 |
December 21, 2012
Holidays on the Road
Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve! These are serious holidays, and they all occur within a few minutes of each other. Singing, spinning, jumping, drinking... |
 |
December 12, 2012
Maybe Dale Chihuly is all there really is?
Like my mother, and her mother before her, I am a crow. We have each loved bright, shiny, colorful things...especially glass with light shining through it. This explains why, for the past ten years I will always make the extra effort to see the works of Dale Chihuly if they are nearby... |
 |
November 14, 2012
Small Camper, BIG Thanksgiving Dinner
This is what it’s like to have a cozy camper Thanksgiving. We cooked, snacked, drank wine and watched football all day. It was dark out by the time we overate our traditional feast.
|
 |
November 5, 2012
iPhone and I Visit The Portland Art Museum:
The teenagers were having a lot of fun with their phone cameras and the Greek Statues at the Portland Museum's exhibit, The Body Beautiful. Mimicking poses, standing with Hercules like he was a personal friend, self-portraits... I too wanted to play with my phone camera, and so I did. |
 |
October 29, 2012
...and the Fourth Year Begins
Standing over the Pacific Ocean on the northwestern most tip of the United States, I pulled out our still shiny old flask filled with a fresh pouring of Duck Hunter’s Special (a warming 50/50 blend of carcinogenic cream sherry and bottom shelf, burning bourbon) and we toasted the moment! Double goal achieved. |
 |
October 22, 2012
Tale of Two Meals
One of the greatest pleasures we have had driving up the Pacific Coast of the United States is preparing and eating the fresh fish. In as many places as possible, we have purchased the freshly caught fish from boats in the harbors, taken those fresh fillets or steaks home and grilled them. |
 |
October 8, 2012
The Fog and the Redwood Forests
Here along the Pacific Coast of Northern California, fog does not creep in on little cat’s feet. It lurks off shore, like it is hiding the edge of the world... Early mornings I watch it sweep across the horizon and roll towards land...suddenly I cannot see the edge of the cliff just off to my left. |
 |
September 24, 2012
Of Broken Glass, Green Gingerbread and Chain-Saw Bears...: One of our favorite things to do is visit wildlife refuges. We started in the early 1970s because the only place to see rare Canada Geese back then was on the DelMarVa peninsula. Every winter we would drive to Blackwater or Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. There we would stand and listen to their wild calls... |
 |
September 17, 2012
Same Braxton, but this Fort Bragg is in California
The hand lettered sign on the cinderblock building said, RV Overnighters. It was with some trepidation that we pulled off California Highway 1, just south of Fort Bragg and headed towards a clump of older double wides we had seen from the road. Maybe just for a night we thought... if they have a space... |
 |
September 11, 2012
The North Coast with Oysters
Back again traveling the coast of the United States... We picked up our journey at Muir Woods National Monument, an ancient redwood grove just north of San Francisco. It was especially nice to leave the 100+ degree temperatures around Oakley, CA and travel just 60 miles west where the temperature in the forest that afternoon hovered around 70 degrees. |
 |
September 4, 2012
Night Sounds and Trains Passing By
Our apartment in New York City was located right over the tracks of the northbound Number 1 train. Living on the first floor, nights we could lie in bed and feel the rumble of the train as it headed beneath us up Broadway to Van Cortlandt Park-242 Street in the Bronx. Sometimes I imagined lonely people sitting in empty cars...
|
 |
August 27, 2012
Pepper Pickers and Eating Local
I was just a kid during WW2, but I remember my grandparents had a Victory Garden. Until the day they died, it would have never occurred to them not to grow their own fruits and vegetables. Every year at the end of the summer, I had to help my grandmother “put food by.” |
 |
August 20, 2012
Straddling Two Worlds
Just east of San Francisco, lies the Delta Country of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, an unusually hot and dusty place in July... Fast forward to London, England, early August, where Calli, Liz and I journeyed to watch the 2012 Equestrian Olympics. |
 |
July 17, 2012
A Real Manhattan Theater Wedding
A few weeks ago we took a whirlwind trip to New York City for a very special wedding. Our friends, Jon and Ryan were wed on the stage of the Mint Theater in the Theater District of Manhattan. They were married on June 28 before Bernard Pobiak, a Universal Life Church minister, while friends and family joyously watched. |
 |
June 18, 2012
Viva Las Vegas
It was the summer of 1956 and I was on a family road trip across the US in our four-door, hardtop, aquamarine and white Buick Roadmaster. The night of July 1st, we stayed in a small motel out on Las Vegas Boulevard and it was fiercely hot. My dad got tickets to see Ken Murray, Busty Marie Wilson and the Blackouts (showgirls) at the New Frontier. But I had other plans... |
 |
June 5, 2012
Canyons: All Grand
Yesterday in Zion National Park, Utah, we had the most wonderful hike I can remember. We hiked a mile down an accessible path to the Narrows, waded into the Virgin River and walked along in the shaded water between canyon walls thousands of feet high -sometimes so close we could touch both sides. |
 |
May 28, 2012
Seeking Edward Abbey's Solitude...
I'm standing In a place I have wanted to be since 1969 when I first read Edward Abbey’s, Desert Solitaire. Gazing across a wide gorge at Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, I am exhilarated and yet ridiculously disappointed and frustrated. |
 |
May 21, 2012
Continuing in the Footsteps of Timothy O’Sullivan:
Timothy O’Sullivan, as part of two US Government surveys in the years from 1868-1874, traveled about the American West in a horse-drawn wagon - photographing the western landscape. From the beginning of our travels in a motorhome back in the 70s we always wanted to have a mobile darkroom... |
 |
May 14, 2012
Still Living with Horses
Part of life on the road includes flying back to see my granddaughter for a few days every eight weeks or so. The other morning Calli and I were talking and saying good-bye for a while. She suggested that I write more about family and horses on because I love her and everybody there so much... |
 |
April 30, 2012
Walking Around Santa Fe, NM
One of our favorite things to do is walk around a new town. Living in a small motor home means we don’t do much shopping, but we enjoy looking in the windows, eating out and meeting people. On our last day in Santa Fe, we decided to do a bit of "cocktailing" and grazing downtown. |
 |
April 23, 2012
The Open-Minded Collie
When Sully was only four months old he had already discovered how wonderful it is to meet and share nose touching, body rubbing and butt sniffing with beings who are not just like himself. We are so proud of our Sully and the way he embraces all mammal-kind... |
 |
April 16, 2012
Pitfalls of life on the road
Flat tires we've had a few... When you get a flat tire in an 11,000 lb. motor home you don’t just jump out, jack it up and change the tire. That just just cannot be done, especially with huge 18 wheelers passing within inches of your disabled home. Here is how it actually goes... |
 |
April 9, 2012
The Wild Bunch:
Single Action Shooting Society
Last Saturday we were invited to watch a Wild Bunch Shoot-Out in a mock-up of an old west town...And so it was early on Saturday morning that we found ourselves way, way far away in a very barren landscape watching members of the Chisum Cowboys Wild Bunch compete Cowboy Action Shooting™. |
 |
April 2, 2012
Writing on Property :)
Growing up in Washington DC, for years I thought all public art was white and reflected the color of the sky... usually a cool bluish white... monuments, memorials, even the Capitol and White House. Then one day in the very early 80s a marvelous face showed up high on the side of a building... |
 |
March 26, 2012
The Austin Rodeo
Box seats at a big rodeo? Of course we would love to have them! What? A card for entry to the Founder’s Club above the arena for appetizers before it starts, a pass for free parking by the door, tickets to X-100, a private music venue, after the rodeo? Yes. Yes. Yes... and there was more... |
 |
March 19, 2012
Bernie and Peggy, Mall Cops
It was a dark and stormy afternoon and we were the only two brave souls booked into the Segway Nation Tour...Yes, we took our lives into our hands and decided it was time to brave the jeers of family and friends and take a segway tour. |
 |
March 12, 2012
Spring, when my fancy turn to thoughts of Mom
Last week-end I was able to enjoy a sentimental return to the Lady Bird Wildflower Center outside of Austin. Ten years ago I had visited the gardens on the only four generations trip - Liz, Mom, Calli and I - were ever able to take together. |
 |
March 5, 2012
Everyday Pleasures
What other small things have we done so far this year that we have really enjoyed? With that in mind here is a short list of everyday pleasures while living day to day on the road in Mid-Texas. |
 |
February 27, 2012
I Coulda Been a Contender...
I have discovered what I want to be when I grow up: A Roller Derby Babe. There will be breast augmentation involved plus work in the weight room and a shot or two of HGH. But hey, I’m up for it... and I do so love wearing ripped black lace tights... |
 |
February 20, 2012
For Want of a Shoe...
Day after day we were camped or moving slowly through the sleet, snow or freezing rain. And every day I was slapping myself with a cold, damp sock for being lazy and not buying myself a pair of warm waterproof shoes at Harry’s while I was back in New York City... |
 |
February 13, 2012
isit to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum
We are POTUS geeks. We know it. Library, Birthplace, Museum, Summer Home, Winter White House, we visit and love them all.Over this past weekend, we spent several hours visiting the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library & Museum In Austin, Texas. |
 |
Feburary 6, 2012
Donut or Doughnut?
It’s hard to remember the exact moment when my love for donuts started us on a quest across America to find the perfect one. Whatever it may have been, that memory is clouded in a haze of sugar, sugar glaze and pink sugary frosting. |
 |
January 27, 2012
Seldom seen...
As amateur birdwatchers, we always like to see the big birds, and the big migrations. It is, after all, much easier to identify a bird that stands 3 to 4 feet tall than a tiny warbler 40 feet up in a tree. Years ago, during our journeys around the country, we ALMOST saw two wonderfully large bird events... |
 |
January 19, 2012
Inside Outsider Art in Houston, Texas
One of the great reasons to return to Houston is to visit their Visionary Arts Center, The Orange Show. Created by postman, Jeff McKissack... using recycled and found objects, the multifaceted sculpture turned what was once an empty lot in East Texas into a great piece of folk-art... |
 |
January 5, 2012
New Year’s Day 2012
We are now undertaking a major, fast road trip — 500 miles to Houston, Texas. The Houston Texans just earned a wildcard berth in the NFL play-offs, so we are headed south to Reliant Stadium in Houston to tailgate one more time this season. (If we get there, and can prepare ourselves, it will make an even 10 stadiums we have visited in the two years we have been on the road.) |