Vegas Baby, Vegas!

 Actually, I'm not a huge fan of Las Vegas. But we needed a full hook-up and wifi. So, we stayed at Circus Circus RV Park. We checked out the strip, and caught one of the fountain shows at the Bellagio. The kids really enjoyed it. But even they wanted it in only small doses and preferred the quiet of our RV. Nate and I did an early morning run on the strip too. It's been fun to see place by running through it. And, that's our only alone time away from the kiddos.

Death Valley

The only way to stay on schedule for Nate’s work and the kids’ school was to be driving away from Lone Pine by 5:30am. It takes a lot to get all hitched up again, and it was so cold! But we shoved the kids into the car in PJs and made our way to Death Valley. No one slept...we all watch Nate creep over the pass so slowly so as not to overheat. And then the careful winding our way down to Death Valley...I couldn’t stop taking pictures of the horizon ahead.   

Finn schooled us on all the peaks in view. And at some point, we saw a man walking on the side of the road, bundled up, and on a mission to go somewhere. We were miles and miles from anything. We pulled over and gave him a bottle of water. I wonder where he was going. He just smiled and accepted it.

WiFi was tricky in Death Valley. We ended up staying in the parking lot of a visitors center for good wifi for $30 I think. We decided not to stay the night because of the lack of WiFi at our campsite, and Nate and the kids needed it. Meanwhile, Serin and Cal took the Junior Ranger oath and got their badges. Cal has been taking it very seriously, checking on nature and picking up garbage. 

Our favorite part of Death Valley was the Artist Drive through the different colored hills. The road was winding through such cool landscape. 

On to Las Vegas, NV! 

Day 2- Journey to Lone Pine

 We drove 9 1/2 hours on day 2, to get to Lone Pine. We pulled away from Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Susan’s place in Hilmar around 10:30am. I drove and Nate sat all the way in the back of the car leading his Sunday School of 3rd graders on Zoom. I have a feeling we’re going to have a lot of working moments like this on the move. 

 We had gotten up early and gone to Mass in Hilmar at 7am. One thing we said we would do on this almost 4 month adventure is go to church on Sunday no matter where we were. It’s part of our devotion to our faith and also a way to experience the culture of whatever region we are in at the moment. Even in Hilmar, there’s a feel. This is a farming and dairy town. Home of the “famous” Hilmar Cheese Factory! The people here are a little “country” and I love it.

This is also just one of my favorite homes to visit. Uncle Lloyd and Aunt Susan mean a lot to me. I used to spend a week at a time here visiting in the summers because my cousin Jaime and I were BFFs. And when I was 16 I spent the whole summer here working on the almond farm for my uncle. It was dirty and hot and awesome. Now I get a lot of joy from watching my kids run around the huge property, riding their horses, the 4 wheelers, looking the small airplane in the barn, and playing pool in the poolhouse. 

 After Uncle Lloyd instructed us to dump the brown water next to his orchard (we let 12 yr old Selah drive!) then it was time to go.  I don’t mind driving, and I want to be skilled at pulling this thing, and setting it up and all the things. I need to be a help to Nate. It’s a long time we’ll be doing this. And he always does so much. 

That’s a long straight drive south on 99. Sometimes the freeway would split into two lanes divided by concrete walls. It was nerve-racking. And I handled it like I usually handle stressful moments....I started making up a weird nervous song about it. Soon the kids chimed in and we were all singing this song about walls caving in. We sang it again tonight for fun in the trailer, 36 hours later. I think it might be a big hit someday.

 

Bakersfield was meh. No offense Bakersfield. (Actually, I’ve been lecturing my kids on not to judge a town by the view from the freeway, so shame on me.)

We started climbing east up the pass....so....slowly.....30 miles/hour.  The scenery was beautiful. Finn is probably our biggest scenery junkie. He’s our geography guru. He tells me what I’m looking at. He knows all the peaks. 

 The sunset over the red rocks was stunning. We rolled into Tuttle Creek Campground at 9pm and got set up. Then I started making dinner....how very European of us.....grilled salmon, French bread and asparagus and green beans at 10:30pm. 

Lone Pine CA: What a beautiful hidden gem. No hook up but a fast moving creek where we filled up our water tank, and where Nate just had to take a plunge. So cold! 

In the morning Nate and I got up for a 6:30am run and when we opened the door we were not expecting such a stunning view! Surrounded by snow-dusted mountains on one side and rock formations on the other, and a huge flat lake in the distance. Our 7 mile run together was beautiful as the sun bathed the mountains. We made a plan to later take the kids on a bike ride to the weird rock formations after school.

First day of school on the road went great! 

Everyone made a space for themselves and hunkered down. Lots of time for playing in the creek and climbing rocks in the afternoon. Then we took a drive into Lone Pine and also visited Manzinar, the Old Japanese Internment camp. History lesson for all of us. 

Day 2-4 Lone Pine CA: What a beautiful hidden gem. No hook up but a fast moving creek where we filled up our water tank, and where Nate just had to take a plunge. So cold! We got there late at night and we were stunned by the Mountain View in the morning! Magically got everyone in their Zoom calls for Monday school. Highlights: Selah cooked dinner. Nature run with Nate in the morning, with Mt. Whitney in the distance. Finn teaching Serin guitar. Letting Cal roam free climbing rocks and playing in the stream like the little Jungle Book boy he is. 

Embarking

Day 1     

We tried to leave at 10am today. We rolled away at 2pm. It's okay. We're ok. We're doing a big thing. We left our home emptier and arguably cleaner than we ever have before. We left it ready for other people to stay while we're gone. We simultaneously packed a travel-trailer (first carefully and methodically and then in a flurry of last-minute-ness) and set out for a 4 month tour of our country.  Today was a good test. A test of our patience, with each other and with ourselves. Advice from friends who just did this kind of thing recently was "Don't be in a hurry. Be okay with changed plans. The trip shouldn't be about deadlines and that next destination but about the experience together." This past week, and especially the past couple days has been stressful for sure. It felt like Finals Week.  But now we are here! Experiencing together! And we made it exactly 90 miles away from home. Baby steps.