Our Adventure Begins!



Balloons from our primitive campsite outside of Sedona

It's hard to believe it's been only a week since we left Ontario and finally hit the road. The experiences of the last week are more than most pack into a month. Today, we awoke to hot air balloons rising up over the red rocks and hills of Sedona and threw tennis balls for the dogs in the open dirt space of our off-road campsite. Brent is making breakfast while Evelyn tries on kitty cat ears and tiaras under the orange glow of Halloween lights adorning the cabinets above her. We have all the comforts of home in a gorgeous and exciting new location... and have the same wherever we roam. How incredibly lucky are we?

 

We left Ontario the morning of October 1, a bit behind our original deadline and two and half months after selling our house and moving into our fifth wheel, "Sayla". Brent left ahead of me with Evelyn, the dogs, and the RV and I stayed behind to nurse the baby and squeak in one last half hour with my parents. We watched as our new home rolled down the street and off on its adventure... and as its tires rubbed the curb with a turn that proved a little short. Oops.

 

When Kailyn was done nursing, I hopped in my car and left Ontario, myself, feeling a strange glow and buoyancy knowing I was really finally doing this. I drove a side route to the freeway, following the same routine path I once took each week when I would  drive Evelyn to my mom's house for the day before work and head back home. The time of day, the old routine path all rang familiar of a routine I would no longer live. As I passed the freeway exits of Rancho Cucamonga on my way out of town, I looked north and felt jubilation: we are free! We are free of our house, free of all the same routines, free of the former home to all of our former obligations... free. Wow. I never thought I'd be so happy to know I would never live in our house again and strangely enough even happy to know I would no longer frequent the Target store by our house I had known so well. Weird? Yes, I know! But hey, it's what I was feeling.

 

I felt I was rolling on air as I ascended the Cajon Pass, knowing it would be the last time for a long time I'd drive this path. My joy was unmatched... and then I got a call from Brent. His morning was not going as well. His dark mood began when I had chuckled earlier at his rubbing the curb on his momentous grand exit; he hadn't realized he'd done it. Oops. It got darker when he hit traffic on the freeway route he had chosen and had to navigate side streets getting to the high desert. It got even worse when he had to take an alternate route around Hesperia getting to a friend's house where we would be storing my car. He was cursing the obscene condition of the streets and what it was doing to the RV. By the time I arrived at our friend's house with my car to meet Brent, there was practically steam spouting from his ears-- the bike rack had broken from all the rattling (and maybe a little user error).

 

We finagled a temporary fix to hold the bike trailer up behind the RV and headed for our final high desert stop at Brent's parents house, preparing for our final goodbyes before heading north and then east. Brent's spirits began to lift when he and his dad were able to fix the bike rack, but it could  have been the giddiness that comes with beating something with a sledgehammer. We bid our farewells and left the desert and Brent began to feel the same sense of release I had earlier. Freedom.

 

Our first destination was the KOA at the Avi Casino in Laughlin, where we would stay one night on our way to Kingman, AZ. It proved an obtainable destination and a good gauge of the distance we could feasibly cover at our traveling speed (average 60 MPH) and with an infant on board (lots of nursing stops). We stopped in Barstow to grab some grilled cheeses and shakes from In N Out on our way. We arrived at the KOA and set up our first real "home away from home" on our grand adventure. It was hot. Yuck. Like I had expected different from Laughlin? Still, my mood went south after the bumpy drive in to Laughlin and setting up camp in the heat. We wanted to go to the pool. Evelyn was really excited to have a park for the night that had a cool pool to play in. We arrived around 5pm. It had been a long day in the car since our departure at 8am and we needed time to clean the home and get comfortable. We finally made our way to the pool around 9pm.

We had reached our first destination!

 

I had freshly nursed Kailyn and was looking forward to a glass of wine by the pool. When Evelyn and  Brent got into the pool, I pushed the stroller through the casino looking for a bar. Yes, I realize how trashy that sounds and was actually feeling a pang of guilt over the inappropriateness at simply having a baby in a casino, but I pushed that feeling aside. I mean, it's Laughlin-- and the day totally justified the treat. I found a bar and ordered a glass of red wine. The bartender looked at me and at the stroller and then directly at Kailyn. He said, "We don't serve anyone with children in the bar." I actually laughed. I thought he was kidding. His flat expression wiped the smile from my face. I had a baby in a bar. No wine for you (Soup Nazi voice here... use your imagination)! Wow, have I ever felt trashier?? He must have noticed the punch-in-the-stomach expression on my face and attempted to make me feel better: "You can come back without the baby and I can serve you."  I shook my head; the baby really had her heart set on ordering it herself (if only I had been that witty in the moment!). No wine for me. The craving had been killed.  I'm not gonna lie-- I was fighting back tears as I walked back to the pool. It hardly mattered that a half dozen people on the way smiled at me and complimented Kailyn's cuteness (I mean, she is super cute) and held doors for me without any judgment whatsoever. I had had a baby in a bar. I did manage to shake the guilt enough to enjoy myself but it took a while. By the time we reached the trailer, we were wiped out. We slept well that night, though a glass of wine still would have been nice.

 

The next morning, we packed what little we had gotten out and set our sights on our first destination: Kingman, Arizona. On the way, we stopped to visit Brent's aunt and uncle in Bullhead City. We lugged our gigantic fifth wheel up into their beautiful neighborhood and miraculously had room in their cul-de-sac to pull a tight U-Turn and park on the curb across the street from their house without blocking anyone's driveway. We had a lovely visit with Aunt Patty, Uncle Dennis, and Dennis's mom Isabelle. Patty had planned heartily packed veggie burgers with sweet potato fries and had even bought a Halloween cookie decorating kit for Evelyn to work on for dessert and she and Isabelle worked together to make for a memorable project. A neighbor had brought over a box of toys and books and Evelyn was even welcome to pick one to take home with her. We ate on their patio overlooking the neighboring hillsides and valleys and enjoyed spending time with family we hadn't seen in years.

Decorating Halloween cookies with Isabelle

Lunch on the patio with Dennis, Patty, and Isabelle

 

After lunch, we left for Kingman. We arrived at the KOA Journey in Kingman late in the afternoon and within minutes of arrival, we were surrounded by family again. Brent's brother, Bruce (Uncle Moose), arrived with Evelyn's cousins Hannah and Symon. Uncle Bruce and Symon rode bikes around the campground with Evelyn and we watched a stunning sunset together. The clouds to the east of us looked like tangerine cotton candy resting around the crown of the rocky hills. We all had dinner together at Chili's to top the night off. Evelyn was overjoyed to have cousins around her once again.

Dinner at Chili's

Symon and Evelyn hanging out in the trailer

 

The next day, we decided to drive Route 66 to Peach Springs. We enjoyed some of the charming scenery along the way, including train tracks and trains and homesteads from America's history. Peach Springs, however, was a terribly anticlimactic destination as it turns out. I actually logged is as "ghastly" in my notepad! Though we could see some distant plateaus of the Grand Canyon, the neighborhoods we drove through were dilapidated and homes were barely holding themselves upright. There was trash and broken down bits of everything imaginable lying around and it looked a terrible tragedy of a place to live, let alone visit. I felt sorry for a dog sitting on a front porch surrounded by trash and tall, dried weeds. But people lived there, too. I guess we had expected to see a real life version of old Radiator Springs from Evelyn's beloved Cars movie, but this town-- aside from one boarded up old garage made of rocks-- bared no resemblance. It had truly been bypassed by I-40 to the point of complete ruin. No happy ending here and seemingly no charming history still evident as it stood.

 

We did, though, stop in to a gift shop, Hackberry Route 66 store, which reminded us of a real life "Lizzy's Curio Shop". Route 66 relics, lots of old rusty cars, an Indian statue or two, and a friendly cat on the porch to complete the package made it impossible not to smile. A diorama of sorts in a nearby shed housed an old pick-up and an aged mannequin dressed as a cowboy. Evelyn had walked all the way up to the scene before discovering the cowboy wasn't real and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her! We took lots of pictures in and around the shop and pieced together some of the history of the Route, imagining what it had been before the highway was built.

Evelyn's feet carrying her as fast as they can away from the scary mannequin!

When you gotta go...

 

That evening, we topped our Kingman visit by watching Uncle Moose play softball with his company's team at the sports park and Evelyn played with some kids in the playground. It was a perfect finale to a brief visit through the area.

 

The next day was Moving Day. We planned on Flagstaff as our next destination, where we figured we would plant ourselves and make a daytrip to Sedona. At some point along the path, Kailyn began complaining of a hungry baby tummy, so we found a large dirt pull-off of a gas station to stop and Brent let the dogs out to stretch their legs. Kailyn's empty tummy turned out to be quite fortuitous; Brent discovered a running kitchen sink when he opened the trailer and a stream of water that had run off the counter and pooled into the padding of the carpet and couch. One thing we've discovered is that traveling causes the kitchen faucet's handle to raise itself. In foreshadowing that had been ignored to this point, I had discovered this issue previously when I'd gone in to use the bathroom at a pit stop somewhere and heard the water pump running while doing my business. What I would discover is that a ghost had seemingly turned on the kitchen faucet while en route so that when the pump was turned on, we got water running on its own over the kitchen counter. Well, this time someone had left the pump on before we locked up shop for the road. Needless to say, we had a longer pit stop than we had planned and lots of towels were sacrificed for the clean up (I never regret overpacking in the towel department!).

 

When we finally climbed back into the truck, the day was turning to afternoon. We still planned to get to Flagstaff and had even called to book a reservation at an RV park, though we wouldn't get there until well after dark and were warned that it would be freezing there that night (and here I was in flip flops still sweating from our hot and sunny dirt lot kitchen sink overflow cleanup).

 

Evelyn crashed out and Brent and I enjoyed the view as the scenery shifted from dry desert to pine tree hilltop. The sun was getting low in the sky and we smiled at the charm of the town we were passing from the highway. Trains peeked through the trees on their trail cresting the mountain top and another train passed under the highway, resting at a flat ground neighboring homes and an RV park. A white steeple poked out from the trees over a church nestled down below. Brent and I smiled and then realized: an RV park by train tracks? How cool is that? Evelyn would love that! Abandoning our sights of Flagstaff-- because, hey, we can!-- we exited and navigated small town streets in search of the RV park we had seen by the tracks.

Our site at Railside RV Ranch




Hey, I can see our house from here!
Our view of our house from the train to the Grand Canyon.

We didn't know what we had stumbled upon but our highway find turned into three days of absolute awesomeness. Williams, Arizona, the town we had come upon by chance, is the home of the Grand Canyon Railway. It seems most I talk to now knew this, but we sure didn't! We parked at the office of the Railside RV Ranch and I hopped out to take pictures, already charmed by the glow of the sunset on the tree lined hilltops of the town and the historic-looking trains resting only 100 feet away.

Brent was in the office for some time as he enjoyed the small talk and recommendations for exploration from the owner of the park. THIS was where he learned of the train to the Grand Canyon. And how cool is this-- the park offered pet sitting! While guests were out for the day, staff would come walk the dogs and be sure they were happy and got out for the day! We booked two nights at the park and three tickets for the train the next morning.

 

A shuttle driven by an affable man who lives in the park and his small black poodle mix as co-pilot took us to the train the next morning. We enjoyed the scenery on the way out and made small talk with our car's PSA, Dennis. Evelyn charmed the marshal who walked the train in order to protect us from bandits.

Evelyn with the marshal

 We walked the small village of our destination and took the requisite pictures of The Grand Canyon. Evelyn filled out what she could in her Junior Ranger book in order to earn a badge, which was ALL she was concerned with for the visit. We marveled at the canyon. Can you imagine being the explorer who stumbled across this thing? Even from the one view we were observing from the village, it was breath-taking. Because the mind can't wrap itself around its enormity, it appears the grandest of all photo backdrops imaginable. It doesn't look real. And yet, it seems to live and breathe on its own as shadows move over it and the sun sets color aglow in a majestic kaleidoscope that shifts through each passing minute.

Working on her Junior Ranger book

 

As illustrious as it is, The Grand Canyon is what it is-- a giant hole in the ground and if truth be told there is only so long you can stare and marvel before you've quite simply seen it. Evelyn fell asleep in our new gargantuan double stroller (seemed an appropriate place for our debut use of it) and we sat around waiting for time to pass and the train to be ready to take us back.

 

I decided to take Evelyn's partially completed Junior Ranger book to the visitor's center to try for a badge. She'd had her heart set on it and what is a plastic badge or sticker of a badge to give if a book is incomplete? A lot, it turns out! The woman in the visitor center expressed her immense disappointment that the book wasn't completed. We hadn't even attended a Ranger program (the only one we could have attended that day was a half hour before the train departed and even still-- the kid's asleep)! The woman told me that these badges are a privilege and that the Rangers take them very seriously. The book must be complete to get that badge! I showed her pictures of Evelyn working on the book and of her asleep in the stroller with the open book and a pen in hand. She finally relented because, and I quote, "I don't want to make a four year old cry." Sheesh. You'd think the badge was made of gold. That little plastic badge was the pride of Evelyn's Grand Canyon visit, though, and it was the first thing she asked to finish earning when she woke up on our way down to the train.

 

The train ride back was the highlight of the day. We made small talk with several people around us and Evelyn made friends with nearly half the car we were riding. The marshal passed through several times and chatted with Evelyn. At 5:15 we saw what the marshal had warned us of: robbers! Several robbers on horseback stood amongst the landscape and aimed their guns at us. Some rode alongside the train. Evelyn planted herself against the window and looked something between curious, amused, and scared at what was happening. The train stopped and we were informed the robbers were on board. I have to share the expression on Evelyn's face when we could see them in the car ahead of us-- priceless!

They're on the train?? They're coming?!

We got robbed. Our car host told us they would use our money to go to McDonald's later back in town. It was hilarious. Evelyn handed over some money we had given her and she took pictures with one of the robbers. We all laughed after they moved on to the next train and giggled with the new friends in seats around us at the experience. Then, the marshal appeared, throwing the doors open and shouting, "Which way did they go?!" I'll let the videos of the experience speak for themselves here. Evelyn was ever so helpful, and you can clearly see that she had made friends in our car.

Evelyn getting robbed:

Evelyn offering help to the marshal:

Soon after returning from the train ride, we watched one of the train robbers pull into the RV park in his old, rusty Ford pick-up truck. Evelyn waved at him. He parked and took off his hat and bandana after a hard day's work before disappearing into his luxury model 38 foot motor home. Evelyn was excited that one of the robbers lived in our RV park, but was a little concerned he would come ask us for more money so he could go to McDonald's again.

 

We explored the town of Williams a bit that night. Neon signs, mom and pop shops, original buildings restored, "Made in America" signs proudly displayed in windows, streets that disappear into tree-filled hilltops, and friendly people every way we looked. This town is Charming, yes with a capital "C". We chose a pizza/brewery for dinner, Historic Brewing Company. It was a restored barrel house, designed with a modern flair. They sold their own craft brew and wine. I actually ordered a pint of beer: Piehole Porter. It was a cherry vanilla porter and was absolutely amazing. I'm ashamed to say I left half a glass on the table, but a nursing mom has to cut a few corners in the vice department. I had also sampled a cucumber beer and a light lemony beer. I loved them all.

On the main strip in Williams, AZ



The beer selection at Historic Brewing Co.

My samples at Historic Brewing Co.

We stayed one more night so that we could visit Bearizona the next day. We had heard it was worth the stop and it sure was. It was a quiet sort of amusement park with maybe only 50 other visitors there when we arrived that afternoon. We paid our car's fee to enjoy its two attractions: a walk-through mini-zoo complete with petting zoo and informational shows (we watched the Birds of Prey show) and a drive through wilderness area where animals like bears and wolves can approach your vehicle (and a wolf did follow us as we rolled through). It was a great finale to our visit to Williams. The cherry on top was backing over our stroller in the Bearizona parking lot (no one was in it!). Brent and I don't exactly have the program of working together dialed.

Our poor, mangled stroller...

I snapped pictures of Williams the next morning because I just couldn't get enough of the town. From a tangible pride and sense of community to a former brothel-turned-coffee/pastry shop with its very own haunting, I wanted to sink in and get to know the town better. Brent chatted with a man at the gas station (window wiping service included with fill!) who was the only concrete contractor for miles. He said he was busy and couldn't find good help. Brent's eyes lit up at an opportunity. We chatted about possibilities here and debated whether we could really handle the small town as transplants. Evelyn would go to school in a one room elementary school! We couldn't help but fantasize, but we were hardly going to settle down in the first town we met. I'll admit, though, it was a little hard to leave!

Williams, AZ

 

The next morning while Brent cleaned and prepared for moving, Evelyn made friends in the playground area. We met two homeschool families, both of whom were traveling from Missouri to Northern California for the husbands' work as pipe fitters. Then, while we were about to pull out, another full time family made small talk with us. They were from Florida and were traveling with their two grandchildren. Evelyn played hide-and-go-seek with the two young girls and left with gifts they had given her: a pink little pony pegasus and a necklace. Evelyn asked when she could see her new friends again. This is the hardest part of this journey: helping Evelyn enjoy herself while she misses her friends and family and can't establish routine with her new friends.

It's tough to be a traveling pioneer

We waved farewell to Williams and three days after we had stumbled upon it finally resumed our path to Flagstaff. Moving Day from Williams to Flagstaff proved a mess with a fortuitous finish. We hadn't planned our move and felt confident after our first adventitious discovery for lodging we would have no troubles finding a place and felt we might even get lucky again. Such was not the case. We weren't keeping track of the days and Moving Day was a Friday... Friday of a three day weekend, Columbus Day. We called park after park and couldn't find a spot. We tried campgrounds in the area. They had either closed October 1st or couldn't accommodate a rig our size.

 

We finally settled on a low rated RV park, the only with a spot available, Black Bart's RV Park/Steakhouse/Saloon. Sounds charming, right? It was gross to say the least. There isn't a better word to describe it. We had paid for two nights and attempted to park but we hesitated. There were lots of permanent residents and many of those permanent sites had a dilapidated creep factor I couldn't shake. This wasn't a detail that couldn't be ignored, but the site we'd been assigned appeared to be sinking. Our tires were in a huge dip in the pad that seemed to get worse no matter the direction we moved to attempt level. The concrete pads had 3-5 inch wide cracks in them, the picnic tables were a strong breeze away from falling to the ground in a pile of rubble. I was hungry, the time of day was right for parking and exploring, but we exchanged looks that revealed neither of us wanted to stay here. There were few options left we hadn't tried and we knew it would be difficult, but we got our money back and opted to forge into the unknown in hopes of better options. Little did we know where this decision would lead us...

Stay tuned!