PEOPLE WE MET ALONG THE WAY - 2006

STURGIS, SOUTH DAKOTA - May 2006 - We met a photographer who travels in his RV most of the year with his dog to photograph the U.S. He has an on-line site were he shows his photos. From there he gets orders to buy the picture, but blown up to a specific size. Last year in Maine, we met another photographer and his wife who travel 6 or 7 months of the year and do exactly the same thing. They make a living and see the country at the same time.


BOISE, IDAHO - June 2006 - Our neighbors are from Nebraska and own a very large farm. The husband has now retired and his son has taken over the farm. His wife is a nurse who contracts work for 3 months at a time, and they full time in their RV to different parts of the country. She is in intensive care and other trauma areas, works 3 days a week on a 12 hour sift. The reason they do this is so they will have health insurance coverage, which these contracting jobs provide, and they are able to see different parts of the country while still working.

When we were in Vermont, we met another couple doing this very same thing. Also, in Miami, we met another couple where the husband, an Anesthesiologist, does contract work. It seems all contract work is for 3-month periods with the option to renew for another 3 months at the same location or to opt for 3 months somewhere else in the country. These two couples like this lifestyle for the flexibility of work and ability for more time off.


BOARDMAN, OREGON - June 2006 - Here our neighbors were a couple who own 200 acres of land just outside of Salem, OR. They both were born, raised, and still live near their hometown. The husband spent 30 years in fire prevention and fire fighting for the Oregon State Forest Department. He said he fought many large fires where they were at the fire site for days at a time.

He and his wife now do some minor farming of their farm land and spend a good deal of time fishing the waters of Oregon. One thing we had read, which these folks confirm, is that the Salmon in Oregon has been severely depleted. All the dams built in the Columbia River to help farm irrigation has blocked many of the Salmon from swimming upstream to spawn. This hurts recreation fishing, but has been devastating to commercial fishing. In addition, seals had been an endangered species and so protected by law, but now the seals are in abundance and still are under protection. These seals are eating the Salmon at an alarming rate and they are eating them on their way to spawn which is harming the future for Salmon harvesting.

They made an excellent point that forests and wildlife need management and not just allowing nature or laws a free hand. One example they sighted and which we actually saw was that in Yellowstone where managing was to let nature take its course. This meant when trees died or were felled by storms, etc. just to let them lie there and not harvest them. Also when forest fires start, to let them burn themselves out. Well in 1988 a forest fire started in the summer and between the hot, dry, windy weather and the excess of dead timber on the ground and not fighting the fire, it was not too long before over 100,000 acres had burned and the fire was still raging. They then decided to bring in fire fighters, but the fire was so out of control that the fire fighters had no effect. Finally, in December the snows put the fire out-over 800,000 acres were destroyed.

When you go to Yellowstone by the West Yellowstone entrance, what you see is enormous devastation from the fire still today-18 years later. It is not a pretty sight! The encouraging news is that Yellowstone is now more managed and large areas of downed trees are being harvested and fires are not allowed to burn out of control.


PORTLAND, OREGON - June 2006 - Next to us is a couple from Missouri. They have 15 grandchildren and several great grandchildren. The husband has been a railroad worker for over 30 years and will be working 7 more years. He goes wherever they send him and for the last few years it has been Oregon. They have been here in Portland for more than a year and yesterday moved to Bend for his next assignment. He seems to work outside on the rails. From September to April, the wife goes back to Missouri, as she has not liked the winters in Oregon - cold and very rainy. It is interesting to see how different people make their living. When they retire, they would like to get a larger RV and go full time rving.