Simple Living and Simple Travel

Eight new state parks to check out this winter in New Mexico along with returning to two or three that I liked from last winter. Also plan to check out some BLM areas. Should be good. Then back to Bisbee for a month around March to visit friends and take a month or so to work north to Utah. Probably go up the west side of NM; have not been through there yet. There was a good time visiting with friends in SLC. I had a chance to have lunch with my old zen teacher, Genpo Roshi, the abbot of Kanzeon Zen Center and founder of Big Mind (www.genpo.org). He is SO busy these days that I felt truly blessed to have him take the time to meet with me. Life is good. This shows where I parked for a few days in front of a friend's house in Moab. We went to a premier on the life of a Utah legend; Kent Frost is like a Utah John Muir. ‘My Canyonlands – The Adventurous Life of Kent Frost’ directed by Chris Simon. If you like the Utah Canyonlands area or just like nature, look for this DVD when...

So this is what it looked like one morning. It's been down in the lower twenties a couple of nights. My summer job ended a couple weeks ago and I have just been hanging out enjoying the canyon and the quiet. I went hiking up towards Deseret Peak yesterday with a friend. Really nice. A bit slick once we got into the snow and ice, though. Cathy had brought hot herb tea up and it really hit the spot. Good conversation and exchange of ideas on camping and traveling in small rigs (she has a camper on a Tacoma). I finally got a closer shot of the deer eating some of the hay I have been putting out daily for the horses. I brought a low-rider chair up to the pasture and just sat there for a while. They kept looking over but Meadow was on my lap and that might have put them somewhat at ease. A few more days here, then off to visit friends in Salt Lake for a couple days and take care of some city-type stuff. I swear Meadow and Onyx are also getting antsy. They have just been sitting around a...

Taking a position as a campground manager for a summer can be a memorable experience. You will regularly hear envious statements from campers saying that they would love to be doing it. Only they can’t afford to do it, time and money-wise, or they just have way too much stuff to be able to leave it all for so long. More often than not, it can be a pretty good job. Many have been doing it for ten or fifteen years. There are also those who quit in the first couple of weeks or in the middle of their first season (not a good thing) or who bag it after the season is up. Some just do not like dealing with the two hours of weekly paperwork. If you are contemplating a campground manager position at some point, be sure to do some research. Ask yourself what kind of people you like to spend time with. If you enjoy being around lots of RVers, you might want a position in an RV park or a national park. Or get a position through workamper.com. There are also national forest campgrounds which gear t...