Born to be Beach Bums

Goal #15: Live on the beach.

Though we were only there for an hour or so, we were intoxicated by the experience and knew, just KNEW, we needed to make this part of our lives soon. When it will happen, we don't know, but it's on the list!

The water was chilly, the breeze rather crisp, and even though Wilder was shivering a bit he was in heaven -as were Brian and I, too. There is something so invigorating, yet calming, by being by the sea. The ocean is so wild, so dangerous; I felt challenged and thrilled, but also free and content. *Sigh* Beachside, please. Thank you.

Me, too!

Wilder staying warm with Papa's body heat and loving watching the waves crashing on the shore.

I was pretty excited to be by the ocean.

Self portrait with Waverley, by Brian.

THAT'S how excited I was. Really.

Cozying up to Papa to stay warm after splashin' around.

Wilder did not want to leave. He kicked, he screamed, he made terrible threats I dare not repeat (mainly because I can't spell his personal language) but we somehow coerced him to come back to the truck.

Peace.

And here's something ya don't see every day. It's a rumble of West Coast Choppers -but they're bicycles.

It gives "cruiser" a whole new meaning. This poor fella had to walk up the hill (above) and was the caboose of the group. But high five to him for being a true biker and pedallin' away!

We had mondo fun. Loved it, loved it. Now, Brian says, it's off to Florida. Sounds like we've got our next trip in the works!

Royal Fun

I've got some pretty neat nieces and nephews. Here's the King Crew, up close and personal from today's shoot at our RV park. The kids came over and played all day and we even got to have a pool party, topped off with ice cream treats. The Kings know how to party and we are SO thankful we got in on the fun -and got to facilitate a little bit of it.

Introducing....

Hannah

Aravis

Timothy

Kaeli

Wesley

Zaccai

The Real Wildlife

A story in pictures -with a little narration.

Wilder can't get enough of the cousins. He hasn't napped in 2 days and goes to bed at 7pm because he's just too busy playing with the kids. I love seeing our kids grow and witnessing relationships blossoming.

Like a boxer, Wilder would ask Brian for juice or milk between rounds of trampoline bouncing with the cousins. Satiated, he'd bound back up the steps to have another go at it.

Kaeli, the dramatist of the King family. Watch out, folks, this girl may be a future President -or cruiseline activities coordinator.

Wesley, contemplative as he awaits Wilder and the bouncing balls. I could take this kid home.

Watch out, Aravis is in hog heaven! This serious little girl is such a unique character -as are all of my sister's beautiful children. I am amazed at how different each of the 6 are -completely unique and totally different, but all a beautiful bundle of joy.

Uncle Bebo is an excellent kid watcher, helper and all around fun guy.

We took a trip to the San Diego Wild Animal Park where we fit right in. The tortoise gave Aravis a fright and she ran to Crystal, "Turtle, scary! Mama, turtle scary!"

Wesley and the flamingos.

Life is real.

See that lady with the six kids, bravely and happily jaunting through the park? That's my sister. She's AMAZING. And this sort of adventure doesn't phase her, not one bit.

I love her.

Waiting to see the acrobats from Tanzania.

AMAZING.

Wesley came over and sat next to me during the show. "Those guys are amazing! But they can do that stuff because they're robots."

"No, they're real people -they're not robots."

"No, they're robots. Real people can't do that."

There was no convincing him, but I thought it was pretty darn funny.

Crystal and Zaccai, who have spent some time in Malawi, spoke a bit with this performer in his native language. Cultcha, Cultcha!

Who's the master of his own destiny?

Totally. Dirty.

We had loads of fun!

The Road to Escondido

Laptop, coffee, baby in my lap, and a chilly morning in Escondido waiting to get this crew loaded up and rolling over to my sister's house so we can get this party started. We're staying at the All Seasons RV park just north of town, right off I-15 and Brian's already become chummy with the neighbors. At Berry Springs RV Park in Georgetown our neighbors were from Fairbanks, Alaska. Now here, our neighbors are from Dallas, Texas. Funny, that.

We had safe travels and discovered Wilder likes Dairy Queen's cheese sandwiches. We went through 3 or 4 border patrol checkpoints, and we saw mountains, rock fields and mounds and sand dunes. This country is amazing -I love the United States!

Time to get the troops moving -we got things to do, people to see!

The Open Road, The Dusty Highway

Howdy from Interstate 10! We hit the road on the 4th of July, celebrating our independence from conventional life as we towed our new home behind us. There's something comforting and strange about always being home. And seeing all this new terrain, driving through parts of Texas, New Mexico and now Arizona, is widening my sense of being -something I knew would happen as we embraced a mobile lifestyle. When "home" isn't any one particular spot -a place grounded and firm in location- then the whole world becomes your home. It's kind of like finally being okay in your own skin. Actually, it's exactly like that.

But enough philosophizing. On with the story telling!

We left Georgetown at noon (on the dot) on Sunday and headed down I-35 towards I-10 to make our cross-country journey to Escondido, CA. With anticipation equivalent to an 8 year old on their way to Disneyland, we pulled into Camping World in New Braunfels. We'd been eagerly eyeing various Camping World store locations ever since we got the RV itch (a contagious virus, but you'll like it!) and now -yes, now!- we were about to enter and see all the fun things we could outfit our new home with. Unfortunately we were less than wowed. But despite the smaller assortment of items than anticipated, we enjoyed our time browsing and Wilder had a blast running all over the store and driving me crazy.

Brian hadn't slept in over 24 hours, so we found a KOA campground in Junction, TX around 7pm and set up camp. What a place! Right on the N. Llano River, complete with swimming pool, playground, ducks and ducklings (just 17 days old), plenty of shade trees and the friendliest groundskeepers ever -we LOVED our site and decided it would make an ideal long weekend jaunt for future travels. Wilder delighted himself with hours of rock throwing and chased the ducks into their pen -frightening the crap out of them (and a few laid eggs, I'm sure.) This place was perfect for us. And we even got to see Junction's surprisingly brilliant firework display!

More rock throwing was on the schedule for Monday morning while Brian prepped and packed the RV. We hit the road around 11am and so began the most adventurous part of our journey yet. West Texas doesn't have much in it. Not even gas stations. And there's the crux of our adventure. With half a tank of gas, we unwittingly passed the last town for HOURS. Gas stations were nowhere to be found and we slowly watched our truck countdown the estimated miles left before we'd be Fred Flinstone-ing our vehicle and RV. Nothing on the horizon. Nothing. The gas meter was at rock bottom, our truck's fancy computer told us we had zero miles left, yet on we kept going. Let me tell ya, the tension was thicker than Elmer's paste (the kind kids ate out of the jar at school.) "But what's that? Do you see it?! A GAS STATION! TWO GAS STATIONS!! Oh, I HOPE we can make it! C'mon, Bessy, C'mon old girl -you can make it, even though you're pessimistically telling us you've got nothin' left." We pulled in to a Chevron and jumped for joy! Brian was ready to bust out his running shoes, watching the road signs that told us the next town was 12 miles ahead -while I truck read 2 miles left until empty. The sneakers stayed in the trailer and we celebrated the few extra miles of grace Ford built into it's tank reader. (It took all of my self control not telling the gruff lady at the cash register how overwhelmingly glad I was that they had a gas station RIGHT HERE!)

Phew! That adventure done with, we continued west and on the horizon spied mountains. Oh my goodness, MOUNTAINS! The limestone hills of Texas were a neat site to see with the obvious layers of sediment created from years under the ocean, but these mountain ranges were so unexpected (to me, at least.) And then came the Rio Grande, passing through El Paso and seeing Juarez just across the way. It was fascinating being so close to Mexico -just a rock's through, really- but we kept driving. I'm not too much for rock throwing, that's Wilder's specialty.

We made it to Lordsburg, New Mexico and stayed at another KOA site. We knew we'd arrive late, so I called to make a reservation and ask about late check in during a moment of quiet, sandwiched between the 2 kids in the back seat. As SOON as the gentleman on the other end of the line answered, ERUPTION of CHOAS! Ho-ly-COW. I was shoving binkis, bottles, milk cups, scooping up toys, blankets -anything to try to keep the kids quiet while I gave our information to a man I could hardly understand (thick accent) who could barely hear me over the screaming children. Why is it the single moment you truly need quiet it becomes a war zone? Parents, you know what I'm talkin' about. As frustrating as it was, I found it completely hilarious. Oh, funny, funny.

Another night down; it's Tuesday morning and we're now in Arizona. This morning while Wilder enjoyed New Mexico's fine rock selection as Brian prepped for travel, I was amazed by the dryness of the air. In Texas, you stick your hand out the window for two seconds and it's covered in dew. Here, my palms were sweating and it evaporated in 2 seconds. I wanted to put on my running shoes and see what it was like not being drenched in humidity and sweat. Talk about a dry run...

I left my camera connections in the RV, but I'll upload pictures soon -oh, I can't wait! Wilder terrorizing the ducks, the fascinating mountains, the enormous rock mounds we're driving by right now -so much to share!

So, how do we like our RV life so far? It may be in the honeymoon faze still, but we're really -truly and seriously- liking it. And the adventures continue...