About

Original About

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling with me. She continues to struggle with serious medical conditions. We remain good friends.

Updated June 8, 2019

  1. Mary no longer travels with me.
  2. I am now 78years old.
  3. I started RVing in 1964, went full-time in 1995.
  4. I’ve traveled all over the North American Continent including Canada, Mexico and Central America. See points 1,2 and 3 below. As well to land’s end at the four extremities of the United States. See points 4,5,6 and 7 below. Alaska has never called me.
  5. north_america_map1
  6. I’ve made six circumnavigations of the United States…the last one being almost two year job lasting 682 days and 12,677 miles with the motorhome and another 10,000 miles with the Bronco through 28 different states. See below…USA 2011-13-3
  7. I’ve decided that I no longer desire to experience the excessive heat and humidity found in the east during the summer. So, I’ve also decided to change my RVing life style as follow…
  8. My #1 priority will be to try and be in 65-75 degree temperatures as much as possible. My #2 priority  will be to try and take maximum advantage of my Thousand Trails membership as much as possible. And my #3 priority will be to finish my remaining years on the west coast, never to cross the Rocky Mountains again.
  9. I intend to occupy my off-road time doing photography, walking, visiting museums, visiting friends, playing my harmonica, playing spider solitaire, watching movies, visiting American Legions, VFWs, Moose and Eagles Clubs and doing lots of reading.
  10. I’ve chosen Que Sera Sera as my new blog name. Simply put, I have no idea of where my life is headed. Whatever will be, will be. All that remains for me is to find out One Day At A Time!
78 Comments

78 thoughts on “About

  1. budkuball

    Hi Mary & Jim: Good luck in your new lifestyle.Just finished reading EVERY word in your 3 books {again].It was fun re-living our 343 day adventure.You did a fabulous job on those books! Am still at 8600 feet 40 miles east of Cedar City, Utah,assisting a friend overseeing a 765 acre guest ranch.Will be leaving for Vegas when the snow flies.Eduardo.

  2. Welcome back, Mary. Really missed you.

  3. Hi Jim,
    Would love to interview you and Mary on my radio show. If you follow me on Twitter (I’m following you) I will DM you my email address. Thanks so much!

  4. Dave Woodman

    Hello. glad I found you. Saw your work in red dot gallery Palm Springs and never forgot about it.

    Tuesday night while walking down Palm Canyon Drive I noticed an organic star shaped broken tile on the sidewalk. You probably know, Palm Canyon Drive, nearer to downtown is where the walk of fame stars are. Would love to show this to you, if you are local.

    Have always wanted to buy my friend’s & family name from you, but must first work on getting a house for myself.

    Dave

  5. Dear Marry and Jim, I visit your blog and I like it! Very beatiful dan interesting blog. I hope learning make interest blog to there . Sorry my English not good, because I am Indonesia women. Thanks a lot! http://jendelakatatiti.wordpress.com

  6. Bob Ridge-Stearn

    Hi Jim and Mary,
    I’ve recently found your blog and love it. We’re English but have made three trips to the States and once drove coast to coast. Anyway, I have a question. How can I get to your very first blog entry? I can’t seem to get back further than Sept 2009 but suspect it started before that. Perhaps you’ve removed it as it’s now in one of your books?
    Thanks for all the photos and the descriptions of your adventures. Good Luck! Bob. (I couldn’t see an email address, hence this question here).

  7. Hi Jim and Mary,I’ve recently found your blog and love it. We’re English but have made three trips to the States and once drove coast to coast. Anyway, I have a question. How can I get to your very first blog entry? I can’t seem to get back further than Sept 2009 but suspect it started before that. Perhaps you’ve removed it as it’s now in one of your books?Thanks for all the photos and the descriptions of your adventures. Good Luck! Bob. (I couldn’t see an email address, hence this question here).
    +1

  8. Essya

    Hi Mary,

    Would it be okay if I private email you? If so, please message me your contact addy at ENabbali@gmail.com

    Thanks so much,

    Essya

  9. Kathy Lessard

    Thank you so much for being there for those girls. They were blessed to have you there!

  10. Hi,
    I came across you blog when Jerry was setting up our blog.
    We are two boomers who went to high school together. We went different ways for 45 years and reconected 5 years ago and decided to share our lives together. Jerry is a retired engineer/microsoft programmer. I retired from nursing.
    Two years ago I bought a 1996 class a with only 26,000 miles, It had been sitting for a long while and of course there a lot of things needing fixing. Jerry is great and has almost everything replaced or fixed.
    Jerry rented his house and we went fulltime last May. We fell into a work camping job in Port Angeles for the summer. In October we headed toward the Balloon Fiesta in New Mexico, where we volunteered in the Dicovery tent. After the fiesta we explored as much of New Mexico as we could before it got cold. We were offered a work camping job at a nice RV resort near Phoenix. We plan to spend the winter here and explore Arizona.

    What advice do you have for blogging?

    • ramblinmanjimj

      Hi Shirley and Jerry,

      Congratulations on hitting the road. With regards to your question…
      We like lots of good-sized photos…they add so much more to the words. Remember…a picture is worth a thousand words. I Looked at your Blog. I’d recommend keeping it simple in its format. I find a cluttered format distracting. Finally…you might want to add a way for people who find your Blog to be able to subscribe. i hope this helps. Happy RVing! Jim

  11. Hello Jim,

    I have been following your Picasa photo album for many months now and have enjoyed the photos.

    Gayle and I have been traveling full time since 2008. Hope to meet up with you and Mary on the road some day. We are working our way back to NM currently.

    Jim

    • ramblinmanjimj

      Hi Jim and Gayle,
      Nice to hear from you. I enjoyed looking at your Blog about Texas. Mary and I hit some of the same places while in Texas in 2010. Follow along on our Blog so you will know where in NM we are. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to cross paths.

  12. Jim, my name is Ana Breton and I work for a television show called American Ride. Could you email me, since I don’t see your email listed on this site? I am looking to use one of your image on the program. Thank you!

    bretonfilms@gmail.com

    Ana

  13. Interesting Blog, my parents got their first RV last year, and currently traveling around Europe…no plan or destination just go where they feel like.

    • ramblinmanjimj

      Thanks for your comments. I’ve been RVing since 1964 and a full-time RVer since 1995. Like I tell folks…It’s a lousy job, but somebody’s got to do it! 🙂

  14. Hi! I’d like to nominate you guys for an Adventurous Blogger Award. To accept, you answer (in a post) a short series of questions then nominate someone else. You can see my acceptance post here:

    http://marriedvagabonds.com/2012/09/05/adventurous-blogger-award/

    I enjoy what you guys have been doing. I hope you accept!

    • ramblinmanjimj

      Hi Amanda,
      Thanks for your message and comments. I’ve considered your nomination, but will decline. We prefer a clean and uncluttered Blog format. Our Blog is for family and friends and for those folks who would like to travel vicariously with us. Good luck with your Blog and travels.

  15. In a recent read of Randy’s blog, there was a link to your blog and travels. It was in Q probably a decade ago that we had crossed paths. Admiring your photo work and wondering about the post photo to enhance the colors. Doesn’t look like HDR. There may be something on your site defining the process, but I must have missed it. Perhaps our paths may cross again one day.

    • ramblinmanjimj

      Hi Lloyd.
      Sorry, with the exception of minor cropping and color touch-up, I do no post production altering. As a matter of fact I refuse to use programs such as Photoshop. I believe in honest photography. What you see in my photos was taken by the camera…not created by a radical image altering program. With regards to the photos that you liked…they were taken by my camera in the watercolor painting mode.

  16. When In The City!!

    Hi! New follower! I absolutely love your blog! That is my husbands & my dream! To retire & go on the open road!

    • ramblinmanjimj

      Glad to have you following along.

      • You don’t have to wait until retirement. There is a whole movement of folks that are working remotely or finding work as they go. Go for it! 🙂

  17. Hello,
    Thank you for supporting fine art! Inside Pujo Street cafe, the art there is presented by my group, Art duLac. Please take a moment to enjoy our site: http://www.artdulac.org. I am pleased you purchased ” Elise”, for it is a delightful painting and I hope it will provide your home and you much enjoyment.
    Thank you,
    Monica Hebert
    President, Art dulac.

  18. Hi! Just came across your blog, and I really like it. Maybe we will cross paths one of these days. Keep it up!

  19. Midwestern Plant Girl

    Good day Fellow RV-ers!
    We’re not full timers… yet, but we’re planning on getting there at some point. Now we just take our TT out for weekends and holidays. I found your blog interesting as both of you have great spins on things, present nice photos & places we could visit in the future! I too, would love to produce income as a writer, which wouldn’t effect traveling the world. Looking forward to Following you!!

    • ramblinmanjimj

      Thanks for you comments and glad to have you following along with the other 2,712 followers. In case you are interested there are more than 2,600 Blog entries in our archives detailing our RVing experiences.

  20. Hi,

    Just found your great blogs and was wondering if you would be interested in providing a guest post for our recently launched retirement site, retirementandgoodliving.com

    I think a post about traveling by RV would be great.

    Please send me an email if interested and I will send additional details.

    Thanks,

    Simone

    • ramblinmanjimj

      Hi Simone,
      Thanks but we will pass. We do plenty of writing as it is. If you want you can pickup our link and tell your folks that RVing provides a great alternative retirement lifestyle as shown on this link…
      Jim

      • simone2013xy

        Jim,

        Thanks for your reply.

        Happy traveling or is it happy RVing?

        Simone

  21. Hi Jim and Mary, we are camped at Jim and Mary’s RV Park in Missoula tonight. Anything to do with you?

    • ramblinmanjimj

      No, but Mary used to live there on Stephenson Avenue. Thanks for the comment.

  22. Ned Bedinger

    Hola Jim and Mary–

    As usual when I look in on your blog, you two are looking good and breaking new ground. Camping in the southeast corner of southeast California, wow! I think most travelers only pass through there, but not you two, oh no 🙂

    Great to see that you’re having so much fun–I laughed along with the family pics from the condo. I want you to explain the rules of the gambling game, so we can all win a pot.

    I’m camped in Quartzsite for two weeks. The daytime weather has been spectacular, the song dogs yip and croon all night and the night sky is so full of stars it is a blur of light. First week here was my club’s rally–the organizers imported a pair of lady sword swallowers for campfire entertainment. But enough about that, what happens in Quartzsite stays in Quartzsite!

    Jane is jetting in to Tucson next week and we’re going to prowl around the Gem and Mineral show. I’ve got fingers crossed that I can take photos of the crystals and mineral specimens that will rival your wonderful camera work. Your pics of people and places are uncanny, they move me. My stomach was growling at the Thai and Mex dishes…

    Hope we cross paths again, it seems like a long time.

    Our deepest condolences for your loss, Jim.

    Cheers!

    –Ned

    • ramblinmanjimj

      Hi Ned,
      Nice to hear from you again and that all is well with you and Jane. We have no plans to go to Quartzsite. When we leave here in a couple of days we’ll head to the Palm Springs area for a couple of weeks. We expect to be in WA this summer…maybe we will get to cross paths there. Stay well. Jim and Mary

  23. We dream to one day drive around USA so following your blog to learn more from some experts at it 🙂

    • ramblinmanjimj

      Thanks for your comment. There are more than 3,000 entries in our archives. Good luck on achieving your dreams.

  24. Hi Jim, great blog you have here. I am travelling through the USA in an RV next year with a group of mates so im looking forward to following along on your adventures.

    • ramblinmanjimj

      Thanks for our comment. I enjoyed looking at your blog and always enjoy seeing younger people out traveling. Keep following my blog and if you end up somewhere in the western USA perhaps we could meet ans ay hello. Jim

  25. Since selling your 23.5 suncrest for a RV for two, what did you buy? Plus, what would your like to have that is affordable, parts accessible to drive? Jim

    • ramblinmanjimj

      We have a 26 foot Fleetwood Terra Class A that suits us just fine. No slideouts for us, thanks.

  26. kenny213

    Your site is gorgeous! My aunt and uncle spent much of the 80s roaming North America by RV. They would have definitely concocted something like this. I noticed that you traveled through Gloucester MA in 2010 and visited The Diving Locker. I am now putting together divinglocker.org for those good folks from scratch using WordPress. You inspire us all!

  27. Hi, love your site! I’d like to use your picture https://otrwjam.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/dsc06683.jpg?w=930 from https://otrwjam.wordpress.com/tag/navajo-nation/ for my site readtheplaque.com. Let me know if that’s OK! Thanks!

    • ramblinmanjimj

      You may use my photo. Please give me credit and let me know when it is in use on your blog.

  28. ned bedinger

    Hi Jim and Mary. We hope Mary’s shoulder repair clears up as quickly as Jim’s cataract surgery. One-hand typing, not for the undertermined 🙂 Great to see pics. Son Miles says hello to you both, we still talk about the trip to your house to buy the “famous motorhome”.

    Have a great summer 2016!

    • ramblinmanjimj

      Hi Ned,
      Nice to hear from you again. Hello to Miles.
      Mary’s telling me she thinks she’s going to heal faster than the doctors are indicating.
      You have a great summer as well.
      Do you still have the “famous motorhome”?

  29. Sounds reasonable to me! We came to this same conclusion a few years ago. Just no need to go very far east (from Arizona). Thousand Trails provides good amenities. We’ve always been comfortable there. Best of luck, and I look forward to reading about the preserves.

    Virtual hugs,

    Judie

  30. Lori K Wilcox

    This is very exciting to hear! Both my beau and I are going to be purchasing a Motor home and to do some traveling very soon!
    I would love to hear of where and how and the why of your travels! I’m sure you have great advice! I suffer from arthritis very badly and I’m only 46! So before I not able to do much I would love to experience some living!
    So sorry about Mary dear, but bless you on your trip!
    My goal is also to travel in med temps for to humid and too cold elevates my pain levels, so here is to a great few years ahead!
    Maybe we will see you around!!
    Big hugs-
    Lori K. Wilcox💞

    • ramblinmanjimj

      Okay…good for you. At the bottom of the blog page you will find the archive down link. Just pik any month and look around. There are over 4,000 blog entries. Enjoy! Jim

  31. John Duffy

    Jim,
    I’ve been following your posts with great interest. I’m a 57 year old painting contractor in Monroe Wa.I admire you and your thoughtful wanderlust.
    I suspect you will make the most of your new travel goals.
    All the best to you
    John

  32. Jim, may I use an image of yours on my blog? It’s hotwalkingroadtrip.com

    Thanks, Nancy

    • ramblinmanjimj

      Hi Nancy,

      Okay, please give me credit. I’d like to see how you use it on your blog. As a teenager. I was once a hot walker.
      Jim

  33. traveling-kind

    Great Blog, glad I found it.. and your plan seems well “engineered”

    • ramblinmanjimj

      Thanks for your comment and enjoy your full-time RVing. Travel safe! Jim

  34. We are currently at Cocopah Casino. Ground your blog and took your recommendation to see Dr. Sergio Bernal. Thank you. He was wonderful.

  35. Seems you’ve had a beautiful life on the toad Jim, we are just getting started. We are workamping our way around the country. Check out our blog at herbnkathy.com

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  37. April Ellen Lewis-ramirez

    Thank you for the wonderful peice on my grandfather George Manus. Our family lost him recently so reading this was great to see.

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  44. Kevin Majka

    Jim,
    I help coordinate and promote scouting activities – can we use one of your images of Yuma Az for promo of our canoe event? It’s amazing.

    Please let me know. Thank you!

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