Why do I love the full time lifestyle??? Well I have been a full timer for 9 years. I have spent at least a week in all 46 of the National Parks in the lower 48 states. I have been to all 48 of the lower 48 states. I have been to a half a dozen National Seashores. I have spent about a year of my 9 years living in the Grand Canyon, one of the seven wonders of the world. The view out my front window this morning was that of the most amazing vivid red sunrise across the lake. When I camp at the Padre Island National Seashore I camp right next to the ocean. And I mean right next to it. When the tide is in I get my feet wet getting out of my motorhome. Two days ago a Great White Egret walked right next to my motorhome and the cats went nuts. A Great Blue Heron walked in front of the motorhome, but the cats didn't see him.
I have had moose, bison, deer, elk, squirrels, rabbits and did I mention squirrels in my campsite. While I setting up camp in Big Bend National Park I noticed a woodpecker, a road runner, a raven and chicadee in my campsite. At Bryce Canyon I camped on the rim. It was a 30 foot walk and I was in the canyon (not really a canyon, it is an amphitheater).
I have hiked to the top of Mount Lassen, 10,456 feet and I have been to Badwater in Death Valley at minus 280. I have driven out to the Race Track in Death Valley (Google it if you don't know what that means) (thanks Lou). I have been to Angels Landing an to Wall Street in the Narrows at Zion. I have been chased by a buffalo in Yellowstone and at Teddy Roosevelt NP. I have camped right next to the Skagit River in North Cascades NP and watched an Eagle catch a fish from my campsite. I have ridden around Puget Sound and seen whales basking. I have watched dolphins bow riding the boat on the way back from the Channel Islands NP.
I did some snorkeling at Dry Tortuga NP. I went kayaking in the Everglades. I was on a boat tour at 10000 Islands in the Everglades that cruised within 20 feet of an Osprey nest that was at eye level on the second deck. I have photographed about 250 different species of birds (they are all on my web site). I have seen dozens of bears, hundreds of elk, moose, deer, pronghorn and sheep. Zillions of birds.
I have watched a baby Western Grebe riding on his mamas back. I have seen a Tern feeding her young a fish. I have seen many Osprey fishing and carrying a fish. I have watched Pelicans group feeding. I have been to the top of the Empire State Building, to Ground Zero, to the Flight 93 crash site memorial and to the Pentagon. I have seen JFKs eternal flame at Arlington National Cemetery. I have traveled the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I have videoed an alligator (Speedbump) being harassed by Turkey Vultures. I have looked into a Zone Tailed Hawks nest and photographed it.
I have been awoken to the sound of Elk bugling as he walked right next to my van in Rocky Mountain National Park. I have had to step out of the way as a female Big Horn Sheep led her babies right past me on the Bright Angel Trail in the Grand Canyon. I had to resist the urge to pet them since they almost brushed up against me. I have driven around Lake Tahoe. I have watched sea otters play in Morro Bay. I watched a river otter catch a fish and then he had to do a bit of some evasive tactics so the other otters wouldn't steal it. Then he swam over and ate it on the shore less than ten feet from where I was standing. I have seen a grizzly bear stand on it's hind legs less than 50 yards away on the other side of the river while protecting her two babies. I have watched Osprey dive repeatedly for fish. I have been dive bombed by hummingbirds protecting their nest.
In July 2004 I toured Mount Vernon and Graceland. That means in the same month I was in the house of the first President of the United States and the first King of the United States. I toured Sun Studios 50 years and two weeks after Elvis recorded his first song, That's All Right Mama. So I rented the studio and recorded my own version of That's All Right Mama. It was put on a CD with the Sun label and hangs on my wall. I went to a G3 concert in Phoenix and got to meet, get autographs of and get photographed with Steve Via and Yngwie Malmsteen (two of my guitar heroes).
I have been awoken to the sound of ravens mucking about on the roof of my RV. I have witnessed many sunrises and sunsets that are too beautiful to describe. I have seen a herd of elephant seals basking on the beach at Big Sur right below the observation platform. I have seen a few thousand Snow Geese take to the air all at once at Bosque del Apache. I once had the road blocked by thousands of Snow Geese at Bosque del Apache. I visited my hometown for the first time in 45 years and photographed myself in front of the first two houses I ever lived in. I have visited many of my relatives. I saw a bear climb a tree in Voyageurs National Park. I have watched Old Faithful erupt at least 100 times, probably many more. I never get tired of that. I have stood next to an Atlas Rocket at Stennis Space Center and toured Kennedy Space Center. I have seen a few different space shuttles, Lindbergh's plane the Spirit of St Louis, Telestar, the Apollo 11 capsule, the Bell X1 (first to break the speed of sound), the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.
I stood in front of the White House. I have been to the top of the Empire State Building. I have walked past Paul Revere's house in Boston. I photographed myself with the other four presidents at Mount Rushmore. I have had wild burros stick their head into my van looking for a hand out (they didn't get one). I have toured Lehman Caves, Mammoth Caves, Carlsbad Caverns, Wind Cave and a half a dozen other cave tours. I have seen the Carlsbad Caverns bat flight. I photographed a bat flight on the Congress Bridge in Austin with the bats flying less than 5 feet from my feet. I have toured the Grotto and the Winnebago factory in Iowa. I have stood on the same stage that Buddy Holly stood on in Clear Lake the night before he died. I have visited his grave site.
I watched a hawk circling directly over head checking me out at Saguaro NP. I have been to a half a dozen minor league baseball games and watched one at both Dodger Stadium and Coors Field. Got to meet Russel Martin, the Dodgers all star catcher. I have seen the aliens at Roswell NM (just kidding, but the town is lovely and the local Walmart actually has an alien section). I have stood less than 10 feet from a Mountain Goat at Logan Pass in Glacier NP. I have gotten to overnight at dozens of Walmarts. I have walked the Gettysburg battlefield and cried. I have been to all four corners of the country. I toured the Bureau of Engraving and seen a pallet stacked 5 feet high with bundles of $100 bills. I have been to all of the Smithsonian museums. I have been at the top of the Empire State Building. I have been to the top of the Washington Monument. I don't know what the designers of that thing were thinking, it doesn't look a thing like him. It should be called the Clinton Monument. I have walked from one end to the other in Central Park. I toured Grant's Tomb to make sure Grant was buried there.
I have toured two different air craft carriers, The Yorktown in Charleston SC and the Lexington in Corpus Christi TX and too many smaller Navy ships to count. I have driven over the Golden Gate Bridge, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, The Mackinaw Bridge in Michigan, and the bridges going through the Florida Keys. I have photographed over 70 different California Condors in the Grand Canyon. They are endangered and there are less that 400 in the world today. I have a photograph with 13 Condors in it and I have seen 25 at one time flying overhead. In 1982 there were only 22 in the entire world. I have had a llama so close to my face I thought he was going to kiss me at Olympic NP (pack animal). I have photographed Half Dome at Yosemite dozens of times. I have fed seagulls from the back of the Ocracoke NC ferry. I saw about a zillion sleeping lady bugs on a bush at Mesa Verde NP. I videoed two elks doing battle less than 30 feet from my van.
I have been photographed in front of the real Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor and a fake one in Las Vegas. I have toured Ellis Island. I have had a Crested Caracara perched on my arm at the Grand Canyon. I have watched surfers in California. I have been to the top of the Watchtower at the Grand Canyon dozens of times. I have watched a bobcat walk right below me at the Grand Canyon. I have photographed a Big Horn Sheep right in front of a petroglyph of a Big Horn Sheep at the Grand Canyon. I have seen an adult Bald Eagle steal a fish from a juvenile Bald Eagle over Puget Sound. I saw a coyote carrying a dead unita squirrel at Grand Teton NP. I saw a Joe Bonamassa concert from the front row in Vegas (another awesome guitarist).
I have seen a grizzly and a raven arguing over a dead elk at Grand Teton NP. I saw a wolf dragging a dead deer a half hour earlier two miles away. I saw a Green Wing Macaw on the rim of the Grand Canyon (tame). I have seen Native Americans dancing many times in the southwest. I have seen endless displays of Native American artwork that always takes my breath away. I have visited zoos all over the country. I photographed a Solstice Lunar Eclipse in Florida. I met Jack Hanna at the Grand Canyon. I have done a float trip down the Colorado River.
And I have done most all of this with camera in hand. Most everyone of these stories has photos of it online:
https://picasaweb.google.com/seilerbird
