Sunday, January 31, 2010

RV Boondocking or... the Evil Motel?

That's our RV Boondocking camp near Heber... up on the Mogollon in Arizona... last year... and a sweet camp it was!

But...

:-) Sharlotte wanted to know... so I figured I'd get it over with and admit to the heresy.

We leave next Wednesday afternoon or evening for Heidi's annual buying trip to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show... Things are a mite tighter this year than in past... and with the house, hopefully in 'transition' ;-) we're gonna make a bit quicker run this time around...

... and then... seeing as we're Truckless... as in nada... as in the only thing sitting in the driveway is Lil' Red... who has seen better days... and Slick... (Yamaha V Star) It's a pretty safe bet the Eagle... who hasn't got his RV Renovation completed yet... ain't goin' anywhere for a bit!

The store is rentin' us a car... and we're gonna... wait for it! ... stay in... motels... shhhh. don't tell no one!

There... I said it... We'll 'camp' at the 'family' house in Tucson... but commin' and goin'... we'll play the Great American Road Trip Tourist... in a rented car... eating greasy food in roadside cafe's... slurpin 7-11 coffee... sleepin' on mattresses, slept on by a couple of hundred other travelers... who hopefully weren't suffering with any sort BUGS! :-) ... or worse! :-O

... Stoppin' along the way to
buy worthless junk at Roadside Tourist Traps for a buck two ninety eight... that you fill boxes with that you have to sort through and throw out thirty years later...

But... we want to be back before the weekend of the 13th... so we have the few extra days of another weekend, to deal with any 'unexpected consequences' that might pop up...

I figure to use this lil' trip to keep me mindful of why I like wandering in our own rig... sleeping in my own bed... and not having to worry 'bout leaving anything in a motel room... and having it still be there when I get back...

We don't have that problem much in the rig... some fool wants to break in there... it just means I won't have to feed the dogs for a week or so! :-O

... and now that I think of it... I don't require much remindin'... mostly... all I have to do is open a scrapbook... or pull up 'My Pictures' on the laptop... and right there... is all the Memory Refreshin' I need! :-)

To tell the truth... motelin' it... ain't that bad for me... once you've ate stuff you found under a rock... drank from a muddy hoof print... and lived on c rations for months... a greasy spoon and buggy motel mattresses, look pretty darn good! :-)

Helps to not be real picky too!

Take Good Care
Brian

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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Laying the RV Floor Replacement is Mostly Done!

Woo Hoo! Home Depot finally delivered, and I was able to get that last box of tile...

All I've got left is to screw down the Slide edge "transition" and pin down the shoe base around the edges...

Not feeling too bad for the first time in a couple days... so I decided that I should quit while I was ahead and let it rest for another day... and not push my feeble lil' self too hard. :-)






























But... the floor is in... and if I say so myself, it looks like a pretty good job for an Ol' mountain cowboy!

I'm Happy with it... and the couch is settin' where it's gonna go as well... just have to secure it down to the floor... Wouldn't do to open the door.. somewhere on the road... and find it sitting on the stove! :-)

Hmm... fitting the pics in here is something new... gonna have to learn a lil' more 'bout another new system I guess :-( sheesh!

Just a quick note... gotta get back to some other chores...

Take Good Care
Brian
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Back to the RV Remodel

Got my hands on the last box of Allure vinyl tile flooring yesterday afternoon... the Eagle is warming up now... and I'll put the last of the floor in today... or almost.

I also picked up the materials for that danged 'transition' from the slide to the fixed floor...

I had a 'brilliant' idea... 'course it was given to me by some random stranger in a lumber yard... but I'm claiming it! :-) rather than a wood, or aluminum piece hanging out there (that gave me 'reservations' for a couple reasons) I'm going to use Vinyl, Base Moulding.

When we ordered that last box of tile we found the perfect color of it, for the tile we've put down. The 'problem' comes in when you go to get the amount you need...

You can buy 4' strips, 20 foot rolls, or... 120' rolls. I need 'bout 14'... so... les' see... divide the 2... carry the 7, add in the 4, cut in half... and that 20' roll would seem to just about be the perfect choice... right?

Wrong!

The thing is... I'm gonna use the moulding... upside down! Base moulding has a lil' angle at the bottom, so it turns out just a lil' bit, where it normally meets the floor. That makes it perfect for what I need... Turned upside down, and laid on the slide, it will "turn down", to make up that lil' bit the slide is higher than the fixed floor.

So... what's the problem?

The 4' base strips are 'clean'... the 120' base is 'Clean'... BUT! for some reason all the 20' rolls anyone has are covered on the backside (what I want to be the 'front') with self-adhesive... arrrrghh!

and I'm too cheap to spend for the big roll... and then throw away something like 106'! :-)

So... I'm using the 4' strips... and will invent some sort of seam setup for the two seams I'll have to put on that 'long run' down the slide.

Yesterday I went about, hackin' and coughin' with this 'Cowboy Bug'... and tryin' to get the few 'corrections' made from our Buyers inspection list...

When I got to the biggie... the "Horned Cow Hassle" I mentioned... I broke down and hired a pro! :-) ... the ground on the north side of the foundation 'subsided' and pulled the conduit riser out of the bottom of the main service entrance for power...

Now, that line is buried, maybe 6' deep there... digging it up to raise it back up... is not an option... so the onliest thing left was to extend the end of that 2" conduit, back into the box... something like an inch...

Whoo ya! Ever try to pull a rigid piece of heavy copper wire... maybe a mite bigger than your thumb... through a keyhole... sideways? That's just about what had to be done... Havin' a pro electrical guy there to do it... made things a whole lot easier... all I had to do was stand 'round lookin' decorative!

But now, ever'thing we needed to do... for the selling of the house is purty much taken care of... and we can leave for Tucson next Wed. with a mite fewer 'stresses'... the only one left is waiting for all the things that... can go wrong... to NOT go wrong! :-)

... and after the past few 'situations'... can I say we're juuuuuust a mite gun shy? :-)

Well... the coffee's hot... the rig is warmin'... the coughin' is less... and that fine new RV Floor awaits me...

Ya'll have a shiny one... OK?... and...

Take Good Care
Brian

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Friday, January 29, 2010

I'm Going to Practice... Bein' in a Boondocking Camp...

... on a lazy day...

'cause... some dirt bag gave me Their lousy bug! :-) Lordy... I never used to get a sniffle... nowadays? Seems like ever' dang winter... right about now... I get some burnin', hackin', wheezin', head-spinnin'. lung bustin', whizbanger of a monster bug... that turned into pneumonia two out of the last five years...

'tween the coughin' and the rubber legs... I'm just not gonna accomplish much today anyhoo... and much there is to do.

The buyers inspector found a couple of lil' things that I already knew needed attention... one lil' thing that is gonna be a royal, horned-cow-hassle to fix... and I'm still waitin' on Home Depot to produce that last box of flooring I need, so I can button up the flooring install...

Comin' up Wednesday evening we leave for 10 days or so, to Tucson... for the big buying trip of the year... for the store... and then have only another 10 days or so, once we're back... to button up all the things we have to do to pull out of here...

... and here I set... coughin' up a lung! :-)

We were talkin' yesterday... and we both griped that we'd not been able to have our 'own day', like we had got to doin' late last summer and fall, for a few weeks now. Seems some sort of 'business' has been gettin' in the way...

Now, That, is something we just ain't gonna accept for long. Things have to get done, 'cause of what all's goin' on... how-some-ever... if those things don't hurry up and get'emselves done up and finished... in one helluva hurry... they may find 'emselves abandoned!

'cause there's a lot more to Living than Takin' care of business!

Business, is supposed to take care of us! and if it don't? ... I'll ride bareback on a Porcupine... before I'll surrender what's left of my life to business ever again! It ain't... my first priority... That is a mistake I'll not repeat.

Well... I guess it's past time for me to get busy at layin' about.

Take Good Care
Brian

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

A Lil' More Cowboy Philosophizin' and a Re-statement of My Purpose Here...

And Well... it's time for me to Cowboy Up and really get to work.

I'm slowly workin' and fightin' my way back to what this website was, and is, supposed to be about... and that ain't just about RV'n and it's also NOT looking at my future as some sort of a 'retirement' thing either.

RVing is just a 'vehicle', and I have No Intention of ever 'retiring'. - even if I would ever have the assets to allow it :-)

Something I've always wanted to achieve here, is NOT to show folks, THE, way... 'cause there ain't, just one way, and anyone who tells you there is... is spreadin' fertilizer...

What I hope to do, is maybe show that if you hang tough and keep huntin' for Your Own Way... That if you keep duckin' and movin'... Keep your mind and your heart open... You will find what you're lookin' for.


Now... I sure didn't plan the rocky trail I've had the last three years... but maybe they've contributed... 'cause... in spite of all that... maybe, because of all that? My life is slowly becoming as much as I ever thought it could be.

What I've been chasin', my whole life, is a superior way of living... not just for Old Geezers like myself, but for ever'body... right from the get go. A Fine way of living. Shining Times!

A way that is an option to the old traditional ways... It's my position that the way I want to live... is a good and reasonable 'option', for an entire Life, for those just getting started...

I want to show that 'savings', 'investment', and focusing on money is not the best way... but focusing on Living... and building a Creative way to produce the needs of your life... as you live it... is a more reasonable... secure... and creative option...

That feeding your Spirit... and uplifting your Soul... is every bit as important... as the beans on your table.

That there is a 'way' that lives in opposition to slaving away at some mind dulling drudgery for the best years of your life.

That squirreling your life's work away into a bank account, that some scheming corporate exec can render worthless; while you struggle on, hoping you'll stay healthy enough, long enough, to actually be able to enjoy some of it... some day...is NOT a reasonable choice.

One of my few regrets is that I failed to take us this way... a way I felt was right, then... a long, long time ago.

I too... allowed myself to be 'lead' by the Judas goat... partly by conditioning and partly through fear... down a trail I just knew... was not where I wanted to go... and I've no one to blame but my own self. I'm hopeful, ya'll can learn from my mistakes

So... here I am... I can see so many of my past mistakes... so clearly now... Funny... Looking forward? It's as murky as it was when I started... but I can see the past... crystal clear... and it is that 'History' that guides me now... into our future.

I measure the future against the past... each day as I come to it... I've "Heard it all before"... and so I am warned of "deadfalls and bogs" to avoid... But you have to learn to trust yourself.

You know, I believe that not just RV'ers, but the American People as a whole, have been blessed with a restless, wandering, gypsy, gene. I know, for sure and for certain, I am! :-)

Always reaching... always looking... It is that restlessness that has motivated so much of what we have achieved.

The open road... in a rig, or on a Motorcycle provides my soul with some intangible "thing" that it aches for... and withers without.

I find that there are those who ridicule that... I myself hold with the idea that anyone who would ridicule the choices that another makes, in his own life... choices which bring them joy; Why, that fool only makes, himself, the one worthy of ridicule... if anyone ever is.

So where does all this philosophizin leave us?

Huntin' the answers and Living Life... while goin' RV Boondocking and Motorcycle Touring the Good Life :-)

Like Ol' Roy used to say; "Until We Meet Again!" :-)

Take Good Care
Brian

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Ever Closer to the House Sale...

After the past couple of years... we're in that 'place' where... we want to start gettin' excited... but just keep workin' at NOT. :-)

THIS contract FEELS real... it FEELS like it's stronger... but bein' a natural born cynic :-) I'm at the point of holdin' my breath...

There is a problem with that though... Uh... we got a whole month left before we close... so I better find something to do ... right... that keeps my mind on other things, or I'll be in no shape to do anything when we are clear!

The RV Remodel is sort of in suspended animation, waitin' on Home Despot to haul in that last box of flooring I need... I expect to get a call today or tomorrow... I'm Hopin'!

and... as you can see... The Blog Remodel is movin' along as well... I'm slowly trying to get the 'RV Daily Blog' moved over to this page... I'm likely gonna keep on posting some notices on the other page getting folks to move over to here... and Bookmark this one... and then... I'll start 'converting' that'n to it's New Purpose...

I also have to go through the work of trying to fire up another page for the foundation of a Boondocking Campsite list... I think... 'cause I Think the way I'm seein' to do that would be a useful thing

So... I may not be movin' real fast... but I ain't sittin' on my hands neither! :-)
Later Folks

Till then;

Take Good Care
Brian

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RV Boondocking the Good Life Home Page

Monday, January 25, 2010

My RV Boondocking Blogs in Transition

I've finally hit, I think, on the way to use THIS blog. Took a while to clear out the confusion, and I'm gettin' there... slow but sure...

The way I'm seeing things... this blog, is planned to become my Primary, Daily/Road Blog... The Old blog will remain... but my thinking is for it to become an EQUIPMENT REVIEW... RV NEWS... RV BOONDOCKING CAMPSITE... blog....

Hmmm... maybe I'll even fire up a Third Blog!... Using the Easy Blogs Software... and Design that sucker to be, exclusively, the RV Boondocking Campsite List? ... now that don't seem to be too bad an idea... :-)

One thing I have to do... before I can completely make the change... is go through the technical gymnastics to get my Nav Bar built on this blog... and the thought of doin' That, boys an' girls... leaves me cross eyed, wobbly kneed and wheezing!

anyhoo... things are changin' round here... and I do believe it's an improvement in the works... so keep your eyes peeled! I'll make sure I make a lot of noise when I get 'er done... so ya'll know what the devil I'm up to!

as always...

Take Good Care
Brian

Sunday, January 10, 2010

What Could I do with two RV Blogs?

So... now I have Two "Blogs" on the site... though this one isn't fully functional... yet...

Hmmmm... this almost rises into the world of those freaky Masochist fellas... don't it? :-)

I didn't have enough to do... with one?... Now... What should I do with two? I swear, this writin' gig gets to be an addiction of sorts... at least maybe this can hopefully be of benefit to... somebody!

There's so many certain sure possibilities... Kind of like the rest of life... too many options for a pea brain to make a choice! :-)

So... some ideas I have are these;

Publish one with General RV Boondocking 'stuff'... kind of like I've been doin'...
Publish the other... as a 'RV Boondocking product and book review"?
... as a 'Cowboy RVer Philosophizin' Page?
... maybe I could twist it into some sort of a wierd things along the road blog?
... how about good Boondocking sites found along the way?

I'm open to suggestion...

I started setting this one up in response to the screwup in my 'comments' on the 'OLD' blog... but now... I think there's an opportunity here somewhere... so I'll just let it 'simmer' for a while... I'm sure some sort of Inspiration will come to me...

Just hopin' it don't hurt too much when it hits... -)

If you've got a suggestion... or just a comment... the 'comments' on THIS blog... are supposed to work! :-)

Till I get things smoothed out...

Take Good Care
Brian


Friday, January 8, 2010

First Post of the "NEW" System

The First post of the "NEW" goin' RV Boondocking BLOG system...

Goin' to this system in my never ending pursuit of Cowboy Publishing Perfection... :-) Hey, I can dream can't I?

This is just a 'TEST', since, near as I can tell... ain't nobody can even find this setup yet... Lost in Internet Space...

I can tell now... this is gonna take some lil' time to work the kinks out of this 'stuff'... but then... Aw it'll be Shinin' Times once again... and we can all get back to RV Boondocking and Motorcycle Touring... on Freedom Road! ... right? :-)

Take Good Care
Brian