That was pretty cool, Mike. I loved that you could get off the boat to take video from the shoreline for a completely different perspective. Navigating locks, underpasses, and tunnels kept you on your toes, I would imagine.
We are out this weekend on our maiden voyage. Just locally at Big Lagoon State Park. We got everything set up in an hour, then enjoyed a nice beer, grilled burgers for dinner, took a walk with the pups down to watch sunset along the water, and then called it a day. We'll stay at the campground until tomorrow evening.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
I've been to 49 US States, and camped all over the west and Alaska. You are going to have a great time.
At some time in your travels, I recommend Alaska. Early spring when the days are long and before the black flies and mosquitoes emerge. Plan your gas as there could be 200 miles between gas stations.
We tried to stay every other night in a park so we could dump the black/grey water tanks. The other nights in a pull-off on a deserted road in the woods. We woke up once to a huge bull-moose grazing about 15 feet away from our camper window. We also saw a white wolf (supposedly good-luck) and a black bear outside the camper.
Watch out for big trucks on the paved roads if you go. Stay well back. They pick up gravel in their tire treads and then spit them out. We got a cracked windshield for a lesson.
Keep in touch and tell us about all your travels so we can be both green with envy and happy for you.
Thanks for the the tip. We are definitely planning on doing Alaska, but probably in about 5 years when I retire. That way we can take as much time as we need to make the trip. We're hoping our other trips will help build up to that trip (can't go too much farther than from Florida to Alaska).
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
When you do Alaska, take a day trip to Point Barrow, the northernmost point on the continent. You can't drive there, but it's worth the hop on a plane. We took a small tour with an Inuit guide and even gave out samples of his favorite food, raw whale blubber marinated in its own blood in the permafrost for over a year. Leilani tasted it, I declined.
Barrow has 35 miles of road that don't leave town, a great Mexican restaurant, and looking north to the Arctic ocean it changes color from dark blue to the lightest pastel blue as the sun goes around in the spring and never sets.
* * *
When you get to Florida, the Everglades National Park is nice but only in the dry season. Besides for few mosquitoes, the 'glades is a 50 mile wide, 2" deep river. During the dry season it dries up except for the deeper areas (sloughs, pronounced slews). Where the water is, the fish are, and where the fish are the gators, birds and other wildlife are.
I like February and March best. Long Pine Key in the National Park has some nice campgrounds, Flamingo has some more. Near Flamingo if you are lucky you can spot an American Crocodile. They are making a comeback from about 300 in the 1980s to thousands today. For gators go to Royal Palm - almost guaranteed. In the northern part of the park are the gators. The difference is salt, the fresh/brackish in the north is where the gators are and the salt in the very south is where the crocs are.
On the way in stop at "Robert Is Here", a fresh fruit stand where they sell the best fresh fruit milkshakes this side of heaven.
* * *
The Florida Keys are nice. Key West has gotten 'touristy' since the cruise ships started docking there, but it's still worth a visit. Park your camper in one of the keys north of Key West and drive in. Stock Island might have an RV park, and Bahia Honda has a State Park.
Oh, I could go on and on. I love traveling. We live in a 900 square ft cottage with no kids, no pool, no pets, no debt and spend all our money on experience rather than possessions. No Cable TV, no jewelry, buy moderate cars and run them until they are unreliable, and don't even run the AC. That's not for everybody, but it works for us.
Thanks for the tips, Bob. This is all good stuff. We're in a similar situation - we own out house outright (it was a foreclosure that we got for a steal and then I did a lot of the work to make it perfect for us). Our credit cards are paid off every month (in fact, we've been doing that for 25 years). We have internet through the cable company, but not cable TV. I've got an antenna on the roof that pulls in more content than I could ever watch in the little time we have to watch anyway. And we have NetFlix, so lots of content there. But we're even happy reliving the old shows through channels like MeTV. We've got an Over-The-Air TIVO (which was a one time purchase with no monthly fees that gives us a two week TV guide look ahead and the ability to program our favorite shows to watch when we want).
We love being outdoors and enjoying nature, but we're at the point that we just can't really sleep on the ground anymore (age catches up with you). So the trailer more than meets that need, and lets us travel with our dogs (since many hotels disallow pets, and those that do charge an arm and a leg).
We are going out again in October to a campground in Navarre to test the boondocking features, and then will plan on lengthier trips after that. My wife and I are all in. I will pack one of my arranger keyboards in the trailer, so I'll even be able to play a little music while out and about.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
I try to travel every year. Last year I spent 5 weeks in Australia in a camping van (tiny Toyota van with the motor between the front seats, a tiny kitchen, bed that could turn into a table but never did). It was a rental of course. I had to use campgrounds because there was no toilet in the camper.
But it was a great vacation. From Brisbane to Cairns to the Great Barrier Reef to the northeastern point, over to Darwin (top center) down the middle to Kangaroo Island, and finally to Sydney via Adelaide, Melbourne and Mallacoota. We saw platypus, cassowary, kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, echidna, emus, dingo, 2 ton man-eating crocs (from a safe distance) and more birds than we could find in the the guide book.
The Australian people are some of the most civilized, good-natured, polite, and kind folks I've ever encountered. And they do a lot of camping down there.
This year I went to Vienna and surrounding Austria taking public transportation and staying in a hotel.
Good luck with your first adventure. I'm confident everything will be just fine.
When I was in the Army stationed in Germany in the early '80s, we went down to the local (German) Avis rental places and rented a relatively small Mitsubishi RV (looked a lot like picture below, but big enough to hold four of us) and headed south to tour Switzerland. It was a five speed manual transmission with the gear shifter on the column, and you had to be careful not to push it down to reverse when going for 5th gear.
We camped in the foothills of the alps, were able to walk into town for fondue and other great food, got sunburned (didn't realize until too late), but just had a blast. That was a wonderful experience.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA
That's a good sized camper for a vacation. Small enough to park in a city or a shopping mall for supplies, probably gets decent fuel efficiency, and big enough for two people to be comfortable in
I like the bed over the cab feature, as you can keep the bed made all day and still have sitting room in the back.
My father-in-law had one like this only it was over a Ford Econoline van. We borrowed it a few times.
I rented a slightly bigger one for a month in Alaska, again with the bed over the cab and it was perfect. The slightly bigger one was large enough for a toilet.
I hope you have tons of fun on your future adventure.
Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows Special Offers End Tomorrow (January 15th, 2026) at 11:59 PM PST!
Time really is running out! Save up to 50% on Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® upgrades and receive a FREE Bonus PAK—only when you order by 11:59 PM PST on Thursday, January 15, 2026!
We've added many major new features and new content in a redesigned Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®!
Version 2026 introduces a modernized GUI redesign across the program, with updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, and a new Dark Mode option. There’s also a new side toolbar for quicker access to commonly used windows, and the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, making it easier to customize your workspace.
Another exciting new addition is the new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. You can view the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to process an entire track or focus on specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
Upgrade your Band-in-a-Box for Windows to save up to 50% on most Band-in-a-Box® 2026 upgrade packages!
Plus, when you order your Band-in-a-Box® 2026 upgrade during our special, you'll receive a Free Bonus PAK of exciting new add-ons.
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Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® Special Offers Extended Until January 15, 2026!
Good news! You still have time to upgrade to the latest version of Band-in-a-Box® for Windows® and save. Our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® special now runs through January 15, 2025!
We've packed Band-in-a-Box® 2026 with major new features, enhancements, and an incredible lineup of new content! The program now sports a sleek, modern GUI redesign across the entire interface, including updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, a new dark mode option, and more. The brand-new side toolbar provides quicker access to key windows, while the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, creating a flexible, clutter-free workspace. We have an amazing new “AI-Notes” feature. This transcribes polyphonic audio into MIDI so you can view it in notation or play it back as MIDI. You can process an entire track (all pitched instruments and drums) or focus on individual parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
There are over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
When you order purchase Band-in-a-Box® 2026 before 11:59 PM PST on January 15th, you'll also receive a Free Bonus PAK packed with exciting new add-ons.
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: The Newly Designed Piano Roll Window
In this video, we explore the updated Piano Roll, complete with a modernized look and exciting new features. You’ll see new filtering options that make it easy to focus on specific note groups, smoother and more intuitive note entry and editing, and enhanced options for zooming, looping, and more.
Band-in-a-Box 2026 Video: AI Stems & Notes - split polyphonic audio into instruments and transcribe
This video demonstrates how to use the new AI-Notes feature together with the AI-Stems splitter, allowing you to select an audio file and have it separated into individual stems while transcribing each one to its own MIDI track. AI-Notes converts polyphonic audio—either full mixes or individual instruments—into MIDI that you can view in notation or play back instantly.
Bonus PAK and 49-PAK for Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®
With your version 2026 for Windows Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons for FREE! Or upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
The 2026 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 27 new RealTracks and 23 new RealStyles.
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MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
Playable RealTracks Set 5
RealDrums Stems Set 9: Cool Brushes
SynthMaster Sounds Set 1 (with audio demos)
Android Band-in-a-Box® App (included)
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2026 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyle.
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
MIDI Styles Set 93: Look Ma! More MIDI 16: SynthMaster
MIDI SuperTracks Set 47: More SynthMaster
Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
RealDrums Stems Set 10: Groovin' Sticks
SynthMaster Sounds & Styles Set 2 (sounds & styles with audio demos)
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