I've got a ways to go

I spent a fair amount of time this weekend updating and tweaking The Camping Machine website. It is not where I want it to be in terms of look and content, but it is slowly getting there. I would love to be able to link this blog directly into the blog page of that site, but so far no luck. Right now it is impossible for people to comment on the blog posts - I've asked people to use the guestbook to comment, but that is not as easy as clicking the comment button on a Blogger blog. I'd love to rebuild the site in Dreamweaver and repost it, but that will take me years. If you haven't taken a look, please visit www.thecampingmachine.com and let me know what you think.

As I mentioned before, I'm trying to expand this blog a bit. I want to incorporate more material and expand the editorial options. The focus will always be what it has been here - stories about our family. But in the summertime, especially in between the spring and fall youth soccer season, we focus our summer around the camping trips we're planning to take. As we enter our third year as enthusiastic and proud members of the RV Nation, I'm thinking that when it is all said and done, and I'm on my deathbed, one of the things my kids will say is, "Dad, we sure had fun going on all those camping trips, didn't we? It was great to get out and see all the different parts of the country. Those were some great times." At least that's what I hope they'll say - about 50 years from now!

Speaking of deathbeds, I had a very interesting dream the other night, which I will detail here in a week or so. Also we had an interesting incident on our last camping trip that is an entertaining story, which I'll have to tell soon, while it is still fresh. For those of you who have read this blog for awhile, you're guessing that it involves Tommy - and you'd be right.

On The Camping Machine (www.thecampingmachine.com) website I am re-running some of my favorite posts from this blog. I am finding there are different readers going to The Camping Machine site, readers who have never been here. The Camping Machine website has been linked to from a couple of RV links pages and some traffic has come from there. Those readers don't know The Family Man, so I'm sharing some posts so they will see that the site is more than just camping.

If you are kind enough to link to this blog, I would ask you to change your link to The Camping Machine (www.tehcampingmachine.com) , as at some point I will cease posting here and put all of my writing on that site. If you know of anyone who'd be willing to link to The Camping Machine (www.thecampingmachine.com) please send them there. I will return the favor as I have a pretty robust links page, which seems to get a fair amount of hits.

Thank you again for reading this blog.

It's Great to be the Family man

The Camping Machine rolls into Moab

For those of you who have never been to Moab, Utah – and I suspect that is most of you – this post will give you a sense of a very unique place.

As a TV News Cameraman I first went to Moab in the late 1980s. Moab is located is the southeastern part of Utah, close to the Colorado River, in a pretty valley bordered by stunning red sandstone cliffs. For many years Moab was a sleepy, rural small town in the middle of nowhere until a uranium boom put it on the map in the 1950’s. The boom was followed by the inevitable bust, and the town languished. Those who stayed enjoyed beautiful views, a slower pace of life, and a mild influx of tourist dollars from people who wanted to see two of the most beautiful and under-appreciated places in America – Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.

When I first went there I thought it was just another wide spot on a rural road to nowhere, a place to gas up and continue your journey to your final destination. I’ve seen dozens of those and they all looked the same to me. After visiting Arches NP and taking a couple of off-road jeep tours I came to appreciate the special qualities of this part of the state. I soon found myself coming to Moab, a four-hour trip, for weekends of bike riding, four-wheeling and photography. I came to love the stark beauty of the red cliffs and unique landscape in this part of the country. The Colorado plateau is stark, stunning and severe – it is also spiritual and special to those who can appreciate it.

Today Moab is approaching places like Park City and Sedona as hip and chic places to hang out, shop, enjoy arts and the outdoors. Moab draws a different crowd – younger, less affluent, more inclined to go for a bike ride, off-road adventure or river run than play golf or rub elbows with celebrities – but the atmosphere is similar. The main street in Moab has an eclectic mix of bookstores, café’s, curio shops, galleries and restaurants (as well as the ubiquitous franchise outlets), so there is plenty do see and do for those who don’t want to or can’t enjoy the opportunities to hike, bike, and explore.

This is the place we took our family for Memorial Day Weekend in The Camping Machine. The boys were very excited to get out for our first camping adventure of the season. We left early Friday morning to beat the inevitable exodus from our city that was to follow later in the day. Where we live it is common to see the freeways out of town fill up with RVs and other recreational vehicles beginning shortly after noon every Friday. It begins even sooner when a Holiday weekend approaches. When I was single I would see these vehicles leave town and wonder where the campers and RVs were going. In my mind they were all going to fun and exciting places, getting away from the city for a breath of fresh air at the lake, in the mountains or on the desert. I hoped that someday I’d be one of them, heading on the highway, looking for adventure or whatever came my way.

Today we were one of them, proud members of the RV Nation. Destination: Moab.

We had beautiful weather as we pulled The Camping Machine into Moab and our campsite at the Moab Valley RV Park. We set up the campsite, hooked up the utilities and organized the living space before packing the boys off to the pool for a swim. It seems strange to come all the way to Moab to swim in a small campground pool, but when you travel with kids ages 7 and 5 swimming is what they like to do. The water was extremely cold – I don’t know how the boys could stay in so long, but they had a great time as MBW and I froze. We were icicles by the time the boys were ready to get out.

We grilled brats and hot dogs for dinner, made s’mores for dessert, played life-size checkers and mini-golf at the campground playground and went to bed.

The next day we went into Arches National Park. Arches has the largest concentration of natural stone arches anywhere in the world. Delicate Arch is the unofficial symbol of the state of Utah and is featured on one version of the state’s license plates. The park draws tourists from all over the world, and we happened to enter the park just ahead of a busload of tourists from Germany. When we got out at one of the first major scenic areas we were nearly trampled by German-speaking men and women racing to get photos of each other in front of one of the larger arches in the park. MBW said, “What’s their hurry? It’s not like it’s going anywhere.”

She has a point.

The highlight for the boys was Sand Dune Arch. This particular feature is an arch hidden between two massive sandstone walls, or ‘fins.’ Because it is virtually enclosed between two towering walls, the sand created by the wind and rain eroding the sandstone rock features has gathered at the base of this arch, creating a giant sandbox. It is a perfect place to bring two boys and their sand toys to sit and play amid the splendor of nature. Much as I’d like to say we were the only ones to think of this idea, we weren’t. So many families decided to do the same thing it prompted one visitor to say, “This looks like the National Park Service day care center.”

After a picnic lunch in the park we went back to the campsite, changed clothes and went into Moab. It turns out Memorial Day weekend is when Moab holds the annual Moab Arts Festival. While this arts festival is nothing like the Park City Arts Festival, the Sun Valley Arts Festival or the Jackson Hole Arts Festival, it did feature live music, some interesting characters and some interesting art. MBW bought a silver bracelet. I took pictures.

Sunday we went south to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. We made a stop at Newspaper Rock State Historical Site, a large rock panel covered with Native American petroglyphs. This is one of the largest and best-preserved rock art panels in the United States. The artwork is thought to be a combination of Anasazi, Fremont and Navajo images. No one knows for sure what the images mean or what stories are told here, but it is thought that it was a way to communicate with others passing through the area.

After leaving Newspaper Rock we entered Canyonlands National Park. This is one of the more remote and least-visited National Parks in the United States. It features beautiful, stark vistas of sandstone rock formations and more Native American rock art and structures. We explored a cave that had been a temporary dwelling place for Native Americans and, later, cowboys who passed through the area. The boys thought it was very cool to stand in a cave where ‘Indians’ and Cowboys once stood. Despite the hot, dry desert conditions the area features beautiful and abundant plant life uniquely suited to the harsh desert climate.

By the end of the day we were all hot and tired. It was early to bed for the Camping Machine family, and come Monday morning it was time to go home. Breaking camp is one of my least favorite activities, as it means it’s time to go home. But we had a wonderful trip and it makes my day when, as we’re pulling out of the campsite, my son says, “That was so much fun! Let’s come back here again!”

We will. You can count on it.

For more on this trip, including more photos, please visit The Camping Machine website sometime over the weekend. It will take me a bit longer to upload the photos I took and the blog entry will be expanded on that site.

It’s Great to be The Family Man with The Camping Machine.

Made it to Moab!

We arrived safely in Moab and are settled in the campground. Boys having a great time. Internet access is very slow. May not be able to post photos until we get home. Will post some here and more on The Camping Machine website.

Time to go camping!

With two days to departure we are preparing for our first camping trip of the year. As this website is pretty new and this blog has been dormant for months, I thought I would share with you the post I wrote two years ago that describes how we came to own The Camping Machine. Here is the post:

It started in February 2004. It was a cold, snowy weekend and we were looking for something to do with the kids. My wife had been talking to one of her friends earlier in the day, and this friend happened to mention they were going to the RV show. My wife said, “Maybe that would be something to do this afternoon.”

So we loaded up the truck and went to see RVs. 5th wheels, Motor Homes.

Chris and Tommy loved it. When we walked through the door into the convention center Chris stopped dead in his tracks and said, “Look at all these Camping Machines!”

Thus the name was born. We spend a couple of hours there that day, and over the course of that time I thought maybe this would be a fun way for our family to spend time together – get one of these ‘camping machines’ and explore our part of the country. After all, we live in a place with fantastic access to mountains, lakes and National Parks within a day’s drive. What better way to spend quality time as a family, away from the city, TV, video games and the normal routine?

I spend the next year doing research on RVs, tow vehicles, and the whole camping lifestyle. The more my wife and I talked about it the more we thought it would be fun to give it a try. I spend hundreds of hours online (rv.net is a great resource) looking at trailer specs, reading message boards and asking questions. It took some time but I started to understand what would be a good fit four our family, our travel plans and our budget.

This past February we went back to the RV show. Three times in two days. We narrowed our selections to four models. The week after the show I went to the dealers and looked at each one more carefully. Two weeks later we ordered the one we liked best from the factory.

Today we picked it up and drove it home.

Our two boys couldn’t be more excited. We ate lunch in the Camping Machine – in the driveway. We ate dinner in the Camping Machine. In the driveway. And right now they are both sleeping in the Camping Machine. In the driveway.

And I’m writing this in the Camping Machine. IN the driveway. Before I, too, will go to sleep in the Camping Machine. In the driveway.

My wife is in bed already. In the house.

Maybe next weekend we’ll go camping.


Well, we did go camping that weekend. The first year we only got out three more times, but last year we got out seven times. Not bad considering we also had youth soccer, T-ball and other family obligations. Plus, here in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, our season is short – basically Memorial Day to Labor Day.


It’s interesting how we came to be a Camping Family. As a boy I did not go camping with my family. We just didn’t do that. My wife did not go camping with her family when she was a child. We don’t have many friends who are serious campers. So the whole thing was very new to us.


But because we live in such a beautiful area with virtually endless possibilities for outdoor recreation, and because my wife and I are committed to spending more quality time with our kids doing things outdoors and less time in front of the TV, we looked into the whole RV/Camping thing as a way to honor our commitment.

Even more than that, I want to make sure we make the most of our time together while our children are young and live with us. It is hard for me to believe my boys will turn 7 and 5 this summer! Where did those seven years go? I am afraid the time will fly by and before we know it, the boys will be off to college. So our investment in our travel trailer, or rather our Camping Machine, is to make sure we get out and do things together. Get out on the road and see places outside of our back yard. Make those memories as a family so that when our kids look back on their childhood they say to themselves, “We sure did a lot of fun things when we were kids.”

So there it is, the context for this website and this blog. It’s not about the Camping Machine. It’s about our family and what we do together. The Camping Machine is one way, a fun way, for us to grow together as a family, see new places, have fun and spend time in the great outdoors. Plus, in my humble opinion, it makes an interesting hook to the website – I am a marketing guy, after all.


I hope you’ll check in when you can for updates and dispatches from the road. Please feel free to leave your comments. Thanks again for reading! And, if I can plug it one more time, please visit The Camping Machine website.

It's great to be The Family Man (especially when we're going camping!)

Shop 'til you drop

Last weekend was a Major Shopping Event for me. Now many of you might find a Major Shopping Weekend a very exciting thing, and I might too, if I were shopping for home electronics, books, or camping equipment. But alas, this weekend was one of those ‘have to do it, can’t put it off any longer, let’s get this over as quickly as possible’ Shopping Events

I had to buy new eyeglasses and new dress shoes.

To set (or re-set, since I’ve been one so long) the scene, I do wear eyeglasses. I am nearsighted, have been since second grade. I have worn contacts in the past but for the past several years I’ve stuck with the glasses. I would have kept the glasses I’ve had for the past three years, except they broke in half last week and my backup pair is so old the prescription had gone out of date. They gave me a headache when I wore them.

My dress shoes are even older than my glasses were. There were holes in the soles. When the parking lot was wet my socks would get damp. That really didn’t bother me – it doesn’t rain that much here, and I like wasting money on new shoes about as much as I like flushing $100 bills down the toilet. I was willing to keep the shoes for a few more months, at lest until winter set in. But when I told my wife I was going to go choose new frames and get a decent, current pair of glasses, she insisted on coming along. “And you’re getting new shoes,” she said. “That’s that.”

So off we went to the mall.

Of course it was a beautiful day, the type of day it should be criminal to be inside a shopping mall. I mean, really, the Activity Police should be at every entrance of the mall issuing citations for Unconscionable Waste of Sunshine to everyone going in. But no such luck today. With MBW leading the charge I mope my way inside.

To the franchise Eyeglasses outlet we go. The manager, young enough to be my son, was very helpful. He showed us several frames that were, in turn, “Edgy, Hip, and very Mod." After hearing these descriptions I said to him, “You are very nice and helpful. But I’m 46 years old. I’m getting gray hair. There’s nothing edgy, hip or very mod about me. I just want to see clearly and not look like a dork. Do you have a section for guys like me?”

He looked at me and said “You don’t look a day over 40!”

I said, “Do you work on commission?”

After some further searching we landed on a pair of frames that, with the correct lenses,will allow me to see clearly. I can’t tell you if they look good, and frankly I don’t really care. At this point in my life I’ll settle for not looking bad. They said the glasses would be ready in about an hour. We said we’d come back then to pick them up.

As we left the store MBW said, “Now let’s go get your new shoes!”

I turned back to the manager and said, “See you next weekend!”

That earned me a sharp elbow to the ribs.

This is where MBW is in her element. Shoes. Preferably women’s shoes, of course, but really any shoes will do. She pored over the displays. She knew all the brands. After what seemed like months of consideration, she selected half-a-dozen styles for me to try on.

The poor sales associate needed a dolly to wheel all the shoes out of the back room.

After I tried on the first pair and took a few steps I said to the clerk, “These will do just fine. Box them up and charge my card.” MBW simply glowered at me and favored me with another sharp elbow to the ribs.

45 minutes later I had dutifully tried on each of the selected pairs of shoes, some twice. We settled on a pair of black dress shoes that she liked, and fortunately for me did not hurt my feet too badly. By the time we went back to pick up my glasses and leave the mall I expected it to be next week, or certainly well after dark. But what seemed like a weekend stay in the county jail was really only about two hours of agony.

So today I go into work with my new glasses and shoes. The first thing MBW says to me when I walk in the door at the end of the day is, “Did anyone notice your shoes?”

“No,” I say.

“Did anyone comment on your new glasses?”

“No.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Do you feel bad?”

I wanted to laugh.

Instead, I said, “I’ll get over it.” She gave me a hug, and then I said, “The best part is these new glasses allow me to see how truly beautiful you are. I am the luckiest guy in the world to have such a beautiful wife.”

What happened next made the pain and suffering at the mall all worthwhile.

It’s Great to be The Family Man.

Now I've done it...

I've been messing around with my template (can you tell?) and I have lost all of my links.

Please be patient while I hunt them all down again...

Thanks,
TCM by TFM

Web.com stinks

Some of you may have had this experience, but if you have not, be aware of this.

As I mentioned earler this week I have built a website and wanted to incorporate this blog into it. I am an internet neophyte and used Web.com to build my site. Overall the experience was pretty good. If you have visited my site you can see it is clearly the work of an amateur, but it is coming along and I learn something new each time I play around with it.

The latest attempt was to have my blog display in one of the pages on the new site. According to Blogger you can do this. . Beth was kind enough to send me an email with the specific Blogger instructions on how to do this.

So this evening I tried to do it, following Beth's instructions exactly, and it did not work.

I tried several times, to no avail.

I called the Web.com customer support line, and have just gotten off the phone with them after almost 45 minutes. The net of it is, I cannot display my Blogger blog on a page in my website.

So now I have to either figure out how to build teh site in Dreamweaver, which I own but don't have the first clue how to use, or transfer my site to some other host, change templates and start all over.

It's a bit of a bummer.

Any thoughts?