Offroading - General, State Parks

Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area General Plan Public Comments NEEDED

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

From the California Association of 4-Wheel Drive Clubs:

Thanks to all of you who attended the recent public open house meetings held in the East Bay Area to detail the Draft Preferred Concept for the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area General Plan (DPC). Draft Preferred Concept.

Members of extreme anti-OHV groups were also there to try to impose their closure agenda on the OHV community and DPC planning team. Over the last seven years, those closure advocates have worked with East Bay Regional Parks on a massive and fraudulent campaign to build political support for an outright ban of OHV use on the Tesla property. They have been making weekly, if not daily, visits to the offices of State Senator Mark DeSaulnier and Assemblymember Joan Buchanan demanding legislation to enact an outright ban of OHV use at Tesla.

It is critically important that we counter that smear campaign by sending comments to the SVRA planning team and the aforementioned legislators.

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Dead Tree Books, eBook, Success Stories

NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

2013-Winner-Facebook-ProfileAs a multi-year winner (including this year, he wrote, tooting his own horn), I always look forward to NaNoWriMo.  And Camp NaNoWriMo.  And I have fond memories of Scriptfrenzy, and hope they bring it back.

An article from the Examiner puts NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in perspective:

A day to remember for a lot of writers. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) has officially come to an end. While a lot of authors have triumphed, writing 50,000 words in just one month, others gave it their best but didn’t quite make it. But that should hardly be the point.

A lot of people think the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words in a single month is about completing that. It’s just a goal; a difficult goal. But the point of this goal is to learn how to squeeze every ounce of free time into your creativity: For writers to give it their best, grasp the concept of pumping out a rough draft without worrying about revisions, editing, or how a chapter flows.

Talk to any writer and most of them will tell you they have an abundance of ideas, and the hardest part is writing it out. This is the sole purpose of NaNoWriMo: get that idea out on paper and worry about refining when it’s finished! This could very well be a revolutionary idea in the realm of books.

You can read the whole article HERE.

If you’re a writer, you can find out more about NaNoWriMo HERE.

Jeep

2004 Jeep Gladiator Concept

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

If ever there was a perfect vehicle in the perfect color at the perfect time, the Jeep Gladiator was it.  The Comanche was out of production, Jeep was juuuuuust introducing the 2004 1/2 Wrangler Unlimited, and the Jeep public was primed and ready for a pickup truck.

Enter Dodge and Ram trucks, who said only THEY could make trucks under the Chrysler umbrella.  Let me tell you right here and now so that we’re all on the same page: Ram makes great trucks.  Really like the Laramie Long Horn.  But … well, because they killed this truck, I’m not a big fan of the division.  I’ll walk to another dealership to buy a Ford King Ranch because this rig didn’t go into production.  Thanks, Ram.

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Off-Road Vehicles

2004 Retro Ford Bronco Concept

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Yes, I’d almost forgotten about this baby.  I’m not as big a fan of the old Ford Bronco as I am of the newer one.  Maybe it’s because the original Bronco was before my (off-roading) time.  Back in the day, I was a big Ford fan, but my fandom was limited to Mustangs and Cobras.  If it was blue and came with stripes, or Wimbledon White with two blue stripes … or, heck, even black with gold stripes and said GT350H on it I was in love.

But, looking back, Ford has always seemed to understand where the company came from.  Even today, they support old Mustang and 1940 coupe body repops.

The original Bronco was a neat vehicle, and this model stays true to it’s retro origin.  It’s a beautiful rig … although I’d want to see it in Guards blue with a white top.  Maybe one of those new Coyote V8s under the hood mated to a manual transmission.  Well … maybe.  They did bring back the Mustang fastback!

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State Parks

Growing pains mark parks partnerships

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Jay Gamel, reporting for the Kenwood Press, writes that uncertainty, objectives and habits all play a part in daily operations:

California’s state park system is under scrutiny by an independent commission tasked to revamp the entire system by 2015. As part of this process, the Parks Forward Commission has held 10 public workshops throughout the state, taking testimony from private and public sectors, seeking to find sources of sustainable funding, expand park availability to all Californians, and examine the role of private partners in the future of park operations.

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