Open Roadscapes: Recent Episodes
Bill Goldman
Audio versions of blog posts featured at Open Roadscapes, an RV/motorhome travel/photo website (openroadscapes.com). Theme music: Big Bug Shuffle by Russ Barenberg
Summer 2021 is arriving with tangible optimism across the country, a striking difference from the national mood when I last wrote during the early weeks of the pandemic lockdown . . .
It all started with a text message a week ago: “We had to send Dad to the hospital” . . .
My driving is always accompanied by a constant soundtrack of music, news, and podcasts . . .
Every time you swipe a card at a gas station pump, you put your credit card account information at risk . . .
Confession: I am a data junkie. Yes, all scientists are data junkies, but my particular dependency is much worse . . .
A short winter break in warm Florida weather gave us a chance to exercise our bikes, our kayak, and our camera gear . . .
We just returned from our annual summer trip to Colorado, staying for the first time at our tiny piece of Rocky Mountain real estate . . .
As the end of 2017 approached, we took a little time away from chilly Chapel Hill and headed south to the Florida Keys, a favorite destination for kayaking and bicycling . . .
After a 500-mile day of solo driving over nearly every type of road imaginable — from interstate highways to winding narrow mountain roads — I now have a rather complete driver's perspective of how LiquidSpring’s adaptive suspension system has changed my motorhome's ride and handling . . .
Tomorrow morning, I’m flying back to the LiquidSpring factory and will pick up Rocky, our Tiffin motorhome, now sporting an entirely new rear suspension system . . .
There are now 10,000 miles on Rocky, our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Open Road 32SA, but it feels more like 5000 + 5000. I’ll try to explain . . .
We’ve just returned from a late summer trip to Colorado, our third straight year driving a motorhome there from North Carolina . . .
The more prospective RV owners I meet, the more I appreciate the enormous diversity in their lives and their mobile lifestyle goals . . .
Having moved to North Carolina nearly nine years ago, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that we have not yet traveled to the Outer Banks, the string of barrier islands off the eastern coast . . .
In my last blog post, I started by pointing out the most obvious distinction between our current and former RVs: size . . .
We’ve only had time for a few weekend trips in our new Class A motorhome, but the memories of Class B traveling are still fresh . . .
It’s a difficult habit to break – we still keep referring to our new RV as “the van” – but we are now taming a much different beast than our last RV, The Silver Box . . .
It all started with us thinking that we would simply trade in our 2015 Free Spirit SS when we were ready to purchase a new motorhome . . .
It’s supposed to drop to 6°F in Chapel Hill tonight, and our new motorhome is not winterized . . .
Three weeks earlier than expected, our new motorhome arrived, a last-minute surprise in a year full of surprises . . .
In about a month, we will be moving all of our camping equipment and supplies into our new Class A motorhome, which is still under construction . . .
The Silver Box wore its cinematographer hat one last time when we drove to Arches National Park in late August . . .
I’ve written many times about the lifestyle advantages of a small motorhome, primarily from the viewpoint of a first-time RV owner . . .
One of the most beautiful freeway stretches in the U.S. is Interstate 70 as it winds through the Rocky Mountains between Denver and Glenwood Springs . . .
Prompted by responses to an earlier blog post ("Our ideal motorhome campsite"), I've set up a new crowdsourced map of RV parks where the campsites are scenic and/or peaceful . . .
A Gordon Research Conference brought us to Waterville Valley in New Hampshire last week, and we had one sunny afternoon free to explore the White Mountains . . .
Movies have been a fascination for me since I first used an 8mm camera for a high school project – a film based on a short story, with my classmates playing various dramatic roles . . .
This past weekend, The Silver Box auditioned for a new part-time job as a cinematographer . . .
Thanks to everyone who responded to my last blog post about a crowdsourced map called "RV Parking for City Tourists," which has now grown to 32 locations in North America . . .
I enjoy exploring new cities, but I dread hunting for an RV-sized parking space downtown . . .
I’ve been waiting a long time for this day! Shortly after announcing changes planned for their Class C motorhomes (Unity/Serenity/Wonder), Leisure Travel Vans has now revealed that their Free Spirit motorhome line is being resurrected for 2017 . . .
It’s been a year since we took our first vacation with our motorhome, “The Silver Box" . . .
Confession: I am a data junkie. Yes, all scientists are data junkies, but my particular dependency is much worse . . .
Well, I was all set to write up a review of our new inflatable kayak, based on our experience in the Florida Keys . . .
We keep traveling to areas with beautiful lakes and bays and other waterways, and I keep thinking how much I would love to have a kayak with us . . .
I thought I might be able to wait another month or so before winterizing our motorhome, but a cold snap predicted for tonight has left me no choice . . .
I lost count of how many times I had to pay tolls during our last east coast trip . . .
One of the features I like the most about our motorhome is also one of the features I dislike the most: the cab windows . . .
After 10,000 miles of driving the Free Spirit SS, I no longer feel like a motorhome novice . . .
After 100 hours behind the wheel over the last few weeks, we’ve driven through a total of 13 states -– and now we’re home . . .
For the last eight summers, we have used Aspen as a base for exploring western Colorado . . .
While spending a long weekend in western North Carolina last month, we camped at a location that, for many reasons, seemed perfect to us . . .
Journalist Mike Wendland, Roadtrek evangelist and self-confessed gadget hound, is a popular source for information and trends related to "the small motorhome lifestyle" . . .
I almost feel like I’m cheating on exercise when I’m on my road bike, since it is such a pleasure to be pedaling through beautiful scenery while staying cooled by self-generated wind . . .
I’ve been getting questions about some of the landscape photos shown on this website, so I thought it might be useful to outline how I've been generating “high dynamic range” (HDR) images . . .
We’ve hit the two month mark of motorhome ownership, and I’ve been thinking about things that have exceeded our expectations as well as things that have been disappointments . . .
At the far eastern end of Interstate 40 lies Wilmington, a charming little city on the southeast North Carolina coast . . .
We just returned from our first "vancation" (sorry), traveling as far south as we could go in the continental U.S. -- a total of nearly 2400 miles over 11 days . . .
In a previous blog post, I wrote about the problems of using a standard bike rack on this van, and now I've had a chance to test the hitch-mount double bike carrier by 1UpUSA . . .
From the perspective of someone who has not driven anything this large since moving a household in a U-Haul truck about 35 years ago . . .
We are finishing up our first trip in our new Free Spirit SS, driving from the St. Louis dealership (Van City RV) to Chapel Hill . . .
In about a week, we head to St. Louis to visit family and to pick up our new Free Spirit SS at Van City RV, a dealer that specializes in class B motorhomes . . .
Our January trip to a conference in St. Kitts prompted me to browse through photos from other overseas and international conferences since 2000, when we started working with digital photography . . .
Just posted a new set of photos from the eastern Caribbean island of St. Kitts, where we attended a conference this week . . .
There’s only so much storage space inside a motorhome that’s been designed within the body of a Mercedes Sprinter cargo van . . .
With six weeks to go before we take delivery of our Free Spirit SS (see "About Us"), it’s time to start thinking about how to equip our first motorhome . . .
With thousands of photos and hours of video compiled from our travels during the last few years, we thought it was time to compile the best of these into easy-to-view collections . . .