Back in the Lower 48

Posting from Alaska turned out to be a bit of a challenge. I had thoughts of long drive days and up to the minute posts of all the wonderful sights along the way. The idea of what the trip would look like and the reality ended up having no real relationship to each other. The trip was beautiful but there were not many days that internet or sitting in front of a computer screen were possible. We were busy moving almost every day often with no service at all. The view was incredible but most often seen from the passenger seat with the occasional stop at a pullout for a quick shot of “I was here”.

I hope to rewind and post back all the wonderful things we did and saw while we were there, but for now I will just say that it was all worth it. The long driving days, the less than perfect roads, the super high prices and the days and days with no “real” electricity or showers. We enjoyed driving through Canada and being in Alaska and especially traveling with friends. We also had the joy of seeing our oldest son and his girlfriend for nine glorious days of the trip. It was all amazing and a time I will never forget. For today it feels great to be parked in a site for more than 24 hours and to have city water, electricity and all the comforts of home.

Jasper National Park

Just north of Banff National Park is Jasper and our next stop on the road to Alaska. The campground we stayed in did not have hook ups so we were on limited electricity with scheduled generator time from 8:00 to 9:30 am and 5:00 to 7:00 pm plus our limited water, so time to be very skimpy with cleaning. The site was beautiful surrounded by birch trees with a little path to our traveling companion’s site too.

The town of Jasper is just a short drive from the campground with a bit slower pace and less crowds which made it very enjoyable for relaxing at the library with free internet and easy parking places for shopping and restaurants. We enjoyed several more hikes here. I think the hiking could be a full time job here and you would still miss some of these beautiful trails.

Beautiful, Bustling Banff

Our first real stop on this journey to Alaska we stayed at Tunnel Mountain II in Canada’s first National park, Banff. The campground was gorgeous with views and full hookups. Loads of activities around the campground too. Our sight was lovely and we enjoyed a 5K hike that circles the campground.

In the town there was so much activity that it was difficult to find a parking place. The streets and buildings resembled a Swiss ski village with adorable little shops. We enjoyed the local brewery and a wonderful ice cream shop called Cows with possibly the beat ice cream in the world. Or so the sign said.

The visitor center was extremely helpful and the girl who sold me my can of bear spray was entertainment in her own right.

We hiked Lake Louise, which was unexplainably beautiful even in the rain and mud. And on our way back to the campground we took the old 1A Parkway and spotted bear just past the huge traffic jam. The cars piled up being a sure sign there is a bear within view.

Banff was a beautiful stay. We enjoyed finally being in one place for more than just a day and I think we all fell in love with hiking especially on the trails next to waterfalls like Johnston Canyon.

Watson Lake’s Signpost Forest

Along the Alaska Highway are many beautiful stops. One town called Watson Lake (the lake there is actually Wye Lake) has a very funky tradition of allowing travelers to post a sign there. It is larger than I imagined and with enough time you could probably find a sign from just about every place. The Mosquitos were out in forces so we didn’t linger as long, but well worth the stop over even for a quick sighting.

Where to stay, Chicago

We spent the Fourth of July holiday in Chicago. A super fun and very busy place to be for the summer in general and the Fourth of July is no exception. Next time you are heading to Chicago and looking for a great place to park your house, and you don’t mind boon-docking, look up McCormick Place Truck Marshaling Yard. We had a blast staying there. It is really close to everything. We felt very safe inside the gated and guarded parking lot and even enjoyed a fun Zombie Run around the place for exercise. My mother, sister and the four of us all stayed here and even set up chairs in the parking lot to watch the trains go by. This place is right across from the lake and easy access to all things Chicago. On the day my sister left we watched her train whiz by and waved at her for a funny family memory. While we were in Chicago, some very good friends we met in Bahrain happened to be in the area during the same weekend and stopped in for a visit and to see our new home. It was just an all around thumbs up kinda stay. My Mom and sister even gave me the much sought after approval to my lifestyle by saying they can see now why we love this way of life. Our stay here included shows, museums and a local neighborhood Rib Fest. The McCormick Place Truck Marshaling Yard is a parking lot, so no frills, but for location and price it more than makes up the difference.

 

Our home has been redone, finally.

I am super happy with the results of our remodeled home. My sister helped out with the choices and after much sewing and painting we have a very nice and comfy home on wheels. The pictures really don’t do it justice, but here are some closeups of my favorite things we did. If you want to see the comparisons head over to the Our Tiny Home tab where you can see the before and after shots. The bedroom has a tiny projector that flips up out of the way under the cornice and then flips down and gives us a huge screen to watch while we lay in bed. I found a great ottoman that the lid flips to be a seat or foot rest, then a coffee table too. I have a place to clip recent photos in my bedroom that reminds me life is good. And finally I have canvases all over the RV that are attached with velcro so that I can have works in progress the whole time we are on the road. I couldn’t be happier with the results. Now it’s time to head to Alaska.

New Bedroom (After)

Finally painted the bedroom. It took a whole day and we are in a campground, so recovering cornices took place on a picnic table outside. But it is finished. And we slept in our new room last night. 😉

Green People

Out shopping in our abayas in Saudi Arabia.

For the last six years I have thought of myself as a green person. Shortly after leaving the states for our first move overseas a friend of mine told me a story about life as an “expat” and how the experience changes people. The way she explained this change was unique and visual. It went like this, when a person leaves their home country that place is a yellow country. The new resident country is a blue country. Over a period of time the culture and traditions of the new country become a part of this person changing their once yellow color to a mixture of yellow and blue. This expatriate is now a green person. There are many green people in the world and my friend assured me that they are an interesting and supportive group. Green has been my favorite color since that day. I spent six years in my blue country. I loved it. It is an experience I highly recommend. Then came the day when this green person moved back home. I thought for sure that it would take me a while to acclimate to the yellow color of my home. Surely I was forever changed. It’s amazing how quickly being yellow came back to me. I am surprised how fast I have adjusted to life back here. The only part that hangs on for me is the constant comparisons. I try not to talk about them all the time. There are many times I can’t help it and I have to share how this country is different from the one I spent the last six years of my life in. Mostly I just miss the green people. The ones who were a part of my daily life and the ones that I knew only briefly but that touched my heart and life in special ways changing me forever and directing my path to who I am today. The girl who told me the Green People story was my neighbor in Houston before I ever knew I would move to Saudi Arabia. She lived just a few houses down from me. After I moved away we grew closer. Greenness does that to people. The reason I bring all this up here on my blog about a very different journey of becoming a full-time RV family is because I am noticing so many similarities between expats and full-time RV families. The first one is how quickly friendships form. It’s like we know we have limited time here and there is this clearing away of the small stuff because there just isn’t time for it. This happens in a foreign country as well, expats are moved away from family, friends and all things familiar in addition to the fact that they are strangers in a strange land. When one expat meets another expat, they may be from completely different countries, but there are so many experiences that are the same. This makes for quick and easy relationship. It is a need for community amongst the outsiders. Foreigners equals comrades. The people I met overseas proved to be the most satisfying deep relationships I have ever known. I miss that the most. Strangely when we started on this journey I knew there were other people out there that had chosen this path. A less traveled path. What I didn’t count on was just how much this commonality brings people closer together faster and stronger too. I have met some people on this journey so far and I can honestly say I count them as close friends. We don’t have history, but we do have something special, we are kindred spirits. I think that fulltime RV families have a color all their own. A beautiful rainbow of colors, all different, yet linked together.

Feeling Free

Today I feel three weeks old. We have been on the road as a full-time RV family for three weeks now and life feels so different. It isn’t the big stuff, like living in 200 square feet, or moving around all the time, or even the “no day looks the same” syndrome. It is all the teeny tiniest details that make me feel like my life is so very, very different than it was just three short weeks ago. When we moved to the middle east we made huge changes, we left the USA, we lived in a culture very different from the only one we’d known. Our neighbors did not have English as their first language. We made huge changes, everything felt different in big ways. But me, us, our family, our routines, how we acted toward each other, when we went to sleep, how we ate and what we said, that all stayed the same. We had routines of work, and school and life and social time. So we felt like us still. It was good. An experience I wouldn’t change for anything. We learned so much. Now we are back in the USA, we are living in familiar surroundings, we know the language, the shopping, the street signs. Life is easy. But in all the small ways life has shifted. We live simply, we have no schedule and no plan. We can do anything today, or tomorrow, or next month. We are flying free and floating with the weather and our whims. Life is so very, very different now. I feel like a new person. The boys are different. Scott is different. We act and talk and respond differently. It feels like we are all tuned in at a higher frequency. Like walking out of the theatre after a matinee movie and realizing that it is still daylight when I expected night. Everything is so bright and the whole world seems to open up. The possibilities seem endless. I’m not sure how long this feeling lasts but I hope I always remember it. Life is beautiful especially in the smallest tiniest details of feeling truly free.

Thoughts on Thousand Trails

We joined Thousand Trails at the Fulltime Family Rally. Thousand Trails is a membership that allows you access to a network of campgrounds at incredible discounts. The way it all works is beautifully explained here. Our decision to join was swayed by the fact that we had no place to go after the rally in Tampa and Florida is very full and very pricey this time of year. Lots of smart folks escape to the beautiful climate in Florida to wait out the winter, so we are one of many and places are full and rates are at a season high. Many of the families we met at the rally were moving to Thousand Trails Orlando after the rally to continue their stay in Florida. After looking at all the options we decided this would be a good move for us as well even if we only used it for this season. We bought a Zone Pass, explained here. Thousand Trails Orlando was our next stop and we landed there for the maximum time of two weeks before we needed to move on.

The crowd at Thousand Trails Orlando is varied but there is a definite kid friendly atmosphere and loads of the little buggers running around. We met new families and really enjoyed our stay here. The campground is very large and has options to stay near the activity center, which is always bustling with activity, and then some more distance sites that are a bit more secluded. The location is very close to Disney and the fireworks can be seen at night over a nearby pond. Fulltime Families are known to travel all over throughout the warmer months and end up back here in winter for homeschool co-ops and loads of activities for kiddos of all ages. Plenty of outside activities include Lake Louisa State Park, cycling, farmers markets and “u pick em” citrus groves. Clermont, Florida is a short drive away with loads of shopping and choices of eateries. The park is large enough to support several onsite laundry facilities a workout room and a nature trail. They also offer seasonal sites and annual sites for longer stays that are very reasonable. All in all a wonderful destination for us and I hope to return someday. If you have any questions about Thousand Trails or our experience with them, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments section. Look for a future post on the citrus grove we visited nearby. 😉