We’ve been doing our best to eat local
Our new and improved road trip soundtrack.
A while back, one of our readers declared that the RVer’s National Anthem should be Hank Snow’s I’ve Been Everywhere
“I’ve been everywhere, man
I’ve been everywhere, man
Crossed the deserts bare, man
I’ve breathed the mountain air, man
Of travel I’ve had my share, man
I’ve been everywhere“
Well, I finally got around to adding this to our cross country road trip soundtrack of travel tunes. While I was at it, I put some elbow grease into the page and added an interactive slideshow of CDs available from Amazon that include the songs we’ve added to our list. This way we’ll be able to update our soundtrack easier and more often.
Workamping at Safe Harbor Animal Farm in North Carolina
Fulltime RVers can try Workamping to stretch their budget and learn the ropes of RV campground management.
A Dog Lover’s Live Work Dream: New York Boarding Kennel for Sale
Buy a home based dog kennel boarding business in rural Saugerties Woodstock area of Upstate New York.
Power your RV with wind energy.
A while ago, my sister Mariclair sent me a link to this manual for a Telescoping RV Tower. Rich, who together with M.C. runs O’Connell Solar – and designed our own RV’s solar energy system – had just spent three days at Southwest Windpower and thought it would be cool fodder for the blog. Cool indeed.
I looked into it further and discovered the tower is designed for using the Air X Marine small wind turbine with an RV.
Then when we were getting a tour of Tugboat Margot from my brother in law Tim back in Troy, NY, I noticed an Air X mounted on a boat docked nearby and filmed it in action.
While this particular tower mount wouldn’t work with our rig without some serious modification, seeing the wind generator do its job got me thinking…
Amazon finally got their groove on.
After driving for thousands of miles over the past few months, I have to say that one of the most vital accessories we purchased for this cross-country road trip has to be our iPod. We got a used 40GB iPod on eBay that has a good dent in it, but it was a deal!
I spent many a late night transferring most of our CD collection onto it before we left, and it was time well spent. I only wish I had copied all of our CDs.
While you can always find classic rock somewhere on the dial, much of this country has really, really bad radio. That’s why I was happy to find out that Amazon is finally offering MP3 downloads!
Goin’ Down to the Piggly Wiggly
This week started our first real Workamping gig at Safe Harbor Animal Rescue in Maysville, North Carolina. We’ll get to talking about that soon. But today, we went out exploring on our day off, to secure provisions and check out the nearest big city, New Bern.
Our route included a stop at the Piggly Wiggly.
Remembering My Birthday Dinner in Virginia
Carol would call this one a Back Track … one of the hardest things about trying to blog about our travels is trying to keep everything current when there is so much to see and do. Hell, there is still stuff I could write about from way back in Colorado. At least this one only goes back a few weeks to my birthday dinner.
Rene got off easy this year. I was a cheap date. All I wanted was a to take the day off from driving and do nothing, other than barbecue myself a steak. So the day before – on Halloween – we went to the Blacksburg Farmers Market for some fresh produce, in search of some local meat. Having never seen cattle ranchers at a farmers market until we got to the East Coast, I was feeling lucky. And I struck gold, or black rather, as in Angus.
Road Trip Planning; Throw Out the Itinerary and Prepare for Adventure
Are you a trip planner? Before you go on vacation, do you put together an itinerary (“On Wednesday, we’re going to play mini golf and have fun, dammit!â€), and chart your exact course on your GPS (“At Exit 25 we’ll stop and have lunchâ€)?
I used to be a planner. I thought that the more organized I was for a vacation, the better it would be. I would waste hours on the web, researching every detail about where we were going. Then I’d chart out a Plan B, just in case.
This would guarantee that our precious vacation time was the best it could be, right?
The Protani Family Takes the Next Step with an RV Road Trip
One of the best parts about this trip has been getting to know people, and hearing their unique stories. Sometimes, we meet people who have overcome so much adversity in life, it makes us ashamed to have ever felt an ounce of self-pity over our own trivial challenges.
Last weekend, we met such a person. Well, a family really. While staying at the McDowell Nature Reserve outside of Charlotte, we met Annette Protani and five of her six kids who were camped out next to us. Annette and her kids started calling their RV home when they left Houston back in August, in search of a new town in which to lay down some roots.
Applecare good. Urban sprawl bad.
By the time I was about to write about dropping off my Powerbook at the Charlotte Apple Store for repairs, they had already called to say it was ready to be picked up. This came as a pleasant surprise considering they said it would take five to seven days to be fixed at the service center in Texas.
So our stay in Asheville – a few hours away, in the Smoky Mountain foothills – was cut a bit short, but the couple days we did have there was plenty to get a feel for the area.
This little wrench in the works also gave us time to realize we never care to live our lives along an interstate corridor. As we criss-crossed North Carolina, the incredible population density and mass consumption of this country became remarkably clear.
Hair Coloring And Fulltime RVing: Easier Than I Thought
When we first decided to live in an RV, one of my first thoughts was: how the heck will I maintain my hair color? Not that I’m a high maintenance brunette, but I’m too vain to let those pesky gray roots show through yet, so I zap ’em with hair dye once a month.
I’ve always done my color. But, since going on the road, I’ve gone to hair salons. But each time, the stylist left me with hair that was too light, or too dark.
I kept getting irritated that the hair colorists couldn’t get it right. So recently, I surrendered and decided to do it myself.
We’re Gettin’ South Now…
Jim reviews Famous Anthony’s restaurant in Christiansburg, VA and reflects on his stay in Virginia
Foodies Beware: RV Kitchens Can Wreak Havoc on Favorite Recipes
If you’re a real foodie like Jim and I are, be aware that gourmet cooking in an RV can be a challenge. Not impossible (especially if your rig is large), but as we have discovered, making our favorite recipes while living with an RV kitchen requires some patience and creativity.
It’s simple; in a rig our size, there isn’t enough room to carry all of the spices, appliances and utilities that one needs to prepare certain foods. Since hitting the road, we have had some interesting times in the kitchen;
Workamper Situation Wanted: Two Fulltime RVers, Ready and Able!
When we started fulltiming, we knew that we wanted to look for a “Workamper” arrangement. Workamping is generally a situation where a person or couple gets to assist in campground or RV park duties, hosting, etc., in exchange for a great campsite where they can park their rig. The work can be as challenging as one wants; from 12 hours a week greeting visitors, to being full time and working on a construction or maintenance team. Along with perks like free propane, hookups or laundry room access, sometimes an hourly wage or stipend is also included.
Since our schedule is wide open for the next year, we have begun our Workamper campaign. Here is our resume that we are sending to prospective employers: