well off the beathen path

Many folks ask me HOW I make a living online? Most believe it cannot be done or I must be doing something illegal - or possibly a porn site - to be able to make my income off of the web. This post is an overview on what it took to get me where I am at today.... 11 & a half years ONLINE. Survived the dot com bust in the early 90's, the 9/11 travel slow down & yes, still here in the recession of today. First, keep it simple & build what you know. Following my passion, I have created a popular independent travel site, just for my niche market.... California escapes. I have multiple sources of revenue with Total Escape, which means when one thing slows down another one is sure to pick up. Seasonal strategies you might call it. Total Escape Adventures is the guided trips that I lead (camping, adventure tours) & they are great fun for new folks to get exposed to our style of travel. But it is by no means the big money maker. I also do freelance web site designs for

Well I was gonna blog on blogger tonight, but then I remembered it was Saturday night & I should watch my movie. My one Netflix per week allotment. I worked most of the holiday week anyway... on my "other" site. In the last 2 months I have posted 450 new articles on California - over here : totalescape.com/outside/ My latest should help you get to the Sierra Nevada destination of your choice, if it is even reachable, that is. Check it out - totalescape.com/outside/backroads/sierra-road-conditions/ This winter I am redoing all my California National Forest pages too. Below are the most popular, the ones I have started on ..... SEQUOIA National Forest INYO National Forest SAN BERDU National Forest Los Padres is still in the works!

Hey, what can I say! Everyone needs a break every now & then, even Miss Mite. December 07 was my month to upgrade Total Escape & not blog here.

Yes, I've been moonlighting. Been away from this blogger.com blogging & been creating my very own WordPress blog, over on Total Escape - where it was badly needed. Still getting used to it, so it's gonna look a lil messy for a while. I started rebuilding the decade old California Fairs, Festivals & Events page & I am up to 300 jamborees so far. Got everything from Marathons to Lobster Fests, mountain bike races, wine tasting competitions, street fairs, jazz festivals. County fairs, Ren faires, brewfests, 4x4 races, all kinds of annual events around California. The ones you wont wanna miss, - or maybe the towns your need to avoid, on festival weekends. At Total Escape, you can choose your weekend solitude, or your wild local entertainment. totalescape.com/outside/category/event Inputting these huge lists by hand is so time consuming & carpel tunnel may be setting in soon, but it is fun to read about all the culture & diversity on our California back roads. R

Let's hear it for the graphic designers. After years of looking at smiley face blinking banners, we now have photo rich quality advertising on the web. If Total Escape is gonna run banner advertising, it must be NICE LOOKING. This incredibly pretty ad to the left is for Hawaiian Airlines & what else would you expect. They are selling their beauty, their island, that destination. The mere name Hawaii alone sells their brand. California of course has it's own beauty, as the Total Escape site can show you. Can we get the California local businesses to provide us with quality ads as well? Only time will tell. No shortage of resorts, or vacation oriented businesses in California.