The temperature reached 69 degrees yesterday. The predicted high over the next three days is 68 degrees, then we’ll see the 70s again over the weekend. Although this is cooler than usual weather around here, it’s nothing compared to the arctic blast hitting the Rockies, the midwest and southern portion of the country. We’re so happy to be able to spend the fall months in a place where the sun shines with clear skies and warm temperatures most days.
There’s truth to the adage: “If you don’t have much to say, you can always talk about the weather.” When I started this blog, the intention was to chronicle our preparations for a lifestyle change and adventures on the road. I thought family and friends might find it interesting. I also wanted to honestly portray the full-time RV lifestyle as we live it.
I’ve written more than 350 posts since then and our site has been visited nearly 53,000 times. At first, it was pretty easy to come up material to write about. We were constantly on the move and exploring new places. We made stops in places that were interesting for us and most likely interesting for others to read about.
Now that we’re back in San Diego for another three-month stint, I’m having a harder time coming up with new material to post. Last fall, I found many interesting sights in the area and posted a little history. I don’t want to rehash that, although I’m sure I could find other interesting places here.
What do you want to know? If you have any suggestions for topics I should write about, please post a comment.
Maybe you could post some of the delicious recipes you and Donna fix…Kooking with the Koops…
Great idea Judy. It would mean more work for Donna though. She prepares the recipe, I’m only handling the grilling. Thanks for posting your comment.
Kooking with the Koops! Love it, Judy! One of these days, I will get around to compiling a cookbook of healthy, nutritious, delicious, easy-to-make meals. I HAVE posted a few recipes, but it’s been a while now. I’ve been busy editing a book I wrote a few years ago about how to turn clutter into cash.
Hi Mike!
Donna and I emailed a couple of times in the past few weeks about how to find “overnight” places to stay while traveling. She gave me a good start with suggestions, so I started looking up “Walmart” and rest areas, but somehow (and it could be that we’re still rookies – LOL) it seemed really time consuming.
Kit and I will be leaving for Tennessee and figure we may just stay the night somewhere instead of pushing ourselves to beat the setting sun (neither of us like driving at night much anymore), but so far the search for overnight places along the route hasn’t been as easy as I would have hoped.
Having said that, do you and Donna know of any apps (aside from “Pilot” – we have that one) or easier way to locate and connect with these overnight places? From what Donna mentioned, AND from the info I found online, it sounds like you can’t rely on all rest areas, Walmart, Costco’s, etc., to offer overnight stay all the time so we might need to call each one before we decide to “park it”?
Hope this helps other first-time RV’r’s as well!
Thanks!
Pam
Hi Pam. Thanks for the comment, it could help other RVers. We don’t always know where we’re stopping for the night. We have a few websites and apps that help us out. I’ll have to write about it.
Mike,
On one hand, there’s probably a fair number of people (like us) who weren’t following you the last time the winds carried you through San Diego, so you wouldn’t really be ‘rehashing’ old stuff.
On another hand, one of the things that I’ve learned from the blogging community is that ‘recycling’ and repurposing what seems like old content with a new perspective is actually sort of a brilliant thing to do.
http://www.copyblogger.com/avatar-content-marketing/
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/05/28/everythings-already-been-said-now-what/
Sure, you’re revisiting places you’ve seen, and you’re doing things you’ve done in the past…but you’re older, you’ve grown and changed, you’ve had different experiences between the last time you visited and this time…
What do *I* (Jon) want to know?
Dig a little deeper.
Write more about less.
Yeah, that’s probably confusing. =)
Wil and Anne Wheaton do an excellent job of writing more about less. Here are a couple examples:
http://wilwheaton.net/2014/11/welcome-to-my-life-tattoo/
http://www.annewheaton.com/through-the-air-with-mostly-the-greatest-of-ease/
It’s maybe just me, but I think that there’s a whole TON of blog posts encapsulated in just once sentence in your last post…
* “Nowadays, it’s home to many restaurants, sidewalk cafes, pubs, boutique hotels and residences.” (Traveler’s Guide to San Diego’s Little Italy District)
* “Donna and I stayed here at La Pensione hotel back in 2006.” (Anne Wheaton Style blog post with a short introduction that talks about how you guys are staying here now, in 2014, then has a much longer post about your reflections on the time you stayed here in 2006)
* “On Saturday mornings, they have a farmers’ market, known as the Mercato.” (Surely there’s more than 77 words you could share about one of the largest farmer’s markets in San Diego?)
For the most part, you skim over your days. That’s interesting enough to read, I guess – but it sounds like you’ve maybe got the same feeling – that the posts are a little bit ‘samey’ from day to day.
I challenge you to try going awkwardly specific for a while and see if anything changes. =)
http://www.blogtyrant.com/why-being-awkwardly-thorough-always-wins-the-internet/
-Jon
Hi Jon, thanks for taking the time to comment. The links are full of useful advice. It’s a lot to chew on, but I’m willing to learn. thanks again.
Pam,
Don’t overthink the boondock thing. Just drive till your ready to stop and find a big box store, Cracker Barrel or a Lowes(wifi). Even a feeder street next to McD or some other gas station is good. Google has most of these sites. Banks are a good spot for Saturday night. We even stayed in a Car Dealership on a weekend.
Black Friday will pose problems in big box stores so use your fall backs mentioned above.
Remember don’t ask, beg for forgiveness. There are a few boondock books for RV’s that may give you more ideas.
Have fun.
MikeD(different Mike)