2010 Cross Country
Episode 6: Cactus Country RV Resort in Tucson, AZ
Enjoy a little walk through of the Cactus Country RV Resort shortly after rain. Marlene even busted out her binoculars for a little southen Arizona bird watching.
2010 Cross Country
Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch, Part Deux.
On our way to Tucson, we stopped at Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch. We stopped here last year for the first time when we visited here and we remember Ava having a good time so we wanted to stop again. We try to instill our love of animals onto our girls and places like these are great places for them to interact and learn about these beautiful creatures first hand.
Here are some photos we took during our visit. The cost is $5 for adults and kids under 7 are free. The $5 entry fee gets you a bucket of feed and a little cup of nectar for the birds.
Guess who is in charge of babysitting today.
2010 Cross Country
Day 2: Phoenix to Tucson, in the midst of the Gem Show.
We woke up Friday morning in the parking lot of the Walmart in Tempe, AZ. We searched last night for a safe place in Phoenix before a drive to Tucson the next day. Since we had wanted to stop by Picacho, AZ on the way to Tucson, we decided we did not want to make the drive at night.
This is how Ava ended up in the morning in her new ‘Big Girl Bed’. She no longer sleeps in the tent bed on the floor. We had to jury rig the gaucho seat so this guard rail can be fitted. We are glad we did. Now on to our exciting day…
2010 Cross Country
And we’re off… Road Trip 2010!!!
It was inevitable. We had been talking to everyone about it for too long and we have gotten to the point where we could not back out of this one even if we wanted to. But all joking aside, we have been waiting for this day to come for a long, long time.
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A Rainy Saratoga.
Just a week before we set out on a cross country trip, we headed up the opposite direction towards northern California for a shakedown trip and to visit my mom and brother one last time.
This is how our girls look in the back of the van all packed in.
As usual, we chose to drive after their bed time so they can sleep in the van during the long haul. It is a good 300 miles from our house so we had close to 6 hours of road ahead of us.
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El Niño, 2010.
Rain and Mali Mish seem to go together. On our very first trip in her to Lake Isabella, it rained on us for the first 2 nights we ever spent in her. Now as we are about to embark on our first cross country trip, we are having the heaviest rain we have seen in years.
Our maiden voyage in Mali Mish with looming clouds and rain (November 1, 2008)
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Seven foot wide, seven foot long.
As the title of this post suggests, we now have each been issued a 49 square foot space in the Airstream that we can call our own. Actually it will be less than that because the toilet, shower, fridge, oven and all of those niceties are talking up much of those precious space inside the aluminum walls of our soon-to-be-called home.
Ava staking a claim in her corner of the Airstream
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Episode 5: Tombstone – The Town Too Tough to Die.
This video has been in the oven for over a year. Marlene made me promise to get it out there before we head out so here it is. We had a ridiculously fun time shooting this video during our last Arizona trip. You might have wondered what the fake mustaches Read more…
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One week to go before push off…
Happy third birthday to my little Ava! Hope you had a good one!
Today is Ava’s 3rd birthday. It is also the start of our last full week at home before we head out on my long awaited journey.
Ava and Grace at Golf and Stuff on her 3rd birthday
Even though we are not officially headed eastward until February, we have a trip planned in Northern California. We wanted to spend some time with my family who lives in the Bay Area before we take off on this adventure, so we decided to pack up and head up to San Jose for a week or so before swooping back through Southern California one last time. This trip will be a good way for us to figure out if we packed everything we will need for the trip. Whatever we forget to bring, we will have one last chance to come back to get it. Like-wise with items we feel that we will not need to lug around with us, we can drop it back off at home during the drive through.
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Mali Mish has a case of the worms.
If you look closely at some of the aluminum panels on our Airstream, you can see these little white lines in various places just above the surface of the aluminum. These little wiggly worms are actually corrosion that has taken place on the metal. They are called filiform corrosion.
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Strip Mall Gems in La Quinta, CA
One of the great things about traveling by road is all of the great hidden gems you come across. We try really hard to avoid chain restaurants if we possibly can so we can find great eateries like Jakes’s Pizza in La Quinta, CA.
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Early Fall at La Quinta, CA.
During our last trip to Palm Springs, we were surprised at how the local public swimming holes were all out of commission for the season. Being that it was still in the low to mid 90s, we were on a mission to take a dip somewhere.
Lucky for us, our friend Nicole, who was camping with us for the first couple of days on this trip, had a nice little plan for us. Her parents Ray and Verna, recent retirees, decided to get themselves a room at the near by La Quinta Resort & Club for a night.
