A TRIATHLON POEM ...

I wrote this poem 9 years ago next month. It's inspired by the poem in "10 Things I Hate About You"

You o triathlon, 

builder of egos and breaker of hearts ... 

I hate it when you raise me up 

I hate it more when you tear me down. 

I hate it when you promise me glory 

Then throw me to the ground.

I hate your 5 a.m. wake up calls 

and swimming in the dark.

I hate your freezing cold olympic pools, 

and ocean swims with sharks. 

I hate it when it's time to ride 

and ride and ride some more. 

How your gale-force wind is always there,
that ain’t no Kona lore. 

I hate the way you make me run 

I hate it, but it’s cool. 

I hate the way you challenge me 

Like I'm back in school. 

I hate the fact we cannot draft 

Bike refs make sure of that. 

I hate those cards of yellow and red 

and that whole penalty tent format. 

I hate it when you make me laugh, 

even worse when you make me cry. 

But love that you made me an Ironman 

then branded me till I die.

I hate it when you’re not around 

after Kona’s race in the fall. 

But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you, 

not in swimming or biking 

not in running 

not even at all. 

*Inspired from “10 Things I Hate About You”

THE COMEBACK TRAIL: HALF MARATHON TRAINING IN 10 WEEKS

I undertook a self-imposed challenge this summer — to go from zero running to being able to run a half marathon (13.1 miles) in 10 weeks.

That has to be the most painful thing I've done in a while. Nearly every step of running hurt all summer long.

A thumbnail from an episode of Zero To Half Marathon video series on YouTube.

While I have run on and off (maybe a couple of miles on the tready every couple of months) I was basically starting from scratch. The first day I ran 1 mile with a lot of pain. By the end of the first week I ran/walked three miles. I have to tell you, 13 miles seemed impossible from where I was.

But I kept at it running 2-3 days a week and increasing my long run day by a mile every week.

By Sunday of week 10 I ran 13.2 miles in 2 hours and 23 minutes. Slow and too much walking but I made it.

There's a half marathon race on Sept. 23 that I may run but my main goal was/is to just get in shape and run long runs when I feel like it.

I also recorded my "Zero to Half Marathon" challenge in a series of YouTube videos on our YouTube channel. You can find them here: Zero to Half Marathon

Here a few more of the thumbnails (cover images) from the series on YouTube:

The first week of training video.

Video of Week 2

the final week's video

As a follow up on the challenge to go from zero running to half marathon distance in 10 weeks,  which ended on Labor Day, after hitting 13 miles I backed off on my training  a little. For me hitting 13 miles in 10 weeks was really a struggle and I did not want to get injured so for now I'm limiting my long runs to 10 miles and trying to increase my over all weekly mileage, which has been less than 20 a week all summer.

Thanks for stopping by and maybe I'll see you on the road. Take care and be safe.

URBAN SKETCHING ... RIGHT OUTSIDE YOUR DOOR

What do you do when you don't have time to go out on location to do urban sketching? My time is very limited and I often don't have time to go on-location to sketch. To solve that time-crunch I started sketching my home, my yard, my street and my neighborhood.

Our rig. I often sketch in and around our place.

Most of us think our home environment is too boring to sketch because we see it every day. But sometimes that thinking can causes us not to sketch at all just because we don't have time to go anywhere. And as you know, even sketching a familiar, "boring" scene is better than not sketching at all. Right?

Before we moved into our fifth wheel RV trailer, I probably sketched our living room of our house at least 10 times from all different angles. And I sketched the view from our front window at least a half dozen times. I've sketched the outside of our house, our backyard, the twins and NJ quite often.

 I also sketch my desk, and the view from my desk at work at least once a week because I spend 8 hours a day sitting there and when the sketching bug bites, it's the only thing I have to sketch.

Plus, even though your home surroundings may be familiar to you, they may not be familiar to those you share your sketches with.

The view and sketch from our front yard in the RV park.

When I was a photojournalist I often photographed my neighborhood and neighbors and they loved seeing our tiny, familiar neighborhood in the newspaper.

Click here: URBAN SKETCHING FROM MY RV to watch a video of sketching from my RV.

Recently, I only had an hour to sketch and no time to go anywhere, I decided to sketch right outside the door of our RV, and even though it's only shrubs and a parking lot, it gave me something to sketch and a chance to use watercolors, which I haven't had much of a chance to use in a while.

You can find the video of me sketching this scene on our YouTube channel at:
Adventure Road Travel Sketchers


ABOUT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL:
Our channel is evolving as our lives are evolving.

Our channel started out while we lived in Hawaii  and I was competing in Ironman triathlons. That's why the first few videos are about running and Ironman competition.

Since we have moved back to the mainland I became interested in sketching and RVing (we live full-time in an fifth wheel trailer) so I switched it up to producing sketching videos, sketchbook tours, reviews, and how to sketch videos as well as life in an RV with a deaf and disabled daughter in a wheelchair, twin 4-year-olds and a 6-year-old grandsons.

Our Youtube channel.

Our lives can be very busy, very hectic and very squished at times.

Please join us as we adjust to a tiny living space and begin our next adventure down the road of life. Thank you so much.

HELP SUPPORT THIS BLOG AND OUR CHANNEL FOR FREE: We are part of the Amazon Affiliate program which means if you click on one of the links and purchase anything I get a small commission paid by amazon and costs you nothing more. It's a way for you to help support my channel for free.

Below are a few Amazon links for some of the art supplies I use.

Platinum Desk Fountain Pen: http://amzn.to/2CVwbIc

Platinum carbon ink bottle ink black 60cc: http://amzn.to/2D1xFCA

Stillman & Birn Beta Series A5 sketchbook: http://amzn.to/2CLMTer

M. Graham watercolor tubes: http://amzn.to/2ByAnRB

Da Vinci Kolinsky red sable travel brushes No. 10, 6 & 4 round
(This is a great deal for real red sable. Three brush set): http://amzn.to/2BCb55r

Sakura Pigma Micron pens: http://amzn.to/2CMkipa

Lamy Safari fountain pen extra fine nib: http://amzn.to/2k7PQOV

Pentel Aquash water brush: http://amzn.to/2kEqrLV

My palette: Prima Marketing Watercolor Confections: The Classics (I took out the Prima paints and replaced them with half pans of M. Grahams tube paints): http://amzn.to/2k60ghO

GoPro Hero 2:  http://amzn.to/2m1LQzC

GoPro Sessions 5: https://amzn.to/2Kv3jQ4

FROM ZERO TO HALF MARATHON IN 10 WEEKS

Distance running: I've done it, on and off, my whole life. From marathons to Ironman World Championship where you swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 miles then, after all that, You run a marathon (26.2 miles) all in the same day.

So, let me just put it out there for everyone to read: In the next 10 weeks (basically over the summer) I'm going to go from zero running to 13.1 miles (a half marathon) distance. AND within another 4 weeks after that I'll be able to race at that distance.

The past two years is the longest break I've had from running since 2006 when we moved to the Big Island.

Yeah, it's a lofty goal for someone in their late 50s who hasn't run much for the past couple of years.

In the past 9 years I've competed in two Ironman World Championship triathlons and several half Ironmans and numerous other triathlons, marathons and other distance running events. but for the past two years I've reverted back to a couch potato.

Now I want to change that and get back into Ironman shape. Well, at least marathon shape.

All I can do is either succeed or fail. And you can follow along, either on this blog or on my YouTube channel, to see which I do and to hold me accountable for training and sticking with it. I will need your support, encouragement and advice along the way so please subscribe to either or better yet, both, and comment on each of my training videos. I'm lazy and can't do this on my own.

You can watch a video on our YouTube channel where I talk about this 10-week challenge of getting off the couch and running a half marathon here: https://youtu.be/2paSWjyCDuA

ABOUT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL: Adventure Road Travel Sketchers
you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/user/rdubinhawaii

Our channel is evolving as our lives are evolving.

Our channel started out while we lived in Hawaii and I was competing in Ironman triathlons. That's why the first few videos are about running and Ironman competition. Since we have moved back to the mainland and I became interested in sketching I switched it up to producing sketching videos, sketchbook tours, reviews, and how to sketch videos.

Recently our lives have taken a new direction. We moved out of our three bedroom house with a double car garage and moved into a 264-square-foot fifth wheel RV. We plan to begin traveling the country as soon as possible and sketch the places and people we visit and meet along the way. We plan on sticking to the rural areas as much as possible -- the roots of America.

We also plan on interviewing some of the people we meet and discover what makes their town and neighborhoods special to them.

We will be producing content about sketching, RV life, which includes repairs, coping with small spaces and the pros and cons of full-time RV living. Our daughter, Rebecca is disabled and is wheelchair bound so we will also be talking about how we manage all the work arounds in a world made for people who walk, including how accessible places are for disabled people.

I've changed the name of this channel (for now) to Adventure Road Travel Sketchers (ARTS for short) and my wife Karen, daughter Rebecca, 4-year-old twin grandsons Leo and Desmond and our 6-year-old grandson NJ, will be contributing content as well.

Thanks and please subscribe (it's absolutely free) and it would mean the world to us.

SQUEEZING OUR TRUCK SEATS INTO THESE

How many times in your life have you installed seat covers in our vehicles? I've probably installed 20 or more sets of seat covers in my life. 

I have to admit that installing seat covers in a pickup truck is the hardest though. Especially when the seat covers are custom made for the truck, which means they are extremely tight fitting. The problem is I have a 2017 Ram 2500 crew cab truck and installing seat covers on the backseat can be pretty difficult. Actually it’s the back of the backseat that’s the hard part.

I found a set of covers we liked on Amazon from a company that makes them to order. Reading the reviews though made me pause. One reviewer who had the same truck as me mentioned he had to remove his backseat to install the seat cover. What? Although that’s not that difficult to do, just time consuming, I’d rather not have to do that. Other reviewers mentioned that the covers were so tight it made it difficult to install. And still others mentioned that the directions were worthless. (I never read directions anyhow … so that doesn’t matter to me.)

Our Ram 2500 and fifth wheel.

I had already purchased similar covers for our half ton truck last summer so I knew they were tight and as far as removing the backseat I didn’t have to do that with the half ton so hopefully I wouldn’t have to on our 2500.

These are the seat covers we installed from Amazon. They come in a lots of different colors.

As you know we have twin 4-year-olds (almost 5) grandsons who stay with us half the week and a 6-year-old grandson who stays with us two days a week so our backseats can get pretty stained up if we don’t cover them.

It's rare but all three boys asleep in the backseat of the truck.

Once the covers arrived I tore open the package. I love the embroidered Ram logo. I couldn’t wait to get started on installing them. Of course it was rainy but hey, it’s Oregon. We can take it. 

I started with the backseat. I figured I might as well get the hard part over with first. The bottom went on easily. It was snug but that’s what they should be.

Now the hard part. I removed the headrests and worked the covers onto the seat back. The gap at the top of the seat back was barely wide enough for my fingers to fit in. My first thought was I was going to have to remove the seat after all. 

Fortunately, the bottom of the seat raises up so I was able to access the bottom of the seat back which I found to have a large gap that my hand and arm would fit easily. I tucked the seat cover straps down the top of the seat back then from the bottom I reached up and was able to grab the straps and connect them to their counterparts on the bottom. 

Viola! I wouldn’t have to remove the seat after all. I think it took about a half hour to install the back and about 15 minutes to install the front, which were very snug but went on. Just be patient and work them down the seat back from the top slowly.

You can check out the video I made of the backseat installation here: DON'T REMOVE YOUR BACK SEAT 

I’ll have the front seat installation video posted shortly. 

Yeah, this isn’t about sketching but it is about RVing (this is our tow vehicle) and our blog and YouTube channel are transitioning into a rv travel sketchers blog and channel. By the way, I do have an iPad sketch of an R Pod trailer superimposed over part of the installation video if you want to watch that as well. 

HERE'S THE AMAZON LINK FOR THE SEAT COVERS: Seat Covers on Amazon

So I hope this may help anyone who is having trouble installing seat coves on the backseat of their truck. Thanks for stopping by.

A FORGOTTEN POST FROM SEPT. 26, 2012

I was searching my blog for a photo June 12, 2018, when I discovered a blog entry I forgot to post. Actually I thought I had posted it. It is from Sept. 26, 2012. We were to travel cross-country from Idaho to North Carolina and back in 9 days plus run at least 5K (3.2 miles) in each state we drove through. ( I did post a recap of our trip in late October of 2012 but never posted this one.

Below is that forgotten post (with photos from our trip added June 12, 2018).

----------------------------------------

November 3rd, our son, Daniel, is getting married in North Carolina. So Karen, Rebecca and I decided that instead of flying back there, it would be fun to drive from Idaho to North Carolina. Along the way we would take a detour and head south to Georgia and see our daughter, Rachael and our two granddaughters, Maddie and Zoey. (NOTE FROM 2018: Rachael now has a son, JJ, too).

This is our planned route.

We have nine days to make the nearly 5,000-mile round-trip journey. Not a lot of time right? But that's only half of it. We decided that we wanted to do something different. Something that we would remember. Something that would be challenging. So we decided to run at least 5k (3.2 miles) in every state we drive through. 

At the wedding.

I know that doesn't sound like much. Big deal, 3 miles a day for nine days, wow ... Well, it's actually more than that. A lot more. We'll be going through 15 to 20 states and some days we'll be driving through 3 or 4 states in one day. So the mileage will build up fast. Not to mention weather conditions. After all this will take place the last week of October and first week of November.

Our actual route and all those pins are where I took photos.

Again, it's not a lot of mileage but being under the gun to drive 2,500 miles in three days and still be able to stop in Georgia and make it to the wedding  on time will be a challenge. Not to mention making it back home in time for work nine days later.

Here are some photos from our first trip across the US. And we did make it back in 9 days. Including driving to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for a job interview. It was a great trip. The only bad thing is we hit a deer just outside Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, that dented the front of our nearly new Honda Fit. The deer was fine, by the way.

Rebecca and Zoey.

On teh beach at Camp Lejuene.

Running at sunrise somewhere in Iowa.

Running along the Utah Freeway. I didn't have any warm running clothes so I ran in jeans.

Running on the beach. It's the first time I ever saw the Atlantic Ocean.

Running at night in South Carolina.

our precious granddaughter Maddie. 

Maddie making faces with Papa for the camera.

Karen and Rebecca at the beach at the Atlantic Ocean.

running in Rawlins, Wyoming. It was cold and windy.

Daniel, our Marine son and I at the beach. 

Thanks for stoping by and check out our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/rdubinhawaii

We are just beginning to post RV and Sketching videos and really need your help to make our channel grow. We need comments on what you'd like to see and ways we can improve our channel.  We are taking courses on how to improve our videos so follow our journey and grow with us. 

ADVENTURE ROAD TRAVEL SKETCHERS — A YouTube Channel

The artwork for my YouTube channel — Adventure Road Travel Sketcherss (ARTS).

You may not know this, but I have a YouTube channel. I've actually have had it for 9 or 10 years — way before it was cool to have one.

I posted a spoof video of a Zoot commercial starring an aquaintence from Hawaii. (secretly hoping Zoot would sponsor me ...) I still have those Zoots by the way. See the video on the rail of this blog or go here to watch it: ZOOT commercial spoof

I've also posted a couple of Ironman World Championship videos and a running in Hawaii in Vibrams video.

A video of when I was featured on NBC Sports for competing in the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.

Most recently (since we moved into a fifth wheel RV) I've changed the name of my channel to Adventure Road Travel Sketchers (ARTS for short) and began posting sketching videos. I plan on producing RV-related videos as well and anytime I can combine RVing, sketching and running/swimming/biking I'll post  those too.

By the way, the official name is RDub in Hawaii. the official web address is https://www.youtube.com/user/rdubinhawaii

Here's the link to my YouTube Channel: ARTS 

I haven't decided if I'll keep the sketching separate from the RV related videos by starting another channel specifically for RVing. I plan on combining the two by doing a lot of RV lifestyle sketching and once we are able to begin traveling the country those two subjects will be intertwined.

I'm also taking courses on creating a YouTube channel and making my videos more interesting, which all the videos posted before June 5, 2018, were created before I took the class so I hope you will begin to see a difference in the quality of the content and the story telling as I progress from this point on.

Please check out my channel and Please subscribe (it's free) and it helps my channel rank higher on YouTube. Also if you want to help support my channel and blog for free you can click on any of the Amazon links or ads (on my blog) and if you purchase anything -- even if it's not what you clicked on -- Amazon will pay me a small commission that costs  you nothing.

Some of the videos on sketching and running I've created and uploaded to my YouTube Channel here'.

Here's a tag line I place on all my videos that explains what my channel is about:

ABOUT THIS CHANNEL:
Our channel is evolving as our lives are evolving.

This channel started out while we lived in Hawaii  and I was competing in Ironman triathlons. That's why the first few videos are about running and Ironman competition. Since we have moved back to the mainland and I became interested in sketching I switched it up to producing sketching videos, sketchbook tours, reviews, and how to sketch videos.

Recently our lives have taken a new direction. We moved out of our three bedroom house with a double car garage and moved into a 264-square-foot fifth wheel RV. We plan to begin traveling the country as soon as possible and sketch the places and people we visit and meet along the way. We plan on sticking to the rural areas as much as possible -- the roots of America.

We also plan on interviewing some of the people we meet and discover what makes their town and neighborhoods special to them.

We will be producing content about sketching, RV life which includes repairs, coping with small spaces and the pros and cons of full-time RV living. Our daughter, Rebecca is disabled and is wheelchair bound so we will also be talking about how we manage all the work arounds in a world made for people who walk, including how accessible places are for disabled people.

I've changed the name of this channel (for now) to Adventure Road Travel Sketchers (ARTS for short) and my wife Karen, daughter Rebecca, 4-year-old twin grandsons Leo and Desmond and sometimes our 5-year-old grandson NJ, will be contributing content as well.

Thanks and please subscribe (it's absolutely free) and it would mean the world to us if you would comment and subscribe.

HELP SUPPORT OUR CHANNEL FOR FREE: I am part of the Amazon Affiliate program which means if you click on one of the links and purchase anything I get a small commission paid by amazon and costs you nothing more. It's a way for you to help support our channel for free. 

We are currently taking courses to improve my channel and content so please be patient, subscribe and keep checking back. I promise my videos will get better. Thank you.

I am part of the Amazon Affiliate program which means if you click on one of the links below and purchase anything I get a small commission paid by amazon and costs you nothing more. It's a way for you to help support my growing channel for free.

OUR BLOG: THE KONA LIFE
You can check out my blog at http://amilucid.blogspot.com/ where I talk all things sketching, triathlon and RV life in general.

Below are a few Amazon links for some of the art supplies I use. (I'm an Amazon Affiliate)

Platinum Desk Fountain Pen: http://amzn.to/2CVwbIc

Platinum carbon ink bottle ink black 60cc: http://amzn.to/2D1xFCA

Stillman & Birn Beta Series sketchbook: http://amzn.to/2CLMTer 

M. Graham watercolor tubes: http://amzn.to/2ByAnRB

Winsor & Newton watercolors (the link is for a Cotman beginner set): http://amzn.to/2k7ct5Q

Da Vinci Kolinsky red sable travel brushes No. 10, 6 & 4 round
(This is a great deal for real red sable. Three brush set): http://amzn.to/2BCb55r

Sakura Pigma Micron pens: http://amzn.to/2CMkipa

Lamy Safari fountain pen extra fine nib: http://amzn.to/2k7PQOV

Pentel Aquash water brush: http://amzn.to/2kEqrLV

My palette: Prima Marketing Watercolor Confections: The Classics (I took out the Prima paints and replaced them with half pans of M. Grahams tube paints): http://amzn.to/2k60ghO

GoPro Hero 2:  http://amzn.to/2m1LQzC

Apple Pencil: http://amzn.to/2DodFwt

iPad Pro 12.9-inch: http://amzn.to/2DhWfOI

MOVING SALE - UPDATE

This week is our last week in our brick and mortar house. We have started sleeping in our fifth wheel, going to work during the day and spending the evenings moving the remainder of our belongs into storage or into the fifth wheel (we still need to name it (which seems to be a trend among RVers) so if you have any suggestions please comment below. It's a Grand Design Reflection if you want to play off the name).

A sketch I did of our house and tulips last spring (2017).

By the end of the day Karen and I are exhausted. We can't wait for this week to be over.

BUT, over the weekend we have to move the RV to a new RV park for a couple of days. We are currently renting a space at the RV park by the week and city/county law requires that RVs have to be moved off-site for at least 24 hours. It's a transient thing I guess. Kind of like hotel/motel rules.

So we are moving it just down the street a mile or two away for a couple of days then moving it back.

We are next on the list to move into a monthly spot at the RV park and they just told us one may be coming available mid-May. That'll save us a ton of money, cutting our space rent in half. Keep your fingers crossed.

When we first picked up our fifth wheel the first thing I did was to take it to a CAT Scale to weigh it empty to get the empty weight so we would know how much weight we could add. By this weekend we'll have most of our belongings loaded up so I'm planning to take it back to the scale and weigh it loaded. Hopefully we are still within both the RV and the truck's legal limits. I'll keep you posted.

Here's a quick clip of our moving sale.

*UPDATE: We ended up getting a month-to-month spot at the RV park so beginning in May we'll be paying about half the space rent we were paying. And since I only had to move the fifth wheel about 100 yards I didn't take it to get weighed, yet. I'm still planning on doing that probably when I get time to take some vacation time.

BEGINNING MY TRAVEL SKETCHING WHILE NOT TRAVELING
Here's a sketch I'm just starting of a motorhome parked next to us that has a great paint job.

I'll post the finished piece once it's done.

I'm sketching this on my iPad Pro using an Apple Pencil and the app Procreate.

SUPPORT OUR ADVENTURE FOR FREE
We are an Amazon Affiliate, which means you can help support our adventure for free (without costing you anything) by clicking on any of the Amazon links on this blog when you place an Amazon order. It costs you nothing extra and Amazon pays us a small commission. You don't even have to purchase the item you clicked on as long as you purchase anything through the link, we'll get a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Here's some links to some of my sketching supplies I order from Amazon.

My main sketchbooks are Stillman and Birn Beta Series A5 sketchbook

M. Graham watercolor tubes

Winsor and Newton watercolors (the link is for a Cotman beginner set)

Da Vinci Kolinsky sable travel brushes No. 10, 6 and 4 round  I love these brushes

Sakura Pigma Micron pens

Lamy Safari fountain pen extra fine nib

Pentel Aquash water brush: This works for quick watercolors and on thinner papers such as general sketching paper.

My palette: Prima Marketing Watercolor Confections: The Classics (I took out the Prima paints and replaced them with half pans of M. Grahams and W and N paints)

Noodler's Eels Black waterproof ink: This is a slow drying ink so be patient. It is also only waterproof on certain paper so test it before you use it something you really like. 

Platinum carbon ink bottle ink black 60cc: This is my main ink I use in my fountain pens. Unfortunately, I can't find a U.S. supplier so it takes a few weeks to get through Amazon so order ahead of time. I also love the shape of the bottle it comes in.

Apple Pencil: This is what I use when sketching on my iPad Pro.

iPad Pro 12.9 inch: This has retina display and works great with the Apple Pencil

DOWNSIZING and GOING RVing

We are downsizing at home. Downsizing to the extreme, actually. 

We are moving into a 33-foot fifth wheel RV. We’ve been spending the past few weeks sorting through all our belongings deciding what we need, what we want and what we can do without. It almost feels good to purge our lives of all the excess we’ve accumulated since we moved from Hawaii back to the mainland.

As with everyone, our belongings fall into two main categories: What we need, and everything else.

 It’s that everything else category that is giving us problems. We have lots of “stuff” that we don’t need, but we want to keep. But when your living space goes from 2,000 square feet down to 264 square feet, you only have room for what you need. And hopefully those items can serve a dual purpose to make them even more valuable.

Our house is in chaos right now. Getting ready for a moving sale,
selling pretty much everything except a few treasured items.

Of course some things we do not NEED, but will keep anyhow are obvious to us, such as family photos and heirlooms, the things our kids (and grandkids) made when they were little, books (I’ll read all those someday, really), ... and for me ALL my triathlon gear (racing kits,  finishers medals and finishers T-shirts, signs that family and friends made to cheer me on during Ironman (yes, I still have those), movie posters and ALL my running shoes (because I WILL run again full-time ... some day! There’s a few ultra-marathons still calling my name). Oh, and my guitar (I already sold two of them and given one to my son). 

And I can’t get rid of my tri bike that I did two Ironman World Championships on and many other triathlons. I’ve ridden thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of miles on that little Kuota and the memories I have while riding it, the people I rode with, the pain, the fear, the joy that I experienced while riding it all comes flooding back to me every time I see my bike.

My tri stuff will have to be something that those I leave behind will have to sell or throw away.  

Our rig all hooked up and ready to go ... Only thing is we can't go yet,
but one of these days we'll be hitting the road. This is right after we picked up 
the fifth wheel and took it to a CAT Scale to get the empty weight on it. 
It's the first time I towed it or anything, and also the first time I backed it up. 

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?
Our plan is to begin traveling across the country as soon as possible. And for me, I plan to sketch and interview people and places along the way. Sticking with rural America — farmers, ranchers and small-town life. Maybe asking the same three questions and see if the answers change dramatically from state to state and/or region to region. 

What are the three questions and why only three? Those are good questions ... The answer: I don’t know — yet.  Why only three? Not sure. Originally I was thinking of asking the same 10 questions but that seemed to be too vague and of course the answers, depending on the questions, could have dramatic differences.

So I’m thinking that by narrowing the questions to just a few, it’ll create a focus and maybe give me a better snapshot of rural life across the country and how culture, the environment and regional beliefs influence our way of life — or does our way of life influence our culture and beliefs?

We'll be starting a new Youtube channel and blog once we get up and running in the RV life style chronicling our adventures, mishaps and learning as well as posting interviews, sketches and documentary-style videos along the way.

So a new adventure awaits us, but it'll have to wait until a few things fall into place, such as finding jobs that lets us work remotely, and ... well I guess that's pretty much the only thing that's stopping us. Sooo ... if you know anyone who needs a graphic artist/photojournalist/illustrator/copy editor/handyman/blog writer or whatever can be done remotely (telecommuting) contact me ... PLEASE ...

But until then we are planning and dreaming and planning some more and getting everything in order so we can begin our adventure.

Thanks for stopping by and be safe out there.

SUPPORT OUR ADVENTURE FOR FREE
We are an Amazon Affiliate, which means you can help support our adventure for free (without costing you anything) by clicking on any of the Amazon links on this blog when you place an Amazon order. It costs you nothing extra and Amazon pays us a small commission. You don't even have to purchase the item you clicked on as long as you purchase anything through the link, we'll get a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Here's some links to some of my sketching supplies I order from Amazon.

My main sketchbooks are Stillman and Birn Beta Series A5 sketchbook

M. Graham watercolor tubes

Winsor and Newton watercolors (the link is for a Cotman beginner set)

Da Vinci Kolinsky sable travel brushes No. 10, 6 and 4 round  I love these brushes

Sakura Pigma Micron pens

Lamy Safari fountain pen extra fine nib

Pentel Aquash water brush: This works for quick watercolors and on thinner papers such as general sketching paper.

My palette: Prima Marketing Watercolor Confections: The Classics (I took out the Prima paints and replaced them with half pans of M. Grahams and W and N paints)

Noodler's Eels Black waterproof ink: This is a slow drying ink so be patient. It is also only waterproof on certain paper so test it before you use it something you really like. 

Platinum carbon ink bottle ink black 60cc: This is my main ink I use in my fountain pens. Unfortunately, I can't find a U.S. supplier so it takes a few weeks to get through Amazon so order ahead of time. I also love the shape of the bottle it comes in.

URBAN SKETCHING AND A FEW TV DOODLES ON THE IPAD PRO

I doodle. I doodle a lot. especially when I'm at work waiting or watching TV. Here's a few samples from my iPad Pro doodling while watching TV one night. For these I used an Apple Pencil and the app Procreate.

This is just one screen of my doodles. A lot of time I simple erase them and start over.
The eye sketched while watching The Walking Dead. Some of the other doodles were while I was binge watching Medium.

I also got a little free time away from the twins to go out and do a little urban sketching. Below is a building in Albany, Oregon. this was sketched on the iPad Pro using the Apple Pencil and the app Procreate.  

Montgomery Park building in Albany, Oregon.

After I made it home I sketched the view from our living room window then decided to add a person looking out it. Also sketched on the iPad.

Here's some Amazon links to some of my sketching materials I use. If you need any art supplies if you order them through one of my links its a free way for you to help support my blog and youtube channel. I get a small commission that Amazon pays me whenever anyone orders through one of my links, even if it isn't what the link is for. So thank you.

MY SKETCHING TOOLS

Stillman & Birn Beta Series A5 Sketchbook: http://amzn.to/2tvb3JH

Apple Pencil: http://amzn.to/2DodFwt

iPad Pro 12.9-inch: http://amzn.to/2DhWfOI

JinHao Pen: http://amzn.to/2m3x2jJ

Lamy Safari fountain pen: http://amzn.to/2Dp91ye

Platinum carbon ink bottle ink black 60cc: http://amzn.to/2D1xFCA

Pentel Aquash Waterbrush: http://amzn.to/2F3ju0l

M. Graham watercolors: http://amzn.to/2Ee1yiA

For my YouTube channel, I do some of my filming with a GoPro Hero 2:  http://amzn.to/2m1LQzC

Please check out my videos (I NEED VIEWS AND SUBSCRIBERS!!!) 

RANDY'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL CLICK HERE

THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE -- ON VIDEO NOW!

The inked version of Plants vs. Zombies "Cone Zombie" and "Football Running Zombie." 

I know I posted these sketches earlier but I just completed the YouTube video of  how I sketched them so I'm reposting a similar version here.

My 4-year-old twin grandsons love watching YouTube videos of Plants vs. Zombies and have even adopted two of them as their avatars. They don't play the game yet, but I'm sure as soon as they are old enough we'll be purchasing it for them.

They even insist that we call them by "Cone Zombie" and "Football Running Zombie," their names for Conehead and Football zombies.

I decided to sketch them my versions of the characters so they could color them with Crayons.

The twins' artwork. 

I added a couple of my own zombies in the background just to fill it out.

How I sketch Plants vs. Zombies video. Click here

In this video I'm using the iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and the app Procreate.

Let me know what you think. And if you would, please subscribe to my Blog and YouTube channels.

I'm not sponsored by any products in this video or own any rights to Cone Zombie or Football Zombie. You should check out the Plants vs. Zombies game in the app store. It looks pretty fun.

Please check out my videos (I NEED VIEWS AND SUBSCRIBERS!!!) 

RANDY'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL CLICK HERE

Here's some of my art supplies you can find on Amazon.

Stillman & Birn Beta Series sketchbook: http://amzn.to/2CLMTer 

Apple Pencil: http://amzn.to/2DodFwt

iPad Pro 12.9-inch: http://amzn.to/2DhWfOI

JinHao Pen: http://amzn.to/2m3x2jJ

Lamy Safari fountain pen: http://amzn.to/2Dp91ye

Platinum carbon ink bottle ink black 60cc: http://amzn.to/2D1xFCA

Pentel Aquash Waterbrush: http://amzn.to/2F3ju0l

M. Graham watercolors: http://amzn.to/2Ee1yiA

For my YouTube channel, I do some of my filming with a GoPro Hero 2:  http://amzn.to/2m1LQzC

I PAINTED A FISH

As you can see by my previous post I sketched and painted a steelhead salmon. fish are actually harder to paint than I first thought.

A steelhead Salmon or rainbow trout. Pen & Ink, Watercolor on Stillman & Birn Beta Series A5 sketchbook.

I posted a video on my Youtube channel if you want to watch a timelapse of me sketching and using watercolor to get my final version.

This is the digital version using the app Procreate on the iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil.

My fish video

I also posted a video on my digital version of painting a fish. For that I simply took a photo of the steelhead  after I inked it and before I used watercolor on it. 

My Digital Fish video

I then uploaded the image to my iPad Pro into the drawing app Procreate and used an Apple Pencil to apply color.

Please check out my videos (I NEED VIEWS AND SUBSCRIBERS!!!) 

RANDY'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL CLICK HERE

MY FAVORITE SKETCHING BOOKS 

The Urban Sketcher: Techniques for Seeing and Drawing on Location 

Sketching People: An Urban Sketcher’s Manual to Drawing Figures and Faces

The Urban Sketching Handbook: Understanding Perspective

MY SKETCHING TOOLS

Stillman & Birn Beta Series A5 Sketchbook: http://amzn.to/2tvb3JH

Apple Pencil: http://amzn.to/2DodFwt

iPad Pro 12.9-inch: http://amzn.to/2DhWfOI

JinHao Pen: http://amzn.to/2m3x2jJ

Lamy Safari fountain pen: http://amzn.to/2Dp91ye

Platinum carbon ink bottle ink black 60cc: http://amzn.to/2D1xFCA

Pentel Aquash Waterbrush: http://amzn.to/2F3ju0l

M. Graham watercolors: http://amzn.to/2Ee1yiA

For my YouTube channel, I do some of my filming with a GoPro Hero 2:  http://amzn.to/2m1LQzC