Day Trip to Page

March 17, 2018

Last weekend we were looking to get out and explore, and were trying to think of new places that weren’t more than two hours away. Ben and I had recently both realized that neither of us had ever been to Horseshoe Bend before. A day trip to Page, Arizona sounded perfect! Our first stop was the Glen Canyon Dam. We walked over the bridge to get a view of the dam and the water on the other side.

If you know Rivers, you know he LOVES visitor centers. He was so jazzed to head inside and look at maps and all of the informative displays.

When Rivers was done checking out the visitor center, it was time to head to Horseshoe Bend. Ben and I had both prepared ourselves for the experience to feel like waiting in line at Disneyland, and we were pretty spot on. The parking lot was crazy (more on that later) and there were tour busses dropping people off by the hundreds. Once we made it to the cliffs, I queued up in line to get to the edge to shoot some photos.

Let’s point out the obvious, you can’t see the unbroken flow of the water around the bend. That’s because I’m deathly afraid of heights and wouldn’t get any closer to the edge knowing how many random people were just inches behind me!

I was definitely a little bummed that the sky was pretty washed out, but I’m sure we will be back here again some day to try to get some better shots. After I was done getting my photos we were on the hunt for a random person who looked like they knew how to work a real camera and might be able to get a family photo for us. We ended up finding the sweetest woman with a beautiful accent. She nailed the angles and I couldn’t be more appreciative that the Universe put her near us at just the right time.

All decked out in our gear from Keep It Wild!

After the family photo ops it was time for Rivers to play in the sand. He had brought a Matchbox dump truck that he was desperate to put to use with all of the sand around.

Then it was time to head back to the truck and look for some dinner in Page.

We returned to the parking lot to find a surprise. Someone had literally parked right in front of the truck. We would have been completely trapped and parked in if one of the cars beside us had not left. To put it simply, people are crazy. If the people in the little yellow car had been planning to stay until sunset, we could have been trapped in our space for hours…

While Ben was in the process of trying to get us out, a car came along and tried to park in the empty space we were going to use to help us navigate out of our situation. We both ran up to their car windows begging them to find another spot so we could leave! They looked confused and didn’t seem to have noticed that we were parked in by the little yellow car. Once we were out, we were all able to laugh about it. I was pretty proud of myself for refraining from leaving an angry note on their car, especially since I still think they deserved it!

After the parking debacle we headed into Page to get some dinner. We went to Big John’s Texas Barbecue and it did not disappoint! We ate our food so fast that we forgot to take a picture. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s no Little Miss BBQ– that’s for sure. I don’t think I will ever have that caliber of barbecue anywhere else in my life.

All in all, it was a great day with my family exploring somewhere new. If there is one gift that RV life has given me that I appreciate the most, it is time exploring new places and making memories together.

Two Months In

June 8, 2017

The full-time life has been surprisingly easy to get used to for all three of us. I’ve been thinking about all of the random things I’ve learned during the first two months of our full-time RV life and thought I’d compile them here.

You don’t need that much stuff to get by in life. We packed essentials and a few luxury items, but many of our interior storage cabinets are empty.
Living tiny isn’t hard. We did two additional purges from the RV while we were stationary in CG & close to our storage unit.
Riv is happy in any living situation as long as he has his bike, his scooter & tons of vehicle toys.
RV parks with pools are awesome, especially in the summer in AZ.
Two RV ACs will not keep up in 100+ degree temps in AZ.
I actually like the coziness of our tiny space.
A small RV fridge will keep you from over-buying perishable food & wasting it!
Our pantry fits way more stuff in it than we thought.
It would have been nice to have a convection oven/microwave combo, our regular oven heats up the RV way too much to use it in the summer.
The dinette is awkward and the couch is pretty uncomfortable. I’d like to remove both & have seen some cool alternatives that other full-time families have used in their modifications.
Doing dishes by hand is as annoying as it used to be when I was a teenager doing them at home. I miss my dishwasher!
Do not wait to buy a small vacuum for your RV. We finally got one last weekend and it is so much easier and so much more thorough than trying to use a normal sized one.
If you are a germaphobe like me you will hate RV park laundromats. Buy this unit for your RV. We don’t have interior hookups in our RV but we are installing it in our outdoor kitchen.
A fireproof safe is a great place to store your important paperwork that you will need on the road.
Don’t store crayons or other melty things in cabinets that are mounted on one of the outside walls during an AZ summer.
You absolutely can run the AC and a blowdryer at the same time if you have 50 AMP service in your RV.
Command hooks & strips will become your best friends when your interior walls are made out of glorified cardboard.
You might take on traits of your retired neighbors and start doing puzzles in your free time.
You can bake a cake in your RV oven, but you might need a pizza stone to distribute the heat more evenly.
Peacocks are way louder than you would guess they are, but they can also be super friendly.
Rivers will make new friends easily, but the goodbyes will always be hard.

Here are some photos from the first couple months.

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Our Maiden Voyage- to Mexico!

May 5, 2017

We bought our rig in November and didn’t pick it up until January. Even after we drove all the way to Prescott to pick it up, we didn’t get to take it anywhere fun or test it out right away, it went straight to storage. Insert sad face here. From the moment we signed off on our final paperwork and knew it was ours, we couldn’t wait to actually go somewhere in it! I had been scheming and planning in my mind where we could go to have a quick trip to experience it and learn all its quirks before it was our full-time residence. In December I messaged my aunt Helen to see if she could give me some info on RVing in Rocky Point, Mexico. It’s a destination I’ve traveled to many times with my family growing up, but we normally rented houses. I knew Helen had been to Rocky Point in her RV before, so I knew she’d be able to recommend a great RV park. I figured that since Ben & Rivers would have the same days off for Spring Break, we could maybe take it to Mexico for its maiden voyage.

In a perfect streak of luck Helen happened to be planning a trip herself at the same time to take grandkids there for their break. I quickly texted my other aunt & uncle to see if they would want to make it a big family trip and bring their RV also. Pretty quickly the dates were agreed upon and Helen offered to handle the reservations since the process was a little antiquated. The Playa Bonita RV Park is located right next door to the hotel of the same name. It has great reviews on Trip Advisor and of course my aunts both agree it’s a perfect place right on the beach.

The entrance to Playa Bonita RV Resort

You definitely can’t beat the cost of $24 a night for interior spaces. It has full hookups and 30 amp included in the price. The temps were perfect when we were there in March so we didn’t bother to inquire about the extra cost for 50 amp that is listed in their office. The one tip I will offer if you plan to stay is to make sure you have a really long water hose. Our connection was on the opposite corner of our slot from our intake and we ended up having my aunt bring us en extra hose since they were arriving a day later than us.

The distance to the beach from the nose of our rig.

This is an awesome place to take kids. Rivers spent most of his time at the beach, playing in the sand, looking at tide pools and searching for shells and hermit crabs. I would recommend sand toys, beach chairs and an umbrella or easy-up for a comfortable beach hangout.

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Other than beach time, we also went into town to the Malecón a few times. It’s a great place to buy fresh seafood and tortillas and also pick up some souvenirs. There are plenty of restaurants in that area too, many of which are kid friendly.

Family photo at Casa del Capitan

Enough words, here’s what you really want: PHOTOS!

That Feeling

May 5, 2017

You know– that feeling you get once everyone is buckled in tight, all the bags are carefully packed and you drive off into the fuzzy early morning light to somewhere exciting and new. It’s sort-of like butterflies and electricity all mixed together. The feeling of anticipation and excitement for a trip to somewhere you’ve never been before. The nostalgic feeling of another visit to somewhere you love and are so happy to visit again. The knowledge that you are setting off to make memories and enjoy time with your family; no work, no stress, no obligations – no strings attached.

That feeling of freedom.

Freedom from the responsibility and monotony of the everyday.

THAT feeling.

That’s the reason we chose to do this.

The freedom to enjoy our family before it’s gone.

That feeling is the best feeling.

EVER.

A New Journey Begins

December 29, 2016

We are becoming full-time RVers!

“Wait…what?”

That’s a pretty typical response that we’ve received from the few people we have already shared this with. We seem to be greeted with one of two reactions: people either think we’re crazy, or they think our plan is awesome. Many people plan or dream of a lifestyle like this for years, but I can’t say either of us had really put too much thought into it before. We are incredibly excited about this new plan, especially when you consider how quickly it’s fallen into place.

It all started on a Tuesday afternoon at the end of October. We had traveled up to Flagstaff to do some hiking over Ben and Rivers’ fall break. As we hiked along, stopping to take pictures and collect beautiful yellow leaves, Ben posed a question that pretty much came out of nowhere.

What if you could quit your job and we could just travel during the winter?

Obviously that sounded amazing, but how could we afford that? My simple response almost startled Ben.

I’m down. Figure out the details and I’m in.

He said he’d run the numbers before and if we weren’t wasting our money each month paying high rent, outrageous summer power bills, and all of the other house-related expenses it was completely possible on his river guide income alone. This meant we would have to be stationary for the six months out of the year he was running his river season, but that we could spend the other six months traveling anywhere we wanted. We chatted though scenarios and options for the rest of the hike. By the time we got back to the car and the cell service, we were both googling RV types and prices.

A mere six weeks after Ben asked me that random question on a hike we owned both an RV and a truck to tow it with. Six weeks. We really are crazy and apparently efficient! I will share more about the research and buying process in the next few posts.

a river guide's wife

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