Adding Another Iron to the Fire...

Over on the left bar, you'll find the lists of All my websites... and... the three "Blogs" I've been working, all connected one way or the other to here.

In our ongoing effort to keep the cupboard from being the last resort visited by any visiting starving rats... and my puss gut from evaporating and leaving just a windbag connected to chicken legs under the glare of a shiny bald head...

... We've stepped off on the initial steps of assembling a way to present our various Arts to the general public.

So... you'll notice the newest in the List... Gypsies in The Wind.

It's reeeeeeealy early in the work to put all of it together... and we've still not totally calculated the system for folks to order pieces, us to be paid so that we can ship the work... along with the time frame for all that to happen... but we're working on it...

... all the time tapping out words on my next book, writing the blogs, hiking, eating, tapping out more words, continuing with the website reconstruction work... taking more pictures on more hikes/rides... and  building the blogs from those and then... tapping out more words...

Well, you get the picture... a cranky puss gut biker cowboy with a bad case of wanderlust, aggravated by an exceptional case of old timers syndrome... looking out the window at the horizon... while working out how to add four more hours to a 33 hour day. ;)

Ah well... at least I'm not selling plumbing parts to women in fancy dresses whose husbands made 'em stop at the hardware on their way home from the salon... with a left handed description of what they think they thought he needed...

... only those husbands are book keepers with masters degrees in Renaissance Canine Orthopedics who THINK they should know more than a hardware clerk... NOT... handymen... hell, not handy at all!

So, the fancy lady in the silk dress stands there in growing frustration when the hardware store clerk looks at her... cross-eyed... after her confused and disjointed description of what her husband told her she wants gets passed on without her having the slightest clue what it is... and hears him say; "Huh????"

Anyhoo... it's gonna take me a bit to get all that built in the smoke coming off all those other Irons in the fire... but one way or t'other... it'll get done.

Bookmark the new page for your wearable (jewelry) and functional (journals) art needs! :)

Burning My Fingers on Hot Irons
Brian

The Digital Sawdust and Eraser Shavings are Piling Up Deep in this RV!

I've juuuuus 'bout wound that lil' rubberband that energizes my brain pan to the poppin' point! Some fellas just don't pay no attention atall to how much they is bitin' off at one time. Yes sir. the kaleidoscope in my head is in Hiiigh Gear!

I don't choose to just fire up a new laptop. Nah... I gotta go complicatin' that with the new and genuinely awkward windows 8 I was warned off of... and rightly so. Then throw in a new whole dang system I build the websites with, while trying to learn two parts of Adobe, elements and premier elements... at the same time!

All while sittin' in a frigid Arizona desert schemin' a restart of a couple of our old cottage industry enterprises...

While high twenties and low thirties ain't cold by northern standards... it's become cold enough for me to be feelin' frigid! Tween the cold and the brain strain... I'm 'bout done for the day!

Progress is happening though! While NOT burning gunpowder on ee-lek-trawniks, kickin' any dogs or chuckin' rocks at the neighbors. Maybe I'm finally maturing! ... riiiight... I'd not go bettin' on that scenario just yet. ;)

Yesterday I rebuilt the homepage to Motorcycle Touring on Freedom Road. Today I fought my way a lil' further up the learning curve and converted the goin' RV Boondocking home page to the new system. Tonight... I'm crosseyed!

While takin' a break from tryin' to pull the knots out of all that technology... I looked out the window, boondocked out here in the desert. Plain and simple, there's a lot fewer rigs here than in past years... buuuut... there's still a few folks that flat entertain a personality like myself.

So... I look off across the desert and I see these two fellas steppin' around a short ways from their rigs, like they're in pursuit of some real enterprise. They walk a lil' bit and bend over... Walk a lil' bit and bend over... go back a ways... do it again... and the whole time they're maybe, 30 or 40 feet from each other...

Finally, I pulled out the camera and zoomed in close enough to see what they were up to... Aw lordy...

We're parked out here in a few thousand acres of sand and rocks... stop your rig and roll out the awning kind of set up... and they are... MEASURING OFF PARKING PLACES... for the few rigs of their buddies who are comin' to join 'em!

Like... Truly? You can't just pull up and say WHOA! This is good right here? Out in all this desert, eyeball good enough, ain't good enough? You need a Tape Measure? Seriously? :) These guys have GOT to be Engineers! :) Tickled my funny bone.

So, gigglin' along, I've also been scratchin' on paper, workin', out of necessity, at lining out how we can make do, as we have for the past few years, with the rig we have.

I've come up with a "plan" for movin' things around again, and building/rebuilding a few parts to allow us a decent space to work so we can diversify and hopefully supplement our income a lil' bit.

And... do it in a lot more short term time than a total rig replacement would take... (if that could even happen)

The things I'm workin' at designing up and figuring the arrangement of are;

1. A complete new Bed rebuild for the truck; Needed to allow the generator and compressor to be moved to the truck(from their current locations on the 5er), as well as adding function with built in Fuel, Fresh Water and Waste water tanks to make things a lil' more convenient. (This'll be the Biggest and toughest nut to crack of the whole deal)

But once it's done I could fairly quickly build the rest of the job right in camp with the tools I have on hand.

2. A "Tailbox" Outdoor kitchen on the fiver. I'll mount it back on the cargo deck I built last year. This'll clear one of the bed boxes on the truck of the grill and coleman stove for our camp cooking. And provide hardside enclosure of 'em for those "Bear Areas". Not exactly Bear Proof... but hell, the Fiver itself ain't that! and neither are the cars the rangers make folks lock their coolers in. Then Grizz yank the doors off of Subarus with regularity! ;)

3. One of those fiberglass roof pods to mount on the roof of the fiver to hold my "Bike Camp" gear between trips.This will clear the second truck bed box allowing that space to be occupied by...

4. ...Two "Camp Desks". One a Camp Writing Desk and the other a Camp Leather Working "desk". I figure to make some sort of a version drawing from these two setups I've found online.

 5. Very likely another "Roof Pod", this time to go on the cab of the truck to stow and transport our camp tables in an aerodynamic box that will also help kick the wind up over the fiver when we're on the road.

6. A hardware bin chest built into the forward compartment in the space now occupied by the compressor. This will be mostly the hardware, rivets, buckles and bits I use for building my pieces.

7. The new "Camp furniture" still require some sort of "Auxilliary" living space where we can work.
The only options we have there are to add either an Add-a-Room awning room, or a totally separate canvas workspace (which strikes me as the most flexible)

... something like one of these OUTWELL tents...

... or some variety of Elk Camp type wall tent like this'un from Montana Canvas that I've used in the past...

Put a propane heater in there, a power line from the battery bank for LED lights, and either'll provide lots of warm, dry workspace for a leather carvin' gypsy biker cowboy; as well as a nice spot to set up that Camp Desk to write on...
    

Oh Momma... Listen to the Hummin'! :)
Brian

Dang... Is There a Fire in Quartzsite?

Nah... the smoke is just me... schemin' again!

Ha Ha... the more things change the more they stay the same.

Yesterday's post stirred a couple of responses from readers that helped me knock some of the wobble out of my git along. ;)

When you can't afford new and improved... you go with Old and reworked! :)

Who said; "this rig just don't lend itself to providing the work space we're gonna require to do a true and proper job"??

Oh... that was me huh? :) Well... on occasion I've been known to get wired up and be found jumpin' off the cliff  'fore I was certain sure there was water in the crick!

The thing is... Out of the Box and Unconventional and Unorthodox thinking has to be just that. If you spend all your time Only working and thinking in the approved manner and with the accepted wisdoms... innovation ain't about to happen.

So... I spent a lil' while yesterday and this morning, perusing some of my old pages as I'm relearning computer bits and pieces in preparation for THAT rebuilding job... and warming up my scheming genes to come up with something new for THIS rig; Since it's what we have and will for the foreseeable future.

Some reminding words from Mr. Peters (on of my long term readers here) kept rattlin' around in my head about things he's seen... and told me of before! ;)

Well... the upstart is... with a lil' whacked out imagination... a mite of cowboy ingenuity and some boondockers alchemy... I do believe I CAN whittle on this Ol' Rig to carve out a workable Bead and Leather Studio for us... and... do it in the more short term... rather than some long lost day in the future.

It wouldn't set up in a Wal Mart Parking lot... but in any of our long camps it should be a pretty comfortable arrangement. more on that in the coming days as I work on the idea...

Progress is coming on multiple trails... I'm slowly getting my head around the new technology that my internet provider has imposed on me. Unlike MS... Sitesell/Sitebuilder has built a very good new software for building our websites... The only downside is, it requires dusty old brains to shake off the cobwebs and get to work. ;)

I'm slowly finding my way through the ambiguous maze MS created to put the tools that DO work to work... I'm consuming lots of paper sketching up an unorthodox boondocking cowboy alchemy Art Studio to load onto the 5er... to help keep us fed and I'm stringin' words on the fourth novel...

hmmmm... likely... if I wasn't also a schizo Biker Cowboy... and was possessed of the ability to concentrate on one thing for more than 12 minutes... I'd get more done!

Reworking to circle back to my roots
Brian

Dinero and Weightloss

Don't it just make your sittin' parts itchy to always have worthless paper circlin' around to fool with the trail you mapped out?

Same old same old... We rail against allowing material things to get in the way of livin'... and then get ambushed and beat right back into that place where our trail choosing options are dictated by... uh huh... Dinero and THINGS.

Well boys and girls... that's life in the west! and the crew of goin' RV Boodocking is facing up to that ree-al-i-Tee one more time.

The whole point of this day's tirade is... Don't Ever quit. Never give up. Keep on Keepin' on. Like Ol' Dumbledore said; "Do or Do not... there is no Try!" :) If you want it, there's a way. You only need to keep searching till you find it.

I've got all sorts of ideas and schemes bangin' around the ol' brain pan. No fewer than ever was in my life. If I had the cash I could work 24/7 for a decade and not get 'em all done. I think they call it hyper active schizophrenic cowboy itis with a piggy backing complicatory infection of arbitrary authority aversion.

Anyhoo... here's the deal. Income is down the past year especially... and as ever'body knows, cost of living is up a good deal. That budget string is pulled so tight she's singin' like a banjo; and that's if you don't even take into account the series of repairs we've had to do.

So... one project I really wanted to pursue in the short term is pushed to a back burner... that being the layin' out of some sort of a long term/base camp.

Then there's my writing. It's a funny deal. Some word whittlers can write, and write well, sitting on a street corner under an umbrella in the rain, with their laptop on their knees and cabs honkin' and folks hollerin... I'm impressed with their ability to tune all that stuff out. Me? Not so much. I require an almost hermit like solitude where I can inject myself into the story without interruption or distraction.

Let somebody crumple paper, cough... slam a cabinet door... and... well... let's just say; Writing is not what happens! ;) Needless to say, of late my "Production" has been slow... but I'm workin' on it!

So... we're needful of lining out some supplementary contributions to the pantry. The first off and short term is hunting up another job or two like our Nascar weeks. Not going back to full time regular jobs, but something rather short term with a scheduled termination date! ;) We both fear the Trap that "Jobs" can be. A day becomes a week, becomes a year... and too soon you're looking back at a life that got derailed... So... Temporary is the key for us.

... and secondly, Herself and I, in the interest of shoring up our subsistence a bit are laying out a trail to fall back on some mostly dormant and portable skills that have paid us in the past. Well... at least that's the longer term plan. ;) (Longer term being 'tween now and next winter)

Heidi is one of the better Artisan Level, Jewelry Artists around and I do a fair job of leather carvng... so... we're working the bugs out of how to harness up those arts and skills, in our current sitchy-ashun to keep from losing an excessive amount of weight!

As I do the reconstruction of my websites that I've mentioned a couple times... I believe I'll finally get around to building the online Gallery I've also mentioned a time or two.

We're thinking of calling it... ~Artistic Provisions~; Your source for Journals, Albums, Jewelry and Canine Accessories. Basically all that our Imaginations can conjure up.

The pieces will all be hand stitched and carved Journals and Albums, Collars and leashes and Heidi's jewelry of Improvisational Bead Embroidery of Semi-Precious Stones and fine glass beads; Pendants, Bracelets, Earrings.

To provide the work space to fill that gallery, one of the issues we've got to find a way around is the rig itself. Plainly put, this rig just don't lend itself to providing the work space we're gonna require to do a true and proper job... So of course that dinero thing comes back around again since the only value to change out the rig to a more workable situation... lies in the rig itself.

But, a feller can't sell the house he's livin' in... to swap out to a better fit... without having the "other" house ready to move in to... and that takes dollars... and I've not found a single one layin' out there in the desert! ;)

The sort of rig that's gonna suit our needs is going to be an Oldie but Goodie Motorhome pulling about a 23' cargo box type trailer (That will give us the studio space)... others have found what they need and I by God will too!

'course a MH will require acquiring another oldie but goodie sidekick/tracker to put in the trailer for our runabout transport. all of which still requires that scarce commodity... the Dinero I rail against allowing a commanding place in life.

Yeah? Well... life is full of compromises ain't it?

So... as we continue this journey... watchin' close for some sort of opportunity and workin' hard to get ourselves into the position to take advantage of an opportunity... 

...The Bottom line is... It's a horse race. Re-outfit, on the cheap and get our shops/studios restarted... before we lose so much weight we're too weak to work! :)

Like Fall Leaves in a Swirling Wind...
I'm goin' fourteen directions! ;)
Brian

Publishing From a Boondock Camp, Good Omens, Leather Carving and Jewelry Galleries...

I battered the buttons last evening and uploaded my latest project. With this book my Jeb Taylor series, at two books, is now officially a series! ;)

But... if you look over there to the left side you'll see the link to my BK Gore Blog... and the the headline about JEB TAYLOR DAY. (Monday the 30th of July)

You might give that lil' blurb a quick lil' read... go ahead... I'll wait ;)

Back now?... Yeah I know. A bit of un-repentant self promotion. That's something I don't expect to ever get very comfortable with... and I'm trying to be...um... low key? ;) about it... but if a guy's gonna sell any of his stories he's gotta suck it up and get out there and hawk 'em... right?

So! Jeb Taylor Day! Monday the 30th of July! Two Thousand and Twelve! Get 'em for Amazon runs out! :)

I just hit the button yesterday evening to upload the last file and the light coming through the kitchen window turned color...

*A Publishing "Good Omen" *

I'm takin' that as a good omen. Gonna take a few days off from the keyboard 'round here. I need to clean up the word chips from all the literary whittlin' that's been goin' on.

Before I dive into the next two books that the carving has already been started on! :)

I've got a Leather Project to finish carving anyhoo. It's been on the table for a few weeks but I was a bit preoccupied with completing the book... so now the table is clear and I can get another of my project list clicked off.

... and somewhere in all this I've got to create some sort of Gallery to showcase Heidi's Jewelry creations. She got a few pieces in a Gallery outside of Zion Nat. Park, but I think I could do better for her if I figure out how to Multi-Task and do seven things at once and just get her own Gallery built!

And while I'm doin' that... I'd like to find the guy that said this Boondocking for a living was a more relaxed and easy way of goin'!

Some days I feel like a three legged man with an advanced case of Old Timers that got caught up in an egg beater! I don't know if I'm comin' or already left! ;)

ahhhhh... it's still better than straddlin' a buckin' horse on rocky ground. :)

Catchin' My Breath Above Steamboat
Brian

Rolled East and South... and Landed North of Tucson

Did a bit more socializin' before we pulled out of the Plomosa Road camp. A long time reader, Bob Tucker, had been huntin' around for us a bit and happened to spot us sneakin' back to camp one afternoon... He's not the first to say my non-typical way of hauling a big motorcycle stands out a bit and gave me away... so he rolled in to say How Do!

Anyhoo... after our weeks in La Paz county, we pretty much wore out our welcome so we Hitched up and hauled out a couple of days early... Had to dump anyway! ;) Aw what can I say... the hitch was itchin' so we just rolled on down to Tucson two days early.

Heidi can do a lil' preppin' for her week of Bead Buying for the store... and I can get a jump on my Motorcycle Tire work.

We almost had to Wally Dock it though. We chose to make a reservation this year in Catalina State Park on the NW side of the Santa Catalina Mountains by Tucson, but that's not till the first.  Didn't expect a problem... But was a good thing I didn't dawdle more than usual comin' down here. We called yesterday to see if there'd be a problem comin' in a couple days early. They told us that they'd filled, but we shouldn't have any problem finding a spot in the Overflow parking... They hadn't been filling that...

Well... Uh... we grabbed one of the last three spots when we got here at two thirty! :) and the other Spot Fillers were bumpin' up behind us.

*West end of the Santa Catalina Mountains*

And guess who we found already parked here when we pulled in? The Artful Bloggers! ;) I thought they were trampin' around up in the Superstitions...

But nope... they snuck down here a day or two ago... Shared a camp with 'em in Anacortes... and cross tire tracks again in Arizona fifteen hundred or so miles and several months later...

I was filling the water tank from a hose bibb 'fore we pulled into place... so Heidi carried a cone to "Save" our spot from all them Others ;) When she came back she says; "I think Mark and Bobbie are here!"

"Why would you think that? They're north... in the Superstitions."

"There's a Chalet parked up there. There can't be too many of those around are there?"

I ask the Host if he has the name of the people draggin' the Chalet... since the truck wasn't around... He looks at his list and says; "Some folks out of Colorado... the Johnsons!"

Well I'll be Dinged! If we'd held off till our reservation... or who knows what else could have bumped things a lil' bit this way... or a lil' bit that... All these thousands of miles... and the trails intersect at just that right moment... :)

Along with all us Gypsies there's a bit of a Saguaro Forest around here... Now, considering that they say one of these buggers has to be a hundred years old to sprout its first arm... what'cha figger that makes these two old timers?

*Just 'bout the biggest Saguaros I've seen*

They darn sure ain't youngsters... and there's plenty more comin' along...

*Saguaro Forest at Catalina State Park near Oro Valley Arizona*

With a lil' bit of luck we'll find some time in amongst the Beads and Bikes for some decent hikes while we're here. This state park sits up against a Wilderness area, and they've been workin' for a long time to build up the Desert Bighorn population in these mountains. Would be nice to capture some pics of 'em here... since they eluded me this year out by Bouse.

But... at least a couple days are pretty much dedicated to taking care of the rubber on the Scooter!

... and keepin' up the pace of work on Book #3 :)

... Guess I'd better drag myself off to my bunk... ifn I expect to get all my chores down on the morrow!

Back in my Old stompin' grounds in the Old Pueblo
Brian

Rocky Trails... Desert Sheep and Montana Agates

Life in the desert... even with me snapping in two without warning and running off on some unexpected tangent every once in a while... is pretty slow and easy.

Lots of miles walking rocky desert trails searching for those elusive Desert Bighorns, who continue to elude us... Miles on the Raider, splittin' the wind...

... and lots of time for me sitting at my lil' machine here, stringin' words together.

The end result is that by the time spring comes 'round I'm rarin' and itchy to roll! ;)

While I string my words between "Episodes" of... uh ... Being me... Heidi's been spending her time with her Art... She takes pearls, glass beads, Swarovski Crystals, semi-precious cabochons and other precious bits and using what they call Bead Embroidery shapes all those pieces into Fine Art Jewelry for those a mite more fashionable than this Ol' Twister.

*Bead Embroidery Fine Art in the Making*

This is the latest piece coming along...

Her art fits into our rig and our ways pretty well... and you'll not see much better any where! ;)  She's created quite a few nice pieces in the past few months... and has been having discussions with a few stores 'round the west 'bout Teaching Bead Embroidery next summer... Ah the life of an Artist in Demand huh? :)

*Fine Art Beaded Jewelry by Heidi*

We call this black piece the "Harley Bracelet" ... :) Can you guess why?

*The One of a Kind Harley Bracelet*

This Copper one, she used a Montana Agate for the Centerpiece... It's a pretty thing ain't it?

*Montana Agate Bracelet*

I'm not one for wearin' much jewelry myself... uh ... I don't look real good in bracelets... and I get the WRONG response anyhoo... ;) but the Gals who wear such pieces look awful fine!

I really need to get that Gallery built for her Art Jewelry that I promised her... ah.... one more thing on my list of work to get done... and uh oh... another tangent! ;)

*Bead Embroidery Fine Art Pendants*

I'm trying to get caught up enough on My Word Art ;) to pull out my tools and shape myself a Tooled Leather Cover for my Kindle... something with a reading light, a pretzel bowl and a beer cooler sounds about right... don't it?

Have to hook up and drag over to the county park in Bouse today... the tanks are full and need some relief. So, if I'm to get those chores done... I best move along.

Keeping Things Moving in the Desert
Brian

Sorting Out Our Future RV Home... All Over Again.

Bein' as superstitious as I am... I'm a mite hesitant to speak of this... again. I've carried on this conversation in the past, but now the "pressure" to change is growing again... even if that "Pressure" is self inflicted.

What can I say... I'm a restless soul, and never content with things as they are, for too awful long, Always, stirrin' the pot.

Then, this morning, in answering an email I kinda let the veil slip a touch, and then found an idea rattling around my spacious and empty brain pan; "Well, that's unfair. Ya let one fella know a bit of what you're thinkin'... but you're gonna leave everyone else who's read your gas for so long... in the dark?"

So, as a consequence... I'm not gonna maintain that suspense... at least for those who let such things be suspenseful! and even if I do have to eat a few Crow feathers in the process...

We've been hauling this good Eagle around since it was built in 2001, and a good rig it's been. We lived in it, effectively full time, a time or two for several months at a time, and it did well. But, we Knew then, those were short term "full times".

Now, we've been "On the Road" with No Going Back, for pretty much a full year... and many miles in front of us yet to be wandered.

We've settled solidly, and comfortably, into our Long Camp way of going. Travel a day or three... settle into a NF or BLM camp for a day or two, while we search out the next Long camp, and then settle in there for 10 or 18 days. In fact, those Long Camps seem to be getting longer... but shhhhh... don't tell the ranger fellas... we're working to not attract attention to our "Ways". (and in fact, it IS our intention to stretch those camps a bit)

Longer Boondocking camps make for more relaxed yondering as well as stretching our budget as needed. The truth being that after a year of travel, our bank account, though still razor thin, is better than it was.

Over the many miles we've yondered the past year a few things in our camp have risen to the top. and a few shortcomings have come clearer.

Though the truck has served well backroading, it would be nicer to have a lighter, more economical, and NARROWER rig to back road with. :) When I said that, Heidi told me that, since I took this truck over Imogene Pass, with the outside dual hanging over a few thousand feet of air, I can't really say I Hesitate at all to take it up narrow back roads! :)

Just the same, a more compact back road Vee-Hickle would make for A More Harmonious Outcome! :) Having an Amigo, Sidekick, Tracker, even up to a Rodeo sized small car would be a nice compliment to our camp to daytrip in, rather then the big Ol' Diesel Dodge.

Another thing that's happened is, a return, by both of us to some pretty active Beading and Leatherwork... which... pushes a desire for a bit more conveniently accessible storage of the tools and materials for those RV Recreational activities... while maintaining a good work space for me to tap tap tap out all the gas I publish! :)

I've worn out maybe six trees worth of paper and pencils, trying to conjure a way to make this Ol' Dodge and Jayco Eagle do the things the evolution of my Yondering ways has come to call for.

At some point I've decided a fella just has to accept that you can't make a very good bucket out of a balloon. So... Once again we're back to looking at all the options and possibilities of a total change.

... And, as I told the fella I was writing to this morning, I've also got to fit that change-up of RV Rigs into a pretty anemic budget... so it'll have to be a carefully worked out and Timed enterprise, along with a nice dose of good luck.

Part of, and maybe the biggest part, of this whole deal is keeping my Cowboy Biker publishing enterprise moving along like it has been. It's not growing at some barn burning rate, but, the fact that has kept on improving and growing... as Long as I do my job, gives me confidence.

So right now, job one is to quit finding excuses and put the work into whittling the last words for my second novel and get it published.

Then... it's make the final decision as to What sort of rig, or combination is going to be the one that carries us for likely the next SEVERAL years of Yondering. So I can rope that sucker and get it parked in my camp!

So... to end the suspense I've whittled the options down to three main categories... and to tell the truth, that, in my mind is leaning hard in one direction... but... I will hold that Leaning, confidential for the time being... so I can have some hope of limiting the amount of Crow in my Diet.

1. A Mature MDT Truck pulling a just as mature Toybox Fiver. Bike on the truck, Toad in the Fiver (The Costliest option) and a bit tougher to fit into the NF and BLM camps we use...

2. A Modest sized Motorhome with a Motorcycle lift, pulling a compact AWD Toad. (the quickest and easiest to line out)

and... then the Wildest version of my conjuring...

Number 3... Taking the winter to carve out a Unique and to some Bizarre, Skoolie Conversion. (The riskiest and most labor intensive... but likely the shortest of the rigs)

Well there it is... the cat's out of the bag... let's hope it don't lacerate my kiester too awful bad...

Nothing is gonna happen in the near term. Likely be deep into an Arizona winter 'fore anything substantial gets done... but... I'm hopeful that the next few months will keep things moving and the route we'll take will continue to come clearer.

Loading today and rolling back north for Montana, in the morning...

Yondering and Wondering
Brian

Return to the main site of goin' RV Boondocking or Visit my Sister website Motorcycle Touring on Freedom Road

Workamping... Workers on Wheels... Making Ends Meet... and Even a Lil' Beadwork!

Well... progress toward rehabilitating our whupped up on finances... is either goin' real slow... or it ain't movin' at all! :o) ... I tried to draw a chalk line 'round it a few days ago... so I could see... but the rain an' snow has done washed that away...

Aw well... what's new huh?

The truck has been in the shop for a couple days... diagnosing the lack of power under load that became apparent when we hauled to the Agility Trial in Jefferson County... and they found what appears to have been the problem... another dang Fuel Pump...

I swear, I must put out some sort of a "Vibe"... that Eats Diesel engine fuel pumps! ... this makes number 5 on three trucks... 'course... two of the rigs had a lil' age on 'em... and the '06 never lost one... but still ... if the dang rigs didn't pull like a train... I think I'd go back to horses!

So... with another dent in our piggy bank... we're looking into how we'll ride out the winter... once we ride out of here! ... (which is planned for not that awful far into the summer)

... We've pretty much agreed that though the website income is steadily and slowly growing, and Heid's Bead Store continues to roll along... there's still a "Hole" in the piggy bank that needs pluggin'... so we'll hunt up a Winter Camp... where we can add to the pot... and live a good life at the same time...

Started puttin' out "Feelers" to that end... we should have plenty of time... it's quite a while till October or November! :o) ... something fun and not "just another grindstone", is the goal... leave it to a beggar to be picky, right? :o)

And Now... a minute for a lil' blatant commercialism! :o) ... Girls! are you a Bead-a-holic? Check out the Free Bead Projects Keriann (our daughter and one of our Top Design Wizards) has put on the Bead Cache site! ... especially the newest one, the "Rocker Chic Necklace"... I believe it's designed by Dawn... and the website work was done by Keriann... it may be a bit of "Commercialism"... but, at a price of  $$FREE$$... you won't really complain... will you? :o)

Pretty awesome gals we've got in the store Huh!? :o)

They've still got a lot of work to do with the site, and the store, as always :o) ... but if Beadwork is your interest or passion... they've got the skills and knowledge to set you off in the right direction! I'd tell you how many combined years of Beadwork they all have collected in that store... but that's the kind of information that'd likely get me whupped on.

Well... many "Miles to go before I sleep"... so I better get to 'em...

Take Good Care
Brian

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