Run Errands. Squeeze a Naked Man. Get on the Road.

It's 2:30 p.m. exactly on this rockin' Tuesday afternoon. We woke up with a plan of action today! My left jaw and ear have been hurting for the past few days and has been quite painful. I'm hoping whatever it is, it just goes away...it hurts to eat, talk, yawn, sleep, smile...yep, it's been an interesting few days. I can just hear my mom now..."Well, then don't do those things!" haha Such a kidder! We woke up to it being pretty cold in the van, almost 45*...and we put the heater back on-top yesterday! Good thing for blankets and body heat! I think it also helped that we were in Blythe instead of Quartzsite, due to it always being at least 10* degrees warmer in Blythe. I had to walk the Nana Bug on a leash this morning (gasp) due to being back in the desert with the wildlife and all. As well as waiting, waiting...and waiting for her to go potty. What is it with her and the desert? I guess there are no other 'smells' to follow...Maybe I should write out instructions for her, eh!? It sure was windy out there causing the 60* weather to feel more like the 45* it was in the van this morning. We got everything packed up and ready for travel after our cafe' and it's actually looking pretty good, inside and out. The new tarp we got yesterday looks so much nicer, it's canvas instead of plastic...muy bueno! We left our spot in Blythe (good-bye

[caption id="attachment_3709" align="alignright" width="150"] Yummers![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3708" align="alignleft" width="150"] Good-bye[/caption]

spot), hit up K-mart to look at their blenders, went to Albertson's and got some snackies for the day; Greek yogurt, cottage cheese and fruit. We drove back to Quartzsite to grab a few last minute things; RV mat (to stop tracking the entire desert into the van, yuck) and a bag of Flax seeds and to walk the town one more time before leaving.

[caption id="attachment_3710" align="aligncenter" width="225"] 2 of my favorite things![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3711" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Ooooooooooo[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3712" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Aaaahhhhhhhh[/caption]

I was also able to grab one more thing to finally be able to send my mom a lil' package. Oh, oh, oh, we also went to see Paul, remember the music show we went to...? He's the naked guy that owns the Reader's Oasis Bookstore in town. We went to his store to buy a Quartzsite sticker, with no luck, but I was also able to get my picture taken with him! Me likey!! haha (Bernie I'm stealing one of your photo's due to it being a bit too cold that day, thanks!) And with that I give you Paul Winer...he IS naked in these pictures so considered yourself warned!

[caption id="attachment_3715" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I see a butt![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3716" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Such a groovy guy![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3714" align="aligncenter" width="199"] Sweet Pie!
Thanks BK![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3713" align="aligncenter" width="146"] Nakey Nakey![/caption]

A quick stop at twice the ice after the bookstore and away we go to Phoenix! We are en-route as I write, started with 118 miles with only 84 more to go to our destination point!

[caption id="attachment_3718" align="aligncenter" width="300"] And away we goooo[/caption]

From there we will get our bearings, see where we will sleep for the night and scope it all out to see if we want to stay in town or just go up to the mountains. I'm also super stoked to see a girlfriend of mine, that I haven't seen in about 10+ years. Woo Hoo!! A new town, an actual big city and new scenery...we just love it!

[caption id="attachment_3719" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Welcome to Phoenix![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3722" align="aligncenter" width="300"] ...and the traffic![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3720" align="aligncenter" width="225"] I ❤ Tunnels[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3721" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Tunnel Vision[/caption]

This travelling lifestyle is the way to go, man...right now I wouldn't ask for anything more. I get to wake-up with my tribe every morning, spend true quality time together while seeing new places and experiencing all sorts of different things, meet new peeps and the best part is, we feel free! We don't feel stuck, we are living our lives, not a life anyone else thinks we should be living. What's right for one person/tribe is just the opposite for another. Every day is another day to gain access to the goals you've always wanted to reach.

[caption id="attachment_3723" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Lone Butte Casino[/caption]

What's stopping you today?

PEACE

What a Beaut!

Today just slipped right on by me. Can you believe I don't have one single picture from today!? Me neither. After feeling like total crap-o-la yesterday, we rinsed away all the 'dirty' with hot showers and laundry today. Good thing too! With all of the rain we had, we found out that our tarp had not held up so well totally soaking through our duffle bags on-top, totally soaking every single piece of clothing in the bags, plus rolls of toilet paper (yuck)! It made me happy to find this all out at the laundromat instead of anywhere else. Needless to say, there was a lot of folding going on at that laundromat. I totally wish I had at least one picture of what I looked like today. At this laundromat in Ehrenberg, there are many different characters roaming about and it seems everyone and their brother always wants to talk to me. Usually, I do not have a problem with this, I will smile politely and carry on a conversation, knowing it's just how it is in public places...but today, today I was in no mood. I don't mind laundry day, I actually kind of look forward to it. I like to do laundry, I like sorting everything and waiting for it, then folding it in the precise way I do when it's all dry, it makes me feel good. Today though...not today! I really just wanted to take a shower and get on the road but after we found out that everything was soaked to the bone, it held us there an hour and a half more then usual and every single person wanted to have thee longest drawn out conversation. Now, the reason I wanted a picture of me was because of this guy that came in about 45 minutes into us being there. He was a "cool guy", biker dude (he made sure I knew that), probably in his mid 30's. He came in with, who I'm guessing was his mother and starts yelling and cussing at her, dropping F* bombs, about how to put his clothes in the washer. There are about 4 other people, trying not to look up at him yelling at her, minding their own business. After he ranted on her, he left for a minute, he comes back in, walks past me, turns back around to me and says, "Excuse Miss..? (he picks up my hand like he's going to kiss it) Has anyone told you how exquisitely beautiful you are today?" Uhhh..... I wanted to burst out laughing, but just said thank you. He then, of course, wanted to know everything about me. I looked toward J' (who had no idea this was going down) and changed the subject, making it politely clear I was 1- with someone and 2- didn't really want to share anything about myself. Throughout the rest of his time there he still tried making small talk with me...only making me laugh even harder on the inside. First of all, even if I wasn't with anyone, this guy totally just berated and cussed at his mother, or whoever she was, in front of a bunch of strangers...not a turn-on dude! Secondly, you should have seen what I looked like! I had on a pair of J's basketball shorts that went down past my knees, one of his shirts that's bright green and says, Pirates arrrr Cool, black socks pulled up to my knees and my blue and green muk-luks, with my fro' all over the place. If he saw beauty in that, well....good for him, but I don't think so Bub! We made it out of there in three hours, reorganized the inside and the top and drove to Ace Hardware. We had to get another tarp, stat! It was looking like rain and we could not count on that tarp to do its job...we already knew that it wouldn't. We went to Ace and got a canvas tarp to put over the other tarp (double barricade) and drove to our old campsite in Blythe. We told ourselves we wouldn't come back here, but we were so close and didn't want to make a drive back to Quartzsite tonight so we ended up staying for the night. J' put the tarp on, even in the extreme wind, which came out of nowhere...glad he did too...it's raining again! All I can say is, I'm soooooooo happy today is (pretty much) over. My attitude and emotions are raging and it is not pretty. The laundromat was just the tip of the iceberg this morning! Sometimes I wish I would just go straight into Menopause, is it that much worse than this every month? I don't know... maybe I'm wishing myself into a whole different, much worse monster than shark week is. All I know is it's a good thing I know how to cry and that bed, tele and chocolate were invented or this would be a much worse nightmare!

Well, I'm off to get my "beauty sleep"...hahaha that guy kills me!

PEACE

Happy Belated Christmas!

Merry Christmas

...I know I'm a little late, sorry! We were captured by hot running water and a super comfy bed at the Best Western here in Blythe. When we got to the hotel it only took about 5 minutes to check-in and then, it was on!

[caption id="attachment_3003" align="aligncenter" width="300"] So much room![/caption]

I think I was in the bathroom for like 3 hours, only coming out to grab something else to wash/clean. I scrubbed down everything: dishes, cups, silverware, underwear, socks, anything of Savannah's, our coffee maker, my rocks I have been finding in the desert...everything down to our bodies and Savannah's! What a night...I was exhausted by the time we got into bed. I think the mix of excitement, hot water over your muscles and all of the cleaning was a recipe for a good nights sleep. Well, it would have been if it wasn't for the couple next door having an extremely loud conversation until 2:30 a.m. ~Another reason we love being in the van...you rarely have neighbors you can hear. These people sounded like they were having a conversation on our bed that's how loud they were. J' slept through the whole thing and I ended up getting about 3 1/2 hours of sleep but I can deal with it...I'm pretty used to it. We were up around 7 a.m.-ish for a well-rounded hot brekkie! It was pretty amazing. They were serving eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy, pastries, bagels, three different kinds of bread, cereal, yogurt, fruit, O.J., coffee, and get this...WAFFLES! I was so excited, I couldn't hold it in, everybody that was working the front desk was laughing at me and J' told the lady that was helping me make my waffle how she just made my day...I love me some waffles!

[caption id="attachment_3005" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Brekkie of Champions![/caption]

I ended up making a second waffle and taking it back to the room...this girls' gotta get her fill!

[caption id="attachment_3006" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Extremely excited![/caption]

It was really nice to have some space to stretch out, get everything washed and clean, get ourselves scrubbed down and just chill out. J' was able to get a ton of work done. I was able to download a gaggle of pictures to Snapfish and videos to DailyMotion and Savannah was able to go potty on grass again...it's been a minute! I swear grass is magical...she knows exactly what grass is for! You know all of that time spent in the desert trying to get her to go potty? Well it took a whole 2 1/2 minutes for her to do her business...both numbers!

We lounged around the hotel room Christmas day, trying to watch something uplifting and Christmas-y but everything on the tele was either violence, killing, fighting or something that was negative. Anything we watched had this negativity surrounding it, so we would just look at each other and (in a funny and sarcastic way) say...Merry Christmas! haha I guess that's just what our world is, these days...sad.

[caption id="attachment_3008" align="alignleft" width="150"] Before[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3009" align="alignright" width="150"] After[/caption]

 Oh, I also finally got my afro cut back so I don't have bubble hair anymore...woohoo! After working and hanging out all day, we thought it would be nice to have a meal out of the room, I mean we can cook chicken any day of the week in the van...why not have a nice meal. The place we wanted to eat was closed, just a little mami & papi Mexican restaurant, so we went to Carl's Jr. instead.

[caption id="attachment_3010" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Merry Christmas![/caption]

It was a good time all in all. We got a lot accomplished...work, play, cleaning,

and Savannah was finally able to catch up on all of her rest! Poor thing! haha

So, now we're back in the van and ready to take on a week or so wherever we go and then onto Quartzsite. We may look and see where Bob and his crew are, he told us they were pretty close to us. J' wants to get a bunch more work done before all of the major festivities start, so we may also just go back to where we were for him to be able to do that. First things first though we must get gas so with that, we will be driving over to the Arizona side to the Flying J to do that.

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. I hope everyone got to stuff their faces with yummy food, put on their new threads, play with your new toys, got lots of hugs and kisses, were able to spend it how you wanted and just had a groovy time overall. Your happiness is most important!

We love you all!

PEACE

(155) Merry Christmas! by Ayevangabond

BLM in Blythe is muy Bueno

Well, Parker only lasted for a whole day! We slept at the Wal-mart last night after watching the fights...Benson Henderson won against Nate Diaz. It was a great fight, so glad we found a place we could watch it at. We woke up semi-early, walked Savannah...boy was it cold out this morning!

[caption id="attachment_2929" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Chilled to the bone[/caption]

We started driving around 9 a.m., we're not in a rush to get anywhere...where are we going? We figured we would just drive over to Blythe, CA and see what our options were over there.

We drove past a ton of farm land, many many stacks of hay with no animals to feed and for the first time in my life...cotton plants!

[caption id="attachment_2918" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Do they sell this?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2919" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Miles and miles of Cotton![/caption]

We drove out of the "country" and hit a frontage road that had a Flying J on it...haven't seen one of these since June! We stopped, filled the tank up just a little bit and went inside to look around. If you've never been to a truck stop, especially a Flying J, they have so much stuff in there to look at and it's all stuff people in this lifestyle use so it's fun to see what they have. Since we hit the road this morning without putting anything in our bellies we did a 'horrible horrible' thing and bought coffee and Cinnabon! I don't think either of us had actually ever bought a Cinnabon in our lives...not something we would normally buy or eat but today felt different. Get ready for the biggest freakin' sugar high!

[caption id="attachment_2920" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sugar Fest 2012[/caption]

It actually took me half the day to finish it...going back in a few times until the whole thing was gone. My stomach can't handle that much sugar all at once...my goodness! And of course, Savannah helped a little bit!

[caption id="attachment_2921" align="aligncenter" width="300"] She had a pretty firm grasp on it![/caption]

We drove over into California and found towers almost instantly...yep, follow those towers! We headed out to what looked like the desert but found ourselves in a neighborhood type area then into an RV park called The Hidden Beaches. We didn't see any water but maybe that's where they got their name from!? We stopped and asked the Ranger/Host (Steve) if he knew of any BLM and after a very nice conversation I had the name of a couple of places we could camp. We headed back out and with the directions he gave me, within about 10 minutes, we were on BLM land looking for our next spot!

[caption id="attachment_2922" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Wide Open Spaces[/caption]

There is a TON of open space out here and it doesn't seem like anyone is out here...kind of weird for this time of year. Where is everyone? We drove up the trail a few miles, we like being more off the main road than right on it and since we have a good vehicle we can go a little further back. We found a great spot and were level right away...perfect!

[caption id="attachment_2925" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Happy Huntress[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2924" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Panorama[/caption]

 Now that we're parked for the day...this girl needs a shower so I'm off to get 'so fresh and so clean'. Hope you have a fruity fresh day!

PEACE