Camping Season Ending!

The camping season is coming to an end! This coming weekend is Labor Day Weekend. I'm in the process of packing and getting ready to travel back to Texas and Alabama. I'm plotting a route that will take me through ID, UT, WY, CO, NM & TX in the next few weeks. And I'm already shooting video to start using for showing the "backroads of the U.S." so keep an eye open for upcoming video podcasts on my blog and the FaceBook page "America, you need to see it!"

Fire Still Growing! And Smokey Days Again!

For those of you that don't have a need to follow my FB Sunny Gulch page updates, I thought I give you the link and let you have an idea of the size of the fire here.   I tried a link here...didn't want to work...so if you're interested in seeing my updates on the FB Sunny Gulch page I created, just search on FB for "Sunny Gulch Campground". I've been updating my campers for several weeks about the fire, even have some decent pics on there of the smoke and this camp! 

Still Smokey..but Good Days Also!

It has been a long couple of weeks. The big fire ( the Pioneer Fire in the Boise Nat'l Forest) is still burning...and burning quite well!  It is up to 71,000+ acres. Needless to say, we have had our share of smoke and ash here. And we are still 30-40 miles away from the main body of the fire.

Over the past week, I have had several campers cut their stays here short due to the amount of smoke in the air and it making them uncomfortable, and even have breathing issues, due to the amount of it that comes in every evening.

AND...I'm down to about 4 weeks and I will be done for the season, probably. I have not even been half full at least 4 out of seven nights for the past two weeks. That really is telling that the season is basically over.  Schools are starting all over Idaho during the next two weeks, so folks are not coming out, time to get ready for the new school year!

And I've about reached my limit for social interaction for the year!  LOL!  I'm ready for some time of personal introvert activity deep in the woods!!!  Heheheheh!  And I'm in the perfect part of the county to do just that!!! Before the winter snows settle in for the winter! I'm not in the frame of mind to endure -45 degrees any longer!!

That about brings me up to current with what is happening here in Idaho!  I'll try to do an update later this week again!  :-)   C'ya!!

A Smokey Weekend at Sunny Gulch!

(Note....This update was supposed to supersede the earlier update made today! Gotta love technology!!!)

Hi gang....it started as a really nice weekend yesterday....and then.....the smoke started rolling in from the fires in Boise Nat'l & Idaho City. The Sawtooths have "disappeared" several times in the past 24 hours!  In fact, they are gone now as I type! The wind changed again and the mountains disappeared in about 5 hours!  And there is also ash falling again. So it is becoming rather not so fun being outside. Which I hate for my campers!  But that is what happens when you are in the "wild forest"!!

It has also be in the high 80's to 90 for the past week! Which up here is HOT!!! But there is supposed to be a "cold" front moving thru the next couple of days, so I'm hoping that it will cool off quite a bit!!  I come north to get away from the high heat of the southern areas!

Besides that, I am still throwing away stuff and selling stuff. As I think I mentioned before, Bertha has stage four wiring harness cancer and she will very possibly not be leaving Idaho this year!  I'm starting to save up to replace her in the spring. Will be spending time in TX, AL, MI & WI this winter. Might work a bit.  But mainly getting ready to start my "wanderings" this next year! Want to get on the road and start working on my "video blogs" about the little places in the USA that today's fast pace of life passes by each day.

Even as busy as it has been here in Sunny, I still have quite a bit of time to slowly go thru stuff and decide what is NOT needed for my lifestyle, and I am really thinning out my posessions here in Bertha. I'll be headed south with a short U-Haul trailer (if Bertha stays up here), and being up here so far from any major stores or population centers & being where getting something delivered is not always so easy.  So, even after all these years of my saying that material things were not very important to me....I'm getting the chance to actually follow thru on that way of thinking and living!

So stay tuned for the continuing saga of "The Truckingfrog's Navigation thru Retirement"!!

Pioneer Fire slowing camping

The Pioneer Fire, which has grown to 48,000+ acres, is slowing down the camping here in the SNRA. Yesterday the smoke was not as bad as it was on Sunday and Monday. But it still rolled in during the afternoon. I have not been full for 3 nights now, and it is not looking real good for the weekend. And I don't blame the campers. You can smell the smoke, and the ash is rough on folks that have any breathing issues. Probably not too good for any of us when you think about it!  LOL!  The Forest Service daily post about the fire is calling for total containment date of 15 September. So that is close to the time of the season that we either close down or are close to closing down for the season. So most likely it will put a dent in the number of campers that I have for the rest of the season. :(

But I'm still clearing out stuff and thinning out what I carry around with me. But downsizing is really easy once you get over the initial shock of throwing out stuff! And when you get honest with yourself about what you actually need and use on a daily or weekly basis, the number and quality of things that you have in your "collection" of needed living items, and what is actually necessary for daily life....it is truly amazing how little we actually have to have to survive!!

It is about time for my morning rounds here in Sunny Gulch...the first of several "rounds" I do each day. I have had mostily quiet and  easy campers this summer, which has overall made it a pleasant summer. Just have those few that really have no need to be out here in the woods!

I'll add a couple of pics to this update when I go into town and have better connection! Hope everyone is doing well, and I'll have more to add later!