Well after 63 days straight on the road we decided to compile a short list of what we have like, love and what we can do without! To make it a little more personal, we decided to capture our lists by each member of our family. Also for those wanting to embark on this kind of adventure we also made a list of RV'ing must haves based on our own experiences thus far. Here goes! What We Like, Love & Can Do Without
RV'ing Must Haves!
Today we decided to take the kids on a lengthier hike than normal since the last few days all the kids have been battling some sort of stomach virus (urghh). As much as we thought we were distancing ourselves from these viruses we managed to pick one up from at our last stop in the Tucson KOA as there were tons of kids and families that we met and hung out with. The kids battled through and are better now, but we were getting tired of hanging inside the RV and needed to finally stretch our legs and explore the outdoors! Lucky enough, we were blessed with an absolutely amazing campground as we are staying at the Catalina State Park just north of Tucson, Arizona. The park is situated at the base of the Catalina Mountains and there are tons of amazing trails and sights to see. Highly recommended for anyone visiting or passing through the Tucson area. Campsites have the usual amenities, good privacy and an amazing view of the mountains. There are wolves howling nightly and during the day there are tons of ground hogs/prairie dogs that are at each and every campsite just hanging out (kids love them)! We took the 2 mile Canyon Loop trail which took us up closer to the mountains, meandering through tons of desert vegetation and hundreds of beautiful saguaro cacti which only exist here in Arizona. Who knew? You know the massive looking cactus that has arms. They are amazing to see up close. Thankfully, the hike also took us to a beautiful river (tiny stream actually) where the kids could splash and cool off from the 32C heat. We also managed to bump into tons of lizards, an iguana and we heard the rattle of a diamondback rattlesnake. Needless to say we didn't stick around to say hi to it. Surprisingly, apart from some complaining early on on the hike, all the kids made the entire journey in good spirits. Madden had to be carried a couple of times, but given he's only two we think he did amazing for such a long walk. We're doing our best to get these kids used to longer and longer hikes so we can continue to explore these amazing places we stumble upon during our travels! Here's a few pics we managed to capture along our hike today. Such a beautiful place!
Million Year-Old Caves, 700 year-old Cave Drawings and Tobogganing IN the Desert...A full Week!3/13/2017 First off, I should say that I am not fully recovered from the desert plague that I caught a little over a week ago. Thanks for the kind wishes from everyone, its nothing that a little emergency room hospital and intravenous can't resolve. Seriously though, Wendy is an angel for taking care of me and the kids all while living in the RV and maintaining her sanity! After getting out of the hospital we slowly made our way to New Mexico where we were blessed with just amazing sights everywhere! We started our visit in Carlsbad where we visited the famous Carlsbad Caverns. To be honest, I'm not much of a "caver" or "spelunker" (look it up if you don't know :)) and I wasn't sure what to think about this sight, but WOW this place was simply amazing!! It started with the drive which brought us to this beautiful serpentine road through the mountains all the way to the top where the caverns were. We opted to do the 'easy' cave tour given Madden is only 2. The easy tour take you down 75 stories into the cave where you get to walk through over 7 football field lengths of caves and various stalactites and stalagmites. Just a beautiful experience and the kids simply loved it! Highly recommend this place if you're planning on coming to New Mexico. After a few days in Carlsbad, we traveled further west to Oliver Lee State Park near a town called Alamogordo, New Mexico. The drive from Carlsbad to Alamogordo was incredible! We went from pure desert with roads of nothingness, to mountain views with snow everywhere back to an arid hot desert in just over 2 hours. It was surreal and beautiful! We finally arrived at Oliver Lee State Park which was one of the most picturesque state parks we've visited since we've been on this journey as it has a beautiful mountainous backdrop and the campsites are all at the base with beautiful views in every direction. We were lucky to meet two other amazing families that were on a similar journey as us and each with kids in tow as well! The kids made such strong bonds so quickly and the adults enjoyed sharing stories of all of our various journeys across this vast land. In the morning, we left with one of the families for an adventure like no other. We visited the White Sands of New Mexico...one of America's National Monuments (just like Carlsbad Caverns). The White Sands truly are a surreal experience to witness. Miles and miles of powdery white sand dunes as far as the eye can see! Not only that, but the dunes are virtually empty and they were all ours to discover on our own. We grabbed a few toboggan's and went sliding down the dunes. The kids got their tobogganing fix without the -20C and 3 feet of snow :). The only slight downside was that there were signs saying that the dunes are subject to closure due to US Army missile testing. Lucky for us, the military opted not to do any testing while we were there which suited us just fine! Finally, on our last stop in New Mexico we opted to stay at Silver City (thank you our RV buddies Craig and Kimberly for the recommendation) so we could take in yet another US National Monument called the Gila Cliff Dwellings in the mountains north of Silver City. Again, I really didn't know what to expect when visiting this place, but it was absolutely incredible! The drive to the mountains was about 1.5hr from Silver City and the road was a windy, hilly, mountainous trek up about 8000 feet to the park ranger office. Once we were there, we had to hike about a mile to the cliff dwellings. I was shocked that the kids made this hike with no problem despite having some serious inclines especially for Madden! Once we got to the cliff dwellings it was well worth it! Caves and homes built within them that have been preserved for over 700 years!! This place was amazing with just spectacular views of the cliffs and river below. The kids and us had an absolutely amazing time hiking, learning about our North American First Nation culture and just spending time as a family. Overall it was a really full week, but one that we will remember for a very long time!! After Silver City, we headed to Arizona which is where I'm writing to you from at the moment. Until next time...travel well, Alex Holy cow what a whirlwind week we have had! So We arrive at Balmorhea State Park in western Texas March 3 and are so looking forward to hanging out in the natural spring fed pool and swim with the fishes for our 3 days there. We arrive, set up camp do a quick and cool late night dip then off to bed. Boom does Alex not contract some sort of desert plague that literally leaves him bedridden and unable to eat or move for 4 days straight!! I thought maybe his leg wound from the shin buster accident was infected, but no it seemed fine. A stomach flu? But how and where in the middle of a desert would he get that and no one else got sick sharing a 200 sqft trailer? I got panicked by day 4, loaded up the kiddos and drove to Fort Stockton 1 hour away (doing 85mph in the truck oh ya Texas speed limits were handy here) to the nearest hospital. Well we thought OHIP was bad and I can say we waited just as long or longer for this visit :( 8 hours in ER he got the all clear with two bags of IV fluids to combat his severe dehydration (drink more water in the desert!), pain medication for the migraine he couldn't shake off (I'd rather push out another 10lb baby then suffer from a 4 day migraine) and antibiotics for an ear infection (probably from capsizing in the South Llanno River last week...see our canoe conundrum post). While he was locked in ER and I was not allowed in with kids I took them outside to eat vending machine junk (the only food for miles) and let them run around in the hospitals 'garden'. Does Madden (of course!) not pick up a giant spider by it's long ass black legs and start poking it. A gardener in his thick Texas accent comes around to say "Hey now boy that there is a black widow! Yo don't want to mess around with her she's venomous!" OMFG! Cue me screaming and smacking that sucka outta baby's clutch! Excitement right? geez!So happy to report after all that week long drama Alex is finally better (8/10 and 10 lbs lighter but I'll take it!!!!) It is hard seeing a loved one sick and to single parent it in the middle of a desert with no support, stores, people or wifi was a bit of a challenge and took its' toll on me (was not the happiest mama for a few days), but I am just so damn happy Alex is finally up and at it again! Praise Jesus!! So I'm so sorry Balmorhea State park we did not get to enjoy your natural spring fed swimming pool and swim with the turtles and fishes as planned, but thank you for the road runners (remember the cartoon? Meep Meep) running around and providing the best entertainment for the boys who would chase you all day long. Free outdoor entertainment rules! (would love a road runner pet for Madden) And to the amazing stars lighting up the sky at night as I slept on the pull out couch (not bad friends/fam tried it out for ya'll) thank you for giving me comfort and seeing the beauty when I was run down, tired and worried for Alex. The coyotes again at night would howl away and the kids slept soundly as the desert is hot as shit during the day, but very cool at night and who is with me on the best sleeps come with open windows and fresh cool air blowing on them? Riiight! Maybe next trip we will check out your pool, but for now I am glad to have moved on from Balmorhea State Park and on to New Mexico!! Caves, aliens, missile testing and sand dunes oh my! Stay tuned.......... Today we did it! We finally got all 5 of us in a canoe (seems like a camping MUST especially for Canucks) and took what the lady told us was a 2 hour float down the South Llano River. Well I can tell you it was a 3 hour canoe ride (not 2hr), but it was a gorgeous and monumental day for this FreeSpirited fam. We saw a ton of Texas wildlife again, water snakes (non venomous...but nasty right), fish, crazy hawks and eagles (not a bird person, but the wing span on these birdies tell me they are big enough to catch a cat), TONS of turtles and a heard of deer!! Will fill you in on that in one sec.. So kids were pretty excited and Alex and I took the oars of course while munchkins sat in the middle and helped pick out wildlife and stuck there hands in the cool, clean and clear river. Every once in a while Madden (of course!) would try to jump out and rock the canoe, but the river is mostly very shallow with a few deep spots. It was a glorious day and I personally was having a ton of fun. We banked at a rocky beach for a quick snack, water fight and of course we all took turns peeing in the river (you-all-do-it too!) All was bliss until we hit what seemed to be a harmless rapid and it pushed our canoe into a thorny ass shrubbery that took us out! We bailed into the river with all our shit flowing downstream and while Alex grabbed kiddos (Shyla was standing in the shallow water and the boys grasping the canoe freaked out and unsure), I gathered most of the missing stuff and held the now water filled canoe til Alex got all kids on shore. Big thank you to Shyla bear for being such a pro big sis and keeping them 'safe' on the banks. Poor Alex's shin that was just starting to heal and he had so delicately wrapped in gauze and plastic tape to make sure it would stay dry was ripped off and banged up against the canoe during our 'rescue'! Needless to say he may have dropped a lot more F bombs today again. After about 10 minutes of bailing and back breaking emptying the canoe water out we now had a nervous Lennon, soaked backpack including car keys, snacks, towels and diapers (gross) and one missing princess water cup now someone else's treasure to find when canoeing down river. Our reward though for the craziness that just happened...a heard of beautiful deer galloping and jumping along the bank of the river only a few feet away. Bambi and his mother and entire family so close, quiet and magical. It was AWESOME!!! the kids were soooooooo stoked and I was too just seeing how happy they were to see deer in the wild. After another long hour of paddling and sun burns and with no more water or snacks we were all grateful to hit the end of the not-two-hour-river tour and make it to our truck. Once we pulled back in to our 31 foot trailer home it was popsicle, hammock and chill out time for us all. I cannot tell you how great it feels to come back to a campsite and rest after a great outdoor adventure. Sadly, the kids were not as tired as Alex and I so it was short lived as dinner had to be made and bike rides to meet the new kids in the park was a must and then s'mores around the firepit. Now I can gladly say it was a great day, but I'm glad to be in my comfy bed under the stars with windows wide open and canoeing checked off our list! Hoping that's our last capsize for the trip. xo Wendy I could easily spend 6 months exploring Texas and all it's amazing state parks. So far it's people, weather, roads and state parks have been above and beyond what I expected. At every park we've been to the people are warm and welcoming, and I love how they say "yes ma'am, no ma'am, how can I help you ma'am" when answering and addressing me! So polite that now Alex and I are like, " kids, you say yes or no ma'am or sir when talking to adults from now on!" lol Texans seem happy, proud and confident.
We did a geocache adventure hike with a bunch of friendly Texans who invited us along and thought it was neat talking with "real Canadians" lol as they put it. The kids had a great time and so did I until I somehow managed to get a cactus thorn wedged through my shoe and into my pinky toe! OUCH! Like everything in life, Texas is not perfect as I've been told that come April-September it's "hotter then hell on fire" down here and the plant life is hostile though cool looking but thorny and full of sharp thistles. There is also the venomous snakes, gators (glad we are out of the alligator territory finally) and a bunch of other crazy wildlife lurking around all the campsites we've been at. Despite it's "roughness" we just love it's vast amount of parks, trails, rivers, and sunny weather. Another crazy thing is the DRIVING!! Wowza, I mean I at times have a lead foot in my honda minivan and the kids tell me to slow down, but the speed limit on the interstates here is starting at 75mph and goes up to 80mph (112-130 kph)! Which just like home means the average car goes a few mph faster then that! Now try pulling a travel trailer and having all cars fly by and trying to merge in to that speed limit is like playing frogger at times. While hauling, our max speed is 70 mph, but we like to hover around the 64 mark to save our tummy's with less sway. Did you know Texas was one of the last states to join the USA and they put in their constitution they could leave the USA whenever they like if they feel they don't like it anymore?! That's probably why they seem like they like things the way they do and ain't nobody gonna tell 'em no! Anywho, today we plan to canoe on the South Llano river and star gaze tonight as there is a law preventing light pollution so we can all see the heavens above us each night! It's pretty amazing just how many stars you can see without any city lights interfering. We can also hear coyotes howl nightly and the kids freak out despite our reassurance...except of course for Madden who barks and howls back calling the coyotes to find him! lol Yes sir we love this big beautfiul, rugged state and wish we had more time to explore all of it's cool state parks and what they offer. We are making our way west in a few days to the last Texas stop on our journey before entering New Mexico, but honestly, I thought about changing our plans to stay here a bit longer, however that would require a lot of plan changing and camp rebooking so not gonna happen. Alrighty, happy Sunday y'all from Texas! xoxo Wendy Yes, that's my shin which now has an inch and a half gash in it!! Hooking up and disconnecting this massive trailer is not for the faint hearted. While I was in the process of tightening the chains on my anti-sway bars on my trailer hitch, the steel bar that I use for leverage flew off and smashed into my shin like a hammer hitting an anvil. Not sure if you've ever had one of those moments where you're kinda left bewildered that this even happened for a few seconds? After the steel bar flew off and struck my leg what felt like a few seconds went by where I asked myself "did this steel bar really just smash into my shin?". You know its bad when you look down at the wound and you can see the inside of your leg and no blood has poured out yet? A few seconds go by and blood starts coming out like a slow moving faucet. I limped back inside the trailer and asked my lovely wife Wendy to bandage this up while I try not to pass out (yes I'm one of those guys who doesn't really enjoy seeing these types of injuries especially to myself). Thank God Wendy excels in these types of moments and she bandaged me up quite nicely with the first aid kit that I knew would come in super handy. After some antibiotic cream and some gauze I think I've managed to avoid a hospital trip for stitches and whatever else. I'm sure I will be blessed with a major scar to commemorate this trip which will look like a permanent tattoo on my body that'll never let me forget that exact moment. In addition to my bad luck, a few days earlier our brand new RV encountered a few problems as well which we needed to get fixed so we opted to drive back into San Antonio to get it looked at before we headed further west on the I10 where you are literally in the middle of nowhere in Texas. Unfortunately both of the slide outs on the RV were not opening properly and I also needed to fix a scissor jack that I smashed when I bottomed out coming out of a gas station a few days earlier. As a result we decided to bring in the RV and stay at the Marriott (yeah we get double the travel points!) to enjoy the pool, fresh clean sheets, towels, showers and all the amenities we take for granted while traveling in the RV. Also managed to get an oil change on the Dodge Ram (woo hoo) before we head on the next leg of this journey into the desert. Lennon and I also had to do some much needed grooming as both our hair was getting way outta control and we thought it would be easier finding a decent hair place in San Antonio vs rural Texas.
So we've been on the road now for 23 days and while its nice to post all the amazing places we've seen I don't want to sugar-coat this for anyone as there definitely are some challenging days as well and I've chosen to post about it today. We never thought (or expected) every day to be easy while lugging three kids all under 7 around on a massive road trip. We anticipated some tough days and I can finally say that today was a VERY challenging day with the kids on this journey. For some reason, from the moment we woke in San Antonio and were preparing to head to our next destination the kids fought with each other like never before. Everyone has had those days when the kids just don't listen or they whine and argue all day...but when they decide to do this while you're packing up your things, driving a huge trailer, not knowing exactly where you are going, trying to back it into a small space in our campsite...it really takes its toll on you (in this case me)!! To top things off I bottomed out our trailer pulling out of the gas station today and smashed one of stabilizer jacks arghhh!! Not the end of the world but still a pisser! Also, am I allowed to strike my kids? Because today was one of 'those' days where a little smack could go a long way (please sense the sarcasm in that statement and don't call social services on us). The way things worked out today, we needed to close up our RV and depart our campground in San Antonio, squeeze in a Walmart trip, fill up the truck with gas and refill propane for the RV AND drive an hour to our next destination Guadalupe River State Park in the Texas Hill Country. Each day we learn a little more about what our kids can and cannot tolerate and hopefully we learned our lesson for the future because today was a rough one :). Many people that have done this sort of trip before with a young family have told us that the best advice they can give is to go slow...and don't try to rush in all the sites and destinations. Boy did the kids remind us of that advice today! We've been barreling along since Florida never really staying anywhere longer than 3 nights trying to make our way to Arizona and California as soon as we can. Louisiana, Houston, San Antonio all were quick stays and unfortunately I think the kids finally had enough today and they let us have it! The Light At the End of The Tunnel For all the bad days, and all the moments where the kids have really worn you out, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Constant reminders of why we are doing this which tends to wash away the shittier moments when the kids were fighting or whatever. In this case, after a rough day today, the light at the end of my tunnel was reaching the state park and heading to the river to see what all the fuss was about. Wow what a beautiful sight it was! A gorgeous flowing river with a massive cliff as a backdrop and it was ours to enjoy with virtually nobody else here! The kids jumped in their inner-tube and we moseyed into the river to cool off after a long, hot and trying day. It was the best answer to a tough day and I absolutely loved relaxing with the kids in the water while everyone got along and just enjoyed the natural beauty of this park. We've decided to stay here 5 nights which still is a little short, but certainly longer than our previous stays so fingers crossed that the kids behave a bit better tomorrow...the river and natural beauty of this park should help! Until we chat again...please take a look at the pics and video below, Alex For most of us, life is so busy, full of obligations, schedules, chores, work etc the day just flies by and its hard to remember what we did or truly enjoy the moment so to speak because it's just moving from one moment to the next at light speed. Or is this just how I feel? I can honestly say that yes my wedding and the birth of all 3 of my beautiful babies was the last time I could say I had the best day of my life feelings. those giant milestones you know? But what if I told you today, just an ordinary day hanging out with the fam was one amazing hell-ya feeling of "best -day-ever"!! You know that feeling when you smile and laugh so hard at the end of the day your cheeks hurt? Well i'm super duper pooper excited to announce TODAY was that day for me!! I climbed 150 year old willow trees, had an amazing bike ride trough alligator ridden swamps (no alligators were seen as us chickens went midday when they are not usually out), I played chase with the kids, walked across logs, marvelled over giant ant hills and oohed and awed when my kids destroyed them (we were amazed at the amount of ants crawling like national geographic style for realz! Need to get vids on these ant hills in Louisiana). I taught my kids about predators, ant colonies and the history of sugar mills as well as the child labour force used in them (you can bet this will come up when they argue they can't pick up their toys or something)! I was amazed watching Madden learn to climb trees following his big bro, I beamed when Shyla told me on our alligator bike ride that I was the bravest person she knew (remember we went midday b/c we prob wouldn't see one? lol) and my heart just exploded with love, gratitude and joy witnessing Lennon get a Shyla's special manicure with rainbow nails! Seeing my family just being together in the moment and having simple fun was what made me finally see this was what I wanted, this is what we worked for, our dream, our happiness, our best day ever moment! A friend once told me, you are responsible for your own happiness.
I do not think I am much different, better off, or luckier then anyone else (perhaps a bit more FreeSpirited though ;)), but today I did feel all the aforementioned because today is a result from choosing to have my best day ever feeling. All the sacrifices, year or more of planning and this is what i got.... The best feeling ever of pure happiness and knowing I am making my own happiness. I'm doing what I want, how I want and with whom I want :). I didn't fully see it until today in simple play with my family. I wish everyone to follow your dreams and pursue your own happiness whatever your dream is. Mine is living in an RV while travelling, others may be to own their own successful company or become an undercover agent I dunno, just do what makes your smile grow and most importantly gives you that best day of my life feeling because at the end of the day, don't you want to feel this way all the time? Wishing you all the happiness you desire and thanks for reading! xo Wendy Wendy posting her first Vlog... |
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