Where we are now

Due to job changes, our family decided to continue living in Denver, Colorado.  After a very brutal 2013 winter, we longed for more space and warmth.  After our rental property sold in summer 2014, we purchased a condo and put the RV up for sale.  With the intent of renting it out when we are ready to move.

Hello IKEA organizers!

We spent several days painting and replacing the appliances in the kitchen.  Plus, we had to replace some furniture.  I took the lessons on efficiency and wise use of space that we'd learned in the RV and applied to our new home.

We only purchased beds, a desk, a couch, and five heavy duty, wire commercial shelving units. Then stored all of our clothes and belongings in organizers tucked into closets.  The kids relish the indoor space, but miss the outdoor fun that waited right outside our RV front door.

Our condo is close to a favorite county park that enables us to swim in a lake, do some outdoor archery and some hiking, biking, and exploring.

My youngest has expanded her culinary skills. 

We joined an academic coop that is pushing the children and I to a whole new educational level.  Which can be painful sometimes.  On a whole, we are excited about our future and what God has planned for us.

My oldest, Jessica, attended a Civil War Ball with her best friend.
Her dad acted as escort!

Kyla has also taken up photography, like her father, and shown a prodigious talent!

Liam, my son, and Kyla also started a little paracord bracelet business.

Kyla's 11th birthday present. Sapphira likes to "help" with school work.  

Family is a rich tapestry

During my side-of-the-road wait for our tow truck driver and my attempts to compose shaking hands and a pounding heart, my father calls to remind me to wish him a happy birthday...  He was at my sister's house enjoying his favorite meal: home-made mac-n-cheese, just like mom used to make, and Rocky Road ice cream.

Leaving DIA

He decided that he missed my kids terribly and wanted to fly them out to Indiana unaccompanied, for the summer.  This took a little bit of digesting, but I knew that God's timing is always perfect and that the kids would have an amazing summer.

So, on the Fourth of July, they flew alone, all by themselves, without any adults.  It was challenging at first to let them go.  But I trusted my family to be at the other end.

Arriving in Chicago with my Dad to greet them!

The kids got there just fine and my parents met them at the gate.

They've been gone a week and settled into a routine.  I receive phone calls and facetime calls almost every day.  My sister wrapped them into her schedule.  They do devotionals and chores in the morning.  Then school.  Then free time.

I realized that this summer is God's gift to all our family.  To my husband and I, because we haven't been alone like this for over thirteen years.  Our relationship has blossomed and rekindled romance to a whole new level...  Plus, his new job is taking a lot of creative energy and time.  And my camp hosting job requires more of me than I'm used to giving to people outside my family.  And I don't have to worry about them. 

My parents and siblings get to meet my children.  Get to know them in a way that is impossible when I'm around.  For the cousins, because it brings them closer together.  More like siblings.  And for my children, they are experiencing the rich tapestry that is family.  That is grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  It truly takes a village to raise children.  And for years to come, they will cherish the time they spend together.

Cousins!

Fourth of July

The kids and I spent Fourth of July with my brother and his family at his father-in-law's Michigan lake house.  Tucked away, the private lake has a few houses circling around it's shores.

We swam and fished all weekend.  Long water weeds populated the edges and so we had to carefully swim through them while watching out for water snakes.  It made for an interesting journey out to the middle, where one of the lake residents had placed a big water trampoline.  We played for hours!

My brother, Ben, showing Liam how to cast

Liam's first time fishing

 


The girls weren't too interested after awhile; standing in one place got too boring. My brother trapped turtles as well.  Apparently, they make for good food.  We admired the ugly turtle, but Liam had a great time watching Uncle Ben kill and disembowel the turtle.  He took lots of pictures.  Ewww!

Talk about an education!

We spent lots of quality time with the cousins and Papa Scott.  Roasted marshmallows over the fire and watched fireworks until the mosquitoes drove us indoors.

My 4-year-old nephew, Little Ben, is an expert...

Jessica holding her newest cousin, 9-month-old Noah Caviness

My dad, Scott, and Jessica

Arriving at the sanctuary

 As I pulled the rig into Sarah's driveway, I felt a sense of relief -as if my long journey had come to an end.  Not just the driving-for-three-days straight one; but months of preparing our house to sell and my own internal struggle of faith.

Every morning, as I stepped out of the RV, a lush green landscape fed my soul. Living on the eastern plains in Colorado is like living in the desert. (I should know because I grew up in Arizona).  It was a sight for sore eyes.

All day long, every day, for two months, my kids played with their cousins.  Outside, they had a trampoline to jump on, a swimming pool, a two-story fort, loads of trees and a creek that ran through the back of the property.  

And on really hot days, we would go cool off in the creek.  At some point, we started bathing down there.

 The water was clear and the temperature just right. So much fun!

Indiana bound

Ok. So my house is completely done.  The truck will tow the trailer without overheating.  I’ve had experience driving (about a half hour).  What else did I need to do?  Oh, yeah.  Organize my trailer. 

After our shakedown cruise, I spent a week reorganizing the trailer.  I examined every cabinet and storage area. No stone left unturned.

It was therapeutic to load all the boxes and bags I’d been collecting in the garage for several months.  To see the RV loaded up and ready to go!

We left Keenesburg early on a Wednesday morning with the intent of taking three short days instead of two long days.

Our first destination was Grand Island, Nebraska, to stop at the home of my beloved grandmother-in-law, Gigi.  She has always been gracious and accommodating whenever we come by.  And to a homesick 20-year-old in Hawaii without a husband, she made my Christmas extra special.

Gigi designed her home using Lego blocks. After traveling to Hong Kong many times, her home took on a distinctly Asian feel with little Buddha’s sitting everywhere and Chinese inspired furniture. 

The kids and I stopped for a bite to eat and a hot soak in her sunken lime-green bathtub. 

Note to self:  Make sure the trailer will clear the large pine tree.  Otherwise, damage…

My first big oops of the trip.  Not checking to see if the pine tree branches were higher than the trailer.  It cracked one side of my awning motor house.  Thankfully, my awning still works. *whew* 

Had planned on stopping at Gigi’s for the night, but felt the urge to keep going.  I know.  It’s crazy.  But with the children sleeping, I can make good time.  We stopped at a Flying J truck stop overnight outside of Omaha.  Nice.

I learned quickly to keep my little rig on the right hand side of the lane, when traveling in the right lane.  Just like the big rigs.  I stayed at 60 MPH, my ultimate comfort speed.  Yes, I was a moving roadblock.  But who cares.  I’m safe.

As the big rigs whipped around me, I learned to anticipate the draft that inevitably followed.  Different shaped trailers produced different gusts.  I practiced courtesy driving and made sure I gassed up in stations that had lots of pull-through room.  There was a couple times I was very tight, but always made it out.

Between Omaha and Des Moines, the wind picked up to 30 MPH.  The only time I really felt nervous was while driving through construction with large rigs passing me and the big gusts of wind blowing at the same time.  But I had the “God Squad” to keep me safe.  God promised to keep angels watching over me.

I averaged 8 miles to the gallon, so gassing up happened often.  We also stopped at rest stops along the way.  I LOVE REST STOPS.  Especially the ones with RV dump stations!

Anyways, we traveled on well into the night.  The only hiccup being a twisted propane hose that prevented the fridge from cooling. 

Every time I stopped for gas or whatever, I always walked around the rig to make sure everything was in place.  Just in case.  Good preventative maintenance…

I did fine until I reached Chicago.  The construction zones late at night and my GPS throwing me off course (I meandered through a ghetto suburb along some train tracks for awhile until getting back on the road…) drained my energy.  I made it to Gary, Indiana, and stopped over at another Flying J.  A friendly (Christian to boot) security guard showed me where to pull the rig. 

What happened to the three short days of driving?  I knew that with our frequent stops, it would be more like four short days of driving.  And since I was in a zone, I kept going. 

The kids were troopers, but oh, so glad to get to Aunty Sarah’s house. 

Playing House

Now that the trailer was set up, the kids moved right in.  For the past three weeks, they’ve spent most of their waking hours playing in the trailer.  With a Harry Potter audio book going in the CD player, they would rearrange their bunks and eat at the table.  Jessica moved a litter box, food and water and a little bed into the trailer.  She takes Dash, our cat, over there every morning and he’ll hang out on her bunk.  Either curled up in his bed or watching the world go by.

With breakfast the exception, they gleefully haul lunch, snacks and dinner to the RV and beg to sleep in it at night. Bill and the kids slept in the trailer the first night, but we stay in the house.  I’m not ready to fully move in…

Bringing our new home…home

So we had a new camper.  A 2010 Jayco Jay feather.  Not fancy, but ours.  We did a thorough walk through inspection and made sure to document all the steps with our new video camera (per suggestions from other RV owners). 

Now If only we knew how to drive it home…  Fortunately, we were able to arrange one of the service guys to drop it off on his way home.  He backed it up onto our graveled RV lot, un-hitched it and drove away with a wave.  Bill and I looked at each other clueless about leveling it.

The problem we ran into was that the lot was too high on one side and very tough to level on the gravel.  So we put a stump under the tongue and several 2x4s under the leveling jacks.  A neighbor came over and helped us get it steady for the night.  But decided it was too unstable for the kids to climb in. 

Then in the middle of the night, Bill sits straight up in bed and yells, “I got it.  I know what to do!  God walked me through the entire process.”  

We quickly learned that the flimsy hand crank to adjust the leveling jacks couldn’t handle the abuse we put it under.  So Bill got out the socket wrench and we were back in business. 

Unfortunately, Bill had developed a very bad case of sinusitis and couldn’t even move without a pounding headache.  So I went to Home Depot and picked up some cheap 2x12’s for the tires and found odd 2x10 ends for 50 cents each (what a steal!).  Perfect for the leveling jacks. 

Bill had me pull the trailer forward (first time ever!) about 5 feet, then dig a trench about six inches deep on the high side.  We scraped the gravel away from the low side and put two 2x12s down and screwed them together.  Through much maneuvering, we were able to get the trailer almost completely level with one side down in the trench and the other side resting on boards.  Then Bill cut the 2x10s down to about a foot each and we used stacks of them under the leveling jacks after clearing away the gravel (Bill had the kids do that).  After using a spiffy new level we placed on the floor, it didn’t take us long to get the whole thing level and stable.

While it may not seem like a major accomplishment to level a trailer, it was huge to us.  Because we had just completed the first step in getting her ready to move in.  Bill slowly let out the one slide out and then hooked an extension cord up with the 30 amp converter in place.  Now we had moderate shore power.  Enough to power the lights, radio and TV.  Plus, with the propane heater, we could warm it. 

Again, a major accomplishment for us.  Complete newbie’s to the RV world.  Oh, glorious day!  We felt invincible…

Who, What, Why, When, Where and How.

The Who

We are a family of five.  Me, the mom (36), my DH, Bill (36), and our three children: Jessica (10), Liam (8), and Kyla (7); along with our dog, Bandit –a farm dog: half German Shepherd, half Husky—and our cat, Dash –aka long-and-lanky.

The What

We will be moving into a 2010 Jayco Jayfeather quad bunkhouse for the immediate future.  Fortunately, our little truck, a 2001 Dodge Dakota 4x4 (quad cab), can pull it.  Are we crazy?  Certifiable.  Can we do it?  Over three years of wanting to and a year of preparations says we can. 

The Where

Mostly Denver, Colorado, because that is where DH works.  We have student loans, car payments and the trailer to pay down.  Following Dave Ramsey’s principles, we’ll be able to travel freely around the country in a couple years.  But there are always short trips around the state and surrounding areas that we can visit!

The When

We are in the process of preparing the house for sale.  Living in Keenesburg (a small farm town forty five minutes northeast of Denver) has been an experience we will always cherish.  But my family and I are not high plains folks.  We knew it from the start, but had our reasons for moving so far out of town.  We love the mountains and are excited to be close to them once again (think Lakewood and Golden).  So our target date is in July 2011.  God willing.

The Why 

As far back as I can remember adventure and travel were in my blood.   My parents moved around often when I was young.  We lived in the middle of the beautiful Arizona desert and in Payson, along the Mogollon Rim. My favorite house was the log cabin on top of a mountain with a pot-bellied stove for heat.  Then moved to California for a year, to be close to my mom’s family, and finally, to Colorado. As pastors, we started new churches and assisted in others.  We put down roots in Denver when I started eighth grade. 

I joined the Navy during my senior year at Westminster High School and left for boot camp after graduation.  There I met my future husband, Bill.  He finished his schooling in Florida and New York.  I went to Massachusetts and then down to Florida for mine.  I had never been east of the Mississippi and it was very exciting. 

I left for Spain before my DH finished school.  So right before my second trip onto an aircraft carrier as a radioman (CTR), I flew to New York and met him there.  After ten months of letters and phone calls, I figured we needed face time before getting married.  “Hello, my name is Mellisa and we are getting married in a week!” 

We spent our honeymoon visiting family in Colorado, Arizona and California (a road trip, of course).  I left for Spain (in tears) and he flew to Hawaii.  Though I travelled all over the Mediterranean, through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and into the Gulf of Oman, and also into Adriatic Sea –I missed him desperately. 

All the sights I saw in Greece, Egypt, Italy, Israel, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates I wanted to share with him.  Finally, I was able to get to Hawaii after nine months apart.  Talk about paradise!

We lived there for almost five years.  Still the longest I’ve ever been in one place besides Denver.  Unfortunately, DH was a nuclear electrician on subs and spent most of his time on the boat travelling in circles to places I wasn’t allowed to know about –something about “need to know”. 

DH, in his travels, was able to visit Japan, Guam, and other ports of call along the Pacific.  All of this travel, of course, continually fueled our love of places and people. 

We finally got to spend a whole year together under the same roof four years into our marriage.  It was bliss.  So much so that we decided the Navy life wasn’t for us and hot footed it back to Denver.   DH spent all of his youth in the general vicinity of Arvada and Littleton (suburbs of Denver).  He joined Civil Air Patrol in middle school and stayed with it until graduating high school.  Always with the idea of living in the mountains at the back of his mind (think “Red Dawn”).

After moving around so much in the Navy, we naturally put it into practice as civilians -but quickly discovered that it gets expensive.  A short stint in Arizona (where DS and DD #2 was born), we decided that the desert was for the birds (snow birds, that is) and consequently moved back. 

We loved doing things together, so getting our bachelor’s degrees in tandem made sense.  Not easy with three small children (not to mention, costly), but we muddled through.  Three years later, we walked across the stage, proudly wearing our cap and gown with parents and children waving wildly in the crowd.  Me, as a magazine writer and DH, as a freelance photojournalist. 

The How

DH works for DOI. For right now, we are staying in Denver, Colorado to get stabilized and figure out where to go from there. I'm considering Clear Creek RV park for the winter and using State and local parks for the summer. 

In conclusion

This move has been a long time coming.  Though we may be called dreamers and absolutely bonkers for making this decision.  It will be worth it. Since we home school (have for the last three years), the transition will be easier.  The kids are over-the-moon excited about the move, though we are approaching it a little more pragmatically. 

But above all, our heavenly father has blessed this move.  Literally kicking us out the door. Because through him, all things are possible.