Our backyard went from this snowy mountain: 
To this mountain in the clouds:
Before making it to Paradise we did have to work for it a little, as I’ve mentioned.
Jewel found laying face down in the snow was more fun than another minute stuck with her brothers inside.
After finally getting out of Tuba City we were a little surprised to see NO SNOW. We were stranded because of what? But not to fear, there was still some snow left.
Good-Bye Snow
After a lot of talking back and forth between visiting Dee in Illinois or Lisa in Green River, UT, we chose Utah for economic reasons. Not only was it less miles to drive but it’s still within close proximity to the gas fields in Wyoming and Colorado, and we wanted to be in a good position when they finally kick back off. Plus we spent April last year in Utah and absolutely fell in love with the Canyonlands so not only would we get to explore the areas we missed, but this time I get to see Lisa, too. Win, win.
So as we’re at the gas station, literally filling up to head east to Colorado, Joey got a call asking him to come to Colorado to help out with a couple drilling station moves, lasting probably a couple of weeks. yee haw…can’t ask for much better than that. A slow, easy start back to work after a whole year off with a broken arm and leg, plus no set schedule.
We pulled over at The Truck Stop and consulted with the cows
Of course we were going to go, we just couldn’t believe we got the call….right when we really needed it. We just had to pull over to convince ourselves it was real. But…are we really going to go back to the mountain that almost killed him?? Yep!
We took the same route down from Rawlins as we did last week, but this time we stopped and had a roadside lunch, this time stopping at Fortification Rocks instead of just cruising by.
I couldn’t believe it when I saw a FOR SALE SIGN! This gorgeous chunk of land with it’s volcanic uplift of rocks on it, that were used by several Indian tribes for fortification before battle…is for sale to the public! You’ll have to fight the rattlesnakes for it, but it could be yours.
We’ve stayed in three different RV Parks on the Western Slope of the Rockies in Colorado, so we decided to try out a fourth one. We cruised through it a couple years ago and I swore I would never stay here, but seeing as they’re the only one with a spot available we really had no choice. Luckily for us, it was under new management and had been much improved. We got an end spot, at the very back of the park, just yards from the Colorado River.
We were just in time to watch the leaves change, and our site happened to be the only one that had flowers still in bloom. The flowers were on a weed, but a flowers a flower to me. I took it as a sign we were meant to be there. Then this amazing rainbow appeared. Colorado was welcoming us back! :)
Another good sign was the on site chicken coop. The coop is nestled in the trees at the end of the rainbow, and houses eight chickens, three ducks and a huge white turkey. They belonged to another family but Jonas and Jewel visited them almost daily and Jewel caught this funny picture of the turkey!
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While we were still playing in Nebraska Joey expressed his concern about staying in the bus. He was tired of the cramped corners, of dealing with water pipe issues, having to dump the sewer, lack of privacy, and so on, so we agreed when he went back to work we would get a house to rent. But by the time we got to Colorado and we were happy enough with our RV park, instead of moving out we redesigned our bedroom in order to get more space and stretching room. When we first moved in it was a small full size half way walk around bed. We then made the entire space a platform and put a queen size bed on it, where we had to crawl in and out of it. The crawling got real old so now we turned the bed 180 degrees so our feet are pointing out the back door instead, and cut out the platform. Now we have lots of walking space, even room for Joey to do sit ups and push ups, and easy access to all the cupboards. We also moved the TV to under the rear cabinets, so now I can watch TV and watch the river flow by at the same time! What a difference a little shifting can make, and I’m thinking now maybe we can stay in the bus all winter.
Then two weeks later I get a call from Joey, “I found this great house……………..!”
We’re still parked on my parent’s property here outside Fort Worth. Joey is still on total temporary disability. Kids are still avid gamers.
Not much has changed. Except a few organizational things inside the bus.
Meet the Computer Room. Joey built a shelf for the printer last year, and last week we converted the dresser that came with the bus into a computer desk. We took out the drawers, added a shelf to set the CPU on and then cut out a hole for the face of it to stick out for easy access.
It’ll be complete once I replace the old RV chair for a computer chair.
What bus doesn’t have a Video Game Lounge?
This is the wheel well directly behind the driver’s seat. When we got it there was a cupboard built on top of it, then about a year later we cut it out and added another RV couch. The two couches just took up too much room so we got rid of it, and then realized how nice it was to have all this extra space. Then one day at Target I found these gaudy college dorm room cushions on clearance and I knew I just had to have them! They work out great either to sit on as is, or for the kids to throw on the floor to sit on while playing video games on the TV. The shelf cubby my Dad built for me while we were staying in their house to clear off the clutter on our dresser, and I wanted to use it in the bus but couldn’t find a place for it. When Joey suggested hanging it on the wall I thought he’d lost it, but it’s actually perfectly practical. It holds my mini laptop, all of Jewel’s papers to draw on, their strategy guides for video games, and magazines. I also turned one shelf into their DS, Gameboy and MP3 players charging station. It has helped to contain all these things that were usually everywhere but someplace neat. Directly across form here is the couch.
The Dining Room: 
We removed the standard RV table skinny leg that was always getting kicked under and sideways, with this shelf unit that we bought to sit on the “dog house” (engine cover on bus pullers) to hold the kids’ video game equipment. Here I flipped it over, painted it black and it still houses all the controllers and accessories for the Wii, PS2 and Xbox consoles. The top shelf holds more strategy guides. On the left there is a chalkboard hanging on the wall which is the start of the kitchen cabinets, and these little chairs are a perfect fit for the small space. They even fold up easily if need be. Directly across from the table is the Computer Room.
Next room as you walk to the back of the bus is The Kitchen.
As far as RV’s go, this is a large kitchen..and I LURVE it! I have my talking microwave. We know the second we’ve plugged into electricity because she says “Hi! I’m Temo, and I’m ready to cook.” Below that is my convection/toaster oven, and below that is the standard RV oven/stove combo. Directly across is the refrigerator and large pantry slide out drawers.
Keep going back and it’s the former closet, turned bunk beds.
That’s the shiny new black fridge directly on the left. When our RV fridge died last year we didn’t want to spend $1500 to replace it so we went to Lowe’s and got a normal 10 cu. ft. fridge. It’s not great for boondocking, but we’re looking into getting solar just for it. This door slides closed and is the only door that separates the back of the bus from the front. To the left are the bunks, and the right is the bathroom. These curtains were previously my Mom’s guest bath shower curtains, which rarely got used before she replaced them with a glass wall. They are complete with a travel theme! I found old rebar in the scrap pile, sprayed it silver and they became the curtain rods. The mirror was also recycled, from my parent’s old 1980’s waterbed headboard.
Jake moved his bed to the pullout couch and we gave Jewel the top bunk.
I first painted it with FIVE layers of magnetic paint to ensure a good coating, then in order to cover up all that blackness I had to do FIVE coats of red paint. She absolutely loves her new space, being she’s waited three years for it, but we’re not too sure if it might be a little dangerous. Her second night sleeping in it she woke up sick and throwing up, and then moved back in bed with us. She has slept in it a few more times with no problems, so we’re just kinda testing it out and seeing what happens.
Directly across from the bunks is The Bathroom.
Vanity is far right with huge mirrored medicine cabinet and underneath storage. Then there’s the tiny tub/shower with new rod we installed. We also installed the towel shelf unit. And that’s our bedroom nook behind that entryway. Behind the bunks and before climbing into our bed is where the previous owners had the small dresser we converted into the desk, and now we have wall to wall shelves for our clothes.
This is our Love Den, with our own escape hatch. Which we installed mosquito netting around so we can leave the door open and listen to the river gurgling behind us. (when we had that river gurgling behind us)
So there it is, Home Sweet Bus.
Now why would I think that? This was the first time we would be childless and we could take as much time as we needed. I must have missed the part where I would be driving the entire time. That’s all we did, drive, eat, sleep. Eat, drive, eat, drive, eat, sleep. Repeat three more times now.
Since our electric plug adaptor adaptors were stolen, and they’re a rare Canadian breed, we went without electricity the whole time. Also since I didn’t winterize before we left, we didn’t even want to find out if there was anything wrong with our water system until we got down to Texas, so we also went without water. And then, since I forgot to shut off the propane when we left in October, we were also out of propane. As if this all wasn’t joyful enough, our shit tank is still FULL. Five days of this, and no showers, ummm..yeah, not so romantic.
On the final day, our last two hundred miles, out of eleven hundred, I spotted diesel for only $1.99 and since Joey didn’t have his radio on I decided to pull up on his right (where he was making a right turn) and alert him to tell him to turn his radio on, and look..Cheap Gas! Only he didn’t see me and continued on with his right turn, right into me. Because of my brilliance and desperation to save a dime, we now need a new corner panel and lights for the truck, and the bus was seriously scraped between the front tires and the front door. I’m actually trying to forget the whole ordeal, so moving on…..
The kids did great with my parents, and really didn’t even miss us. I cried when we left thinking our plane might go down, and Joey had a talk with Jacob that if anything were to happen to us, they’d be living right there with Grama and Papa, and they DIDN’T have to go to school unless they wanted to. We like to cover our bases. :) My parents are really great for watching them and more surprisingly, respecting our wishes. I know it’s not always easy for them, especially when the kids stay up until four or five in the morning, or want mac and cheese at eleven at night, but they were super. Thank You, Mom and Dad!
In my last post I wrote so nonchalantly about First Class. I don’t know why I do that. It was actually kind of a big thing for me. I’ve always wanted to get bumped up to First, I hear about it all the time, but I’ve always been too chicken to ask. Since we were completely alone with this agent and there weren’t people waiting in line I felt brave. This is exactly how it went down: “Ummmm…uhhhh….I hear about people getting bumped up to First Class all the time…ummm…uhhhhh…..how could we do it?” I finally worked up the nerve, and then showed my ignorance by being on an airline that doesn’t even offer it. I just felt a need to clear that up.
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My Mom said Jewel told her she missed Dad the most.
Because he’s funnier.
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I discovered Windows Live Writer before I left, and I just knew it was the answer to my blogging dilemma. Then I decided it wasn’t because I didn’t always have an internet connection to blog while I’m traveling (with Live Writer I can be offline), I really just needed something interesting to blog about.…THEN I invented Mind Writer. When I’m driving I come up with the BEST blog posts, now if someone could just figure out the mechanics of Windows Mind Writer, I’ll be all set. In the meantime, for some real family adventure involving poop icicles you should check out Bluebird Family while they make their way up to Alaska. One storm at a time.
Happy Travels!
Never heard of them before, but now I’m a fan. I’m also a fan of flying on a Saturday. We got to DFW early and walked straight up to the ticket counter. I asked about getting bumped up to First Class, since that’s how I like to think I roll, and she said all their seats are First Class. Then we noticed she seated us in the first row, so clearly she was teasing us. I was envisioning smoked salmon and champagne once we got on the plane.
We then walked straight up to the security checkpoint, which didn’t leave us any time to read the fifty two rules, so of course we’re up there hurrying to take off our shoes, remove laptop, and hunt down any metal we have on us. Joey also had to undo his two foot high combat boots. We made it through without having to have a body cavity search and then our Gate was the very first one after the checkpoint. Now we allowed plenty of time in case of lines, traffic, and far away gates, but everything was falling in line perfectly to give us a two hour wait to board.
They called for families with children and disabilities, and rows one and two, to board first. We decided against boarding first so we didn’t have to sit there and watch the entire plane load while trying to squeeze together to stay out of everyone’s way. When we finally get on the AirBus we learned the ticket agent wasn’t joking, there was no First Class, just First Row, and every seat had their own TV screens which you could pay $6 to use. We didn’t. What this flight did have was an all male flight crew, that flirted with my husband the whole way! The bald one asked Joey if I was his wife, and congratulated him on a job well done and then asked if I had a sister.( We almost told him I had a brother. :0 ) They were fun, and really made the flight enjoyable.
We had what I thought was a long layover in Denver but it ended up barely being enough time to get to the clear opposite end of the terminal to catch our little puddle jumper to take us over the Rockies to Grand Junction.
This flight was only about forty five minutes and it seems we were practically hugging the mountains. It was pretty cool. We were trying to make out all the ski resorts and mountains, and I was holding on to the barf bag.
Joey’s welder buddy that was supposed to pick us up was in a four wheeler accident earlier in the day and broke his arm so we had to get a shuttle to take us the forty five miles to our campground. Then we were HOME!
Words cannot describe how good it felt to be home, and then sleeping in our own bed. I slept so good I was up at SEVEN in the morning. Last night I prepped the inside for travel so I could have today to visit with my friend Lisa, while Joey takes care of all the outside stuff, including un-attaching our broken awning, loading BBQ grills, toy box & shoe box, checking oils and fluids on the bus and truck, and now it seems, charging up the batteries.
If all goes well we’ll be leaving today, taking the southern route through Moab, UT. It adds a couple hundred miles but it’s less stressful than the Rockies in a thirty four year old bus. Can’t wait to get back on the road again. (Yes, I will be singing it).
