RV Boondocking the Good Life

SO itchy, I can't sit still ..... I need a fix! I need ..... to keep my mouth shut and quit jinxing things!

Itchy to get some albums done too .... UPS is being slow delivering the pricking irons I need to get on with that work. Having had a stitcher in my big shop, I just never invested in any 'before'. Since I can either take a stitcher .... or Heidi.... the stitcher lost out. Hoping they deliver the tools today so I can get to work on what I am hoping to be a part of our RV Boondocking income!

I have plenty of work to keep me busy while I wait for those to arrive. But, it's pretty sad when your Hitch Itch is so bad you can't even concentrate on shoveling gravel! :-)

Lots of outside spring work to shine the place up so it looks good to prospective buyers. People keep saying we've turned the corner around here, and things are looking brighter. I'll reserve judgement until ..... there I go.... running my mouth again!

Hope you all survived any April Fools pranks you may have been subjected to. I'm fairly protected from such doin's.
Folks are a little nervous about how a cranky, goofy, off center ol' geezer might react!

Keeping THEM fooled isn't such a bad idea after all, is it? :-)

Well, a gravel pile awaits my attention and the sun is shining .... time to go!

Brian

April 5, 2007 08:27 - Going nowhere in a hurry!

So, we have two families that want to buy the house, but have to wait to sell theirs.

We have one that wants to buy it, but must wait on the resolution of a court case ..... that could be a while!

Called my supplier to find out where the leather tools I need are. .... they didn't ship! They were out of stock! ..... but they 'thought' they had the same tool, from a differant maker and would get back to me!

Went to Camping World yesterday to get a new roof cap for the refrigerator vent .... they were out of stock.

That day was not getting real productive!

I've been trying to get a hold of a hat maker I have bought my felt hats from for 25 years...... Finally found out, he
passed on, last September! That fella was only about my age .... I may be a geezer ..... but I'm not that old a geezer! Made me get to thinkin' again. You know how painful that can be.

Somehwere in here there's a moral of the story.... I figure it's something like: patience may be a virtue, but if you wait too long, you may never get a chance to live your dreams.

Bottom line is, I'm trying to be virtuous... but not end up making pretty flowers grow better, too soon either!

keep on keepin' on folks. Someday soon I'll be writing to you about Yellowstone, the Owyhee mountains in Nevada, Halibut in Alaska ....

I just have to be 'virtuous' until then...... fat chance!

Brian

April 8, 2007 08:37 - Easter Sunday in Colorado

You know, the Boss did himself proud when he built this Ol' earth. He created an awful pretty place. Even when it's 22 degrees on Easter Morning and the Fifth Wheel and the trees are all frosted up, it's hard to not see how fine it all is.

*** A tree by the entrance to the home place***

It pays to keep things in perspective. Considering all the events behind what Easter Sunday is all about. Looking at the world around us today, I can only thank the Boss, for the life I have. The lumps I've had to take, and the obstacles I always seem to have to find a way around, look pretty dang trivial, compared to what his boy had to endure, and that endured by folks all over this planet, every day.

***A closer Look***

RV Boondocking for me, is in part, a way to feel a lot closer to the Boss. It gets me out into a lot of country that hasn't been worked over, yet, by someone trying to squeeze another penny out of a rock. It's a simplicity of living that is sometimes hard to find any more.

I hope your Easter Sunday brings you a renewed peace of mind and spirit.

.... how's that for some Cowboy Philosophizin' ?!

Take Care People
Brian

April 12, 2007 07:40 - Goin' RV Boondocking ..... at a snails pace!

I'm making progress toward the goal .... but v-e-r-y .... v-e-r-y slowly! Several projects are in various stages of completion. Seems lately, as soon as I get to work on a project - something-else (life) ambushes me and diverts my energy.

The old - Life is what happens when you are making plans - deal.

I'm as stubborn as they come though, so when nobody is looking .... I turn a couple more screws on a project .... set a few more pieces .... until 'The Beast' finds me again! .... eventually, that sucker will wear out and leave me be! I figure, once we succeed at selling this place ... and get on the road... it will have a hard time finding my RV Boondocking campsite to do an ambush!

I've got, bead drawers to store Heidi's beads, a belly storage compartment (for all sorts of storage), a bathroom door remodel, a dinette/tooling bench lighting improvement, cd/dvd collection storage, motorcycle carrier improvements and a couple other things that escape me at the moment in various stages of completion.... Oh Yeah, I have three custom carved albums maybe 1/2 to 3/4 done.....

Hmmm ..... sounds an awful lot like a bad case of A.D.D. don't it? :-) probably just advanced old timers syndrome.

Brian Hoag sent me an e-mail the other day. He has built a site at www.rv-camping.org.

I haven't had much time to give it a real deep look, but from what I saw there are some pretty interesting parts. Especially the listings he has for campsites. Give him a look, and then let us know what you think!

I better get back to my long list of 'jobs to do'. Some day I'll have plenty of material to write a lot more stories! .... oops... I can hear the beast coming .... gotta go hide!

Later
Brian

April 14, 2007 06:59 - They Finally have the weather scheduled correctly!

The past few months it seemed 'they' were trying to keep me off my V Star. Sunny during the middle of the week, when I didn't work in town, bad weather at the end of the week when I do.

Was supposed to be rainy ... or snowy .... but it broke off clear and beautiful this morning .... 'They' finally got the 'schedule' right. So, I'l fire up that Yamaha in a little while and go sell some nuts and bolts at the hardware store while I ........ WAIT! .... we're going to succeed and get on the road soon, I have confidence! .... I hear voices!

I don't feel nearly as geezerlike when I'm on that bike :-) .... and there are a lot fewer side affects then taking pills for all the aches and pains! .... at least as long as I don't try to occupy the same space as a Buick!

Got the bathroom door hung in the Jayco yesterday. I changed it from a pocket type, sliding door, to a hinged arrangement. Works a lot better then the fairly lousy factory layout. Found a couple more little craftsmanship warts in the process. Apparently, the carpenters building the interiors of RV's aren't real concerned with square and plumb! :-) but then... we already knew that, didn't we!

I'll have that little story written and posted, sometime next week.

Also got most of another Album cover carved. If I can get 'events' to quit tripping me .... I'll get some of them stitched shortly and get back on schedule. And my nose will heal from walking into unexpected obstructions. Unless .... running my mouth again, puts a jinx on that project. .... again.

I wonder, will I ever learn? Just do it, and talk later? Likely not. .... half a century+ of putting my foot in my mouth, why change now?

Later
Brian

April 18, 2007 07:10 - What are some RV Drivers Thinking?

I saw something yesterday, on a run to town, that I see way to often. It always puts a knot in my shorts and sets my teeth to grinding.

A little, white haired, old man and a little white haired old woman were coming out of a gas station in a larger sized Class C. So what's wrong with that? Nothing, until you add in the two, white, looked kind of like Scotty, dogs, in their laps!

Now for the passenger, no big deal.... but when the driver is leaning and stretching back and forth trying to see around the dog that's blocking his view .... big problem! There was a driveway to his left, there was a driveway to his right .... so he went right down the middle and jumped the curb into the road .... ducking and weaving, trying to see around that dog in his lap! With the dog ducking and weaving back and forth, in time with the driver! eeeeeiiiiiiahhhh!

I don't think he could SEE where the driveways were! He didn't block traffic for ~ that ~ long I guess .... geez. And he did only ~ almost ~ sideswipe the car in the lane beside me. It's all OK if you are lucky enough to NOT hit anything right!

The roads are tough enough at times without this kind of performance. I really, really, really, don't like the idea of this Ol' geezer, rolling down the road at 50 or 70 miles an hour, with this canine dance going on in his lap, in an RV weighing 15,000 lbs or so, and me on the same road!

Come on! How can ANYONE think that is acceptable? I'm not one to say you HAVE to crate your dogs when you're on the road, I don't, but at least require a mite of appropriate discipline. If you don't care about your own safety, that's your business, but I'm not willing to have that kind of recklessness imposed on my family!

I hear conversations about 'bumping' into things all the time. Let's be honest here, I've 'bumped' too. I'll bet both my kidneys and half my liver that every time something gets 'bumped', the driver's attention was diverted or distracted in some way. People trying to help, hollering directions at him/her from six differant folks at the same time, or some such. That's how my most recent 'bumping' incident happened, so I understand how it happens.

But this is something we can control. Rule number one for RV driving is: Pay Attention to what you are doing! Rule number Two is: Dogs in your lap violate Rule number One! Make Ol' Scooter keep his paws on the floor. If he wants to be able to see out the windows build some sort of an RV Dog Deck like I did. Whatever you do, don't be dodging around trying to see ~ through ~ the dog in your lap like that Ol' Codger yesterday!

Just stay safe, OK?

Whew! OK. That's the end of my tirade! I feel better now!

Take it slow folks
Brian

April 20, 2007 07:24 - How come the plastic on an RV doesn't last for hundreds of years?

The annual Earth Day is coming. When you stop and think about it, Full-Time RVers, and those going RV Boondocking, are some of the most conservative, when it comes to resources, in the country. We FOCUS on saving water, fuel, electricity. We do it right already!

I know one of the complaints of the 'Green' people is that the plastic we use lasts for hundreds of years. So, if that's true, how come the plastic that the RV Manufacturers use only lasts a VERY FEW years?!

The Plastic fender skirts on our Jayco Fifth Wheel are cracking and disintegrating. I've figured out how I am going to replace them ..... just have to get it done.

Also, I recently discovered the Norcold Refrigerator roof cap is in even poorer shape. That one I'll replace with a factory piece, but I can't seem to catch Camping World with one in stock! Till then I have it capped off with some duct tape and plastic ..... of course the fridge can't run while that vent is closed off.

There are some places I think plastic does the best job, and some plastic does seem to go on for ever ..... I just wish the guys building rigs, worth thousands of dollars, would quit trying to save a buck or two with some of this crap, and do it right!

So, this weekend, if someone jumps on you for your big 'wasteful' rig set 'em straight! Tell them how much water you use, in a month compared to the national average. Tell them how much propane you use, how much diesel, water, etc. Add it up some time and check it out. You'll be amazed, I think, by just how efficient the RV Boondocking Lifestyle is!

Go RV Boondocking and save the Planet! :-)
Brian

April 24, 2007 22:06 - Ever Changing Springtime Weather for RVers in the Rockies

When It's springtime in the Rockies, your feet get frostbit in the morning, before you enjoy sunburn and heatstroke before noon, while it's raining cats and dogs, in between snowstorms.

A normal day in the Rockies around here. Rained I'll bet a couple inches along the northern front range, I-25 was closed for more than 5 hours south of Denver because of blowing snow and bad conditions, tornadoes east of us and sometimes, near blizzard conditions up in the High Country up west toward the divide. Lovely, gentle spring weather!

Fired up Big Red this morning for a supply run to Denver, so I can complete the set of custom carved albums I'm working on. Nick Russel (Gypsy Journal) has written a couple of posts the past week or so about some difficult weather in Arizona.

Well I'll tell you what. For a goodly number of folks, today must have been a difficult weather day in Colorado! One car was stuffed under the cable restraint in the center of the I-25 median. There was one white truck, make unknown, testing the abrasion resistance of the paint on it's roof a little farther along. I don't know how far that fella slid on the roof, but it had to be hard on the finish!

One driver took a good long ways to realize, that if they just took their foot off the throttle, the car will stop! Went off the right shoulder, clear over to, and through the west side 'right of way' fence, and another 30 or 40 feet into a flooded field, where I guess he got stuck in the mud. I suppose he would have just kept the pedal to the metal if the car hadn't got mired!

Lost count of the spun out cars littering the highway between Wellington (North of Fort Collins) and Denver. Darn near as many fresh wrecks on the way home.

Now tell me, if you pass thirteen spin outs, inverted pickups, and toyota splattered guard rails, in a heavy rain, isn't it reasonable to figure that the idea should occur to you, that maybe, just maybe, you can't keep going nine-O, safely? Maybe, before you pass the next thirteen wrecks of various magnitudes? Are these folks a mite slow witted? Or am I some sort of a genuine, double rectified, western genius? :-)

I never cease to be amazed at the speed with which these wizards pick up on road conditions! Why, I'll bet that by 3 in the afternoon, next Thursday, they'll figure out that the weather on the highway, today, was lousy!

I am proud to say that I didn't see an RV, of any type, in the tangle, though there were a few wandering down the highway.

But, I did get back with my supplies in fine shape..... after having ordered birthday flowers for the Queen Bee herself'.. whew! That was a close one. She figured I'd done forgot ... again! Talk about slow witted. Wouldn't you think that after nearly thirty years a fella could remember a date with some sort of reliability? What do you want to bet that our Aniversary, next month, is just as close a call?

The salt in the wound was when she called me on my cell after the flowers were delivered, and as I struggled through the spinning, sliding, hydroplaning traffic, and accused me of being warned by my daughter! How could she even ever think such a thing?

Good thing them fancy, imported from Hawaii, flowers were four feet tall!

April 26, 2007 07:57 - The continuing debate about overnight RV parking etiquette

Been reading a few posts lately, on different forums, and have been asked by a few, about the 'Debate that won't die', ... 'Free' Overnight Parking at Wal Mart and other places. (ie Cracker Barrel, Flying J, etc)

Some RVers get pretty hot about it, calling those who use these lots deadbeats, freeloaders, and other rather caustic names. Huh? I don't get it.

It's supposed to be a Free country, as in Freedom, not 'free from expense'. I guess if these folks (myself included) are freeloaders, that means the friends, and relatives of the 'accusers' who 'overnight' at the 'accusers' home are freeloaders too? If we are 'required' to go pay some RV park for a few hours rest shouldn't those 'friends' and 'relatives' go pay as well? Give me a break.

Wal Mart ~Invites~ us to stay. A sound business and PR decision. We generally go inside and usually spend a significant amount. Our Overnight Parking doesn't COST the surrounding town a penny. Actually, we contribute to their tax revenues.... and in a second hand way, to their personal wages (Wal Mart employess). So, How is it Freeloading? Because some RV park didn't get it's 'cut'?

They can EARN my business the same way Wal Mart did. .... be a benefit to myself and my family. If they cannot or will not, EARN, my business then that's their problem not mine. But, earn it they must. They do not, have a right to it! Why should they have any greater right to it than Wal Mart? Business, is business.

If they wan't charity, they can stand in line with those other unfortunate folks down at the soup kitchen. Othewise I'll require them to make their living the same way I do ... work for it. And, get my business the same way every other business I deal with gets it ... earn it ... not legislate it.

Where did so many people get the idea that they have some sort of 'Right' to a portion of my hard won income?

That's basically what the RV park industry is saying when they try to get these parking ordinances pushed through in towns all over the country. That RVers should be required to use their businesses rather than the 'agreements' we have with 'other' businesses, that allow us to park in their lots. (in the enlightened self interest that their generosity to us, will benefit their business)

What they miss is that ... it ain't gonna happen! I and many, many, many RV Boondockers, and RVers in general, BYPASS towns that impose such ordinances, and the RV Parks they contain.

There are plenty of towns, just down the road that don't interfere with, My Right, to do business with who I choose. The result is that all the businesses in that town lose out. Not just the RV parks that tried to force patronage of their place.

The gas stations, restraunts, hardware stores, clothing stores, tire shops etc .... ALL lose business, and the town loses Tax Revenue because one small segment of their town tried to legislate business rather than earn it.

So my position is, as long as you observe a proper RVers Code of Parking Etiquette, stay at Wally World, or the Cracker Barrel, or where ever. There is not one thing wrong with it.

Windy as usual. But you're getting used to it right!
Brian

April 28, 2007 21:56 - RV Boondocking and Wildlife

It's getting to be that time of year again. The RV's are getting tuned up, water tanks flushed, dreams getting shined up and renewed. I surely do love the spring. Back on the ranch it was the time of new calves, colts and fresh new life everywhere.

With so many Rigs hitting the road over the next several months, there's a few things for everyone to remember. Wildlife got it's name for good reason. It's Wild! AND Bambi is a cartoon! In real life he's a butt crunching Buck. NOT some cute, little, gentle, good hearted, Talking fawn.

With summer coming in a rushin' hurry, and so many good folks heading into the woods, it's time to pay attention! More wanderers in the wild country are injured ... and worse ... by the hooves of critters like Elk, Buffalo, and Moose, then have ever tangled with Bear Claws and Cougar Paws!

Very few, if any, of those 'travelers' were set upon without warning. In almost every case, their problems began with serious mistakes made by the 'victim' themselves.

A few things to watch for;
1. If; Their heads are flipping around, their ears twitching, their tails wringing like a windmill, their feet stamping .... YOU ARE WAY TOO CLOSE! BACK AWAY NOW! To get close up pictures ... get a long lens camera!

2. Don't feed your dogs outside. That will attract everything from Skunks to Bears. None of which you want in your camp!

3. Keep your camp clean. Don't leave your barbeque out in Bear Country, or bags of trash lying in camp awaiting transport to a dumpster.

4. Remember, in the spring, the Buffalo, Elk and Moose, will soon be calving and will be awful darn defensive of the kids. A Bear sow ain't any more defensive of her youngsters then a 500 lb cow elk. I can promise you, having one of those using your backside for a dance floor isn't going to be one of the fondest memories of your summer travels.

5. Don't let your pups go 'playing' with Deer or anything larger either. When they come racing back, with a mad Buffalo on their tail, you're going to have an exciting couple of minutes. Have you ever tried to outrun a Buffalo?

It's easy to keep your health, while you enjoy RV Boondocking in far country. Just remember that wild critters are wild and don't attract them right into your camp, while you give them sufficient space and not provoke a defensive display. They stay happy, you stay whole and you get to collect a good number of great pictures and better memories.

Go RV Boondocking for a good life .... and take all the pieces you were born with home with you! :-)
Brian