Our First Night

Well, I’m sure we’ll laugh about it in a few months, but what a first day out!!

Rule #1 when traveling by RV: Travel light.

We had it all figured out. After furniture weight was subtracted, we thought we were good enough. Apparently, that wasn’t the case. We stuck around later last night than we had anticipated, because we were donating the last of our furniture, and the guy was on the way. At last, he was there and gone, and we pulled out of our driveway for the final time. Goodbye, Roots!! Hello Open Road!! Then the trailer bounced a little, and we thought, uh ohh. Gotta go a little slower. We were sitting lower than we were both comfortable with, so we headed to our local Walmart to regroup and figure out how to make this happen. “Why Walmart??” I hear you cry. Because Walmart allows RVs to park, overnight, in their parking lots all over America. Except Washington, you have to ask permission. So we asked the guard and he said to pull to the far lot and we’d be “OK” for the night. We pulled in and unhitched the van, and the weight off the van was real noticeable. We needed new shocks. We drove about five miles, total, last night. This morning, it was interesting to wake up in a parking lot. The world going on around us, like it was normal to park next to an RV with people sleeping inside. We giggled and contemplated walking across the parking lot to Jack-in-the-Box for coffee in our jammies, but we were good and got dressed.

We contacted a shop and are set to have new air shocks installed tomorrow. We are also lightening our load by about a thousand pounds. Hopefully the two combined will be enough to get us started, because this weather makes it hard for me to breathe comfortably, and I need to get to a drier climate ASAP.

We drove to a local RV campground here in town, and pulled in for the day and a half it will take us to get going again. It will also give us a chance to ask a few veteran RVers for some quick tips.

PET REPORT: The kids all traveled real well! Prinnie and Tye rode in the trailer, and we let them see out the window as we were driving. We didn’t hear any squawking, so they were fine. The kittens hid in the back corner of the passenger area. They usually went to the vet when they drove in the van, but I think they are starting to get the idea. We have some real cool harnesses for them. We keep them on during the day while there is a lot of movement in and out of the rig, but take them off at night when we settle down. I think in a few days they will know that when the harnesses are on, we’re moving! The birds are getting used to being locked down for travel, too. We’ve had a bit of chatter today, so they have adjusted well to it so far. I’m sure on Thursday when we move, they will all be ready to go again. At least, I’m hoping!

Operations Manager Introduction; Hello

As a form of introduction, this is contributed by Lori Gebbie, my wife and partner.

We started RGP on accident. Robert was working at a j.o.b. and needed an outlet for his creativity. Jim decided he wanted to buy a camera, and started asking Robert about photography. The bug was planted. They discussed theory and practical matters. Jim did some research and found Microstock, and this is where I come in. I joined a forum, found a few stock sites, read their forums, looked at legal documents, read through submission requirements, and wondered what the heck I was reading. While considering myself a photographer, I am more of a hobbyist. And I had no idea what overblown highlights, purple fringing, or artifacting was.

Through a severe downsizing at work, Robert was laid off in the second wave of layoffs. This is significant, because I wasn’t working, either. I was devoting my waking hours (literally) to learning Microstock and what the heck this keywording thing was all about. We decided we had been given a gift of opportunity, and took it. We went full time into Microstock.

It has been a very trying time. We’ve had great successes, and severe disappointments. We’ve almost thrown it in a few times. We’ve almost thrown our relationship in a few times, too! But we’ve grown stronger and more determined in every way to make our company, and our lives, successful.

I’ll be contributing from time to time on this blog, sharing information about our workflow and tracking systems. And giving out some of the information that I wish I had found quickly and easily when I was first starting out. Like the importance of a good title and accurate keywording. And how to embed information into your image. And what was required with a model release. And so on, and so forth.

I’ve learned a lot in the last year. I still don’t know how to set up lighting or how to work the F-stops, but I’m confident in my job as final pass/fail before the image goes up on a site. With over 80% acceptance rate with the Big 5, Robert is confident as well.