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Site MapAgain, this is something that I've been wanting to do for some time and I believe that a site map is necessary to help those people out that have a hard time figuring out what is what on our site. I'd like to think that our menu system is easy and will work, but some people just require a site map to figure it out. So ... here you go ... a site map. :)
About the Kimlers
about usThis is where visitors can find out about Randsco and the Kimler family. Who are we? How did we come to be? What motivates us on our adventures. It's kinda like the old "meet scott and rachel" section on our PCT WebPage, but this "about us" section will be a stand-alone page.
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Thank You
FEATURED DONOR: The "Red Dirt Emporium", located in the historic "Bricktown District" of Oklahoma City, made a donation toward - and is using - Photo-caption Zoom Version 3. The Red Dirt Emporium was founded in 2007 and has a goal of introducing visitors and locals to the best that Oklahoma has to offer. They specialize in Oklahoma resources, art, music and other items that celebrate Oklahoma
Since they are largely responsible for the "Thank You" section of our sidebar and this "Shout Outs" blog, it's fitting that one of the first shouts should go to Oklahoma's Red Dirt Emporium.
What's the story?
Simple.
The Red Dirt Emporium was one of the few companies (or people) that made an unsolicited donation for their commercial usage of the Photo-caption Zoom v3 technique.
Not only was their contribution unsolicited, but they didn't require any support to get it deployed.
One day, a donation email arrived and I thought, "Wow. Cool. I really should find a way to say 'Thank You' to them (and others who've helped Randsco) ... I know I've been meaning to ... I just need to DO IT!"
So, I made this section and (slowly) have begun populating it with some of the many people and companies that have - in some way - supported or helped Randsco. It's provides a formal way of saying "Thanks" and helps to promote their website (in a Search-Engine-friendly kind of way).
To learn how Oklahoma's Red Dirt Emporium is using Photo-caption Zoom and about some of their unique products, carry on ...
Kimler Adventure Pages: Journal Entries
Guestbook
Don't know why I didn't do this sooner, but we've created this post as a special guestbook page. We'll port over any and all 3rd-party guestbook entries, open this up for general comments (non post-specific) and then ditch the advert-riddled BraveNet guestbook we've had for ages.
What an adventure to go on. You go girl!
Al & Diana from Wild Ideas in the Santa Ynez Valley
Keep spinning. All the best,
Ann and Bill (the couple from England)
Good luck in school and Mr. Momming!
S
I live in North Carolina, 3 hr. from the beach and 3 hr. from the mountains. I live 2 hr. from the Blue ridge parkway.
I want to ride it from end to end and camp along the way. You have the "Why Not" reasoning that I think most should have.
With a little planing I will make this trip! Thanks for a great web site, you made me feel like I was riding and hiking with you!
If you come this way look me up, the A. T. is only a few hours away as well is the blue ridge parkway.
Thanks again, Darrin
-bye
I originally was going to take my two kids (my son will be 16 in December, and my daughter turned 10 in August), but they've both rebelled, so I'm going to do it solo.
I also have a journal I'm working on at "CrazyGuy" about a trip I took in 1993 with my son (then 4.5 years old) down the Pacific Coast. There's a link to it in the "With Children" section.
I was tickled to read on your website about Alex taking her first steps. Now you'll get more running in.
Take care!
Oh well if I don't win the $100 that is too bad, but I loved reading both your Xmas letter, (as well as mum and dad's) and come to your site to read a little more about whats been going on.
I will see you at Mum and Dad's in the New Year, and Dan will be looking forward, as I will, to visit with Alexandra.
Merry Christmas Scott, Rachel, Alexandra and Tuxedo. Love Peggy, Dan and Chevy.
Krystie & Jesse
What a great site you have here. I guess now that you are home with Alex and not on the trail you have plenty of time to tweak your site.
If I haven't told you lately - thank you for the great memories you made for me being with you on Forrester Pass. I admire and respect you both.
Hope we meet again.
Love,
Gottago
Any thoughts or suggestions on what you would have done differently? What are the most beautiful sections and/or camps along the trail?
Thanks again!
Heather
Had the pleasure of having Rachel's Mom & Dad visit us several times over the last couple of weeks and Mom and Auntie Ann visit for lunch today. We were introduced to your (magnificent) website and the splendid pictures (and mp3 sounds). We almost felt as though we were with you. Keep up the good work .. and make sure you preserve a copy of it all to embarrass Alex with when she gets older!
All the very best,
Judith & Colin Knipe
I just wanted to thank you for your website www.RandSco.com. I stumbled into your site while reading reviews of the HP Photosmart 735 at www.dpreview.com. The journal and slide show look like something my wife (also named Rachael [note the spelling]) and I would like to do. I didn't have a chance to look at your photojournals yet - cause I'm at work and should be working - shh! don't tell - but maybe you could pass along the software you use in publishing the different aspects of your site. I read that you use B2 for your journal?
If you all are ever up to hiking in the Chihuahuan High Desert, do come to El Paso.
Regards, John
-Greg
I will be back some time to have a better look around.
Cheers, Rob.
I am a 44 year old matronly lady, and my best friend, of similar description, are hoping to tackle mowich to longmire. 9 years ago I did longmire to mowich. We live about 45 minutes from Rainier, so we do day hikes and occasional overnighters, so it isn't like we don't know what we are in for. We'll leave our guys behind, and pray like crazy! haha
Your rainy description is my number one pause that I have for our trip that we have planned for mid to late July. I am afraid you guys were on the hil when fall fell.
Thanks for an interesting weblog. Best wishes on your future journeys!
Kali McCrady
Cheers,
Scott and Rachel
Well done and keep up the good posts and creative web stuff.
-Mike
I just came across your website and had to talk to you. We are one of the groups who tried and failed the TRAIL last year due to an "injured" party member. We are going back this year ( Sept. 1 to 13) and have some questions.
1) We use coleman fuel: how much for 2 for 13 daze?
2) how were the river crossings? Any problems?
Now I am going to read all your journals. Hopefully you can respond before we leave.
hey, thank you for the info and keep in touch.
Sincerely,
Dan and Doris
We hope you like our journal!
Your Questions:
(1) Fuel consumption depends on how you cook, your stove and how often you cook too. For us, we used an MSR WhisperLite and cooked a hot b-fast (cereal and drink) plus dinner (heated a 1 quart pot for pasta, potatoes or rice + another 1 quart pot for simmering the main sauce/meal). We got by on a single Sigg fuel bottle for the trip, though we topped it up at Longmire. I doubt we could have lasted a whole 10 days, but it woulda been close.
I'd recommend that you resupply fuel for sure, since you're planning on being out 13 days.
(2) Crossings - All are supposed to have bridging of one type or another. The year we went, one had washed out and we had to ford it. Best advice if you have to ford - try to cross as early in the morning as you can. The hot sun will increase glacial melt and there's a big difference in river volume between 9AM and 3PM. ;-)
Have FUN!!
-Scott, Rachel and the Oop
but it doesn't hurt to make an exception once in awhile!
I don't know why my mind went blank, but the Municipality of North
Cowichan office is on your RIGHT (if heading south), not left, after the Mays Rd. traffic light. They have a number of pamphlets with hiking trail maps,
for the Duncan and Chemainus areas.
Weren't we lucky to be hiking yesterday in the good weather? I've just
come back from an hour-long dog walk and both of us got soaked!
Eleanor
We'll definitely follow up on the Cowichan office, gleaning all the local hiking information they have. We're hoping to start taking Alex for longer and longer hikes, exploring any and all hiking trails that are nearby.
Cheers,
Scott, Rachel and "honorary Manzanita" Alex
I came across your site while trying to figure out how to blog via email, and I just wanted to say how nice your site looks. I was wondering if it is available as a B2Evolution template? I am a Montrealer living in Pittsburgh, with family everywhere, including Burnaby, BC & Holland!
Anyhow, like I said, I love the style of your site & was wondering if it was available as a template? Obviously if it was I would change some of the colors & the banner & such, but generally speaking, it looks really 'neat & organized', which is what we are looking for!
Let me know!
Thanks,
Dave
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
We started using b2evolution in Jan 2005 and we ported our (then hosted at GeoCities) family website to a new host and into b2evolution. The goal was to keep the same "look", but with an XHTML-valid, liquid design.
We chose the "London" skin. It's still around. Here's a demo of it: http://skins.b2evolution.net/a.php?skin=london
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Scott & Rachel
Cheers,
Ric
I have to say that while the Icefield parkway was maybe not as hard as I thought it might be, I would think twice about hauling a baby and trailer over it. I hope you are able to continue touring with your little one.
James
I hope you do update. I've found your site to be invaluable in my own planning. The level of detail you offer is hard to find on the internets.
Thanks!
Shari
I just surfed in and love your PCT journal. I been wanting to do the Pacific Crest Trail, since I got discharge from the military in 1969. I just retired in 2005 and started hiking/backpacking this year (2008). I'm going to do parts of PCT in 2009, probably from Red Meadows to Tuolomne meadows. I'm planning stages right now ... you guys have inspired me ... thanks!
What is the "URL"if the image is in "my photos" on my computer? Yes, I'm computer illiterate, but am busy learning for an old man. (wow,I previewed my ? and it doesn't show the code I wrote for the html format.)
The short answer is that the photo needs to be accessible from the web (i.e., having an image on your personal computer isn't the same as having an image on a "web server", even though both are "connected" to the Internet). While it IS technically possible to turn your local computer into a web server, from a security point of view, it's not a very good idea. A better option would be to UPLOAD the image to an "image hosting service" (there's a lot of them on the web and if you Google "image hosting service", you'll find lots ... some of which are actually FREE).
Also ... the reason your code didn't show is because the computer literally sees < and > as "oh, that's telling me there's HTML between these and I'm going to do that command" ... you have to "fake" the computer out by typing in the entity value for these characters ... (which I've done for you)
&lt; or &#60; for &lt
&gt; or &#62; for &gt;
Hope this helps.
-stk
PS - LOL ... typing code into this Bravenet guestbook isn't fun at all!!
Thanks for commenting and I'll have to read your journal of the Bowron trip. (We had a good time and the pot-luck dinner with Gord & Dave and you guys was memorable ... as was the mouse that visited us inside our tent @ 3AM that night!)
I know you "found" Randsco when I put my application in for "The Best Job in the World".
Although I didn't get into the Top-50, I thought it was really nice that you liked our application and that you voted for me.
If our blog helps Chinese people learn English, that is a bonus! It is much more fun to learn a language through friends and real life, rather than from a newspaper or textbook.
Tell your friends (and I'll remember that some of our "audience" is Chinese and learning English - and about the West - through our writing).
I enjoyed your report and thought I could give you a bit of info 'from the other side'.
Tourism QLD is in charge of 15 quangos which are called Regional Tourism Organsiations (RTO's). Each RTO has a government paid CEO, but the board of directors is elected by the membership, which are mostly made up of owners of the local businesses.
Most of the income into these RTO's comes from membership and government funds.
In some regions, like the Whitsundays, membership of the local RTO is so poor (less than 10% businesses represented), that what happens is a 'certain crowd' gain control of the RTO.
The RTO's then have influence which could persuade Tourism QLD to make decisions in certain ways, like who is to be their internet experts, or advertising agency, or who will film their videos, etc.
Some of the suggestions to use a particular service may have been for reasons other than 'to provide the best service'.
What I am trying to say is that your experience with our tourism organizations should not distort your view of 'the real people' in Australia, who are not advertising 'gurus', PR Consultants, or Spin Doctors . . . . especially here in the Whitsundays, and that probably accounts for 90% of the businesses and residents.
Yes, I agree, as a resident, I get upset with some of the prices charged here as well, but I deal with that issue every day, but I choose to live here because of the people who live here . . . most of them are laid back and genuine.
Hey, still come out and visit our beautiful region and its people . . . I will put you up for a couple of nights if you wish, just to prove we are genuine.
To make your own protest, when you visit, why not patronise the businesses who are not members of our local RTO?
Best Regards with sincere intentions.
We are 'salt of the Earth' people. We prefer camping to 4-star hotels and cycling, walking or kayaking, rather than driving. Our best adventures are ones where we've met and gotten to know the local people.
Australia is quite a distance from Canada and we're not even close to exploring all that North America has to offer, so it will likely be some time before we venture 'Down Under' (which was a great part of the appeal of TBJITW - an opportunity to experience Australia sooner, rather than later).
My criticism is aimed at Tourism Queensland, but it hasn't dampened my desire to visit - that was cemented firmly in place prior to TBJITW. It's doubtful, however, that I'd make a special effort to visit the Whitsundays as a result of the campaign, especially in light of that criticism.
When we do come to visit, your suggestion of patronizing businesses that are not represented by the local RTO sounds like a good one. Is there an easy way to tell if a business isn't a member?