Selling ammo cans by the road

At the north end of Beatty, Nevada, along the west side of U.S. 95, Ernie Bunting sells ammunition cans. They come in all sizes and sell from $8 to more than $100. Ernie lives in both a motorhome or a trailer depending upon whether he's in Beatty or in Kingman, Arizona, where he sells ammo cans at flea markets.

A regular stream of traffic passes by his Beatty location, mostly truckers and other motorists traveling between Las Vegas and Reno -- or in the case of RVers, to and from Death Valley. Ernie operates his businesss year round, even in the hot summer. "They've got air conditioning here so it's not so bad," he said.

He sells hundreds of ammo cans. They're great for storing important things because they're super sturdy and water tight. Ernie finds ammo cans to sell on the Internet. He says he doesn't know if the metal type he sells now will be as readily available in the future. "They're talking about making them out of plastic," he said, shaking his head to show disapproval.

He started selling all sorts of stuff in his present open-air location about four years ago, junk mostly. Ernie didn't say as much to me, but I bet he would agree.

Then he hit on selling ammo cans. I bought one today about the size of a bread loaf for $8. But I could have paid $100 for a whopper-sized one that looked to be about 32 square feet in size. People stop all day long. Some like me buy a single can. "One guy bought 10 of these $15 ones this morning," he told me, pointing to a stack of king-sized cans.

Ernie says he's not making a great living, but sales of ammo cans help supplement his social security. In his younger years, he moved houses and churches for a living. He moved a total of 16 churches, lifting them off their foundations and moving them to new places. "Now that was work!" he said.

I asked Ernie if I could take his picture and he said that was fine and he asked me where I wanted him to pose. "People ask me all the time to take my picture," he said. As I snapped a few photos, a fellow drove by in a pickup truck. "Getting more famous Ernie?" he yelled, and Ernie smiled and nodded.

Postcard of the week: Montana's Big Fish

Here's a postcard that you will find in most souvenir shops in Montana. The state is most famous for its fly fishing, but it's also famous for its fishing in general. The caption on the flip side of this card is "And this is only my bait!" We just wish that the big fish were a trout, which is what anglers who head to Big Sky Country come fishing for. Do you have a wacky postcard that you would like us to publish here? Send it to Chuck Woodbury, RVtravel.com, 170 West Dayton St., Suite 103, Edmonds, WA 98020. We cannot return the postcard, so please keep that in mind.

Anticipation

In two days I'm hitting the road to Death Valley and beyond. Just thinking about leaving is almost as good as doing it. But when departure time is a mere 48 hours away like now, the pain of waiting is acute: I want to roll at this very minute! But I have chores to finish and a motorhome to load. . . So, gotta wait just a little bit longer before turning the key to ignite the engine. Ever been to Death Valley? It's not a wasteland as some people think. It's beautiful. I'll park the RV at the Furnace Creek oasis, where there are a thousand palm trees and gushing spring water that helps keep everything green, even on summer days when the temp hits a ridiculous 125 degrees or higher. I've been going to Death Valley since I was a little kid, and that was back in the dinosaur age. But not a whole lot has changed. It's good to return to a familiar place, one that hasn't been overrun with franchise food joints. Did you know that Death Valley is America's largest National Park? Yup, it's true. And in case you don't know, it's in California.

Postcard of the Week: Critter with sunglasses

This postcard should probably be in the Western Postcard Museum. Unfortunately, I do not believe there is such a place. But it is a very popular card, found at roughly five out of six rural roadside trading posts and other tacky tourist places. You can still purchase this card today for 25 cents, which is a bargain when you consider that it will one day, perhaps 50 years from now, be a collector's item worth at least 75 cents. Do you have a wacky postcard that you would like me to publish here? Send it to Chuck Woodbury, RVtravel.com, 170 West Dayton St., Suite 103, Edmonds, WA 98020. We cannot return the postcard, so please keep that in mind.

Why a campground went bust

Sometimes when you drive around the countryside as I do in an RV, you come across interesting things. Daa! How stupid is that statement? Of course you come across interesting things! Anyway, one day I spotted this sign for a trailer park that was up for sale, as you can plainly see by the sign on the sign. As any junior college business student will tell you, there is a simple reason why this park went belly up: RVers just drove thru instead of paying to stay the night! If I owned an RV park I would call it the "Stay Overnight or a Week Park," and not the "Drive-Thru Park." The owner of this place was stupid and if you don't agree then I urge you to never open a business.

Happy (belated) Holidays from Joe's RV

Joe from Joe's RV wishes his customers a Happy Holiday. Even though the holidays are long gone, we can't resist sharing this video of hope, hype and mostly cornball humor.

My magical powers

This photo was taken a year ago but I have kept it a secret because I was afraid to reveal my magical powers. Well, I have reconsidered and now feel it is perfectly okay. Mind you, I can’t do everything magical. But what I can do, as you can plainly see in this untouched photograph, is make trash cans levitate. By simply holding my hands over a typical state park trash can, I am able to "will it" to float in mid air. Do not try this on your own and please do not ask your children to do this, because it takes special powers. To try this without the proper powers could result in spilled garbage.