Trailer Life poem

I sleep in a bunk bed,
And and I comb a bed head.

I eat cinnamon raisin bread,
And we Play Uno... I've got a red!
Away we go we said,

And we wait for what lies ahead.

A day at the zoo rehab center

Today was awesome. Me and my family woke up early and started out towards the big red caboose with big yellow letters on top that said: "ZOO" and had a big yellow fox painted on the caboose itself. We walked over to a bench that said: "rest your bones" and sat down. We waited. And waited. Then finally, a lady walked over to us. Finally. We walked over to a small building and met a man named William cutting breakfast for the whole ZOO. First we watched a elderly lady named Hellen feed a white albino raccoon named Marshmallow and then followed her to a cute coyote named Wile E. and she acted just like a dog. But 1 difference. She urinated right next to her bowl.  Next we walked to the handmade prarie dog enclosure and wached as the feeders walked into the enclosure and put the fresh veggies by each hole. We also saw a cage in the middle of the enclosure with a new little prarie pup inside. They fed him too. We where led towards a large round cage and saw the BIGGEST black bear I had ever seen. Geez he was BIG!!! We coaxed him into an airlock and me, mom, and dad had a chance to feed him a milkbone dipped in peanut butter through the metal of a chainlink fence.  He started to lick the fence of all the access peanut butter. Yummy yum. Then we and the feeders went into the enclosure once the bear was shut in the airlock and put berries, spinach, a catfish, and some melons in a large pile by the glass. We got out and let the bear out into the enclosure and me and it had a race on both sides of the fence but he just lumbered along behind me. 

Then we where off to the elk. A big guy he was. He had a shy little girlfriend that we could hardly see. We wached with narrowed eyes becouse of the narly wind as one of the feeders dumped hay onto a concrete slab which seemed to be his walk on (not in) breakfast table. He was like,  "Oohs and aahs, look how handsome I am! " With the way he acted. We saw some Mule deer and changed their water.

Then we went to the endangered Mexican grey wolves and saw those playful little guys scampering around, bouncing with every single step. "Ba boing! Ba boing! "

Then we went to the Javelinas. If you may be wondering what the heck are Javelinas, picture a pig.
=O Fun fact:
--------------------------
Javelinas are in no way related to a pig.
We went inside the enclosure  once the Javelinas were safely locked up in the airlock and scattered their food around the walled in enclosure and had a great time doing it. Fling-bonk! Fling-bonk!

Now it was time to feed the deer. Old mama, the first deer we saw, was not very friendly and backed away as we passed her. But the two other deer named Verbena and Velcro, were friendly as can be. Velcro was the friendliest and she wanted to be petted.

Next we went to a raccoon like animal called a Coatimundi. His name is Spencer and he had to have special stuff put into his food because he has seizures once and awhile. He was cute.

We went to the bobcats next and saw the feeders clean their litter box and feed them.

Then we came to the mountain lions. There was two. MoonShine and another. When they were safely inside of the airlock, I got to put Moonshine's food in her food dish. Then I came up to Moonshine and I put my hand up to the fence and she licked me. She licked me. Moonshine the mountain lion, I mean, not many kids get licked by a mountain lion.

Then we went to Barbie the baby porcupine and I went into the enclosure and got her food dish and put her food inside.

Then we went to Karaoke the coyote and fed her too. You are probably wondering why a coyote is named Karaoke. It is because she loves to sing her howl. Karaoke howling.... sounds fun!

Ok, so we are done with the feeding. We said goodbye to everyone and walk off. But if you think we were just going to walk away without seeing any more animals, you are mistaken.

We then saw the birds. We saw a Barn Owl, a Paragon falcon that hated dad and some others, too.

Then we went in the caboose I first talked about and saw a pretty landscape painted inside. Today was the most amazing day on our entire trip and still is.

Hopi Dogs

In Hopi, dogs are let loose. I met two black and brown dogs that would not stop following my dad. (well, that's a bit of a stretch.) Then at night I saw tons of dogs gathered in the parking lot. The next day, I met a moms dog and her baby pup.
I fed the mom roast beef (because the pup was still breastfeeding I think) and I felt really good about it. The pup loved me but the mom was pretty skittish. But after I fed her, she almost came up to me and licked my hand. That moment, I felt something warm glow inside me. I love the mom just as much as the pup.

Today...

Today we drove. Last night we stayed USA RV park in Gallop, NM. Me and mom took the first showers we had taken on this trip... Ok, we were not as smelly as you may think. The hole night was filled with train sounds, train sounds, and more sounds of trains. When we got up,  we waited for a little while and then started driving. We saw old school stuff in Gallop. We reached ABQ and ate at a COOP place. We then walked for what seemed like hours.
We got to a museum called Pueblo Culture center and looked around. Then we walked again. We stopped halfway through at Walgreens. Then we walked again. I fell and almost Spained my finger. Ow. Then we drove all the way to a old ZOO called Wildlife West. Tomorrow we will take a tour of this place. By the way, we are camping in a Prarie Dog town. P.D zing!!!

Hopiland

Our tour of Hopiland was amazing. We walked among ancient petroglyphs and pottery shards, visited some of the oldest continuously inhabited villages in North America, had conversations with friendly Hopi people, heard a refreshingly real spiritual perspective, bought art directly from the artists and learned so much!  There are no photos allowed in the villages, but here's some we had permission to take.

Meteor Crater and Hopi Lands

We set out from our "off the grid" campsite and headed back toward civilization temporarily to find an rv dumpsite and to stock up on water since we were heading deep into Indian country and weren't sure what to expect. We planned on stopping to check out Meteor Crater on the way. A quick 6 mile detour and we arrived at the freshly paved parking lot and what looked to be a brand new reception building/ticket booth. We wandered around the museum for a bit while we waited for the "movie" to start on the half hour. The movie was a dud. Felt like a commercial for some b16somethingrather .org that repeatedly reassured us that they are going to save the earth from the next meteor strike. We were surprised when there were no solicititations for donations afterward. We took the brief guided tour out to the rim and learned several cool facts about the crater. The crater itself is simply awesome. To stand there on the edge looking down into the crater really invokes a state of wonder. It was a wothwhile detour, but the whole privately owned and run by corporation factor was a little offputting.


Now on to the Hopi reservation. It was about an hour of driving on the straightest road I've ever driven on flanked by dozens of magical buttes rising from the desert floor. As we approached, we could clearly make out the 3 distinct mesas that make up the central Hopi community. We pulled in to the Hopi Cultural Center parking lot and were greeted by several stray dogs laying in the middle of the road.
We had read online and called about parking our RV (trailer) there and staying the night but details were skerchy so we inquired inside just to be sure. We were directed next door to the cultural center where there is a dirt area surrounded by juniper trees for camping. There are a couple of run down picnic tables and bbqs... nothing fancy but a free place to camp for the night and pretty well secluded from the road and parking lot.

The next morning we met up with our guide Gary Tso of Left Handed Hunter tours. Gary treated us to a wonderful half day tour of the 3 mesas, where we got to meet some of the locals and see their handicrafts. The day was topped of with a visit to a remote ancient petroglyph site. Pretty amazing stuff.

Sunset Crater

I woke up this morning and I was thinking of the hike we took yesterday. I think it was amazing. The ground was black. There was a sea of big lava bombs surrounding us. I like to stare
at the mighty lump which spouted it. Its amazing that people, civilisation, was there when Sunset Crater went BOOM. This morning, I thought all about it. Awestruck, I write this.

BoonDockin' ... take 1

This is only like our third trip or so with the trailer, and thusfar we've only stayed in established campgrounds. We heard about this thing called "boondocking", where you basically just find a place to park your rig and sleep for the night. Last night we were just outside Flagstaff visiting Sunset Crater and had read about some US Forest Service land just across the road that allows "disbursed camping". So we wandered down the dusty gravel Forest Service road for a bit and found a place to pull off for the night. I have this ocd thing about having the trailer be perfectly level, but kinda had to let that go this time, as the turnout was a bit uneven and bumpy. After a good 1/2 hour of trying, it was close enough. We whipped up a quick dinner in the "galley", played a couple of games of NP Uno, then it was off to bed. Had a great restful night's sleep out here in BFE! So quiet and DARK!
Overall a success with our first attempt at boondocking/disbursed camping. Oh and the FREE part is nice too!

Flagstaff, AZ

We stayed in the desert this morning, ran errands in Phoenix, drove past some cool Saguaros, and drove up to Flagstaff. There, we explored the Sunset Crater Volcanic National Monument. It was a gorgeous day, the surroundings were unusual and pretty. We hiked up a cinder cone and were the only people on the trail. Tonite, we are doing dispersed camping in the national forest, free! This land is your land, this land is my land....

On the way to Santa Fe

With the new green stripe freshly painted, we've made it through our first night of camper travel. We're heading up to Flagstaff today to hike a cinder cone volcano.

Heading to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon!

After lots of trailer redecorating, we are taking it back out for a short Father's Day trip to the North Rim. We are meeting some friends there and we have some sweet campsites with views reserved. It's been a hectic few days leading up to this trip, we weren't sure we were going to make it but as we head out this morning, things are looking good for a lovely trip.

Spring Snow in Virginia

Happy Spring from our Spring Snow Lady!

My view waking up this morning, so pretty!

me and mom