A Family On The Road

The Town Too Tough to Die.

Cowboy Ava

Today was one of the most fun days ever… as you can tell by the picture above. I’ll get to that soon enough. It was our second morning waking up at The Shady Dell and it was as beautiful as the first. The morning light was filtering into the living room perfectly, as if we were on a movie set. Ava and Yoda were hanging out on the couch, waiting for the campground cat to make its morning rounds. All was well with the two of them until I mentioned to Ava that we were going to Tombstone… The Town too Tough to Die.
Morning Light

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By marlene, ago

And onto Bisbee.

Dan is in the dog house. He used my camera last night to take a sunset picture and forgot to change the ISO sensitivity back. So all my pictures today are grainy and just plain yucky. How embarrassing. But if you look on the bright side, it was a travel day for us and not a sight-seeing day. So I might forgive him by the end of the day… maybe.

After three nights at Catalina State park, it was time for us to head to our next destination… Bisbee, Arizona. It took a bit longer that expected to pack up and get the Airstream ready for the road again. I’m sure after a few more times, we will become old pros.

Our gray water tank, that holds our sink water, was full since yesterday. Because the dump station was located down the road, we decided not let any more water down the drain instead of attaching the trailer to the van and dragging it back and forth. It was going to be way too much work, especially since we would be dumping all of the gray water out in the morning before we headed out to Bisbee.

Dumping gray water

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By marlene, ago

Birds, Ghosts, Saints and Sunsets. How’s that for variety?

Little Cowboy Boots

It never fails. Whenever we start a road trip, we can never get the inside temperature just right while we are sleeping. It takes us about three days to finally settle on a temperature that is neither too hot nor too cold, but just right. We sound like the Three Little Bears every morning. Once we all agreed that 65 degrees was just right, Yoda began being a bit happier. A bit like her old self. She even started bird watching outside of our bedroom window. She can now officially add the Gila Woodpecker to her Bird Life List. Whaaat? I’m not the bird dork. Yoda is!
Birdwatching Yoda

Our first stop of the day was the historic Hotel Congress in downtown Tucson. The hotel is famous for its authentic 1920s beauty and for the fire which led to the capture of one of the country’s most notorious criminals — John Dillinger.
Hotel Congress

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By marlene, ago

A day in Tucson.

Hallway

Our mornings start around 7am when Ava the Alarm Clock calls out for me as she awakens from her 11 hour slumber. Mama? Mama? Milk! We spend the first hour of our day together in bed, trying to keep as quiet as possible as to let Carrie and Dan catch a few more winks. Not an easy task… especially since toddlers have vocal chords. Surprise, surprise. After head butting her Dada and screaming for Carrie from our bed, the rest of the crew awakens and we are ready to start our days together.

Before we can hit the ground running, we need showers. Badly. The facilities at Catalina State Park are surprisingly clean and roomy. And the showers were pretty warm but the water shot out of the shower head like blast of needles. Having needles blast onto you while holding a squirming toddler who is screaming ‘No Mama No‘ at the top of her lungs is not a great way to start off your morning. Trust me. I would like to officially apologize to the lady that was “lucky” enough to be in the shower stall next to us. I’m sorry. Stupid, stupid, needles.

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By marlene, ago

Road trip. Round Two. Ding ding ding.

Arizona Shadows

Writing a post from the road is a lot harder than it looks.

State parks have yet to hear of a little invention called wi-fi. Dan just put on The Life Aquatic and is blasting the sound through the speaker above my right ear and it hurts a bit. The Two Buck Chuck is flowing. Our friend Carrie just got Dan to admit that he had an actual moment when he knew I was ‘the one’. What the hell. Why hasn’t he shared this info with me before? What the hell. Oh ,and Ava is finally asleep in a toddler tent on top of our bed after singing the ABCs for a good ten minutes… and I don’t think she’ll roll off of the bed… but it’s the back of my head and it’s slowing me down too.

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By marlene, ago

Never Get Locked Out Again.

When it comes to security, the Airstream is as good as any trailer I have seen. There is a dead bolt built into the door and there is no picking the lock once you’ve lock the door. To lock the door, you just slide the door handle to the lock position and shut it behind you on your way out. That’s assuming you don’t forget the keys inside. As we start spending more time on the road, I am concerned that one day it is gonna happen. I am gonna step out of the trailer and out of habit, slide that lock across the door and shut it behind me with the keys inside. Imagine being locked out of your house with your 2 year old inside who doesn’t know how to let herself out. Except your house might be in the middle of the desert, deep in a national park or along the long stretches of empty beaches on the Oregon coast.

Climbing into new airstream

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By Dan, ago