I don’t know if it’s the fall colors coming out in full force, the smell of fires and the chill in the air, or all Tim’s good home cooking and the time we’re spending with family; but recently I’ve been having this yearning to get sedated by turkey.
Why I Don’t Want to Be a Homeowner (for now)
There are lots of good reasons to own a home. You don’t have to worry about being kicked out of your place without warning. You don’t have to write a check to some fat cat landlord every month. And you can paint your walls whatever colors you damn well please.
But there are twice as many reasons why owning a home sucks. Property taxes. Insurance. Yard work. Wet basements. Ceilings that fall down without warning.
This week, Jim and I have been reminded about why we decided to cut the shackles of homeownership.
We Missed the Naked Cowboy!
We missed seeing the Naked Cowboy and the Naked Cowgirl sing and dance in New York City but provide links to their videos and photos.
Living Lightly in a Grease Powered RV
For the last few years, a discussion forum I visit almost daily, is Simple Living, an incredible resource for anyone contemplating ways in which they can simplify their lives.
A few months ago on SL, I read about Sara, Matt and their 3-year old daughter Bella, who were planning to travel around the country in a grease powered RV. It was great to see another young couple selling all their stuff, and hitting the road to teach others how to tread lightly on the planet!
Sara and I have been chatting back and forth as we each embarked on our respective journeys. We even crossed paths in Minnesota, but missed eachother by a day when we each went through Brainerd. Last week, we finally got to meet up in Albany over coffee. What a hoot!
Give me 40 acres and I’ll turn this rig around
I must be getting good at this. Or just lucky. But I was able to maneuver our 24′ fifth wheel into my sister’s narrow driveway, in between a big tree and her house, without ripping off our rear view mirror or doing any other property damage. And not to pat myself on the back too hard, but I did keep it on the pavement and nearly squeezed it in there on the first attempt!
While the picture does show my most excellent parking job. It does not give justice to just how incredibly narrow this small residential street actually is. It’s one of those neighborhoods where you can only park on one side of the road or nobody can get by. Not to mention a Dodge Ram 2500 pulling a fifth wheel trailer.
Meet the Farmer: Teleion Holon CSA Farm in Manchester, Vermont
The farmer of the Teleion Holon CSA organic farm in Vermont discusses the good and bad reality about running a Community Supported Agriculture farm.
What will we do this Halloween?
Jim wonders what they’ll do for his first Halloween in over 40 years without a big party, and wonders how other full-time RVers bring all their lawn ornaments and lights along in storage compartments to celebrate all the holidays in style.
Life as a Campground Owner; Never Underestimate the Entertainment Factor
Come September, scenes like this put a wide smile on campground owner’s faces.
We have often considered buying a campground when this trip is over. So whenever we can find an owner who has time to chat about what it’s like to run one, we love to listen and hear about what it’s really like. When we arrived at one resort in Maine, it was a quiet weekday, and the owner was happy to share some advice about the realities of running a campground.
Fishing Report: Battenkill River, Vermont
Jim is allowed a one-fish bag limit on fishing excursions during his cross-country RVing adventure, including the nice Brook Trout he caught on the Battenkill River right by the campground where they stayed.
Blogging for Fun and Profit
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.
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.
On a Budget? Build Your Own RV!
Tips, Plans, Patterns, Resources and Video for building your own RV, Van, Camper or Fifth Wheel Travel Trailer.
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.
Watch Out for The Mansons
When you’re roaming about the countryside, be careful who you tell your story to, or you could end up as a member of the latest Manson Clan.
Yesterday while shopping at one of the last Farmer’s Markets of the season here in Vermont, we stopped to admire some homemade bread being sold by vendors who appeared to be typical Vermont farmers. We sampled the breads they had, and they were so good. They were “heavenly.” Even though bread looked as dense as bricks, each sample we tasted was light and tasty. So we were blown away when the farmer told us that the breads were wheat free, and made with spelt flour. Spelt?
Isn’t spelt some some earthy, nasty ingredient that hippies bake with to snake out their colons or something? Ick! Now we’d eaten it!
Chasing Down Biodiesel
When we picked out our Dodge Ram 2500 pickup truck, one of our requirements was that it had to have a diesel engine, so that we could run biodiesel or straight veggie oil (SVO) in it. We wanted to offset our footprint by buying such a large vehicle. So we took a class on Making Your Own Biodiesel, learned the ins and outs of producing and buying it, and set off on this trip with the hope that we would find it in lots of places. Eventually, we’ll make our own, but for now, we have to rely on Biodiesel.org to tell us who’s selling it and where.