The Shameless Tourist

For the Birds....

Dateline: Redding, California     May 6, 2006

I've been absent from the blogosphere for awhile, I know.  Apologies to any who care about that.  I really have no good excuse, so I won't even try.  I've been meaning to write about our newest hobby.  We've become birders!  I can hear you now, "O Boy, how exciting!"  My son insists on calling us "birdwatchers".  What's the difference?  Well, in his mind "birdwatcher" befits the nerdly nature of one who is so interested in birds.  Those who are enthusiasts on the subject call themselves "birders".  (My son also believes that soon we will be seen in matching sweatsuits, frequenting Walmarts all over the continent.  May it never be!) So, how did this happen?  We were traveling in Virginia and were invited to stop and visit friends in Cape May Courthouse.  This area is sort of bird central on the eastern seaboard, and as it happens our friends Shaun and Cindy are avid birders .  They gave us a 3 day introduction to birding in a great location for it.  We observed and identified 57 bird species that weekend, and in the process became totally hooked.  Birding is such an ideal activity for fulltime RV'ers like us because everyplace we stop we encounter an entirely new set of birds.  There is of course some overlap but each habitat is new.  We bought some pretty good binoculars, and a whole set of field guides on the birds of North America, which is now our backyard. 

Birds are diverse and beautiful.  They come in all sizes, shapes, and colors.  Their songs and calls are almost infinitely variable, from lovely silvery trills, to comical squawks and honks.  The larger birds are usually, though not always, easiest to identify.  The smaller birds not so much.  There are seemingly thousands of small songbirds, which are often described as LBJ's (little brown jobs), until serious research is done in dog-eared field guides.  We are novices at this, and I'm not quick to claim positive ID's, but it is a challenging and fascinating activity that we will take with us as we explore the continent.

               Little Blue Heron,  Bon Secour National Wildlife Preserve,  Alabama

Birding also dovetails nicely with another of our hobbies: photography.  Click here to see some of our attempts to photograph the bird life we've encountered so far, as well as a few scenic shots that are included just because I like 'em.  We will be traveling in the American and Canadian Rockies this summer, and will I'm sure find a bunch of new birds, which we will try to capture in our cameras.  I hope to do some fly fishing, joined by my grandson part of the way, as well, and it seems that  bird life is rich where there are trout.  Watch this space for evidence of these things.  So, on it goes......

Shameless

A Terrible Beauty

Dateline:  Pensacola, Florida, March 2006

We were sitting at Leisuretyme RV in Pensacola waiting for parts to complete our final warranty opportunity on the Dutch Star.  The parking lot at a dealership is neither scenic, nor even very interesting, so one day we took a drive over to the National Museum of Naval Aviation located inside the Pensacola Naval Air Station.  This is of interest to me on several levels.  I'm interested in anything historical, a taste acquired later in life.  Also, my Dad flew as a crewman on a B-24 performing reconnaissance missions out of Guadalcanal in WWII (being awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross). I'm proud of that and him, and interested in the stories and lore of the actions of he and his compatriots in that horrific time.  And further, I have always loved and been fascinated by aircraft, and flight.  The Museum is loaded with great exhibits, including several hundred historically significant airplanes from all the years of Naval Aviation, and hundreds of displays chronicling every era of flight.  Absorbing, to me at least.

Pensacola NAS is the home base of the Blue Angels, the Navy's crack precision flying team.  As it happened, they were to practice over the field there on the day of our visit, as they do twice a week when they are home.  We went to watch.  These pilots are, of course, the best of an already very select group , and watching them fly their beautiful blue and gold F-18 Hornets in almost dance-like maneuvers over the desert was thrilling.  Six of these jets flying together produce a truly thunderous cacophony of sound.  The whole thing is a jarring juxtaposition of beauty and frightening awe, especially when one considers the fact that each one of these pretty blue airplanes, when bristling with its full compliment of weaponry is truly, all by itself, a weapon of mass destruction.  It would be easy to forget that, watching these young pilots fly their dance, but for the noise. Let's just say I'm glad, since we live in world that seems to be ruled by the aggressive use of force, that these men and machines are on our side.  If you happen to be passing by this part of Florida, and have any interest is such things, this is worth your time.  Here are a few of the photos I took there:

                               

This antique PB4Y (basically a B24) is very like Dad's WWII ride.  Hardly looks

airworthy by today's standards.

All six....

The Blue Angels struttin' their Stuff.........

Up, Up, and Away!

Awesome!

My bride, the family webmaster, agreed to show me how to post pictures on this space. So, if it has worked, know she is the reason why.  If not, it's certainly my fault.  (Thanks, Susanna)

Shameless

Anticipation.....

Well, here we sit at Leisuretyme RV waiting for parts.  We have spent the last 3 weeks or so doing maintenance (and upgrades) on the RV getting ready for the travels of the coming summer.  We have fixed a number of small problems on the motorhome, and greatly enhanced the solar system that allows us to camp "off the grid" with relative ease.  This is a good thing as it reduces the cost of our fulltimeing lifestyle substantially.  A good thing.

But we are anxious to get moving again.  We have an exciting set of plans for the coming summer.  If we can ever get away from Pensacola, we will head first for the Southwest to await the Spring thaw.  Then up to Reno Nevada to visit an old dear friend....well, that is to say he's been a friend for a long time, not that he's so old exactly....well, you know what I mean, right?  Anyway, we'll visit John, and the up across northern Nevada into southern Idaho, into trout fishing territory, and the Rocky Mountains.  We will finally see Yellowstone!  Old Faithful and all that.  A great opportunity for shameless tourism, and I intend to jump on it!  It's also rumored the the Yellowstone River in the park is full of big DUMB cutthroat trout.  Maybe I can exercise a few of them.  Hell, somebody has to do it!  From there across Montana to Glacier National Park.  Very interested in seeing that piece of our national real estate.  The pictures and descriptions I've seen are enticing.  More beautiful natural wonders, birds, wildlife of all kinds, great fishing...I'm stoked!  From here we'll drift north toward Calgary, via Crowsnest Pass in southern Alberta.  In Calgary, we're booked for a few days of guided fishing on the Bow River, certainly one of the finest trout fisheries on the North American continent.  I've been there once before, and it was spectacular.  Been wanting to return there for 10 years.  Then on to Jasper Canadian Nat'l Park, and Banff.  Across to Vancouver, maybe Victoria, and on south to Seattle to visit the Brother, and hang out on the Olympic peninsula awhile.  I do love the Pacific Northwest!  On to Oregon.  There is no place I love much more that the North Fork of the Umpqua River in October.  It offers difficult fishing for explosive Steelhead trout in a setting that captures my very soul.  I am blessed with a wife willing to indulge my obsessions, at least within reason.  And so the Umpqua in on the agenda.  What a life!  South from there to Humboldt County, California, to visit my Dad, and a lot of friends we left behind when we started this journey a bit more than a year ago now. We expect to linger there awhile.  We have more good friends in the Bay Area of California, who we hope to see.  My son, working in the restaurant business in Santa Cruz.  A definite stopping point.  On to Daughter Sarah in Hollywood!  This route should take the next seven or eight months to complete.  By this time we may need a rest.  In the desert, maybe?  Yeah, perhaps. 

This will be our loosely followed itinerary, God willing, for the the rest of this year.  Pictures and descriptions to follow as we travel.  Not sure who cares, but for those who do, we hope to see you along the road.

Your Wandering, and yes, Shameless Tourist

It's about time I showed up here with .02 cents worth of something, so here goes.  We've had no connectivity for the last week or so while dry camping at Palmer Energy Systems.  We now travel with a state of the art solar system installed by John Palmer.  We can now boondock easily anytime we choose, which is to say we need no hookups to live in our motorhome with full functionality.  Very cool!  We have embarked on a new project to reduce our average cost per day for accommodations.  It's actually easier than it might seem, and efficient energy management is a big part of that. 

But that's not what I want to talk about now.  One of the interesting things about fulltime RV'ing is deciding where to go next, and how long to stay there.  And no matter what one decides, there are always worthwhile things left undone, and great places left unexplored.  I've been thinking lately about all the places we drove by, thinking we will return next time around, God willing.  Just a few of these:  The Grand Canyon, which neither of us have seen.  We saw several grand canyons, but not THE Grand Canyon.  Hopefully this year we can correct that oversight.  We want to explore the Texas gulf coast around Corpus Christi and Padre Island.  Missed it last time.  Reportedly lots of good spots to boondock there, great gulf beaches, good birding, nice climate.  I'm very interested in Civil War history, and though we did tour several sites, (Fort Sumter, Gettysburg, Antietam, the area near Harper's Ferry), we passed by Shiloh, Fredricksburg, and more.  Another day.  We didn't spend half the time we wanted in the beautiful state of Maine.  We'll be back there, and next time we'll keep going north to Nova Scotia.  We have a plan to hear fiddle music over beers on Cape Breton Island.  Can't wait for that!. Though we wintered in Florida this year, we didn't make it to the Everglades, or the Kennedy Space Center.  Missed Disney, too, but not sure I care very much about that.

Anyway, you get the point.  It'll take years to do all this.  This year we hope to visit several of our National Parks, Calgary Alberta, (lots of BIG trout in the Bow River), Vancouver, and spend autumn in Oregon. (Steelhead!), before driving south along the west coast, stopping to catch up with many friends and relatives along the way. 

I'll write, shamelessly, about this stuff as we go gawking along.

Shameless

The quest for the Perfect Cup 'o' Joe

It's all Rob's fault.  About ten, or maybe fifteen years ago, my younger, though bigger brother, the Seattle luthier, created a cafe latte for me.  He had this wonderful contraption  in his kitchen used for creating espresso coffee.  Seattle, of course, is coffee central in the Pacific Northwest, famous for all things coffee.  I was hooked.  I hadn't realized what real good coffee tasted like.  I wanted more.  I love good coffee! This could be described as a slippery slope, but I went for it. My unbelieving wife watched as I bought a strange assortment of coffee machines over the next few years in my search for coffee Nirvana.  It was, and remains, illusive.  We have used French press pots, various drip coffee makers, simple Melitta drip filter holders, and one really weird vacuum coffee device.  There were several books, and hours of research on the Internet, all of which led to my purchase of my first real espresso machine, an Italian wonder called the Rancillio "Sylvia".  Now I was, though just barely, in the world of real coffee.  It was glorious!  I became the family Barista.

Then we became full time RV'ers.  This does NOT mean that the quest is over.  Being retired means we have enough time on our hands to really fall into our tweaky obsessions.  The next phase is about finding great coffee.  OK, Starbucks, right?  No.  Starbucks French Roast is basically burnt coffee, at least so it seems once you've tasted a great Costa Rican, or Kenyan cup .  There are so many wonderful coffees in the world.  But how to find them when you live life on the road.  Coffee must be freshly roasted to be good.  The quality of roasted coffee fades in mere days. We found an answer serendipitously one day in Bisbee, Arizona.  There in a kiosk in an alley off the main street in this charming old copper mining town turned upscale artist colony was a fellow named Seth Appell.  Seth is a coffee roaster, and a good one.  He hands out free samples of espresso, and holds forth with enthusiasm about coffees of the world.  I learned that if one goes to Seth's website and orders roasted coffee, Seth will roast your selection the very day you order it and two-day ship it (FREE if you order two pounds) anywhere in the country.  Now, admittedly it's fairly expensive, $12.00 a pound, but totally fresh, and very good.  Check out Seth's site here.   This works for an RV'ers, if one will be in one place long enough to wait for delivery.  And we have done it many times in the past year.   

But wait! Now Susan, my bride, has thrown a whole new wrinkle into things.  For Christmas this past year, she gave me a home coffee roaster.  It's called the iRoast2, made by the Hearthware Company, and it's really pretty cool.  Now I can buy green coffee beans from all over the world and roast them myself.  There are several coffee merchants on the net who search the world for great coffees, and make them available to tweaky coffee nuts like me.  (One of the best is "Sweet Maria's".  A great source of green coffee, coffee equipment, and information.)  There's a lot to learn.  Degree of roast for various coffees, blends to combine the best complimentary aspects.  An engrossing hobby!  It always starts conversations with passersby as I sit out at my table supervising the days roast.  (Rob, see what you've done!)  I should point out that green coffee costs less than half what good pre-roasted coffee does.  I figure that these savings will pay off all the books and machinery by 2009 or so.  Then it's all gravy!

So if you see us on the road, stop by for a cup!

Shameless

 

Ancient road signs

We are not traveling right now.  We're sitting in St Petersburg Florida, where we expected warm sunlit days on the bayou.  We wish.  It's been rainy and quite cool here.  This included a bout of torrential rain a week or so ago that delivered 8-10 inches of rain (with full on lightening and thunder) in six action packed hours.   I've never seen harder rain, which is noteworthy after 17 years on the California North Coast. But enough whining about that.  Thought I'd share a few memories about past days on the road.

When we were touring in Ontario in August with Jacob, my 13 year old grandson, we noticed something interesting along the roadway .  Whenever we passed by rocky structures or out- croppings we observed  little piled up displays of stones, often in symmetrical arrangements or sometimes stacked in a way to suggest human forms.  In some places, they were virtually everywhere there was room for them.  We never did get any pictures, because it's not always easy to find a place to pull over in the big rig we call home, but we did investigate.  What we learned is that the stone piles are called Inukshuks.  They are a custom of the Inuit tribe, and if you click here, you can read about it, and see some pictures. 

Shameless Tourist

A thousand mile journey begins with one step

Well, OK, for some time now I've been promising (or maybe threatening) to begin posting on this blog.  So here goes.  This effort will be known as The Shameless Tourist.  We have been wandering around for a year now going wherever we choose and behaving like, well, shameless tourists.  There is a lot to see in our land.  Armed with curiosity, several cameras, and lots of time on our hands, we've set out to see as much of it as we can.  I saw a bumper sticker on a motorhome that said "We haven't been everywhere, but it's on our list".  I'll try to post at least fairly often, but only if and when there is something to say worth sharing.  Obviously, I don't expect a Pulitzer, or even much notice for this, but maybe some relatives and friends will check in occasionally to see what's going on with us.  If you do, I hope you'll post a comment or two.

I should mention that Susan is the Webmaster here, and she says she will patiently teach me how to get around in the blogosphere.  She is getting good at this.  Hopefully I will soon learn to create links, post pictures, and do other stuff to make this at least a little interesting to my limited readership.

Our country is huge, diverse, beautiful, and full of history.  I'll try to share about the people, places, events, and natural wonders that we encounter as we travel along.  So, click in if you're so inclined, and let us hear from you.   

Jack, The Shameless Tourist