Effervescence

Evelyn and her friend, Everett, facing off with the geese at Prado

When we were staying at Prado, back in California, our second week into being a Fulltime Family, we met the first of many nice people we'd meet in a campground. One of those people, Vivien, said something over wine one evening that stuck with me: People are at their best when they're camping. She's right. People aren't grumpy, aren't bogged down by the daily grind when they're camping. They're happy to be where they are and happy to meet other happy people. I wanted to dedicate an entry to some of the people we've met along the way, so far, many of whom we were fortunate enough to meet thanks to our little social butterfly, Evelyn.

 

That first two week stay at Prado is the first reservation I attribute as our family officially doing this thing. We no longer had a home to return to. I was less than a month away from giving birth to Kailyn, and it was 104 degrees every day. We did our laundry in the two cobweb covered machines in the Prado campground and we were thankful for it.

 

Evelyn with Everett

One day, Evelyn spotted a little boy playing by himself in the open space near his campsite, which neighbored ours. She asked if she could go meet him and ran in his direction with Heidi in tow. She wound up sneaking up on him and inadvertently scaring him, but he thought it was funny. From that point on, they were virtually inseparable. His name was Everett and he was 11, but he treated her, a 4 year old, as his equal and playmate. They rode bikes, played ball, swung from a rope in a tree, and honked at the flock of resident geese together. He gave Evelyn a Pokemon card to remember him by. Over the weekend while we were there, the campground filled with other campers ("Weekenders"). There were lots of kids riding their bikes around those days. One little boy Everett's age asked him if he'd like to ride with him. When Everett replied that he would but wanted Evelyn to come too, the other boy said, "No, we don't want a little kid hanging around!" to which Everett replied, "Well, then I don't want to ride with you." It's enough to bring tears to my eyes just reflecting on now!

 

Because Evelyn had made a friend, that meant we did, too. I approached his campsite as soon as it was evident Evelyn and he were going to be playing together and met his grandparents, Larry and Vivien. Larry was a "retired biker", covered in faded blue tattoos and one newer tattoo of flames in vibrant orange and red on his shoulder. His wife, Vivien, had vivid orange hair and was sweet as a peach. They were both local residents from the Chino area and had raised Everett most of his young life. As a result, he was well-mannered and courteous, just as were they. One morning when I had slept in and not answered the door when Everett came looking for Evelyn, Larry grew worried. He wondered if I needed help and was prepared to help me should I have gone into labor. He was visibly relieved to see me emerge healthy-looking and still very pregnant later that day.

 

We still had Fifi, the cat, with us at this point. We were having a hard time of it and she was escaping a lot-- she had taken to slipping out past our feet no matter how quickly we came or went through the door. One day, we spotted a new motor home had parked across the road from Larry and Vivien. Near their steps was a small black cat. "Fifi!" Our eyes all went wide. Upon closer inspection, we realized this cat was all black and was missing the white patches Fifi sported. This cat belonged to the new motor home. Another camping cat!

 

Brent ventured over to meet the camping cat couple to learn how they made it work. He soon met Rob and Ronnie, an 80-something couple from Prescott, Arizona. This was their third camping cat and though it weighed only about 7 lbs, had stared down bobcats in their back yard and always kept a close proximity to their RV when they were out traveling. As Rob said, cats learn where safety is and they stay close by. Well, that wasn't the case with Fifi, but it worked for them! After chatting with Brent a bit, Brent shared what we had done and were doing-- sold everything and were living in the RV. Rob told him that he just had to meet the woman that went for this crazy idea and invited himself over for a visit, promising to bring a cheap bottle of red wine. So, as night settled in, so did we settle around our picnic table with a $10 bottle of wine and stories to share. We made friends and were given their number and urged to call them if we wound up in Prescott. They welcomed us to stay on their property if we ever did.

 

Since those first days at Prado, Evelyn has made countless friends, both young and old. It is she who usually draws us toward new acquaintances. There is something magical about her. I know I'm her mom and I'm a little too close to be objective (a phrase I love that I'm borrowing from another of Evelyn's friends, the Marshal of Dodge City), but she positively sparkles. Her welcoming personality draws attention and turns heads the second we walk into a room and she has people smiling before she's even met them. I can't write about our experience traveling without singing her praises.

 

Everywhere we stay, Evelyn turns on her sonar for KIDS: "Are there kids here?" "*Gasp*! I hear kids!" "Look Mom, new best friends!" It's like containing the lid on a shaken soda bottle when we pile out of the truck after arriving somewhere she has spotted kids. She positively jumps up and down in place knowing there are kids around and there is no doubt in her mind she'll play with them.

 

Evelyn has spotted kids. This is her waiting patiently
for them to finish breakfast so she can meet them.

When we stayed for the evening at Green River State Park Campground in Green River, Utah, a family arrived late in the evening after we had gone in for bed. Evelyn and I took a walk in the morning and she spotted bicycles and heard little voices. "Mom, KIDS!!!", she exclaimed. I told her we needed to wait until they were done eating breakfast and she proceeded to stare at them as they ate before I'd allow her to go make friends. Finally, they were finished and she started yelling and waving, "Hi-iiii!!" She got one little girl's attention and they were soon riding Evelyn's bike and

Evelyn making friends by offering her bike to ride

scooter and collecting leaves all around the campground.

 

This friend's name was Emma, and she would become Evelyn's pen pal. Evelyn and Emma played the morning away with Emma's older sister, Becca. Their family was friendly and affable. All the kids (two girls and an older brother) all attend home school in Utah. They love to meet new friends. Before we left, Emma gave Evelyn a plastic lunch box toy and Evelyn, in turn, gifted her a little Goofy figurine. It was an emotional farewell; it was as if they'd been friends forever.

 



Evelyn with Miranda in Colorado

Later on down the road at Bear Creek Campground in Colorado, Evelyn made another friend, Miranda. Miranda was 6 and she and Evelyn were practically separated at birth in the way they played together. Miranda's camp was across from us-- about four sites over and across the campground road. Our next door neighbor, a retired man and his wife who lived a few miles away and were taking their trailer out for its virgin run, commented that they were birds of  a feather and it looked like they'd been friends forever. This was a near tearful departure when the time came to say good bye, but Miranda gifted Evelyn a yellow hair bow that she had adorned in rainbow felt marker scribbles and Evelyn gave her several colored Mardi Gras beads from her dress-up chest in return.

 



Playing in a covered wagon with new friends
in Williams, AZ

When we were in Williams, Arizona, Evelyn met another family of home school children from Missouri, who were traveling through to California for work. She played the morning away with them and gave hugs when it was time for them to leave. She was busy at work making friends in Williams, once again, even as we were in the truck about to pull out of our campsite. She waved at a man standing nearby and started talking to him through her window and we wound up climbing back out of the truck so she could run around with his grand-daughters and play Hide and Seek. They were from Florida and were traveling like we were, just to see the country. Before we left, the two girls gave Evelyn a pink My Little Pony and a necklace.

 

Sandie gave Evelyn several unique rocks
to add to her collection

Evelyn's friendships span the generations, as well. In fact, she is best loved by retired couples we have met along the way. When we stayed at Karchner Caverns in Arizona, Evelyn played the evening away with a group of kids camping with their family nearby. In turn, she made the acquaintance of a retired couple from Wisconsin who were traveling with their English Setter, Angel. Gil and Sandie were kind, warm, and welcoming. They loved Evelyn and listened as she cheerfully told them stories about her life and her dog and her travels. It came up that Evelyn collects rocks. Sandie is an avid rock collector, as well. She brought out her collection and told Evelyn about specific rocks-- what they were called and where she had found them. Evelyn listened intently and even ran back to me to tell me all about the Thunder Rock and the geode and pointed out details about them that she had just learned from Sandie. Gil, sitting across from me, looked at me with wide eyes and a smile: "She remembered all of that? From just now? And she got it all right!"

 

Sandie gifted Evelyn that Thunder Rock and geode and on our way out even gave her two more beautiful, smooth, red rocks laced with marble markings. Gil, in chatting with Brent, marveled over Evelyn.  "Has she always been so...." He trailed off looking for the right word, "effervescent?" He smiled and looked over at Evelyn to watch her in action, a warm expression of appreciation on his face.

Shooting the breeze with a clerk from Dodge City

 When we were in Dodge City, we visited the museum there, where visitors can visit a reconstructed Front Street and step back in time. We bellied up to the bar at the Longbranch Saloon, and Evelyn charmed some of the people working there, as well. She talked with one barkeep inside and chatted with another outside for a good half hour (she's just reminded me his name was Chip!). Later that day, we were sitting near the end of Front Street on a bench in front of the Blacksmith shop and a man with a barbell mustache appeared from behind the "Employees Only" gate carrying a hammer. He saw Evelyn and she said, "Hi" and he started up a conversation with her. She charmed him so that he told her special stories of why there

With the Marshal of Dodge City
on his "day off"

are no trees in Kansas. He told her that the bison were like the Indians' Walmart. They needed the bison in order to survive. They knew that the bison would move on from their land if there were no rich pastures, so each winter, the Native Americans would burn their dry pastures to fertilize them for the Spring. The bison always returned to literally greener pastures because of this, but the bison had a habit of knocking down trees while roaming for food. Between the fires burning trees and bison knocking them down, there were hardly any trees to be found in Kansas.

 



He also introduced her to Miss Kitty, the resident cat at the Dodge City museum. She had wandered in all skinny and sickly and staff took care of her. She roams around but was rather shy. Evelyn really wanted to pet her but the cat wouldn't come near, so her new friend positioned himself next to Evelyn and  let the cat come to him so Evelyn could at least get a bit closer. The man introduced himself as the Marshal of Dodge City, though he was "off duty" that day. He handed Evelyn a Dodge City badge to pin on her shirt as a special gift for a special girl.

 

 

Sharing a huge, spontaneous hug with Papa Butch

In Oklahoma, we visited my dad and step mom, Linda. Evelyn had visited with them once before, but she was just shy of two years old and I couldn't be sure how much she would remember them. In typical Evelyn fashion, all family is close to her heart and she didn't hesitate to share huge hugs and to talk with everyone as if she'd known them her whole life. She gave Papa Butch a huge hug and spent some very special time with Grandma Linda. She was excited to spend the night with new cousins she had never met, Madeline and Reese, and one she'd met when she was two, Haley. She practically leapt into the car with Grandma Linda to go to Madeline's basketball game without even so much as waving goodbye to me!  She showed Linda her charm that day as well as to some other parents sitting in the bleachers, chatting it up with her sweet little voice the whole time. 

With Grandma Linda in Oklahoma and
zipping around the property on Thanksgiving with cousins

 We just left Quartzite, Arizona, where we stayed the night in the RV Park where Brent's aunt Bonnie lives. We spent last night learning to pan for gold. She and her husband Bill live there but they own claims an hour or so outside of town, where they spend their time looking for gold and enjoying every second. We got a hands on lesson in prospecting from both Bonnie and Bill. Bonnie taught Evelyn how to scoop the pay dirt (I spent 41 years not thinking about where that term came from!) into the pans and then use the water to swirl and sift for gold. Bill later showed us how to use the dry washer to sort the dirt for gold before panning. It was an amazing experience, but what was most amazing to me was Evelyn's magic at work again.



Sharing a great time with Aunt Bonnie

 

When we pulled up in Quartzite and Aunt Bonnie stepped out of her car in a dirt lot near a gas station where she was meeting us to lead us to her RV park, Evelyn didn't hesitate. Though she has only met Bonnie once before, a good year and several months ago, she ran right up and hugged her and started chattering away. To Evelyn, everyone is a potential friend and if someone is family, there are no bounds for affection. Back at the RV park, Evelyn continued to impress Bonnie and Evelyn hung out and played with Bonnie as if she'd  known her her entire life. She had Bonnie making up and singing songs about the desert sands blowing in the wind at her request and Bonnie even sat in the dirt and played cars with Evelyn. Bonnie was in awe of Evelyn's cordial personality and was just smiling about how Evelyn runs up and gives each new friend a big hug as if they are the most special person in the world.

 

Evelyn showing the blue lace
agate she was given from
Cat and Leo in Quartzite

On cue, some neighbors in the RV park that Evelyn had met the evening before had just stepped out of their camp. Bonnie and I watched as Evelyn spotted them and across the way to give them big hugs just because. Leo, a career Army man and Vietnam veteran and Cat, a retired firefighter whose retinas were damaged through her career, were coming out to say goodbye as we were hitched up and ready to leave for California. Leo, who spends his winter doing leatherwork and cutting rock in the area, had selected a special stone for Evelyn: blue lace agate. He cut her a slab of it the size of her entire hand that looked like the waves crashing into a sandy shore. He presented it to her for her rock collection and Cat thanked her for being such a special little friend. Evelyn handed them a piece of white quartz in return, all on her own. They tried to hand it back while thanking her but said they couldn't take it. She handed it back and closed Cat's hand around it: "No, you take it. I want you to have a pretty rock, too."

 

Cat brought tears to my eyes. She softly voiced her admiration for Evelyn after Evelyn had frolicked away. She said, "She is such a joy. She is such a special little girl."

 

With friends she made at a Christmas tree farm
after meeting Santa and one of his reindeer

We are told quite often how amazing our little girl is. I know it well and I honestly feel she will change the world. She will affect people's lives. She has befriended people and impressed adults for years now. Cat commented today that Evelyn very obviously has a high IQ. She told me how wonderfully I am doing to have raised a person like her; that it is so rare these days to find a child who brings out such good in other people. I've heard from many over the years that she will be a diplomat someday-- that she could be President-- that she will help people and change minds someday. As her mother, it touches me to the core. I know it is all true and it brings tears to my eyes to see her in action. She is kind, she is caring, she is empathetic, she is compassionate. She shares, she welcomes, she smiles. She has been brightening the faces of strangers since she was in her infant carrier and she shines only more brightly as she gets older.

 

Effervescence

Place after place, person after person, she sees the best in people and makes friendships. I worry that this lifestyle isn't good for her. She can't make friends that will remain in her life on a day to day basis. Home is somewhere different each week or even day. She doesn't have routine or consistency. What she does have, though, is a spirit of adventure most children will never have. She possesses the openness for new friendship and seeks out connections with others. She welcomes new experiences and sees neighboring campers as potential new friends. She has touched hearts and made impressions on people from all over our country and that is truly priceless.

 

 

 

 

 

Day to Day Details

Out exploring with the whole family

Sometimes when I sit down to write an entry I forget the basics. When I talk to someone about our experiences, they ask questions that it feels like I would have entered in an entry somewhere but haven't. I get to where I'm so busy trying to cover the new things we're seeing that I forget to describe the basics-- our day to day life and how we make it work. How we are doing, not just what we're seeing.  So, here it is: our day to day, our life on the road.

 

Traveling in the Truck

Just one of the ways Evelyn keeps busy in the car.

Right now, for example, I'm sitting where I always sit while traveling-- in the rear passenger seat, the most uncomfortable seat in the truck with the exception of maybe Heidi's designated spot under the rear seat beneath Evelyn, but since that's been her choice to sit there, I'll assume there's some degree of comfort there. My hips and lower back are punished more for each hour I sit here and I can be seen slowly oozing out the door each time we stop to stretch our legs, hobbling like an old lady for five minutes until my joints loosen up. Kailyn sits in the middle back seat in her car seat, sleeping for most of our time in the car. When she's not asleep, she enjoys peering up at me and smiling. Evelyn sits behind Daddy. She has a habit of choosing all kind of odds and ends to take in the car with us for each journey, so her seat and the floorboard beneath her are cluttered with an assortments of broken crayons, stuffed animals, workbooks, sippy cups, rubber bands, popsicle sticks, stickers, and whatever other bits and pieces she collected to journey with her for the day. Brent is forever the driver, bless his soul. Not only this, but he's taken on the role of navigator as well and has the tablet at his ready to consult a map and scout out the next stop when needed. It turns out I'm pretty terrible at this, so though it would make sense that I take on that job, he is much, much better at it. To his right sits our co-pilot, Emmy. Below her on the front floorboard is Gretchen, sleeping in her very own dog bed that never leaves the truck.

 

I pack a bag we've named "Evelyn's On-the-Go Bag" and try to keep it fresh with new things to do: sight word books, modeling clay, beginners cross-stitch, coloring books, and markers. Atop that sits the diaper bag and I've only recently realized I could bring the laptop in the car with me to make best use of road time (like today). When Evelyn isn't asking endless questions and narrating what she sees out the window, I can write or edit pictures or work. On rare occasions, like the present, she sleeps, and I can actually concentrate on what I'm working on.

 

We spend an awful lot of time in the truck. You would think so, right, with traveling great distances towing the trailer. But, when we get to a new place, we don't usually just hang out at the trailer. We get out and see stuff. Back into the truck we go!

 

The Dogs

There is always the question of what to do with the dogs. We have the three dogs: a pit bull and two small dogs (Emmy, Heidi, and Gretchen). They are incredibly adaptable and are happy to just be part of the family, but we still feel bad they spend so much time indoors and cooped up. Here's the thing, though. When we've arrived somewhere after 3-4 hours of travel (about our limit), we let the dogs out thinking they'll run amok and kiss the ground. What do they do? They go up the stairs to the trailer and press their noses to the door waiting for us to open it. Then, they run inside to their beds and lay down like they're relieved to get some rest. Yup, that's their life! And they're Ok with it! Don't get me wrong. We have them outside whenever and however often we can.

 

We prefer finding campgrounds to stay in over RV parks, where there is less restriction on dogs and more room between campers so as not to bother people. We don't even leash them when we have a mostly empty campground to ourselves. They run around a bit and then plop themselves near the trailer in the sun somewhere and just kind of hang out... when they're not pressing their noses to the door to be let back in again.

 

Dogs Playing at El Reno Campground

 

The times I miss having a backyard where I could just let the dogs out to play where there is  a fence is when we want to go somewhere. We never leave the house without first asking out loud, "Do we take the dogs?" It's not necessarily easier to leave the dogs at home when we go somewhere. Though they know they're not supposed to, they climb up on the furniture when we're gone. I've found warm spots on the top of the couch when we return where someone had been snuggled up in our absence. Our table is also riddled with scratches and claw marks where dogs have been up sniffing around or peering out the windows while we were out. Really, they have destroyed our table. I can't blame them for getting up on the couch or the table: those are the only vantage points for seeing out the windows. Of course they'd want to see where we went, whether we're coming back, or what's going on outside while we're gone. Still, the result is a routine drill now where we borrow tables and chairs from Evelyn's room and take out all the baby swings, bouncy seats, and rockers and splay them out over the couches and chairs. We put down all the blinds so there will be no windows available out of which to stare. Of course, when we get home there is the whole routine drill of putting all these things back and rearranging our living room again for living.

 

In Jerome after getting scolded by an officer about

leaving them in the truck.

The dogs go with us anywhere we'll be gone for more than a few hours, for the most part. In the warmer months, this often meant leaving them in the car with the air running and the doors

Some cafes in Manitou Springs actually
invited the dogs inside!

locked. It's not ideal, but it was our best option. When we were in Jerome, AZ for the day, Brent left them in the car with the windows down. We worried there was too much foot traffic to walk them around with us and couldn't take them to the restaurant where we'd be going for lunch. After lunch, Brent returned to the truck to get them to find an officer aiming a thermal reader into the truck and taking a temperature. He threatened to write us a ticket for leaving dogs in the car (it was 80 degrees with a cool cross breeze cutting through the car). It was kind of ironic since we have actually called the police over people leaving their dogs in sealed up cars in the heat; this situation hardly compared to those situations. Since then, though, we just walk them with us for outings for the most part. Heck, when we were in Manitou Springs, CO they were actually even welcome inside the cafe where we had lunch. They are great dogs and they don't bark at other dogs or people. We're lucky to call them our family and they are really good at this living on the road stuff.

The Cat

So, what happened to our cat? Fifi spent the first month and half with us in the trailer while we were moving between campgrounds in California. The problem was that she wanted to be outside more than she wanted to be with us. She would wait to streak out the door whenever we went in or out and if you've ever navigated RV steps you know it's a task that requires conscious attention without obstacles in the way, so a black cat bolting out the door between your legs while taking a step out is not optimal. We were bopping her or spraying her several times an hour to prevent her

Fifi hanging out with Evelyn in the play loft

escape, making her all the more nuts to get out.

 

I did try a leash and harness. I tied her to the steps outside and she would hang out with the dogs for a half hour before she got tangled or frustrated at not being able to roam away at her leisure. It turns out the leash was really more of a tease than anything. It gave her a taste of what she couldn't have and her attempts at escape only intensified. If the plastic door that gives access to the handle on the screen was open, she'd jump through the opening and out to freedom.

 

Fifi on her leash outside with the rest of the pack.

We tried letting her roam. Why not? She wants out so badly? Let her sniff around. She knows where safety is, right? We began letting her sniff around while we kept an eye on her. She got an insane amount of joy out of digging for gophers and pooping in the dirt. She did Ok at first, even climbed a few small nearby trees. But then she started sneaking off and expanding her perimeter. She wouldn't appear when we called her to return. Brent and Evelyn spent one night at Jurupa traipsing through a dozen other people's sites aiming flashlights under trailers and motor homes and calling for her while she played a cat and mouse game with them (still unclear who was the mouse in this situation!). Here we were staying in places where packs of coyotes came into camp at night and hollered their otherworldly yips into the night air. It woke me out of sleep most nights in a week. Fifi simply could not be outside after dark. Yet, she streaked past us half a dozen times into the dark of evening.

  

Fifi even got to go out for bike cruises.

One night, Brent spent the hour between 11:00pm and 12am scouring the nearby fields for Fifi at Prado, armed only with a flashlight and Emmy at his side. Twice, he followed black cat-looking animals slinking through the grass calling out her name only to discover each was a skunk when within sight. He gave up that night, only to return to a smug looking Fifi sitting on the trailer steps when he returned to camp.

 

Another night, I awoke to something throwing itself against the side of the trailer at 3am. I turned on the outside lights to find Fifi sitting on the steps, banging on the door to be let in. I hadn't even known she'd escaped and no one had remembered to do a head count before we retired for the night.

 

Eventually, I wised up and put a glow stick on her collar before dark. We'd be able to see her after dark whether we'd let her out or she'd let herself out. One night at Jurupa, it had gotten dark and I could see Fifi's hovering glow-stick near some distant bushes. I sent Evelyn and her friend to go retrieve her, but they took about ten steps and said, "She's with another cat!" A strong flashlight beam revealed she was sitting face to face with a skunk. We watched, mouths agape, while Fifi slowly backed herself into the bushes behind her in "You don't see me" fashion. The skunk almost plausibly shrugged in apathy and waddled off the other direction.

 

All this was prior to Kailyn's birth. I knew that with a baby around we'd be even less focused on making sure the cat was safe and with her constant pushing on the boundaries of safety, it was clear this wouldn't work. Would it be better to explain to Evelyn that the cat had a new home with a friend or to explain that we had to pack up and leave though the cat wasn't with us? So much could happen on the road. What if we were in Colorado somewhere and she disappeared into the night never to return? What could we assume? Is she hurt or was she carried off by something? Or is she hiding in the nearby bushes and just won't come when we call her? Well, the thought of losing the cat on the road was far worse than that of finding her a new home, so she is living life like a queen with a friend, now.

 

Laundry

Evelyn pulling the laundry
wagon to Grandma and Grandpa's
house in Oklahoma to pick
up our laundry.

Pets aside, we are asked how we take care of things like laundry quite often. Though there is a spot for a washer and dryer in our rig, there are many disadvantages to actually installing and using those appliances in an RV. For one, only one load can be run through at a time. That is, one of the machines in always empty. A washed load goes into the dryer without another load going into the washer. They work more slowly than normal machines so it takes all day to do one small load. Plus, they use a lot of water and they fill the waste tanks with a lot of water. The worst part for me was that their existence would mean giving up the entire closet shelf space in our bedroom. So, we seek out places with laundry facilities. If we can run three loads at a time, we're done in a couple hours. Most RV parks have laundry facilities or are near one. We seek out regional or state campgrounds, though, and find that most of them have laundry facilities, as well. Loads are anywhere from $1-$1.50 per load/per machine, so we could spend an average of $12-$18 every week and a half or so on laundry. The state of the laundry facilities is always an exciting gamble. We stayed in an RV park last night where the laundry smelled, as Brent put so eloquently, "like fart."

Our folding wagon has been a gift with many purposes, but its main purpose is laundry. I can be seen hauling that thing with heaps of laundry to wherever the nearest machines may be. Of course, it's nice when we stay with family and can bring loads over for washing while we visit, like we did in Colorado and Oklahoma!

 

TV and Internet

What about internet or television? I need internet for my job, so that was a priority. We have a jetpack with mobile hotspot that has done us very well so far. We also increased our data on our phones to 20GB between our devices, just in case. Though we don't rely on television and haven't had cable for years now, we do like to sit down for a movie every now and then, especially when we've been traveling all day and just want to kick back and snuggle. We brought our Roku and connect it to the jetpack or to the park's WiFi when their signal is good enough to do so. We still don't use it much but got great use of it when Evelyn was sick in Kansas and we ordered her to stay in our bed and watch TV all day. I also wait until we're on free WiFi at a park somewhere to upload pictures or blog entries to save our data.

 

Sleeping Arrangements and Living Spaces

Evelyn's room

When we chose our trailer, we chose a floor plan that had plenty of space for Evelyn to feel at home. Our mid-bunk room is her room, but the top bunk is intended for Kailyn when we get around to building it into a safe and functional crib. As it is, the top bunk stores Kailyn's swing, bouncy seat, and rock n play.

Evelyn's bed is the lower bunk, but it wasn't always a full time bed. The trailer came with a couch there, but we tore that out and stuck it in storage. Brent built a platform there and we folded a 4 inch memory foam queen mattress topper in half as a very comfy mattress for Evelyn. She chose rainbow bedding and decorated her walls with Paw Patrol decals. I hung a rainbow strand of lights on the wall inside her bed area as a fun night light. There are under-bed storage bins on wheels underneath that hold crafts, games, and dress up clothes that she can access herself. She has her own closet and drawers and TV, though we don't utilize it very often. We also brought her small table and chair set from home and set that up in her room. While in transit, they store perfectly upside-down on her bed. Her wall is decorated with Kailyn's and her name, some decals, and lots of Evelyn's favorite art pieces.

 

Most of the time, Evelyn sleeps in her bed without fuss, and she is happy to have Heidi curled up either at the foot of her bed or under her covers with her. Daddy reads to Evelyn every night, taking over the job formerly mine as I tend to the baby at bedtime.

 

Kailyn sleeps with me. Nowadays, that means she is in the bed in the front bedroom with me. She

Kailyn sleeps with me, but sometimes I'm
lucky enough to cuddle with both my
girls at bedtime.

has some sinus issues that act up only at night and I feel safest when she's right next to me so I can help her if she seems to be having problems breathing. There really isn't room to set up her rock n play in the front bedroom, and she's outgrown it anyway, so as far as she's concerned, my bed is her bed for now. We usually sleep with a diffuser running frankincense and lemon next to us.

 

Brent sleeps wherever he can, acting and sleeping wherever he is needed or finds himself. Most of the time, he's on the couch. I've slept there many times and it's actually pretty comfy. We don't bother folding it out into a bed; it's actually not really comfortable as a bed and who wants to transform one more thing when all is ready for living again?  He has also spent many nights on the floor of Evelyn's room simply because she asks him to, so I've come out for a drink at night to find his legs and feet sticking out of her room and into the kitchen.

 

We've tried a few times to fit all four of us into the queen bed in the bedroom, but usually someone gives up fighting for space and retreats to the couch at some point in the night.

 

There have only been a handful of times that Brent and I have been the sole occupants of our queen bed, and even then it hasn't lasted but for a few hours. We expected as much. I'd love to say it will get better, but it would take some serious changes of circumstance for that to happen.

 

Where do we stay?

I think the coolest thing about our trip has been that we've planned out very few of our destinations. We've stumbled across things to see and places to stay for the most part, but wherever we are or are going, we need a place to park and sleep for the night. Our rig relies on having hookups, mainly because the refrigerator needs battery power to run and doesn't run on propane. Brent has done an impressive amount of research and then work to keep us operational, though. We have five solar panels mounted on the roof that he installed himself. He also increased our battery life by adding four batteries on top of what was included when we bought the trailer.

 

RV parks are the easiest thing to aim for since they provide hookups, usually full. Once you get out of California, they are easy to find and nearly always have an opening for one night or more. They are pricey, though-- anywhere from $32-$50 a night. They can run more than that in places like

A typical, well-groomed and maintained RV park.
This was where we stayed in St. George.

Sedona, but we don't even bother calling those types of "RV Resorts". RV parks offer hookups and level parking, but they also have limited living space, and sites are usually packed side by side. In an RV park in Flagstaff, our awning was only inches from touching the fifth wheel next door, as one example. Also, RV parks often have restrictions on pets or types of pets. Since we're traveling with a pit bull, we are nearly guaranteed discrimination at RV parks. We've only run into problems with her on board in two parks, so far, but it's always a consideration. What's more, lots of RV parks like to charge extra for kids or pets, so we could pay $3-$5 more per night per extra body!

 

Our preference, by far, is state parks or regional parks. Campsites are spaced farther apart, most have full if not partial hookups, they are far more affordable, and they don't have restrictions on 

Our one night way at Green River State Park in Utah. Lots
of room in each site and there were only five other campers
in the park.
'

kids or pets. Once outside of California, we have found state and regional parks wide open. In several of the state or regional parks we've stayed, we've been one of only 1-6 other campers in the entire campground! Plus, the views are much, much better.

 

Monahans Sandhills State Park, TX where we
were the only camper in sight after about 9am.

We are also always willing to stay in designated forestry or BLM land for free. Termed "dispersed camping", there are fire roads and open spaces where people are more than welcome to park and camp any time for no cost at all. Coming from California, where you just don't see that kind of thing without fee, it was surprising to me at first to notice all the places where a sole motor home or trailer would be camped 200 feet off a highway throughout Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. We camped in a dispersed area outside of Sedona and it was one of our best experiences yet! Eventually, though, we do have to find a place with hookups so we can dump and refill as needed.

Close-Knit Living

I'm not going to lie, living so close together with no breaks from each other is challenging. No one goes away to work or school and we have only the one car, so nothing is a mystery or private and no one gets down time away from the rest of the family. We've developed a few pet peeves with each other. Brent is always miffed that I buy things for the house and is bothered that we're acquiring more stuff. I'm irked by the fact that he so often crams things in odd places where they don't belong and doesn't put things back where he got them. We both lose our patience with Evelyn's lack of control over the loud volume of her voice and the fact that she doesn't finish anything she starts unless it's a cookie or treat. Getting ready to leave the house is the most frustrating of all processes and we never leave a place by check-out time. Folding up the house and getting into the car will be the ruin of our family if anything is.

 

We do a lot of checking ourselves, apologizing, and taking deep breaths to get back in balance. Getting out for fresh air and playing with Evelyn or the dogs is always a good rejuvenation when we start to get cabin fever. Luckily, there is always something new to do and see with this lifestyle, even if it's shopping at the nearest Walmart or Ross.

 

 

How is Kailyn doing?

Kailyn hanging out with big sister
in the play loft

Finally, there is the matter of traveling and living in an RV with an infant. Learning we were having a baby nearly halted our plans to travel a year ago as we were moving forward with our plan, but the thing is, babies are adaptable and it's better to travel with a baby who only needs mommy and a safe place to be for the first year than it would be with an older baby.

 

She has gotten used to being in the car seat, and the only place she had trouble with our travels was in the high altitudes of the Rockies through Colorado. Though she travels well, I feel pretty guilty for her spending so much time in her car seat. I set her up on her activity mat on the floor of the trailer to give her a chance to stretch out and explore her capabilities. We also travel with a portable swing that folds for storage and a bouncy seat. She really doesn't like either of them very much. Neither is better than being carried around by mommy, so she's become my little side kick and I do nearly everything with one hand, holding her in the other arm. She just wants attention and doesn't care much for toys, so she doesn't like being left sitting on her own. I can't blame her, what with being around her entire family all the time. She's a lucky baby for that, and it's what she's used to now.

 

Hanging out in the trailer

Baby wearing near Sedona

I also have several baby carriers to wear her when we're on the go. She prefers the Moby, for now, though it's quickly losing its appeal since she is beginning to prefer seeing where she's going and fusses unless I carry her in the crook of my arm facing her forward.

 

I've nursed all over parts of the country and in some interesting places: on rides at Disneyland, 4 feet from 1000 foot canyon wall drops, while posing for pictures during sight-seeing excursions. We stop often for pit stops because Kailyn is hungry, so the going is slow for us, but it gives the dogs lots of chances to stretch their legs on pullouts off the highway.

 

Here's Kailyn on her activity mat in the trailer:

Kailyn on her activity mat

In short, Kailyn is doing well. The hardest thing is knowing she is missing out on getting to know friends and family back home.

 

On that note, we are on the road back to California for the holidays and we can't wait. We're traversing Texas now by way of the 10 freeway and anticipate being home in about five days' time.

 

We can't wait to see all the people we've been missing!