Firstly, I have to make this very, very clear: I am very happy to be here in Arizona and especially pleased about escaping more of BC’s winter this year. No question – my inner snowbird is being well served and satisfied. So is Sal’s.
Living the Snowbird Life
BUT…………………
Phoenix has not proven very interesting. Not so far, anyway. To be fair, we have not explored most of it yet but what we have explored is kinda flat and brown and mainly comprised of shopping centres. There HAS to be more but, so far, I haven’t found it.
Again….we have not exhausted all areas. We’ll give Scottsdale a shot today at entertaining us to the degree we think we deserve. I am looking for quirky and weird verging on riotous with a smidge of danger. With good street food. We’ll see.
In actual fact, we have been mostly content to work half a day at ‘home’ trying to make a silk book out of a sow’s writings so as to produce the much anticipated second book. But so far all we have managed to achieve is improved grammar and spelling, better, tighter writing and it is getting more organized for easier reading.
The content still half sucks, in my opinion. I need to improve that. And, GET THIS: According to the Huffington Post, “The average U.S. nonfiction book is now selling less than 250 copies per year and less than 3,000 copies over its lifetime. There is no general audience for most nonfiction books, and chasing after such a mirage is usually far less effective than connecting with one’s communities. A book has less than a 1% chance of being stocked in an average bookstore”.
So, you can see the challenge.
There are a few good anecdotes in the book. I may add some more. And there is some ‘advice’ as to how to go about living off the grid but I am really not knowledgeable enough to do a HOW-TO or even give good instructions on much of anything factual or technical or even all that detailed. There is a smidge of philosophy-like stuff…you know….Dave’s thoughts on life….that kind of thing (yawn). It is turning out to be a natural-enough extension of the first book but it is not a page-turner.
So far, I do not recommend it. Obviously, neither would the Huffington Post. But we are still working at it.
One of the most interesting things about writing this second book is that I have noticed that the OTG genre has expanded quite a bit in the last two years. When we first published, there were, perhaps, fifteen or twenty authors that fell into the OTG category and some of the books were older ones re-issued. Today, that number has tripled. Mind you, a good portion of that increase is about alternative energy and sustainable food generation. Lots of How-to books on that and, of course, they are quickly out-dated by the newest one. Some of it is Prepper-type stuff (hoarding, guns, ammo, etc) and that can be kinda fun if you read between the lines. But there are also quite a few more of the ‘Our Life In the Forest’-type books. Ron Melchiore’s Off Grid and Free: My Path to the Wilderness is the last one I read. I liked it.
Anyway, the reason I mention all that is that there are smarter, better, braver, more capable OTG’ers out there and they are writing up their stories. My stuff is basically about living OTG on a hope and prayer with the help of an angel and a large supply of First Aid materials. That story has short legs. Can’t go too far on short legs. Two books may be more than enough.
So, we may wrap this puppy up, call it an epilogue or something and move on to writing something more fun.
Come January 20th, that decision may be made for us.
PS: For anyone silly enough to do so, you can now subscribe to the blog.
Our Off the Grid Home 
Look at the bright side.
“Flat” means you dont have to use the funicular for a few weeks………
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Perhaps you could write a chapter about your “PSD” .
What I mean is, the shock of Arizonian civilzation. Or something like that.
I had poor country relatives that never lijked the “big city” and all the hustle bustle, people ,traffic and noise.
Or the reverse. going back the the homestead after living On the Grid….
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Don’t know yet…………I try to tell the truth (even if the truth is boring) but I have not done enough to have a good, fair, honest TRUTH yet. We’ll see. People have been pleasant. Ground has been flat. Stores have been big. And the highways are great. So, far, that’s it.
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The weather here has be cold and wet. The ice is slowly going and up the coast strong wind warnings. Sal looks like she has found the pace of things. Does this mean that the sojourn will be extended?
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No. To be honest, we are already planning our spring. Looking forward to a warm home and a sunny springtime. Wanna try the greenhouse. WITH a bit of physical-ness. Arizona is a uber car-culture and sedentary in general. I have never in my life been in a restaurant well attended where I was the thinnest and cutest guy in the place. The other night, I was, by far, the second most beautiful (after Sal) and Jabba the Hut was third. Jabba the Bungalow was fourth. The rest came in by front-end loader.
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Did you see Pizza-The-Hut?
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Any possibilities of establishing an Arizona OTG chapter?
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Don’t think so, JG. You literally cannot live here without a car. And, of course, the roads that go with it. Our living OTG has come up a couple of times and the folks were stunned and gobsmacked that ‘there no restaurants, stores or shopping’ anywhere near us. They couldn’t believe it. And I confess that if one were to go OTG here, it would be with a burro in the middle of the desert staring at cactus and tumbleweeds. Here’s an irony: almost any good restaurant here features their fish….?
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Some Trump cartoons for all you folks just before El Presidente swears himself in…….
http://imgur.com/gallery/5f26i
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Good morning, America! Great!
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Sorry to interrupt. It’s Trev (of the north), my nick name when I was surveying up north (not the other nick name).
Dave, I am so impressed with your latest blogs. Your next book should be “Dave’s Philosophy”, period.
I am not trying to suck hole…just saying.
Love you guys
How long are you down there for?
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With that kind of love I am booking a flight home tomorrow! Thanks for the complement but you know better than most how irritating I can be. Can we stay at your house? We’re here for a few weeks. I’ll try to dream up some kind of coherent philosophy. I like yours- enjoying the moment and spreading the laughter….
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Just finished our OTG presentations at the Vancouver Boat Show. A few takers, but not many. Had the last slot in the evening and most people had gone, plus not too many boaters are interested unless they are planning a long time at anchor. Met some nice people and had a good time. Wayne has gone the opposite, he has 13 books in his series with a quasi how-to book to come out in April. He always says, what he lacks in quality he makes up for in quantity. Meanwhile, I’m still working (actually not working) on number one. Enjoy the sunshine. The weather here has improved with some sun and warmer temps. Going home tomorrow for a much needed rest from city life. – Margy
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