As we gathered our stuff and prepared to leave Malibu, Tiffany noticed a man walking by her wearing a wild pair of jeans, covered in tapestry patches, and commented, “Nice pants,” as he walked by. He stopped, saying, “Thanks,” as his girlfriend stepped out of her RV, parked right next to ours. Tiff had noticed this woman the last few days, dressed in an eclectic mix of clothes in a wide variety of colors and materials, liking her style. The woman looked at Tiff and commented, “I like your pants,” to her and turned to her boyfriend, saying, “Did I make those?” As it turns out, she did indeed make the pants. She is a designer, both clothes and furniture, from a small town near Austin, Texas.

She asked Tiff where we were from and was surprised when she was told Santa Cruz. “So where did you get the pants?” she said. Tiff told her about finding them in Santa Fe and the two of them started talking clothes. Apparently, her clothes are sold pretty much only in Texas and New Mexico, so it was really odd for her to see them out in the world elsewhere. The pants are very bloomer-like, a style Tiff wears quite often, and she told the woman, Robin, about some others our friend Amber made her. Well, off to our RV they went to look at Tiff’s other pants. By the time they came out, Robin was exclaiming how much she liked our RV and that her boyfriend John had to take a look. As it turns out, they had just bought the Airstream trailer they were in (the big silver bullet kind) to completely redo for an article in Country Living magazine. She took Tiff over to her trailer and proceeded to give her another pair of bloomers and a skirt to go with it. Robin and John are on their way to Alameda for a big antique show, so we told them that we would love to have them stop by and hang out if they come to Santa Cruz. What a great, impromptu meeting! It is amazing how many wonderful people we’ve met on the trip and even more awe inspiring to look at some of the chance encounters we’ve had, seeing our friend Liz in Boulder and running into my student in Austin. It is a small, small world, even though it seems rather large.

After saying our goodbyes, we loaded up and got on the road, the last leg of our journey. We drove up the Pacific Coast Highway, enjoying the spectacular views of the Pacific along this mostly deserted stretch of highway, until we got to Oxnard. We stopped for gas, then headed for Highway 101, which had was detoured, so we drove through town, following the signs, until we came to a dead end (nice to have a detour that leads to a dead end!) Looking for an escape that didn’t include unhooking the car and backing up, Tiff navigated me through a parking lot to another street. We then found more detour signs and followed them to the freeway, where we found the entrance closed and another set of signs leading us on. We continued, looking for more directions, and wound our way in a giant circle, back to the road we had originally been on, getting on the freeway there, never needing to do the detour in the first place. Well, at least we got a tour of Oxnard.

We powered up the 101, stopping only one more time for gas (having used so much touring Oxnard) and pushed on through Salinas, into Santa Cruz County. As we started passing familiar sights, we all started getting a bit excited and nervous. Olivia began to chatter incessantly, her nervousness coming out through speech. When we turned up White Road, we all got quiet. Meandering up the winding, narrow road, we didn’t encounter another car, which was a blessing, given the size of the RV. We turned onto Calabasas and spied our driveway. Slowly turning up (remembering to hug the side to accommodate the RV) we all smiled as we saw the house! We were home! Stopping the RV in the driveway, we walked hand in hand up to the front of the house to experience returning as a one. We were home! As we walked in the door, it was both familiar and strange at the same time. We were home! The kids went to their rooms, looking for their toys and lives left behind. Tiffany and I walked around the house, lost in its size, then went upstairs and flopped on the bed. We were home!

After unhooking the car from the RV, we called into town to order some Thai food (since both the house and RV refrigerators were empty (we’d been eating at grandma’s, not in the RV for days)) and off I went to pick it up. It was really strange to be driving around town, feeling both like I’d never left and hadn’t been here in forever.

We’ve come full circle finally. Back to the beginning. But in returning, we are not the people who left here so many months ago. Our lives have changed.

Most people would think we would be glad to get home (we are) and get out of the RV, but to tell you the truth, we loved living in the RV. Yes, it was small and finding privacy could be hard, but we got really close (literally and figuratively) in that diminished space. For over seven months, our lives have been truly centered around each other. While we have seen friends and family along the way, it’s been mostly just the four of us, working out how to be a family, loving and supporting each other, getting to know each other in ways that would never be possible at home. We are closer now than we have ever been. That’s not to say that we didn’t have fights or difficulties, we had plenty. But in our small home on wheels, when issues came up, there was no pushing them under the rug or ignoring them, and anything that did come up had to be discussed and resolved right away. We were to close to each other, literally, to be able to afford to hold any anger or resentment for any length of time. Our ability to resolve issues became much better and stronger as the trip progressed. We are a much tighter family returning home than when we left.

Our trip across the country opened our eyes to the world we live in, seeing sights that range from the craziness and spectacles of places like Las Vegas, Key West, and New Orleans, to the amazing splendor of Bryce Canyon, Puerto Rico, and Carlsbad Caverns. Eli and Olivia (actually all of us) have had a learning experience that cannot be duplicated in any school or classroom. They’ve touched the world in a different way and drank in all it had to offer.

On some level, stepping away from our lives for so long was a crazy departure from normallacy, we had rethink the way we interacted with our world. Sometimes the littlest things were the most challenging. Just finding a grocery store (more often than not, a health food store) or figuring out how to fill prescriptions (Walgreens can access prescriptions across the country, Target needs to transfer them between locations) could be quite a task. We had to grow accustomed to constantly transitioning from one location to another, finding out what each town had to offer once we arrived. One learning experience for all of us was to get good at meeting people quickly. Sometimes we only had a day, or even a few hours, with a new friend or acquaintance, so we had to make the most of it. We also became pretty skilled at pulling information from locals on the best places to visit, whether it was sights to see or places to eat, we could quickly discern whether they were recommending someplace that made sense for our family.

Technologically, the Internet and our GPS were two invaluable tools during our entire adventure. Being able to get online and research which RV park we should stay at (rvparkreviews.com) or looking up times for shows or museums made things really easy when we were rolling into a new town. Once we got there, we never needed to buy a local map, since the GPS could lead us almost anywhere (most of the places where it didn’t work well were too small to need a map or major directions).

With all of the issues we had mechanically along the way, I have to say that the RV and the Subaru both performed astoundingly well. As the salesman told me when we bought the RV, “Remember, you are taking your house through a 6.5 earthquake every time you move the RV.” We did have our fair share of crazy and annoying broken items (the drawer that kept coming out when we made a sharp turn annoyed us to the end, rebuilding the night shade in the living room was a major pain in the butt and the broken refrigerator door while at Disney World proved to be quite a challenge to get fixed), but all in all, the RV was awesome and the Subaru was the perfect car to have along for our journey.

In retrospect, I probably would have picked an RV with more permanent sleeping quarters for the kids (either bunk beds or a cab over queen) and would definitely choose diesel next time (going over the Rockies at 15 mph was a bit slow), but as they say, hindsight is 20/20 (who are they and why do they keep saying that?).

It was amazing how many people we met who were so supportive of the adventure we had chosen for our family. Over and over again we heard, “God, I wish I could do that!” or “Take me with you.” Having met quite a few families, both on the road and online, doing the same thing we did, we know that anyone who really wants to can make the same dream come true. It just depends on what you are willing to or need to sacrifice to make it happen. The most basic thing we had to let go of was our friends and family, which was a huge challenge in the beginning, then lessoned for a little while, but came back like gangbusters near the end of the trip. Today, we took Olivia to Orchard School to spend the day, and while it was weird being back, it was so wonderful to be embraced by all of the people we love in Santa Cruz. We were home!

I think one of the most important things I need to say while beginning to wrap up our trip (it will take quite a while to really feel complete) is Thank You to everyone who loved and supported us through our epic journey. Having people tell us how much they loved and missed us and cherished our journey and appreciated being able to follow our lives through the blog, helped keep our spirits high and our focus strong. We knew we had a wonderful home to return to and special people who cared about what we were doing.

This has been the experience of a lifetime! I asked Tiffany the other day if the trip met her expectations and she said, “It far exceeded them in every way!” Mission accomplished!

We’ve made it across and back again, and though we didn’t see quite a bit of the country (we’ll have to get back out there sometime in the future, at least to fill up the map), the parts we did see were awesome! One of the most interesting things we discovered is that most times when someone said, “Oh, you won’t like it there at all,” we had a great time, wherever that was. I think it’s because we didn’t have an agenda or a limited time to explore, so even the funky places were pretty cool.

As the trip comes to an end (it will be a while unpacking all the boxes we sent home, so it won’t really end for a while), we hope you enjoyed following along as we toured and adventured our way across this beautiful country. Thank you all so much for your support, well wishes and concern!

Through all of this, our lives have been enriched, our eyes have been opened, and our hearts have been enlarged. We return home, blessed by the fabulous adventure that we undertook. What a great thing to have taken on! I’m glad Tiffany had such a great dream and we decided to go along with her for the journey!

“Life, to be alive, is a blessing!”
- Ronald Trustman

Peace,

David

After waking everyone rather early yesterday, we drove from Malibu to Burbank, expecting LA’s dreaded traffic to swallow us up whole. We were pleasantly surprised to find the freeway fairly empty and drove the entire 35 miles without delay. We arrived at Cartoon Network with time to spare.

After being buzzed in the front door, we found ourselves in a waiting room with cartoon character statues of Billy and Mandy standing guard at the entrance. After a short wait, my friend April walked in the door, flanked by her boyfriend Artt and her ex-husband James (who works at Cartoon Network and was scheduled to give us a tour). I’ve known April since high school, working on the school show together, and we’ve been friends ever since. She currently works doing voices for two hit cartoons, South Park and El Tigre, as well as a slew of video games and ads.

After retrieving his morning coffee, James led us through the ground floor, showing us a few of the sights, drawings of various characters and a classic cartoon storyboard. He led us to one of the recording studios, where voice actors were in session, and took us inside to watch the actors at work. We got to meet and listen to Tara Strong working on a new cartoon, due out in November, called Chowder. Tara amazed the kids with her wild voices and further blew their minds when she started listing the characters she currently voices, which include, Timmy on Fairly Odd Parents, Dil Pickles on Rugrats, Ben 10 on Ben 10, and Bubbles on Powerpuff Girls.

From the recording studio, we headed upstairs to go through all the steps in the animation process. We met one of the directors, who showed us how he creates direction on the story boards, to let the animators and voice actors know exactly what he wants them to do and when, down to the number of frames each action will take. He gave Eli tips on how to create his own claymation stop motion animations. Very Cool!

We continued on to the background artists, who showed us an example of a background he was creating, actually inking in a physical drawing that will be sent to the color artists, who scan the image into a computer and colorize it digitally using Photoshop. We also met a character artist, who showed us how he draws a character directly into the computer using a monitor that is also a pen tablet, allowing him to sketch directly onto the computer screen.

In one room, one of the editors showed us how she finishes a cartoon, preparing it to send out for airing. We got to watch part of a new cartoon that hadn’t been released yet. In another room, we were shown pre-production editing, where the storyboard is input into a computer and matched with the vocal recording, allowing a director to get a feel for the flow of a cartoon before sending it to the animators.

James also introduced us to one of the cartoon creators at the network, who talked to us about the process of dreaming up and selling a new cartoon. By the end of the tour, we had seen and heard all the intricate steps necessary to make a cartoon come to life, a process that usually takes nine months or more from start to finish.

Of all the things I noticed on the tour, the best was how awesome a place to work this seems to be. Everyone seemed really happy here, laughing and smiling all the time. Talking to the cartoon creator, we were told that basically everyone who works here has to be a 10 year old in a grown ups body, which explained the mounds of candy on every floor and the video game machines that littered the office. What a way to spend your day, creating fun and comedy for kids, laughing and playing the whole time. Not that this isn’t a serious business, but it can’t loose its playfulness in the process. This is what I want to do when I grow up!

After the wonderful tour, (thanks April) we went over to Studio City to meet Artt and April at a little Chinese restaurant (Chin Chin) that is next door to the studio where Art works. Artt does vocal direction at a voice over studio (he had to leave lunch early to go record a demo). After a wonderful lunch catching up on old times and new ones, we stopped by the studio to say goodbye. Art was still busy recording, but we got to meet Alice Cooper, who had been recording something in the studio, preparing for his new tour.

We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming at grandma’s house and went for a wonderful dinner with my friend Didi, getting to catch up on more happenings in Lala land. All in all, it was a pretty fabulous day!

Peace,

David

While LA is not my favorite place on earth, driving down the Pacific Coast Highway is one pretty spot. The road twists and turns, with the Pacific pounding waves against the beach all along the way. We pass many of my old hang outs, fun beaches full of empty volleyball courts, waiting for the weather to clear enough to entice people down to the beach. We turn up Sunset Boulevard, following its meandering route up to Pacific Palisades to Grandma’s house. By the time we arrived, we were all starving and ready to search out a bit of lunch.

After a little discussion, we settled on Junior’s, a deli on Westwood Boulevard. This place has been an institution for as long as I can remember. It really is like going home for me, as the first house I remember living in is on the same block. As a child, I can recall walking here from my Grandparent’s shop, which was also on the same block. Though the décor has been updated a little over forty years, it’s still the same restaurant. As we ease into our booth, the busboy shuffles up to deposit sliced pickles and sauerkraut on the table (both of which Olivia is eager to devour). For me, comfort food doesn’t get any better than this! We all order our favorites, including Kasha Varnishkas (buckwheat with noodles), Noodle Kugel (a sweet noodle pie), Matzo Ball soup, Fried Matzo (a pancake of matzo and egg), Chopped Liver (my all time favorite), and Potato Latkes (pancakes of potato and onion). Sitting in the restaurant, looking out the window, I can see my whole childhood here rolling by, riding my bike down the street, stopping in the stores. I remember going to the Von’s market across the street (long since replaced by the giant Westside Pavilion Mall) to trade in bottles for change to buy candy.

After lunch, we have to circle the block (no left turns from here), passing by my old house. I show the kids the tree I spent my days climbing and the garage where I played endless hours of wallball. The house looks the same as it did thirty years ago.

We headed off to Culver City in search of a shoe store for Tiffany, then go the opposite direction to find one for Olivia (she’s gone through three shoe sizes while we’ve been on the road).

We spend the rest of the afternoon at Grandma’s, swimming our time away in the warmth of the pool (contrary to normal weather in LA, we’re here for a nice cold spell, but the water is nice and warm).

In the evening, Grandma takes the time to teach Olivia and Tiffany how to make matzo meal pancakes, while Eli films the entire process on our new video camera. Eli and Olivia have decided to attempt to create an Internet based cooking show for kids. It seems like a great idea, we’ll see how it goes.

This morning, we are scheduled to meet my friend April for a tour of Cartoon Network, which should be a blast.

Peace,

David

When we arrived at The Gardens restaurant, in Westwood, we knew we were a bit early for the party, but thought it would be nice to see my grandma before everyone else showed up. My mother had brought her well before the time for the party, so she could get acclimated to the place and not come in to a giant room full of people. As I sat down next to her, my grandma looked over and I said hi. I don’t think she recognized me at first, but then a big smile crossed her face and as she said hi back, I knew she had realized who I was.

Within a half hour, the room started filling up with all my aunts and uncles and cousins of all ages. We decided to take a spot at the “kids table” with Ben and Yona, their kids, my cousin Suzie and her husband and two kids, as well as my cousin Merle, in from Boston, who we had seen while we were in Connecticut in December. We had a fabulous time hanging out with the kids and visiting with everyone. My cousin Dina had flown in from Maryland for the party, which meant we had now seen her three times on the trip; in LA last September, Maryland in December, and now back in LA. Pretty darn cool!

We got to see a few cousins who I hadn’t seen in many years, catching up on the long time between visits. I also got to sit down with Clela, who had started working for my grandpa back when his business had been housed in the family garage, almost fifty years ago. She stayed with the business after my grandparents sold it to my godfather, Alan, and still works there in the new facility out in Oxnard. I remember seeing Clela whenever I would visit the business, a daily occurrence, which was housed just around the corner from where I grew up, literally on the same block.

The party was a nice celebration of my grandma’s amazing journey through 100 years, though I think it was a bit overwhelming for her, as she is definitely not used to this level of commotion or this number of people being around at one time. We all sang a rousing version of “Happy Birthday,” twice, once for her 100th celebration and a second time for my niece, Mariposa’s 2nd birthday, a nice coincidence.

After the party, we went to the hotel where my mom was staying and let the cousins all swim together for a while. My mom and Phil headed out to dinner with his cousins, but we decided to head out with my cousins Carla and Merle from Connecticut, and Arlene and Larry, who live in LA. We had a great dinner at a little Chinese place, Hop Li, on Santa Monica Boulevard. Larry and I had a great time talking Photoshop during dinner. He showed us his latest work, a storybook version of Shrek III that just came out, done completely using Photoshop. I’ve been really working with this program since we’ve been on the road, so it was really fun to talk to someone who has so much more experience using it than I do. (Boring for everyone else, but they got to talk amongst themselves.)

All in all, it was a wonderful day and a beautiful event. What an amazing accomplishment to reach 100 years! We should all be so blessed.

Peace,

David

Here we are, back in Los Angeles. What a trip? It was really weird to drive along the Pacific Ocean after so many months away.

Thursday night, we went over to Grandma Blossom’s house for a little while, then took her out to dinner to one of our favorite spots in Brentwood, A Votre Sante. It is a small eatery that serves up healthy food and is a great place to look for movie stars (Sissy Spacek walked in while we were eating this time). After dinner, we got back to Grandma’s house to find water running down the driveway, as the hot tub was overflowing. She had asked the pool man to heat the pool for all the kids coming this weekend and he apparently had set the valves up wrong. We got it straightened out fairly quickly.

Friday, we went back to Grandma’s and spent the day in the swimming pool, loving spending the day in the warm, southern-California afternoon. Ben and Yona flew in with the kids late in the day, as did my mom and step-dad. They had made reservations at our favorite Italian Restaurant, La Scala Presto (where we eat every time we are in LA). We had a great meal, catching up on what’s been going on since we last saw them in New York in December, while enjoying the best chopped salad and spaghetti bologese on the planet (I may be a bit jaded on this one, but I’ve never had anyone try these dishes at this restaurant who didn’t rave about them).

We ended up sending Olivia with Ben and Yo to their hotel, to spend the night with her cousin Arella, while Adrian came with us to spend the night in the RV. Our first sleepovers in months!

Yesterday, we went over to Grandma’s for a huge pool party. My cousin Meredith showed up with her husband and two kids, as did my great aunts and uncles, and a few of my cousins. We had a great time visiting with everyone, swimming, and looking at pictures. We had just seen everyone at Grandma’s 90th birthday party a month ago, but really enjoyed having some more relaxed time together. The kids were in the water all day, while the adults sat around and talked, and got a little time in hula hoping (Go Marlene).

After the day at the pool, we met my mom and step-dad for dinner in Westwood. Joining us were my cousin Carla and her daughter Merle, who we had seen at their place in Connecticut in December. It is so cool to see people again who we met while we were out on the road. Everyone is in town for my Grandma Gizi’s 100th birthday, which is today. It should be a great family get together.

Peace,

David

Well, it finally happened! After almost eight months on the road, we crossed the border back into California today! Along the drive, we decided to bypass Desert Hot Springs (our original thought for the day) and drove straight from Phoenix all the way to Malibu! We are staying at the RV park that was our first stop on the entire trip, our only repeat along the way. It’s really weird to be back in California and very dejavuish to be in the park that we started in so many months ago.

We made really good time from Phoenix and hit almost no traffic through the craziness of Los Angeles freeways. Yeah team!!

Peace,

David

We’ve had a nice couple of days here in Phoenix. After doing our domestic chores, shopping and cleaning, we spent the afternoon at the pool lounging around in the warmth of Tuesday. It’s great to be back in really warm weather. In the early evening, we saddled up the Subaru and took off to Scottsdale. Driving north of the town, we followed directions until we found Suzie, Andy, and Dean’s house (Suzie is my step dad’s sister, who I’ve known since I was eleven). We hadn’t seen them in quite a few years (Dean was just a little tyke last time we saw him. Now he’s a full on teenager (13). Crazy!) We had a wonderful time visiting and Suzie cooked us up a dinner that was just out of this world. So good, in fact, that we have to email her to get the recipes for everything she made us (Caprese salad (with avocado and potato added to the mozzarella and tomato), Moroccan chicken in phylo pastry, Mac and Cheese, creamed spinach, sesame snap peas, it was all delicious!) We sat on their back porch, in the warmth of the evening, enjoying the company and the awesome food. We also had a great time touring the house to see all of Suzie’s outstanding artwork, loving every painting she showed us. (I’ve still got to work out wrangling one from her!)

Yesterday, we spent the morning catching up on schoolwork, getting both kids going in their new math books and working on some writing. While we’ve been visiting a number of museums and national parks/monuments the last couple of weeks, their math and English work has taken a back seat. After school, we went back to the pool for some major play time, swimming the day away and meeting another family who have been on the road just a bit longer than we have. They are settling down in the Phoenix area so that their 16 year-old, who just finished high school, can go to a music recording school here. It was pretty cool to compare notes with him on where they had been and what their favorite spots were. (He loved New Orleans and they stayed in the same park we had).

Late in the day, the UPS truck showed up, delivering the new brake system for the car (we broke the last one during our brake debacle on the road from Williams/Flagstaff). With that part, we are now ready to get back on the road. We met Elsa, Greg, and Lana at a little Italian place for dinner. Lana had finally brought her husband Brian and their two kids, Jameson and Alexis, for us to meet. Olivia had a great time playing with and babysitting the kids while we ate dinner. It was really wonderful to get one more evening to catch up with all of them. There are stories I’ve told people for years that only Elsa and I remember, and getting to share those memories with her was so much fun. We have to make sure we don’t have as long an interval between visits with them!

This morning, we will be on the road, making one of the biggest transitions of the entire trip. We will be crossing the border, back into California! Unbelievable!! We’re almost home!!!

Peace,

David

P.S. – We got an email yesterday that had an interesting piece of trivia attached that I wanted to pass on to everyone. At three minutes and four seconds after 2 AM on the 6th of May this year, the time and date will be 02:03:04 05/06/07. Pretty cool, huh?

Situating myself upon this enchanting land, I consciously breathe, allowing the distant city, shops and restaurants to tumble off me as I quiet the chatter in my head. Settled and present, I arrive. If you listen with your heart, the land of the Southwest has a story to tell. The Mother is powerful here. Pray to her and she will unveil her mysterious secrets that are embraced deep within her cracked and parched bosom. She will expose her wisdom, freeing her medicine and providing all we may yearn for. Remember, respect, believe and celebrate her undying generosity.

The wind is like a mischievous child, howling through the canyons, swirling about, gathering pebbles, sticks, tumbleweed and red dust. When he is finally unable to hold back the anticipation any longer, he catapults his loot, pelting innocent, unsuspecting explorers. In the city, he also strikes, boldly lifting the colorful skirts of women and playfully rustling through children’s hair and making a menace of the daily life of the townspeople, all the while howling with laughter. But, if you are still and listen carefully, this mischievous menace will whisper the sacred songs of love, courage and peace as he carefully sweeps and cleanses the earth. Looking up, he encourages the hawks, ravens and vultures to dance and fly their graceful acrobatics in the sky.

Mountains jut abruptly from the earth, curiously towering overhead, begging to be explored. Standing in one place, you sense the earth changing right before your eyes. It seems impossible at first but while staring at the grey mountain with trees sprinkled across it, a cloud floats by and changes the color of the mountain completely. In disbelief, you remember that the mountain had just been grey, but now it is orange and pink, or had it blue and purple. Oh, how the magic is alive here. With awe thrust upon you, you search for meaning and understand why this land was so sacred to the ancient people.

The magnificent blue sky and white wispy clouds serve as a humble backdrop for these incredible mounds of earth. Without introduction, the clouds quickly gather together forming huge ominous black clouds that hold the life sustaining water that this arid land so desperately needs. Within minutes, the heavens open up, sending a deluge of water crashing down, bathing the Earth and bring to life the cacti, trees, and animals. The dry cracked creek beds are suddenly swollen with water. The people rejoice, saying, “Ah! This will help. We really needed this water. We have been praying.” With the Mother cleansed she smiles with rainbows. Not just a spectacular rainbow but double and triple rainbows, so thick and clear that you can count all the different colors. Were that really 21 bands of color? Unbelievably I saw a rainbow lying sideways across the vast mountain range before me. Gasping and yelling for the kids to see, I said a little prayer of thanks.

I recognize the great artists that have come here before me, as I look into their works of love, I see the answers they were compelled to explain. I feel Georgia O’Keefe everywhere in these mountains. I hear her calling to me. She whispers to me in places I did not know existed, waking me up and pulling me closer toward the aching places inside, that yearn to be explored, exposed and released. Like a possessed artist, being commanded by spirit, I photograph everything I see and I write until the wee hours of the morning, afraid that if I do not bow down to the energy that is being thrust towards me, I will somehow forget or that my memories will become clouded and will fade. I want to remember this beauty before me. I have to remember it all, as I incorporated it deeply within my bones and my soul. They call this area, The Land of Enchantment. I humbly give thanks and praise for this opportunity to explore and to be awoken to this incredible land.

With a thankful heart,

Tiffany

Sunday morning, we got a call from my friend Elsa (Ann to everyone in Phoenix), checking in to see if we wanted to go out to breakfast. As we were talking, she mentioned that her sister-in-law, Tanya, and brother-in-law, Dan, were in town and staying in their RV. She started to wonder if we were in the same park and asked what site we were in. When I said “405,” she asked her husband, Greg, what site Tanya and Dan were staying, he replied, “403.” I looked out the window as Elsa asked me if I could see a Cardinal 5th wheel. Sure enough, it was the next RV over. Laughing at the craziness of the coincidence (there are a ton of RV parks in the Phoenix area, so the odds of both being in one park, next to each other no less, was astronomical) I told Elsa to come on over. I jumped out of the RV and immediately knocked on Dan and Tanya’s door. Dan came wearily to the door, wondering who could possibly be knocking first thing Sunday morning. “Dan,” I said, when he opened the door. “Yes,” he said, thoroughly confused that some stranger was at his door and knew his name. “I’m David,” I said, but his face showed no recognition of the name, “Greg and Ann told me to come over and say good morning.” “Oh, that David,” he said, realizing who I was and laughing when I told him we were parked right next door. He called Tanya over and we had a nice little early morning visit (I had met Tanya eleven years ago, but had no memory of the meeting during Elsa’s 40th birthday party.)

Greg and Elsa (Ann) showed up a little while later and we all had a good laugh at the craziness and small world working its magic, putting the two RV’s so close. Dan and Tanya decided to pass on breakfast, but promised we see them later at the party we were all going to (it was NASCAR weekend in Phoenix and a bunch of Greg and Elsa’s friends were getting together to finish off their car racing couple days.) We had a great breakfast at a little diner close by, catching up on eleven years of not seeing each other.

After breakfast, Elsa had some work to do, so we headed back to the RV park to sit out by the pool and enjoy some long awaited warmth. The kids were in the water long enough to get their fingers wrinkled down to the bone, loving every minute of it.

In the evening, we hopped in the car to head over to Elsa and Greg’s new house, then moved on to Tom and Cindy’s for a little pizza party. We had a great time hanging out with everyone, spending most of the warm evening in the backyard (wow, its been too long since we had a warm evening to enjoy.) We had brought a couple of my big hula hoops for the kids to play with and got pretty much everyone at the party to give one a try (we can teach anyone can hula one of my hoops!) Greg was a champ working it until he was walking across the yard while spinning the hoop.

             

Monday morning, I was all set to leave at the crack of dawn to get the Subaru into the dealer to have the brakes checked out, but when I opened my wallet, I found I had left my driver’s license at Kinko’s, while I was copying it to send into Arizona Traffic School (I got a ticket for my part in the accident in Flagstaff). Knowing they wouldn’t rent me a car without my license, I had to wake up the entire family at 6 a.m. to go to the dealership. After dropping off the car and getting a rental, we went out for breakfast and headed back to Kinko’s. Once we had retrieved my license, we moved on to the Arizona Science Museum to see Body World’s, something that has been on my list of things to do since we started the trip.

Body World’s was started by a German doctor, who discovered a technique, which enabled him to “plasticize” any system in the body of a deceased person, after which he introduces an enzyme that removes anything that wasn’t plasticized. Later, the bodies are posed into a desired position and subjected to a gas that hardens the plastic, creating life statues that can be used for medical study. The exhibitions are just a small part of his work, trying to educate the general public to the workings of the human body. While it may sound morbid or disturbing, it is one of the most amazing things any of us have ever seen! All the bodies used are volunteered, with participants understanding exactly how their bodies will be used after they die. It was unbelievable to be able to look at muscle structures of athletes posed in action, with the muscles stretched and straining, as they would be in life. We got to study vascular systems and organs, the brain and spinal chord, and skeletal systems of real people. After the first couple of displays, any feeling of strangeness wore off and we were all completely fascinated by the incredible display of the human form and function. We all highly recommend this exhibit, a must see if it is anywhere nearby (there are shows running in Dallas and Chicago right now as well).

In the evening, we met Elsa, her dad, Dick (who I haven’t seen in forever), Lana, and Tom and Cindy for dinner at their favorite Mexican hang out. We had a great time, continuing the conversations from the night before and enjoying some great Mexican food.

Peace,

David

After a week of craziness, the accident, replacing the car, and getting it ready to tow, Saturday morning we were all set to take off for Phoenix. We drove out early, planning on making a stop about half way to visit Javier (Coogie) and Diane, Tiff’s Uncle and Aunt, who are RVing it around the U.S. When we stopped at their RV park in Cottonwood, I went to unhook the car and found that the breakaway switch that activates the “Brake Buddy” (a toaster sized box that activates the brakes on the car when we apply the brakes on the motorhome. The breakaway is supposed to activate if the car separates from the motorhome) had popped out and the brakes on the car were stuck on. I’m not sure how many miles we had towed with the brakes applied, but it was long enough to put some good groves into the front brakes on the Subaru. Apparently, the brakes weren’t being applied enough to stop the car from rolling, just enough to burn the brakes. CRAP! (Note to self: Remember to pull over and check the brake set up after pulling out to make sure nothing is hung up or disconnected. Oh yah, I did do that. Now what?)

Coogie and I checked it out and decided that the brakes would still work, though we would definitely need to get them fixed once we got to Phoenix (I managed to get in touch with the Subaru dealer there and get a 7 a.m. appointment, Monday morning).

We spent a couple hours with Coogie and Diane, catching up on what we had all been up to since we had seen them in Puerto Rico. Once we got back to their RV park, we went to hook the car back up and found that the Brake Buddy was fried. Its air compressor would fill and get the message to apply the brakes, but it couldn’t depress the pedal at all. DOUBLE CRAP!!

We decided that it wasn’t safe to tow the car without it being able to brake, as the drive from Cottonwood to Phoenix was mostly downhill, so Tiffany got in the Subaru and followed me down to Phoenix. Along the way, I made some calls and worked out getting a replacement unit shipped from the RV dealer in Petaluma who sold us the coach. The rest of the drive I spent talking to Tiff’s dad, my brother, and step mom, who, between the three of them, helped get me to the point where I could laugh about our crazy luck, rather than scream. Thanks!!!

Pulling into the RV park in North Phoenix around 3:30 p.m., we were just done for the day. We hung around the park for a little while, calling the people we are planning to visit while here, then drove over to PF Chang’s for dinner (we didn’t have the will or the energy to try to find a unique Phoenix restaurant, just settling for something we knew would be good). After a some delicious Chinese food, we were headed back for the RV, when Tiff spied a movie theater in a mall just off the highway. We pulled off and found a huge, thirty-theater complex. Hoping to see something funny (we were due for a good laugh by the end of this day), we found that “Blades of Glory” was just about to start, so we parked the car and got tickets in time for the show. It was just stupid and outlandish enough to get us all really belly laughing, helping to shake off another crazy day on the road.

Peace,

David