THE EXCITEMENT OF STARTING OUT

BOONDOCKED IN THE AJO HIGHLANDS, ARIZONA

It is always nice to come across new RV folks just starting out because it brings back great feelings of excitement & anticipation of our own early RV days.  Check out Janie & John's FLAMINGO ON A STICK .

BOONDOCKED NEAR WHY, ARIZONA

Looking back I would say those early days of shopping for an RV both online & on RV lots were some of the most exciting new days we have had as RV'ers.  Comparing notes with other RV folks & faithfully reading everything we could find in the RV NET FORUM.  Travel trailers, Class C's, truck campers, 5th wheels, Class B's & Motorhomes.  So much to choose from & so many questions to be asked & answered.  So many decisions to make.  Throw in a healthy serving of tension, stress, plus anxiety, and you have a really great mix of genuine apprehensive excitement.   It's a unique kind of excitement & I remember that stomach turning stuff well.  We didn't always make the right decisions & I'm sure we probably have a few more wrong decisions ahead of us but we have managed to get ourselves on the road every winter for the last 5 out of 6 years & with a bit of luck we'll be back on the road this coming September or October again.

BOONDOCKED IN SLAB CITY, CALIFORNIA

Cloudy cool day so most of my time was spent inside getting my little used SMUG MUG photo account organized.  A long, long, way to go but I did get a good start on it today.  Have had this account for about 3 years so it's about time I used it's great photo galleries.  Sure is nice sorting photos on a nice big new 20" monitor.  Great colors & great detail.

BOONDOCKED AT THE CLARK DRY LAKE BED ALONGSIDE ROCK HOUSE ROAD IN BORREGO SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA (no, we didn't build that earth oven)

MOTTY & PATTI got themselves a bigger & better truck plus a newer & smaller dog & I'm assuming RICK & RICK & PAULETTE arrived safely home today in Cowichan Bay on British Columbia's Vancouver Island.  Just two more examples of excited RV folks.  Different degrees of excitement maybe but excitement just the same. 

BOONDOCKED NEAR TOMBSTONE, ARIZONA

I had run the generator in the motorhome a couple of days ago & after a few minutes it quit.  A quick look at the gas guage in the motorhome showed the needle on a quarter tank so knew that's why the genny quit.  Off to Goderich yesterday for $75 worth of gas.  Yep, that was good enough to get the generator up & running again.

BOONDOCKED IN QUARTZSITE, ARIZONA

GROANER'S CORNER:(( 

GAMES FOR WHEN WE ARE OLDER

1. Sag, you're It. 
2 . 20 questions shouted into your good ear.
3. Kick the bucket
4. Musical recliners.
5. Simon says something incoherent.
6. Pin the Toupee on the bald guy.

And another sign of getting old is when you don't care where your spouse goes, just as long as you don't have to go along.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

ANSWERING A FEW QUESTIONS

OUR ANNUAL RESIDENT CARPORT ROBIN IS BACK NESTING IN HER USUAL SPOT AGAIN

There is an old saying that goes something like, "it is better to have loved & lost than to have never loved at all."  In re-applying that to the RV world, "is it better to have traveled & quit than to have never traveled at all."  I suppose only the folks who once traveled could rightfully answer that question.  Some days I  think to myself, if I hadn't experienced a lot of travels in my life maybe I wouldn't know what's out there & would be much more content just sitting around the house all the time..................Just a thought.

Now, to answer a few questions that have come in.  No, we never did get our hydraulic jacks fixed & if it was just me I probably never would.  Just more mechanical stuff prone to malfunction.  However, Kelly likes to be on the straight & level so at some point I guess we'll have to haul the rig into some big expensive repair place down in the States & get the jacks working......again!!!!

 

Had a question about RSS Feeds.  I have read about this RSS stuff but totally do not understand what it is or how it works.  Something to do with the blogs & photos allowing direct access or something.  For whatever reason my brain seems to have trouble understanding some of those particular kinds of technologies.  RSS, tags, feed burners, aggregators, etc. etc. ??

Questions about my cameras & lens set up so I'll put in some previous blog links that may answer some of these questions plus a few photos.  You may have to scroll through a bit of blog fluff to find the camera info but it's there.....................

http://thebayfieldbunch.com/2009/07/productive-camera-and-telescope-day.html

http://thebayfieldbunch.com/2009/11/exciting-day-for-gramma-kelly.html

http://thebayfieldbunch.com/2009/11/good-news-from-vancouver.html

As far as where did I learn my camera skills....that's a tough one.  I think it is the word 'skill's that trips me up because I hardly think of myself as a skilled person.  Bought my first 35mm camera back in 1965.  In the mid 80's I attended a 2 day seminar in Toronto put on by Nikon but can barely remember if I learned anything.  Also in the early 80's I took a couple night time camera courses at a local college in Kitchener Ontario.  Picked up a 'darkroom' course as well & went on to set up my own black & white darkroom which I operated for about 10 years.  Worked in the One Hour Photo Lab business for 4 years managing a store in Stratford Ontario for two of those years. (hated that retail management stuff!!) Enrolled in a professional camera program at Fanshaw College in London Ontario back in 91 but only lasted two months & dropped out.  Way too technical for me & way over my head.  But, I did learn some good stuff in the two months I was there.  Did do a little bit of newspaper stuff in the early 90's but it was very limited.  A good friend of mine was district editor of the Stratford Beacon Herald at the time so he used some of my stuff in the rural section of the paper now & again.  Was a member of the Stratford Camera Club for awhile too.

BAYFIELD'S BOATS WILL SOON BE IN THE WATER

I have some great camera equipment (Nikon) & that goes a long way.  The technical side of photography is very difficult for me & hard to  understand.  As soon as someone starts talking technically I am out of the conversation.  I have also met people very camera savvy & could tell you anything about their camera you wanted to know but couldn't shoot their way out of a wet paper bag.  They know all about their equipment but just don't know how to use it effectively.

DEER PARK LODGE

Composition & creativity come naturally to me & add to that a love of photography along with the knack of spotting good photos & I guess that's maybe where the 'skill' word might apply.  I have blogged about this before but just can't remember the exact blog dates for those posts.  I think I did one just a couple of weeks ago maybe. 

Anyway, I have once again become very long winded about all this photography stuff so had better get myself out of here & off to bed!!          zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

LAKE HURON AT DEER PARK LODGE

GROANER'S CORNER:((  I've been told I'm slower than a two flippered turtle crawling through a 49 gallon barrel of crunchy peanut butter!!

Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

TEMPORARILY STUCK AT HOME FOR A FEW MONTHS:((

HAD THE FEELING I WAS BEING WATCHED IN THE GARDEN THIS MORNING...(Garter Snake)

Lubricated the rails under the rig's main slide this morning, cleaned the battery terminals, ran the rig's engine & generator up to temperature & then discovered we have a nasty leak in our kitchen faucet.  I have the feeling a cold snap we had awhile back may have cracked the plastic fitting in the faucet assembly so we are going to have to get that replaced.  Also wrote down the rig's tire size today because for sure we are going to need new tires all the way around before we hit the road again in the fall.  The Goodyear G670 tires look fine but I checked the tire dates & they were made in May of 2002 so their safety expiry date is long overdo.

  WITH A BIT OF WOOD & SOME GOOD OLD COUNTRY IMAGINATION

I threw the 3D Pipe photos in last night's blog for no other reason than to just break up the usual pictures of birds & flowers just in case folks might be getting bored with that stuff.  It's a real challenge to refrain from being repetitive with the blog when not out traveling to new destinations on a regular basis.  I try to vary the topics as much as I can as well but when your sitting in the same location month after month that can be a real challenge.  Blog repetition can be a rut that is hard to get out of.  Our daily reader numbers continue to drop but that is to be expected because after all, this is first & foremost a travel blog.  It's a travel blog that is just temporarily stuck at home for a few months right now:((

Some people might suggest only doing the blog while traveling & of course that makes a whole lot of darn good sense.  Some fellow travelers do that & it works well for them but they are not a blabber fingers like I am.  Blogging & the photos that go along with it have become a very enjoyable hobby for me whether we are on the road or not.  Gives me an opportunity everyday to vent the thought process.  Why be selfish & keep my life all to myself locked up tightly in my head.  That's where headaches come from you know!!

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Did you know the secret to success is knowing who to blame for your failures.

Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.