Wearing my RTC Tech Beat column contributor hat for the Redwood Technology Consortium, I recently wrote this article about what we’re doing to monetize the various blogs we publish. It appeared this morning in the Eureka Times Standard.
Jim
There’s no place like home.
Perhaps that’s a good thing. But perhaps the reason we like Vermont so much, is that it reminds us of the last place we called home. After spending ten years in Humboldt County, CA, we were ready for a change. But finding a small town near abundant natural beauty with an open minded population of young creative individuals has been a challenge. Until we visited the Green Mountain State, that is.
Know Your Limitations
I’ve been meaning to write about this for quite some time now. But I guess I’ve just been putting it off in fear of triggering nightmares about the day we almost got stuck in Syracuse, NY. Literally.
After a long day of driving and one missed turn, we ended up amidst the suburban sprawl of outer Syracuse in stop and go traffic at rush hour. As we rounded one corner, I noticed a bridge and barely saw the 12′ 9″ low clearance sign with just enough time to take the last possible turn before heading under. While we might have made it through, it was just too close for comfort and wasn’t worth the chance. Our rig measures 12′ 5″ at the the tallest point. To know this is a good thing.
RVblogz.com Now Offers Free Travel Blogs!
I haven’t written any posts here in a while since I have been frantically developing the final touches for our latest online venture …
We are proud to announce that the long-awaited RVblogz.com is now online! With RVblogz.com you can get your own free travel blog to document your adventures and keep in touch with friends and family while on the road.
Be one of the first to take advantage of this new free service and join the growing community of RVbloggerz today!
Do It Yourself Lobster Pound Dinner
How to clean fresh lobster and make Lobster Alfredo with some great information about finding groceries near Bar harbor Maine while camping at Blackwoods Campground in Acadia National park.
Lobster Pound Review: The Docksider
This was a new site for me at a National Park campground. When we first drove up to the easternmost camp site from where we began our trip, I guessed this was a communal lobster pot where you could boil your fresh catch from Bar Harbor and feast on bugs by the fireside.
My silly dream was crushed when I discovered it to be a sink for dumping camp dishwater with a strainer basket and nearby trashcan for nasty bits. This is a good thing I suppose. After all, like the signs read, “A fed raccoon is a dead raccoon.”
But it sure felt good anyway to finally sit by a campfire again without bugs feasting on me. Especially after enjoying an authentic Down East lobster feast in Northeast Harbor. Just remember, when it comes to overindulgence, it’s not the volume of lobster one consumes, it’s the butter factor. And it is clarified butter that makes a breaks an establishment from the fine dining list.
Maple Syrup Taste Test
Below are the results from our head to head comparison of these two pure maple syrups.
Stephen King’s Number One Faaayuuuun…
Having been an avid reader of nearly all the early Stephen King classics, our stay in Bangor, Maine would not be complete without a drive-by of the horror master’s manor. Surprisingly, it is easy to find, and very accessible. As to not disturb mister King, we rode by on our bicycles, took a quick photo and quickly fled the scene. Watch the movie of our …
Live Free or Die, or Shut Up
So as mother always said, if you don’t have something nice to say… don’t bother because you’re just wasting your time with comments that get sent directly to the spam pile. After all this is indeed America as these right wing fascists so proudly declare, and we are proud to have the freedom of using our delete button.
While they call us “unamerican” [sic] and would gladly help us pack our bags, they’ve got us all wrong and are merely substantiating our beliefs about certain factions that continue to make this country a target for international enmity.
How appropriate that this has all occurred as we crossed the state with one of the best state mottos. While we enjoyed our stay in neighboring Vermont – “Freedom and Unity“ – New Hampshire’s “Live Free or Die“ is now our favorite state motto. Attributed to New Hampshire Revolutionary War Hero General John Stark, this slogan says it all.
Beware of Moose
Beware of Moose when driving New England Roads. RV and Auto collisions with moose cause severe damage and injuries. Readers share their stories and photos.
Third Time’s a Charm
When we embarked on this trip, I often imagined kicking back in my hammock with my Powerbook and enjoying my new office. Well, the first couple times that I have actually strung up the thing I ended up not spending any time in it at all. If my hammock time wasn’t called on account of rain, there was either too much on my RV honey do list or simply too much of the outdoors to go enjoy.
I am now happy to say that my vision has finally come true. The view from my new office is well worth the wait. The only thing missing is our internet connection.
1981 Scamp Trailer Renovation
YouTube Director Creekracer talks about the restoration of his 1981 Scamp 16′ travel trailer in this video blog (vlog) interview with Rene the LiveWorkDream.com full-time RVing lifestyle blog.
Epilogue: Shaking the Family Tree
It was actually nice to not be bombarded by the regular American media suspects forcing us to remember in vivid detail the tragic events of 2001, as they have every year for the past six. The only sign whatsoever that it was in fact 9/11 was a group of peaceful demonstrators in downtown Toronto proposing that the World Trade Center tragedy was an inside job. And personally, I was glad the morning paper didn’t carry a full page image of the burning towers that has been burned into my psyche the very day it happened.
Coverage of events at Ground Zero made it to page eighteen of Canada’s national newspaper. The front page was reserved for a 30th anniversary tribute to the beating death of Steven Biko by South African police. I found the story educational, enlightening, and touching. Perhaps it was buried deep in U.S. papers, I don’t know. But I doubt this important reminder of apartheid in the world made the front pages.
I just had to play Peter Gabriel’s “Biko” from Shaking the Tree on the iPod as we crossed the border back into the U.S. after being questioned by a stern guy playing the role of a Nazi officer. So do I feel a bit more Canadian? You bet eh. And it feels good.
Climbing Down the Family Tree
Although we have budgeted for a few hotel nights each month on this trip, our stay at Melford Cottage Bed and Breakfast in Oakville Ontario was the first time we have left the comfort of our trailer since selling our stick house and putting our bedroom furniture in storage over three months ago. While it did feel a bit weird leaving all our possessions in the trailer at Four Mile Creek NY State Park campground to take a little vacation from our “vacation”, Heather Donaldson’s home served as a great base to search for my Mom’s roots around Toronto and gave us a chance to reconsider what the future holds for us once again.
The rundown on our WordPress plug-ins
Readers who have chosen not to register for this blog and receive notification of posts and comments will be happy to know that we have just activated the Subscribe To Comments WordPress plug-in.
Beneath the comments form at the bottom of every blog post, there is now a convenient check box that will enable you to receive follow-up comments via email. This is just one of the various plug-ins we have installed to make the LiveWorkDream blog better.