Postcard of the week: Feeding the "wild" critters

In one Southwest ghost town, a rare critter roams the street, and tourists are encouraged to feed the beasts. What are they? They're burros, descendents of the animals abandoned decades ago by gold miners. The town is Oatman, Arizona, once a popular stop along Route 66, but today more popular as a place to buy souvenir trinkets and feed the hungry critters. Burro food is available at many shops, as are postcards starring the animals. Hint: Don't stand directly behind a burro or you could end up getting a good "hoofin.'"

Postcard of the week: Indian "humor"

You won't find this postcard for sale nowadays except in an antique shop. The days of poking fun at American Indians is long over. But it wasn't so even 40 or 50 years ago when this cartoon postcard was available in roadside tourist shops throughout the American West. In fact, cartoon-type postcards were very popular back then. I'll have more to share with you in the weeks and months ahead.

Postcard of the Week: One huge fish!

Here are a couple of facts of life that you did not learn in school, at home, or in church. They are: guys like to fish and guys like to brag about how big a fish they caught. And here is proof that every once in awhile guys really do catch very big fish. Hey, do pictures on postcards lie?

Tiny post office

You don't find post office as small as this one very often. Actually, you never find a post office smaller than this one because this is the smallest post office building in the USA. It's located in Ochopee, Florida (Zip Code 33943), which is 35 miles east of Naples on U.S. 41 in the Big Cypress National Preserve. This postcard is about 12 years old.

Is this motorhome beautiful or ugly?

This is the actual interior of a motorhome. I will make 10 or 11 people in America (and maybe a few in Canada) angry with this statement, but here's is what I think of this RV: I think it looks like a bad Las Vegas hotel room. Now, I realize this isn't a camper you take to Yellowstone with the kids for a summer vacation. This photo is from an ad in a motorhome magazine. There is no price shown but I can pretty much guarantee that the motorhome goes for at least a half million dollars and probably more.

Who buys a motorhome that looks like this? Don't ask me, because I don't get it. My own tastes run toward a much smaller RV, one that would fit in a space somewhat smaller than a football field -- like maybe what you would find in a national forest. This RV looks like a Greyhound bus on the outside except there is no picture of a dog and it's shinier.

Tell me what you think. Take my little 20-second private survey where you can vote (and see how others voted) if this is the most beautiful sight you have ever seen or if it is uglier than sin.

Making fire starters from pinecones

Sometimes it's a little hard to get a campfire started. Here's a way to turn pinecones into firestarters. Thanks to the Old Farmers Almanac for this information.

Start with pinecones that are already dried. There are two ways to have fun with pinecones as a fire starter. First, melt any old candle stubs you have. A double-boiler works nicely for this job. Then, dip the pinecones into the hot wax. Let dry, perhaps on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil. When dry, store them in your RV and use as needed. The wax helps them burn long enough to help get your fire going. For more special effects, soak the dried pinecones for 24 hours in a solution of 1 pound Epsom salts to 1 gallon water. Let the cones dry again. When you use these as fire starters, they will produce a myriad of colors in the campfire.

Postcard of the week: Jackalopes!

You can't travel far in the rural American West without running into a jackalope. Oh, you won't see one in the wild too often, but you'll see plenty in person at roadside trading posts (otherwise known as tourist traps), and on about a dozen popular postcards. At Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota, you can even sit right atop a huge 'lope (undoubtedly raised on powerful steroids) and get your picture taken. Jackalopes, in case you don't know, are a cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope. The only time you will likely run into one is after closing time at a rural tavern when they often howl in pairs. Some folks say they sound like Roy Rogers and Dale Evans singing a duet. And here's another little-known fact about jackalopes: they only mate during lightning storms. Now, how about that?