Healing Lifestyle RV Tour {Medical Medium Healing]

 

Just in case you think you have to live a healing lifestyle in a particular way, I'm here to show you it isn't so. Be it in a house, an apartment, a tiny house, an RV, or on the road in some other form, it is possible to find and eat the  healing foods we need for optimal health. 

For fun I thought I'd share what it looks like for us living in the RV. Enjoy the tour!

What's Life Like for Us in an RV - Part 2

A friend of mine interviewed me, so I'm going to post some Q and A here about living in an RV after 6 months on the road.

For Part 1 of this interview, click here. 

My friend, the interviewer, is M. I'll post her questions bold and green. I'm E, and my answers, as ever, will be purple. J is my husband and K is my son. And now, on to the interview! 

1. How DO you plan? Do you plan as a family where to go?

It varies greatly, actually. For the first portion of our trip, we knew we wanted to go to LEGOLAND. That was the end goal. So we planned everything around going to LEGOLAND, and I researched and found places we'd want to visit in between.

K loves aquariums, so we knew we had to go to Monterey Bay aquarium. We all love beaches, so of course we went to a beach in every place we stopped in California. I'd find places within an hour or two of each other for us to stop in, then find RV parks on rvparkreviews.com or in the Good Sam road trip planning app.

I like rvparkreviews.com because it gives you real people and real reviews for places. But also tells you exactly what amenities are there, what hookups they have, and if your rig will fit. Sometimes a place's website will say one thing and the reality is different, and this site tells you that.

I like the Good Sam road trip planning app because it will tell you the mileage between each RV park, the approximate time it will take to drive there going 60MPH, and it also gives you the campgrounds and things to do in the area if you check those boxes. That helps for the spreadsheet I keep, too.

I keep a spreadsheet that has places we're going, arrival and departure dates, address, phone, email, website, how much it cost us, mileage, deposits, etc. I got this from another Rver who uses it as a template, adjusted it to our needs, and it has been so great.

Google maps also has a feature called MyMaps that I use to keep a map of places we want to go, the RV parks we'll be staying in, attractions and where to get groceries nearby those places.

For the second leg of our trip, K had made a group of online friends, most of whom happen to live in the US. Two of the kids he was really clicking with were in Arizona, so I connected with their Mom and we planned a visit. That's where we are now. The next leg of our trip includes a visit to family in Missouri as we make our way to a gathering in Ohio where a good number of the kids from that group will also be.

From there we haven't decided yet. And a month ago we had no idea we'd be going to this gathering, either. 

2. Who drives?

J does. I keep saying I'm going to learn to drive the RV, but I just haven't yet. I thought I'd really need to because I get carsick when I'm not the driver, but because we've been able to drive for shorter periods, that actually hasn't been an issue at all. So there hasn't been a huge push for me to learn. But I will. 

3. What's the bathroom like (plane bathroom-like?)

It's not like a plane bathroom. It's different in every RV, but ours has a compost toilet in a room of its own. There's a cabinet behind the toilet where we keep toilet paper and such, and a magazine rack that we keep cloth wipes in, and a towel rack. There is a window to the right of the toilet if ou're sitting on it, so you can look out at the view when you're in there. It's actually quite nice.

Outside of that, the shower and the bathroom sink are connected to our bedroom, so the counter of the sink makes sort of a half wall. It makes it feel much more spacious having that "open floorplan". The shower is small but big enough to shower in, so it works. The water pressure isn't like a house, but it still works. The one thing most RVers dream of is having a proper bath and real water pressure for a shower. Oh, and hot water that lasts way too long.

Water conservation is a necessary thing in an RV shower, but you get used to it. 

4. Do you have a budget for accom, gas, food, entertainment?

Basically since right now we're living on savings, I "pay" our checking account out of that every month, the salary my husband was making, and that's what we use for our expenses. So not specifically, but kind of. Our grocery budget is similar to what it was in a house, and although usually we don't have utilities like gas, electric, water, or trash, we have monthly rent and storage fees, and internet and phones and of course fuel. Entertainment varies by where we are. In California it was really expensive, but in Arizona it's been almost nothing. 

5. Does the RV require repairs? Who does that?

RVs always require repairs, yes. There is always something coming apart or needing resealing because of travel and wear and tear. Luckily almost every RV park we've ever been in has a relationship with a mobile RV repair guy, and they will come to your site to do most repairs.

J can do the non-engine or electrical things that need doing like resealing and caulking the roof, and he does regular battery and tire checks, but for things like replacing the radiator tank we call the RV repair guy. We'd like to replace our refridgerator with a residential one, but that's going to take some modification to the inside of our RV, so we're waiting until we're somewhere for a longer spell and can remove the old one to do the modifications. 

6. What Mileage are you getting?

I have no idea, but it's probably something like 6 MPG. It's a 40' diesel pusher pulling a small car, plus all of our stuff, so it's not going to be good. 

7. How is exercising- walks?

Lately because we got sick again, plus the heat, not as good as we'd like. But usually in a new RV park the first think K and I like to do is take Muffins and explore the park. Usually there will be some sort of trails or cool plae to walk to, which has been great. Part of the fun of being in a new place is exploring it, even just the RV parks themselves. There can really be a lot to see!

When we were on the beach in San Diego, at the bay, we'd go every day for walks. everyone loved doing that. We really have gotten out of the habit here, because walking in the desert heat with the sun beating down on you just isn't fun. But there's always the next place!

8.Favorite place so far and why.

Monterey Bay/Santa Cruz. Everything. The aquarium is just spectacular, and they were super ADA compliant, and I felt really well taken care of there. Plus the aquarium itself is just the most amazing aquarium I've ever been in.

The bay and all the beaches are beautiful. It's a smaller place and just feels happy to be in. It has incredible character, and you can tell that the people who live there are there because they want to be.

Santa Cruz is the same. Smaller, gorgeous, artsy, kitchy, fun. I really wished we could stay longer than we did but we were running from the cole weather and the rains. They actually got snow this year!

I'd definitely go back again, it's a place I'd like to live for awhile maybe. 

9. What do you like most- and least- about the RV experience?

What I personally like most is the travel. I really never believed I liked traveling, so it makes it extra weird that I am the one who bought us an RV and said, "Let's go explore the US and see if we find somewhere healthier for me to live."

But it turns out that I don't hate travel, I just hate flying and staying in spaces that might potentially get me sick. I actually really love traveling when we get to bring all of our comforts with us and be sleeping in our own bed every night. If only we could take the RV to Hawaii, Europe or Costa Rica! Then we'd be set.

I love exploring new places and seeing all of the birds, flora and fauna in different places. I love seeing how different the foliage is to the places I've lived. I love feeling sand on my feet on beaches, and seeing all of the different skies and sunsets. And I love that I get to do all of that with my family.

What I like least is the things we miss about having a house. Space - being able to spread our stuff out all over. Separate rooms to go to for privacy and just space alone. Having a garden (although I do currently have a small herb garden in a pot and an aloe plant and am thinking of adding a small tower garden of herbs and leafy greens as well). The trampoline. 

10. Is it bringing you closer as a family?

In ways it is, because when we travel and aren't visiting someone, it's just the three of us (five if you count the pets). It's just us doing stuff together, exploring together, and that's pretty cool. We've always been a pretty close family though, so this is just even more of that I think. Especially right now with J not working and being a part of everything. I think it's helping him understand us better to be so integrated into our daily routine like this, since it isn't usually the case when he has to work 40 hours a week outside the home.

But yeah, it's really nice being this little unit together right now. 

What's Life Like for Us in an RV - Part 1

Wow, I guess it's about time for an update, eh?

Why is it so difficult for me sometimes to write blog posts? I need a blogger support group with tips and tricks on how to make it happen daily. Someone please interview me. What do you want to know?

A friend of mine kind of DID interview me, so I'm going to post some Q and A here about living in an RV after 5 months on the road. She actually asked me these questions over a month ago and because I'm SO organized and prompt, I'm just posting them now. Even though we'd talked about doing this then. Also because of these mad skills, some of my answers have changed. So I'm going to post the answer over a month ago and the answer updated now. To make is less confusing. (/sarcasm)

My friend, the interviewer, is M. I'll post her questions bold and green. I'm E, and my answers, as ever, will be purple. Updates to current events will be in pink, because I love color. And now, on to the interview! J is my husband and K is my son.

M: I'd love to hear more about your RV life and its rhythms, how it works with J working, space, K, chronic condition, etc.

E: J hasn't started working again yet - he is still in decompression stage from the past 5 years of stress. I do think we've finally found a good rhythm. It's definitely a constant learning process.

J has a higher need for outside than K and I do - he can't just hang around home and chill as much as K and I like to. We have more of a need for down time.

I think we meet that need for J a bit by having him run all of the errands like grocery shopping and whatever else we need that we can't wait for Amazon to deliver. I pay attention to what needs doing and keep the lists and then let J know and he checks them off. I can still do things like laundry and dishes. He also takes Muffins out most of the time, although depending on where we are, I like to do that too. But he definitely does it in the mornings and after dark.

Update: J has started doing Tai Chi every morning at this new place in Arizona, and we've been making good use of the pool as well. This has made things much happier for him, having ways to move his body.

M: How does K like the change of lifestyle?

E: K seems to be doing fine with it really. He misses his BFF (who lived 4 hours away in Seattle), but they still game together online, just not as much. We got lucky: he recently got into this game called Overwatch, and his BFF plays but isn't all that into it.

I'm in an online group with BFFs mom called Unschooling Gamers, and often us parents will post for our kids that they are looking to play such and such a game. I posted that about Overwatch and several people answered the thread that their similarly aged kiddos were playing. We all exchanged Skype info and gamer tags for the game, the whole thread did.

K really wanted to play so that won over his shyness about new people, I helped him friend the whole group, and now they have this great group that they play with online. Two of the kids he has really clicked with are in AZ so their parents and I are making plans to meet. The other two he is really clicking with are in Indiana so we're making plans to go see them after we go to Missouri to see our families.

Update (and this is a BIG one!): We are now visiting said friends in AZ and all is going smashingly well (knock wood). While here, we learned that this family and ALL of the families of the other kids who play in this group are going to an Unschoolers Waterpark gathering in Ohio in May. We'd previously thought we couldn't manage to get across the country that fast, but this opportunity seemed too amazing to miss. Having his whole group of friends together IRL in one place for a weekend of fun?

We're going. I worked really hard on the schedule for like three days, and figured out how we could make it and go. And I did. It took a small miracle, but we're essentially driving across most of the country in 45 days, which is breakneck speed for our way of traveling.  But for this opportunity, we have to. Right? Plus the rooms at the resort (yes, resort) where the gathering is being held are just - this really will be a vacation for us. They're amazing. We're all looking forward to it, and hopefully I will find ways to keep my health intact while we travel. (I will).

M: How about personal space? Are you able to get that?

E: Finding (personal) space has been a struggle at times, but we're figuring it out. J doesn't always realize when he needs to take space, so we've talked about that. I'm trying to get him working out again in some way because it has always been an important part of him maintaining his sanity. He's self conscious about doing things outside but he's at least aware of his need now and is thinking about ways to meet it. He used do Tai Chi or work out at lunch daily when he was working in a central location.

Update: I know I said this above, but he's doing Tai Chi again, it's gotten much better.

We do have a back bedroom and a front room that are divided by a door and that helps. K and I are used to being together 24/7 so we don't really bother each other but J isn't as integrated into our mix so we often need time apart. And then there is always the whole outside, but sometimes a person needs indoor retreat space, so we try to meet that.

It's been better than I thought it would be in ways. We're being nicer to each other a lot of the time, but we still scrap in our usual way at other times. It seems to be tricky for us to occupy a space together so much of the time, but I really did think it would be worse than it's been. It's something we're finding ways to get around. And sometimes just being conscious of an issue leads to solutions.

J will take Muffins out when he needs a minute or go run an errand at the store. That seems to work well for now. Or one of us will retreat to the bedroom in back with the door closed. I do that a lot when I want to talk on the phone.

M: Do you meet many people?

E: We haven't met many people, but that's more on us and our tendency to hermit up rather than the lack of people or opportunities. RVers tend to be really friendly and helpful and available for company. Josh meets and chats with people a lot when he takes Muffins for walks or to the dog run area.

(As I wrote this in February) there were about a half dozen kids playing outside and K was in the RV on his computer playing online with his friends.

In a lot of ways, chronic illness taught us to be completely self-reliant and not look for social interaction. It's not like cohousing, where everyone is just outside your door. Most people stopped coming to us a long time ago when I got really sick. So we just got used to being by ourselves I think. Perhaps we will again adjust to being social, and being able to be social, as we travel.

M: How do you decide how long to stay in each place?

E: Amount of time depends on travel needs, etc. We like 2-3 week stretches in places because it gives us time to explore, do errands, have down time, be sick apparently.

When we were first on the road, we started from western Oregon in November, so we were essentially running away from the weather. We'd take 2, 3, 4 days in a place and keep  a close watch on when the weather would change. And we'd go a little further south each time.

Update: Then when the rains had taken over Northern California, we spent time in Southern California. We wanted to stay a lot longer in certain places than we did there, but availability of space and when is what dictated those stays. It was around the holidays, so space was really at a premium. We took what and when we could get. Once we were further down into Southern California our pace became a LOT more leisurely. We stayed in San Diego for about a month and a half.

Part of that was due to getting sick in San Diego (the air is polluted and the toxic overload caused both K and myself to have a big strep flare), which took a big chunk of time. You don't want to try to travel when you're sick. No. And then we wanted to see the things we went there to see. So we stayed a little longer.

Also in San Diego K's friend group seemed to solidify even more, and our plans changed. That was when we decided to fast track it across AZ and spend three weeks visiting K's friends. Plans were made with their parents and off we went! Man, was I glad to get out of that SoCal pollution and into some seriously clean air.

Also of note: I REALLY miss California citrus and the ocean, with all of my heart. This dry air and heat are...well, ups and downs, right? Things dry really quickly, like laundry hanging up. And no worries about mold! But then J gets daily nosebleeds and the heat is "unseasonably warm" for this time of year. So there's that. But the pool is great! And visiting friends is priceless. K is SO happy when he gets to be with them.

Back to deciding how long to stay somewhere. For this next stretch, we leave at the end of the month. (I don't even want to think about the withdrawl K is going to have.) Our schedule was determined by two things: 1) we need to be in this specific city in Ohio by Mid May; and 2) can we make a decent length stop in Missouri to have a good family visit.

Usually we like to drive no more than two hours on travel days. It's just how we roll. We like the locations, but we don't like the driving.  And we REALLY don't like the pack/unpack that we have to do for travel days. I mean we don't mind it at infrequent intervals, but we don't want to have to do it for several dozen days straight, you know? So if we have 1 or 2  one-night stays, that's okay. And we could maybe push the travel days to do a little more, you know, actual traveling. That would also give us a couple of 4 or 5 day intervals where we can see some things we want to see, like Roswell, NM (Area 51).

And I DID it. I was SO crazy proud of myself, because I actually managed us an 18 day stay in Missouri to see our families, and that's a HUGE win. So now we've tried several different ways of planning the route, and I'm SO much more confident with how it goes. Maybe I'll even do a post on how I plan!

When we have more time in a place like 3-4 weeks, we have a to-do list  of things like maintenance and decluttering. The RV gets cluttered really quickly (because we aren't minimalists and our needs change as we go and suss out more ways to use the space better). We're already eyeing places we want to clear out some things and lighten the load. Some of it is just stuff we thought we'd need and didn't, others are electronics we've had to replace and need to recycle, etc.

Update: We have since taken out the old perpendicular table and replaced it with a new bigger parallel one to use for my sewing space. And the fruit that used to sit on the table has now been put into a handy cart with drawers we got from IKEA. It's original intended use? Clothing. It's perfect for our fruit stash! Since this photo was taken we've also added a 5-tray Excalibur dehydrator we got on craigslist in Tucson for cheap!

We have done some decluttering of the bedroom and next want to tackle the living room. All in due time! Sometimes having fun and downtime takes precedence over tasks. To that end, I have yet to sew on my table, but I have a list of projects waiting to be done when I do!

If this post created even more questions, or if you have questions about living in an RV and traveling the country, please let me know in the comments. That's why it's Part 1! I know there's lots more to answer!

Pismo Beach

Pismo Beach  - I'd call it a must stop if you're traveling through California anywhere nearby. It's on the edge of an adorable little beach town that I didn't have the stamina to explore. I'm still healing, and my energy gets used in only the most important places - like on the sand and in the water. Not IN the water, but my feet in the water.

But I DID have the stamina to spend a couple of hours with my family on the beach, letting the gentle waves caress our feet, watching Muffins running in and out of the water, laughing and allowing the healing that the ocean and sand provide. A true gift. 

Muffins loves the water and the ocean so much that as soon as she smelled the sea air she started crying to get out of the car -  while we were still moving and nowhere near the parking lot. She was ready to go!

Muffins, my husband and my son play a game where they chase the waves as they wash out, then run away as they wash in. Muffins usually doesn't go in beyond the depth of her legs, but this time she felt bold and went in all the way past her belly, to 
where the water was halfway up her sides before she decided to run back onto land. It was hilarious to watch, and she had us laughing SO hard.

She was also particularly interested in those birds. 

Laughing! Now even there is something I had done so rarely in my life with chronic illness, if ever. It's not easy to laugh when a person is in so much pain that it's all they can do to breathe, or when they're so exhausted that they can't see straight.

And here I was, laughing joyfully. Happythankyoumoreplease! This day, this beach, so much healing, so much life. 

So much life! The bird life was abundant at the beach. I don't know them all but we saw plovers, gulls, pigeons, pelicans, hawks....and those are just the ones I was able to recognize.

I think these birds are western snowy plovers. I'm no bird expert but I sure am fascinated by them. Birds have such grace and personality, and they are so funny to watch sometimes. 

These little guys would run in as the tide washed out and start eating something - brine shrimp or brine fly larvae perhaps. Something too small for us to see, but clearly a delicious treat for them. It was like a meditation watching them over and over as the tide washed in and out.

The pier against the sky. What contrast! There were so many beautiful visuals here. And apparently the water gets pretty high at times, we just lucked out with a lower tide day.

The water made these ripples in the sand. The sand itself was so fine it felt velvety on our feet rather than sand-papery. This beach just made me want to live here.

After a couple of hours (on my feet the whole time, go me!) we decided it was time to go, so I climbed the stiars to the pier to sit on the bench with Muffins while my guys enjoyed swinging on the beach.

So to recap: I spent almost two hole hours on my feet in the sand and water, and I don't remember it hurting until the end - whoa! That is unheard of for me. Then I walked UP THE STAIRS of the pier to sit on a bench to recover a bit - pretty impressive after already being on my feet all that time!

 Now, I'm not saying that it will only get better every day from here on in, because let's face it - flares happen. My body still has a great deal of healing to do from the onslaught of viruses it's been carrying around all its life, and the damage they have done. My liver has a lot of cleansing and healing to do yet. And that's okay with me. 

I know I AM healing now, finally, after years of seeking answers. I see the difference and how each outing shows me that I AM moving forward, I do keep improving, and sometimes I am blown away at what I can do now. Things I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to do again. It feels amazing.Talking with a dear friend tonight I realized that when I was first on this healing path, trying the Medical Medium recommendations, if a flare would happen sometimes I'd get that panicky feeling like, "No, it's not working, it's all coming back, nothing can heal this." It would terrify me to have a flare of my symptoms or feel more pain or even have a day of grumpiness from not enough sleep.

But I'm noticing now that it doesn't scare me anymore, because it's a part of the process, and I really KNOW that I am healing, and if I just do the things I need to do to keep that going, it will keep happening. And that's pretty amazing in and of itself.

I had been watching the hawks soaring over the beach, just gliding, circling, flowing so gracefully back and forth. I have been thrilled be the sheer number of raptors I've seen in the skies everywhere we've been in California - I think hawk must be one of my spirit animals, because I have been so completely drawn to them these last few years. I really wanted to get a good photo, but my lens isn't very long, and I didn't know if I could. 

As we were leaving, however, the hawk must have heard my wishes, because it literally flew right above our heads, over the pier we were walking down, and I took as many photos as my camera would allow as it flew over. I could have cried with joy. So close! I was actually calling out thanks to the hawk as it flew overhead and I was clicking away.

I'm not exactly sure the type of hawk - I tried to look it up and maybe it's a Ferruginous Hawk? If you know more about birds than I do (likely), and know what kind this is, please educate me, I really want to know!

Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay KOA

So far we've been really lucky with the places we've stayed. We use RV Park Reviews to find places that meet all of our needs, and I look at the reviews to find out extra information the websites don't tell you, like train tracks nearby, traffic noise, level sites, etc. Thus far it's been a win.

Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay KOA has by far for our needs been our favorite campground/RV Park ever. It has cabins, RV spaces, spaces for longer term stays, staff spots for RVs and then....the amenities. KOAs are known for being family-friendly, and some of them take that designation VERY seriously, making the park itself the attraction rather than relying on what's nearby. This KOA was so much fun that we would have just stayed in the park and had plenty to do.

For us, our main attraction (and the spot we chose to park in) was the Bounce Pillow. This is a huge inflatable pillow made from the same material gym mats are made of, and it is for bouncing upon. Not quite the give and bounce of a trampoline, but enough bounce and enjoyment to give my son some happiness at having a place to bounce his cares away, because yes, he does.

Just like at home on the trampoline, with the exception of the rainy days, he was bouncing.

 The KOA also had a playground with five different slides, a climbing structure, and swings. It had an outdoor pool and hot tub which were both open, but it was a bit cold and we never did get to them (the bounce pillow was right outside our door, whereas the pool was a bit of a walk away and down the hill by the office). 

There were recumbent bike rentals in several different sizes, and my husband and son made good use of these while we stayed - they rode three or four times. And the KOA is so large, there is plenty of space to ride, as well. There was also (upon request since we were in the odd season) a train that would take you around the park in the afternoons. And a mini golf course as well as an indoor game room with billiards and ping pong tables.

 And for Muffins, in addition to the whole of the park and plenty of things to sniff as we took her on walks, there were two fenced in dog areas for her to enjoy, with a great view of the hillside and farms across the way. And an outdoor dog wash - which did not have hot water though, so we only did that once - she cried because the water was cold, so that was that.

RV speak: all the sites (that we could see) were gravel and sand but not difficult to level on. There were full hookups with 50 AMP power. Oh, what a joy is having 50 whole AMPS of power after having been hooked up to our 20 amp house for months! We can run alltheappliances at once! (We don't.) We can do laundry, run the heater and cook at the same time! It's so wonderful to have those 50 AMPs, let me tell you. Even 30 AMP is a huge step up from not being able to run the washer and the heater at the same time. Or anything and the heater (laptops excluded).

 Oh, electricity, how we love having you! (And water and sewer, which is just grey water for us, but so important still). 

Also, the staff was friendly and always had a smile for the guests, and rode by several times a day to pick up trash and recycling from the sites, do general tidying and maintenance of the property. And yes, they did offer recycling - a great plus to us, because not a lot of parks do, at least in our brief experience. 

We enjoyed this particular KOA so much that we very seriously considered staying on an extra month and pushing the rest of our travel plans. But several repeated checks of the weather (like the refrigerator, maybe it's different now if we look again?) told us that no, it wasn't going to be this nice for another month, so it was time to roll down the road to the next place.

We were there in the off season, so we pretty much had the run of the place while we were there, and that works well for us. Kiddo doesn't like a lot of other humans around, because he finds it overstimulating, and he doesn't feel comfortable injecting himself into the unpredictability of group play. But on weekends and sometimes beyond there would be other kids there, and he did even start feeling okay about talking to some of them and even bouncing with them as well. That was pretty cool.

 We would absolutely stay there again, long term even. It has pretty much spoiled us for other KOAs and even other RV Parks, because when they say "family friendly" at a KOA, they really really mean it. If you're an RV family and you ever get the chance, stay there. It's not that far to Monterey or Santa Cruz, it's pretty darn easy to find organic groceries and sushi (we really really loved Ocean Sushi Deli in Monterey - it's a deli-style restaurant that serves sushi made by authentic Japanese sushi chefs), and there is so much great stuff to do, you will never get bored. KOAs vary widely by location, but this one is the one that will impress. 

Asilomar Beach in Pacific Grove, California

When we went to the Monarch Butterfly Santcuary in Pacific Grove, we knew we were right by the beach, so we decided to have a look while we were just right there.

We found ourselves on Asilomar Beach, which was as windy as it was beautiful. We climbed around on the rocks a bit, exploring and enjoying the view. 

At first the beach was sandy, but as we got closer to the water, it became instead of sand, remnents of seashells and pebbles and beach glass and rocks. 

We looked around and collected a few cool pebbles and shells. 

And then, just views.

And the wind washing the waves against the rocks.

Foliage, what I believe to be Aster. 

Information about the great tide pool.

Ocean meets sky.

Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary

One of the things we discovered while in Monterey was that there is a Monarch Butterfly Grove Sanctuary, where the Monarchs go to overwinter every year. From their website: 

Arriving in October, monarch butterflies cluster together on pine, cypress and eucalyptus trees in the Sanctuary. Their migration to Pacific Grove is so unique that Pacific Grove is nicknamed "Butterfly Town, U.S.A." The community has always welcomed the butterflies and advocated for their protection. Citizens of Pacific Grove voted to create an additional tax to create the Monarch Grove Sanctuary which is cared for by dedicated volunteers. 

 The Monarchs, like the bees, are a threatened species, so protecting them is incredibly important. Our planet needs the pollinators!

 The photos on the website are better than we could get with just a regular camera lens, but I'll show them to you anyway.

I particularly loved this, I kind of made my son put his face in here to appease my need to take a photo, but he was a trooper.

The monarchs come hang out in the eucalyptus and the cypress trees every year, essentially in the backyard of some of the residents - how lucky are those people! They get to live by this gorgeous beach AND they get to house the tens of thousands of Monarch Butterflies every year - what a treat!


There's a main area where there are docents to answer questions about the monarchs, and they have scopes that are pointed at the butterflies so you can see them better. Without the scopes, they're far away in really tall treetops and tend to look like clusters of leaves. See? Those things that look like leaves are the Monarchs. I promise.

If you look through the scope, they look like the photo below. This photo is from the website linked above. It was NOT taken by me, but by someone with much better camera equipment or possibly through the lens of the scope. I did see someone trying to do that with their camera phone while we were there. Why didn't I? Missed opportunity.

But it was still really cool to see them, since I haven't seen a proper Monarch butterfly that I can remember since my childhood in New Hampshire and in the Catskill Mountains. There was tons of milkweed there (a plant they need to be able to lay eggs), and so the Monarchs loved it. I wonder if it's all still there and if they still go. 


We weren't there very long, less than an hour. The short trail goes down thrugh the grove to a street below, so we just walked down and back up and looked through the scopes again, then chatted to the docents a little. It was a nice little quick stop, which was lucky for us because my son didn't have nearly as much patience for just hanging around looking through scopes as we did.

Still, the area is amazingly beautiful, and the neighborhood businesses have all embraced the Monarchs, as we saw them on signs everywhere as we drove in and out.  

RV Travel Life - The First Few Weeks

A travel update seems appropriate since we've been on the road a few weeks now.

Things that have happened while traveling thus far: 

1) Our windshield wipers stopped working while we were driving down the highway in the rain. (This had happened previously in the rain in the dark and we paid someone to fix them. But.)

2) The lower part of our passenger side mirror flew off on the highway. In a 40' RV you REALLY rely on the mirrors to drive.

3) We discovered our radiator hose was cracked and paid a guy to fix it. (Thank the goddess there are lots of traveling RV repair people, and the RV parks usually have a relationship with someone they can recommend. Also, our radiator needs replacing. So that's going to be fun to pay for. 

4) When pulling into the RV park a kiddo was asking us to blow the horn. We tried and discovered it didn't work. Something to do with the same issue as the wipers, perhaps? 

5) I-5 between Vacaville and Watsonville, CA is so jacked and raggedy that our curtain rod literally bounced out of its holder and fell onto the floor while we were driving. Several other things bounced out of place as well. We must have gotten spoiled by those smooth Oregon highways?

6) I had a strep flare-up while in our first park, which we liked so much it wasn't the worst place to be. I called upon my intuitive practitioner, Carolyn, who works with Anthony, the Medical Medium, and she had me up my sovereign silver, zinc, Vitamin C, lysine and drink copious amounts of honey lemon ginger tea, and it knocked it right out. 

Things that have been a delightful surprise thus far: 

Right now we've been driving through California during their off season for camping. This means it's been delightfully easy to find accommodations for us - well, as easy as researching on the internet (using rvparkreviews.com) where the decent places are, then booking, usually via the internet but sometimes via phone. 

The parks have also been accommodating about receiving packages and us changing our dates. In Weed, CA, we just got there too late to get any decent weather. It was cold, and we have not winterized our RV for cold. We were planning on staying a week, then maybe 4 days, and once we were there we left after a night - it was just way too cold for us to be comfortable, even with the extra space heater the office mamager lent us. We ended up paying for two nights, but because of their written policies it could have been for the whole week we'd have had to pay. Off season plus kind humans made that compromise, which we felt was fair and reasonable. 

We've gotten a Good Sam discount at every park we've stayed in thus far. Except the KOAs, which give a KOA discount. Both memberships pay for themselves after about 3 mights camping. Worth it. We do know about Thousand Trails, but we're  not sure we want to make that investment yet, and I haven't really seen TT parks in many of the locations we've been in. And when I have, the ratings on rvparkreviews.com are usually pretty low. 

The campground we're in now is a KOA and they have been most accommodating. Firstly, off season means we have everything to ourselves pretty much. For the first day or two there were a couple of other families here with us, but they've gone now and we own this place. There are long-term renters here somewhere, but they're nowhere close to us since we're in the playground area - and this park is huge. I'm sure we'll get more folks come the weekend, but right now it's ours.

They've been great at notifying us about everything. Off season also means maintenance, so they're doing something with the water that they told us about in advence so we wouldn't be showering or something when they had the water off and on. They are spraying for weeds (gah, don't get me started) and notified us of that. I'm highly allergic to most chemicals as you might know, so my husband called the ofice to see if maybe they could leave off spraying anywhere near us until after we leave. They spoke with the manager/owner and got back to us and said no problem, they won't spray near our site and the sites around it. While we can't ask them to not spray the park, we feel this is a reasonable compromise. And we'll be gone tomorrow when they do it, the RV will be locked up tight, and Muffins will go to her first doggie daycare. 

Speaking of Muffins, she is LOVING the life of a travel dog. She LOVES exploring each new stop, and it's gotten to the point where once she realizes we're stopping somewhere, even at a rest stop, during travel, she cannot WAIT to get out of the vehicle and go explore. She is in her element. She is loving all of the sand at this one - so many places to dig! And almost every park we've been in have had a dog run - a fenced area where she can go off leash and sniff all of the other dog scents that have been before her.

The kiddo has been loving almost having the park to ourselves. There might be one or two other kids at times, but that's a doable number for him - less intimidating and anxiety-producing. And right now staying someplace for a couple of weeks is nice for all of us. We can just relax a little bit, get some groceries, do some maintenance on the RV, get some things fixed, do some rearranging of the under storage areas, and get out the holiday decorations. And in between those things, we'll go see some really cool stuff, and I'll tell you about that another day. But right now we're feeling pretty good about this travel life, and are looking forward to more adventures to come!