A friendly burro

How's this for a friendly burro? I took the picture along U.S. 395 south of Bishop, California. The burros come right up to the barbed wire fence along the highway, hoping a tourist will stop to feed them an apple. I was in a motorhome and did, in fact, have an apple, which made this burro very happy.

I know we are not supposed to feed wild animals, but burros aren't really wild. They were abandoned in the desert by early miners, after which they had a grand time reproducing. In Oatman, Arizona, a small tourist town on old Route 66, shopkeepers sell bags of carrots for $1, which you can then feed to the burros that wander the town. But you can't feed the carrots to baby burros because for some reason (I can't remember) that can kill them.

Are you living your dream?

I met a woman the other day, early 70s, I think, who told me that she and her husband had planned to be traveling these days. They worked hard their whole lives, saved money, and dreamed of when they would be free to travel. Then, about the time they were counting down to their freedom, her husband developed a rare disease that took away his eyesight. End of dream.

How about your dream? Are you living it or waiting for some "perfect" time when circumstances are just right? Years ago, when I was in my late 30s, I left a comfy life to follow my own dream. I sold everything and bought a tiny motorhome to become a wandering travel writer. Invigorated, but often questioning my sanity, I hit the road. For much of the next ten years, I drove 150,000 miles of America, writing and publishing my "on the road" newspaper Out West. Not a month passed that I didn't receive at least one letter from a reader who said, "Chuck, I admire you for following your dream. I had a dream, too, but then I got sick (or my wife got sick) and now it can never happen."

In my case, those ten years were incredibly rewarding -- ah. . . the people, the places. . . the adventure! Alas. . . that decade also left me broke. Still, it was worth every penny I didn't have.

If, in your heart, you have a dream for your life, then march toward it beginning today. Don't wait! No excuses! Time has a way of swiftly slipping by, and it has no preference whether we live a life of dreaming or live the life we dream.

"To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top." -- Robert M. Pirsig

"How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!" -- Jane Austen

"Today's egg is better than tomorrow's hen." -- Turkish proverb

"Charlie Bit Me"

The first time you watch this you may think "What's the big deal?" But a few minutes later, you may have the urge to watch it again, and then again. . . The fact that more than 200 million people have viewed home video snippet pretty much says there is something special about it. I'd call this video "charming." See what you think.

A whale visits our offices

A gray whale dropped by our RVtravel.com/RVbookstore.com Edmonds, Wash., offices on Monday, June 7. Well, the whale didn't quite make it into our offices. But it fed for most of the day about 100 yards away at the ferry dock. A ranger said the whale was about 30-feet long. People stopped by all day long to check out this big fellow. The anglers on the adjacent fishing pier probably weren't too happy having the whale gobble up their booty. About two weeks earlier, a pod of Orca Whales was in the same area.

Just north of the ferry dock is a Washington underwater state park. Scuba divers usually poke around down there most days checking out all the fish and the sunken boats. I figured if the whale passed there on its way 50 yards south to the ferry dock area they must have got a quite a shock. Watch the 20-second video to see the whale.

As you can see in the opening scene, two bald eagles were checking out the action, too.

Taking a break from the bad news

I've spent quite a bit of time lately in front of my TV watching baseball games and the NBA playoffs. I've also cut back my time at the computer. I've been watching sports because I am so upset with the news headlines these days about the awful Gulf oil spill, terrorists who think killing innocent people is the way to prove they are right and everyone else is wrong, and greedy corporate executives.

I'm especially weary of the massive, seemingly endless discussion on TV, on blogs, and in comments on Web postings about these things and who's to blame, which usually boils down to Bush or Obama.

If you are like me and get much of your news on the Internet, then you are constantly bombarded by reader comments that are often from people who in past years would have probably voiced their opinions to a few friends at most. Now they can blast away from the privacy of their home computers -- their inflammatory words unedited and typically anonymous.

I've started reading a daily newspaper again. I find it refreshing. The editors filter out intelligent comments from those from people who have a chip on their shoulder and/or who exhibit their stupidity with comments that would be laughable if they weren't so mean-spirited or ignorant.

I've never been a huge sports fan, but now, as a break from the dreadful news of the day, attending a game or watching one on TV is a pleasant way to escape for a few hours. I am also turning off my computer on Sundays -- and what a breath of fresh air that has provided.

Mama and Papa Duck

These are my two favorite ducks. I call them Mama Duck and Papa Duck. The have visited me every year for seven years. They think my condo's swimming pool is a pond. As you can see from the short video, they are friendly. Still, they are technically wild ducks.

Every April, I wait for them to return. The day I see them swimming in the pool, I become very happy! It's a sure sign of spring. About every other year, they have babies. In my opinion, there is nothing much cuter than a baby duck. One year, all the babies got trapped in the swimming pool. They couldn't jump high enough to get out onto the deck. Mama Duck was very concerned. But I came to rescue. I got the pool cleaning wand and one by one lifted them out. They just waddled away.

Last year was disappointing because Mama and Papa Duck returned to the pool at different times. I never saw them together. Mama would show up, wait awhile and leave, and then Papa would arrive. I don't know if they every hooked up. So no babies last year. And no babies so far this year. I saw Mama and Papa Duck just yesterday.

I have loved ducks since I was child. My family's next door neighbors, Helen and Sam, had a white duck named Louie. He was a very friendly duck. But what I remember most about Louie was the mess he made. Our neighbors' concrete patio was a slimy mess thanks to Louie.

If I lived somewhere where I could have a duck as a pet, I would have one. I would also have two chickens.

The garbage train

If you ever visit my office in Edmonds, Wash., you do not want to be about 50 yards west, at the railroad tracks, at 1 p.m. That's when the Seattle Garbage Train passes by. It's a train of about 60-70 cars, each stacked two-high with big white cargo containers filled with garbage headed east from Seattle over the Cascades to be dumped far from the crowds. The reason you do not want to be there is that the train stinks.

A friend of mine lives about a mile north of my office, right along the tracks -- which are just a few yards from the shore of Puget Sound. He says that if he's in his backyard when the Garbage Train passes he has to go inside.

I believe the empty westbound train passes by early in the morning. Even though it's empty, it still reeks of garbage! If they were to give this train a name, I think it should be "Old Stinky."