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

Boats. Beers. Babes. Bucks. Bazinga!

Last night as we lay howling with the dogs, we were trying to decide what to do with our one full day together, on this short weekend trek to Florida.

We tossed around ideas of going to the beach, the shooting range, the dog beach or park, walking around downtown or just hanging out around the hoots' nest. Then the spark of a marvelous idea came to JP and BAM! 20 minutes later we had reservations on the Victory Casino Cruise ($10 per person to board boat)!! What a great idea, indeed!

We had the morning to get ready at our own pace, have a great breakfast filled with sausage, eggs, coffee and toast and be on our way by 9:30 a.m. The drive to get to port is about an hour and a half, the boat leaves at 11:00, so we had plenty of time to get there...as well as plenty of time for "sillies"!!

The place to board the boat is called Cape Canaveral and is also the place where all of the major cruise lines leave out of Florida, it was pretty cool seeing those humungous boats!!

Once we parked, we pretty much walked in, checked in, then off to the boat & potties we went!

The boat is 6 floors of fun: 1 floor with a restaurant, 3 floors of gaming, 1 floor is gaming with a night club and the very top is a rooftop bar with live music, called The Dolphin Bar. We walked in hit the potty, then went to the very top deck to set sail. It was pretty warm...imagine sitting in the sun of sunny Florida, with tight skinny jeans on and make-up! haha Before I knew it I was sweating and sitting in the shade and we hadn't even taken off yet!

Once we set off into the sea for the day, we all headed inside for some game time and much needed A/C! JP started with Roulette and was getting lucky on every number, Jamie started with Black Jack and Brittney and I headed to the penny slots! We played this game, that game, moved around for a little while and then met back up with the boys for lunch.

We had a great lunch on the bottom floor, right at sea level...you can pretty much feel every movement down there (good thing none of us are the seasick type!) We watched a hot dog eating contest while waiting for lunch, not the greatest of ideas but that's what was on the tube. Lunch was pretty good, Jamie & I split quesadillas and a french dip type sammie, then headed back out to game it up!

After lunch Brittney & I decided to head back to the 1 cent slots and moved around machines until the Betty Boop game, Brittney wanted to play all day, finally opened up. We popped over there and played for quite a while...Betty Boop was good to Miss B, but we moved on to an even better set of machines! We sat down at these two machines that were just regular old timey slot machines, they were 2 cents a play and within 10 pulls I went from $20 to $108! I'm NOT a gambler so I played a couple more pulls then cashed out at $84.36! I was a happy camper due to getting back the money that I played, some of what Brittney played and walking out in the black! Needless to say, I didn't play anymore for the day!

We headed upstairs to the "night club" where there were games, air conditioning and less smoke. Since I wasn't playing, I was people watching and saw there was one solo lady dancing on the dance floor, she seemed to be having a grand ole time and I told Brittney, "I'm going to have to get in on that! Watch my purse...." The lady, Yvette, and I danced and had the whole place clapping along, as well as a whole bunch of hootin' & hollerin'! It was great fun, we even exchanged information...what a great gal!

The day was coming down to a dwindle on the gaming for us gals, so we just kept going up floors until we hit The Dolphin Bar. We enjoyed a nice drink together making sure everyone on deck was okay & having fun, especially this guy....

I walked over with a glass of ice water and woke him up, asked him if he was okay...he slurred, "I'm good, just getting some sun." haha Okay dude, have fun with that! Can't say I didn't try.

We sat up there for about 45 minutes before the boys joined us for the trip back to shore and what a trip back to shore it was!!

I can honestly say that I think we were the ships' best entertainment of the year, shit probably the entire existence of the cruise line! You get me, a day of beers, my family & live music together and well, everyone is in for a treat! Brittney & I started dancing around our table for a few songs, with even a gal giving me a dollar bill! (Holla)

[caption id="attachment_5565" align="aligncenter" width="363"] ...[/caption]

 Then, as if I didn't feel American enough on this 4th of July/Birthday/Anniversary/Family time trip, they started playing the Electric Slide......ohhhh yeah baby! I got up there, started dancing and no one wanted to do it with me...Brittney didn't even know how to do it! I said, "I'll teach you, I'll teach everyone! C'mon everybody!" So we start dancing and I grab a couple of people, some people get up on their own and before you knew it, we had a deck full of dancers doing the Electric Slide! Yesssssssss!!!!

[caption id="attachment_5572" align="aligncenter" width="371"] now back...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5573" align="aligncenter" width="324"] now turn...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_5571" align="aligncenter" width="311"] Thank you for dancing![/caption]

Everyone had a great time on the ship, us and the people watching us! (You're welcome people for giving you a story worth telling about your trip! haha)

I think we were all pooped on the way home, but we made it in the pouring rain back to the house and 4 very excited dogs. Just glad it didn't rain on the ship and cancel our roof-top dance party!

Hope your weekend is as much fun as this and if not....make it that fun!

PEACE

 

Off to Florida we go...

We took off for the weekend to go visit our lil' hoot (our daughter, Brittney). Her & her boyfriend just bought a house in Central Florida as well as bringing home the newest addition to their family... a gorgeous Doberman Pinscher named Dash.

We just had to make a trek to go visit them and enjoy all of these firsts with them, plus it was nice to get on the road again, even if it was just for a short weekend trip.

We wanted to leave the house no later than 7 on Friday morning and ended up leaving the gas station at 6:35 a.m., so we were happy about that. It's about a 9-9.5 hour drive, and we were sure driving through Atlanta on the 4th of July would probably put us in some traffic. The great part? We were wrong about the traffic AND Atlanta and never hit either one! woo hoo...Nothing worse than driving through a major city on a holiday!

The drive, for the most part, was nice & easy. During the last two hours of our drive, we endured some pretty heavy rains accompanied by BIG thunder & lightning storms. We finally arrived at a restaurant-bar I used to work at, at around 5:15 p.m., to meet our lil' Owlings for dinner & drinks. It was so great seeing them!

At Jax, we had some wings, beer, hugs and great conversation. Daddy got to meet B's boyfriend for the first time and they hit it off, talking up a storm about technology, sports and technology!! (Did I say technology?) Brittney & I talked about our usual stuff, giggling and loving just being together again!

After dinner we headed to their new house. It's in a quiet, cute neighborhood centrally located to their town and Orlando...not too shabby!

We went out back to play with the dogs, all 4 of them, Savannah & Chili and their two Roscoe (Dachshund) and the newest baby of the family Dash (Dobie). The initial playtime was interesting because Dash is full of spunk and tons of energy and Chili is so small and kept getting stepped on, Savannah has to play referee and Roscoe just wants to play with everyone! It was funny to watch and their backyard is HUGE so it made it a little more enjoyable to run around, throw balls and just be goofy! They were all running around like crazy dogs so the only actual picture I could get was of Roscoe, he is thee sweetest boy ever!

We settled in for the night a couple of hours later, after deciding that tomorrow we will go on a Casino Cruise. JP & Brittney had done it once before and said it was a full day of fun...so heck, why not!

It's good to be with our girl again and we are so proud of how her family is growing as she becomes more of a young woman. We just love JP, the dogs, the house, everything that they have worked hard for, they seem very very happy and I think, as parents, that's all we really want for our babies!

Off to the snoozer ...

PEACE

Flyin' High, Flyin' Low...Flyin' to Orlando!

On my second plane of the day. The time is roughly 5 p.m. on this Thursday evening. We woke up at 4:15 a.m., took care of "The Bugs" morning rituals, fed myself with a ham and cheese toasted sammie and diet coke...yep, the breakfast of champions! By 5 a.m. we were out of the house. My flight didn't leave until 7:25 a.m., but I wanted to be a good flyer and earn my wings and get to the airport 2 hours early like "they" say. We were at the San Francisco airport in about 25 minutes and I was checked-in and through security in about 9 1/2 minutes!! I found a plug and opened my computer to do some "work"...uploading pictures...I was only able to load half of an album due to the slow connection, but it's half of an album that I didn't have loaded, so it's all good! The plane boarded and left pretty much right on time for Charlotte, NC...where my layover was.

[caption id="attachment_5063" align="aligncenter" width="350"] See ya Charlotte[/caption]

The flight was about 4 hours and 45 minutes long but it went by pretty fast due to my awesome luck of being seated next to two amazing women from Hawaii. We talked for the majority of the flight, in between napping, reading, stretching and potty breaks. While I am flying to Orlando to help 'the moms' move...they are enroute to Rome! They flew through the night last night, flying from San Fran to Charlotte and they're going to keep on truckin' to Rome, then once in Rome they will take a small cruise ship to Greece! How awesome is that!?

During the flight we talked about all kinds of stuff from our van-life to their lives in Hawaii. One of the women, Vicki, can watch her kids and hubby surf from her kitchen window as she makes brekkie for the fam and at times, when it's mating season, has to close her windows due to the whales making so much noise splashing their tales and bodies and moaning! They spoke of how amazing the sunsets are and how they never get old to watch, as well as how magical the views are...even after living there for 30 years! We talked about our kids & our husbands, our mothers & our siblings...and of course, the Nana Bug!

It was great to be seated next to such wonderful energy, I sure needed it after the few days leading up to this trip. For some reason, I was majorly stressing about the flight, which flying has never bothered me or scared me before. I'm sure it was driving J' totally batty listening to me for three days about how nervous I was! haha So thank you ladies, my prayers were truly answered by sitting next to you and I hope you (Margaret) had an amazing 80th birthday reminiscing in the magical city of Rome! (I'm upset I didn't get a picture of them, darn.)

They gave me a pretty good push to truly start writing my book. I've really got to get my thoughts in order to start that thing, just seems like something else always gets done before that...hmmmm. So another thank you, to you, ladies!

So...yes, back on the plane. We took off about 15 minutes ago out of Charlotte and should be arriving in Orlando in about an hour or so. I'm pretty excited...actually I'm super freakin' stoked! I not only get to see my mom (after almost two years) and hug and kiss her... this mama gets to see her Baby Owl too!

My, not so little, girl and I are going to have a sleepover and just be giggly girls together and of course I get to put the official mother's stamp of approval on her man, her house & her pup! She's a really great "kid", so I'm sure her life and everyone around her are just perfect. It should make for a really nice trip all the way around and if I get to see my best Aussie mate, that will make it even better!

[caption id="attachment_5065" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Rainy Florida[/caption]

For the next 7 days, I'll be giggling with my little owl, moving the moms, unpacking boxes and shopping for furniture for her new home and I'm sure a lot more that I haven't planned for, purty fun stuff...actually, it does sound fun to me! haha I'm always happy for the time I get to spend with anyone I love even if we just lay on the floor, stare at the popcorn ceiling that hasn't been scraped off yet and using a shower curtain for a blankie! Just kidding mom...you can have the shower curtain! I'm there for the quality time and adventure.

We're coming in for a landing.

[caption id="attachment_5066" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Crazy Cloud!![/caption]

So, here we go.......

PEACE

 

Off like a Herd of Turtles

We've been boppin' around so much lately that I don't even have time to keep up with myself these days! I'm going to have one heck of a time backtracking sooo I'll do a quick "Wedgie" to catch everyone up so I can write some posts about other things...other than our dailies!

One morning, I was sitting in our camp gazing at our awesome view, looked over and I saw the cactus next to me had a perfect heart "paddle". It indeed made my day and made me realize you can find love anywhere...even in some "dangerous" places...i.e. my cactus!

[caption id="attachment_4886" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Perfect.[/caption]

We (my tribe and Camp Mellow, Bryce) left Sedona and headed toward the Flagstaff area. It had just turned too hot all of a sudden, sitting anywhere but in A.C. was exhausting...and that rarely happens. We had heard that Bob and some others were out toward Williams so we headed that direction.

We ended up on some really nice, quiet public land and only about 3 miles from town. Williams has Historic Route 66 going through it so there's tons of cute shops, restaurants and things to look at!

While we were so close to town, Bryce was a sweetheart and let me borrow his bike so J' & I could ride into town together...but not before J' tried it on his own...and then made a basket for the Nana Bug to come too! Did I mention our dog is spoiled rotten?

J' took one of our milk crates with some nuts & bolts and bolted down the milk crate onto the bike rack, then Savannah has a carabiner connecting to her harness to keep her inside the crate. The first attempt was a little wobbly because she didn't know what was going on and she wasn't locked in tight enough, but after getting used to the bumpy roads, she rode like a champ! Now we all get to ride into town as a family.....awwwwwwww.

[caption id="attachment_4896" align="aligncenter" width="350"] The beautiful town[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4893" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Savannah is so chill...think she likes bike rides?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4894" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Making History![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4895" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Riding home...such a good girl![/caption]

We had a ton of fun riding in and around town together. It was nice doing something like that with all of us...one bike doesn't do much for a family of three! Thanks to the B-man for letting me take his cool new bike, it was hella fun...I felt like a kid again!

Weeeeeeeeeeeee......

When was your last play date?

PEACE

 

Babes & Bicycles

Not too much to report today.

The boys went on their first trail ride today and the girls stayed home due to some personal issues I didn't factor into the equation...grrr. They were gone the majority of the day but they seemed like they had a blast and that's what matters!

Back at camp...

I can say that I tried to 'hold down the fort' but it was so dang windy I took the fort down!! So I guess I did hold it down, eh!? I took the awning off (not a simple chore for this girl...alone) around 2 p.m., the wind seemed to start dissipating around 4 so I put the awning back up but since I don't have the brute strength of the hubs it was flying all over the place...so down it came again. Needless to say, we had to stay in the van all day but the bed was down so it wasn't too shabby...just one of those days. The boys returned to camp around 7 p.m. and in their possession a new bicycle...not a second one, a new one. In a week the one we bought was almost toast, so the boys went back to get another one and the "bike builder" gave them all brand new parts to build a new bike with...and it was a little cheaper! All the guys say they like this one much better than the one that was returned...I guess they will find out tomorrow on their next ride!

[caption id="attachment_4684" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Build-a-bike[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4685" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Wreaking Havoc[/caption]

PEACE

Simply Sedona

Camping within another camp has been fun, it's not something we usually do...think it was about time to try something new! Ray knows the area pretty well so his "main objective" of the day was to short tour us around Sedona and Cottonwood. We had an amazing day! We are staying right about in the middle of towns between Cottonwood and Sedona... about 7 miles in each direction from camp...pretty awesome! We drove into Downtown Cottonwood and walked up and down the main street with the dogs, stopping at the cutest little antique store to sit outside in the gorgeous breeze of the day and catch up on a wooden bench outside.

[caption id="attachment_4551" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Larry's Antiques[/caption]

After a while, we walked back to the truck and took a 'road' tour of where the stores were, where to get water, and a couple of places to take a shower. After touring Cottonwood, we simply drove to Sedona taking in all of the wonder of the Red Rocks. What a place!!

Ray has a State Park pass (I think that's what it is) so we drove right into one of the parks around here. I think he said it was $9.00 a day or $40...er, maybe $60...? for a year...and I might be making all of that up, so...anyway we parked and walked about 25 yards and we were in this beautiful green field with a pretty sweet view!

[caption id="attachment_4548" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Field Mice[/caption]

 We walked down the trail about a 1/4 of a mile and there is a river running through the trees and rocks, it's just absolutely awesome.

 There are places all throughout the trail where people have stacked rocks upon other rocks, I guess it has something to do with the magnetic pulls and vortexes in the area...there were some pretty amazing stacks! After passing all of the rocks, the trail curves a little and then opens up into this beautiful movie-like scene of the river, lush neon green trees and the most ridiculous red rocks towering over the river. It's one of the most magical things I've seen in a very long time. We let the dogs loose and Storm swam and fetched sticks and went to his own "private island" on the other side of the river, Savannah stuck close to us and swam a little bit until she got too cold then would go roll in the sand!  We all had a great time, here are just a few pics so you can try to get a feel of what it was like there....absolutely wonderful!

[caption id="attachment_4561" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Swimming 101[/caption]

What a great afternoon...for all of us! The pups will surely sleep good tonight. After drying the pups and ourselves we piled back into the truck and drove down the road through Sedona. Sedona is a lovely little town and the views are breathtaking everywhere you go, even sitting at a stoplight is jaw dropping. We stopped in at a little shopping area called Tlaquepaque Village. We had dinner at a Mexican joint with some pretty badass burritos and walked the park around the back of the property. Let me tell you, if I was having any kind of yearning for lush grass and big huge canopy trees...I got my fill at this little park! Simply gorgeous.

[gallery columns="4" ids="4565,4566,4564,4567"]

Today we got our feet wet in the sands of Sedona...now I'm super stoked to fully submerge ourselves into this majestic little town. It's going to be a lot of fun camping here, I can just feel it!

Woo hoo

PEACE