Life Adjustments

Wow, we didn’t realize how long it had been since our last post. Let us fill you in on what we did in 2019 (spoiler alert – it was a doozy).

When we last posted, Bev was starting her job at Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Area and we were living in our RV at a mobile home park. We were also working on trying to meet the needs of Bev’s mom. We realized the place she was living could not provide the daily help she required. After much soul-searching, we started looking for a house for the three of us to move into. The price of rentals was out of the question. Way too costly. We decided to buy a home instead. It took several months, but in August, we finally found a home that would work for us…with modifications, of course.

Moving two households took quite a bit of logistics. First we had to move our stuff from Beau, our RV. But before that we had to find a suitable place to store him. Fortunately we found an indoor space (yay). We offloaded our belongings, moved them to the house, and now Beau is safely tucked away. A trickle charge flows through his electronic system, while he quietly awaits our return.

Next up, a quick trip back to Colorado to retrieve our belongings from storage. Returning to Dayton, we unpacked and began hunting for furniture. We had sold everything in 2016 not knowing that we would have a need for it three years later. Furniture bought, (thank you Wayfair, you did have what we needed) we turned to remodeling the house for our new roommate – mom. Finally, we packed-up and moved mom and her belongings. It took two very hectic months to accomplish. We are eternally grateful to Bev’s sister who came to our rescue and helped us during this period.

Since then it hasn’t been all smooth sailing . We had a huge adjustment to make. Going from being on the road, fulltime, to stick-n-bricks again takes some mental and emotional gymnastics. We do miss being on the road, exploring this great country, but in light of the pandemic this year, it is probably just as well we are stationary. In addition, we’ve had to wrap our heads around the fact that we are now caregivers for an aging parent.

As we settle in, we hope to do some day-trips to historic and natural sites in the area. With the pandemic, those plans will have to wait. In the meantime, we’ll be working on writing up interesting articles on the things we have learned about the Wright Brothers, Paul Laurence Dunbar, bicycle racing, early aviators, and Dayton’s history. That should keep us busy until we can start going out to explore.

Thanks to all our readers who have stuck with us, even as we fell into a silent virtual hole. You rock!

No, we didn’t fall off the earth…

Just a quick memo as to what in the heck we have been up to this year.

We returned to Ohio in December, if you remember from our last blog entry. It was a long but uneventful drive from Arizona to Dayton, Ohio. We saw a quirky Road Runner statue made out of trash in Las Cruces, New Mexico and we stayed at our first Army Corps of Engineers campground outside of Little Rock, Arkansas. That was a real treat.  Too bad we only stayed one night. After that, we found ourselves having to adjust to a new reality which involves taking care of family as part of our normal day-to-day life. So we parked Beau, our RV, caught up on some repairs, then skirted him as we settled in for the winter. As the temperatures dropped, the wind picked up, and snow fell we received some news that entailed starting a new adventure.

This statue of a Road Runner is made out of trash (sneakers, electronics, car parts). Its 20 feet high and 40 feet long. You can find it on I-10 E at the rest stop outside Las Cruces.
Road Runner statue made out of trash. Statue is 20 feet high, 40 feet long. Artist is Olin Calk.
The eye is a Volkswagen Beetle headlight.
You can see keyboards, some car parts, a horse cutout, sneakers. Fascinating.
Huge campsite on a lake.
Three days working on the skirting in freezing temps. Ugh. But it looks like it will work.

What’s that new adventure? Well the exciting news is Bev has been hired as an Interpretive Park Ranger for the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park! It is a six month appointment and fulfills a childhood dream. We have always thought it would be pretty cool to be a Park Ranger. Now Bev will have first hand knowledge and experience. We visited this particular national park a year ago and wrote about it on my Facebook page. Due to space concerns, I was pretty light on the history side of the post.  Now, with Bev working there, expect to have fun reading about the history of the Wright Brothers, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Dayton, Ohio as we explore in our blog all she is learning from her work.  Stay tuned for those posts.

Big travel plans are off the table for the near term, but we are still planning on visiting national park sites in Ohio. The Hopewell Culture National Monument is not too far away as well as the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument. After that we plan on visiting other sites in Ohio and neighboring states. So stay with us as we work on a new schedule to fit our current situation. As always, “Happy Trails,” till we post again.

 

A Sonoran Sojourn

After our visit to Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, we headed a bit further south to Tucson. Our goal here was to visit the Saguaro National Park. While here, we started learning a lot about the Sonoran Desert. It was pretty interesting to discover. Some of what we learned related to the places we visited earlier in the year. And we found that the next stop, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument was also in the Sonoran Desert. Continue reading “A Sonoran Sojourn”

The Big House

While we were in Ohio for the month of October we used the time to do a few minor repairs on our RV. When we had the RV in for service, we were told (and shown) the ignition electrode for our refrigerator was in need of replacement. But it was going to take the shop 3 days just to get the part. They were nice enough to give us the part number and we ordered it online. After looking at YouTube videos on refrigerator repairs, we got the tools out and in 15 minutes, had the part replaced. Yay! Continue reading “The Big House”

Lake Michigan and Sand Dunes

Our last stop on the way to Michigan was the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore which is on the southern edge of Lake Michigan. There is also the Indiana Sand Dunes State Park in the middle of the national park. It is not a contiguous park as there are several parts that are separated from the main section. This park encompasses a variety of habitats to see and learn about. The eco systems represented here are: lakes, beach, dunes, interdunal, marsh, swamp, savanna, prairie, rivers, bogs and fens.

Continue reading “Lake Michigan and Sand Dunes”

There Be Tallgrass in Them There Hills

As Bev mentioned in the last post, we decided to revisit the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Strong City, Kansas on our way back east. The first time we visited was in July 2017.  The grasses were only about 2 feet high. So, like many, we asked the rangers, “Where’s the Tallgrass?” They patiently explained (seems everyone asks that question) that the grass grows during the summer months and reaches its full height during the September/October timeframe. Then you can see the grass at around 5-6 feet depending on the amount of rainfall during the summer. Continue reading “There Be Tallgrass in Them There Hills”

Maintenance, Friends and Family

In mid-September we said good-bye to Washington after six wonderful weeks in “The Evergreen State.” As we stated in our last post, “We can’t wait to go back.” There was so much we left unexplored or didn’t have enough time to explore in-depth. But we had to point Beau back east in order to fulfill previous commitments and take care of business.

Continue reading “Maintenance, Friends and Family”

Wandering Through Washington, Part VII

Finally, after 6 weeks in the beautiful state of Washington, we made our way to the last stop, Mount Rainier National Park. It lived up to its fame.

“Of all the fire mountains which like beacons, once blazed along the Pacific Coast, Mount Rainier is the noblest.” – John Muir

Continue reading “Wandering Through Washington, Part VII”

Wandering Through Washington, Part VI – Mount St. Helens Rebirth and Today

The devastation brought about by lahars and the pyroclastic flow was extensive. Besides the 230 square miles of forest destroyed, animals were also killed in large numbers. It is estimated that 1,500 Roosevelt elk, 5,000 deer, hundreds of bears, coyotes, bobcats, rabbits, etc. were killed that day. The monument was made into a very large observatory to examine how nature recovers from such a disaster. Where they could, the mountain and surrounding areas were left as they had been after the explosion in 1980.

Continue reading “Wandering Through Washington, Part VI – Mount St. Helens Rebirth and Today”