Well this is going to have to be a quick one. I have been busier than a one armed paper hanger. Between trying to figure out how to get the Ford Exploder fixed and getting through an audit at work,  my boss wanting me to work more overtime, I hardly had time to play with the boys. Much less do videos and webpage updates. Tonight is the weekend of November 4 and in 3 days my son is flying down to visit me and I have to make room in the house for him to at least sit down somewhere. I still have stuff piled all over the place from moving in and moving Melissa out and a whole bunch of stuff I’ve bought for a new car(yes, there is a new car). And, I’ve got stuff I pulled out of the old cars(yes, the old cars are gone). So life is been completely chaotic for the last 3 weeks. I realize I need to get everything in order and get back to my regular routine. But with the changing of seasons, even the house is screaming for me to do things like put away yard tools and trim back hedges and take care of leaves and all these things that homeowners are supposed to do.

So just to cover some of the videos I’ve done since my last post here, we did a great hike that we really liked to the top of the 3 top Mountains game lands. We hiked with quite a lot of equipment in the backpack making the hike even worse than it was to begin with, and then when we got to the top it was so foggy it was almost depressing. But it was a nice hike and we are going to go back very soon. The view on a clear day has got to be just outstanding considering where it is, and we really want to fly the drone around the top of the mountain because it’s a pretty small peak really.

We also went to the Fall Festival at the Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia. That is another place I think I’m going to have to go back to for many reasons. But the festival made it so incredibly crowded and the attraction there are the wild ponies that are there all the time. I wasn’t too impressed with the campground so I’m not sure we would camp their, but there are lots of campgrounds nearby. The state forest campgrounds are open year-round but I don’t think I would want to camp in the Aliner during the cold season up there. I really believe electricity is essential for cold camping in the Aliner. A really small electric heater keeps it toasty warm, so I’ll take it if I can find an open campsite with electricity.

We are absolutely floored by the amount of people that watched the COSORI multi-cooker video. I really thought I would get just a few people that were interested in that. But it appears that it appeals to more people than I realized. I’m also absolutely amazed at how many people have told me they have those now that I’ve broadcast that I have bought one. I still haven’t gotten a really good handle on how to use it, though I have made several meals and I make rice for the boys which really is easy and good to do.

As mentioned in the video we went back up to the Mount Rogers recreation area and toward the campgrounds and visitor center and did some hiking all because of of mistake I made by leaving my camera on the side of the road. Well, on the side of the parking lot at the visitor center, where I was trying to get some video of Appalachian hikers coming out of the woods. It was just purely a stroke of luck that they were kind enough to pick it up for me and hold it for me.  And for me to get back up there early enough to really enjoy the day hiking and playing up in that area. It’s a very beautiful area incredibly unencumbered by large groups of people except during the the Grayson Highlands Fall Festival activities. And of course anytime we take any new hikes to new places I always take you people along because I really think it’s more enjoyable with a crowd and, believe it or not, I really feel like I’ve got 8 or 10 people at least walking around with me on the trail that I can talk to and and explain things that are going on and it makes it a much funner trip. I got a lot of comments about the snake we saw, suggesting it might be a copperhead or cottonmouth. And that’s okay, he wasn’t bothering us and we were not going to bother him. I think snakes are pretty neat things to see in the woods because usually they are so camouflaged and invisible and you just don’t see him. Especially on such a big trail like we were on. It is  as exciting to see a decent size snake like that as it is to see a deer, or a bear, or any other wildlife to me.

And lastly as I type this up, I’m releasing the trip to Hiawassee Georgia and their Fall Festival  and the trip that killed the Exploder. It’s not a very good video because my head was so messed up from being stranded and then having such a huge bill to get the Exploder back. And then there were some other things that came up that really blew me away which I think you’ll have to wait for the next video and episode of the webpage posts. It’s quite a remarkable story. When I think about what I did and what happened I wonder what’s wrong with my brain. But as usual my guardian angel took care of me and we came out ahead of the game I guess. So stay tuned and we will try to get more out there a lot faster.

Thanks for coming along,
Rick, Dakota, Aquila (Caesar 2.0)