On Our Way...Alaska Here We Come!

We are officially "on our way." Yesterday, we left the Denver area after quick visits with family and friends. We travelled through desolate places in Eastern Wyoming. It was beautiful...but the HUGE extra-sturdy snow fences and gates to close the interstate left us feeling that we don't really want to try going through winters in this area! Brrr!

Today we visited the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center, which was EXCELLENT. (See our reviews at http://journey2wonderreviews.blogspot.com/ )

Tomorrow we are headed to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in northern Wyoming. By this coming Monday, we plan to have crossed the border and be in CANADA.

I have made a detailed itinerary so we can estimate costs and so that we can make RV site reservations (and won't have to "boondock" with no electric or water when all the local RV sites are full...) I'm not so sure we really want to have to stick to a tight itinerary---we've gotten used to and are enjoying freedom in wandering in an RV over the past few months. But, we have scheduled regular rest days with no specific plans at all. Hopefully, that helps!

If you want to see some of the planned stops on our itinerary---check out preliminary posts on the journey2wonder reviews blog (listed above) that were all posted on April 25th. As we go to each place, the kids and I will update the post, will add photos, and will re-post it on the correct date. Some of you might like looking ahead of time at where we will be going! (Others of you will read about things after we see them, and that's okay, too.)

Whenever I get a little panic-y about such a long trip I remember two things: my dad survived (and enjoyed) making this trip on his MOTORCYCLE just two years ago. Also, when I think we must be crazy to be doing such a thing, I am reminded of a friend's response to that worry---"Yes, you ARE crazy! You already KNOW that!"

So...wish us well on our long, long journey... We will try to keep in touch!

PEACE and quiet...

We are back in Golden Colorado. The only site available when we got here (they don't take reservations) is electric only. Since we had been here before, they suggested we could stretch our hose to the neighboring site for water. This site is so short that most bigger rigs (like ours) set up sideways along the boundary fence instead. The manager was apologetic that this was all they had available... Gee, what a pity! We have a cheaper site with the best view in the park! (We are parked sideways to the creek, so it is visible through all the windows in the living room area. YAY!)

So, I'm sitting at the table while I type this. It's sunny with a mostly blue sky. The water beside me is rushing and burbling along its way. Right outside my window there is a little snow hiding in bits of tall grass, right beside a path leading right into the water. Seems to be inviting me to come explore...but I have no intention of putting my toes into that freezing, snow-melt-from-the-mountains water! I will just enjoy the look and the sound of it dancing along!

Soon the kids will be up, talking and getting breakfast. The RV mobile repair guy will be here in a little while (I'll tell you about our awning another time...) All is at PEACE, for this moment at least!

Water WOES...

grumble...grumble...mumble...grrrrrrr...

You know, this hooking-up-to-a-spigot-so-you-have-running-water thing may be overrated. It's only been 4 months and look what we've faced so far:

• Your hose to the RV freezes...(wrap the line with heater tape and try again).
• Your RV water lines--enclosed under the trailer thus unreachable--freeze...(build an insulation wall under the RV and move the space heater in there to thaw everything out).
  
• Their water hook-ups freeze...(build a little shelter out of insulation and insert a heater to thaw their pipes).
• Their water hook-ups are way too far back (what WERE they thinking?!) for your hose to reach...(find a store and buy a longer hose).
• Some kid runs through and bumps over the water spigot causing a 15 foot high FOUNTAIN from the broken line...(run get the campground manager, then, whew!, be thankful it was your NEIGHBOR's water line that was affected and be thankful it was NOT your kid that did it!) (That fountain sure was pretty while it lasted!!)
• Your truck bumps one of the multiple spigots while maneuvering into a pull-through site---causing a slow FLOOD to occur...(sheepishly go get management to turn off the water...we dry-dock tonight!)
• The water connection port on your RV slowly bends more and more til it breaks leaving water slowly leaking down...oops! another wet spot inside...(unscrew and pull the connection port to the OUTSIDE of the RV...at least the leak then runs down the siding rather than into the walls)
• Park too far forward from the hook-ups, find your hose doesn't reach with the slide-out extended, decide to fill the fresh water tank and use the pump for water, start to fill the tank and, OVERFLOW, you forgot to empty the tank last time...(meaning you pulled an extra 500 pounds through the mountains, DEEP sigh...)

See what I mean? Is this running water thing REALLY worth all the hassle? Well, when it works RIGHT, it surely is...

The real question is...are you a plumber?!

Do the "back-in-dance"

What's that you say? You don't KNOW the "back-in-dance"?? It's what you do when you back a 5th Wheel RV into a site...

YOU know...line up just right to back the RV 90 degrees into a site...(or pray for an empty site across the lane so you can pull FORWARD into it, then back (more or less) straight back into your assigned place.) Now, shuffle forward, jiggle back, a little left, a little right, don't turn too sharp or you'll be in a fix. Too far right (don't hit the tree!), too far left (don't hit the hook-ups), pull forward again. Now, eeeaaassseee it back...lookin' pretty good! Let's check the level. Add a few levelers (aka giant orange stackable LEGOS!) and do-si-do. Now slowly slide back (hope and pray!), get those RV wheels on the narrow orange path. You're doin' okay...keep on comin'...keep on com...!!!STOP!!!

Whew! You just did the "back-in-dance"! YAY!

Now it's time to hop down from the pick-up cab and do a little jig of your own!

(Oh...did you think the "back-in-dance" was for a PERSON??! Nope...it's the dance you do with truck and trailer with helpers yelling along side!!)

(PS...I successfully completed my first "back-in-dance" for the first time last night---in the DARK, no less! Aren't you PROUD of me?!)

What is NORMAL?

It is quite obvious that we spent entirely too long in the deserts of Arizona! As midwesterners we would drive over bridges that spanned huge riverbeds of...SAND! We would marvel at how absolutely dry land could be called a "river." Yes, we could see the ripple marks of water flowing in the past...but no moisture visible when WE saw it. It was all a bit surreal to us.

Then, we crossed into New Mexico. Eventually, we crossed a bridge over a river and, of course, there was...water??!!! WOW! The kids and I all laughed that there was actually a thin little stream of WATER flowing down the mostly dry creek beds! It was absolutely AMAZING!!

By the time we got to Santa Fe, we were also excited about all the GREEN on the mountains! It wasn't just dry, rocky, sandy, desolate land! Again...it was AMAZING!

What's funny to me in looking back at it is that it took such a short time for our eyes to find dry, desert, arizona landscape to be "normal."

Ahh well, we are now enjoying the GRASS in Colorado. So I guess we still have some adjusting to do before we truly get back to "normal."

Run Out and BUY This Thing!!!

Yesterday we drove down to Tucson for the day to do some sightseeing. Before we left I carefully looked up the places we wanted to visit, and wrote down the addresses. Then I went to mapquest (of course) to get directions, an approximate driving time, and figure out a logical itinerary. I remembered that we have GPS in the truck, so instead of wasting paper, I didn't bother to print out the directions or even write them down.

When we got to Nettie's townhouse, we switched from our big, gas-guzzling truck to her (our old) minivan, so we had enough seats for all six of us. (No...a MINIVAN is not what you need to run out and buy...if you really wanted one of these for the large hauling capacity, you already have one...) This was pre-planned, so switching cars was NOT a surprise to me, much as I might like to pretend otherwise...

As we drove, we switched CDs occasionally, so nobody got too bored with what was playing. (I agree that the 6-CD Changer we have in the truck is really nice...and Satellite Radio is a really nice option, as well, but, NO, neither of those extras are what you must run out and buy...)

As we got closer to Tucson, I suddenly realized that we are in ARIZONA, meaning it is HOT and very sunny in the middle of the day. So, I decided we should switch the order of our sight-seeing and go to the further away but nice, cool, shady, adobe mission church first. Suddenly, I realized I had made a BIG mistake. I had the address written down...but no directions. I seemed to remember we needed to switch to another interstate near Tucson, but couldn't remember the details.

...NO directions...NO GPS...looking for someplace most people probably had never heard of (unless they were interested in old architecture/churches)... What should we do?

Randy mumbled about having decided not to bring his laptop this time because the car might get too hot for it when parked. (This is a bit of a hot-button topic for us---I see no reason to drag that infernal laptop with us everywhere we go...Randy figures we might want to look something up with it...OOPS! He was right this time!!)

I thought of calling someone to ask them to look up the directions on the internet and dictate them to me over the phone. (NO, you do not need to run out and buy a cell-phone...I assume you probably already have one of those...)

Then Randy came up with a MARVELOUS idea, a miraculous idea, an awesome product, (can you feel the build-up? Yes, THIS is the product you absoulutely MUST run out and buy!!!) Someone has actually come up with the wonderful idea of printing out all sorts of maps you might someday use and making them into a BOOK!! It can be stored underneath the seat of the car and pulled out when you most need it. WOW! You absolutely MUST go get one of these astonishing products for those times when you don't have instant internet contact to get to mapquest or google maps...

Yep, we were saved by an ATLAS! And, imagine, it even had little squares marked on the Tucson map and labeled with the exact places we wanted to visit!!

(PS...just for your info...the photo above was of a "road" that was marked as paved in the atlas...obviously wrong! But we used that same atlas and found a different way to get to where we were going using better roads.)

More Views from My Window

We stayed for almost a week at an old RV park in Central Arizona, south of Sedona. (Rio Verde RV Park in Cottonwood AZ) My first thoughts were that it was pretty beat up and many of the RVs were quite decrepit, but we discovered the people made up for it. Many of them were full-time residents. Our kids quickly made friends and hung out in the picnic pavilion in the center of the park. Honestly, there really weren't many views from the windows of the RV: mostly just dust and rocks and a few trees. Our lovely "picture window" at the back of the RV looked out about 2 feet to the side wall of the shower building...sigh... However, we had a nice, shady tree next to our patio, which was encouragement to sit outside in our lawn chairs and relax awhile. Jakob even did some reading up in the branches of that tree! Most evenings I took time to keep an eye out the door to watch the edge of the nightly sunset over the mountains in the distance. So...at least THIS view (from the door) was definitely a good one!

Now we are parked at an RV park on the far east side of the Phoenix area. (The Arizona Maverick in Apache Junction AZ.) As I had read in many RVer blogs, it was a challenge finding a family friendly RV park anywhere in the Valley of the Sun. (Most are age restricted--55 & up--where even WE are too young to stay there!!) This one is quite a drive to get to Nettie and even farther to visit our friends (who live to the north of Phoenix). But, again, people are friendly here and there are lots of full-time residents with lots of kids for Jakob and Anna to play with. These spaces have nice patios (where I spend alot of time, sitting under our awning), gravel all around (instead of dust), and palm trees scattered around the sites. Unfortunately, we are surrounded on every side with rows of other RVs so, again, the views from the windows aren't all that great. The far back of the park has views of mountains on the horizon, but I can't really even see that from the patio. This photo is of the view through the small window behind the dining bench. (I can see it while lounging on the couch.) During daytime it's pretty boring since the power lines are so shiny from the sunlight. But, each night at sunset, the view is worth noticing.