To the Moon….the Desert Moon

4/2/2021-FRIDAY (Breckenridge- Grand Junction- Thompson Springs, Utah)

I don’t really know how to share what all has transpired over the last 6 months…..I think it will take some  time to reflect and unpack it all before I can fully understand it myself. So instead, I’m just going to jump right on into this next escapade. I am going to try to be better about real time posts regarding our whereabouts and the happenings within our traveling carnival… but I make no promises. (revised to say I now know this won’t happen; I will just get it to ya when I can….. internet has been nonexistent, and so has any spare time to write)

We pull away from our home in Breckenridge, CO today around 4. The tears have been rolling sporadically throughout the past week, but as we are actually driving away from this house and town we have come to know and love…where so much change and growth has occurred….I feel surprisingly at peace. I think knowing we will be back in May for a few weeks and the excitement of getting back on the road are allowing for this moment of tranquility….. but leaving today does represent an end to this particular chapter of life in Colorado…….. and that sentiment does pack a multi onion layered punch.  But, the purpose was served…….we got what we came for…. and the time has come to see what is next!

We are heading to Grand Junction to pick up the Shadow Cruiser. We’ve got the 3 kids across the bench in the back (hhhaaaalllppp), Timber crammed at their feet, and a new addition…. George, the hamster. Bless his furry little soul, that he may make it back to GA…… I can only count the ways in which he might perish.   I say this, but honestly Isabelle is a better mom than I am. She won’t let anything happen to that furball. She loves him madly. And really, she shames me constantly with the love, patience, and understanding she shows to any creature in her charge. Who is teaching who?

We’ve done this drive to Grand Junction several times now, and it’s gorgeous; descending from the snowy high mountains and spindly pines, down the western slope……carving through gorgeous canyons and observing the colors change from a limited palate of black and white to a new land of browns, reds, and the gorgeous blue/ greens of the Colorado river. It is a sinuously windy section of 70W… especially through Glenwood canyon. I am offering up prayers to anyone listening that Jack doesn’t barf this time. We made a run down here a few weeks ago to assess the status of the camper…. (she got a proper beating on the way out here, and we couldn’t remember the myriad of issues we needed to fix before getting back in). Anyhoo, on that trip down Jack kept talking about a bee in his belly….. hhhmmmm that’s weird…. eventually the bee complaint turned into a straight up “my stomach hurts” and shortly thereafter he unloaded a massive amount of vomit all over himself and the backseat. The big kids have never been more appalled by anything in their lives…. I’m sure you can imagine the freak out that befell the back of the truck…and poor Jack, it was his first throw up experience as a more conscious toddler, and he was also very displeased with the experience. But he got the bee out! At some point I guess I forgot about always having back up outfits…. because you better believe we didn’t have anything else for him to wear… Luckily it was a warm day and he survived in a diaper and Matt’s flannel.

So back to this trip, we are making a quick layover in Silt to buy me a mountain bike that I found on Craigslist. Deb was getting rid of her practically brand-new bike because her vertigo got too bad for her to ride anymore. (I realyl felt bad for her medical situation, sounds awful, but we were able to pick up a pretty sweet bike for cheapish). Let me tell you how excited I was to leave behind my thrice handed down men’s Schwinn that I have been trying to make work for the last two years. Good riddance. Problem is, we have nowhere to put this new bike… like nowhere. We had brought the other bikes to the camper on the last trip down, and currently the truck is packed to the brim with boxes and bins. These people are about to be appalled as we completely unpack and rearrange in their driveway… trying to find nonexistent space in the back. To add to the chaos, all three kids have discharged themselves from the truck and are barefoot cartwheeling around their yard and running up and down the street…… then there is also Timber who has insisted on getting out and meeting the neighborhood, and George in and out of Isabelle’s pocket. This couple is older and never had kids…. and while they were kind of shocked and possibly scared, they also LOVED the full freak show they got. We met with them twice and spent some time on the phone throughout this bike deal, and I honestly feel like we have new friends for life. Matt basically had to disassemble the bike, but we got it in.

Got the bike. Got the camper. Time to get this trip started.

Praise be that our next stop is not too far off from Grand Junction… the kids have hit their maximum amount of car time they will endure before they morph into banshees. Not long after we shoved off from GJ we cross into Utah, NEW STATE!!. Queue “We Own the Night”…. looks like that little tradition is being resurrected.  It’s dark now and Jack wants his light on so he can look at books, but the other two are NOT having it. They somehow keep finding long poking devices to push Jack’s button, literally…. to turn off his light, every time eliciting an ear-piercing screech. Isabelle is crying about wanting to see the stars and Henry is fussing that he wants to go to sleep…. and amid all this they are still somehow demanding songs and snacks and potty breaks. Holy shit. Earlier in the day I was thinking to myself how much better everyone is at traveling this go around… but maybe I thought too soon. We only had about an hour to go from GJ, but it felt like eternity.

We arrive at Desert Moon campground in Thompson Springs, Utah at our customary bewitching hour of 9:30. Another hot roll in, to a sweet little sleepy campground in the desert. I can tell Matt is not really feeling great about trying to park the trailer… his fuse is a short. Our neighbors on both sides are out in their respective areas enjoying the evening, so we are just obviously about to totally disturb everybody’s peace. The folks on one side almost immediately go indoors, not interested in bearing witness to our madness.  We pull around to back into our spot…..which happens with less stress than I was expecting.  I don’t know how to be helpful with the parking situation, and I don’t know that Matt knows how to verbalize a way in which I can be helpful, so I just trying to remain quiet. Everyone pours out of the truck, into the cool night air. Isabelle is at the door of the trailer with her hamster trying to get let in, Henry needs to pee, Jack is screaming. I am trying to clear things that we had just thrown into the camper out of the way so I can get the slides out and get everyone settled. As I started putting the slides out, there comes a fierce knock on the outside of the camper. This surely only means one thing, I’m about to smash something with the slide. I run outside to see what’s up, and the front slide is pushing into the trees…. That’s not going to work, so its everyone back in the car…   Once everyone is resettled and I am back in the passenger seat, my eyes focus on several lights floating out in front of the truck. I can’t quite judge the distance…. is that a car? more campers? a house in the distance? I take some more time with it and make out the shape of a TRAIN!  A train, that I could hit with a rock if I threw one from where our campsite is!! How super cool that we have a train sleeping basically in our campground! I wonder what that will be like when it departs? Do lots of trains use this railroad? This will be fun to check out in the morning.  The sleepiness is setting in, we have got to get everyone to bed. Once we pull forward to repark the camper, we realize there is a path to just pull the camper through our site. Well, that sure is a whole lot easier then backing this bitch in. So, around the loop we go, finally landing in an acceptable location…. Slides out, kids in bed (easier said than done) Matt and I crawl into our bed and have wine and chocolate for dinner.

It is exhausting, it’s a lot of work, its full of challenges, and ups and downs, but nothing makes me happier than this lifestyle. I can’t wait to explore our new location in the morning, to get out in this great big world… to behold and learn and love and make memories with my family. If there is one thing we have realized is a priority for us over the last year… it is to live freely. Wild and Free.