well off the beathen path

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.

Eleven years online! Total Escape hits 11 today. That seems like eternity on these cyber channels, but we are just getting started. Really! The new database is forming fast. 3000 pages on California content, 20,000 photos, 2000 independent lodges, 1000 destinations. See what we've been up to - ALL road trip PHOTOS ALL California DESTINATIONS

And the winner is Budweiser, King of Beers! It's not a surprise that the majority of the trash we pick up on forest lands is beer cans & bottles. Of those, Budweiser, Miller (MGD) & Mickey's Big Mouth consumers are the top people who litter. Rarely do we see Sierra Nevada bottles disposed of improperly. More Pepsi drinkers throw trash outside than Coke; by far McDonald's wrappers are more common than any other fast food trash; cheap tequila bottles, soiled baby diapers, & bullet casings are also a problem. Cigarette smokers usually litter too (ciggi butts, cellophane wrappers, their boxes). Inconsiderate target shooters are notorious for leaving broken glass, targets, computer monitors, & old propane cylinders shot full of holes outside, on a vacant hillside. And it takes responsible 4x4 clubs to clean this stuff up, along with other trail crews like Total Escape . The reason for this topic is for the "stop the abuse" blogging campaign. Trashing

Many times over the years of Total Escape, I get letters such as this one below, which makes me realize just how important it is to take your kids out traveling & camping. My name is Wendy and when I was a toddler, we used to camp at Lundy Lake. It was pure wilderness then and my dad used to make whistles for us out of the birch trees I think. I just wanted to share my memories with someone that might love to hear what it was like then. I haven't been there since I was about 8 or 9, but we took our summer vacation every single year to the High Sierras & Virginia Lakes from years 1952-1971. What sweet memories! We went to Green Creek when no one hardly knew it was there. My dad and mom were fishaholics and we lived in Santa Barbara CA and we love the high Sierras.  how to find these sacred spaces - California Lakes & Reservoirs California National Forest Maps California Wilderness Maps California Cabin Rentals   California Rivers California Creek Camping C

Lavatube, Mojave National Preserve Originally uploaded by Mastery of Maps I knew it. There had to be cool underground features like these lava tubes & caves out there. Jesse & I searched but did not find. Been out to Mojave Preserve six times. We'll hafta keep looking. Vast spans of Mojave desert encompass historic mines, buildings, railroads, mountain peaks, boulders, joshua trees, pinyon pine forests, caverns and caves, lava tubes, sands dunes, dirt roads and a new, totally restored Kelso train depot - out in the huge triangle of land, east of Barstow . Near Interstate 40, Interstate 15 & the Nevada state line. Way out there in the middle of freakin nowhere near Kelso, Cima & Kelbaker Rd. For best results arrive in day light hours when first visiting this unfamiliar desert region. It's easy to get lost without light or without a GPS. Maps are only as good as the ones you brought and how bright your dome light is in the car. Don't rely on c

View from Grandma's Originally uploaded by prentz This photo is near the small town of Orleans California , deep in the Klamath River Gorge in NorCal. Pam takes such nice shots of this area. The images from this region keep calling me. A serious Northern California road trip is needed.