Part 2: A Ghost Town, A Man Who Died 4 Times, and Cows With 2 Heads

We hope everyone had a nice Halloween! Here's the rest of the story...

Just 5 mins. south of John Day is a museum worth checking out. The Grant County Historical Museum hosts relics of really old stuff (uhm isn't that what a relic is?), from a collection of 5,000 old photographs, to Victorian Crap Art -er, I mean "scrap art". The entire museum is also "touch friendly", inviting visitors not just to see and read, but also to feel, sit, touch, wear, and inevitably smell that old fashioned western spirit from yonder days. As for me, I took the opportunity while everyone was there (including the town Mayor) to enjoy a nice game of poker. The lady next to me was apparently not just known for her card playing skills, but, well, let's just say that cards are not the only deck she's shuffling on the table.

Later that day, I ran into her again, inside the jail house right next to the museum. This is the original cabin-like 5 x 7-ft cell where the bad-asses were contained, including Miss Social Butterfly here. Who wears satin and fine stockings while in jail?







Freaky peripheral No. 2 wasn't at all far. The last room in the museum sported real stuffed animals that were captured by cowboys and hunters: deer, elk, large birds... nothing jumps out of the ordinary until you see this:

Ay, carumba. What a place.

As for the rest of the town and the county, there were so much to do and still so many historical sites to see. We love places like this. Being able to drive your home (and bring your pets!) and experience living in a town like this one is just one of the many reasons why we love RVing!

Just one of the regular scenes around John Day, Oregon.
When was the last time you stopped driving to park on the roadside,
take your clothes off and jump in the cool water on a very warm day?

To see the rest of our trip's fabulous photos, click here!

A Ghost Town, A Man Who Died 4 Times, and Cows With 2 Heads

Oh, the stories we have collected.

In our recent journey, we traveled to North Eastern Oregon, where a man named John Day baffled everyone with his life story. He was a hunter. A strikingly tall, handsome man who boasted of being impenetrable, while being overindulgent. During one of his journeys, he was attacked by Indians, robbed, and left to wander naked along the river. Locals started calling this river the John Day River, and within a very few years, so did the maps.

Fast forward to 2007, and a valley, two cities, a fossil bed/National Monument, and a dam are now known under the same name. John Day must have been really popular to gain such reverence without actually visiting these areas named after him. (See what running around naked can do for your persona?) His life was so remarkable yet ambiguous - historical records show several entries and reasons for his death: a) became deranged and suicidal, ran away into the woods, b) suffered severe depression and died, c) lived a fruitful life hunting and went peacefully in a cabin by the river, and d) gone incognito until 19th century paparazzi couldn't find him no mo.

Inside and around this county lie several abandoned towns. It was, after all, part of the Oregon Trail. But, like butter melting on a hot pancake, the gold ran out, the Natives pushed out and the environment heavily defiled - leaving the West coast with a brand new spankin' city and a totally awesome state that's now San Francisco, CA. Back in John Day, we took Fox for a trip to see these ghost towns, and he was purty pleased. Can you tell why?

The photos above are remnants of an 1880s boomtown during the gold rush, back when 5,000 people populated the area. Now, all that stand (stand leaning, I should say! hahaha) are these neglected structures - however, they still seem to function, in fact most of them look -nay, FEEL like the owners will be back soon before night fall.

Major creepy.

Don't miss the second part of A Ghost Town, A Man Who Died 4 Times, and Cows With 2 Heads - coming soon!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!
No Hooos, Just Booos!

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I'm A Virgin

A New York City Virgin.

Well, at least until the 4th of July two years ago.

With certain notable events reminding us of New York these days (other than the sad commemoration of the World Trade Center tragedy last month) - like the 103rd year anniversary of the NY Subway on Oct. 27, the Garden in Transit event where hundreds of yellow taxis are temporarily transformed into mobile floral art canvases (in honor of the city's first metered taxi cab) and on a personal note, our best friends just returning from their trip from Maine and New York, and another close friend who recently bought a house there and moved in it, I thought I'd post this video.

Consequently, events such as the "Village Halloween Parade" is coming up in NY. If you think San Francisco's Castro Halloween Party is HUGE (or used to be) with it's 300,000-count partiers, NY's Village Halloween Parade is still the largest celebration of its kind in the world drawing more than 50,000 costumed participants and approximately 2 million spectators each year.

We initially wanted to do a cross-country RV trip from Cali to New York (hey, just like that Black Eyed Peas song) but since we 're keeping our place (which we tried to sell once so we can live and travel in the RV) we're also keeping the travels close by and intermittently.

The next destination is coming up next month after Thanksgiving, (we're taking the RV to Death Valley) and we are looking forward to driving in those primitive backcountry roads and exploring dramatic panoramas.

In the meantime, enjoy the video, keep shopping for those last minute Halloween costumes, and we promise to give you more travel pics in the coming days!

If you can't see the video above, you can find it at LonelyPlanet.tv http://lonelyplanet.tv/Clip.aspx?key=03C7A60020B76AD5

Our Site's Improved!

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Fall is definitely in the air! Have you been to the site lately? I know most of you receive the blog postings in your inbox, and that's why I'm inviting you to see the changes in the site whenever you can!

Click either the gray title (Traveling 12 Feet) or the Title of the post (for this case, "Our Site's Improved!") in your email and it will take you there. Of course, you can type 12feet.blogspot.com in your browser as well.

Here are the changes:
1. We are W-I-D-E-R-!!!! <-------------------> Yes, you asked for more horizontal space in the body and so we're giving it to you: More space means less scrolling down!
2. Also, we've installed a few fun things in the site.

- There's a Visitor Locations Map that tells you what part of the world visitors are coming from, that looks like the one on the left.
Now, I'd love to see more dots from more places in the world in the following days. Why not add your country or state now?


- There's also a Live Traffic Feed (and no I don't mean this) that tells you in real-time where you're from and how you got here. Look for this cool program on the lower right side of the blog! See if it really does tell you where you're coming from!

- Your comments now appear on the upper right side of the page! Keep them coming, we always appreciate hearing back from you!

- And in case you haven't noticed, we've been rotating the header photos with shots of places we've been to. (Click here to see the current header). The active photo is from one of our favorite spots, which is actually very close by: Pacifica (the best view of the Pacific ocean in the Bay Area - and best place to surf, too!) Along with that, we will be posting a gallery of photos; a collection of the best pictures Chris and I have ever taken! These things won't be included in the regular posts that come to your inbox, so make sure you check the blog site every now and then!

- Finally, we have fellow travelers (who are subscribers like you!) sharing with us what it's like to experience not only America, but the rest of the world as well (yes, it exists!). Please check out Dave Ford Does Earth (Dave Ford) and Alaska Tripping (Louis Matarelli). You can see their links (which I created especially for them) at the bottom of the blog site. We hope to inspire people to travel and learn more about the world, your country, even the town you live in; expand horizons and broaden your understanding. Like everything else, the more you know about this world, the better you can improve it and the way you live in it.





Oh, and one last thing. Guys, help me wish Chris a Very Happy Birthday!!!! (Oct. 19)



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Rikki's US State Quarters Collection - and - Back in the Bay Area

Okay, many of you asked "what else do you need?" (including my mom) for my Book of Quarters, so I thought I'd post it here.


If you didn't know yet, US quarters aren't released all at the same time in their respective states. Well, not since 1999 as far as I know. The 50 State Quarters program is on a 10-yr schedule which started from 1999 and is ending in 2008 (almost there!)

As you could see, I need Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Indiana on the left page, and New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming on the right. The Wyoming quarter came out last Sept. 3rd, and Utah will be on Nov. 5th. If you click here you'll see the full schedule and what else is left to be released in the following year. I will gladly accept donations of my missing quarters - and put an end to this madness :-)

***UPDATE***
I was doing laundry this afternoon and found a South Dakota quarter. So scratch that off the list. I'm one quarter closer to my sanity.

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Meanwhile, we are back in the Bay Area (APPLAUSE!!!!) taking care of business. Did you know that your travelers are now designers? Interior designers. Goodness. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the gene! While trying to sell our condo before we left for travel, one of the "well-heeled" (read: owns his own jet) unit-owners looked at our place and liked it so much he employed us on the spot to do his office-slash-home in the building. This office has the most magnificent views of the bay, the marina, the bridge, the mountains where the sun rises; it's so big you can later view the sunset, too, on the other side of the house!


So now, instead of dealing with patients, nurses, reports and crazy people, Chris manages the suppliers, vendors, client/s and contractors while aiding me and a female colleague in design ideas and he juggles them effortlessly as if he was Philippe Starck in a past life.

He and I with my expertise in graphic design, marketing and exceptionally beyond-average-breakfast-preparation skills have been propelled into a career we both have no professional experience with (other than what we've accomplished with our own place), but definitely have lots of interest and enthusiasm for. (Who knew all those hours watching HGTV would pay off?) As for our home, we decided to keep it (it's a horrendous market anyway), and since we only have to be in Canada 51% of the time as immigrants, we can ping-pong back and forth between here and there.

By the way, I love saying "ping pong" and I happen to be very good at playing it. That is the only form of tennis I excel in, along with "Top Spin" for XBox.

But fret not, we will keep the postings coming as we have accumulated quite a lot of experiences with the places we visited, and we would love to share them with you. With this new lifestyle (and new-found freedom!) we will be able to travel and work at the same time. The posts are delayed, and hopefully we'll be able to catch up when we travel again. Just think of them like watching Friends or Seinfeld reruns that you've never seen before. You know it's out-dated, but it's still fun to watch!

Everyone, we miss you and love you all and Fox and Spencer send their licks and kisses your way!