Photo by Frank Bonilla

Wow, there’s lots to learn about going on the road, and lots of decisions to make — good thing doing the research is half the fun.

I’ve been reading about:

• The best type of used, traveling/living vehicle to buy (small motor home? hightop van? plain cargo van?)
• What kind of power sources to use (propane ? solar? generator?)
• What kind of camping is best and/or cheapest (campgrounds? dispersed? stealth?)

That’s the learning curve.  Then there are the decisions, like:

• What to focus on first (earning money, raising it, or decluttering?)
• How to get in shape, given my lack of enthusiasm for exercise.
• The all-important should I get a dog? What kind and what should I name it? (Thinking: Yes/Pit bull/Fluffy.)

There are lists to make:

• What to keep.
• What to give away, sell, orthrow out.
• What to buy.
• And of course, where to go!

I’ll be writing about these topics more as I go along, but I thought you’d like to know what decisions* I’ve made so far, and why:

1. I’m going to buy a cargo van instead of a small motor home.
   Reasons:
   • Used cargo vans are cheap and easy to find, with way fewer things to break than a motor home.
   • They’re easier/cheaper to repair.
   • I’d rather put the money toward a newer model and a reliable engine than fancy furnishings that I will probably want to change anyway.
   • Motor home furnishings are usually made with lots of toxic materials that give me migraines. A cargo van’s plain, steel shell will allow me to customize the interior for my specific needs and tastes.
   • Cargo vans are easy to park innocuously in any setting (aka “stealth camping“) which saves mucho bucks.
2. When I can afford it, I will have a “hightop” installed for ventilation, light, and head room. (Unless I can find a good van already equipped with one.)
3. I plan to “boondock” (camp without hookups to water or power) as much as possible to save money (campgrounds cost almost as much as motel rooms these days) and enjoy more remote and scenic settings.
4. I’ll put solar panels on top of the van to charge up a battery that will power my laptop, phone and lights. (Oh, and my blender! Can’t forget that.)
5. I’ll use a 5-day cooler instead of a fridge, so there will be no need for more power (I hope!) I could get a propane fridge but I really don’t want to use propane if I can avoid it, due to my chemical sensitivity. I’ll have to buy fresh produce every few days for my daily green smoothies anyway, so I don’t think I will need a fridge.
6. I won’t be cooking much because I eat mostly raw foods, but I’ll have a solar oven in case I get a hankering for something hot.

Besides decision-making, I have made shocking (for me) progress on the decluttering front by selling most of my books. Total take: $42 toward the Road Trip fund – yay!

*All decisions come with the following caveat: unless I change my mind!

For one thing, I don’t want to hold anything back. I want to share, here on The Complete Flake, everything I learn about traveling, camping, and living on the road as I get ready for the big trip next year. And once I get going, I want to post all the Road Trip news that’s fit to blog, such as photos and videos, interviews, and stories from the road.

More important, that post gave the impression that I’m expecting you to pay for my big adventure. Not at all! I do need to raise the money, of course, but I hope to do it by other means such as selling my almost-finished novel, Green Card, and whatever else I can come up with. (Blog hosting, anyone?)

[Update: I have been cajoled into adding a Chip-In box to the sidebar, in case you'd like to donate, and here's my Road Trip! Amazon Wishlist. I hope that's not too pushy!]

So I’ve stopped charging for subscriptions and refunded all money paid so far (if you were one of those lovely people, please know how grateful I am for your unconditional support!)

I’d still love to have you along for the ride. As a Road Trip subscriber, you’ll get all the blog posts, along with resources for free camping, farmer’s markets and other sources of healthy food all over the country, and anything else I run across that might be useful.

Would you like that? If so, sign up here.

And thanks.

Hey there! I know it’s been a while but I haven’t forgotten you, my fellow flake. And guess what? We’re going on a road trip! If you want to come along for the virtual ride, that is.

You see, I have been longing to pick up stakes and hit the road since I was a teenager. That’s when my mother and I went on an epic vacation that led from our small Minneapolis apartment through the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota, across the mountains of Wyoming, all the way to Yellowstone.

It was 1959, the summer I turned 13. We camped out under the stars and slept on a mattress in the back of Mom’s white Valiant station wagon. I’ve never forgotten the buttery taste of rainbow trout that we caught ourselves and cooked over a campfire next to a still-icy stream, the smell of crisp air and wide open sky, the  shock of seeing snow in June (and throwing snowballs in my shorts) in the majestic Grand Tetons, the breathless feeling of freedom on the road.

We were so happy during those two amazing weeks that we decided to live like that some day. The plan was for me to drop out of school at 16 (this was Mom’s idea, believe it or not, and homeschooling was not even a concept back then) and we would drive around the country seeing all there was to see. When we ran out of money, we would stop and work as waitresses until we saved enough to take off again.

It was a beautiful dream.

I can still see my fantasy: the two of us traveling back roads, meeting all kinds of people, seeing the real America. I lived for my 16th birthday so we could go on our Big Adventure at last. But Mom must have forgotten our dream because she went and opened a restaurant, fell in love, and got married. *sigh* Women.

So we didn’t go. But I didn’t forget. Soon it was the 70′s and I dreamed of going off in a converted VW bus with a bunch of hippies, but life intervened. In the 80′s, I planned to go on the road in an RV like Charles Kuralt (only without the CBS camera crew and money), traveling from town to town, interviewing ordinary people about life in America. I even went on a cross-country trip with my Aunt Babe and Uncle Bert in their big motor home, to see if my fantasy could survive reality. It could, and did.

And then I fell in love and got married. *sigh* Women.

So here it is, 2012, and I still haven’t followed my dream. The husband is long gone, the kids are grown, and it’s time. I’m 65 — I can’t wait any longer. So I’m going.

Okay, I do have to wait a bit.

Preparations must be made. Funds must be raised. A proper vehicle must be found in which to live and travel — I’m not up to sleeping in a station wagon any more. Nonessential stuff must be disposed of. This cranky old body must be put back in shape, as much as possible.

Beyond all that, decisions must be made about the purpose of the journey. I want to interview people and share their stories in a book and/or film. And I definitely want to visit all the wonderful friends I’ve made in cyberspace.

This will mean lots of criss-crossing of North America — and I hope, some longer jaunts to Europe and Australia. All of which takes lots of planning! Which is a total blast!

So I’m setting a launch date of April 1, 2013 — April Fool’s Day, which feels like the perfect day to begin a fool’s journey. And I’ll be blogging the whole thing — the preparations, the planning and, of course, the trip itself — right here on The Complete Flake.

That’s my dream — what’s yours?Are you planning a big, awesome trip or other goal?

Let’s work on our dreams together.

If you would like more than the occasional blog update, if you want the insider stuff — the small but real steps of how I’m making huge changes in my life, and how you can too — sign up for the special Road Trip! newsletter. (No worries, I hate spam too.) There’s a small monthly fee of $7 — a no-brainer, right? And it’s free!

Think of it as a motivational journey — what can you do now, small steps, to get there. You can do the fitness part with me, or decluttering/downsizing if you like, or work on your own Dream.

Any questions?

• Where do you plan on going?
  The U.S. and Canada, plus Baja California. I hope to hop over to Europe and Australia eventually, too.
• Will you visit my town?
  I hope so! Sign up for the newsletter and help plan my itinerary. :-)
• Who will you interview? What will you talk about?
  I’ll be talking to the people I meet along the way, and gathering their stories, for my true-story site, one blue berry.
• What will you do with the interviews?
  I’m hoping to write a book and possibly make a documentary film. Ideas for that will be a topic of discussion in the Road Trip! newsletter.
• How long will this trip last?
  A year, maybe two — maybe longer.
• What will you need in order to get going?
  A used van that I can live in, camping gear, and an emergency fund for car repairs and other unpleasantries.
• How will you raise the money for that?
  By selling my novel, Green Card (to be released on Kindle soon), other writing, affiliate sales of recommended resources, webhosting, audio editing services, and possibly a Kickstarter or Indie Go Go campaign.
• But it’s dangerous out there!
  It’s dangerous everywhere. I’ll find a loveable-yet-protective (and cute!) pooch to adopt for company, security and enterainment. Don’t worry.

Come away with me!* $7/mo. Free!

*We even have our own theme song – “Come Away With Me” by Norah Jones. Love that song.

Think of The Complete Flake as my sandbox. This is where I’m going to play with new ideas.

This morning, I started a new routine. I meditated for ten minutes, did a few yoga stretches, and wrote for fifteen minutes. I can do more if I feel like it, totally up to me.

I’m doing this because I want to establish a new daily routine that supports both my health and my writing. If I start off the day positively and proactively instead of giving in to my food and internet addictions, the rest of the day has a much better chance of being productive. This way, I can build my self-confidence and self-respect.

Because thinking of myself as a hopeless flake at the mercy of my own bad habits is just a habit itself, after all. I don’t HAVE to see myself that way. I can CHOOSE a different self-image — like say, someone who loves to write, meditate and do yoga every morning, first thing. (And someone who loves healthy food and – well, loving exercise will take more work.)

And my first thought now is, Hmm, I wonder if yogawrite.com is available? Ha! Another habit! Because I love me a brand new website to start from scratch. During yoga this morning, I was also thinking about starting a new Twitter hashtag for daily practice. But I must resist, not because either idea is bad. It’s only a question of mental bandwidth and whether I have any to spare. And I know that I don’t.

I’m questioning everything right now – decluttering my day and deciding where to put my focus. I know I can’t stop getting excited about new ideas, but how can I explore them without making public commitments that are embarrassing to back out of later, when I lose interest? (Sorry, but I told you I’m a flake.)

Well, that’s where The Complete Flake comes in handy. Now I can flit about from idea to idea as much as I like.

I like that. Hope you do too. :)

Photo credit

It’s magic, I tell ya.

Soon after the end of the November challenge, I got an email that made me cry:

“I wasn’t sure how the mortgage was going to get paid this month, and now it’s COVERED, so this has been a HUGE boon.”

This Customer Love challenger grabbed the opportunity, jumped in wholeheartedly and worked her ass off to achieve a big success. Customer Love didn’t do that for her — she can claim all the credit — but it gave her a place and a format within which to spread the word and build excitement about her product.

I have never felt so fucking USEFUL in my life.

This is what I want to do from now on, to help even more struggling entrepreneurs kick-start their businesses so that they can make those mortgage payments and take care of their families.

I am working with Jonathan Wondrusch (@bybloggers) to create an amazing course — that I have to keep my mouth shut about, dammit. I WANT to shout it from the rooftops. Just trust me, it’s gonna be good. And I’m pretty sure it’s gonna help cover some more mortgage payments. But more about that in a month.

Right now, I’m wondering how to integrate Customer Love and The Complete Flake in my life. I don’t want to ignore my dear flakes, but I’m just not passionate about procrastination any more, you know? It’s a problem I will always struggle with, but I don’t find it fascinating AT ALL. I just don’t want to write about it any more.

What I’ve learned from Customer Love is that flakiness can be overcome with motivation.

If you want something badly enough, you will find a way to get it done.

It might not be neat and organized, it might be at the last second or even late, but it will get done.

If you have to force yourself to do it, maybe you need to look at your reason for doing it. Do you really WANT to do it, or do you feel like you HAVE to? If you feel boxed in and without a choice in the matter, I’d say take a look at that and see if there’s any way you can give yourself a choice.

That’s it, the sum total of my advice about flakiness, resistance, procrastination — whatever you want to call it.

Am I going to abandon The Complete Flake?

No, but I’m not going to focus on flakiness any more. I think it will just be my personal blog and I’ll talk about whatever without feeling the need to teach you anything, which seems to bring up all sorts of resistance in me, lol.

I’m not going to waste any more energy trying to make myself do what I don’t really want to do.

So let’s relax. Let’s just be ourselves here. What do you think?

Photo credit

It was 1976. I was a student at the KISS-FM Broadcasting School in Los Angeles, where we learned how to spin records, splice tape and read news straight from the teletype machine. [What, you never heard of these things? Why yes, it WAS ancient history.]

And one day, we had a class in How to Host a Radio Talk Show. Apparently, it’s harder than it looks.

The school had hired an unknown actor to play various characters as ‘guests’ while we each took a five-minute turn in the glass booth. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only female in the group to fall in love with the actor when he was introduced: a mass of curls, a sweet, innocent expression, and a long coat that made me think of The Little Prince.

He was adorable. And when he spoke in his soft voice, he had a lovely British accent.

We were told that each guest character would present a common problem that talk show hosts have to face. Of course, we weren’t warned in advance what our problem would be – or that our sweet-faced Little Prince was FUCKING CRAZY.

We found out soon enough.

Imagine a world where Robin Williams does not exist, where there is no such thing as stream-of-consciousness, GENIUS comedy. That was the world of 1976.

The first student walked into the booth full of confidence. Robin metamorphosed into a fast-talking hipster who turned his host into a gibbering idiot in ten seconds flat.

Next!

The next character talked even faster – a foul-mouthed pimp who sexually harassed and even fondled the breasts of the poor young woman who had the bad luck to be his host.

Next!

My turn. Gulp.

My ‘guest’ was an old man who represented the Arthritis Society. Phew! After a few wheezing words, he dropped dead – in my lap. [Yes, Robin Williams' head was in my lap - that's my claim to fame.]

What do you say on live radio when your guest dies?

“Is there a doctor in the house? I think he’s dead.” Brilliant.

Robin’s old man character popped back up.

“No, I’m not! I just wanted to show you how serious arthritis can be!”

And so on. It was a crazy, terrifying, hilarious day, as each of us was tormented by another facet of Robin Williams’ genius. At the end, he turned back into his sweet Little Prince with the British accent, and I wanted to leave my husband and marry him.

A few months later, when the TV sitcom “Mork & Mindy” became an overnight smash hit, I recognized the Little Prince. I thought, “What talent – a Brit who can do an amazing American accent!” It took me another year to find out that I’d been had, and Robin had been faking the British accent for our class.

Which made me admire him even more.

That’s my brush with fame – what’s yours? Tell us in the comments below!

So I made a quick tutorial that I thought you might like as well. Obviously, if you don’t use Thesis, it won’t be helpful, but there’s a nifty tip for finding images you can use on your blog [with attribution, of course].

Hope you like it!

~~~

]]> http://completeflake.com/tutorial-how-to-add-a-photo-above-the-post-title-in-thesis/feed/ 2 http://completeflake.com/omg-another-customerlove-challenge/ http://completeflake.com/omg-another-customerlove-challenge/#comments Mon, 25 Oct 2010 12:00:12 +0000 LaVonne Ellis http://completeflake.com/?p=2095 One week from today, we start another four-week round of delightful insanity. Except the #customerlove craziness has already begun Chez Flake.

First: Welcome, Ittybiz peeps!

My guest post about the first #customerlove challenge just went live. Can I just say, SQUEEE? Naomi Dunford has been so incredibly generous and kind — promoting the first challenge on Twitter, doing an interview with me, writing an introduction to the Customer Love eBook, and now publishing my guest post. Makes me a little verklempt just thinking about her. :sniff:

Thank you, Naomi!

Now: BIG NEWS! [In case that wasn't big enough.]

The amazing Chris Anthony, aka @etherjammer the Delightineer, has graciously agreed to join me in running the challenge! That big sigh of relief you hear is me. Because these challenges are a LOT of work — that I love, don’t forget, but the chances of something going terribly wrong or me winding up in a quivering heap on the floor are now much less.

Thank you, Chris!

More BIG NEWS!

We have a new website, just for #CustomerLove! [So many exclamation points!] It’s a bit of a mess over there right now, but this is your sneak peek. Feel free to drop in during the next week to watch our progress. Lots of fun stuff in the works! We officially launch the site next Monday, November 1st.

In the meantime, you can sign up for the #customerlove challenge here. You’ll get all the updates that way, no matter where we are in the site transition, as well as the Customer Love eBook.

[And if you can't take part in the challenge this time, go ahead and download the ebook right here: {filelink=1} -- you don't even have to opt in. See how much I love you?]

That doesn’t mean the Flake will be abandoned during the challenge, btw, just that #customerlove sorta took over this place last time and I worried that my flakes were being neglected. So I’ll still be blogging here about flaky goodness, though just once a week during the challenge.

Continuing the neglect [but not for long]…back to #customerlove news:

I’m going to hold one-hour tweet chats on Tuesdays at 5pm Pacific time during the challenge. It starts tomorrow, so we can all do our pre-challenge planning together. Hope I see you there.

One last thing, if you’re new here, you may not know about the Stuckbuster Sessions. They’re a great way to get unstuck at whatever you need to be working on — like that Thing you’ll be launching at the end of the #customerlove challenge? Don’t forget that part!

So if that sounds intriguing to you, go on and take a look. I’ll be holding extra sessions just for you challengers. :)

Phew — it’s going to be a busy month! Have you started planning for #customerlove yet? Tell me all about it in the comments below. :)

Flakes aren’t the only ones who fall into that trap.

My weak spot is organization, but I have a strong spot: I love fiddling with websites. AND I love making screencast tutorials. Handy!

So I thought I’d share tips with you now and then, in case tech stuff is your weak spot. No need to feel bad about it. If you’re not interested in something, why should you compare yourself to someone who is? Take what you need and leave the rest, right?

So here’s a little tutorial to help you make simple changes to your WordPress website, without having to learn CSS [all you need is a few simple tools, listed below]:

• Firefox browser with Firebug add-on installed.
• Free CSS editor called TopStyle Lite.
• Free color-picker program called ColorPix.

Now, you’re ready to rock CSS!

There’s going to be another #customerlove challenge in November — yay!!!

Sadly, David won’t be able to participate because he has other commitments, but that means I’m going to need more guest posts — from you! I want to showcase as many challengers as possible, so if you’re going to take part in the challenge and you’d like to write a guest post — or be interviewed –  just click the Contact tab up at the top of the page and let me know.

Sign up for the challenge and get the ebook here.

Or, if you won’t be participating this time, you can download the ebook here — no need to opt in: {filelink=1} And I hope we’ll see you in a future challenge. :)

Otherwise, hang on — lots of fun stuff in the works!

Are you taking part this time? Tell me in the comments below.