Big Move in Our Future – Aug 2018
Four years ago I posted about our stay in Hampton, NH, but this time we have a little more of a story to tell. If you remember, only a few […]
Category Archives: 2018
Old Friends – Aug 2018
It’s nice to see old friends. We recently stopped at The Velvet Goose in Gardner, MA to see an old college classmate of mine. The Velvet Goose if you are […]
Western New York – Aug 2018
Two institutions. Niagara Falls. And Duff’’s. You weren’t expecting me to say the Buffalo Bills I hope. In further testimony to the travails of US Government, US Customs made the mistake […]
Nebraska – July 2018
Imagine if you will – crossing the state of Nebraska (you know, the corn husker state). This will not be a photo expose; rather, you’re going to have to use […]
Rock Springs, WY – July 2018
Sometimes, the little things are the big things. Originally, we were going to continue heading north from Oregon into Washington State, but we got a better offer, and as a […]
Oregon – July 2018
If someone can cover an entire state the size of New England and New York, in a single day, on a single road, while barely leaving the vehicle, I mean, […]
Deschutes National Forest – July 2018
We have just wrapped up a few days in the Deschutes National Forest in western Oregon, perhaps an hour drive west and south of Bend. I know I sound like […]
Beer or Bust in Bend – July 2018
Once again keeping our (my) priorities in order, we arrived in Bend for the purpose of tasting some local craft beers. Or bust. Well, we got a little bit of each. […]
Frohn – July 2018
One of the nice things about creating your own blog is you can write about whatever you want. In this situation, that is not the case. I am about to […]
Crater Lake NP – July 2018
Continuing in our all-volcano, all-the-time channel, this installment is Crater Lake National Park. What a stunning area – holy crap! Now remember, even though this is a lake, it is really a […]
Lassen Volcanic NP – July 2018
We visited hell, devastation, chaos, and boiling mud. No, not the nightly news – Lassen Volcanic National Park, in northern California at the southern tip of the Cascade Range. We […]
4th of July Week – 2018
We visited Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa, CA for the July 4th week. Nice!! Santa Cruz. In Santa Cruz we visited with my niece and her family – always great […]
Santa Barbara – June 2018
Long post – settle in with a cup of coffee or a cold beer (or two) – a lot of ground to cover. Anyone who has ever had the good […]
Pismo Beach (CA) – June 2018
As the preeminent surfer dude (not), I think I can report to you on Pismo Beach on the California coast. Gnarly, dude. That’s my report. Clutched in a sliver of land […]
Lee Vining (CA) – June 2018
I may have found my favorite shiny new object… the town of Lee Vining, CA! We camped here for about a week for a variety of reasons, but one the […]
Mono Lake – June 2018
We have been camped in Lee Vining (CA) for a little bit, affording us time to visit Yosemite National Park. More on Lee Vining later, but in or close to […]
Yosemite NP – June 2018
Yosemite is one of the most popular national parks in the system, and there are two predictable outcomes: the views are extraordinary, and there are a lot of people. We […]
Sequoia & Kings Canyon NP – June 2018
Sequoia and King’s Canyon (SEKI) NP is a paradise of contradiction. Or maybe there is no contradiction; maybe it is just balance. One thing for which there is no dispute: this […]
Westward Ho! – June 2018
We continued our trek west. How shameless is it that we are heading to the west coast for a free meal at a wedding? I’ll have the chicken, please. We left […]
Kansas – June 2018
We have made our way across Kansas and we have come to appreciate Kansas. Often considered a “fly-over” state, this is a really pretty state – we enjoyed it as […]
Kansas City – June 2018
Kansas City Chiefs. Is that a Kansas football team… or a Missouri team? I thought Nurse Karen was going to call a Code as a result of too much BBQ in […]
Heading West – May 2018
As mentioned previously, we are headed west, the first meaningful stop being to visit our son (the poor thing) in Denver. From there we will head further west to Santa […]
Summer Kickoff – May 2018
Bang a gong, smoke a bong – let’s get this party started! Tell me I didn’t just write that! Jeez. I was recently re-reading some of my prior posts and […]
Washington, DC – May 2018
In today’s environment, it is hard not to talk about the goings on in Washington, our nation’s capitol, without some snarky comment. But the fact is this is a magnificent […]
Break the Cycle – May 2018
Life can be circumstantial. Fortunately, that is not the rule or we as a civilization would be doomed. We exult that we can live our lives beyond our circumstances, beyond our […]
Frank turns 80! – Apr 2018
Holy Crap – Frank is 80! I won’t lie – it gets more than a little weird when you actually know someone who turns 80 years old. How can that be? Like […]
Cows or Horses Smarter? – Apr 2018
I know – if you have to ask, you probably don’t deserve to know. And yet, with all the world’s troubles, I felt this a topic of high worthiness. I […]
Spring at TCPC – Apr 2018
Not a big story here, just a few pictures from TCPC on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. Spring has sprung! Or maybe not so much. On Monday (happy belated Patriots Day […]
Easter Ham – Apr 2018
Plan B. My original plan (Plan A) after this past weekend was to report back to you my detailed and hugely successful and tasty recipe for smoking a ham. Not […]
Blog 5 Years Old! – Mar 2018
Happy birthday to this blog! Yes indeed, it has been 5 years! Technically I started this blog on Tumblr and then moved to its current WordPress platform, but it is […]
Smokin!!!!! – Mar 2018
It didn’t take much more than a trip to Austin, TX to inspire me to recommit to the fine art of smoking – meat, that is. While I have greatly […]
Power Lines – Mar 2018
Some of my readers have been asking me, “Brad, when are you going to do a post on high tension electrical power lines?” Well, your wait is over! When I […]
Austin – Mar 2018
If our stay in Palm Springs was sublime, then our very short stay in Austin was ridiculous. We LOVE Austin, although this time around we did not get to stay […]
Palm Springs – Mar 2018
We did two things in February we have never done before: 1) stay in one place for more than two weeks, and 2) stay at an RV resort. OK, technically […]
Palm Springs Trailer Trash – Feb 2018
One of the big deals in Palm Springs during February is Modernism Week, which is all about mid-century modern architecture and design, which I would highly recommend attending (see my […]
Steamboat – Feb 2018
Self-awareness, and its sinister sister self-esteem, had no place on the ski slopes for me this past weekend. I flew into Steamboat Springs, CO for a long weekend skiing tryst […]
Polo Anyone? – Feb 2018
Marco! Thankfully Karen does not openly voice all her thoughts, but you know this is what she wanted to call out at our first polo event. And people call me […]
Deep Skies – Feb 2018
“Picture yourself in a boat on a river, With tangerine trees and marmalade skies. Someone calls you, you answer quite slowly, A girl with kaleidoscope eyes….” On our journey west, […]
Admissions from a Sales Guy – Feb 2018
I never should have been in sales. I didn’t fit the persona. I don’t have a competitive bone in my body; I am an introvert; and I like dogs more […]
Ivy Green – Jan 2018
You may or may not recognize the name Ivy Green, but you likely know something about Helen Keller. While in Muscle Shoals, or more technically, Tuscumbia, AL, I visited the birthplace […]
Muscle Shoals – Jan 2018
Music meccas… New York, LA, Boston, Nashville, Memphis, Muscle Shoals… Wait, what? Do the names Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin, Percy Sledge, the Black Keys, Etta James, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, […]
Going the Distance – Jan 2018
I am going to tell you a story. Mind you, this is really not my story to tell, but I will share it nonetheless. Many of my stories are vicarious […]