Albuquerque, New Mexico- Serendipity and sadness

Still on a quest to get me to a conference in Santa Cruz, California by the middle of October, we headed from Canyon, TX to Albuquerque, New Mexico (it took me several Google searches to realize I was spelling it wrong before) with a boondock at a Wal-Mart parking lot in between.  Say what we will about the Wal-Mart conglomerate, they do come in handy for overnights while just passing through.

We definitely got off on the wrong foot with Albuquerque.  Unable to find a decent (not exorbitantly priced) park and not planning to stay long, we decided to boondock a night or two while we looked around a bit and sought veg.  The first Wal-Mart was a little too city for our liking and the surrounding area had a really low vibe.  After passing on another and getting asked to leave (while I was roasting a chicken in the oven) from another because of a local HOA ordinance, we found one that suited us to squat for the night.  By that time, we were really tired and really frustrated and, might I mention, not so fond of Albuquerque.  In our excursions in the city, I have never been asked for money so many times- not by people sitting on the side of the sidewalk or outside of stores but by people actually approaching us in parking lots, knocking on our windows, etc.  They were all kind enough but it really felt intrusive.

Enter serendipity: While text messaging with our friend Justin Wagner, Chris found out that they were just outside of ABQ up in the mountains of Tijeras, NM.  We headed the 20 minutes up the highway and pulled our big rig in to the site next to them, put out the slides, levelled the RV, and began to hook up when we realized we couldn’t find a water spigot for our site.  Can you say, “WTF”?  Confirmed by the manager of the “we have full hook-ups” RV park, we then had to pack up again, back out, and pull into another site.  I cannot overstate what a process this is.  We shared frustrated hugs with the Wagners who had been having travel troubles of their own and what we planned on being a one or two night stay, turned into the better part of a week.  We had a peaceful time with our friends at Leisure Mountain RV Park which was incredibly reasonably priced with our Passport America membership (highly recommend).  The kids played, we worked, socialized, watched movies, walked dogs…  Aside from continued RV repairs, it was a genuinely great time with friends high on the side of a mountain with a beautiful view.

I even met an online friend in person!  We met up for a movie which, by decision of the children, turned into a park day instead.  I’m so glad it did! Sylvia Toyoma and I talked and talked and the kids had a great time playing on the playground together.  It felt really good to connect in person with someone with whom I have shared valued exchanges online.

Tara and I took the kids to Petroglyph National Monument to see 150,000 year-old art that had been carved into the rocks there by indigenous peoples.  We could only guess what some of them were and what they could have meant but it was pretty darn cool to stand there where they stood and see the art that they created still present now.

The landscape in northern New Mexico is breathtaking.  To stand at the top of the small mountain and look down on the landscape and see it littered with walled-in subdivisions looked like just that- litter.  The kids noticed.  I noticed.  It made for interesting conversation for some time after, for sure.

Even more interesting conversation was to come.  We decided to caravan on with the Wagners toward Las Vegas- their home and one of our destinations on the way to California. Oh the gorgeous mountains on our way!  Oh the sadness we felt as we drove through and made a stop on Native American reservation land on our way out of northern New Mexico.  The landscape was littered with run-down homes and we stopped in a literal shanty town which seemed to be upheld solely by fast food chains.  Skulking stray dogs wandered the parking lots and cowered and ran when approached with food and water.  The eyes of the people showed a deep sadness tempered in varying degrees with the robotic necessity of moving through life one step at a time.  I considered the rich cultural heritage of these people and felt a loathing for imperialism and homogenization.  New Mexico is famous for its landscape and justifiably so.  I have to say that, overall, we were unimpressed by the energetics of the area of Albuquerque and the route that took us on our way out of New Mexico.  It just didn’t feel good.  We’ll be passing through New Mexico again on our way back through the southwest this winter.  I’m open to suggestion as to things to see and places to go/stay.  As always, there are many different factors that come into play in any experience and I know that we can’t generalize the whole state based on our limited experiences in one area.  It did feel good to be on the road again….

 

Canyon, Texas- We’re creating our dreams

We stayed two full days in Canyon, Texas- just south of Amarillo in the Texas panhandle- on our way northwest out of Texas.  The draw for this stop was a picture in our state parks guide of the lighthouse rock formation at Palo Duro Canyon.  Yes, it’s that kind of life.  Where there’s intention, there we are!  This was our first experience in the creation of our dreams and it was WILD.

We’ve never seen anything so magnificent!  I know, I know- I’m originally from the Berkshires in Massachusetts and Chris from southern New Hampshire.  New England is gorgeous.  We know that… now.  The places we don’t know, haven’t seen, or have only seen in movies hold this mystique- almost as if they aren’t real.  We’ve travelled a bit- all over New England, Aruba, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, San Diego, Santa Barbara, DFW, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, New York City.  There may be a few others that I’m missing.  Maybe we’ve travelled more than the average, working family.  The big difference- we have found- is that those were destinations, visits, stops on a round trip back to ‘real’ life.  This time it IS life.  OUR life.  The one we’re creating and it’s absolutely magical. 

In accordance with our repetitively stated need for internet, we stayed at Palo Duro RV Park just outside the state park/canyon.  Once in the park, there is no mobile phone signal at all.  The RV park had good WiFi and, because the musical Texas! was off-season, so was the park.  We had lots of space.  The park wasn’t lovely but very functional and friendly for the three nights that we stayed.  Chris and I had our hearts set on seeing the Lighthouse rock formation and then read in the information that it was a 6-mile roundtrip hike.  Could we make it? We psyched up the kids, packed lots of food and not enough water, headed out on a Saturday morning, and (tried) to resign ourselves to the journey rather than the destination.  It was awesome.  We were in this spectacular canyon, jumping off rocks, touching the walls, exploring trails.

I won’t lie.  There was some grumbling around the 1.5 mile mark.  At 2 miles, we could see it- the Lighthouse looming in the distance.  It was a little anti-climactic.  We thought it would be bigger.  We almost turned around then but met a couple coming from there who gave us instructions on how to get up to the Lighthouse which included rigorous rock climbing.  The kids were sold!  We forged ahead.  The trail became rocky and the incline steep.  We paired off- one adult behind each child- thrilled with this new aspect of the adventure.

As we got closer, the Lighthouse lived up to its fame.  It was enormous and multicolored and beautiful and…. and….!  We scaled steep rock ledges and wound up directly at the base of the Lighthouse and its sister formation, the Castle.  I gave the remainder of the water bottle I was sharing with Chris to a teenager suffering from heat exhaustion.  We headed back with a spring in our step.  Chris alternated putting the kids on his shoulders between the trail markers as the kids counted them down for each tenth of a mile to the trail head.  It was so hot but we all felt like we had done something so BIG. 

Our feet were sore and we were seeking a cool drink.  But a cool dip in the water at the water crossing certainly helped!

Canyon is a supremely quaint little town- the epitomy of ‘sleepy, little bedroom town’.  There’s only one restaurant that serves alcohol (you have to fill out a form- it’s a dry town) and almost nothing open after dusk.  We drove the desolate brick main street after our hike looking for potential restaurants to ask for waste vegetable oil and ended up eating some delicious Thai at the only place with cars out front- Sayakomarn’s Thai & Lao Cuisine.  Yes, the kids hiked 6 arduous miles AND ate Thai.  How I love this journey!

Canyon was so pivotal for us.  It really marked the beginning of the journey out of our comfort zone and into our dreams.  Will you share something in the comments section that has been a dream come true for you or a step in the direction of your dreams?  Let’s inspire each other!

Nature gives me so much inspiration.  In addition to the amazing terrain we encountered in Canyon, meet some of our new friends!

Yes, that is a real tarantula- live and in person!  He wandered across the trail as we were hiking.  I think a ‘tarantula crossing’ sign is probably warranted.

Hello, fine sir!  He stood so tall.  It felt only right to address him as the regal creature that he is.

An iridescent green guy!  Supercute.

 

Quintana Beach County Park, Texas

While staying at Galveston Island State Park, we were alerted (upon trying to extend our stay) that we would not be able to stay at the park on the weekends as the sites were already reserved through the summer.  Bummer.  What now?  We knew of no other park to kill a couple of nights before we could come back to the bayside.  As always, our Universe came through.  A chat with our neighbor (who happened to be in a similar situation) provided new information about county parks throughout the state and we headed south over 5 (or so) skyway bridges to Quintana Beach County Park. 

Once again historical markers on walks near to the park provided information about what was once a bustling port community- swept clean by the hurricane of 1900.  We pictured what it must have been like based on the description and talked about what it might be like now had a big storm not turned it into a tiny, sparse vacation getaway.  The port is now being used by an enormous liquid natural gas (Freeport LNG) plant.  The kids thought the structure of the plant was beautiful.  They analyzed the towers and tubes and stacks and thought it could be a brilliant sculpture.  It was brilliant to witness this perspective.  Wanting to know what this plant was doing, we all went to Google and learned more than we ever needed to know about LNG- way more than we’d ever find had we stopped at the company’s website. 

LNG is natural gas in its liquid form.  This is especially interesting for us since natural gas drills were being put up all over the DFW metroplex prior to our departure (I wrote a post about it on April 1, 2010 entitled, Eyesores and More).  The gas is piped to these plants where it is cooled to -260 degrees F at which point it becomes a liquid.  Converting it decreases its volume by a factor of 6 so it is much easier to transport.  The plants are located seaside so that the liquid can be transported by enormous tanker ships which we saw consistently going in and out of the port behind our campsite.

Like anything else that is profit-generating on a large scale, LNG propoganda is pervasive.  So what are the problems with LNG?  According to www.coastaladvocates.com:

WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS WITH LNG?

• LNG is misleadingly described as a “clean fuel.” LNG, like oil, is a finite fossil fuel.
  Burning it emits CO2 and harmful air pollutants, aggravating global warming and
  causing human health problems.
• Importing LNG means increasing U.S. dependence on foreign countries for our
  electricity, heating and cooking fuels (like our dependence on foreign oil for
  transportation fuel).
• LNG causes air and water pollution, and harms wildlife and the environment,
  starting from the places where the gas is extracted and liquefied, to the coastal
  communities where it is delivered, processed and sold.
• If LNG is released by accident or deliberate terrorist attack, it may explode or burn
  at extremely high temperatures. LNG accidents have caused serious loss of life and
  property around the world, including in the U.S.

Another life lesson for the Parent family (traveling North America in an RV powered by waste vegetable oil).  After a little while in Quintana, we noticed breathing difficulties, increased mucus production, and mucus membrane irritation.  This may have been attributed to the high chlorination of the park water (we have a drinking water filter but now have been alerted to the gaseous issues of the chlorine coming in through the taps/shower) or to the LNG plant… or both.  Though we had a lovely stay beachside here with horseshoes, volleyball, bike riding, etc., we were not sad to leave this little industrial mecca (there are many other industrial plants such as BAE, Dow Chemical, and others quite close by).

We walked/scootered over to the Quintana Nearctic-Neotropical Bird Sanctuary:

We were told by a volunteer at the Sea Center Texas (very cool place!) that the bird sanctuary couldn’t be missed while we were here.  Since it was only a block or two distance from our RV, we took at hot afternoon walk.  The mosquitoes were horrendous and the birds were nowhere to be found.  Sometimes what you don’t see provides as much information as what you do.  We talked about where the birds may be (this is a migratory stop) and why this wouldn’t be a great place for them right now (distinct lack of seeds and vegetation necessary to hatch and feed babies).  The kids also mentioned the potential air pollution from the LNG plant as a reason this may not be an amenable place or birds to nest…

I mentioned Sea Center Texas- it’s another FREE place!  The volunteers were fabulous and gave us so much information.  The touch tank was fun, we loved hanging out with the giant grouper, and the walk through the wetlands yielded views of some really interesting birds (including a huge pair of show-off herons) and friendly lizards.  We found out that Sadie and I, whilst shelling at Quintana Beach, had actually found a string of egg casings (rare to find) of the dweller of the Texas State Shell (who knew there was a state shell?!)- The Lightning Whelk.

We’ve also started branching out and meeting our RV neighbors.  This has been a really exciting experience for us buttoned-up New Englanders gone friendly Texan.  While at Quintana, we met LeeAnn and Richard Smith- a lovely couple hailing from just 20 minutes from Quintana.  They hopped in their RV and spent a month of their summer at this beach getaway while still going to their regular jobs- like a working vacation!  It struck me how similar different people can be.  There were so many things that could have created separations for us- age, religion, lifestyles, etc.- and this may have been the most fulfilling aspect of our friendship.  We had the ability to have conversations about life, love, raising children, and even religion and lifestyle (!) in whole appreciation for the others’ perspectives.  This was big for me and has really opened me up to communicating with our neighbors on the road.  It’s become so clear that we only have to be OK with what we do, with our path, and appreciate the paths of others for their own.  This may seem simple but similarity is so often the basis for friendship making judgment and persuasion the only means to assimilate new people into our existence.  We do not need to find a middle ground but rather a different paradigm altogether for appreciating the lives of others.  There is so much to say about this- maybe a new blog post in the future.

LeeAnn and Richard kindly invited us for an afternoon at their gorgeous home.  It was a welcome getaway from Quintana- we were starting to feel stuck waiting for the day to drop off our RV at American Greenfuels and head off to the Rethinking Everything Conference!  We swam, played pool, watched cartoons, and had some great conversation.  I helped LeeAnn to start her own blog and she has really taken off with some deep blog posts to consider.

I know I’m still catching up with these posts but there has been so much thus far in our journey that I can’t skip a bit!  Stay tuned…

 

And off we go…sort of

Happy to say, we picked up the RV in Houston from our friends at American Greenfuels after the always amazing Rethinking Everything Conference.  Bud runs through the new “veg” system and we are on our way back through DFW for one last hurrah with friends.  Oh, and let me just say, the new “veg” system rocks!  We have driven up from Houston to DFW on veg and have since made our way to Amarillo, TX almost entirely on “veg”.  I will post soon entirely on how this system works with pictures for those interested.

We had such a great time at the conference connecting with old friends and making so many new friends along the way.  In fact, it was so great, we hosted a pot luck gathering at our campsite in Lewisville, TX after coming back up to reconnect one last time with many of these individuals.  It was such a great reminder of how many truly great friends we have in the DFW area.

We ended up spending a few extra days in Lewisville as we really sparked a connection with the Cameron family from British Columbia, Canada.  Sadie and their daughter Iris became inseparable during our  stay and Elijah and Simon were so similar in their mannerisms it was really quite amazing to behold.

The Camerons:

Sadie and Iris making acorn stew:

We eventually parted ways as they were heading to the eastern coast of the US and we are making our way out to the west coast.  Unfortunately, we then realized we had a leak or “leaks” of sorts that needed to be addressed.  The first thing we found (much thanks to Joseph Duchene) was an engine oil leak.  Joe identified a loose bolt on the oil pan and we tightened that bad boy up.  Then I noticed we still had another leak in action, and it was leaking both Diesel fuel or veg oil depending on what we were running at the time.  After a few days of me being unable to pinpoint the leak, we brough it to Abel Fuels in Lewisville.  These guys were excellent.  They provided a 30 amp hookup to our RV while there and Paul let me look over his shoulder the whole time as he diagnosed and fixed the problem.  It turns out one of the fuel lines was leaking and needed to be replaced.  A few hundred $$$ later we were back in business!

We headed northwest towards Amarillo, TX and stayed in a town called Canyon, TX.  Our initial plan was to head to Denver,CO but after looking at current temps, we decided to head west through New Mexico on our way to CA.  While staying here in Canyon, TX, we knew we just had to explore Palo Duro Canyon (which happens to be the 2nd largest Canyon in the US), and so we did.  Here are a few shots we took on our 6 mile trek up into the highest part of the canyon:

Ironically, as we headed west and stopped over in Albuquerque, NM, we came to find out that our good friends the Wagner’s  (Justin, Tara, and Zeb) were staying just outside of town as well.  We connected again for a few days and we are now lodged up in Leisure Mountain RV Park just outside of Albuquerque, NM until tomorrow when we plan to make our way towards the Four Corners Monument.  Since it is the only place in the country where one can essentially be in 4 different states at the same time, we thought it might be cool to swing through on our way out to southwestern Utah.

With a little help from Justin, I replaced the two starting batteries for the RV as they apparently have reached the end of their useful life.  On top of that, we hope to be filling up on “veg oil” in the morning as we trek out.

Updates from the next leg of the adventure to follow……

 

A Little More Galveston

We spent so much time in Galveston.  I’m really not feeling like the first post covers the beauty we experienced there.  Since a picture says 1,000 words, here are a few more:

I love these homes.  Obviously newly built since the 2008 wallop of Hurricane Ike, they remind me of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard- a different style of home than we are used to seeing in Texas.  They are mult-family beach retreat-style homes.  Many are still for sale, for rent, etc.  Lovely.

We took one afternoon and took the self-guided tour of the tree sculptures in downtown Galveston.  I think I mentioned this before but a few of the pictures are worth sharing.  I am blown away at the thought and passion behind preserving the memory of the huge, old oaks lost in Hurricane Ike in spectacular art.  The part I didn’t get until we saw them?  The sculptures are actually carved into the remainder of the trees where they stood- in front yards, store fronts, etc.  It made a fun exercise in reading maps and keeping our eyes peeled for the sculptures that were sometimes not so obvious.  We had to take a picture of the tin man and Todo for Grammy!

 

Reflecting on RE 2010

We rethought everything this past weekend at the Rethinking Everything Conference in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex of Texas.  This was our 3rd year attending the collossal gathering of rethinkers including, but not limited to, unschoolers.  I can honestly and quite exuberantly declare it the absolute best yet.  Though the content of the conference has not changed much over its 14 years, the name now reflects the depth and variety of the conference sessions and the intensity of conscious intention, living, and creation of the speakers.  Attendees are rocked in any number of ways as we continue to question and analyze cultural and societal messages, norms, and ideals.

Chris and I conducted a number of sessions and even added an impromptu session by request for those new to unschooling and conscious, connected parenting or just wanting to discuss any number of parenting and/or education related issues.  We met so many interesting, supportive, conscious people that we are thrilled to now call our friends.  Guess what?  So did the kids!

While all of these amazing ‘adult’ sessions were weaving and overlapping throughout the days and evenings, so were there countless activities for kids of all ages.  The kids (we joined them quite often as well) partook of Kid Village (a great big room filled with lots of toys, games, and activities), shaving cream sculptures (which led to body painting with the stuff), swimming, take-apart electronics, crafting magic wands and recycled jewelry, face painting, the Lego/Bionicle room (yes- a whole room FULL!), fairy house building, letter boxing, Ga-Ga ball playing, sewing/fashion creating, dress-up, science experiments, World of Warcraft and video game playing, and MORE!  They re-connected with local and distant friends and made lots of new ones.

We’re already rethinking so much that it was wonderful to be in a place of such support and excitement about our lifestyle and changes.  But the rethinking never really ends, does it?  Chris went to John Strelecky’s (best-selling author and dynamic speaker) session entitled, “How to Travel the World on $40 a day” and is now super-inspired, excited, and firmly entrenched in the reality of trading the RV in for backpacks at some point and taking our adventures around the world.  I went to two sessions conducted by Raymond Francis, author of “Never Be Sick Again”, and was both thrilled and shaken to discover even more information about the food we eat that will affect the evolution of the food we choose for ourselves and our family.  The first thing to go was cow’s milk.  We made the switch to almond milk right after the conference and are not looking back.  No, thank you Dairy Council.  Chris and I both attended Rupert Isaacson’s session following up on his book/documentary, “The Horse Boy”, which has us considering and appreciative of the dramatic rise in children who see the world differently- through the lens of autism, ADD, ADHD, hyper-sensitivity, and every other label that is handed out because a child differs from the collective, understood, manipulable standard. 

Chris and I both stepped out a little more as well which was challenging and fun.  I did a session about being in control of our own health and Chris headed up an unschooling dads’ rock band!

As always, some of our most impactful moments were spent in hallways, around the campfire, over beer, and lounging on the couches.  It’s truly the connection with other people who seek to know themselves over the norm that bolsters our spirit and adds more threads to the weave which grows stronger and more conscious by the day.  We LOVE RE!  Below are some pictures of the event.  It’s really just an overview as my camera spent most of its time in my bag as I was so busy living each moment that photographing them became secondary.

 

Wherever We Go, There We Are

Where are we now?

We left Quintana Beach 2 days ago and dropped off our home on wheels at American Greenfuels for the vegetable oil conversion.  We’ve been thinking about and planning the logistics of this, it seems, for so long now that it’s very surreal that we’re actually doing it.  Our RV will run on waste vegetable oil from restaurants saving us money and dramatically decreasing our travel emissions.  Wow.  We’ll be taking photos and Chris will be describing the process when all is said and done over on his blog. 

I’ll blog Quintana Beach when I get back to the RV computer and the pics therein :).  We’re currently staying at the home of our friends Kelly and Josh Quinn while the dogs have gone to Le Spa Du Barb (aka the home of our friends Barb and Steve Lundgren) as we visit and prepare for the upcoming Rethinking Everything Conference.  We’ve been able to make ourselves very comfortable here in their small home with their family of five.  We’ve all been chatting about the upcoming conference, stocking up on snacks for our families for the conference, preparing our volunteer work, items to sell at the kids’ and vendor fairs- all in the midst of living life- doing the regular income-creating work, cooking and preparing food, playing with the children, etc.  I have to admit that I was a little concerned about how we’d get on all living in the same house for three days.  There are five children involved here – three who are sharing their home turf and two others who are out of theirs.  It’s been no different than our average playdate, really.  Superfun and slightly noisy with some arguing children mixed in for good measure. 

On Communal Living

Why does it seem that the same adult to child ratio increases several times when we’re together?  Cleaning, cooking, feeding, playing, caring, etc. all seem to go so much more smoothly even though there are more children!  Let’s explore:

– the kids play together so much that free time for the adults to get other things done is much more plentiful.

– even though the number of children increases, one adult is entirely capable of hanging out with the entire crew which frees up THREE others to run errands, work their regular job, having computer time, cook, or pursue their own interests.

– one person is cleaning the same space (albeit slightly more messy sometimes with more children) which consolidates the efforts of two people who would have been cleaning separate spaces.

– there is always at least one adult with patience to cover for the (potentially) burnt out other three.

Maybe someday if we tire of our life on the road, we’ll consider one of the many unschool communities that are currently in their budding stages!

On Flexibility and Security

Part of our relaxed state is, surely, the hospitality and comfort of good friends.  We’ve known the Quinns for over three years and, while the scenery on our journeys is different, have always been able to be open, honest, and supportive of each other.  But it’s more than that. 

After being on the road officially for over a month now, I (because I can always only know my own feelings and observe the actions and implied feelings of others) am feeling so versatile, relaxed, and mobile.  There really is a sense that wherever we go, there we are.  As long as we have internet so Chris can work, we are home anywhere and everywhere.  There is no hurry to get back to anything, to go anywhere, no obligations to anyone but our own immediate family.  Though we’re settling in, our previous reality- the one engrained as ‘normal’- does occasionally creep in and we have fleeting moments in which we wonder when this ‘vacation’ will be over… anxiety that we’ve missed a deadline… or have forgotten a meeting.  The revelation (coming much more quickly now) is that this is real, functional life.  Thinking outside the box has allowed us to decrease our expenses, earn income, and travel on next to nothing for fuel.  What’s next?!

It feels wonderful to always be comfortable and present in this space and moment- to not need to be surrounded by our own things or see the same thing out our window everyday.  Have our bonds as a family strengthened since the shedding of material goods and the standard model of living?  Or have we just noticed them more without the physical distractions and ties of suburban-bound life? 

Does it matter?  It is… and it feels solid, connected, and joyful.  That’s what matters.

(pictures soon to accompany this blog post- check back!)

 

Ode to Galveston

Our first real trek from the DFW area- testing our wheels away from our familiar territory for an extended period- was made to Galveston, Texas.  ‘Why Galveston in the heat of summer?’ you say.  We ask ourselves the same thing every day.  🙂  The answer is that we found American Greenfuels to convert our RV’s diesel engine to run on waste vegetable oil from restaurants.  Of the several companies that we contacted, Bud was the most confident about converting our RV, always at the ready to answer our multitudes of questions, interested in tailoring our conversion to our specific lifestyle and needs, AND (get this) reasonably priced.  Because of the varying dimensions and setups of RVs and conversion equipment, we brought our RV to Bud in Alvin, TX for a full assessment of the possibilities before placing the parts orders.  Chris will post the specifics of the conversion over on his blog.

Rather than going back up to DFW for the 10-14 days it was expected to take for the parts to arrive, we set up camp at Galveston Island State Park.  What a time we had!  We stayed on the bay side (the ocean side always seemed to be full when we checked, anyway) and really enjoyed it.  The park is quite removed and private.  The bayside sites are situated in a circle around a pavilion which was the perfect setup to be able to see the kids out playing with the neighboring children, playing in the shade of the pavilion and riding their bikes around the circle. 

We met some lovely people there and had some interesting adventures.  Some highlights:

– The kids both learned to ride their bikes without training wheels and graduated to 20″ bicycles.

– Sadie turned 6 years old! (She voted for Rainforest Cafe and Build-A-Bear.)  We had a fun time complete with a Vol-Ca-Nooooooo cake (adorned with a sparkler).  Sadie stood on her chair while the waiters sung her birthday tune.  She loved every moment of it!  The kids both made rainforest Build-A-Bears which have been constant companions ever since.

– We met another unschooling family who recently sold their ‘stick house’ and moved into their travel trailer.  They invited us to go to the beach to explore below the surface of the beach to visualize the makers of those little holes all over the place that look like tiny volcanoes.  The kids and I had spent some time trying to dig down with our hands to no avail.  With our new friends, we used a Ghost Shrimp Pump (aka- Slurp Gun/ details on how to make your own here) that they found at a local bait shop to take core samples from the beach around the holes.  Then we dug through each sample of mud to find the ghost shrimp (quickly before they dig back down into the sand).  We found several and kept them in a water bottle until the kids turned them loose and watched them burrow back down.  While really cool, this definitely solidified the Parent parents’ lack of appetite for shrimp/lobster. 

– We played, played, played on the beach and in the warm Gulf waters (no signs of oil here).

– We found what makes the big holes on the beach, too.  Evening and early morning are the best times to see the inordinate numbers (we’re talking TONS) of crabs going in and out of these holes on the beach.  Their claws can be found all over the bayside where they were a part of a gorgeous water bird’s meal.

– We explored historic downtown Galveston and LOVED: The Lunch Box (great grassroots, artsy atmosphere and deliciously healthy, local menu) and La King’s (HUGE old style candy and ice cream shop).

– We watched pelicans and jumping fish and they never ceased to make us giggle.

– The kids discovered a new way to build sand castles by mixing the sand to a drippy, wet mud and dripping it into sculptures.  They created a beautiful ‘candy’ castle!

– We learned tons about hurricanes.  The devastation of September, 2008’s Hurricane Ike is still evident everywhere in Galveston- from the boarded up stilted homes, to the closed seaside hotels, to the downcast eyes of the remembering residents.  We watched endless Youtube videos of the Ike stormchasers, news updates, and before/during/after footage.  Here’s one of our favorites (the historic Balinese Room was completely destroyed by Ike.  It was amazing to drive by where it once stood after seeing it standing in the wind in the video.).  Galveston Island State Park remains in a state of temporary headquarters and minimal facilities due to lack of funding to rebuild.  We called the former headquarters a ‘Scooby Doo ghost town’ because of how bare, broken, and overgrown it is now.  We talked about the Evacuation Route signs and imagined what it looks and feels like for the inhabitants to have to leave en masse when a new storm approaches.  The history of Galveson is amazing.  Prior to the absolutely levelling hurricane of 1900, Galveston was to be the largest and most bustling port city in Texas.  Now, it’s a seaside vacation getaway like others we have seen- a little hokey by the water with attractions and air brushed t-shirt shops.  The downtown is just gorgeous, however.  We were really taken by the 1800s architecture and beautiful side-by-side decorative Victorian homes.  I wondered how long it would be before all of the homes were restored to their pre-storm beauty and we didn’t have to use our imagination to see the whole block standing in pride.  Then I wondered if it was all even worth it.  When would the next storm come?  We talked about insurance claims and the many who are still fighting to claim compensation for rebuilding from the insurance companies to which they faithfully paid premiums.

We’ve gone south now to Freeport for the remaining week before our conversion and the Rethinking Everything Conference (we decided to do them both simultaneously).  More tales to come…

 

Paring Down To The Core

2,900 square feet plus a garage and attic space full of stuff- some precious, some pretty, some practical, some technical, some fun, big, small, and received in all manner of ways- that’s what we left behind.  All of it.  We sold it, gave it away, and threw it away.  All of it.

Shedding the physical belongings was a necessary and most interesting piece of this journey.  Initially, we were certain we’d get storage.  How big of a locker would we need?  We started evaluating how much space our stuff would take up if crammed together (answer: a LOT) and looking at prices for storage units.  When the monthly cost of storing possessions was considered, we began to really think hard about what the most important things would be to keep.  We were downsizing everything, including income.  We realized quickly that the amount that we’d pay monthly for a storage unit would rapidly approach the worth of the items that we were keeping.  We don’t know how long this part of our grand journey will be.  If we like it, maybe years.  What if we love it and never want to be tied to a foundation again?  What if we don’t and are looking to settle down in a year?  There are always uncertainties but we were certain that holding on to ‘stuff’ for the sake of holding on to it ‘just in case’ was not the answer.  None of it meant anything as we prepared for a life of freedom- from mortgage; exorbitant electric, water, and associated home ownership bills; from loads of ‘stuff’ gradually accrued over the last 15 years. 

It really was like a snap of the fingers- the difference between our attempt at researching what and how to store ‘stuff’ and the shift to excitement at watching it all go.  I can’t explain it except that it felt extremely liberating and the more we tossed or gave, the easier it got to let go of it all.  I freecycled like a madwoman, giving away little toys, odds and ends, cleaning products, pantry, linen closet, and garage items, etc. to people eager to put it all to use.  I gave to Goodwill old and unworn clothing, shoes, etc.  It felt good.  Then came the hard part- or so we thought.  We went to task deciding what we wanted to keep.  A large bin for non-replaceable memory items was put aside to store in a good friend’s garage.  The kids’ baby boxes and books, scrapbooks, print photos, etc. were put into this bin.   The kids each got a Rubbermaid tub to fill with their most special belongings.  They also found it fairly easy to sort once the mindset and language were shifted from ‘What do we have to get rid of?  Leave behind?  Sell?  Give away?’ to ‘What of our things are the most special?  What are we going to bring?’  We hired J. Darling Estate Sales to organize and sell the majority of our belongings.  They managed to completely unearth and organize all of our ‘stuff’, turn our house into a shop, and sell a large portion of it in the span of a week.  What a weight off of our shoulders it was to have them take care of all of it- well worth their 30% cut, let me tell you. 

When the sale was complete, there was still a tremendous amount of ‘stuff’ (how did we ever accrue so much?) leftover.  The difference between moving and actually getting rid of everything struck us.  When we’ve moved in the past, we’ve always packed up the extra ‘stuff’ and brought it with us.  In this case, the house had to be cleaned out entirely and this ‘stuff’ wasn’t coming with us.  We gave most of the remainder to our friends Nicole Ofeno and Ike Eaker who are holding yard sales of donated items to raise money to walk from Texas to California beginning in September.  Being able to help others with their adventure felt great!  What they couldn’t fit in their truck was picked up by a local charity. 

What was most interesting about all this was not only our own reactions to giving it all away but (mostly) the reactions of others.  While many had reacted with excitement and envy about our bold life change and upcoming travel, the mention of getting rid of our ‘stuff’ had people reeling.  So much fear surfaced in others once it came to light that we were not keeping anything.  Not even furniture?  Not even ________?  The TV?  The ________?  Nope, not even those.  It was almost as if this pile of ‘stuff’ was a safety net- something to come back to in case this whole experiment failed miserably and we needed to set up stationary camp again.  Or was it the emotional ties that people develop to the familiarity of their ‘stuff’?  We are so often classified and quantified by our ‘stuff’ that I think many people wondered who we’d be (or who they’d be) without it.  In the next breath, many would ask what they could have or buy on the cheap.  I was fascinated and disconcerted and amazed at the desire of others to gather more ‘stuff’ just as we were trying to hone and live more simply.  It wasn’t a feeling of judgment so much as a tremendous sense of contrast.  We had people knocking on our door who had heard from a friend of a neighbor who heard from _______ about what we were doing and (these strangers) wanted to come in and look around at what we’d be leaving behind/giving/selling!  

I am pleased to note that, several weeks into living in our smaller living space, we have not missed anything left behind.  Even the children, noting here and there that this or that didn’t come in the RV with us, have been very content and matter-of-fact about their choices of what to bring and what to leave behind.  I must say that their decisions of what came were certainly not what I would have anticipated or chosen for them had it been left up to me.  And I would venture to guess that it’s also why they have been so content- because it was entirely their own choosing of the items most special to them (which only they would know).  They also chose what clothes would come and, having now mentioned that, I guess I should disclose that between them only one pair of socks was brought with their clothing items.  A quick run to the store remedied the sock crisis.  I also (and I’m the one that would) have not felt cramped for storage space in the RV at all.  We still have ‘basement’ storage bins without anything in them (which is good because one of them will be used for one of our vegetable oil tanks in the conversion) and others that could be easily organized to create more space.  We live extremely (and shockingly) comfortably in this cozy little space.

And, though I’ve posted it before, I will close with one of my favorite bits by George Carlin about ‘stuff’.

 

What The Hell Are We Doing?

You may have gotten a taste and some hints as to our first couple of weeks on the road if you’re following along on Facebook.  Such a small fraction goes there, though.  There’s just too much to say and a few sentence sound byte usually just isn’t going to cut it.  It’s too easy to judge someone’s status update as positive or negative when I don’t believe that anything can really be one or the other.  It’s all about perception.  As you enter into this post, prepare for ambiguity.

Life on the road has been exhilerating, amazing, frustrating, demanding, busy, new, fun, breathtaking and, at the same time, like having the wind knocked out.  The RV looks great.  We spent WEEKS getting this baby cozy and live-in ready.  We are so proud… and tired.  Yet it seems that new challenges, problems, and outright failures have met us around many bends. 

We started our journey in south Dallas at Cedar Hill State Park.  We have a Texas state parks pass which waves all day-use fees and gives us a few discounts on camping stays.  We love state parks- privacy, nature, and adventure.  Not 24 hours into our stay, we began noticing ants- more and more ants.  Returning one evening after spending the day cleaning out the house in preparation for closing, we had so many ants that I couldn’t see the pantry shelf or the wall behind the sink in the bathroom.  We’re talking ANTS.  Novices.  That’s all we could think.  This was our fault for missing some kind of prevention.  Google was very little help.  We couldn’t seem to stem the tide.  After gooing up the water hose/electrical line, the ants went marching up the jacks.  We spread ant powder around the jacks and they seemed to have found yet another unknown entry.  Long story short, we learned that excessive garbage left in the park over 4th of July led to an ant infestation in our loop.  Anger.  We moved to another location and spent days vacuuming and otherwise exterminating the ants who came with us in the RV.  The claim that the park had WiFi turned out to mean that one could get a mediocre signal from their car if sitting outside the park headquarters.  With Chris just beginning his online teaching for two universities, he was slowed, frustrated, and sometimes incapacitated by the slow connection through his phone and having to go outside the headquarters to do his work.  We were eager to receive the WiFi repeater and 3G booster (which either Chris or I (or both)) will post about soon but, having no other internet option, we needed to find a place with dependable WiFi or a good cell signal.  This is a beautiful park and we were sad to cut our visit short but it became clear that this was just… not… working.  While there we tried out our on board washer/dryer and found that it doesn’t drain.  That was fun to do by hand from the hole in the front so that we could get our clothes out.  We know it’s not the drain hose because I blew bubbles in the water through it.  My evaluation techniques are much more direct (and less sanitary) than those of my husband who was busy Googling the topic as I did this.  We are thinking it’s the drain motor but are backburnering this repair until we can see clearly to the other side of the ones that are more immediate.

After 5 days at Cedar Hill, we moved to north Dallas to stay at Lewisville Lake Park Campground for the remainder of our time in the DFW area.  Less privacy but more than adequate, right on the lake, super friendly staff and campers, and good WiFi.  We loved this place.  We were still eradicating the last of our ants and nursing chigger bites that had me looking like I had the mumps- remnants of our woodsy days at Cedar Hill- but life was seeming to flow better.  Chris remained busy with his online teaching.  We spent most days down at the house getting rid of the stuff leftover from our gigantic estate sale, cleaning the house, and taking care of last minute details before closing.  We finally settled on a Thule Parkway4-bike hitch mount bike rack for the RV which meant we needed a dual hitch extender so that both the bike rack and the car could utilize a hitch space.  This is a great rack and is serving us well.  The car needed a base plate installed on the frame to be able to be towed 4-wheels down as we travel.  With one car and a several hour install on it planned, we packed up the RV and used it as a vehicle and resting place as we waited for the car to be tow-ready.  The install ended up taking 13 1/2 hours.  A VW Jetta base plate was installed on our VW Rabbit- same genus, different species.  How may I void the warrantee?  Let me count the ways.  The installation took so long that we could not make it back to Lewisville in time before the campground gates locked and spent our first night boondocking in a WalMart parking lot in a metro area despite the fact that our sweet little spot sat empty and paid for just beyond the gate.  The wiring aspect of the install also left the airbag light on and the radio non-functioning which we will now be having Volkswagen figure out.  Warrantee, oh warrantee- how we will miss thee.  We left WalMart unscathed, were completely out of the house with keys handed over to the new owners, and all of our worldly possessions consisting of what we had in our RV and one large plastic tub of memories and keepsakes in a friend’s garage.  Yes, a whole post can (and probably will) be done on relinquishing attachments to ‘stuff’.  This felt good.  Leaving the house behind was a huge weight lifted off of our shoulders.  Now we could focus completely on the RV and life could calm down.  Little did we know we’d need that time and focus for the RV and that calm would remain elusive.

We left DFW on a Sunday afternoon and headed for the Houston area.  After tremendous research, discussions, research, and more discussions, we had settled on American Greenfuels of Friendswood, TX to convert our RV’s diesel engine to run on waste vegetable oil from fast food restaurants.  We were headed down to the shop for Bud to check out our basement storage compartments and general layout of the frame to strategize and measure for a system designed to custom fit our RV.  When we asked fellow RVers where to stay in Houston, they told us, “keep driving.”  It seems no one has anything positive to say about the Houston area.  We decided to take our time on the way down and stopped in Huntsville, TX at a Walmart to boondock (camp without water/electric hookups- we use the generator and our own water tank).  When we got there we realized that our bohemoth diesel pusher had pulled the car over 3 hours with the emergency brake on. *&($#(*##$@@.  Add that to the list of things to have VW look at and repair (insert mention of voided warrantee here).  Around this time we also noticed that the living room slide was working increasingly harder to pull in.  Google, here we come.  We are pushing this in now with less and less help from the motor and will be replacing that soon as well.

For the last two weeks, we have been at Galveston Island State Park during the week and at Quintana Beach County Park on the weekends (the state park has been completely booked for the weekends for the rest of the summer).  Both are lovely places to call temporary home.  Though we’ve noticed a distinct lack in friendliness in this area (is this where Texans come to recover from being so friendly the rest of the time?), we have met some wonderful folks at the campgrounds and the kids have had a raucous and wonderful time playing with the kids that come and go.  Being oceanside has been amazing.  We’re at the beach everyday for an hour or two playing in the waves, flying kites, making sand castles, and art.  The kids have seamlessly adjusted to life in the RV and have not looked back.  They are excited to tell people that we call our RV ‘home’ and that we can go wherever we want.  Parting from their friends who are ending their vacations to go back home has been difficult but making new friends is quick, easy, and full of new discoveries.

 

Since here, we’ve had ongoing issues with both or our rooftop air conditioners.  Chris knows just enough about electricity not to get himself expelled from the roof by a jolt but not quite enough to know why it now works after replacing capacitors, blowing out both workings with our air compressor, and changing out the filters.  We are cool now and have avoided the high cost of replacing the units and that is key.  We are waiting in the area for the tank and parts to come in to American Greenfuels so that the process of converting the engine can begin.  Though we agree that the south in the summer is not where we’d like to be in the future in our RV, given the circumstance there is no place I’d rather be than by the shore.

Today was a good day.  Chris didn’t have to spend half the day on the roof with his phone trying to figure out air conditioners.  We didn’t have to run out for parts or errands.  The awning seems to be going up and down straight now.  It was just a regular day and a refreshing first for us.  We still love our RV and are trying to remember that we had issues like this with our house as well- they just seemed more expected and comprehensible because we were more familiar with the workings of a house.  This is an 8 year old RV and, though in great condition overall, we can expect to be fixing things.  We were just hoping it wouldn’t be all at once!  A few people have asked us if all of these issues are giving us second thoughts about our decision.  A friend of ours who lives and travels in her RV with her children (and has had her share of RV breaks and fixes) said that these issues will strengthen our resolve.  I’m happy to say that we are definitely in her camp.  The spirit of adventure, fewer bills, and cozy, self-contained nature of our life now has more appeal than the issues that we’ve had can take away.  Like new homeowners, we are learning her workings inside and out.  We are confident that we can skip labor costs and do just about anything that needs to be done by utilizing our information resources and resourcefulness.  This not only saves us money, but adds to our knowledge and confidence.  We’re off to Quintana Beach County Park again tomorrow for the weekend.  See you on the beach!

Some side notes on things that have broken/gone awry:

– Chris hit a curb with the RV and our cupboard opened- a plate that the kids painted two years ago in Santa Barbara fell out and shattered.

– I leashed Lulu to the table leg as she thinks the RV is a death trap while moving (see above).  She ripped the leg off the table.

It’s really just getting comical.  We’ve noticed we’re getting better at this, though.  There’s definitely a learning curve to having a house that moves…