Let's see if this lightbulb works!

Like I said in my last post...It seems like we have all the time in the world, but end up busier than ever with "not enough time" to finish "everything"! Well, not much has changed in the last month. 

When we first got to this new spot, we had blazing fast wifi, then within a couple of days, it was almost impossible to open one single page. Those days started adding up from 2 to 5 to 9 to 10 days, after the 10th day I tried to get online but couldn't really get much done. We would have moved to a different spot, but we have people camping with us (rare) and couldn't move everyone, so we decided we would stay and just deal with it. Now, we figured out if we put the hot-spot in one certain area of the van, it works with almost no glitches...but it's kind of a pain in the butt spot, so I'm dealing. 

As you can see, I'm quite bored!

I also decided I was going to try something different with my blog, so we'll see how that goes! It just seems like it takes way too much mental energy and time to sit down and write, write, write. It's truly exhausting. So, I am going to play around with some things and see how it goes. As I play around with this new way, I will be updating some things that have been happening around here....seems like a ton of stuff has happened in the past month, so it should be fun going through it all!

Catching up on their beauty rest. You know the other 16 hours they get just isn't enough!!

The weather has been roller coaster like, going from nice, hot and sunny for a week to rainy, cold and windy for 3-5 days.  This week we're on the down slope and ready for more rain on Tuesday, so we'll be bundling up for a couple of days. We would start moving South but we are tying up a few loose ends here first, then....we're moving on down!

Tomorrow is supposed to be the last nice day for about a week and everyone will get together to watch football up at Camp Harris. Another major plus of the day will be seeing my friend Jess & her man, who are passing through from Denver. I haven't seen her in a year, so it should be a super fun visit!!

Me & Jess at Goats on the Roof in Clayton, GA October 2014

We were getting some Mama G's Pizza and were pretty stoked! October 2014

 See you soon!

PEACE

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The Days Dwindle Down

The weather is changing. We are wearing more jeans, boots and jackets. The leaves are turning beautiful colors and falling off the trees. It's definitely the season of change and change is exactly what we need!

Our time is coming to a close here in North Georgia, we've got about 2 weeks left and we'll be back on the road, living our lives again.

In the past month, we have gone through our stuff that sat in a moldy 'grave' for the past two years, sold some of it, thrifted the stuff that didn't sell and threw away the rest.

These next two weeks are all about buttoning up; putting furniture back (due to renting a fully furnished place), making sure everything fits where we are expecting it to and preparing ourselves for a life back on the road.

This time around we are doing things a little differently and we are both pretty excited about the change. While talking to each other, a few months back about what our plans were for getting back on the road, we both were getting major heartburn over the stuff inside of the van aka our living space. I think for two peeps & two pups we do pretty well with a small area but we are always shuffling tons of stuff around at different parts of the day to make for more room. The things we don't have on the inside of the van usually sit up in the cargo basket on-top, making it very of difficult to get to and it's actually just a really big pain in the butt! When we park, we would put everything from the "living room" into the driver seat and down in the pedal area, making it about a half hour of puzzle building with the toilet paper going here and these books going there, etc. It became a very big and daunting process and needed some rethinking. We would, of course, love to have a bigger rig to stand up in and be able to move around more easily, but right now the van is what we have, so we tossed around ideas to make the van more liveable for all of us. We finally came to a decision of getting a trailer, nothing huge or big, but enough to take the stuff off the top and out of the living space of the van. We talked about it for a few days before going through with it and we are both totally stoked about it. When we received it, Jamie built it out and then added some things to make it more suitable for our travel needs; putting pressure treated plywood down and some I-hooks for straps. It's a beaut!!

The measurements are 40 in. x 48 in. and it can carry about 1,200 lbs. We also bought a double hitch since we have the bikes too.

It's going to be interesting to see everything put together. We now have the van, the trailer, two bicycles, one dirt bike, one scooter and a partridge in a pear tree! haha

We bought a cute lil' scooter, an 80cc Honda Elite, for me. I will be taking a two day motorcycle class so I can get a motorcycle endorsement on my license... That in itself should be interesting since I've only 'driven' a bicycle!! I may have to get a little basket on the back so Chili Moon can ride in style! haha

We will be making a small detour, to Florida, to spend some time with family & friends before heading back West, but we are totally ready to get back to the life we live so well on the road.

Great things are happening and before we know it, this whole stix 'n' bricks in North Georgia thing will just be a blur...

[caption id="attachment_5647" align="aligncenter" width="551"] ...[/caption]

Crazy the things life throws at ya!

PEACE

Welcomed with Open Arms

We've been quite the busy bees lately! A very good thing. We've been so busy I've only turned my computer on to check my main email...feels good! With that, I have not forgotten about my loyal readers and am happy to be writing about more than just sitting in the van!

So, away we go.....

April 27~ We decided the heat was getting to be too much and made the decision to leave Wickenburg the next day. We did a load of laundry in our 'new' 3 gallon bucket and packed up Joon's Junk. To celebrate we had a big UFC fight card to watch and Cpt. Kev came over with a pizza.

[caption id="attachment_4523" align="alignleft" width="150"] Washin' & Packin'[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4524" align="alignright" width="150"] Fight Night[/caption]

We all gathered around the side door of Joon Van and enjoyed a night in the good life along with some pretty good bouts.

April 28~

We left our beautiful spot ontop of our mountain in Wickenburg. We got gas

[caption id="attachment_4527" align="alignleft" width="150"] Good-bye[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4528" align="alignright" width="150"] Hello[/caption]

at $3.79 a gallon! Dumped our trash and refreshed our water for free at the Mobil station. We stopped for lunch at Burger King...yep, 2 Whoppers for $5 bucks and 3 x 10 lb. bags of ice coming out to $8.56! You really can't beat that. Then we drove. Our destination? Sedona, Arizona. It's just absolutely gorgeous here, it's so different than anything we've seen to this point. It's amazing! I can't wait to go explore. We met up with our friend Ray, who we met at the R.T.R. in January, and are camping with him right now. The camp is a great spot where Red Rocks surround us on all sides and many different flowers are in bloom that we haven't seen yet. It's beautiful here.

[caption id="attachment_4531" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Arriving at Camp[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4532" align="aligncenter" width="350"] New Home[/caption]

We have the feeling Sedona is going to be very good to us. Can't wait to prove our feelings true!

PEACE

P.S. I'm still doing pictures in Shutterfly but our connection isn't the fastest out here, so they may be delayed for a bit until I can get some upload speed. Thank you for your patience! 

 

 

Not so sure how this is gonna go down...

Lo and behold, we have been in Victorville for two days now...well a night, a full day then today...so we'll call it two full days! Now that me and myself have had our conversation...back on topic

When we drove into Victorville, I have to be honest, my heart wasn't in it. Some parts of me really wanted to be back out on public land but some parts of me were yearning to turn around and go back to the beach. The parts of me that wanted public land were yelling in my ear: You can spread out, get some guitar practice in, do your meditations, Savannah can be outside again, it will be great. There were other parts of me whispering...but hey, I'm the beach! haha To go along with my indecisiveness when we woke up yesterday morning it was 52 degrees outside...good thing we prepared and got our comforter back down! I was not a very happy camper yesterday. In my mind I was thinking, we left the beach for this?? J' was kind enough to get my chair down for me but due to the chill, little bits of rain and massive winds yesterday, my chair would sit outside empty for another day...boooo. I think Savannah was even a little depressed yesterday. Upon waking this morning, things "cooled" off in my mind and I figured I would embrace Victorville in all of its glory! ha Savannah and I went on a nice long walk, I handled some business I needed to tend to, charged my battery (did I tell you I got a new computer battery, hallelujah!), made Nana a place to hang out with me, got out my guitar, and placed my happy butt outside in my chair. I practiced some on Claramae, it's been a while, so practice was short due to my sore little fingers but getting 'her' out again is huge! After messing around on ole Claramae, I revisited my mediation course. It was so hard getting any meditation time at the beach because we were always driving or simply enjoying our day out and about, it definitely was pushed to the back burner, but I was living life so I don't feel so bad!

We found a spot right before sunset the night before last. It seemed to be a pretty good spot with a really cool Joshua Tree right in the middle. We made it our camp and haven't moved...that was the whole point right!? haha

[caption id="attachment_4400" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Camp[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4401" align="alignleft" width="150"] Find Joon[/caption]

We are the only ones here. There are houses a few miles from us but other than that it's just us and the desert

...the wide open desert.

I have been able to sit outside, but there is a time limit!

The mornings are a bit chilly here and the early afternoons, about 3:00 p.m., the wind picks up and can really be a pain having my computer outside. Even just trying to play the guitar, leaving all electronics inside is a mess...I have sand flying in my face and eyes and in my guitar, my hair feels incredibly dirty and I just washed it yesterday. But I am delighted that I get the time I do and I use that time wisely!

Savannah has been hanging out with me. I put her blanket in the shady areas of the branches of the Joshua Tree. Some branches have fallen off of it but it makes for a nice place for us to hang out.

[caption id="attachment_4407" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Outside again[/caption]

It sure is nice to be outside again. How I love the fresh air, the sunshine dancing on my skin and feeling a little more at peace with not having to move every 5 minutes.

Oh, but the wind....the ever-blowing, massive wind, it's enough to drive ya mad!

I guess we'll have to play it day by day here.

PEACE

Detours of Past & Present

The weather changed so much overnight that we thought it would be best if we headed closer to Tucson to get some warmer weather and try to get in touch with my sister and her family. We also wanted to get some other things done since we would be moving the van anyway. So back to Tucson we go!

[caption id="attachment_3875" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Interstate Walls[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3876" align="aligncenter" width="300"] On our way[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3877" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Downtown Tucson[/caption]

We started driving into the streets of Tucson to look for a self-serve car wash and ended up on the streets of Downtown Tucson, there is a lot of construction right now but it was nice to see the city. I don't think as many times as I've been to Tucson...and I was born here...that I've ever actually driven into Downtown...that I'm aware of at least! We drove around where the University of Arizona is, now that is a place I remember very well. When I was about 15-16 years old I came out and visited my sister and her hubby, pre-kids, for the entire Summer.

While I was here I had to keep up with my swimming routine and the University of Arizona was kind enough to let me practice with them during the week and even swim in a couple of swim meets...I was in Heaven!! It was really fun and good for me to have to "keep up" with college swimmers and some of them even had to keep up with me...it was a good confidence booster, plus I got a lot of amazing training from some of U.S.A.'s top swim coaches...and the pool was beautimous! So driving past the University was a little blast from the past for me.

[caption id="attachment_3879" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The outside of the pool[/caption]

We found our self-serve car wash right behind the University, where we stripped Joon Van down to her bare skin and cleaned her up, nice and good! She looks amazing, inside and out!

 The car wash took us about an hour and a half, then we were off to do our other errands, finishing our day driving back to the Casino del Sol.

[caption id="attachment_3884" align="aligncenter" width="300"] T-Rex at a stoplight!!![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3885" align="aligncenter" width="300"] "A"- Mountain[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3886" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Casino del Sol[/caption]

So, we're back here for...I don't really know. Hopefully I'll get in touch with my sista' soon and we can hook up and get our visit in. I can't wait to see my lil' noodlebugs...they are gonna freak!

Hope you all had a lovely day!

PEACE

 

 

Chilly Climate = Warm Wishes

The wind and chill stuck around for the most part of today, although it did warm up enough for us to take a walk around the parking lot later in the afternoon. This parking lot is so big that it's a really nice walk, actually feeling like we're getting some exercise. We walked around, gabbing and taking in all of the different sights...still getting used to all of the different cactus and plants...they're pretty cool. We walked over to one part of the lot that looked like it might be a sidewalk to a walking path, but just ended up being a dead-end sidewalk with a bunch of cactus 'balls' on the ground. J' went to kick one of the 'balls' and it stuck in his shoe...he was amazed, never had he gone to kick something out of the way just to have it stick in his shoe. He spent a few minutes trying to get it out of his shoe as well as trying not to get it re-stuck in his finger! Crazy cactus balls!

[caption id="attachment_3860" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Kick the 'ball"[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3861" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Ball gets stuck in shoe!![/caption]

I shot a few more pics of the crazy cactus that are out here in this parking lot...they are super neat looking...I'm going to have to find out the names of these things!

If anyone knows what they are called, please let me know. Other than that, just another lazy afternoon of walking, working and Winter! I hope the weather starts getting a little nicer and warmer and then stays that way...I'm getting over this whole Winter thing here! haha

PEACE

Sitting quietly in Sahuarita

The weather sure did change overnight! The wind picked up with a little bit of spitting rain throughout the night. We woke up to a pretty blustery day, Winnie Pooh! The day only got colder, windier and darker as it flew right by us. It even seemed as though a lot of the RV's even left due to the weather changing so drastically...maybe they had other plans but it just seemed that way.

We ended up getting the heater down...why sit in the cold when we can sit and be comfortable!?

Not a very exciting day but at least J' was able to get some work done and we stayed warm.

PEACE

Desert Rain

The rain picked a good time to come. It rained on and off during the night, waking up to more rain this morning. I guess we picked the perfect day (yesterday) to walk the Big Tent, today would definitely be an inside day.

[caption id="attachment_3659" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Rainy Day[/caption]

I finished the velcro on the curtain for our sliding door! Now we have something to keep the warm in and wandering eyes out.

[caption id="attachment_3660" align="alignleft" width="150"] Hard @ work![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3661" align="alignright" width="150"] Finished![/caption]

I'm just glad it's finished, it's a really big job...especially without a darn thimble...ouchy! It took me most of the day to get it done, taking breaks to mess with Savannah, eat some junk food and look at the weather. The rain finally cleared up around 3:45-4:00 p.m. making camp look totally different than it has the whole time we've been here. The sun was glistening off of the wet dirt roads and clouds were hanging low on the mountain tops...very pretty!

Savannah was super excited to run around and fill her nose of all of the accentuated smells!

She was so thrilled to be out of the van that she took it upon herself to celebrate in her own little way...rolling in da' poo-poo...for the second time in 2-3 days! What a mess she is! She was not celebrating so much though, when she got her second scrub down of the week with freezing cold water.

[caption id="attachment_3665" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Not so happy[/caption]

We also gave ourselves a Head-Up cleansing since we were already in the groove. I love the picturesque scenery after it rains in the desert, it's just so beautiful...there's really nothing like it.

[caption id="attachment_3668" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Ah-some!![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3667" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Panoramic View[/caption]

I love the rain. It's very cleansing. When the clouds have squeezed out that last drop of rain and the sun starts to shine, playing over the mountains, bringing out different colors and objects in the distance...it's spectacular.

Maybe it's time to say, "See ya later" and move on down the road, to the next adventure, the next leg of our journey...? Tomorrow will be the only one able to tell us that, for now I wish you all a warm and moist day...kind of like a Brownie! Mmmmmm Brownies!

PEACE