What I Did This Summer

Every now and then, everyone indulges in a shameless self publicity.  Am I one of those?  Yep, I am today. While our blog has mainly been about our travels and interweaving Kat's photography into the posts, this time I am going to talk about some of my activities.

Ah yes, the lifestyle of full time RV'ers:  It isn't always about workcamping and discharging the black water tank.  Actually, that is merely a tiny part of it.  The reason we choose this lifestyle is to stop and smell the roses; we engage with nature and thoroughly enjoy the places that most people are too busy to even detect.  The 2nd component of that enjoyment is the analysis of the experiences that we partake in.  Kat does this by emptying the contents of her camera to her hard drive and editing her pictures until they become art.

I likewise have a process in which to relive what we experience.  I am doing this by writing fiction.  The scenery and people around me either become a story or drive me to include them (or a facsimile of them) into a narrative.

In the past, I have embarked on the process of writing fiction novels.  But when one lives the hectic life of a career, house payment, keeping up with the Jones's etc., It is easy to become sidetracked and lose focus on your story.  Kat has often become frustrated with me for starting and not finishing a book.  But now with the advent of e-books and self publishing, staying focused is no longer such a challenge for me.  I have also opted to modify my strategy:  instead of attempting to author the gigantic, monolithic, 'War and Peace' sized piece of literature, I have chosen to write novellas.  These short stories can then be used as a collection.

This change of strategy has paid dividends:  I have already published three short stories on Amazon.  Two of these stories are part of a serial publication that I have named 'The Pale Horse Saga'.  In literature, beginning with The Bible, the symbol of the pale horse has been synonymous with a deliverer of death.

I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. Revelation 6:8

This is a series about a secretive vigilante group who decide to take on the vicious men in power that believe themselves to be 'above the law'.  This group recruits the surviving victims of the atrocities of the wicked and trains them as weapons to bring them down.

I thoroughly enjoyed penning these stories and continue to do so:  Volume 3 is 75% complete.  But, more joy exists when others share in it.

I would love nothing more than having my peers, my compadres (in exploration) partake in my work and provide feedback.


Hence, I invite you, encourage you and just short of 'beg' you to download these free e-books, read them and provide an honest review.  If you enjoy it, hurray!!!  More are sure to come soon.  If you feel the need to scrape your eyeballs free from the shrapnel of my prose, then, please, feel free to roast my work verbally and literally, if you wish.

Below are the links.  Did I mention that they are free. In fact, you can also buy one and get one free.  If you wish, you can buy them at 50% off, since half of nothing is still nothing.  But this price is for a limited time, so don't hesitate, get them right away.

Volume 1 - The Rise of the Pale Horse

Volume 2 - The Pale Horse Goes Fishing


So, until next time,

See you on the trail,

Kit

Adventures of the Trail Blazers

Hello fellow explorers,

Items we stuffed into our backpacks

Kat and I have returned from our jaunt in the wilderness.  To recap, we set out to backpack from Amicalola Falls State Park to Springer Mountain.  According to the sign, it is a mere 8.5 mile hop, skip and a jump.

Such an inviting entrance

Now, we have had plenty of experience at hiking pretty lengthy trails.  But this was our first time carrying any substantial gear (for camping, eating, etc.)  To be fair, there are plenty of signs warning that it was a very strenuous effort level.  But, we figured, no worries.  How hard can it be?  We have run 10K's, biked for many, many miles.  What's a little hike.

Surprisingly, no kitchen sink in the pack, but everything else ...

So, we departed, carrying way!!!! to much weight.  Did I mention that this was our first time doing this?

When we arrived, we realized that we had left one of our water bottles at the camper.  No big deal, we had 2 full 3 litre bladders and 2 more bottles, we could easily refill them along the way (right?).

Then, about a half mile into the hike, Kat tripped and fell, striking her knee pretty hard.  It bruised and swelled right up.  So, we used common sense and headed home.  NOPE.  Kat insisted on pushing forward.  I understand her feelings.  She has Lupus and does not like to have physical limitations hold her back.

Thus, we pressed on.  Our pace was slow and steady.  Kat favored that injured knee considerably and ended up twisting her ankle over and over again.  But, still we pressed on.  (Please do not confuse our stubbornness with wisdom).

This trail consists of climbing and descending at least 3 sizeable mountains, more than 2000 feet ascension.  This was where, taking our dogs was a big advantage.  Zorro, our very loyal 70 pounds of pure muscle was more than happy to use his strength to pull Kat up the inclines.  She attached his leash to her belt loop and he showed boundless energy.  Nova, at 38 pounds seemed intent on pulling me up too.  Amazing the power and stamina that they have.

Water ended up being a rare, precious commodity

Our slow pace and extra demand on our dogs meant that we used more water than we intended.  We had to make sure the dogs stayed hydrated, even before our own needs.  So, we noticed that we were getting low in a very treacherous area aptly named Nimblewood Gap.

My pack was much too heavy and not well balanced.  Fortunately, 2 experienced lady hikers (Mary Lou and Patty) helped me to resolve that issue and re-arranged the items hanging on my pack for better balance.  It was a major difference as I did not have to stop so often to remove the pack.  They also told us that water was about an hour ahead.  Thanks Ladies.

After hiking, what seemed about 80 miles, we saw a sign that said it was still 3.4 miles to Springer Mountain.  That was quite discouraging.

 Finally, we saw the sign pointing in the direction of the water.  I was expecting a babbling brook or stream, but was surprised to find the smallest trickle of water coming from a rock.  The water barely pooled.  I would not even be able to fill a normal water bottle with this.  Fortunately, I had packed a small plastic flask and was able to lay it flat and fill it about a quarter full and transfer water to the bottles a little at a time.  We were so tired and thirsty, that we drank the water, not waiting for purification.  (A big risk, but we lucked out and did not have any symptoms of Giardia or other microbial ailments).

Again, we marched on, not really enjoying the landscape, just wanting to get to our destination.  Finally, after a couple more hours, we reached our shelter.  Looking at the horizon, we had about 1/2 hour of light and we needed more water.  So, Kat set up camp and I followed the sign the water.  This time, the hike was a half mile and down a very steep incline.  Any steeper and it would have required a repel.  At the bottom was another spring, but this one made the other spring look like a roaring river.  I filled up as many containers as I could with the little light I had, huffed my way back up the incline and reached camp as it was getting dark.

After getting a fire going and boiling some water to make dinner, we actually started to feel better.  I hung our food to prevent it from bear pilfering and we made our way to laying out under the stars.  Then I remembered why I don't like to sleep on the hard ground.  I don't sleep very well.  We both took some OTC pain medicine and finally passed out from exhaustion about 3:30 AM.  Fortunately, I had brought a small propane heater as it got quite windy and cold over night.

Part of what had kept me awake was worrying about Kat's knee and ankle.  If she swelled up even more over night and was unable to hobble back, we would be in a world of hurt.  There is not a hint of cell service in those mountains.  Also, it was Monday and we seemed to be the only hikers in the area, so getting help would not be so easy.

But, after a terrible night's sleep, we both actually awoke refreshed and committed to getting back home.  The anti-inflammatory worked wonders for us both, over night.

 So, I ventured down the hellish hillside and topped off our water containers, we had breakfast and put one foot in front of the other all the way back.  What took us 8 hours the prior day only took us 5 to return (lighter packs, more organized and sheer determination).

Once again, our dogs were invaluable.  Zorro would stay right near us, when not assisting Kat up the hills (between squirrel chases that is).  Then when a large incline was coming up, he would just walk back to her to see if she wanted help.  He was very heroic.  I had to keep Nova on the leash at all times.  She has the worst dog ADHD that I have seen, she would chase squirrels and possibly bears, raccoons or whatever and not come back in a timely manner.  But she was still more than happy to walk and walk and walk on the leash.  As we got back to the car, and dead on our feet, they both were still in full squirrel hunt mode.  Amazing energy.

Exhausted, but happy Nova sleeping on Zorro at end of trip

 So, we survived our first backpacking trip.  It almost turned into a survival story due to lack of preparation and underestimating the terrain.

It seems so silly now.  We didn't just decide to run a 10K one day, we started off small and worked our way up.  We should have approach backpacking the same way.  And so we shall going forward.

 Kat and I are still recovering from our aches, pain and blisters, and she is starting to edit the pictures that she did take.  Although, they are not as many as we thought due to her knee bruise.

But, we hope to learn from our mistakes.

Happy Trails -- Kit

Scouting the Gorge

It is amazing how just a couple of days of perfect weather can wash away weeks of rain soaked frustration. Wrapping up an extremely soggy August, we are now in a cycle of dry and unseasonably cool weather. Guess what? Time for another road trip. So, we wound up Hemi-Lou and our canines made for the Blue Ridge Mountains of North East Georgia. Destination: Tallulah Gorge State Park.

The drive was surprisingly easy. Interstate 985 transitions into Georgia Hwy 365 and takes you almost to the doorstep of the state park. I always like to see non-stressful approaches to places of wonder. I am more likely to return with the travel trailer when the terrain is accommodating. From our current base in Cumming, GA, the distance was 77 miles or 1 hour, 28 minutes of travel.

Tallulah Gorge State Park is the home of a series of 4 cascading falls that make up Tallulah Falls. The gorge has been given the nickname of the “Niagara Falls” of the south. It is also listed as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia.


More pics here.

Attempting to describe such a place definitely demonstrates the limitation of adjectives in the English language. I can use words such as majestic, breathtaking, splendorous and awe-inspiring, but they really do not convey what we experienced with our eyes. 

Unlike the major tourist draws like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, this site only gets a few thousand visitors a year. Permits are required to hike the floor of the gorge. We were able to hike around the north and south rim of the gorge, but pets are not allowed on the floor of the gorge, nor are they allowed to venture down to the suspension bridge.

So, we count this trip as a scouting trip. The short term goal will be to target a long weekend in September to take our time hiking and shooting photos, engorging ourselves in the gorge, if you will. 

Kat is starting to get requests for some of her prints from prior locations, and I am sure that demand is going to increase after she finalizes the edition on the images she captured on this trip. In the future, I will add some links to purchase some of her artwork in various formats.

We can't wait to go back and do some real exploring.

Until next time - 

Happy Trails,

Kit

Not Always Fun and Games

Just a short note as I do not want to dwell on it.  But it does help keep our lives and travels in perspective.  The North Georgia August has continued to break records for rainfall.  We have tried our best to enjoy the outdoors even in rainy weather, but lightning and flooding are more than plastic panchos can cover.  So, we have been spending more time indoors in our camper than we would like.

The poor dogs have had to endure short and wet walks, mostly just to relieve themselves.  The timing has been uncanny, every afternoon as I am coming home from work, the rain starts and has spoiled most afternoons and evenings.  Kat and I have been frustrated, mainly because we desire to stay active both struggle with our weight and we begin losing the battle if we have periods of inactivity.  Plus, who wants to stay cooped up in a 29 foot home.

So we did take some action to increase our living space.  We setup an 11 x 11 covered screen room so we can enjoy the outdoors sans 6 legged flying critters.  But, even that has been challenged by sideways rain.  But we have been able to use the room a few times now.  It makes such a difference eating and relaxing outdoors

We have also been more able to utilize our outdoor kitchen.  (A camp stove and oven).

The 2nd thing we did was to purchase a 22 inch TV and install it under the counter.  We had been getting by without a television since we were spending most of our free time outdoors.  The constant rain did cause us to adjust our priorities a bit.

We did not do anything elaborate like get cable.  We are using our Roku for most of our entertainment and the antenna for local coverage.

So, we did add spend a little money to upgrade our living space this week.

The next item was not such a success.  Last Sunday evening (a rare dry evening) I was walking the 2 bigger dogs by the lake.  It was a nice, enjoyable walk.  The dogs were able to play and wrestle.  So, with them secured on their leashes, we starting walking back towards our camper.  As I neared the road that leads up the hill to our camper, I noticed that the neighbor's toy poodle had got free from its owner and was running straight toward my dogs, barking and growling.  I tried to move away from the small dog, but it veered right into and attacked my (much bigger) dogs.  Obviously, this is not an example of how smart poodles are supposed to be.  Now, Zorro, really hates to be in fights, so he actually slid out of his collar and put some distance between himself and the situation.  But Nova, who notoriously has small dog aggression, did not back down.  She ferociously defended herself.  The poodles owner finally arrived and helped me to free the poodle from Nova.  It was quite horrific.  I expected severe damage to that poodle.  Fortunately, no vital places were punctured on the dog.  It had blood on 3 legs and will make a full recovery.  One more minute may have been a different result.

I know the poodle was traumatized, but it will do the same stupid thing next time.  I was traumatized too and even Nova seemed pretty shaken up from the whole matter.  So, I have decided to just pick Nova up in future instances like this.  We were very lucky that it was not worse.  Then a few days later, I got a chance to test this method.  Again, the rain was a factor.  A storm had come through right as most people were coming home from work.  So, everyone had to wait until the lightning and rain subsided to walk their dogs.  As we were walking our dogs, I noticed about 10 other dogs being walked, not usually a big deal, but ... the rain had caused all of the dogs to feel a bit anxious, it seemed.  To make things worse, a little girl (about 7) was trying to walk here medium size dog.  It was too much for her.  The dog pulled her off her feet.  She let go and the dog was headed right for us.  (Deja vu).  Just then a chihuahua got off leash and headed toward the loose dog which was headed for us.  A perfect storm of events.  I did manage to pick up Nova.  Kat took Zorro and we headed up the hill without incident.

 We managed to get through the week and it appears that this weekend will be drier.  Things are looking up, already.  This was not as much fun to talk about and post, but I do not want to give the impression that nothing bad ever happens to us.  We just push through and try to not let it impact our overall outlook.

Until next time - Kit.

Yes Virginia, the Grass is Greener …

More than a month has passed since we cut the tether from our stick house. We have been staying at a very scenic RV park by the lake. We are hanging around the edge of metro Atlanta while my current job continues. Our next big step will be to exit my full time job for other possibilities. Oh yeah, that is a big step for me. I am very comfortable where I currently work. I have been there 7 years and I have plenty of work for the foreseeable future. But, we want to travel across the United States, so I need to find a way to replace that income, at least a fair portion of it.

Now, that anxiety will always be there. But, I have to examine how far we have come in just a few months. We were able to save enough money to buy our RV. We sold all of the things that were holding us back. We transitioned out of our stick house and now we can just step out our front door and be in nature. That is quite a change in a short period.

I realized the other day, as I was talking to a co-worker, how different we are than most people. I mentioned that I went fishing the afternoon before and she stopped me. “Hey wait! Did you say that you went fishing on a Tuesday?” Staying a couple hundred feet from a scenic late does give you that advantage. I then remembered that most people (and formerly us) have to wait until the weekend to enjoy recreational activities. 

 

 The work week is bondage for most. Even most of your weekend is taken up with activities that you were too busy to do while you were working, further cutting into your recreation. No wonder so many people are burnt out. This year has been especially tough on people in Georgia. It has rained most weekends this summer. The weekend plans have been quashed for many. Fishing on Tuesday is a huge mental advantage.

A good place to fish on Tuesday or any day

The lifestyle change and decisions we have made are worth it. For the first time in our lives, we are on the side where the grass is greener. When I get home from work, it is like a mini-weekend, every day. Of course, it would not be as enjoyable without Kat here to partake in it all with me. She handles the little things during the day (laundry, housekeeping, etc.) that make it possible to jump right into enjoyment when I am home. I cannot emphasize enough how important her contributions are.

Free time is more valuable than I could have imagined. In the last month, I have been able to spend quality time with our dogs and work on their training. Zorro no longer requires a leash. We still keep it on him in public places, but it is good to know that if I drop the leash, he will stay close by.  Now, I want to start teaching him to catch a frisbee. Nova nearly has her small dog aggression under control. I have also taken some time to learn some Spanish.

Worth the extra free time

I am sure that this lifestyle is not for everyone. I wish we had embarked on this journey years ago. But we were not in the mindset to even consider such a thing. But now we feel more free than we ever have in our 27 years together.

Initital Destination - Decided

Well it is finalized.  We will be leaving our stick built house on the weekend of July 1.  The timing is right for us.  It is just prior to the 4th of July Travel menagerie.  The hard part was to determine exactly where we would park for the remainder of the year.  It is really quite a big decision.  I will still be working my day job in mid-town Atlanta, so it has to be in a reasonable place for commuting.  Currently, I utilize the GRTA Xpress bus from Conyers to Atlanta.  So, I was seeking a place that I could do something similar, but be in a place of beauty.  Conyers is ok, but not exactly picturesque. We looked at a few promising places.  Each of them having pros and cons.

• There are a few state parks, but they are just outside the range of reasonable daily travel.

• We checked out a park in Marietta.  It was very convenient to Atlanta, but it was more like a parking lot than an RV park ... not something we want to start out with.  Somewhere like that may be alright for a couple of days, but not for an extended time.

• Acworth has a small RV park by Lake Allatoona right be the marina.  It was nice enough, but it was really mixed use.  There could potentially be large crowds during holidays and there were some pretty seedy mobile home parks nearby.  So, it would work in a pinch, but not ideal.

•  Stone Mountain has 2 RV parks.  Stone Mountain Park has a premium campsite.  However, the price is also premium.  It is not a place that we could save much money (which is a huge part of our goal).  The other park in Stone Mountain is Stone Mountain Heights.  This is a very large mobile home/RV Park with large lots, laundry and a pool.  It is also very reasonably priced at $500/month.  This seemed like it would be the choice ... but, then we took a trip to Cumming.

• Twin Lakes RV Park - Cumming, GA.  This location has some high appeal as it is on the edge of the North Georgia mountains.  The autumn changes in North Georgia are stunning, plus, being north of Atlanta, the heat of summer should be less severe.  There is also a GRTA Xpress bus nearby.  The downsides of this park are: No laundry facility, no showers/bathrooms, no internet.  It is more expensive than some of the other options.  But there are some very interesting perks: 2 onsite well stocked fishing lakes; A huge outdoor activity center.  Walking trails, athletic fields, Nature Trails through protected wetlands and most importantly a dog park.  

Now, having the dog park nearby is a huge factor.  We really love walking and running with our dogs.  But they really need some time to romp and play with each other.  Then there is just the absolute beauty of this location.

This tree is stunning by the water between the reservoirs.

 Kat taking pics by the lake.

Neighbor welcoming us

Breakwall and reflection

Now some photos from Fowler Park.

One of the many boardwalks.

Climbing vine example

Boardwalk in weltland

Me being artsy

The excitement is growing for us.  We have much to do between now and the end of the month.  But the next step of our journey is coming up very fast.

Until next time ... Kit

Working hard to get on the road

Well it is Monday, June 3.  We are now into our 2nd week of living in our RV.  We are still sitting in the front yard of our stick built house with the deadline date of July 8th for departing from this life to never look back.  Right now, the stick built house is a real burden.  We are only really using it as a bathroom and shower.  The only other reason that we go in there is to sort items for sale and throw away and to see if there is anything else that we need for our RV.

Our old house has a huge fenced in back yard and our dogs loved to go through the dog door and run and play all day long.  But since we moved into the travel trailer, they do not seem to have a desire to go back there any more.  It is convenient to let them go back there and take care of business, but they prefer to stay with us 24 hours a day.  I thought it would be a huge adjustment for them to lose their yard, but they seem very content for us to walk them.  So, we are doing our best to keep them with us.  When we leave this house, we aren't going to have a yard for them to romp in unattended, so we may as well adapt, also.  The funny thing is that even after the hundreds of miles that we have run, walked and hiked with Nova and Zorro, they still seem uncomfortable pooping in front of us.  Occasionally, they will do it at the dog park, but rarely when we are walking.  I am sure that will change soon.

Really, this move is more like a major detox.  We have modified our lifestyles to living in a smaller space and we are really enjoying it.  Kat loves how close everything is in the kitchen and that it takes 15 minutes to deep clean the whole inside of the camper.  We really have a routine going already.

Well, we worked hard today, getting rid of junk.  So, I am going to cut this short.  In an upcoming posting, I will talk about how we are optimizing and organizing our space.

Until next time Kit 'n Kat.

Armadillos and Adventure

Explorers - Day One.

Yesterday, Kat and I took our first official trip since beginning our RV adventure.  Since it is Memorial Day weekend, we really did not want to go somewhere loaded with people.  So, we drove 20 miles east of us to Hard Labor Creek State Park near Rutledge, Georgia.  Kat and I really like this park as it is never crowded and plenty of nature trails, and 2 lakes for fishing, kayaking, swimming, etc.  It also has a very nice campground with plenty of amenities, but we didn't stay there this time.

We took our 3 dogs (Nova, Ninja and Zorro) as we always do on hiking treks.  Now, it is nice to have 3 dogs hiking with you ... unless you want to take nice photos.  That can be challenging.  The dogs have a different agenda then you do for the wildlife that you are trying to photograph.  2 of our dogs are Catahoula rescues which make amazing hunting dogs.  In fact, Nova, the female doesn't only chase wildlife, she regularly catches it.  She is extremely fast.  Fast enough to catch and kill squirrels.  She is 43 pounds of terror for wildlife and pure affection for her humans, think of Dino from the Flintstones.  Zorro, her adopted younger brother is a larger version of the breed.  At 70 + pounds, he is too slow to actually catch anything faster than a turtle, but he goes through the motions pretty well.  Usually, he chases Nova who is chasing the critter.  Thus, we keep them leashed when hiking.  Our 3rd dog, Ninja is a long haired 12 year old Dachshund that believes he is Rotweiler when it comes to other animals and he is the one that usually instigates trouble.

So, when we came up on the family of Armadillos, we were amazingly able to keep all 3 dogs quiet and Kat got a couple of camera shots. 

None of the shots were great and Armadillos aren't exactly exotic rare animals, but seeing a family in a burrow is not something you see every day.

 

 Armadillo Facts:

The Armadillo found in the Southern United States is the Nine Banded Armadillo.  Armadillo is a spanish word that means 'little armored one'.

Little known facts about armadillos:

• Armadillos are good swimmers and can hold their breath for up to 6 minutes
• Armadillos are the only creature known to have fire ants as part of their diet
• When startled, armadillos can jump 4 feet vertically, however, it would probably not be a good idea to try an experiment of eating fire ants to see if it gives you the ability to jump 4 feet.  It is probably unrelated.

See, you can always learn something from our blog.

We did not see anything of note on the rest of the 3 mile hike accept for quiet and serene nature, but no complaints there.

I am sure that our pictures will improve over time as we
get more experience.

Until next time,

Kit

Kit & Kat - An Intro

Hello,

We are Kit and Kat Zander.  We are full time RV explorers.

  We have begun a quest of exploring the United States.  We are starting in the South-eastern region of the U.S.  We have spent almost 30 years working 9 to 5 jobs to maintain our modest house, trying to appear successful, all the while allowing debt to really hold us back from enjoying life.

So, we set ourselves free from our mortgage and picked up stakes.  We saved up for a 2000 Dutchmen 29 foot Travel Trailer and embarked on our adventure on May 18, 2013.

 Joining us are are 3 brave and loyal dogs.  Nova, Zorro and Ninja.  As you can see, Ninja has some delusions of grandeur.  We haven't had the heart to tell him that he really isn't St. Nicholas.

 

Kat will be using her considerable skills as photographer and I will do my best to document our adventures.  Our adventure begins near Atlanta, Georgia.  We are going to spend the next 6 months in this area, discovering historical places and places of beauty.  It is our goal to share our experiences and perhaps encourage others to experience life to its fullest.

Until next time,

Kit-n-Kat