Apalachicola, Florida

OOhhhhh, it's sooo nice to be warm!! We made it to Florida and are heading out to St George Island to camp for New Years....We decided that instead of boondocking and living in parking lots we would fork out the dough and sleep in beautiful places...so we stayed at St Andrew Bay in NW Florida the last 2 nights. It was super relaxing, except that it's kind of like RV suburbia with huge RV's and crying babies, but they all have southern accents so it's cute!. Anywhoo...we are in a rush to get out to our new spot. Still having a tough time posting pics for some reason:( Just wanted to say how much we love you all and to have a happy new year... good things are surely in store!!!

Down to the south...

We have been heating up the highway!! From Taos we went to Ojo Caliente hot springs, where we bathed in sulfur, soda, arsenic, and iron pools that varied in temp from 96 to 106 degrees. We also drank lithia water, said to be good for digestion and mood disorders. Jaycie drank the most and was notably less gassy and more even tempered! We soaked in the pools for hours and were truly spiritually and physically recharged. Jason even received a mysterious red spiritual marking between his eyebrows that lasted for days after we left. It was there that we felt that we had gotten adjusted to life on the road, and when we left the next day, we were relaxed and very much in the flow of traveling.
The pilgramage to Houston, Texas to be with Brian O'donell and family for Christmas took us through the desert of southern NM and west Texas. We went to the Alien Museum in Roswell (Two words: COVER UP!!) and the road was long, but the desert scenery beautiful and the trip went by quickly...except for the portion when we were battling 60 MPH winds gusting at our side. We even stopped by the Alamo in San Antonio on the way. We got to Houston in the evening and were greeted by a neighborhood ablaze with Christmas lights!!! The subdivision has prizes for best decorations and they really go all out...it was a wonderful welcome. The best house had people tune to a radio station and their lights kept time with the songs that were playing. In keeping up with the Jonses, we pulled over and donned our DC powered Christmas lights and showed up in style. It was a great Christmas, with game playing (rummi cube), delicious food, and a really fun family. It was tempting to stay a couple extra days but we felt the tug of the road and left early the next day and made it to Louisiana. Not much going on in Louisiana the day after Christmas, we found. We couldn't even get ahold of any gumbo!! So we pushed on through Baton Rouge and stayed in a Hampton Inn parking lot. We've found that the Hampton really does a great job of selecting quiet locations and attracting well behaved guests that don't tip the employees off that there are vagrents sleeping in the parking lot, so we stay with them any chance we get...sometimes we can even freeload a continental breakfast! Just kidding...we are actually into teff these days, an ethopian grain for breakfast. So at this moment we are in a 4 star rest area in Mississippi with freeWiFi and an RV dump and water filling station. We should be in Pensacola, Florida by this afternoon sipping umbrella drinks and swatting mosqitos! Sorry we don't have picutures...the intenet connetion in the bayou isn't quite strong enough!!! Happy Holidays!!
pictures are coming as soon as we get to a better wi-fi spot.

jason testing the ropes before jaycie tackles her first ascent

Beautiful view from the bathroom window



Jason enjoying the freedom that nature providesWe filled the house with firewood we found on the side of the road.

Left to die in the desert

So, sorry we have been so bad at keeping up the blog. We have been surprisingly busy considering we have no jobs and no real commitments, aside from being in D.C. for inauguration.

The truck has been running great since we left Joshua Tree. We are still missing 5th gear but over drive is something you rarely use driving a 4 cylinder RV anyway.

Joshua Tree needs to be put on the "must visit" list for anyone living in the vicinity, or anyone who wants an incredible desert experience. While we were there the temps were in the high 60's, the wind calm, skies clear, people scant, and the snakes hibernating. Most of the people at Joshua Tree were there to rock climb and were super friendly. W e met some pros and got to do a little climbing ourselves...fantastic! The rocks/boulders are big, round, sticky, and everywhere, having been moved off the top of the mountains ages ago by flash floods. After five days of being removed from the buzz of trailer life in the city we really found our groove in the desert and plan on spending no more that 1 full day in any city if possible in the future. We also have learned that while snow on the ground and below freezing temps are one thing, camping in blizzards are another.

After leaving Joshua Tree, we headed north to Sedona. We climbed up out of the canyon on a 4 mile(round trip) straight up hike to get a good look at the river canyon and surrounding forests. Once again, we didn't see a single person on the trail. At the end of the hike we braved the frigid water to get a quick bath before heading north to Flagstaff for a much anticipated sushi dinner.

In Flagstaff, we restocked the pantry with tons of food and headed north to cross the Grand Canyon at Lee's Ferry heading for Zion N.P. Lee's ferry is the access point for canyon river trips so you can drive right down to the river and witness its power as it starts to cut its way down into the earth. We made it to the east entrance of Zion at sunset as the full moon had already risen into sight. The east entrance is the higher elevation so as we got to drive down through the entire park as the sun set and the moon rose. Once again, the park was about 5% occupancy so we had the campground and all the trails to ourselves. We braced for the upcoming cold front by getting plugged into the grid for light/heat, drove into St. George to buy a bunch of movies and then settled into the park campground right next to our new friends the Yaks. The Yaks are a father-daughter-son threesome from Connecticut. They are taking the year to travel around the states in the deluxe mega trailer. What an inspiration they were. The kids were homeschooling and dad was obviously taking full advantage of his last bits of time with his kids before they fly the coop.

Snow in Zion is a rare sight so we eagerly awaited its arrival and arrive it did. What it didn't do was leave. The storm came through and then started to circle back for another round of white out conditions, dangerous hiking trails and bad road conditions. So we came to the conclusion that we would be best off if we saved the rest of southern Utah for next summer and head south to the warmth. Right now we are in Taos, New Mexico loving the clear cold skies and indulgent southwestern food. We are making a beeline for Texas now to spend Christmas with Brian O'Donnell and his family in Houston..

Hi, we're in Temecula...

Site of the Cahuilla Curse
Bling Bling on Rodeo Drive

Freakishly Long Dog Tongue; Good for Annoying Keta

Richard and his Buddy Paul, Enjoying a the Morning Coffee Mission

Before we left SoCal I wanted to crooze for celebrities, so I boned up on some current "US" and "People" magazines and we headed into Beverley Hills and Rodeo Drive to see if we could catch a peek at Jennifer Anniston (Jason's wish) or Hugh Jackman (eye candy for Jaycie). We did not see any movie stars, but we stuck out like movie stars ourselves in our big 'ol rig!! Of note, that GPS we bought last week is the most awesome display of technology on the market!!! We were able to punch in "Rodeo Drive" and it navigated us straight there through the maze of LA freeways. Now if only Brittany Spears' address was in there!!!

Although we were unsuccessful in our search, we kept our eyes peeled through the thick smog and motored down the 5 to San Diego to visit Zack, Jason's stepbrother. He took us to the restaurant his wife works at. She was lovely and so was the food...I'll just mention that we had banana lollipops, banana chunks on a stick dipped in dark chocolate, drizzled with carmel for dessert. It was a great visit and we spent that night parked next to Balboa Park.

With visions of the desert, we left San Diego for Joshua Tree. We let a book we have guide us to Cahuilla Hotsprings on the way, but when we got there it was actually full of tall marsh grass and was cold and uninviting. Instead of bathing we had a resourceful lunch of home canned tuna (thanks mom) and cranberry sauce on tortillas and watched a great blue heron land and soar again and again. As we were wrapping up, we were briskly questioned and then asked to leave by a local native. Politely driving away, a clicking/electrical malfunctioning sound became audible from the steering column, followed by the transmission running through the gears without cause. The Cauhilla Curse had struck!!!! Were we being punished for unknowingly disrespecting the hotsprings and being run out of town to cleanse our filthy souls? We found a mechanic (The GPS has earned it's spot on the dash many times over already!) and isolated the "transmission relay" as the culprit. To get the part we had to drive back from Anza to Temecula, about an hour away with the tranny doing funky things, but we had no choice. Miraculously, the problem cleared up about 10 minutes into the drive and we made it to town and were able to order the part without problems. We parked in a shopping center to sleep and received our first harsh knock on the door as an alarm clock at about 7 this morning. You are aware that we have multiple implements for self defense on board that Jason has been bragging about using. But when the time came to use them, he used his best weapon: silence!! I swear, fear froze both of us we said nothing for an entire minute after the knock until I whispered harshly "Say something!!" Luckily, diplomacy was all that was needed, and for the second day in a row, we scuttled off in peace.

The dolphin is drivable while we wait for the part, so we are having mud and snow tires put on today as we are planning on enjoying the snow of the Rockies soon. If all goes according to plan, we will be in Joshua Tree tomorrow.

Right?

Specifically we are in "Marina del Ray adjacent,"one little nook of Venice which is a little cranny of Los Angeles. I know on my last visit I was harshing on SoCal a bit, but we are having a great time visiting Richard and his roomate Paul. They both use this expression where if they agree with something, they say "Right?"with a heavy rhetorial questioning tone. It's the abbreviated version of "I know, right?" like you'd say if someone commented to you, "It's so cool that Obama got elected!" It feels great to back in the Dolphin (Richard calls it the "Tuna Fish" which we find pretty insulting:) and we had a little party in it last night. Remember 4 people constitues a party in there! Today we had to run up to Santa Barbara to fetch something we forgot and made a fun day of it. We missed any major traffic backups and made it back to Venice this evening in time to go to the new Whole Foods Market. It was enormous, with a full on Indian food buffet, dessert bar, and sushi chef! We got the fixins and came home and grilled salmon and veggies on the BBQ. Now we are digesting, watching TV in HD and tending to our individual Facebook accounts. Manana we continue down Hwy 1 to San Diego and then to the desert of Joshua Tree National Park.

Black Friday

Thanksgiving family portrit
Jason on Allergic Reaction Botox

Hope everyone had a great Thursday the 26th...To be straight, this year it was hard to celebrate traditional "Thanksgiving" as we gave more thought to how the holiday is commonly celebrated without recognizing the abuse suffered by the Native Americans at the hands of the pilgrims. It was also hard to justify it as "Turkey Day" when we thought about how tortured those birds are before they are slaughtered. Maybe we are just bitter this year because we were so lonely yesterday! It was our first Thanksgiving as vegetarians so we were pining for white meat, gravy and stuffing. We stuffed ourselves as if we were around the family table at an All-You-Can eat Indian buffet...yummm!! Saag with tofu, some unidentifiables, and a dessert with sweet noodles and cardamom. It was delicious and quiet, but we really missed the fam! Granted, access to the remote came pretty easy and there were no childhood resentments realized over dessert, but we thought a lot about all the fun we were missing with all of you, even as we walked the beach in 70 degree weather!

This moring we got up at 5:30 to do our duty as consumers on Black Friday. We got a little GPS for the trip which means less squabbling over when we shoud get gas (Jaycie says, "Now!!! Just going on this trip is adventure enough!" Jason says, "Ah, c'mon! We can make it! Let's go for it!" as the fuel light comes on). Now we just relax a bit and prepare for our departure tomorrow to Joshua Tree National Park via Venice and a visit with a friend. Clear out the driveway, Righard, here we come!

Medical Mystery in Paradise...

Still in SB, still having a marvelous time...except that Jason is having a bit of an allergic reaction to an unknown antigen. We're talkin' full on angioedema (swollen lips for the non-nurses) and hives...Luckily we have a couple doctors in the family who prescribed him some steroids to quell the immune response and potential life threatening swelling of his throat. It's working well except that he's high as a kite, amped up and chatting even more than usual. He is actually driving down from Humboldt completing the cabinet delivery for his mom so I'm going to pick him up in SLO. I will surely be drinking some coffee so I can compete with him for air time!!

A couple days ago I met my friend Guf in Santa Monica for dinner. I drove down Highway 1, through Ventura and Malibu and was not super impressed. For one thing, I think that being born and raised in moist Humboldt has made me see the desert as almost alien land. I couldn't get over all those houses (mansions, really) on such dry, desolate rocky hills. How the hell do they have enough water? Dogs are not allowed on beaches at all so Keta and I slunked around like criminals so she could get her walk. I met Guf on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica which is full of fancy and normal shops and restaurants. I think I saw Lance Bass as I was buying a Fatburger for Keta to have for dinner. Otherwise no celeb sightings, just a good vegan dinner. Guf introduced me to Pinkberry which is yummy frozen yogurt, real yogurt with live cultures and the whole bit. We had one before dinner and one after, the first topped with strawberries and the second with Cap'n Crunch! The evening ended with a walk on the Pacific Palisades beach below where Guf is staying and Arnold the Governator has a house. It is really exciting to know that there is so much to be discovered out there, and we haven't even left California!!

Shannon and Meredith and Mason are flying to Arizona for Turkey Day (Hopefully soon to be Tofurkey day). They have been such lovely hostesses and it has been great fun hanging out with such an awesome family. We are watching the house and dog for them and will leave town on Sunday for Joshua Tree if Jason doesn't resemble a big itchy beach ball.

Sunny Santa Barbara

Sorry, blog fans (we do have some fans, right?) we are having a hard time getting into the rhythm of daily blogging. For one, we squabble gently over who gets to use the computer and by the time we decide who gets to do the writing it's too late...For two, we have been having too much fun in the sun to park it and type! Surely you've seen the insane SoCal wildfires...it has been just a teeny bit smoky here but has made for incredible sunsets. There are huge helicopters and planes flying overhead constantly dropping water on the smoldering hills. Thankfully the fam down here is safe and sound.

For a couple moldy Humboldt hippies, the weather has been too good to be true. Today we took Keta to the beach and swam in the ocean and got out and were plenty warm...we get to use Shannon and Meredith's Vespas (with a strict "you break it, you buy it" clause) and it has been fun croozing town, watching the palm trees go by. Jason's dad John and Pat were here this weekend, and we had a Fondue B-day party for Pat, an abrupt deviation from the strict grain-fruit-veggie diet we had been on while on the road. Damn that was some good cheez!!! Meredith made the bomb blueberry pie and we enjoyed each other's company. John passed out the book Mount Whitney in preparation for the family summit planned for August. We should probably get to climbin' some hills!

We are off to get some susi then head to see the new James Bond flick. I promise, our adventures will get more exciting when we get on the road again. Until then, it's surf and sun for us....

Highway One State Down and 49 to Go

If the trip so far is any indication of how great this trip is going to be, we are in for a real treat!!!! We headed out from Mendocino, meandering down the coast and celebrating the success of the patched roof as the rain pounded down. Like water on a duck's back friends, we are leak free!! In the minuscule town of Elk we got out and walked on a deserted driftwood filled beach, where Jaycie developed "Beach Calisthenics," a super nerdy yoga/80's aerobics combo only to be performed on secluded beaches......Jason and Keta worked on perfecting "Sweating to the Stick Chasing" and in the end we all got out ya-ya's out and were ready to get on with the drive. We made it to Bodega Bay that evening where we had lunch, napped, and watched a storm chase the boats into the harbor. That evening we croozed town and pulled into a Laundromat to wash our clothes. The parking spot was so flat, safe, and dark that we opted to spend the night right there!!! And that we did..

Near sunrise the next morning (we get to bed pretty early these days) we moved on south. We went down a steep grade through fields of happy cows and stopped at a lookout over Drake's Bay...if felt like we were discovering land for the first time... We should have stopped there but we tested the limits of the brakes and continued down to Dillon's Beach, only to find that, really, it is only Dillon's Beach. The land czars had all possible beach parking areas roped off so that to the beach would cost ya $15 bucks! As you might suspect, we did not leave with sandy feet that day, but we were not daunted and blew out of there for Pt. Reyes. If at all possible, please get yourself to Pt. Reyes as soon as you can. It's hard to describe the true living miracle that is Pt. Reyes State Park. The bluffs and the wide silver sea are pure magic...

Oh, getting sleepy now! We are all the way down in Santa Barbara now so we still have some back-blogging to catch up on- tomorrow!

Mendo Madness

We are happy to report that we had no problem boondockin' last night. In fact, Mendo rates #1 on accomodations for vagerants so far so it should be no surprise that we are staying for another night! Water here is scarce though, which means that while all the water towers in the yards add to the rustic coastal garden look, there isn't a single place in town to fill up the RV with water. We are scoping a couple of unmanned spickets to tap into after dark... Today we didn't have much trouble burnin' the day away in Mendo, kind of like the marine layer that comes and goes over the ocean...we've just let ourselves ebb and flow. The dramatic coastline here surpasses any other in California by far and the weather today is splendid, the water clear...life couldn't be better!
All our frisbee golf friends will be glad to hear we found the local course and played a round. Jaycie has improved to competition level and has Jason working to get every birdie he can! What can we say? So far, so good...

Officially, Residents of the Road!!!!

After months of work, planning, errands and see-you-laters, we finally hit the road this morning and made it to Mendocino this afternoon. We took the back roads through the Avenue of the Giants and saw big ol' momma redwoods that we'd never seen. The dolphin is running great, she did a spectacular job of handling the corners and steep ups and downs of Highway 1's coastal mountains. Jason spotted some oyster mushrooms on the side of the road (at such slow speeds you don't miss much!) and we cooked them up as a fabulous beach feast when we got to Fort Bragg. We are parked on a cliff at the edge of town and are hoping to camp there tonight for free...boondockin' the RVers call it! We'll see what tomorrow brings...

Monday, Monday

I feel compelled to write today just to keep the spirit of the blog flowing, but there really is nothing exciting to report. Hang around though, it looks like it really will rain today and give the patch job on the roof a real test. That will be hot, blogable material. Otherwise, I just made more bid appointments with tile guys in attempt to keep things in the bathroom moving (yes, I eat lots of fiber, too!) so that we really will be doing the Flight of the Coburns, not just the Perch of the Coburns. Jason comes home from SB tomorrow. I talked to him today; after spending a few days babysittng he is starting to say things just like a parent would, things like, "Well, we're just about to put him down," and "He's at such a curious stage." He also came to the conclusion that it takes between 4 and 6 people to raise a child sanely. When I asked him if he wanted a child of his own yet he said, "Almost...but not quite." There really is no room for a baby (or a pregnant lady for that matter) in the dolphin anyway...

21 Feet Parked on Sunset...

HELLO! Jaycie here, flying solo as Jason makes good on his promise to deliver cabinets to his mom's new house in San Louis Obisbo. Even though loading a mansion full of wood that has been crafted to a thing of beauty by a master carpenter is stressful, I'm pretty sure he's stoked to have a little more room to stretch his legs, enjoy mom's cookin,' and spend time with little nephew Mason, who is cuter than the dickens. See above right.

So back here in Humboldt I am holding down the fort, or as we call it, The Dolphin. The sky has been threatening rain but has delivered only heavy mist. This mist has been enough to form a small pool on the top of our concave RV roof that leaked like Scooter Libby in the last rainstorm. I am delighted to report that it has remained dry inside so far....except for the aftermath of the other leak, one that sprung from the water pipes and is drying ever so slowly.

I also got an esimate on "The Final Frontier," as I call the master bathroom in Westhaven. The tile fella was very nice, called the job "a little funky, but workable," and said he would draw up a bid. We were planning on doing some of the job ourselves, but now that he stuffed me with the fear of molding, rotting, needs-to-be-jackhammered-and-redone-in 2-years tile work, I don't know. It's also such a big area, I think we could really screw it up, techincally and artistically. What to do... the guy just smelled expensive and he isn't available for like 2 months anyway....so I'm banking on hearing from another guy that my mom recommended.

And now it's evening, a thick foggy evening that moistens the curls in my hair and makes me ready for bed, even now at 5:30. But no rest yet! Keta needs another walk! Since we have no fenced area for her right now, she and I are stuck together like glue...ew, glue and dog hair!! Unfortunately she lost her lovely soapy smell from the dog salon today, but she's such a good partner in crime, I snuggle her even though she stinks...just like I do my husband!