Trying to Stay Warm in a RV

Last year this time we were on the coast of Georgia. Although it was cool there it wasn't cold like it is here in southeastern Tennessee (Chattanooga, TN) this January. I am imagining that it is pretty darn cold in southern Georgia right about now too. We've done a pretty good job of keeping ourselves warm it is just the water and the sewer issues that have been a challenge. I believe John has finally thawed out the sewer pipe enough for us to do dishes which is a good thing because I was running out of pots and pans to cook with. Of course we have the recommended heat tape on the water coming into the RV but we really think that we may want to invest in a heat tape for the sewer pipe too. Looks like we will be here atleast another week or so then we're not sure where we will be going next. Always an adventure...we are crossing our fingers for somewhere we haven't been to yet!

Hallelujah I Figured it Out!! by Tricia Baehr

Many, many moons ago I wrote about what a horrible blogger I had become. Now I have become a better blogger but on another blog! I could not for the life of me figure out what email/password combination I had used on this one although our twitter updates to this blog and gives a pretty accurate view of all of the mischief we get into on the road. My new blog is more of a personal one geared towards my thoughts about being on the road, about food, food for thought and spiritual food. It is called Gypsy Mama Manna follow along if you like. I will now start to update this one more frequently and allow the kids to do the post their travel pictures and observations about roadschooling as well. Currently we are visiting family and friends near the Atlanta area. Traveling tomorrow to our former home town to Native Nurturing Weekend at the Center for Peace that I blogged about last year. We'll be spending Thanksgiving in the prairies of Kansas and we have no idea what's up after that! I think I found my niche for writing again and I am grateful and appreciative for that. We have been so many wonderful places and done so many incredible things in the last 15 months (wow! we've been a family on the road for 15 months now!!) on the road. Life is a journey and we are enjoying the ride!!

Our First Christmas "on the road" by Tricia Baehr

This is our first Christmas as a “family on the road” and we put quite a bit of thought into what we would do. We didn’t want to celebrate in the RV so we had several ideas. One of them was to drive half way to Illinois and stop in downtown Louisville, KY or Indianapolis, IN. I researched different hotels, Bed & Breakfasts, Inns, etc. I actually even e-mailed a group of Inns in Indianapolis to see what kind of accommodations they would have for the 23rd of December through the 25th. They didn’t reply, so I took that as a sign.
Also, because of our busyness I contacted an on-line concierge service to plan something in one of those cities for us. Apparently, that was a sign too because they didn’t reply either. Amazing to me in the economic climate that exist right now that we were ready and willing to give our hard earned money to someone in business and they didn’t respond.
So that bring us to our first Christmas “on the road”. We are at a cabin in the mountains http://www.smokycabins.com/rayoavista.htm. It is Christmas eve morning as I write, there is a lovely wood fire burning in the fireplace. When we made the booking the property manager went on and on about how nice the cabin is decorated for Christmas. The large tree fully decorated. I told John that not having to put up a tree or take one down was worth at least a Ben Franklin right there. We oohed and ahhed at the pictures on the internet, there was even a picture of the tree!
We arrived the night of the 23rd of December, it was dark and we had a little trouble finding it at first. But soon we turned off the GPS and read the directions from the cabin rental company. We pulled up and found the key in the lock box, opened the door turned on the lights and much to our dismay there was no tree! The kids ran up the stairs to see if perhaps it was upstairs…no tree. There were some lovely decorations on the mantel, the table was set with pretty red dishes and gold chargers but no tree. We are really not the type to complain too much but with three little kids experiencing their first Christmas without a “stick” house it was kind of a deal breaker. I called the property manager and asked about the tree. She called me back and said she really didn’t have a good answer for me but the next day she would bring us a small tree. She also said we could move to another cabin that she knew for sure was fully decorated. We had already unloaded our groceries, gifts and stuff into the cabin. So I told her we would discuss it as a family and decide what we would do and I would call her back. Everyone was unanimous in deciding to stay, so when I called her back I inquired about the beautiful tree in the pictures. Was it here somewhere locked away, could we put it up ourselves? She let me in on where it was and how to get to it. What at first seemed like a disappointment turned into a beautiful, fun and memorable experience. It’s a beauty, a 7 footer with gold decorations, white lights, signs that say, “Peace” and white doves. We all enjoyed trimming the tree last night together. And even better, we won’t have to take it down!
It reminds me of so many things in life. It is how you look at them. We could have been angry, demanded our money back, schlepped all of our stuff over to the other “decorated” cabin probably all being short with one another over the extra work. But instead, we chose to make it work. We made the choice and then the goodness and energy flowed bringing us a beautiful memory that we enjoyed making “in the moment” and will have forever more. I pray that that kind of acceptance and ingenuity will continue with our life “on the road”.
We have the rest of today, Christmas eve and all day tomorrow here together. The day after Christmas we will be back “on the road” visiting family up North and hopefully the kids will get to see and play in some snow. I will attempt to blog some more about this holiday. If not you will all know that we were all busy being in the moment and enjoying this gift I like to call life.

Lush Corridors--A Poem by Tricia Baehr

Traveling through lush green corridors
of our oxygen giving brothers as they
wave their branches wildly at us,
we pass through them on a brownish,
gray ribbon of asphalt that winds itself south.

Solid lines and then broken ones in the middle.
Rectangles brightly colored litter the landscape
with symbols begging for attention.

Sleeping passengers breath softly and deeply
as the miles go by.

copyright 2008 Tricia Baehr all rights reserved

Just Back from MO!! by Tricia

Loving the traveling and the being on the road, still transitioning from the stick house so it's not the complete life we had envisioned...yet! Poplar Bluff, MO is at the "Gateway of the Ozarks" and the afternoon trip we made to the Lake Wappapello area was beautiful. Misty rain and the temperature was in the high 60's- we had a beautiful hike with a view of the lake. John taught science class and the children learned to identify some hardwood trees. They also learned about the rings and how to tell how old a tree is. Why the rings are thicker in some places and thinner in others. The time we had there was very special for all of us.



If you have children and or like to spend time outside of your RV we do not recommend Camelot RV Park and Campground outside of Poplar Bluff, MO...if on the other hand you strictly want a place to park, that is organized, neat and has LOTS of rules then this is the place for you.



Also we separate from John and his employees on the way back through Kentucky because we had seen brown signs (usually indicating something of interest) that said "Patti's 1800's Settlement" www.pattis-settlement.com . Thinking this was some type of educational or historical place we decided to stop for a couple of hours and have a field trip. When we arrived we found that it was mostly a restaurant which I must say the food was very good. Service was good but not very friendly--very formal. Two of the kids had the kids meal hamburger which was very large and they could have shared. I had the "hot brown" which is a Kentucky specialty and the homemade potato chips were so delicious. Also, we couldn't pass up the fried pickles for an appetizer. In addition to the restaurant were MANY gift shops attached, a miniature golf range, and a small playground. If you are looking for a place to stop to have a nice sit down meal, walk around, do some shopping, let the kids get some energy out then this is the perfect place. If you are thinking, like we did that this is an education experience for your children...not really.

We did come across a really great store located in downtown Grand Rivers, KY called, "So Cool" www.socoolonline.com the proprietress was super nice and friendly, great with the kids.

Up Early with Tons to Do!! by Tricia

Good grief, Charlie Brown! I woke up at 4:12 am and knew how much had to be accomplished today so here I am blogging while I wait for the coffee to brew.

Count down to the BIG SALE!! Very excited but still tons to do. There are a few piles around the house of keepsake stuff that needs to go to storage and some items for the RV but not a huge amount -- just scattered around. The kitchen needs to be cleaned and a million things to be priced still, seriously this is a big job.

My friend Kyme helped me with the sun room the other day it was a total mess from the dogs but it looks great now. I am so grateful for anyone that is helping us get through these final weeks and days. I just want to thank God for allowing us to fulfill this dream, we all feel so blessed. It is amazing how when you keep you attention on your desires and allow the flow how it all comes together. Loving every minute of it!
Peace.

We are soooo ready to be on the road...

About two weeks to go before we will be out of the house. Whew! this is exhausting but exciting too. I'm not going to blog much tonite because I'm so tired. Friday through Sunday is the big sale and I hope a lot of stuff gets sold--I laughed and told John if we sold everything for a dollar we'd end up with $10,000!! We wish--it sure would be nice though. The public schools started today and the kids were so excited that they are going to be road schooled. Got the web site up and running, still needs some work but I'm super excited about the logo I created. Better get some rest another big day of work tomorrow.