Tag: Full Time RVing with Kids

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Day 31: On the Steps of the Admiral Nimitz Museum

Jenn

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4 min read

We slept comfortably at the rest stop last night. This morning we even got up and made pancakes. After walking the dogs and picking burrs (I’ve never encountered such villainous flora.) out…

We slept comfortably at the rest stop last night. This morning we even got up and made pancakes. After walking the dogs and picking burrs (I’ve never encountered such villainous flora.) out of our shoes that had tagged along from Marfa we hopped back on the I-10 towards Austin. When people say Texas is big, they aren’t kidding. It stretches on for miles and miles as if it’s its own country.

I had been anticipating driving through Fredericksburg on our way to Austin. Although, I had only been to Fredericksburg once before and for no longer than 30 minutes it holds a significant memory.

My freshman year in college in Santa Barbara I took French. In class with me was a girl with porcelain skin and strawberry blond hair from Texas. She and I would often chat in class. When I found out she too wanted to pursue the career of an actress, despite not really knowing her, I casually suggested that we move to LA for the summer instead of back home. Much to my surprise she said yes and we made plans.

She went back to Texas and I went back home to Indiana for a week to visit family and get my car, “Peanut”. Then my dad and I drove off to Texas. I’ve always loved road trips with my dad, they are some of my most favorite memories and this one was no different. He went with me as far as San Antonio and I dropped him off at the airport early as the sun was rising. I’ll never forget the ache in my heart that morning as I pulled out of the airport by myself watching the planes take off through the the streaked sky.

I felt alone, excited, and scared.

After spending a few days with another college friend in San Antonio, I headed to Fredericksburg where I was to meet Juliana, my friend from French class, and her dad on the steps of the Admiral Nimitz Musuem to begin our journey west.

My map skills must have been better back then because I found the museum on my own without the help of an “app”. I didn’t even own a cell phone. It was just me and my little red Peanut who was on her last leg all too ready to overheat on a hot Texas summer day. (Driving through El Paso without air-conditioning and the windows down in 100 degree weather is not fun.)

Today, I wanted to relive those first steps of that pivotal journey in my mind. I wanted to remember driving the hilly highway 290 through the pecan trees while listening to the Tori Amos Little Earthquake album. I wanted to remember what it felt like to be 19 and free from responsiblity. I wanted to remember looking through the pink lenses of my sunglasses. I wanted to remember seeing Juliana and her dad finding me on the steps to begin our adventure. I wanted to remember the exhilaration of being an excited 19 year old girl as we headed west.

I would not drive back east for another 15 years.

A crazy LA summer, a fifteen year old friendship, and a new life later, I find myself again on Highway 290 passing those steps where I naively felt like my “adult” years began. The dreams I had did not fold out as I had hoped. I would have never imagined I’d be driving back east, my home in tow by a big diesel truck filled with boys. My boys. Boys who I love with with every cell of my body and my spirit beyond.

Life looks different at 34 than 19. Prescription lenses have replaced pink lenses. Responsibility has replaced most of those old freedoms but inside I hear her. As we drive past the steps of the Admiral Nimitz Museum, I hear that 19 year old girl. She reminds me that her heart is still wide open for whatever God sets out before her. Wide open like the road ahead.

Love and Laugher,
Jenn

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On the Road

Day 30: I Am Home

Jenn

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Last night, before we went to bed we made a difficult decision. Not a life-death or always-regret decision, mind you, but a decision that we had been chewing on for…

Last night, before we went to bed we made a difficult decision. Not a life-death or always-regret decision, mind you, but a decision that we had been chewing on for a few days.

We decided not to go to Big Bend.

Big Bend was our original destination of West Texas before heading to Austin to spend Thanksgiving with my best friend. I’ve heard it’s wild and rugged and there is supposed to be a wonderful little ghost town called Terlingua nearby but we are learning that we can’t see everything. It’s a difficult lesson. Sometimes it leaves me feeling like a child wondering if I should have picked the mint chip over the cookies-n-cream.

It’s a good problem to have but on mornings like this, driving east instead of south, my insides stretch and twist. We could fit it in if we leave early enough but that would mean two looooong days of driving, a rushed visit, a big gas bill, a husband who can’t work due to lack of internet.

Trying to fit it all got me in a lot of trouble in the past. A tired, overwhelmed, and anxious wife/mama/friend is not a lot of fun. So east it is and Big Bend will have to wait.

We packed up and headed out of Marfa. For having mixed feelings about the town I was sure sad to go. Driving east on the I-10 we passed hundreds of miles of golden ranch land speckled with windmills.

Halfway to Austin we pulled into a rest stop and decided to stay the night instead of continue on to the next campground.

I experienced a funny sensation, we all did, that night. After dinner we played a game of Clue and began to get ready for bed. Being with my family in our cozy RV, I forgot we were parked in a noisy rest stop near the interstate. I forgot we were in Texas. I forgot we had traveled nearly 1500 miles from home because I was home.

I am home at a rest stop. I am home in Walmart parking lot. I am home in a driveway. I am home at a campground.

I am home because we are together.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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On the Road

Marfa and the Lights

Jenn

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I woke up curious this morning. Curious to see where exactly we had “tumbled in” last night. After all, last night we only could see the strange little “office”. The…

I woke up curious this morning. Curious to see where exactly we had “tumbled in” last night.

After all, last night we only could see the strange little “office”.

The sky outside was as strange as the town. Large dark but not unfriendly clouds billowed as far as the eye could see. Barb wire fenced stretched as far as the sky. Cars and cinder blocks lay forgotten. Just as I had thought last night, the Airstream with an overturned grill across from us was vacant as was the humble cabover camper on the other side of the campground.

We were the only ones there.

Alone with only the company of an occasional passing train.

It was slightly unnerving but completely exhilarating to feel the desolation in the wind.

After a morning of school and work, we ventured into town. Marfa was founded in the 1880s. Nearly a hundred years later, minimalist artist, Donald Judd moved to Marfa making Marfa what it is today. A word of advice if you visit Marfa- go on a weekend, almost everything is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. I was extremely disappointed to find out the modern art museum, The Chinati Foundation, was closed. Regardless, we had a wonderful time exploring the mostly empty streets peering into the galleries and shops. The folk at El Cosmico also made us feel and home welcomed us to explore their amazing grounds.

Marfa is a strange town. The friend who told me about it described it as “a tiny town where blue-collar oil workers live next to Williamsburg art kids.” It’s a place where farm trucks are parked next retro beach cruisers. Where you can walk out from an art gallery to a view of a grain mill. Where skinny jeans and Wranglers are both equally appropriate.

It’s hard to tell what is really old and what has been restored to look really old.

Marfa is every bit as charming as it is odd. I didn’t quite know what to make of it.

I asked a girl with a short platinum blond hair, who I would guess to be about 23, if she was orginally from Marfa. As I expected she wasn’t. Then I asked her what is was like living here. “Twin Peak-sy“, she said.

For dinner, we enjoyed pizza at the Pizza Foundation which is an old converted gas station. Afterwards, we headed over to Frama, a laundry mat/ice cream/coffee shop for an after dinner sweet. Finally, we drove outside of town to view the famous Marfa Lights. It was cold and windy but still fun. The Marfa Lights turned out to be the Marfa Light, one green flicker that faded in and out on the horizon.

I liked Marfa but I wanted to love Marfa. What I loved was the desolation of West Texas and the architecture but something about Marfa seemed, I don’t know, contrived. Just a tiny bit. Not utterly and completely contrived but I didn’t fall in love with it the way I did Jerome or Madrid. Regardless, it was worth the effort to get there (it is out in the middle of nowhere) and perhaps if we would have come on a weekend I would have felt differently. Or perhaps not with all the tourists.

Funny though as I write this I feel myself longing to go back. Maybe it was the lights.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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Family on the Road National Parks

Uh-Oh.

Jenn

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Today, we left Carlsbad, New Mexico, bound for Marfa, Texas. We weren’t too far down the road when we came upon a pleasant surprise- Guadalupe Mountains National Park. How one…

Today, we left Carlsbad, New Mexico, bound for Marfa, Texas. We weren’t too far down the road when we came upon a pleasant surprise- Guadalupe Mountains National Park. How one just stumbles upon a national park, I don’t know. If we were better planners we would have noticed that we would be passing another national park. It’s not exactly rest-stop-sized. If we were better planners we would have made sure we made time for it. However, we are only sort-of-kind-of following a plan so what’s a few hours to stop and drink up God’s beauty and get my “passport stamp”. I gotta have my stamps.

There are only 2 National Parks in Texas, Big Bend National Park and Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Guadalupe Mountains is actually an ancient coral reef and now home to many animals like rattlesnakes- I don’t think there is a place out west they don’t exist- elk, mountain lions, black bears, mule deer, turkey, and golden eagels. (I learn stuff from the Jr. Ranger programs too.) However my favorite part was the The Pinery, ruins of a mid-1800s stagecoach station. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable in the RV, I can’t imagine a stagecoach.

Remember what I said about planning? Well my map app and I don’t get along too well. We had been on the road about an hour after leaving the park and I was talking to my dad when Brent says, “I need to talk to you.”

Uh oh.

Brent – Were we supposed to turn back by the park?

Me – I don’t think so. This is our road. I think…

(Please God, let it be so.)

I look at my phone which has horrible reception and the map page won’t load. Of course. Finally, it loads and…we missed the road.

We. missed. the. road.

Again.

What is the navigator supposed to do??

Cry.

Sob.

Sob big giant tears and choke out, “Maps are just so hard for me. I’m a girl. My brain doesn’t work like yours.”

Yes, I admit I actually said, “I’m a girl.”

I know. (Boo. Hiss.) For the record, I don’t really believe that but I’m not above using it when it could get me out of potential trouble.

Brent, the sweet loving husband that he is, told me a few minutes later that it was okay because I was just “lost in the moment enjoying myself”. Enjoying myself I was. The vast barren landscape of west Texas is almost too beautiful for me to bear. I could stare at the horizon for hours. It’s a good thing because we had hours to go.

We pulled into Marfa, an eerily quiet town, hungry. It was already dark so we stopped at the first and only place we saw with a light on, Pizza Foundation. Unfortunately, they were out of pizza which was our first indication that nothing about Marfa is normal. The folks at the pizza shop without pizza, sent us down the empty street to Cochineal. One minute it felt like we were in a nearly deserted ghost town and then next minute it felt like we were in a trendy LA restaurant. Chochineal was full of hip folk and couldn’t seat us for 45 minutes. We headed back out into the empty streets to find Jett’s Grill at the Hotel Paisano.

The hotel is best known for housing the cast and crew from the classic movie, Giant starring Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. Which got me thinking if I was going to see ghosts those two wouldn’t be so bad.

After driving up and down the quiet streets, we finally found it and stumbled in tired and hungry and cranky from the long day of driving. Like Chochineal the patronage of the restaurant didn’t match the town. I suspected I’d see cowboys or rugged oil men but instead there was a Woodey Allen lookalike in one corner, a hippie with skin tight purple capri pants and pilgrim shoes in another, a family whose young child disappeared halfway through dinner a few tables over, and us.

After finishing dinner we headed to our campground and we pulled into Tumble In campground to this…

An empty “office” in an empty campground. At least they didn’t forget the holiday cheer.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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2 min read

Homeschooling National Parks

Day 27: The Magic and Mystery of Carlsbad Caverns

Jenn

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Today, we visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We opted for the self-guided tour with an audio guide. We were all happy we got the audio tour because not only could…

Today, we visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We opted for the self-guided tour with an audio guide. We were all happy we got the audio tour because not only could we move at our own pace ,we learned a lot.

The descent into the cave is something I’ll never forget. I really didn’t know what to expect. We wound down the path until we came to this massive black mouth. It was sublime. The cave was first discovered by a 16 old boy, Jim White, when he saw what he thought was a volcano or twister in the distance. He set out to investigate and discovered bats coming out the cave. Can you imagine?!?! Over the next several years, Jim White continued to explore the cave using homemade torches, lanterns, and ladders. Talk about brave! While I’m adventurous, I think I prefer the paved paths and lights that are present today.

The cave was magnificent. Crazy. Grand. Beautiful.

A whole other world existing below the surface of the earth.

The only thing that would have made this visit better is the BATS who had already migrated to Mexico for the winter. I love bats. They are so cute. (I’m also the girl who had pet rats as a teenager.) Thing 2 and I play this game in the mornings called “baby bat”. We pretend we are bats. I wrap my wings around him and we snuggle. My bat voice a really bad Asian/British/Southern/what-the-heck accent. Baby Bat tells me he is hungry for “fish”. I have no idea where we got the idea “bats eat fish” but that is what Baby Bat always wants. I had never really considered a bat’s real diet which turns out to be insects. Recently, Baby Bat has been wanting “cat” and Mama Bat reminds him “bats don’t eat cat” but it doesn’t seem to help. Any excuse to chase Meow Cow.

Ummm anyway…

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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2 min read

On the Road

Day 26: Content to the Bone

Jenn

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Golden plains stretch as far as the eye can see. The sun beats against my face. I shift in my seat but cannot escape its glare. James Vincent McMorrow’s voice…

Golden plains stretch as far as the eye can see. The sun beats against my face. I shift in my seat but cannot escape its glare. James Vincent McMorrow’s voice fills the cabin and his lyrics stir my heart. My body is tired and achey from hours of sitting yet I’m content. Content to my bones.

After there days of go, go, go. I’m ready for a day on the road. We are headed to Carlsbad to experience the mystery of the caverns.

Eastern New Mexico is desolate. We passed nothing but flat land and run down buildings that are slowly returning home to the soil. I love it and prefer it over a cityscape any day. I will miss the west.

I open up my computer to try to write for a few minutes. Suddenly after hours of silence I get a barrage of questions. Thing 1 needs to know all about the campground. Brent is wondering if I can make calls. Traveling as a family is wonderful yet it is not without frustrations (as you might imagine). Solitude is scarce these days. I must carve it out in my mind amidst questions, quarrels, and cramped quarters. The vast plains out the window help.

After hours of driving, we come to Roswell, New Mexico. The store fronts are plastered with little green cartoon aliens capitalizing off the supposedly UFO crash of 1947.

Meow Cow wakes up from his slumber on the console to take in the town.

“So that explains it.”

We drove off into the sunset straight to the Walmart parking lot.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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4 min read

Museums On the Road

Day 25: Three for One (Madrid, Santa Fe, and Friends)

Jenn

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Today felt like three days in one. After our glamourous morning in the Walmart parking lot, we headed up the Turquoise Trail en route to Santa Fe. We didn’t know…

Today felt like three days in one.

After our glamourous morning in the Walmart parking lot, we headed up the Turquoise Trail en route to Santa Fe. We didn’t know what to expect. We were taking the scenic route based off of a friend’s recommendation and my distaste for the interstates. Unlike, our first foray off the beaten path this one turned out to be the sort of day that lived in our pre-trip dreams. The Turquoise Trail led us to a little town of about 300 people called Madrid. Not unlike Jerome, Madrid was once an active coal mining town, turned ghost town, turned vibrant tourist town, thanks to artists and craftspeople.

It was a cool morning, perfect for a stop at for coffee and hot cocoa.

We wandered down the street taking in the brightly colored old houses and exploring shops that caught our eye.

We got lost like like children in a store called Weasel and Fitz. Weasel and Fitz sells…well lots of things but most of them are made from recycled and found objects. I found the perfect Christmas gift for my mom. 😉

If I had more room (and cash) I would have definatley purchased on of these lampshades made from old metal signs.

Next door, I stumbled into a ~~dream~~ a non-profit vintage/consignment shop named Resources.

I was small and quaint and run by the sweetest lady. I ended up purchasing a dress and a coat. (A thrifty threads post is in the works.)

I desperately wanted this dress. It was the most beautiful pink with pleats and buttons but it was just too big. My sewing skills are not up to par for altering ~~anything~~ dresses with lots of pleats and lining. I’m also kicking myself for not buying a great pair of Frye boots in perfect condition. If you are in Madrid and love vintage be sure to stop by.

We arrived at Los Campos, our campground in Santa Fe, around 1 pm and after setting up camp, the boys and I headed downtown to the New Mexico History Museum while Brent stayed at home to work.

I know this may sound silly but when I think of colonization of the United States I always think of pilgrims, the Mayflower, Jamestown, and New England even though for the last 15 years I have lived in California where almost every town and road has a Spanish name. I forget that while pilgrims were settling the east coast, the Spanish were moving into the south and southwest. It’s been fun piecing together history with the land it grew from.

It’s also been cool for the boys to see relics pertaining to the stuff we are reading about in history.

Learning about the the first atomic bomb blast.

In painstakingly stark contrast to the atomic bomb exhibit, upstairs there was a special exhibit, The St. John’s Bible and Contemplative Landscape. It took calligraphers, artists, and theologians over 13 years to complete this Bible that will be housed permanently by the Benedictine monks at Saint John’s Abbey. We read a passage out loud (quietly) and tried to reflect on it’s meaning. Not easy to do with two boys who are about “museum-ed out”.

Before heading back to the campground we ventured over to The Palace of the Governors for a quick visit.

Thing 2 enjoyed sorting pottery pieces.

It was a lovely afternoon despite almost having a heart attack trying to drive the big ole’ truck through the tight and confusing roads of Santa Fe all by myself.

The day ended at DKB fitness with a kettlebell workout taught by my “buddy” from my RKC certification followed by dinner with her and her husband. We had traditional New Mexican food of enchiladas with eggs on top and sopes with honey. So. much. fun!

What a crazy day from waking up in an Albuquerque Walmart to a kettlebell class in Santa Fe with museums and vintage stores in between. Tomorrow we are heading off to Carlsbad.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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2 min read

National Parks On the Road

Day 24: Neurotic Nomads – Montezuma Castle and The Petrified Forest National Park

Jenn

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At Montezuma Castle, it is easy to imagine being Sinagua people making our way through the sycamore and cottonwood trees to gather water at Beaver Creak before climbing up the…

At Montezuma Castle, it is easy to imagine being Sinagua people making our way through the sycamore and cottonwood trees to gather water at Beaver Creak before climbing up the ladders to our home way up on the cliffs. Except that I’m afraid of heights.

Montezuma Castle was mistakingly named after the Aztec king by settlers in the mid 1800s. As it turned out, it didn’t belong to the Aztecs, in fact, it’s not even a castle. It is an adobe community clinging tight to the cliffs. Like Tuzigoot, it was built by the Sinagua nearly 2000 years ago. Until 1951, visitors could go inside Montezuma Castle but due to vandals it was closed. Now visitors can stroll the path among the white barked sycamores and imagine, if you are like me, life as a Sinagua, your life depending on the whims of Beaver Creek.

Back to the reality of being a newschool nomad, after both boys ~~were forced to earn~~ earned their Jr. Ranger badge, we hit the road and headed hurriedly east on I-40. There would be no long bathroom breaks or food stops. We were on a mission to get to the Petrified Forest National Park to see the highest concentration of petrified wood in the world and the painted desert by 5:00 pm. As long are you are at the gate by 5:00 pm the park lets you in and you can at least take the 28 mile drive through the park to soak up the beauty.

A National Monument and Park in one day. Maybe we should be the neurotic nomads.

At 4:15 we pulled into the gate with just enough time to visit the visitor’s center (sometimes it pays to be bossy) and stroll among the ancient stubborn trees who refused to fall prey to decay.

The boys climbed on trees that were as hard…as well…rock.

I had doubted our decision take the time for a detour but the first glimpse of the hills covered in Saturn-like rings of color (my photos do not even to begin to capture their beauty), my doubts were put to rest.

It was otherworldly lovely.

The boys kept exclaiming we were on Tatooine (a planet in Star Wars).

As magical as the sunset was I was sad to see her disappear and leave us in darkness as we drove the last 5 miles back to I-40.

If you ever get the chance, drive through the painted desert at sunset. You will never be the same.

I couldn’t imagine a day filled with more beauty despite going to bed in an Alburquerque Walmart parking lot.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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3 min read

National Parks On the Road

Day 23: Jerome and Tuzigoot

Jenn

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3 min read

Please bear with me as I catch up on our blog by posting a few posts a day. I want to share our journey with you and I want to…

Please bear with me as I catch up on our blog by posting a few posts a day. I want to share our journey with you and I want to have a day by day account to give to the boys so they can remember this adventure. We just spent 10 days in Austin with my best friend. I typically write at night or in the morning but since I rarely get to be with her I spent every free moment I could hanging out and creating memories.

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Jerome, an old mining town, is nestled high atop Cleopatra Hill in Arizona’s Verde Valley. In 1900s, Jerome was a boom town. Copper had been discovered and thousands flooded to Jerome their hearts filled with ambition. Some even referred to Jerome as the “wickedest town in the west”. If only those crumbling walls could talk. Jerome’s population reached it’s peak of 15,000 during the 1920’s but every good party comes to an end and in 1953 the mines closed. Not long after, Jerome was declared a ghost town with a population of around 50 people. Leave it to the artists to rediscover the beauty of Jerome during the 1960s and 1970s. Today Jerome is a communtiy of about 500 people. Artists, artisans, writers, and families seek out Jerome for another kind of wealth. The streets are no longer filled with miners in search of an improved life but tourists walk up and down the hilly streets reflecting on a different era.

We wandered around the worn streets and down a slope to the front face of an old building that sat precariously on the mountain. The walls had long ago crumbled but the facade arched proudly to the sky. We noticed a sign for glass blowing demonstrations. “Glass blowing demonstrations from 12-ish to 5-ish” We headed in and much to the boy’s delight a man with long grey hair tucked under a red bandana was giving a glass blowing demonstrtation. He spun, shaped, and colored the molten mass until he had a tear drop shaped stem that shimmered in the light that poured through the large windows.

The Jerome Historical Society’s Mine Museum was well worth the $2 admission (children are free). The museum boasts many relics and exhibits that help bring the town’s history to life. Just down the hill is the Jerome State Historic Park. Unfortunately, it was closed. Thing 1 was really ticked because he wanted to see the Douglas Mansion. However, the Audrey Headframe Park was open right next door and the boys got to stand on glass above a 1,900′ shaft.

After Jerome we took a short drive to the Tuzigoot National Monument.

Tuzigoot is the remnant of an ancient pueblo built by the Singua around 1000 AD. The views are amazing and I imagine haven’t changed much since the Singua gazed across the valley. There is also a museum where you can look at artifacts and learn about the site’s excavation.

On our way home we passed a Goodwill. Brent stayed in the car while the boys and I puttered around the store. As I was going through a rack of jackets (I’m on a mission to find a myself a vintage peacoat.) a strange man approached me. After asking if I had found any treasures, he asked if I had dinner plans. Yes, with my husband but thank you. I guess. As I was telling Brent about the brief exchange (that he had watched through the window) Thing 1 piped up, “Why didn’t you say yes? You could have brought us back something.” That’s one way to look at it.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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On the Road

Day 22: The Warmth of Freshly Laundered Towels

Jenn

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Today, we had plans but somehow the details of life devoured the time. At 3:30 pm, I still had laundry in the dryer and the sun was getting low. These…

Today, we had plans but somehow the details of life devoured the time. At 3:30 pm, I still had laundry in the dryer and the sun was getting low.

These sort of days frustrate me. Especially now that we are living on the road and there are towns to be explored and national monuments around the corner.

Yet, I’m learning these days are necessary. After all there is laundry to be done, a house to clean, and minds that need to rest.

While I shuffled through through domestic duties, the boys played with the kids they met yesterday.

Brent worked.

We lived.

Life almost felt normal. I was glad to have the company of an ex-drug addict while I did laundry. Her honesty and hope was as warm and inviting as the the scent of the freshly laundered towels.

Love and Laughter,
Jenn

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