The Interview

This blog has a distinct voice. I should know; it’s my voice. And literally no one in the whole world listens to my voice more than the Armchair Arborist aka Blake Watkins aka my favorite road trip chauffeur. For better or worse, and he did promise that, B is the initial recipient of many of the opinions and indisputable conclusions you’ve read at this forum and - lucky for you, typically the exclusive recipient – of others that really should not be printed if I ever want to be employed at a reputable workplace again.

As excellent a listener as the Armchair Arborist may be, the man has a voice too. And we simply cannot keep the microphone away from him any longer. The people deserve to hear straight from the doctor of tree hugs himself; the man beneath the beard.

This interview has been edited for clarity and condensed from its original form.

Many of our readers know you as the Armchair Arborist, but wouldn’t you say that’s kind of an undersell?

Hahaha…yeah. Yeah I’m not just an armchair arborist – I’m a field arborist too; But I don’t climb trees or anything; and I like to ID trees from photos. So that’s where the armchair part comes in.

If you weren’t the Armchair Arborist, and this blogger’s editor in chief, what do you think you’d want to do professionally?

Huh…(long pause) When I was little I wanted to be a chef. When in was in college I was more interested in storm water.

What did you want to do with storm water?

I wanted to make it cleaner.

Speaking of alternative professions, how does it feel to have a wife who put a legal career on pause to become a nomadic travel blogger?

You know, I’m really pretty supportive of her switch to professional blogging. If it were bad, I’d have to turn my back on the whole endeavor; but since it’s good, I’m fully supportive.

It’s been six months on the road now, and it seems like all of our big projects are pretty much complete. You made the camper super comfy, the car is all shaped up. Do you have a favorite project?

Hmmm…probably the bed extension. Extending our RV queen into a full size queen is so nice because my feet don’t hang over so much!

In addition to being SpillsN’ Thrills’ resident handyman, you are the executive chef of the operation. In fact, there’s a new recipe post – Campfire Cooking. You had a major hand in the construction of those recipes. Where do you get your inspiration from when you’re cooking on the road?

I get inspiration from the trees and the wild, the herbs, the earth (sly smile) …No really, I just try to adapt recipes I know really well into things that can be made into one pot. And tacos. We have to have tacos.

We have to have tacos.

Do you miss any foods that are not sort of camp possible?

I miss Bahn mi and ramen and Mingalaba. I mean you know now too that even the best Chinese food in West Texas is worse than the worst Chinese food in San Mateo.

Anything you wish you could be able to cook that we haven’t?

Cooking in the RV is not really that restrictive. Cooking with the just the car is more limiting. There are a few recipes I wish I could finish in an oven or in a closed grill; a full sized grill would be nice. We haven’t done chicken wings once!

We haven’t done chicken wings once!

Any other honorable mentions that didn’t make the post, but you think should get a shout out?

I think probably our pasta, chicken, parmesan, gorgonzola, and balsamic glaze. That’s a staple.

Yeah we’ve had some version of pasta and fancy cheese a lot.

So you cook, you fix things, and build things. What in the world does your wife do while you’re working so hard?

Hahaha…she drives the RV alot, blogs of course, yells at the radio, does crossword puzzles, and books all of our next campgrounds so we always know where we’re going.

Sounds like a nice lady.

She really is. Sassy wife sassy life!

Sassy wife sassy life!

What’s the best road snack you’ve come across?

Probably the shelled pistachios

You mean the de-shelled ones

“Shelled” and “de-shelled” mean the same thing hun

 Oh right.

They’re like fifteen dollars for a bag but they’re delicious. They’re so worth it. It is also fun to try and eat chips and hummus in the car – because we have to help each other. Love a snacktivity.

You’ve read a lot of books on the road. Any favorites?

No, not really.

HA! You don’t have a favorite of the dozen books you’ve read

I like them all the same; but Caste (Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, by Isabel Wilkerson) was really good.

What do you think your most annoying travel habit is?

Probably like peeing in the bushes next to the gas station

You think that’s annoying? To whom?

To the people working at the gas station. Honestly, I can’t think of any. I don’t really think I have annoying habits!

Unfortunately that is not the answer we were looking for.

What? What do you think it is?

It’s definitely when you take the phone with the driving directions when I’m driving so you can just look to see what’s ahead. Like, you have your own phone. You could just look at your phone.

What’s mine? My most annoying travel habit.

When I’m trying to listen to the radio and you’re yelling.

That’s because you always try to make me listen to conservative talk radio!

No you were yelling at NPR the other day.

Who was on NPR?

I don’t know, I couldn’t hear.

In a post COVID-19 world, what spot that we’ve been to would you want to take all of our friends for a giant party?

Oh I think that would have to be Big Bend. Can you imagine?! Just a multi-modal, multi-day camp out. We’d have the camper for tailgating and everyone can canoe or hike or mountain bike all day. Gah that would be so fun!

Final question, any advice for folks thinking about doing something like we’re doing?

Wow. I mean it’s really nice to have job and travel.

How would you know?

Oh Right. True. Well it seems nice. But I’d say that you don’t need to spend six figures on an RV; you can get a really nice RV that doesn’t cost that much. And it turns out that towing is not that hard, so don’t be too scared of the idea. It just takes practice.

Do you have any questions for me?

Now can we bundle up and watch the sunset outside?

Happily. Thank you for your time Mr. Armchair.