Thank You To NPA TV for 9 Great Years

My last night with NPA-TV, with host Jack McCarthy on Norwood Digest

A big thank you to NPA-TV tonight for the last 9 years of being part of local public access TV in Norwood, Mass. Tonight I was on Norwood Digest as a guest describing my upcoming trip. Over the past years I have been a behind the scenes producer for one of the best public access TV stations in the country. Producing 180 shows over that time on every kind of topic you can think of. Parades, heart transplant survivors, government and board meetings of all kinds, Dancing with the Stars, Christmas shows, Turkey Trots, and tons of events. It has been great to be involved with the station and the community. NPA-TV has been bringing Norwood to Norwood for the past 14 years and it has been fun to be part of it.

Part of going on this trip and moving our house is the leaving of all the different groups and organizations I have been part of. It is one of the harder parts, Norwood, MA has been a great community to be part of and involved in.

NPATV.org

A Cool Map for Our Cross Country Road Trip

The son of one of our neighbors drew this really cool map for our upcoming trip. He gave me specific instructions today not to drive in the south where the tornadoes are. We are to stay north. He got the route pretty close to where we are going.

Record Your Travels with The New Camping & Travel Adventure Journal

My new journal releases today on Amazon, Camping & Travel Adventure Journal. I will be using my new journal to record our travels around the country this summer along the Lewis & Clark Trail. The 6" x 9" book with 160 pages has sections to record your camping plus sections for recording the animals, plants and birds you see along your journey, new friends recipes.



To pick up a copy at Amazon please click Camping & Travel Adventure Journal and start recording your journey.

Traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail by Julie Fanselow, Our Guide Book for the Trip

I have just finished reading Julie Fanselow's excellent book on traveling the Lewis & Clark trail, Traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail. This book takes us from St. Louis, up the Missouri River over the Rockies and on to the Pacific. In her book she lays out a two week romp across the US West, pointing the quick route and the slow scenic routes that you can take. The book contains a nice mix of history, sites and travel tips. What I did in prep is to mark my AAA maps with the path Lewis & Clark took, and the path she lays out. One of things she does that I really like is that she breaks the 13 days of the trip down to mile markers and time so we now have an idea of how far and how long it might take if we follow her book. Our plan is to double her time and take a more relaxed trip. We will also be wandering off the trail to visit sites and National Parks. All and all this book has been very helpful in planning the trip.

You can check a previous post with a picture of my marked up map from AAA

Traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail (Falcon Guide) by Julie Fanselow, breaks your trip down day by day, filled with maps, travel and historical information, excellent resource. From Amazon "This guide is an in-depth look at how to get the most out of a visit to the historic Lewis and Clark Trail. The best sites to see and activities to do along the way are given, as well as maps, itineraries, and local resources for lodging and dining."
Available at Amazon.com

#lewisclark  #roadtrip  #nationalparks

Behind the Scenes on My New Book, Camping & Travel Adventure Journal

I have been working on the travel journal for the upcoming trip across the US. In the first pass I learned that the .png file on the cover wasn't going to hold the transparency like I wanted.  Learn how I fixed it.  I had uploaded the book with a .png file as one of the illustrations thinking it would be transparent. I ordered and received the printed proofs and the illustration came out with a white background like as if I had used a .jpg graphic. I wanted the orange color to come through. I realized I needed to go back in an create a new Adobe Illustrator graphic of the mountains and boat. Learn how I did it in this new behind the scenes video.



Here is the picture of the book proof that came back from CreateSpace. This journal will be available on Amazon shortly for your travels this summer.

 

Horiatio's Drive Across the USA,

The story of Dr. Horatio Jackson and his journey across the US in 1903. He was the first person to drive from San Francisco to New York, a trip of over 2500 miles. It took him 63 days and 800 gallon of fuel to make this journey



To learn more about Horatio's Drive across America check out the PBS website for the show http://www.pbs.org/horatio/index.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Nelson_Jackson 

Be sure to check out the Trip Map Page to get the quick overview of our trip and the daily blog posts with pictures and details.

New Tent for Cross Country Trip, Copper Canyon 5

We have picked up our new tent for our cross country trip. It is a Copper Canyon 5 by Eureka, basically the same size as the Copper Canyon 4 but with an extra enclosed area. Pretty cool. We set it up in the backyard to get used to putting it up. Next is a trial camping run to get use to doing it for real. We had a very helpful guy at Hilton's Tent City. We ended up putting up two different tents in the store and picked this one.

The tent is easy to put up, has a nice rain fly and large windows for ventilation. This is definitely a car tent, being to heavy to backpack with, but that is fine. It also has two doors and a foot print of 10x16. 

Copper Canyon 5 tent by Eureka, side view

Front view of our new tent, the Copper Canyon 5 by Eureka

NEWS: Watch for my upcoming Camping & Travel Adventure Journal coming soon to Amazon. We will be all set for recording our adventure.

Resource Book and Maps for Traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail

Taking the book and applying it to my Montana map

Our trip is coming up shortly and I have been doing my research on the road we will take. I have been reading the book Traveling Lewis and Clark Trail, Fourth Edition by Julie Fanselow. I have been enjoying this book a lot. It goes into excellent detail on the route Lewis and Clark took and matches it up with major and minor highways and roads. You can drive it really quickly or take your time.

Holding up my marked up Lewis and Clark book.

At the front of the book Fanselow has laid out a two week road trip with directions, hours and miles if you want to just burn through the journey. Or you could cut each day in half and extend it like we will probably do. She gives you a pretty good idea of distance and times. I have been reading the book and matching what she is talking about with maps that I got from AAA. AAA has excellent maps that are included in your membership fee. With yellow and pink markers I have been noting the routes, the side trips and highlighting areas to visit. She has also mixed in a nice amount of history so you know what is going on. The book is all highlighted and ready to go. I also took my book to a local quick printer and had the spine cut off and a spiral binding added so my book can lay flat. Much easier.

My collection of travel maps from my local AAA office.

 Traveling Lewis and Clark Trail, Fourth Edition by Julie Fanselow is available at Amazon.com