live. work. dream.

We are SO excited to let everyone know that there’s a story about us in the October issue of RV Life Magazine.

Mike Ward, a columnist for the publication, tracked us down when we were in Pennsylvania, and interviewed us for his monthly column, “First Glance.”

We love the story that he wrote (even Jerry got a mention) and are happy to share it with you!

To read RV Life’s new digital version of their print magazine, click here to read it. Go to “Contents” and look for “First Glance” on Page 6.

Mike also made note of our Agreda website and how we have become digital scrapbooking consultants in an effort to extend our journey. Read Mike’s monthly RV Life First Glance Column here. Read it this month (October, 2007) to catch our feature, and tell a friend!

Last fall, our beloved dog Jerry was diagnosed with bone cancer, had his leg removed and became a tripod dog. The vet told us that he would only survive about 4 months after the surgery. We moved quickly to sell our house and business so we could hit the road and give Jerry the life he always deserved. This trip was our way of making up for all those long hours we worked, and devoting 100% of our time to playing and romping with him, while he still can. Every day with Jerry is precious to us; we are so grateful that 10 months later, he’s still happy and healthy.

Today was a milestone. We made it to the Atlantic Ocean, at Acadia National Park in Maine, and got to watch Jerry play in the ocean once again, just like he did for so many years at Samoa Beach in our old hometown of Eureka, California. He made it with us, all the way across the country, and dipped his three paws in the Atlantic. What a beautiful day this was.

We’ve traveled many miles searching for our ideal community. A few times, we thought we might have found it. But . . .

The thought of moving into a small town is nice, but few have the diversity that we feel makes life more interesting.

We crave the solitude of 40 acres in the sticks, but fear we might go nuts being so isolated.

And in places where we love both the land and the people, it might a lot of effort to fit in.

So where does that leave us? At the other end of the country, completely enamored with one state in particular, which is now the benchmark to compare all future areas against. That state is Vermont.

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René asked me if I felt any more Candian now. Truth is, I have always felt part Canuck – though my home team would be the Maple Leafs – since I learned my mother was from Toronto and I went to the Snow Festival in Quebec as a child. After all, I am supposedly half French Canadian and half Scottish Irish. And one of my closest, dearest friends hails from Winnipeg eh. But I have to admit it felt good being Canadian at least for a day. Especially since that day happened to be September 11th.

It was actually nice to not be bombarded by the regular American media suspects forcing us to remember in vivid detail the tragic events of 2001, as they have every year for the past six. The only sign whatsoever that it was in fact 9/11 was a group of peaceful demonstrators in downtown Toronto proposing that the World Trade Center tragedy was an inside job. And personally, I was glad the morning paper didn’t carry a full page image of the burning towers that has been burned into my psyche the very day it happened.

Coverage of events at Ground Zero made it to page eighteen of Canada’s national newspaper. The front page was reserved for a 30th anniversary tribute to the beating death of Steven Biko by South African police. I found the story educational, enlightening, and touching. Perhaps it was buried deep in U.S. papers, I don’t know. But I doubt this important reminder of apartheid in the world made the front pages.

I just had to play Peter Gabriel’s “Biko” from Shaking the Tree on the iPod as we crossed the border back into the U.S. after being questioned by a stern guy playing the role of a Nazi officer. So do I feel a bit more Canadian? You bet eh. And it feels good.

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We haven’t blogged in a few days because we took some time to trace my roots with a brief trip into Toronto. While we accomplished our mission of finding the church where my parents were married and the cemetery where my grandparents are buried, we also discovered that the trip was far too brief to discover everything we wanted to know about living in Ontario, Canada.

Although we have budgeted for a few hotel nights each month on this trip, our stay at Melford Cottage Bed and Breakfast in Oakville Ontario was the first time we have left the comfort of our trailer since selling our stick house and putting our bedroom furniture in storage over three months ago. While it did feel a bit weird leaving all our possessions in the trailer at Four Mile Creek NY State Park campground to take a little vacation from our “vacation”, Heather Donaldson’s home served as a great base to search for my Mom’s roots around Toronto and gave us a chance to reconsider what the future holds for us once again.

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OK class, though I still often feel like the student myself, quite a few folks have been asking questions lately through our fulltime RVer contact form. Here’s the rundown of a few recent e-interviews…

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Granted, many readers may be saying to themselves, “Thank God all those ads are gone!” But by the time others read this post, they may be thinking, “What on earth is this guy talking about?” If you’re the slightest bit interested in making little extra spending money by placing Google ads on your own website, or you wonder why we’ve stopped running ours, please read on. If not, rest assured the ads will be back. Hopefully soon.

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I sure like the view from my new office – at least this week. And it sure is nice to take a break from working online to go fishing or for a walk in the woods. Earlier today while desperately trying to catch a large brown trout that was toying with me for hours in the creek coming out of Silver Lake, a kid asked me where I lived. I had to think for a moment. I then explained how I lived in our trailer and was traveling full time with my wife and dog. His answer: “Cool. That must be hard work. eh?”

Yes, hard work indeed. The actual driving is still only a bit nerve-wracking. Setting up and breaking camp has not yet become a chore. And the research, web development, and email communication is still exciting. But all of the above is indeed tiring. At least the view from our office makes up for it.

It is, however, quite surreal to be sitting deep in the woods listening to internet radio while making ice thanks to solar power and Satellite internet service. And I was bit surprised to get online here atop Carson Pass when we couldn’t even get a signal at the Nevada County Fairgrounds. One thing to consider, however, is while the armature of your satellite dish may be pointing directly at a mountainside, the satellite itself is probably about 45 degrees higher in the sky.

We can officially call the trailer ours now that we’ve given it its first battle scar. But it could’ve been much, much worse. When checking out the forest service campground at Silver Lake East, we came a bit too close to the trees. More than once. Luckily, we only put a good sized mark on our awning. It didn’t even tear through. But I’m actually surprised we didn’t rip the whole thing off. At one point prior, I looked back to see another tree about to rip off out range hood vent. That’s when I decided to take it a bit slower and to never get ourselves into a similar situation ever again.

It didn’t help to be confronted head-on with a big diesel pusher coming through the campground loop in the wrong direction. I guess we were both pretty dumb. Or stupid. Thankfully he realized I wasn’t about to turn around. So a few words of advice for checking out campgrounds where you are not certain you will fit:

• Park the rig and walk the entire loop first to see if any spots are available and that you can maneuver your rig all the way.
• Have your navigator get out and walk behind the rig to communicate any unseen obstructions.
• Use walkie talkies to communicate with each other when maneuvering and backing up.
• Know your limitations.

And here’s one more tip for tight spots from Campground Manager Jim at Silver Lake West: Measure the pull rod for your awning against your slide-out when fully extended and use it to identify any obstructions that might be too close.

The new owner of Marcom And POP is smart. She seems to know how to manage a business, has a good designer on her team, and appears to have picked up everything very quickly. She has strongly given us the impression that she is totally confident to run this show and is ready for us to move on.

Our premiere clients must be getting taken care of because I have not heard any bad news. In fact, I have not heard anything from anyone. No news is good news… right?!?! The production schedule is still full and new business keeps coming, so this transition is really working out for the best for everyone. It’s just a matter of time, and that’s hard to keep saying after delayed escrows and rescheduled move dates.