As I’ve said before, during my days publishing small town newspapers I always enjoyed a good relationship with the local law enforcement community. At least for the most part. There was one exception that I will talk about some other time. Sometimes this resulted in some wild adventures. I was doing a ride along with […]
When a wildfire erupts in the rugged backcountry of the American West, getting firefighters on the scene as quickly as possible can make the difference between a minor problem and a major catastrophe. The men and women of the U.S. Forest Service Smokejumpers are specially trained to parachute into the fire zone, carrying everything they […]
Before we had the internet, if you were single and looking for Miss or Mr. Right, you didn’t have a lot of choices if you didn’t feel like going to bars or churches, two popular meeting places for prospective partners. But back then a lot of newspapers in both big cities and small towns had […]
We never know what we’re going to find when we go out exploring a new area, or even one that we’ve been to many times before. But we always try to give ourselves plenty of time and keep our options open just in case we stumble upon something we didn’t know existed. A good example […]
How well do you know your best buddy? The guy who works with you? The mother who takes her turn driving the kids carpool to school once or twice a week. Or the neighbor next door you have occasional cookouts with? Sure, you know them. But how much do you really know them? Do any […]
During my long career publishing small town newspapers in both the Pacific Northwest and Arizona, I used to always laugh at the response my editorials would get from people. To half of my readers I was a gun toting, KKK cross burning right wing extremist. To the other half of the readership I was a […]
I get a lot of questions from blog readers about RVing, what’s happening in our lives since we hung up the keys, writing and self-publishing, and all kinds of other things. While I try to answer all of them individually, sometimes I also share some here. Q. At one of your rallies in Ohio there […]
We got an unexpected bonus when we visited Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Washington state and discovered one of America’s oldest operating airfields adjacent to the old fur trading outpost. The past met the future at Vancouver Barracks on September, 19, 1905, when Lincoln Beachey took off from the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, […]
There are a lot of interesting attractions and museums along the Oregon and Washington coasts, but in my opinion, the best of them all is the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon. The museum specializes in collecting and exhibiting maritime artifacts from the Columbia River and the Pacific Northwest. The Museum, which opened in […]
I get a lot of email every day, and a lot of those emails are from people who have questions about the RV lifestyle. What kind of RV should I buy? Is gas or diesel better in a motorhome? How do I get mail? What state should I choose for my legal domicile? I get […]
In my mystery novel The Gecko In The Corner, a gecko has taken up residence in the bedroom of the main character, John Lee Quarrels, hanging out in a corner on the wall. John Lee wants to get rid of the lizard, but a lady friend tells him that they are good to have around because they […]
If you are hanging out on the Texas Gulf Coast right now you should probably either hit the road or batten down the hatches because you’re gonna get wet! The weatherman here in Florida says tropical depression Harvey is headed toward the Texas coast and very likely will increase in strength before it gets there […]
If you are a Gypsy Journal subscriber, check your e-mail. Yesterday morning I made the final corrections after Terry proofread the new issue, then I uploaded it to our web server and sent the link out to our subscribers. Today I will be sending out renewal notices to subscribers who are up for renewal. It’s […]
And that’s what it started doing yesterday morning and continued all day and all night. The weather report said we could expect as much as three inches to come down yesterday here in northern Indiana, and the 10 p.m. news last night said some areas in the region got five inches, and it was still […]
After reading yesterday’s blog in which I posted a link to a story about a man who had a bunch of explosives in his motorhome at an RV park in Arizona, I got four emails from people who wanted to know how they could avoid a situation like that. I have no idea. I’ve found […]
That’s the soundtrack here in northern Indiana this weekend. Elkhart is the home of the recreational vehicle industry, and while I don’t know how all of that business is doing, I’m pretty sure the people selling fireworks are making a killing. I was out by the dog run here at Elkhart Campground and somebody was […]
I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you. I’m going to die. And so are you. And your best friend, and your spouse, and sadly, even your kids. It’s going to happen sooner or later. We can’t avoid it. But we can make the most of whatever time we have left here on earth. […]
We put in a long day of driving yesterday but it was worth it to get out of the gray and gloomy Pacific Northwest. We were beginning to grow moss on our webbed toes. After filling our diesel tank at the Shell station in Sutherlin, at $3.79 a gallon, we got on Interstate 5 and […]
It seems like the worst of the storms that have hammered the Pacific Northwest coastal region have passed on out of the region, and we’re ready to do the same thing. We plan to start heading south today. We’re going to take Interstate 5 to Mount Shasta, California, where we’ll pick up State Route 89 […]
Yesterday I got to cross one more thing off my bucket list when we spent the day exploring Cape Cod. Ever since the first time I heard the old Patti Page song about the Cape back when I was a kid, I have wanted to go there. I’m glad I went, because now it’s behind […]