How Towns Say Hello

I spent much of the 1990s traveling the back roads of the American West in a motorhome, writing and publishing my quarterly newspaper Out West as I went. Over that decade I snapped photos of the “Welcome to Town” signs of many rural communities. Here is a short video essay I put together back then. The quality is not too great as I had to transfer the essay from VHS to a digital format before posting it online.

No skateboarding dogs allowed here

I can't remember where I took this photo. But I do recall that I was pretty amazed that a sign was necessary to keep dogs from skateboarding in the park. I wish I could remember the town where I snapped this so I could return to get some actual shots of the local dogs in action. Whoever put up this sign is crazy: skateboarding dogs would be a great tourist attraction!

Big news coming next week

I have some very, very exciting news which I plan to announce in the Saturday, Sept. 8 edition of the RVtravel.com newsletter. I will not tell you now exactly what it is, but I can tell you that it involves a recreational vehicle and, yes, a new recreational vehicle. And, yes, it involves me.

I can't say anymore than that at this moment. But please be sure to read the newsletter next Saturday for the scoop. It will be worth the wait.

What a beauty, the now-classic GMC motorhome

Is this a beautiful RV? It looks really modern, but this GMC motorhome was built about 35 years ago! I remember when I was a young man and was dreaming of buying my first RV, I drooled over this one. My idol Charles Kuralt, who roamed the back roads for CBS News, traveled with one of these for awhile, and it was featured on his "On the Road" segments on the evening news. You would often see the coach pictured as it rolled down a scenic two-lane highway. And when there was a shot of Kuralt inside at his typewriter. . . well, this aspiring young journalist went basically crazy with desire to do the same.

These classic low-profile design motorhomes went out of production 30 years ago, but you still see them, and I don't think most non-RVers would ever guess they are older than just about all the other motorhomes on the road today.

If you want to learn more about this classic coach, do a Google search using the keyword GMC motorhome and you'll find many websites and feature articles. If you own one of these, leave a comment and tell the rest of us what you think of it.

Good times in my RV darkroom

I stumbled upon this photo this morning. It’s one I took of myself about 25 years ago in my first motorhome, an 18-foot Class C RV that broke down practically every trip. I eeked out a living then as a freelance writer selling stories to little magazines.

In this photo, I am printing photographs in my small RV. About two nights a week I would do this. The next morning I would mail the photos with manuscripts to editors.

I could set up my darkroom in about 15 minutes, but only in very dark campgrounds where I had an electric hookup. I would usually need to cover the windows with towels and blankets, and pray that a car wouldn’t pass with its highbeams on.

My ritual was to turn up my stereo and sip cheap beer as I printed (I could not afford good beer back then). I was very happy when I was printing! I would usually take a break every hour or so. In some cases, the campgrounds were in the middle of nowhere. When I would step outside, I would often be greeted by only silence and darkness. It seemed incredible and wonderful to me that I could earn my living in such places.

Even though I earned little money, I was free and I was working as a magazine writer, something I had dreamed of doing for years. Until I actually went on the road to do it, I never knew if it was a dream that could come true or not. It did.

Technology has come a long way since then and I have taken advantage of most of it. But I miss my old darkroom.

Dinosaur attack fended off near Petrified Forest

Sometimes you are walking down a quiet street in a small town and all of a sudden a dinosaur leaps out at you. This evil one came after me on Route 66 near the Petrified Forest in Arizona. I had just finished breakfast at Joe and Angies Cafe in Holbrook when I turned around and there it was -- a juvenile 'saur coming at me in search of his own breakfast! Hah! Little did the prehistoric leftover know that I am self-taught in dino-defense. I know that simply grabbing such a beast by its jaws cripples it. So that's what I am doing here.

When I look back on this pic I realize a couple of things: number one, I am very lucky to be alive. The other is I realize that I am losing the hair on the back of my head.

Even a dandelion can be pretty

I snapped this photo in the Skagit Valley of Washington, which is a huge tulip growing region -- in fact second only to Holland in the annual production of tulips. The area is packed with camera-toting visitors every May during the annual Tulip Festival. While everyone else was paying attention to the colorful tulips, I spotted this lonely dandelion. I thought it was pretty, too.