ROADDUDE

Longtime Off-Grid/Vanlife Adventurer - On the Road In North America

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You are here: Home / Archives for favorite spots

FAVORITE SPOTS

11.17.2019 by Road // Leave a Comment

I have favorite spots around the country for making images.

I’ve scouted them for angle, lighting, night sky views, and overall vibe. Sometimes I look a long time before finding one that feels right.

A recent favorite spot, though, wasn’t scouted, chosen, or contemplated. It was just there, at the edge of camp. All I need do is turn my head.

Two favorite images were made right in this little slip between cattails.

One last year of my @hornbeckboats 14’ Nomad, Viking-like in stillness…

and one this year of a Great Blue Heron that came to visit at breakfast, wary but patient in posing.

Now I have the image at the top of this post, made right at the edge of camp, as a third favorite from this spot on the shore, to remind me that spots full of promise and beauty can be anywhere.

All you have to do is turn your head.

Where are your favorite spots, whether for making images or just being?

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#favoritespot #myfavoritespot #naturephotography #wildlifephotographer #naturephotograph #newenglandautumn #writerphotographer #perfectspot #exploretocreate #goneoutdoors #mylifemyway #mylifeoutdoors #nomadphotographynetwork #passionproject #getoutandexplore #canoelife #birdphoto #greatblueheron #lightestboatsinthewoods #overlandadventure #photoop #photoopportunity #justlook #turnaround #magick #truemagic #photographylessons #photoworkshop #workshopleader

Categories // camping, photography, travel Tags // favorite spots, great blue heron, hornbeck boats, landscape photography, nature photography, nomad canoe, photography

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ROADDUDE.COM is about one man’s travels on the roads of North America, with stories and images about the people, places, and culture he encounters along the way.

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Instagram post 2198104111436706479_300201163 THAT FEELING WHEN WORKING FROM HOME (2 Images)... and you have everything you need.
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It was February and warm enough to not need my vest, though it was blowing a gale and billowing the side walls of my camp on the Rattlesnake Mountain Sill.
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The sun was out full, the only clouds hanging back over the Old Ghost Mountains, leaving an unfettered brilliant blue sky overhead.
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I’d figured the sun’s course the night before when pulling in, and set the trailer so my awning would provide maximum shade throughout the day.
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It brought a big old grin to my face just to be there, set up and ready to study the flora, fauna, and petrology of the sill.
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I had everything I needed.
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What brings that kind of smile to your face?
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#chihuahuandesert #desertrat #adventurerig #lifeinthedesert #digitalnomad #workingfromhome #everythingineed #xventure #goxventure #xventurefamily #farwesttexas #bibe #rattlesnakemountain #petrology #homeoffice #terlingua #nomadphotographers #wanderingphotographers #lifeontheroad #letsgetlost #rtt #rooftoptent #chisos #riggedforlife #offroad #offgrid #desertvibes #oldghost #backcountrycamping #rooftoptentliving
Instagram post 2197390673856961054_300201163 GRAVEL TRAVEL - 2 Images
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Well, take me back down
where cool water flow, yeh
Let me remember things I love
Stoppin' at the log where catfish bite,
Walkin' along the river road at night,
Barefoot girls dancin' in the moonlight.
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I can hear the bull frog call in’ me
Wonder if my rope’s still hanging’ to the tree
Love to kick my feet way down the shallow water,
Shoo fly, dragon fly, get back to your mother
Pick up a flat rock, skip it across Green River ~ CCR, Green River
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Even though written about a fountain drink on Putah Creek, California, the swamp groove of this song and some of their others always comes to mind when running ‘round south of I-10 in Louisiana.
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#atchafalayabasin #bayoucountry #cajuncountry #ccr #greenriver #actuallyincalitho #ha #runningthelevee #louisianasunset #sunsetonthebayou #igerslouisiana #southofi10 #takemebackdown #coolwater #graveltravel #creedenceclearwaterrevival #backroads #southernlouisiana #cajun #swamplife #adventurerig #offroadtrailer #lifeontheroad #homeonwheels #wanderingphotographers #wanderingsoul #travelphotographer #travellife #nomadiclife #nomadlifestyle
Instagram post 2196007765649072712_300201163 DESERT LIFE IS THE RIGHT LIFE...
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though I’m digging having the Maine Coast Life in winter with fam be the right life for a bit while preparing for Desert Life.
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Then Desert Life; THAT’s the one I’m after.
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I might fit in some Gulf of Mexico Life )this image is on the Gulf) and some Bayou Life and maybe a little Ozark Life and some upper Rio Grande in New Mexico Life, though most will have to wait or be brief as all get out.
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My main push is getting ready for Desert Life in the Trans-Pecos. I may be on the road a year this time, who knows. I need to be prepared and ready.
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I’m starting in Sanderson, seat of Terrell County, population density half a person per square mile, one of the most sparse in all of Texas.
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I can vouch that when I’m there all of me will be in the same square mile. My mind is already there.
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Sanderson and Terrell County is where No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy’s great novel and Academy Award winning film takes place. The area is sparse, vast, and holds tremendous appeal for me.
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Sanderson is the cactus capital of Texas, too, a fact I hope to accurately embellish in murals on local walls using my painting skills, desert research and over 1,000 images made during last spring’s record Chihuahuan Desert bloom.
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Inside the eastern edge of the Chihuahuan Desert, Sanderson is perfectly suited as starting point for deeper exploration of my favorite part of North America.
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I’m anxious to get to painting walls there, researching the Trans-Pecos more in depth, using new gear for recording bats—Sanderson has a great colony not far from @desertairmotel—and other wildlife at night, and writing more about the most diverse, unique and historical desert region in the Western Hemisphere.
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It all starts in Sanderson.
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#itallstartsinsanderson #sanderson #sandersontexas #chihuahuandesert #borderlands #padreisland #desertlife #beachlife #adventurerig #offroadtrailer #xventure #xventurefamily #goxventure #xventurersunite #desertair #batsofsanderson #terrellcounty #lifeinthedesert #thetowntoomeanforbean #bigbend #transpecos #ilovethedesert #myoutdoorlife #nomadic #nomadiclife #lifeontheroad #overlanding #overlandrig #bibe #thedesertiscalling
Instagram post 2195186349932329029_300201163 LOOKING THROUGH SOME PHOTOGRAPHS...
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No, I’m not going to bust out singing Jackson Browne’s Fountain Of Sorrow, but the natural title of today’s post and the title of the song, along with the soundtrack to this morning’s vid (Blue Mountains by Gabriel Witcher), have me realizing all over again the importance of music and memories.
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When you add music TO memories—like this ride across the Mississippi on the Chalmette-Lower Algiers ferry and some #southofI10 grocery shopping—the combination becomes potentially powerful.
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The trick is to make it as powerful and evocative for viewers as it is in one’s own memory. Much more than this vid does.
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As I prep a thousand different things and ideas for the next big adventure, I know I want to be better prepared to include more video and music in my storytelling.
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My mind is awash with potential. .
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#storytellers #jacksonbrowne #fountainsofsorrow #preparation #ferrys #riverboats #ferryride #mississippiriver #louisiana #ontheroad #musicvid #musicislove #memoriesmade #lifeontheroad #bluemountains #gabrielwitcher #gettingready #cantfindmywayhome #gettogettin #chalmette #loweralgiers #donotsit #musicmakeslifebetter #memorymaker #memoriesmadehere #neworleansculture #rouses #adventurerig #explorerpage
Instagram post 2194561191865551995_300201163 MAINE WINTERS - Lord knows I’ve seen a bunch of them...
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though I have to admit I’m kind of enjoying being here for more of winter than I thought I would be this year.
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I didn’t plan it this way. I missed last winter in Maine entirely, having left the Maine coast mid October and not returning til 34 weeks and 17,000 miles later.
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Though born in the American West and raised in Europe, I’ve spent more of my adult life in Maine than anywhere else.
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When not out wandering the continent, that is, which I have done steadily over the last twenty years, from northern Quebec to the California coast and pretty much everywhere in between. Most of it multiple times.
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Maine has a history of strong independence and has retained more of its regional identity, personality, and culture than most other parts of the country.
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It has been a reduce/reuse/recycle state and interested in sustainability far longer than most—no doubt part of why I am such a staunch believer. Maine is also one of the least populated states. At only 43.1 persons/sq mi, equal to less than half of the national average. About 85% live within 15 miles of the coast, a statistic I remember from living here before.
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Having been gone most of the last twenty years and now back on the coast on and off is an odd mix of memory and sense of re-awakened adventure in a place I already know.
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So I’m enjoying being here for winter a bit; spending time with my kid and her kid, making the house smell great with soups and stews I’m whipping up and  shoveling snow and getting ready in my own lingering way for the next long adventure west.
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It’s looking like I may be gone to the borderlands a lot longer this time. It’s been decades, though, since I explored the downeast coast and Maritimes in depth, so may scoot back up here for summer and fall next year.
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Who knows. I sure don’t.
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And that’s alright with me.
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#mainewinter #lifeontheroad #mainecoast #coastallifestyle #atlanticcoast #americanadventure #newenglandlife #newenglandwinter #letsgetlost #wheretonext #shortwinterdays #adventurers #explorersclub #overlandadventure #ontheroads #backroads #urbanexplorers #familytimeisthebesttime #thedesertiscalling #lok
Instagram post 2193028344830918308_300201163 LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME...I was rolling through NOLA.
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I hung out for a few days exploring old haunts and making new ones. I’d just come from the Smokies across Tennessee and down through Alabama and Mississippi, much of it on US 11.
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I was meandering my way west to the borderlands, not in any hurry and thoroughly enjoying my slow travel way of life.
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I didn’t know it, but I was about to embark on what ended up one of the coolest parts of any adventure I’ve ever had; several weeks of exploring the bayous, swamps, and culture of Cajun country.
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Truly one of the last bastions of regional identity in America.
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South of I-10, Another America. Can’t wait to go back.
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#nola #neworleans #southofi10 ##buggyride #cajun #acadien #frenchacadian #nomadlife #nomadiclife #travelphotographer #neworleansculture #bayous #louisiana #igersnola #letsgetlost #wheretonow #southerncharm #adventureawaits #slowtravel #solotravel #balconylife #lookingattheworldthroughawindshield #roadlife #roadtrip #longdistancetravel #adventurers #overlander #expeditionunknown #frenchquarter
Instagram post 2192636540927176316_300201163 HANGRY BIRD: CRANK THE SOUND...
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This is my little Dino-Bird pal from East Tennessee. He was wicked hangry for some sunflower seeds.
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Crank the volume to hear.
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#hangry #angrybird #wickedhungry #dinobird #easttennessee #tuftedtitmouse #campvibes #myoutdoorlife #ornithology #imgoodwithanimals #birdbrains #birdlife #birdfeeder #smokymountains #cadescove #lifeontheroad #digitalnomad #wildlifephotographer #meanass #hungrybirds #iwishicouldfly #birdman #flyawaywithme #ilovebirds #offgridliving #goneoutdoors #inthewoods #wildlifeart #wildlifeartist #titmouse
Instagram post 2192339368029574595_300201163 “I HAVE A WAY WITH ANIMALS...”
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That’s what my grandkid told me once, about the affinity animals seem to have for him. A sort of immediate understanding that he understands them, so they come closer, and sooner than they may have otherwise.
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This Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) flew down and perched on my finger as I tried to make a short video about packing arrangements in my trailer.
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A small flock of them had grown used to my camping in the same spot. I’d hand feed them every morning. This one came down all “Hey Road, it is SUNFLOWER seed time!”
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Encourages me to ponder if traits like being calm enough that animals trust you can be passed down genetically through generations or if it is an environmentally learned thing, through sheer exposure to family and similar situations.
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I suspect it’s a bit of both. That Tufted Titmice are quite tame helped, too.
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Random thoughts from a homegrown naturalist.
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I’ve posted this before. Now when I see it, it always stops me for a bit.
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#tuftedtitmouse #ornithology #ornithologyphotography #humantraits #imgoodwithanimals #imgoodwithpeople #smokymountains #smokymountainmemories #birdman #ilovebirds #campvibes #ontheroad #inthewoods #goneoutdoors #lifeontheroad #adventuretime #wishiwasacrow #wishicouldfly #flyawaywithme #offgrid #offgridliving #birdfeeder #hungrybirds #titmouse #myoutdoorlife #outdoorlifestyle #exploretocreate #easttennessee #birdlife #idratherbecamping
Instagram post 2191752525047143750_300201163 COLOR FOR A WINTER DAY
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Stopped snowing late yesterday,  temps climbed back up a bit, and everyone is out and about like nothing ever happened.
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Wasn’t that bad. Not enough to faze Mainers, anyway.
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Though everything is now white, gray, black, and white.
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So here’s a little color. That’s an Ocotillo blossom, April 2nd, in the Chihuahuan Desert with my adventure/camping rig in the background.
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For most of the year Ocotillo stand tall and spindly, looking brittle and dead, like a remnant of lord knows what once alive. .
Come late winter early spring, they summon up reserves, often turn green with short, tight-to-the-cane leaves, and top off with brilliant red-orange blossoms. Can make a sweet tea from them.
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Headed back there soon, if I can get all this crazy stuff done here in Maine 😜
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#ocotillo #chihuahuandesert #bibe #borderlands #adventurerig #terlingua #presidiocounty #bigbendranchstatepark #springcolor #lifeontheroad #wheretonow #igtexas #tmwanders #texas #rooftoptent #rtt #rooftoptentliving #desertbloom #blossoms #lifeontheroad #leavenotrace #offgrid #offroad #goneoutdoors #nomadlifestyle #wheretonow #mainetotexas #roadtripusa #southofi10 #solotravel #desertlife #desertvibes
Instagram post 2190901436089465591_300201163 ENOUGH IS ENOUGH...5 Images
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Seriously, @unitedbyblue, these paper catalogs come too often already, and to get four of these “Or Current Resident” mailings in rapid fire succession in the last couple weeks is enough.
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As someone who does a lot of clean-up around the country of what others leave behind, it is disheartening to see a company boast they remove a pound of trash for every product purchased, then see them send out how many pounds of unsolicited Or Current Resident paper catalogs.
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I did not opt-in to these paper mailings, do not want them, and am discouraged from purchasing anything from you because of them.
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Honestly, they go right into the recycling bin to be hauled off. I bet a lot go straight into trash and dumps. I don’t care if it’s recycled, it’s crazy to get this much crap in the mail.
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I could find how to stop them on only one of the four paper catalogs, and that, tiny, barely noticeable and barely readable on the back cover corner.
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You can bet I’m unsubscribed.
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How about switching to paperless promotion and letting folks opt in or not.
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Enough is enough.
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#nomorepapertrash #enoughisenough #dontfeedthelandfills #imtiredofthis #unsolicited #unitedbyblue #unsubscribe #roamtheworld #takecareoftheearth #adventuretime #responsiblemyass #nomorefromyou #discouraged #toomuch #enoughalready #seriouslytho #makeastand #dotherighthing #toomuchtrash #emptyboast #notsustainable #nomoretrash #thisisnuts #ivehadit #misleading #thisiscrazy #nomoreexcuses #disheartened #usingtheconsumer
Instagram post 2190102848686093801_300201163 I’LL TAKE A DOZEN, PLEASE...
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Maybe another dozen after that.
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It’s gray and snowing here on the coast of Maine today. Not enough to matter really, just a few inches, though enough to put my mind right back on the shore for those last days of warm autumn sun ... and bright color ... and sweet breezes. Long paddles on silent waters.
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You catch my drift, I’m sure. Drift, yeah, and drifting through the shallows...
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I’ll just have to buckle down, get back to work on website stuff—roaddude.com, long overdue for an overhaul, is coming along nicely, thank you— and drag more stuff out of the van when the snow slows so I can mess with the interior, and continue finalizing plans for the next big cross-country adventure to the borderlands!
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Lots of stuff to do!
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Who else is making plans and getting shit done?
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#adventurerig #gettingshitdone #brightsunnyday #daydreams #lakecamping #wishiwasthere #gotshittodo #fallcolors #wheretonow #letitsnow #basecamp #offgrid #offroadtrip #rtt #rooftoptent #rooftoptentliving #letsgetlost #mylifemyrules #mylifeoutdoors #goneoutdoors #lifeontheroad #makingplans #adventuretime #gotworktodo #workfirst #themoneywillcome #offroadtrailer #goxventure #xventurefamily #xventurelife
Instagram post 2189362707390782669_300201163 GOT MY XMAS SHOPPING ALL DONE - Was great to see so many smiling happy faces.
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Ahh, the spirit of Christmas is in the air!
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#blackfriday #xmasshopping #doneshopping #blackfriday2019 #christmasshopping #christmasshoppingdone #theworldsgonemad #bigscreen #widescreen #ilovechristmas  #bellswillberinging #spiritofchristmas #theweatheroutsideisfrightful #prettymessedupinsidetoo #wtfpeople #realitycheck #lifeontheroad #letsgoshopping #gladiwasntthere #forrealtho #yodisstupid #damnpeople #peoplebecrazy #spiritofgiving #seasonoflove #seasonofgiving #gimmegimmegimme #gimmedat #seriously #icantbelieveit
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