Thursday, October 31, 2019

Ten Years of Go Camping! Calendars - No Ken it’s actually twelve - Yikes....

The whole Go Camping! calendar/planner started out as a pretty simple idea. In my “How to Design Build and Outfit You Own Camp Kitchen” book, I have a section that encourages people to set down and look at a calendar and actually plan out those camping trips they have always wanted to, but never quite seem to, get around to doing. In this way one could take what basically had always been just a dream and move it a little closer to actually happening by ‘scheduling’ it on a planner. By the way, it’s my experience that the first step in getting from thought to reality is writing it down.


Then I thought what if I were to do a calendar featuring some of the images I have taken. Perhaps that would motivate and inspire others to do the same. Lead by example, so to speak. So that’s what I did and, by the way, that was two hard drive crashes ago. Combine that with the imperfections of that memory drive inside my head ( which is anything but hard and has crashed many times ) and what I end up with is sometimes confusion and inaccuracy.


The first calendar was actually in 2009! While the original version died in one of my crashes, I found a download PDF on my website. I didn’t realize it but I still have the PDF for it on my website along with every one since then. Somehow in 2014 I mislabeled that as the fourth year when in reality it was the sixth. Thus every subsequent year I would just up the number by one in the text when editing. This goes to show us that when you build on a mistake it’s always going to be wrong! Here are links to all of them jut in case your curious:

2009 - Our first one featured wildlife photos.

2010 - Second one featured wildlife too but there were a few links in it to some videos where the stills came from.

2011 - More wildlife but I actually show you the actual clips of video that generated the calendar images.

2012 - Arizona Scenery  - the November image is my all time favorite, West Clear Creek in the fall.

2013 - I must have been real busy in this year as all you get here is blatant advertising of my various products.

2014 - Back to really nice scenery except for April where I featured a meal we were cooking. Looks good though. ;-)

2015 - Scenery and wildlife in this one with an explanation video as well.

2016 - Dido

2017 - Scenery and wildlife and you get a video of some of my 2016 camping trips. Everything from hunts to festivals and such.

2018 - This was the camping vacation special featuring our eclipse trip. Got to see this one if you haven’t already.

2019 - Sort of a ‘best of’ collection of past campouts.

Be sure to have a look at any linked videos you come across as that will be interesting viewing too.

For me looking at all these images really drives home the significance of scheduling your trips, writing down what happens on those trips and taking pictures and videos. When all is said and done, every year you add to that magnificent data base of camping memories. I watched my grand kids go from babies to hunting buddies over the last twelve years shown here.

So here is how you get started with your free camping download for 2020, just sign up at:

Free Camping Download - Includes, calendar/planer, cookbook, checklist, procedures, woodworking plans for building your own gear etc.



Download it, use it and get started making some great camping memories. You’ll be glad you did.

Go Camping! - Ken 

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Got a Minute?

In an effort to indulge our ever shortening attention spans, I have been creating what I call the "One Minute Camping-tips.com video" series. The basic idea is to edit my "How to" videos down to one minute long.

The frame for these videos might look something like this:


Here's an example of one such video on how to fold and store your tent the easy way ( which as you will see, is not done by folding it. ) :


And the nice thing is that for videos I have already done, the old "Full Length" video  is still available for viewing via my videocamper youtube video channel as per this example:


That way if you don't quite catch on in the one minute version you can have a look at the longer more detail version ( I affectionately refer to these as the theatrical version ;-). I am really hoping this will help get you what you need much quicker so you can go camping more often.

Here are two others I have done at this moment in time: 


Full length version: How to put a camping tarp - 2.0  


One Minute Camping-tips.com video: The Camp Sundial

Full length version: How to Make a Camp Sundial

Watch for more coming shortly and go camping!



Thursday, March 21, 2019

Emerging from Dormancy


I must be a reincarnated bear because this time of year it feels like I’m waking from a winters hibernation. I told a friend of mine that and he said “Ken, squirrels hibernate too”. I’m not sure if he was trying to educate or insult me?
   
At any rate, this time of year it seems as though I am like my old pickup trying to start on a cold morning. The routine was to pump the gas pedal several times. Pull the choke out, push the clutch in, stomp down on the starter and the gas simultaneously.  The key just gave you power for ignition. The starter was located right next to the gas pedal so you could step on both at the same time, although it also had a throttle knob on the dash board. The engine would crank and sputter and take everything it had to actually fire off and start running. Even when it did start you had to leave the choke pulled out  to keep it idling till the blue smoke would subside then you could drive off without stalling it out.

We called it BOB. The name was an acronym for Beast Of Burden. It was an old black, beat up ( and I do mean “beat up” ) 1955 Chevy pickup with a 235 six cylinder engine and a standard four speed transmission. I bought it from my Uncle Ed for $400 and sold it around ten years later for $500. The only vehicle I ever owned that actually made me money.

The right rear quarter panel was a massacre. It looked like somebody took a sludge hammer to it as did other sections of the vehicle. The rear homemade bumper had been added at some point and was made from 1/4” plate steel. It looked like something you might see on an armored vehicle. The hood was dished in, as I remember, from when we would lay on it to watch the shooting stars on clear nights. The tires were all different types with highly worn tread. The grill was a very faded white but was in good shape. I think that’s why the guy I sold it to bought it.( It’s tough to find parts for old vehicles so you try to find the whole vehicle.) The windshield was crack and starred in several places. And the interior really wasn’t any better.

I got it when we were building the house so we could haul long lumber and such. My buddy Jim welded a u-shaped brace on each bumper that protruded out about 8 - 10 “ on the passenger side of the vehicle. And there was another removable ‘U’ brace I would slide into the truck bed hole nearest the passenger door.  This in effect made a side rack as I could put 20 foot lumber and such in these ‘U’ channels and haul it home. Of course, this meant the passenger door could not be opened when you had lumber strapped in that side rack.

I drove the truck to and from work and would often stop at the lumber yard on the way home to get whatever I needed to work on the house. ( We built our own house. That’s a whole ‘nother story I might tell you some other time.)

My buddy Al’s old truck camping configuration at one of our “Best Campouts

Even after the house was built BOB was good for two things, hauling firewood and camping. Old pickup trucks make great camping vehicles because the can hold a lot of gear and you can get them in remote locations without the fear scratching the paint or picking up a new dent or two. In BOB’s case a new dent might have actually helped it’s looks. ;-)

This time of year is good for getting ready for the coming camping season. So as you awaken from your winters dormancy either roaring like a bear  or chirping like a squirrel ( whichever the case may be ) take this time to get all your gear serviced, repaired and organized. That’s the key to camping more often, don’t we know it!

Get Organized now - then Go Camping!

Uncle!

For the younger among us ‘uncle’, means ‘I give up’.  In January I decided to pull the plug on the manufacturing side of my business. Joe Bi...