Ruby vs VanMan

When John Steinbeck was traveling around the country "in search of America" he often sent Charlie out to break the ice. JS needed to talk to people in order to have something to write about. We do not have the same goals, and in fact we mostly try to avoid talking to anyone, but we have to admit there are people worth talking to, and particularly when traveling, more will be learned by conversing with locals. We are tip-toeing into the waters. In Joseph, Oregon we learned from one that the frost came early this year and killed the tomatoes, and another invited us to an outdoor party with music by the best band in the county, and believe it or not, we went. In McCall, we met an ex-forest ranger who lives off-grid and carefully tallies up each watt of his electrical use. Now, I haven't done justice to how interesting each of these people were [was?], but I mean it, they were, and we're glad we met them.

So far on this trip, Ruby and VanMan are about equal ice-breakers. As to VanMan, there are several RV companies using Sprinters in their "Class B" division but most of those have built-in coffee-makers and swirls painted on the side. Our Sportsmobile is far more hip, and seems to attract a lot of attention, usually from interesting people like the off-grid ex-ranger. As to Ruby, well, that's nothing new. She attracts a crowd wherever she goes; occasionally someone notices that one of us is on the other end of her leash.