Summer camps are run by some of the most passionate compassionate people on the planet and we wanted to meet them. In 2012 Laura and I packed up an old Honda Civic and hit the road. What started as a fun month long road trip, turned into a two year research project studying summer camps and intentional learning communities. In 2015 we started our own overnight camp, Stomping Ground. We just finished our third summer and still can't believe it has been possible. I hope that by sharing our journey we can help inspire others to keep dreaming or just get started. It has been a fun, messing, imperfect journey, we aren't done yet and I wouldn't change any of it.

EGG DAY

Eating on the road was always a gamble. How to eat a dozen eggs in twenty four hours on the side of the road.

OUR FIRST BLOG POST

We didn't build a website until we were 22 camps into our trip. WHAT WERE WE THINKING!?

PHOTOS OF CAMP IDEAS

Hobbit houses, carpet ball tables, dining halls, program areas, signs, games, and more poorly framed photos of really cool stuff. 

OUR FIRST CONFERENCE

PUBLIC SPEAKING IS SCARY & WORTH IT

In February 2013 we had been living in our car for about 6 months and were headed to Dallas to present at the ACA National Conference. We submitted on a whim because Dan Weir told us to. We lead our first conference session as a show and tell of what we had seen. It was poorly designed and incredibly messy, but it got us started as presenters which has been one of the single biggest keys to opening new doors for us. Since that first National Conference, we have presented at camps and conferences across the country and I hope have gotten a lot better. It is how we met Scott Arizala and James Davis, our first partners at Stomping Ground and my guess is if we hadn't started sharing ideas at camp conferences Stomping Ground would never have existed. Below are some of our early presentations. 

SLIDES FROM OUR FIRST PRESENTATION

MORE EARLY PRESENTATIONS