At the risk of offending anyone about what they drink, life is simply too short to drink cheap liquor.

I’ve never liked gin. And tonic water is just nasty. But I discovered long ago that something magical happens when you mix the two and add just the right squeeze of lime.

At some point I learned that Beefeater and the like belong only in the well of a cozy dive bar.

Tanqueray became the gin of choice. Then Christopher turned me on to Bombay and I never looked back. Thanks to the liquor guy at Wilbur’s, Hendricks is now the top shelf gin of choice. And with its sturdy compact bottle, it travels well too!

Debating over the cost of Sapphire at Wilbur’s one day, a clerk noticed us spying the unique Hendricks bottle. He explained the new microdistillery craze and described how Hendricks is handcrafted in small batches, goes down smooth with much less botanical complexity and is great with key limes, or cucumber. How could we resist?

I gave the cucumber a try, but as refreshing as it was, I’ll have to pass. The key limes, however – with Hendricks and brand name tonic over ice – redefine freshness, and they take up less room too! Go ahead, call me a mixer snob too. But it’s true, generic tonic water simply does not do good gin justice.

“Small Batch” distillation typically yields 1,000 or fewer liters. Hendricks is distilled with two distinct spirits in 450 litre batches and infused with rose and cucumber.

What’s your favorite RVer cocktail? Republic Texas Tea perhaps? Or maybe a Nü Hawaiian? When we hit the road we usually limit the cabinet to one concoction at a time. This season, Hendricks should fit nicely under the couch. And it’s best we do not leave the tonic at home!

There will be no Luck for us this year. Luckenbach that is, Texas. But the year is only half over so at the risk of shoulding all over myself, I guess I should clarify.

We didn’t make our annual pilgrimage to Luck earlier this year. We were nearly in Texas when we had to high-tail it back to Humboldt for our friend’s unexpected memorial. Since we missed out on the cold Shiner, good people and great music, I thought I’d reminisce by sharing this playlist of live music videos from past trips.

A stop at Luckenbach General Store is highly recommended for any full-timer who enjoys authentic American singer songwriter music in an authentic Old West bar, or anyone just wants to see what Waylon and Willie were singing about.

Overnight boondocking is available in the field if no big acts are on the bill. Just don’t get stuck. But if you do, grab another Shiner and realize there’s no better place to be stuck. Can you tell I miss Texas? With any luck we’ll get back to Luck by the year’s end when we head back South again for the winter.

With that said, I’m lovin’ our Colorado mountain summer! And while I wouldn’t necessarily call it “luck” we are very fortunate to be here. With the perfect climate, majestic views, fresh mountain air and occasional moose sighting, what more could we ask for? Except for maybe a couple nights at Hondo’s old hangout.

And with that said, what do you feel fortunate for? And where have you seen some of the best Music Americana in your travels? South by Southwest doesn’t count, that’s a given. Our visit to the Floyd Country Store ranks up there for us.

After four years on the road and nearly 70,000 miles logged on the Dodge, there are a few places that have remained near and dear to us, the kind of place we want to go back to again and again. Vickers Ranch is one of them.

And now that the ranch cabins are for sale, there’s a lot more people who are going to discover the magic of this 100-year old Lake City legacy.

Recently I talked to Larry and Paul Vickers about the family’s exciting new Vickers Horse River Ranch Property that gives the public a chance to own one of their hand-crafted, historic log cabins.

I wrote about the family’s big endeavor in my latest GoColorado.com article, “Lake City Vickers Ranch: Frontier Spirit Thrives in the San Juan Mountains” but you can listen to the interview I based my article on in our latest project:

Live. Work. Dream on Blog Talk Radio

In this 15-minute intervew we talk with Larry and Paul Vickers, whose family helped establish Lake City during the peak mining years of the late 1800s.

Jim and I worked at their ranch during 2008 when we thought we wanted to buy a small resort.

Then we realized: What, are we nuts?!

Now that we know the realities of the resort life, we can say we’re definitely not cut out for this kind of gig. The work was the hardest we have ever done but the family’s kindness and generosity made it all worthwhile.

Our adventures at the ranch were chronicled in blogs post such as:

The Nitty Gritty Details of Running a Resort: Wimps Need Not Apply

Breakfast Ride Offers Best Biscuits, and View

Ode to the Laborer

Yeah sure, haying is safe.

The Vickers Hay Chronicles

We’ll hopefully be heading back to the ranch in a few weeks to get our share of hay buckin’, cowboy coffee and manual labor, so stay tuned for more Vickers Ranch workamping adventures.

Meanwhile, if you or someone you know would like to be a guest on our Blog Talk Radio show, drop us a line!

Sixteen years ago, a co-worker kept insisting, “You gotta meet my roommate.” Later that week, on the 18th of May, he set us up at the Gold Cane. It turns out Spoonie just wanted your room.

Exactly two years later (almost) on the 17th, we were married. It was the happiest day of my life. Really.

Every day together is a reminder of just how happy. Thank you. For everything. Really.

As a full-time road tripper, do people you meet on the road ever say to you “Gee, you travel all the time? What, didja win the lotto?”

What do you say to them?

I hesitate to tell people how Jim and I live because most assume that we’re loaded (with money, that is). Which we are not. Ok, it’s all relative, but still.

We manage to do what we do because we keep our expenses extremely low and stay debt free. Our wallets are thin but our spirits are not.

Of course explaining this to a stranger takes more than a 15-second spiel, so I usually just say “we’re snowbirds.”

One of the ways we can do what we do and still eek out a living is through our Internet connections and by scouring the countryside for freebie spots like this one in Utah.

Last week, after taking an emotional beating over our dented Dodge, we hit the road and started heading back to our summer spot.

But before braving the Colorado cold, we stopped near Moab to soak up some sun and camp for a few more days.

Spring has sprung here and we wanted to see more. We also haven’t experienced any warm weather whatsoever since last summer, so I was hoping for high temperatures.

Some fellow road trippers told us about this pretty spot, which I’ve since added to the Escapees Day’s End Directory. (go buy a copy to find out where it is!).

These free spots are widely available to wintertime road trippers in Southwestern deserts. Winter brings many more options for finding solitude on the road.

It’s rare that I actually feel like I’m getting something for my tax dollars, but when we camp on free public land like this, I love knowing that my tax dollars paid for it.

As we prepared to leave Moab and head to Red Feather Lakes, news about President Obama’s awesomely stunning move broke on BBC News.

I never thought I would feel any sense of exhilaration over the death of an individual, but I surprised myself with my reaction when Jim screamed “They got Bin Laden!”

“GOOD!” I said. Yes, I was happy that they killed him. Ecstatic that this horrible human being was wiped off the face of the earth. Now it’s really time for the collective “We” to move forward toward better days ahead. Is that so wrong?

Thank you Mister President.

Now if we can just get rid of Fox News, I’d be even happier.

Land of the Free, indeed.