Things to do while boondocking in a National Forest. And RSS feeds. And our cameras.

 You've been very gracious and flattering about my photos. My camera is an unassuming Pentax Optio RX18. I have no knowledge about real photography, and so I'm glad to have a camera that knows stuff for me.

Reading Cherry's tutorial on template tweaking, I realized that my feed settings need to be on "full" to enable threaded replies. We'll see how that worked.

Which raised another question: how do you like to get your feeds?

I switched my setting to "short" a while back, for a couple of reasons. But, Camille makes a great point about full feeds. Reading blogs at work! How could I have become so quickly out-of-touch with work life?!? Not everyone has the luxury of filling their computer histories with RV travel blogs. Although, it looks better than ShirkingForDummies.biz. And other possibilities, not that I've ever been to those sites.

If you get this blog by feed (email or reader), please come over and state your preference. Do you just like to be reminded by email or reader, or do you read the whole thing there? Or, do you read the whole thing? [eyebrow raised] Bloggers, how do you feed, and why?


When we go to a new place, I like to explore by volunteering for Find-a-Grave. I just change the zip code in my settings. The Pioneer Cemetery inside the Park reminded me.

We geocache. It's fun to see what might be hidden within walking distance of our campsite. Often, lately, I don't use a GPS; I study the landscape by Google Maps and then use my geosense.

I'm especially fond of benchmarks, of which the South Rim has several.

Several days ago I messed up my jaw in a situation involving an avocado pit (don't ask - I'd tell you, and then we'd both be embarrassed). Can you suggest some self-help?

Test, but you can read it if you want to. There is actual content, and a picture.

Benchmarking is a natural companion to geocaching. Benchmarks thrill me a little more than geocaches, because these markers were never intended for a general audience, and so are not always in perfect hiding places. This one is an exception; it's located in Jacksonville Beach, ON Jacksonville Beach. The point is that the markers weren't put there for anyone's amusement, so they feel like a discovery for real. They're sometimes on people's lawns, for example. I followed the clues for a rural benchmark in New York and ended up peering through someone's mown grass to get a better look. I knocked on the door and asked permission to get closer, and the elderly man said 'yes,' but warned me that the government wouldn't like me taking a picture of it, since it was part of a covert operation. It sounds funny, but that benchmark was mounted in a raised concrete monument about five inches high in the middle of his yard, and that man had been trimming around it for 60 years. I'd start to invent reasons why I had had to do that 720 times, wouldn't you?

I'm trying a new way of emailing pictures to Blogger. We'll eventually be back in conservation mode.

ETA: This time I could send a picture, but no words. Words, no pictures. Pictures, no words. When will there ever be a tasty casserole of both?