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Hello there. I'm Bob Giddings.
The date above no doubt surprises. It's not procrastination, though I'm really good at that. I had to leave this in the future so you wouldn't get it late. Go figure.
It all really started in early '01, when I bought a 5th wheel trailer and began making extended trips through the US and Canada. Since I retired from the Austin Fire Department in November '02, I've been living in it full time.
As I went along the road, I began writing home about my travels, to friends and family. Just little anecdotes about stuff that happened along the way to make me stop and take notice. I call 'em "speed bumps" - things that make you slow down, willy-nilly. Some were modest. Others made my teeth clack together. No broken axles yet, though. I posted most of these as a series of desultory intermittent travelogues to a newsgroup, rec.outdoors.rv-travel. Subsequently they morphed into an irregular journal, and lately into a companion of sorts. I know. Sounds weird. Bob and his Blog. Like the Lonely Guy and his Dog. Well, it's not so bad as all that. No poop to pick up. And a Blog doesn't usually shed all over everything, or bark in the night. There may even be a bit more conversational variety. But the darn thing still has to be exercised. I'm tempted to give it a name, dangerous as that sounds. How about Wordsworth? Here, boy.
Though I'd like to blame Wordsworth, the fact is I made all these smartass remarks myself. And took all but one or two of the pictures. So if something here ticks you off, I'm the guy to blame.
Feel free to send complaints. I'll file them in an appropriate place. I'm a little vague now about the provenance, but I think it was Winston Churchill who once said, between brandies: "I am always ready to learn, though at times I do not like being taught." Gotta love that guy. One more thing. These are the impressions of a traveler, passing through. Not an obsessive researcher. They are therefore idiosyncratic, blinkered, momentary, oddball, and sometimes even (gasp) wrong. I wrote them as one-off items, literally on the side of the road, to placate the incessant clamor of my 2 or 3 fans. After a while, they just growed, like Topsy, into a startling pile of stuff. I'm putting it all here without much attempt to edit or correct in hindsight. Might turn into work, and I'm retired. I have added photos where they are available. Just click'em to see a larger image. Many episodes have none. I never knew I'd need 'em. See what you think. Start here. Bob |
