Lets Go Camping!

Hurry with Fall just around the corner the time is now.
As the seasons change from Summer to Fall this could mean less elements to face,and less camping gear required to enjoy a family getaway or just some quality time outdoors with friends or a loved one.

What you will need to bring depends on how many people or pets are coming,and how far you will be traveling.Clothing will depend on the terrain (desert,rugged,rocky,brushy,forest trails etc) and the varied temperatures between night and day for your location. For example: Shorts and a T shirt with boots or sneakers may be all you need if your warm blooded and the weather is still nice,or sweat pants,jeans and a flannel shirt might be needed for your comfort level.
It never hurts to pack an extra bag with jackets,thermals,rain gear etc and leave it in your vehicle if you have the room.

Food and its preparation depend on your location once more,are there stores nearby?or a camp grill already at your site?If not then a cooler and a camp stove are going to be needed among other items such as cookware and utensils. And they vary greatly in size and cost. Some coolers don't require ice but need power from your vehicle so your camp cant be to far away or a hike will be involved,but that could be fun also.

The camp stoves vary as well. Some are like portable kitchens complete with double sinks and detachable cutting boards with a wire rack cooking surface.For example: The GSI outdoors gourmet kitchen station, and the BRINKMANN double burner gas camp stove less sinks and cutting boards are portable,but maybe more than you need for just a few days or a few people.
The well known and very popular Coleman dual fuel 3 burner stove is light and easy to carry,compact,easy to set up and operates on dual fuels (propane gas or liquid).

The 1st thing I look for when choosing a site to camp in is the tent area and how level it is,after all this is where your going to retreat in case the elements pull a "surprise attack" (rain,hail,snow,wind,rabid squirrel's etc...) and also get that well deserved nights rest after a long day of mountain biking,hiking,canoeing,bird watching or just chasing the children around. So the larger the tent the less likelihood of "cabin fever" setting in if to much time has to be spent inside. Here is one cure for "cabin fever." The Coleman 3 room weathermaster cabin tent. So you see the time spent to prepare an area for your tent is "time well spent". Is it far enough away from the campfire so as not to catch popping embers?Is it clear of rocks and tree roots ? Pine needles are fine and act like padding but need to be swept or cleared out between the tent and campfire area in case of embers again. I would hate to wake up to a roaring campfire only to find its the tent I'm in lol.

If the rocks and roots are small enough a little shovel full of dirt to smooth them out should do the trick.If you don't have a small 1 or 2 foot long camping shovel ( and you should in case of small campfire escape) an old quilt or sleeping bag on top of a drop cloth or tarp should take care of problem and will feel like carpet padding when you walk or kneel down in your tent. So before I set the tent on the ground. I put a tarp down on the leveled out area.. then a pad of some kind.. then the tent itself. Because if you pad the floor of the tent itself it will be constantly shifting around. Whereas under the tent it is out of sight and trapped in place between the plastic tarp and the tent floor.

I recommend bringing a 1st aid kit ,bucket/pail along with that camp shovel and placing them near the tent or campfire area.Fill the bucket with water of course, but not to close to either because that's where people walk especially at night in the dark. These items are not required but if needed could save a life and be priceless.

Once your tent is set up take a brake and relax. Your past the hardest part (if that was hard lol). You have a refuge. Now its time to find out where all the kids ran off to. (some help they were right lol) And I thought camping was supposed to bring people together :)

I didn't want to make an A-Z list of what your going to need and do. Just build a little fire under your you know what...and a thought in your head to get outdoors and go camping before Winter sets in. Then its going to be snowboards,skis,sleds and inner tubes... and hot coco for the kids and another form of anti-freeze for the adults:)

Please Take Care and Have Fun :)

camping camping gear

Things Are Getting Better 9-17-07

The Butler Fire, and my camping gear store.

The fire may not be contained or under control just yet,but it seems to have lost most of its fight now,and we did have one of the smaller fire fighting planes land in a field behind our Vons supermarket right after taking off from our Big Bear City Airport this afternoon. No injuries were reported on the ground or to the pilot....Thank God...

And my camping gear website is actually starting to show up on The Big 3 (Google,Yahoo+Msn) after 2 weeks.. Yay!
Well I should say in the 1st 1000 rofl.. It dosent appear on any single keywords just yet,But then again Im still new to this and reading about SEO's-Marketing-Link Building etc.
Not having a single link to my site yet cant be good.(note to myself) I will have to work on that soon.

On Yahoo I can type in several keywords and find it #1 on page 1...But how many people are going to type in "camping gear,tents,backpacks".. Not many I bet lol.. And on Google you need to type in "tents,backpacks" to find it #242 on page 24.. Yikes!!!!.. Well Im just happy to see it show up at all uno.

Now Im reading an awesome book about SEO's thats makes it easy for even a noob like myself to understand and absorb at my own pace... But then its quite a tool for even the most seasoned pro's as well from all the comments I read before I purchased it. Me being a rookie and all lol.. I read several reviews and even had other website and blog owners tell me it was a "must for me", and for them as well.

I have to agree with them. Its called The SEO Handbook 2007 and covers everything that I needed to understand in plain detail, not confusing or long winded jargon...Topics include SEO's,Planning and Strategy,Keyword/Phrase Development,Link Profiles,On-Page Optimization,SEO Resources and sub-topics in each of those as well, and more.

In my case I didnt even know what most of those topics were let alone understand them lol. And for the price, how could I go wrong.I mean I spend that much at McDonalds with my son every time lol. Im very sure that many of you already know of ,or have this concise easy to grasp handbook...If not at least check it out and see for yourselves.The Authors name is "David Harry".

Well I need to see what I can do about marketing and links to my camping gear website. Its a little tough because Im not allowed to put any reciprocal links on mine. So I guess they are called "one-way" or "inbound" links which for me being a rookie and all are going to be harder to get than a reciprocal link in exchange. Purchasing links are another option I will have to look into,if I can afford it.

I only mention links because.Remember.. I dont have any inbound links yet and thats not a good thing Ive been told.... Anyway things are getting better because at least im on "The Big 3" (SEO"s) rofl.. So.... (to quote Steve Martin) "Ive Got That Going For Me" hee hee. Take Care and Have A Good One... Tharizingsun :)
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Big Bear is Ablaze 9-15-2007

Butler Peak Fire #2
It started Friday afternoon around 1:21 pm near or around the west side of the Butler Peak Fire that took place over Labor Day nearly 2 weeks ago.
The cause is under investigation so rumors about whether the prior fire known as the Butler Peak Fire had anything to do with it are just that....Rumors.

It is located to the north of Big Bear Lake,Ca.
As of Friday evening it was an estimated 200 acres,but between midnight and 6:00 am it had spread over 2 1/2 miles to the north and had increased in size to 4000 plus acres becoming the highest priority fire incident in the U.S.

The town of Fawnskin has a mandatory evacuation order today 9-15-2007 simply as a precautionary measure. The town lies on the north shore of Big Bear Lake between the lake and the fires location in the mountains above.

Smoke from this fire has been seen in Las Vegas,Nv. And as far away as Utah due to the high winds.The north easterly winds are blowing it away from the lake but fire continues to creep in all directions as the fire creates its own winds due to its size now.

On a positive note,the lake is close enough to the fire for a water source for the many water dropping helicopters that are working the fire from the various agencies.There are so many that one is hovering over the lake filling up and then taking off about every 30 seconds. Its an awesome sight to behold when you consider the precision flying and the coordination between all the various agencies to make it look so easy and safe as I watched them this afternoon. With the Big Bear City Airport here to refuel them in minutes, the helicopters are our #1 tool to fight this fire mainly because of the rugged terrain,steep slopes and limited road access near the fires location.

On the other hand the aircraft dropping retardent have a much longer turn around time due to the fact that they need an airport to land an reload at,and the Big Bear City Airport that lies on the east edge of the lake cant accomodate planes of their size safely I dont think. Or at least I have not seen any land and take off from B.B.C. Airport as of yet. I hope the fire gets contained soon and everyone get to return home in Fawnskin soon.

I live on the south side of Big Bear Lake and will say a prayer for you, and all the brave men and women fighting the fire on the ground and in the air. Good Luck and Take Care Out There.
.....................................................................................
Fire Update 9-15-2007 9:30 pm
The Butler Peak Fire #2... Has Quadrupled in size to 15,433. acres with winds of 20 mph now,and has taken a westerly turn through the San Bernardino National Forest.
Forcing the evacuation of the Green Valley Lake community to the west of Big Bear Lake.At last report it was 5 percent contained with more than 600 firefighters battling the blaze now.The 6 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft working on the fire are not allowed to fly at night for safety reasons,so its just the ground personal until dawn....


Big Bear Fire

Open Air Accessories

Well I went and did it.

I finally took my 1st baby step a few days ago and opened up an affilliate website. I guess its called. You know the ones that you get to choose from literaly millions of products to place on a site you create and choose a template for.

My only regret, if I have one is that its not a kite store. But its the next best thing as far as my personal knowledge is concerned. "Outdoor camping gear" is something I know a lil bit about and have in my own garage and use quite often. So it wasnt all bad.

But before I actually had that theme I was overwhelmed by all the various products and must have picked over 3000 at least rofl.... And asked my son to take a look at it before I hit the publish button (good thing too) My son said.. Dad!! It looks like a "Wallmart" and I fell on the floor laughing and said go back to whatever you were doing before I asked your opinion grrrrrrr.
You know what? He was so right and I cant thank him enough for telling it like it was lol..
I took another look at it in a different light and thought to myself... How am I ever going to compete with Wallmart? I cant... I wont.. There is no way. And I to a day off to regroup,stop laughing and collect my thoughts.

1st of all I need to have a "going out of business" sale and delete 3000+ items and come up with a theme that I am comfortable with and somewhat knowledgeable about.And I didnt see the type or brand of kites I felt comfortable selling from the minimal selection I had to choose from. Well not enough to start a kite store lets say lol...

So I went outside and looked at the forestI live in and it hit me like an ACME ANVIL..(My son had the Roadrunner Cartoons on at the same time ) A camping gear and accessories store. So I looked at the large variety of brands and decided to go with that theme.

I quickly noticed that most of the products had great prices from competitive retailers displayed at the same time when I clicked on an item.For instance Buy.com and Amazon.com had their best price on the same page I was directed to with a Google shoping cart for purchases.

That made me happy to say the least because thats where I go myself to get the best price quote on a product before I buy online to start with...."Big sigh of relief" "Phew".
After a week or more of making catagories and product placement I finaly hit the "Publish" button 3 days ago.

All in all it has been a great learning experience for a real life website beginer and I may not own the products or have a "physical store" that relates to my site. But Im on my way to understanding a little more than I knew before I took this baby step in the right or positive direction to someday owning My Own Website like most of you already do... Im so jealous you know. (I hope it dosent show lol)

Now I have to work on getting it on the search engines if thats the next step? And so far I havent had to invest anything but my time in picking a name that has their company on the end of the http:// address. And yes I get a commission of the product sold and it dosent raise the price to the buyer,I checked several prices on Buy.com for the same items that I was selling through Buy.com and no difference.

Just for kicks I typed in my sites 3 words "Open Air Accessories" in Google and it showed my site 1st on the list.. I sure wished it did that for MY KEYWORDS,, camping gear, but I looked at its page rank and if I looked it up right being a newby and all .. its said 944. So Im gona need alot of advice on that search engine thingy if anyone has a little advice for me.

I would appreciate any comments on my website if you have the time.Negative or Positive It would be deeply appreciated..... The website address is: http://openairaccessories.zlio.com/ and for information on that affilliate company my site is with its: http://zlio.com/?r=122882

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND ANY COMMENTS YOU MIGHT HAVE...Tharizingsun
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