  • Olympus TG-4 Tough camera - I've long used "tough" cameras for outdoor adventures, but this one is primarily for snorkeling trips.

EDC items

I don't carry much, but here are my items.

I don't carry these around much, but they're commonly mentioned in EDC kits, so here you go:

Electronics accessories

Adventuremobile

  • 2015 Subaru Outback 2.5i Limited - still what I consider the best all-around "roadtrip vehicle" - great gas mileage, can get us to 90% of the places we want to go, easy to drive/park/turnaround, easy to reach rooftop bins or toss a kayak up top, safe, reliable, and AWD.
  • Thule Atlantis 1600XT rooftop bin
  • Thule BowDown kayak rack
  • Thule BigStack kayak rack
  • Exped MegaMat Duo 10 sleeping pad - perfectly fits the Subaru
  • Napier Sportz Cove 61000 SUV tent - we use this to sleep with the rear gate open
  • Window screens - keeps bugs out and lights dimmed while sleeping in the vehicle
  • 200W power inverter - primarily charge larger items like laptops

Travel items

Clothing for travel and the outdoors

Camping, hiking, and backpacking gear

Look, after almost three decades of camping and backpacking, I have a lot of gear. Much of it is too inconsequential or too old to mention. So I've omitted a lot. You should also know that I tend to buy on the extremes: either premium offerings from name brand outfitters, or cheap stuff from Walmart or the Dollar Store. Also, I haven't done much backpacking in the last 6-8 years, so I'm behind on newer gear since that era. But you do not need the latest ultralight gear to have a good time! People have been enjoying the backcountry for a century without fancy gear.

This list tries to focus on things I use regularly, or that you might actually buy, or buy something similar to, these days.

Sleep

General

Food

Kayaking

eBiking

Personal care

  • Henson AL13 Razor - so much better than buying disposable, I trim up some neck hair and use it on the odd occasion when I have to legit shave. No strong preference on razor blades (yet, at least), as I don't use them very regularly
  • Philips Norelco Multigroom Series 5000 beard trimmer - I use this to cut my own hair and trim my stubble. I can't tell you how much money, time, and annoyance I've saved in cutting my own hair since my 20s.
  • Green Bell G-1205 Nail Clipper - didn't realize how much better "decent" clippers are than the cheap ones I've always owned

Home & household

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March 28, 2024

Bespoke social media

Last year, I launched One Photo Club, a free social community for people who love travel (come join us!). The site centers around sharing photos from your previous trips to various prompts, so it serves as a remembering practice for participants as part of a concept I call Return On Adventure (think ROI but for your adventures).

It’s a free, ad-free, algo-free, bot-free, influencer-free, no-bad-vibes community focused solely on travel and outdoor adventures, which is (whew boy!) a welcome respite. And it’s way more fun to scroll through your own fun memories than the shitposts of others.

Last month, I launched a “re-imagined” version of One Photo Club, which is fediverse-friendly and overall more social than the original version. That means that we’ll continue to have a travel-photos-only feed, plus be able to interact with the wider social web community.

I’m also relaunching #OnePostcard, a monthly postcard exchange for travelers who are traveling in the same month. (The April cohort starts in just a couple days if you see this in time)

As I’ve come to really enjoy One Photo Club, it’s scratched my social media itch enough that I’ve mostly abandoned Twitter and Instagram. I currently have 5-minute-per-day app limits for each and no longer find myself defaulting to either when I’m bored. 

The more distance I have, the more obvious it is that these don’t serve our lives the way they should. I haven’t written much about this yet, but boy…I think we’ve made a mistake in how/what we consume on social media.

The social web

So I’m also trying to get back to what made the social web so magical before the big social media advertising platforms emerged. That means thinking about how to (1) write here more, (2) build and maintain connections with interesting people online, and (3) keep track of friends that primary post on the social media platforms I’ve mostly abandoned.

I’m currently working on a major revision of this site. I recently made a “digital garden” of public notes available at rscottjon.es, and also starting sharing a few interesting links at rsjon.es.

I’m continuing to slowly build out #GoQuesting, a directory of travel quests that people can adopt. I have a lot more planned for Go Questing, but my first task is putting together some mini-guides for the 1500+ quest ideas I already have listed. This week I’m dealing with some errors that popped up unexpectedly when I moved hosting accounts, so if something seems off, please let me know as I get it all fixed back up.

Travel

After spending nearly a month in Portugal in December, we’re now planning trips for the remainder of the year. Our two big international trips for the year will be campervanning around Norway and finally getting to the Galapagos, after several canceled attempts during covid. 

But most of our trips this year will be road trips from Phoenix. Our next trip is a road trip centered around several days the French Quarter Fest in New Orleans, with additional stops at various national park units and questing objectives in LA, MS, MO, IL. We’re looking at scheduling other roadtrips to Yellowstone and Seattle/Olympic. If you “know me online” you can add yourself to my let’s meet up list that I consult when making a new itinerary.

Caregiving

Last but not least, I’m spending a lot of time at happy hour with my aging dad—who is now battling bladder and three other cancers—and in managing…well, his entire life, basically. Even with having him in an assisted living facility, I still find myself spending 15-20 hours a week on this.

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I really like the idea of a digital shoebox, for random things you want to hold on to but don’t really fit anywhere else.

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“As I travel, I collect files that people want to let go of. I ask each participant to delete the file they’ve given me, so that the only remaining copy exists on a USB I carry. In return, I take their files on a tour of the mountains and the oceans. When the USB fills up, I will delete the files. You could think of this website as a memorial to files.”

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I have a bunch of Microsoft Streets & Trips .eps files that I’d love to open. Here’s a free online converter and here’s a more impressive paid option (that has a free trial).