Monday, August 4, 2014

Monday, Aug 4, 2014



For What It’s Worth                                                               - 152 Days and counting
                                                                                                - Eligible to retire in 38 days


Preparing for a Long Road Trip
Preparing for a Long Road Trip is a daunting task that takes quite some forethought and forward planning.  With not much storage and very limited cabinet space means only the essential items must me taken and the excessive stuff has to be rejected.  Emergency gear is essential when you are out on the road basically by yourself.  When you must rely on yourself, what you have available in your supplies can save you.  Also, what you don’t have can leave you high & dry in an emergency situation.  We have begun acquiring our emergency gear preparing for the unknown.  In risk management, the unknown-unknowns are what will bite you in the butt.  Foresight and forward planning (Logistics) is what will keep you alive and rolling down the road.  We must also plan for extended time away living off the grid, away from society and any urban luxuries we have become accustomed to.  The basics of course, water and food, are at the forefront of basic needs. 

We plan to use an ice chest/cooler for food and beverage items that require cooling.  The drainage ports at the bottom can be used to provide water if needed.  I use them basically to fill Snoopy’s water bowl daily, which she enjoys.  We also have a 5-gallon collapsible water storage bladder, a 4.5-gallon water tank for the sink in Linus, a few smaller camping water jugs, and even a two-quart western canteen for hiking.  We will also keep our 5-gallon solar shower bladder filled for that much needed shower capability.

These days, storing food gives you several options.  You have and can store dry food, dehydrated food, canned food, frozen food, and fresh fruits and vegetables.  Fresh and frozen foods should be used within a few days and saving the dry, dehydrated and canned foods until you really have to use them later in time can extend your time out living off the grid out in the boondocks.  Frozen foods can only be sustained if you have them on ice or in a fridge, and then only for a few days.  Most fresh veggies and fruit last maybe 5 days or even a week, so using them first is always a good idea before they go bad on you.  I hate waste, and wasting any food is a crime! Nothing worse than allowing food to go bad.  The other night I was cooking up a burger and I noticed that my burger buns had mold on them, and I just bought them less than a week before.  WTF is up with that?  They were not even a week old.  L


Apple MacBook Air
I bought another MacBook Air laptop, made by Apple.  It’s a used and two-years old (Summer 2012 version), but two years newer that the current one (Late 2010 version) I have, which means that it is basically a bit faster than the pervious version.  I was thinking about selling it, but maybe I just keep it as a backup and I can then keep one in the office and one at home.  When on the road, I’ll use the older model for outside usage and keep the newer one for inside usage.  The one I currently have is an awesome laptop once you get used to using Apple’s Operation System.  After using a PC for over 20 years, using a different operating system can be quite challenging.  I still get stuck sometimes, but I like the Mac a lot better than the PC.  The graphics and sound quality are so much more crisp and clear.  Once you use a Mac, you will never want to go back to using a PC ever again.  Also, only about 5-10% of laptop users have a Mac, so the hackers usually focus on PCs for their viruses and attacks on computers.

Simple Joys of Life & Words of Wisdom   

“I could give up chocolate, but I’m not a quitter!”
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Snoopy asks that you please… “Bark Less and Wag More!”

Until next time… Be Good!


-           cb

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