 |
| 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.
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
escape, making
her all the more nuts to get out.
 |
| Fifi hanging out with Evelyn in the play loft |
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
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.
 |
| Kailyn sleeps with me, but sometimes I'm lucky enough to cuddle with both my girls at bedtime. |
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
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!
 |
| A typical, well-groomed and maintained RV park. This was where we stayed in St. George. |
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
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.
 |
| 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. ' |
 |
| 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:
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!
No comments:
Post a Comment