One reason I wanted to go somewhere cold for the winter was because Ross had never experienced a good US winter and since we’re traveling around experiencing everything we can, this was a must. Also, my dog Chena is quite old now and has been having a hard time with the heat. She has diabetes and cushings disease so she’s already thirsty all the time, while the heat just exacerbates her drinking obsession. Plus she’s just laying there panting most the time, even with the AC on, and is generally uncomfortable. Now that we’re in the cabin, she has to wear a sweater most the time but is almost never panting unless she falls asleep near the fire. Her hair is very thin because of the cushings and her age so she gets cold pretty easy but its easier to keep her warm enough than it was to keep her cool enough (it’s also much drier here than most the places we go so no humidity is a plus).

Our house mouse Trevor is also enjoying the change. It started snowing about a month ago and has stuck to the ground ever since, most days not getting over 30F and nights as low as 1F. Susa likes the snow, unfortunately. Since we’re home all day working we get to listen to her meowing to go out all day. She still only goes out on the leash due to predators etc in the area so if we’re busy, she just has to wait and hates it.
Luckily Trevor requires only fresh water and food, and recently started to store food and nest in a box we gave him. All night he runs on his wheel, entertaining Susa for a while, but is generally not a hand pet, just an observed one. He’s so fast and nevervous (being undomesticated) that it would take a millisecond to lose him in the cabin, though last time he got out, he got out on our bed in the trailer and ended up running up my back and onto my shoulder trying to get back into his cage but we both panicked and it was a grab fest for the next couple minutes while I tried to catch him without hurting him. That was enough for us, losing him would be a disaster – probably at Susa’s paw/mouth.

We had one good storm last weekend where 2 trees fell in the back yard and knocked out a power line. We were without electricity for about a day and a half but at least it wasn’t all our fault, about 10k people in the area were also without for a while, most longer than us. We lit candles the first night and I brought in my gas camping lamp, the second day with dead phones and not much to do, we got the generator out of the trailer and ran everything we needed, including the TV/Cable, with power to spare.

I look forward to more power outages and piles and piles of snow so thick we can’t get out of the driveway. Going to be a good winter.

We’re headed for Asheville North Carolina right now. Apparently one of the countries most vegetarian small cities in the country, as well as one of the happiest according to one magazine (the Wiki on this place makes it sound awesome). We’ll be staying just 5 miles out of town so it looks like we wont be saving any money this month. Ross just spent allot on truck repairs and I’m almost always broke, relatively.
Moving today made me realize how much I hate moving. I love the traveling but the packing and unpacking, arranging and loading of our things is lame, even if we just do it once a month. I think it’s actually easier when we move once a week or every 2 weeks because we don’t really get that settled in.
We plan to stay a month in Asheville too, though we haven’t seen the campsite yet so we’ll decide then but I’m sure it will be fine. They’re putting us right on the river and the spots come with free wifi and cable TV so, not much to complain about. We’ll get back into our state park phase when its warm again. I’m totally a hibernator.
Here’s some photos from the drive, we’ll be in town within the hour and after a tedious unpacking, I plan to sleep. We didn’t go to bed last night because our schedule is that messed up with both of us working on our own projects after work and staying up through the wee hours, and still getting up for west coast work. Maybe the draw of the Smokies will get me out of the trailer in the morning to take some photos.

These ones are from the car or on a bathroom break so, cut me some slack.. plz.

Using this watermark also gives you the freedom to stop squashing your images down to 500px wide as well, though that will be up to you. In my photos, details are important and the fact that my medium format images are so crisp and clear, is barely noticeable in a tiny photo. Why bother sharing if you’re not sharing the whole experience? This may mean that I add the invisible watermark all over the image rather than in just one place, just to up the chances of safety, but at least I get to display what I want worry free.

Check it out and give it a try. I know adding a watermark to all your photos might sound tedious. It will be. Also, think of it this way. Anyone who buys a print of your photo can scan it and put it in their own collection any time they want. There is really no safeguard from art thieves, so decide for yourself which preventative effort is worth it and which is not.

Go to http://w5ran.com/2011/01/into-the-desert/ and check it out! First photo published since I lived in Portland.

This specific weekend though I actually got to take some photos around the ninth ward area. One of the areas most affected by Katrina but really popping back into action with new houses, awesome street art and some great classic little po-boy and BBQ places. I don’t eat meat but I still appreciate some awesome history. I might not be able to eat there but I can get a drink or stand outside and stare.

The Joint, New Orleans

Lately this lovely lifestyle has been tapering off, especially for Ross. We upgraded our RV to a 31 foot trailer about a month and a half ago and today he is buying a truck to tow the trailer with. Both were used and very cheap for their condition, at least the trailer with maintain its value and the truck should, though depreciate a little depending on how many miles we put on it. Getting them used was non American dream thing to do which is great but not owning them, having them be partially financed through his bank, is. I always hate the feeling of having something I don’t really own, especially when its something I want to and should care about. It’s like caring about someone else’s pet just to have them move away later, you don’t want to get attached until its rightfully yours and in the case of the trailer and truck, they may never be ours at all. By the time we decide to move on to the next lifestyle, they might not be paid off yet and we’ll sell them in order to pay off the loans and have a few bucks left over. We will be taking good care of them because we hope to resell them but love them like my ’73 Datsun 710? Probably not.

I may never be able to get financed for things the way Ross can, but it is a definite benefit. I always think about one day owning a house in Argentina but I imagine I’ll be paying for it in money I’ve saved up, or I’ll be rich and be able to pay cash in a briefcase. Working for myself and not being much of a business person, or money minded at all, I don’t really include myself in financed America. I like owning everything I have and not having a credit limit larger than $150, for use only when I’m just that broke. I hate money and although necessary I don’t mind living without it for the most part, that being said, I would love to be able to travel without worry about money – anywhere I want and for any amount of time. This is part of why I got into web design in the first place. It was the only job I thought I could do and be able to do from anywhere (initially Argentina). Now I get to test the limits of it by traveling around the US but would like to one day be updating websites in Cairo or Australia. These things take money but I don’t think they have to take money that isn’t mine. Although life is too short to wait around saving up money when you could be borrowing it, I’m aware that I wont be retiring and will still be doing this whenever I can when I’m old, so, what’s the rush right?

Back to work! As always, I’m way behind!

www.rccme.com

Its not really my style but it’s work and with student loans sneaking up on me, I can use all I can get. The only example they gave me of what they wanted was their competitors website, a Dubai Construction Company. I immediately recognized the style as “templatey” and that’s generally what they got except I built it from scratch and its WC3 Compliant and uses all css, as most crappy old template sites are not and do not.

Another site I worked on was for the Spokane Songwriters Organization. The client is psudo-family and the organization is non profit so it wasnt the best paying job but fun to make a website that will be active and community based. I installed a forum, wordpress, events calendar, music player, photo gallery, shared user registration, group emailing and other features that will be useful for organizing events and sharing opinions, music and events for the users – once everyone is comfortable using it.

spokanesongwriters.org

Another site I’m working on and almost done with is for an author ( I get lots of those!) Adrian Matejka. His work is urban themed, modern, cultural reference filled poetry and I like it allot. Seems like every author I get to make sites for is really great. Makes me feel guilty for not reading more modern books than War of the Worlds. I cant help myself though, I feel like I’m playing catchup with the last 2 centuries ( I read lots from centuries before in highschool so I’m slowly making it to the 21st century).

adrianmatejka.com splash page

adrianmatejka.com

I also made changes to the homepage of www.shopadornonline.com, giving it more banner styles images on the homepage rather than just products.

http://www.shopadornonline.com/

For my mothers birthday in late March, I made her a website for blogging and selling some of her photos, www.dreamworksphoto.net, Unfortunately she doesn’t use yet it, but its the thought that counts right :(

dreamworksphotos.net

Now I’m working on a site for a friend for his recording company, making regular updates to Shop Adorn and setting up for other jobs coming my way including another recording studio, a photography site, a baking supply site and of course my own badly needed site updates.

Spokane is the closest place to a “home base” I’ve ever had. I was born in a hospital there, lived near there till 2nd grade, and went to highschool from 15-18 there. I moved away when I was 19 to Portland because as an adult out of school I found that Spokane was one of the most boring places ever. There was nothing to do but drink or do drugs. No young music scene, no place for people to hang out in general. I had bigger plans,and a way out, so I headed to Portland as soon as possible.

Theres something about Spokane that I’ll always love anyway. Maybe because it was the first place I ever really took photos. Something ominous and creepy about every part of this town and the scenery I choose to shoot. Its no wonder it’s one of Stephen Kings favorite towns and the home town of David Lynch who has based many films on Spokane, indirectly, and expressed beautifully the mood and feeling you get from this inland empire.

Spokane has produced some of the most awesome people I’ve ever known and since many of them still live there, their kids will be as awesome as they are. Maybe one day I’ll go back if I ever decide to stop traveling long enough to call anywhere home.

www.shopadornonline.com

www.erhartstreetwear.com

www.janetfreeman.com

www.steveschroeder.info

All great creatives! Check them out!

So I miss it really bad already, my back hurts more away from the heat and oddly it felt better sleeping on the ground than in my cheapo bed. Walking out of the cafe in the morning into 100degree heat at 10 am was like jumping into a warm bath without being wet. The heat surrounds you and only burns you if you dont drink enough or forget your sunblock. I mostly wore just spf 6 and didnt get much of a tan, not what I wanted at least – but I didnt burn and we walked in the desert heat and played in dunes on a regular basis. Im not saying I can handle a summer there, especially without an AC, temps up to 120 degrees and all, but the way it is right now is pretty great.

Im looking at another RV tomorrow I think. Its a smaller one and newer than the Cabana, a 73 and doesnt need DEQ or a special liscence plus probably gets much better gas milage. It also doesnt hae a generator or AC but for 900$ I think I can add those on myself at an ok price. I really need to move on for many reasons, would be great to drive to mexico and meet my friend there but really I think my priority is to just move. dont know where to go for the summer, anywhere I get internet with my supposed cell phone plan I suppose.

Schools almost out at least… finallyyyy