39: Hiking and Deliberating

We have been hiking our little hearts out over the last few stops! Jason has pulled through again with keeping us involved and taking advantage of the area we’re in. Not only has he plotted all of our passageways and RV parks, but also any adventures and outings we partake in while we’re stopped. Out of the seven RV parks we have stayed in, only one’s accommodations has been a little bit less than great.

Last Wednesday through Friday, we stayed at a park called “Space Station RV”. Sounds like it would be awesome, right? Well, not so much. The parking spots were very narrow, and once we let the slides out on Bae, our 36-foot Allegro Bay beauty, we were almost in-your-face close to our neighbors. Fortunately, our neighbors were also from Oregon and were very friendly. Per the usual reaction to seeing our 150lb mastiff lumber out our door, we started up a conversation about Oregon, family, and each of our travel plans. By the way, since we’ve started this trip, I have been excited to get back into RV parks because I remember the people being so incredibly kind and friendly. But so far? No friendlies. Jason and I were beginning to think maybe it’s only a Southern thing. Since our last RV excursion was mostly down south (woohoo for sunshine!), we figure it’s that southern hospitality that gave us the false sense of friendliness at every park we stopped at. Alas, ol’ neighbor Jeff at Space Station RV reignited our enjoyment of a welcoming neighbor.

Space Station was also close to a cool place for Jason to take the boys hounding for rocks and gems. They came back with a bag of treasures. Two out of the three boys also came back with some scrapes and bruises from all the running amuck around the mounds of loose rock. Future chicks are really going to dig these boys and all the scars they’re accumulating on this trip. Although Space Station made for a good location for day trips and our neighbors rejuvenated our hopes for social neighbors going forward, Space Station did not give off any “I feel safe here” vibes. Like I said, the place was small and packed in, but it was also a bit on the grimy side. Have you ever made a quick bathroom break at a rest stop, walked into the restrooms and think, “Wow, these are actually really nice and clean!” Well, this RV lot was more on the other side of that exclamation. It was the first place where I thought, “Probably shouldn’t leave without locking everything up.” Also, for a place to name themselves “Space Station RV” and not have one iota of any décor reflecting the name is totally false advertising in my book.

Next up after Space Station was the Valley of Fire State Park in Overton, Nevada. INCREDIBLE views and landscape. The various layers of geology sprawled out around us was breathtaking. We stayed for two nights and I have a million pictures. The weather was just what my bones needed at a luxurious 92 degree high. We had zero hook-ups (no power, sewer, or water) there for the motorhome, which means we had to be careful with our onboard water and power usage to get us through our time there.

The nights were probably the hardest. Maybe I shouldn’t say “hard” – maybe more like uncomfortable. I loved the warm days that kept my goosebumps at bay, but I could have gone for cooler temperatures at night so we could get some good sleep. With five of us, there’s no being willy-nilly with the water and showers. When night fell, but the temperatures didn’t, it was hard getting solid sleep. We were sticky and didn’t want to so much as bend an elbow because then your joints start sweating. Miserable nights, but the most gorgeous days.

We completed two hikes while in the Valley of Fire. The first one was only a half mile and called “Mouse’s Tank”, named after a criminal that ran to the hills to hide out, and after finding the pool of water that is now the end of the hike, he was fairly self-sustained and able to avoid capture. I think we extended the hike’s mileage by at least double with all the rock climbing and exploring we did along the way to the pond. There was also a herd of big-horned sheep just taking in the view of all us humans tromping through the canyon right below them. And petroglyphs! SO many petroglyphs! High and low, scrawls of ancient story-telling all around us. Very, very cool.

Our last morning in Valley of Fire, we made the short drive from camp to hike the White Domes Trail. The trail toted more petroglyphs, slot canyons, and, what got me most excited, ruins from an old movie set.

White Domes was another aww-inspiring, jaw-dropping scene that we couldn’t stop ogling over. However, much to my disappointment, the movie set ruins were rather underwhelming. It’s merely a portion of a rock wall with three partial wood beams sticking out the top. And a plaque showing an image of what the movie set once was. After the treat of seeing the extensive ruins of the ghost town a few days before, this 8x6’ rock wall was just… Meh.

The walk through the slot canyons during the hike was surreal though! And I could never complain about the beauty of the lines and structures the cliffs formed all around us.

The last three nights we were back to living the life of extravagance with full power, water, and sewer hook-ups at our most recent stop in Kanab, Utah. Only a few miles from the Arizona-Utah border, Kanab is a perfect hub to stay for day tours to more spectacular sites. We did another couple of hikes while in Kanab.

First one checked a box on both Jason and I’s bucket list when we hiked (it’s a paved path and not far, but at 8,900-ft elevation, it felt like a hike!) the quick Bright Angel Point Trail to take in the vast view of the Grand freaking Canyon!! ‘Wow’ seems like a shallow word to use when taking in the Grand Canyon. But I don’t think there is a word that can describe how small you feel, and how wonderous it is when you’re standing on the edge of such a spectacle. 5-stars. Highly recommend.

The next day took us on a “real” hike through the Wire Trail and it had a couple of unplanned events. First, there was a rope we had to climb down in one of the slot canyons we went through. Completely unexpected, and a few tears fell as the boys faced their fears and climbed down. Jason went first, and once at the bottom, was giving his best dad encouragements with a side of “suck it up”. One by one, the boys each killed it, and I followed clumsily, breaking Jason’s sunglasses in my pocket as I belly slid down to Jason’s hands, then shoulders, for an elegant, falling dismount. Not far from the end of the hike (and a chance to see more petroglyphs up close), there was another narrow path to go through and unplanned event #2 occurred. I heard, “Oh, snake!” from Jason, and I was done. Shut down. End of the line. No thank you. I’ll see myself out. Jason and Cord did all they could to try to coax, encourage, and calm my fear, but I was frozen. No matter how small, or how “gone” that snake was, I couldn’t go any further.

So, I stayed on the open, non-snake rock face while Jason guided the boys to the end and back to me to start our way back to the trail head. Instead of climbing the rope we came down, we voted to go up and around the canyon to find the trail on the other side. Boys certainly got their rock-climbing itch scratched with that route. Steep climb, with slick sand covering the hard surfaces made the trek slow and dicey. Even still, our lungs were burning by the time we were heading back down to reconnect with the trail.

The rest of the hike back to the car was filled with Cord’s idea of the perfect restaurant he would own. It would be a menu consisting of only lunch and dinner because having breakfast foods would “just be too much for the chef”, and he would serve hamburgers, French fries, chicken strips, Mexican, and hibachi foods. Ryan (who can only make Top Ramen noodles and sandwiches) would be the chef, Jason would be the chair of the board of directors, I would be the head waitress, and Barrett wouldn’t have a job because he didn’t “want any part of that business”. Cord would be the boss, so he wouldn’t have to do any of the work, he says.

We’re on the road again today, heading for Moab, Utah. Our neighbors in Kanab had just stayed in Moab and told us it’s jam-packed with people. We know that Moab is famous for the off-roading paths and adventures via side-by-side ATV’s and rock-crawling jeeps, so Jason looked at renting a Jeep for one of the days we’re there. Not one Jeep available. Apparently, we’re heading into Moab the day before their massive 240-mile trail run starts. It’s about to get crazy. I think I’m looking forward to the hubbub of a bustling town, but we’re going in fairly blind, so we’ll see what comes up.

As a family, I truly believe we are making the most of the trip we are on. We’re taking in the history and the beauty of the U.S. at every stop we make. There are a few recurring thoughts and conversations Jason and I are having though. The first one being what are we going to do when we get back to Oregon in December? I know we’ll spend Christmas with everyone we love. We’ll also get time to reach out to friends, go to our church, and get the boys reconnected with the people they’re missing back home. But then what? Are we staying around awhile again? What are we going to do with that now blank slate piece of riverfront property? Do we buy another house in town to do a flip again? Do we buy a flip house somewhere else (where it’s warm, maybe?!) Are we plugging back in and making a home with roots? New business plan? Or is something else that we haven’t even thought of going to pop up for us to pounce on? I truly have no idea. It’s a really weird place to be in – not knowing where or what you’re going to be doing in just two months’ time. But it’s also strangely freeing. Right now, we have the ability to keep our options open, dream big or small, stretch the lines, reach outside our comfort zones, and embrace whatever comes next.

A more pressing topic is our sweet English mastiff, Sagey girl. She’s coming up on her 12th birthday in December, and we can’t believe it. We have mourned her impending death more times than I can count. She will stop eating, moving, and drinking for a couple days and we start thinking about what we need to do, or if a heart-shattering decision needs to be made. Then the old rascal jumps up, scarfs her food, and spins circles in excitement. That girl is the energizer bunny, I tell ya. However often we tease that she’s going to live forever, we know that her good days are fewer than her slow days. The stairs in and out of the RV are taking their toll on her joints that are shaky at best. Her walks are getting shorter, and her naps are getting longer. I know she’s still enjoying life more than she’s hurting, but I don’t know how much longer we can continue to trick ourselves out of the conversation neither Jason nor I want to voice out loud. Unless there’s a drastic turn for the worse, we will continue to tend to her needs for extra rest and keep our trip with her comfort in mind. She’s our best girl and we sure love her.

So here’s to embracing the majestic terrain we’re in, to the boys making memories with scars, and to our freedom in life’s abundant options.