We’re Leeeaving…On A Jet Plane……

Don’t know when we’ll be back again.

(Seriously, I don’t know when we’ll be back).

After the accident we decided it’d be better, more comfortable, easier, and plain more fun to come down to Texas and stay with my parents while he recuperates. We made the decision to leave the bus parked in our RV spot not just because I couldn’t drive it but primarily because we didn’t want to lose our spot. They were extremely hard to come by, and we knew we were coming back in a couple months, so it was a good, practical decision. Up until three days ago that was still the plan.

Three days ago I got a call from the RV park saying someone stole our electrical adaptor that connects our bus to electricity, meaning our fridge/freezer is no longer working, and then just for icing on the cake….they’re shutting down the campground and we have fourteen days to get the bus moved. Only when I did the math ,we actually have only eight days! We threw around a handful of options, but by the next morning we had decided on one. Joey and I are now waiting to board a flight to Grand Junction and rescue the bus and truck (Joey’s old Ford) and bring everything down here. Turns out since we’ve been gone the drilling rigs have stacked up and left, the pipeline has stopped and basically it’s becoming a ghost town. It’s crazy to think just a few months ago it was booming, and now it’s dead.

So our plans have changed once again, we’ll stay in Texas until he’s officially released but we will be living in the bus. Joey now can take his time finishing up the flatbed build on his truck, the Dodge, and we can do all those little things we’ve been wanting to do to the bus that we can never do because it’s kinda hard to do when living in a campground things.

They’re boarding…gotta go!

Some Guys Have Harley’s

Observations by Jewel

Our little white hen lays little white/blue/green eggs.

Jewel: “She’s laying a new egg everyday. They must REALLY love each other.”

Chickens 101

*New Update Below*

When we got the chickens the day after we got here in Texas, I was hoping we'd be here to witness the first egg laying, but doubted we'd actually be here THAT LONG.
Ta-da:


That poor hen, too, she can't get away from that ruthless rooster. He grabs the back of her neck all day long, briefing squatting on her back, causing Jewel to say matter of factly, he's taking a baby.

We never planned on letting them raise their chickens but now there's no choice. The kids will not let us eat them!

Jewel's even numbering them. We're not quite sure why, even she doesn't know, but it's good she did because from now on the ones that aren't numbered are getting stolen before she knows they're laid. She's going to grow up thinking chickens only lay seven eggs, but until we can think of another way to not get run over by chicken poop, we have no choice!

We're not too sure how these chicks will turn out, really. She spends hardly any time during the day laying on them. Instead she roams the yard being pushed around by the rooster or RUNNING AWAY FROM HIM. If she could speak, she'd say: Polygamy!

UPDATE: I spoke with Jewel about gathering any and all new eggs for our consumption, and explained to her that we'd be buying them from the store anyway so why not use our own. She agreed and has now added Official Egg Collector along with her duties as Official MailGirl

Unschooling myself

I just can't grasp aperture and f stops and shutter speeds and which controls the light and what controls the depth of field. It's all too confusing when in the back of my mind I'm thinking, did I thaw anything out for supper? I usually give up trying completely for a while, and then beat myself up because there's something really wrong with me if I can't make myself get something that I really want to get. The other day I admitted out loud that I just don't think I'm ready for the DSLR. It's too much camera for me.

Later that day the kids were jumping on the trampoline so I figured I'd use their play for a little practice. (The sun was going down so I had to play with light, plus the fast movement.)

Jacob is my inspiration. He doesn't know how to give anything but a nice shot.

He doesn't know it but he's my silent encourager.

These speak Pure Joy.




We're having fun jumping and snapping, until Jonas realizes I'm taking pictures of him, too. Normally he runs off and I stop. Not this time.

He stares right into me and gives me a mean face.

At least what he thinks looks mean.
As he's scowling he's just getting closer to me. Could I ask for better??

It's tough trying to look mean when you're so damn cute!

Give him another ten minutes though and try to take his picture again...

He's pissed now!

He then said: "Delete them"
I cried: "But I can't!"
Him: "Delete them"
Me: "I'm sorry"
Him: "Delete them"
Me: "IT'S LIKE ASKING ME TO CUT OFF MY FINGER...."
He then stormed off and didn't speak to me for twenty four hours.

I'll always have Jacob.


As much as I really wanted to respect his wishes, I just couldn't do it! I may have failed him that day but I truly believe in the long run he, and if not him, his future partner and/or kids, will thank me for it. I cannot let him grow up without any photos of his childhood, that would be regrettable.

Besides learning that I'm a selfish photographer, I learned that adjusting the aperture allows me to control the light. Yay me. Then the next day I tell my dad what I learned and he said "F-stop also controls the amount of light (AND THEY WON'T BE ALL BLURRY)".

I'm back at square one.

We do still live in a bus, after all

When we went up to Colorado and the bus, to get Joey's truck, I was secretly a little nervous about being in the bus again. I was afraid after spending all this time spread out in a stick house that I wouldn't be happy to see the inside of our little bus.

Luckily, I felt right at home and could imagine myself living here again, someday..when it's not winter.

Now....it's been another couple months since we were there, and Joey and I have since talked and learned that he shared the same fears, and had the same happy realization, that the bus is our comfy home. But what about the kids? How do they feel about it? Are they going to break out in little sad faces when we tell them that we're going back to the bus soon? Much to our surprise....They're actually looking forward to going back to the bus!

Jonas misses having the toilet two feet from his bed, and he's already looking forward to re familiarizing himself with all his sleeping animals (his words).

Both boys say what they miss the most are their beds. I made that bold because they were very loud in letting me know they miss their beds.

Jewel is just happy to be with us, wherever we are. AS LONG AS SHE'S WITH US, she says. I love that.

So....we should be leaving Texas soon, and getting back to our normal life of not knowing where we'll be tomorrow, and I, for one, can hardly wait.

what did we leave the house for again?

My last post made it sound like we actually never leave the house, but the truth is we haven't become complete hermits. Occasionally Joey finds something on Craigslist that he has to have for his truck, mostly toolboxes, so we venture out to pick those items up, so when on one such trip we heard over the radio that Kat Von D was going to be in downtown Dallas for a book signing, no one had to twist our arms! We arrived at the book signing only twenty minutes after it started and they were already almost out of books and wristbands that were required to see her. There were about a thousand people there! Luckily there wasn't a line we had to stand in the whole three hours, that's what the wristbands were for. There were six colors, with only one getting in line at a time, and we were the last color group. We read some books, bought the kids a Reptile & Snake field guide and a Star Wars comic book, then once we realized we still had a long wait we went across the street for some mexican food. Not long after we came back they called our color and we were finally in line to see Kat Von D!

We ended up getting in line right behind the most interesting sisters, which turned out to be the highlight of the night. Heather recently became an unschooler herself in order to pursue her dreams, she realized school wasn't helping her to get there. I immediatley congratulated her on that decision and I thought her mouth was gonna drop. She's not used to other people, especially adults, encouraging her to not go to school. The older sister, Johnny Appleseed, is in the process of opening up a vegan/raw foods cafe in Dallas, called Bliss Cafe.

The four of us talked non stop about unschooling, living on the road, following your dreams, surrounding yourself with positive people and discarding the naysayers, that before we knew it we were already at Kat's table.

Since we only bought one book, only one of us could go to the table, so we decided I would stand back and take pictures. Oh, she also wasn't posing for pictures. She was very nice though! Joey told her the book was for our daughter who loves sharpie tattooing anyone that will let her. She asked where she was and then signed her book with lots of XOXO's.


This was my leg for about a month. If I could take the pain I'd probably have them all permanently tattooed on. For christmas she got a kids tattoo gun, but in the end, the sharpies are the way to go.

This night was a perfect example proving that it's not about the destination, it's all about the journey. Veer off the path and you might just find something better. Hope you're enjoying your ride as much as we are ours!

Green Acres

First thing anyone tells you when they hear you're going to Fort Worth is, You gotta go to the Stockyards. My family has lived here three years now, and this is our third, maybe fourth visit, with each visit lasting from one week up to four months. We have yet to see the Stockyards. Some travelers we are. We can't help it though, my folks have this great pad that we really find no reason to leave it.


When my parent's were looking for a place here in Texas they knew they wanted to get something big enough for us to park our bus at, so they spent months trying to find the right place. Most places here barely have room to park on the street, so finding this place was like finding a needle in a haystack. They're even on a hill that overlooks Fort Worth, when anyone will tell you there are NO hills in DFW. Their ultimate plan though when they retired was to get a place near my brother and then travel, travel, travel. They also have not left their Green Acres, as they've lovingly named it. Instead my Dad has finally gotten his own John Deere tractor that he's always dreamed of, and have immersed themselves completely into transforming their place into a little something for everyone. They want us to feel completely at home here, and they've done almost too good a job of it.


Besides the Organic Tribe visiting, we've also had Cliff and Heather from Iowa come over. It was good to see friends from Iowa again, and Joey really enjoyed talking to Cliff about his tour in Iraq.


The weather here is so sporadic, you never know what you're going to get from one day to the next. We've definitely learned to take advantage of the good days though!
Whether it be a redneck hayride for the kids

Listening to my nephew jam on the guitar, jump on the trampoline or pogo stick, swim in the jacuzzi, or just watch the kids ride their various wheels




or just surf the net or watch TV, there's never a boring day.
It's always fun to watch the chickens watching us, too.

The rooster doesn't always join the hen, but she can be found here almost the ENTIRE day.

He's usually wherever we are in the yard. It's funny to go through my pictures and find him in so many of them. Jewel and her cousin in the jacuzzi, there's Brownie. Joey working on his truck, there's Brownie again.

One day we had uninvited visitor's, though.

A herd of mini horses! They were rampaging the neighborhood and stayed to graze in the neighbor's backyard for a while.


Even the bad, as in bad I mean fricken COLD, days, aren't so bad here. We stay inside sipping cocoa by the fire, waiting for the sun to pop back out.

Special occasions we get dressed and go a couple miles to my brother's house where he's got the ultimate indoor entertainment pad. We had a Korean food night one night where my sister in law out did herself. It was my idea, but somehow she did all the work. We also had Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve there, as well as the Superbowl Party. I've also learned one thing by all these gatherings: I think I know why I like living in an RV so much....I'm never expected to entertain. I'm just there for the party!

Another bonus about Green Acres, the sunsets:


And since I never see a sunrise, my Mom grabbed my camera to show me what one looks like here.


So...besides physical therapy three days a week still, my constant texting with Angela and whining about my excessive weight gain, this is what we've been up to. I love my life.

Not Worthy

I feel like Wayne and Garth, and like I should be bowing down to all of you chanting, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy. Everyone is so nice, complimenting and even offering up a hand to help, and as much as you all bring tears to my eyes and make me want to reach through the screen and hug you over and over, I just don't quite know how to properly thank you. In person, I wear my heart on my sleeve and my face is a dead give away for how grateful I am, but a writer...I am not. Or a vocalist for that matter. That's the main reason I've been hiding away from blogging. I don't feel right without at least giving a proper thank you first.

From the deepest recesses of my being, I want to give each and every one of you a big THANK YOU! Thank you for your warm thoughts, your uplifting comments, your cyber hugs, your well wishes, your fondness of my photos, your concern and.....your offers of help.

My Families on the Road family gathered money so our kids could have a good Christmas. With their help our kids had a GREAT Christmas! We spent every dollar on them, by the way.

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I want to let everyone know that Joey is doing good, and is actually WALKING again! Something a month ago he seriously doubted would ever happen again. He's anxiously awaiting removal of the five screws in his leg, which hopefully will be done in the next month or two. He's going to physical therapy for his arm three times a week, and has already doubled his strength and made considerable improvement on mobility.

We (Joey, Jewel and I) made a quick trip up to Colorado last month to retrieve his welding truck with the thought of him being able to custom build bike racks, motorcycle racks and/or trailers, but instead he's emptied his truck bed of welder and tools, with plans to take off the bed and build himself a flat bed. That way he won't have to be getting up in his truck anymore and worry about hurting himself jumping out of it. If someone wanted him to build something I'm sure he could, he just hasn't per sued it yet.

He's anxious to get back to work, yet he doesn't want to force it. He goes back to the doctor in nine days and hopefully we'll have a better idea of what the very near future has in store for us. We're enjoying Texas on it's warm days, and not looking forward to going back to the bus that is currently covered in a couple feet of snow. I predict he still has at least two more months of healing before they'll release him, so it'll be interesting to see what the doc says.

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Completely unrelated, but funny at the time:

Jewel: "Did you know you have a tattoo on your neck?"

Rocky Mountain National Park

The weekend before Joey's accident we were road trippin' through Rocky Mountain National Park. It was weeks later before I even downloaded the photos to my laptop. Then another week before we even looked at them. So I guess it's no surprise it's months before I get around to blogging about it. BUT...In order to fully experience our drive through Rocky Mountain National Park with us, you must first turn up the stereo. If you're reading this through a reader I tried to embed the music player but it wouldn't work, so if you want to get the full experience you'll have to take that extra click to get you there, to my actual site. I know..the horror. But I like to think it's worth it.

Starting point, our guest room at The Longbranch Restaurant in Granby, CO:


Lake Granby, outside the park








Clean up for lunch




While everyone else gets ready to eat, Jewel can't put down her new caterpillar friend.


Stopped at another creek:


This is where I make them stop what they're doing and smile for the camera






Hike to the bridge:

Notice the Swift Water sign?

I had an ambush waiting for me once I reached the bridge:
















Kick off your shoes...


We've got more exploring to do..




Jewel's getting brave.


Maybe not.


The boys are tough, though...they can handle it. they can handle anything.


Well......maybe not Jake...


Just don't go past that big rock.


Not a problem for some.


But of course he can't let his little brother out do him.


Jonas up to his neck in melted Rocky Mountain snow.

Wearing a shirt made the water somehow less cold, he says.

He felt so good about himself he allowed a photo.


We went to Moraine Park Museum next, where we edumacated ourselves on glaciers and mountains and Indians and buffalo and.....and....


We bypassed Estes park and planned on heading home. Then we saw Lily Lake.

Who could resist?


By the time everyone figured out it was longer than they thought, it was too late..they couldn't turn back. Jewel didn't mind at all.


Even Jonas caught the fun walking bug.



I could follow these people forever.



Every once in a while though I get a: Are you coming?

I could have stayed out here forever.


We topped off the day with a poolside room in, I believe, Eagle, CO. I do know for sure it was a Holiday Inn Express (quickly becoming my home away from home away from bus).

We got a nice discount on the room, then the free poolside upgrade, along with the boys' desire to swim and play until pool closing......we splurged and treated ourselves to room service, wonderful room service, including dessert.

As beautiful as the Park was, the kids declared the hotel the highlight of the weekend. I loved it all. Joey just dreams of being able to walk across mossy rocks in swift water again.

After rereading this post I realized there's not one mention of how it was crowded as hell and we couldn't get a parking spot at any of the major sites. The only way to see the the most popular parts of the park was to take the shuttle bus....and that wasn't happening. It also rained a lot. The massive people is what I remember as my biggest turn off for the park, but we quickly found cool, off the beaten path places and had a great time, probably even better than the key tourist places. I took a gazillion pictures this day, and thankfully!! because when we looked through the pictures on the computer we had COMPLETELY forgotten about swimming in the icy cold river and hiking around Lily Lake. All I remembered was we were there, and there were too many people. ( Joey's accident turned everything else into a big blur)The pictures bring it all back for me and each one has it's own story behind it. Not a story with words, just a lot of good feelings. Feelings that we can't wait to get back to someday...soon.

Estes Park on Dwellable