The best brew pub in the Americas?

If you understand why Belgium could be considered the beer epicenter of the world, or why Burgundy could be considered the Pinot noir epicenter of the wine world, then you will understand why the Selkirk Abbey brew pub in northern Idaho may be the best brew pub in the U.S.

While other breweries dabble in a few Belgium style beers, Selkirk Abbey devotes its entire existence to a broad portfolio of the style. The only other brewery in the U.S. that comes close to such a devotion to the Belgium style is Allagash Brewing in Portland, Maine (also worth the trip).

Selkirk Abbey is all about the beer. Located in a small industrial park and lacking a kitchen, the beer and the perfect atmosphere to enjoy the beer are the focus here. There's nothing fancy. Just a nice comfortable room filled with friendly people who take their beer very seriously and themselves not so much. It's just a fun place to drink.

The beer celebrates the Belgium style in all of its traditional diversity. From light coriander-filled whites to sophisticated saisons, to moderately hoppy IPA's, to delicious darks, all of the beers are stylistically spot on, well balanced, and filled with unexpected nuance. They also put on a few guest taps that feature beers from Belgium or other inspired Belgian-themed microbreweries in the U.S. Their Saint Stephen Saison is even a subtle homage to the Grateful Dead.

Selkirk Abbey is a come as you are, feel free to bring in some take out food (Belgium beers can pair with any cuisine), have a good conversation, and listen to some live music kind of place. What's not to like?

Reflections on Public Land

"The west is the best
 The west is the best
 Get here, and we'll do the rest"
     - The Doors
       "The End"
One of Jim Morrison's finest efforts and the ultimate buzz-killer song. If I owned a bar, that would be my choice to clear the place out after last call each night.

When it comes to dispersed camping for free on public lands (AKA Boondocking), the west is definitely the best. Some people hate the term "boondocking" (you know who you are Boonie), but it's much easier to type than "dispersed camping for free on public lands".

Boondocking is "free" but the real allure for us is finding those special, secluded spots in unexpected places. It makes life one big Easter egg hunt. We spent the first year of our fulltiming life east of the Mississippi River. It was almost impossible to find nice boondocking sites and we paid dearly for the privilege of camping in the heat, humidity, insect and weekend warrior-infested environs of the east coast. Since then we've been in the west, and the world has completely changed for us. This graphic published by the GAO really helps to visualize the differences between east and west for hardcore boondockers.



Some observations spring to mind when we look at this graphic.

1. There's so little federal public land in MI, ME, FL, LA, and TX that we may have camped on it all during our first year on the road.
2. NV is one of the best kept boondocking secrets. We love it, but rarely run into other boondockers who have spent much time there (other than around Lake Mead). The 84.5% of federal public land there is the nation's highest.
3. AZ has more quality federal public land to camp on than the 48.1% would imply.
4. CA has less quality federal public land to camp on than the 45.3% would imply.
5. The percentages are exaggerated because each year there seems to be more and more of this land being closed off to the public either through private leasing of the land, use restrictions driven by idiots abusing the land (that topic deserves its own blog post), and bogus "budget cutbacks".
6. This graphic doesn't include state-owned lands, so the actual percentages of public lands in each state is actually higher. In the case of Idaho, a total of 68% of the land is held by local, state or federal agencies.
6. We feel very fortunate to own 100 acres of the 32% of Idaho that is still available for private ownership.

Being heavy users of public land, the annual cost of camping for us is almost non-existent. In addition to any daily fees paid at campsites, we include our Idaho property taxes (it is a boondocking spot after all), annual dues for our Elks membership (after trying them all, we've dropped all the other RV memberships), and propane costs. In 2014, these add up to $250 so far. Our budget for the year is $450 and only $80 of it has been and will be campsite fees. I suppose you could add the capital cost of a solar system and generator to those boondocking camping fees, but for us, the cost of those systems is all about independence rather than being frugal about camping fees.

We'll be spending the Summer and early Fall boondocking in Idaho, Montana, and possibly eastern Washington. When we leave this Fall, it will be to head straight back to some remote corners of Nevada before migrating to Arizona again for the Winter.