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A Life Less Ordinary

Category: Places (page 14 of 22)

Two-week RV Trip, Part 3 – Boondocking/Free Camping

June 28, 2018 / / 45 Comments

To most of you, it probably doesn’t come as a surprise that Mark and I are frugal people. It’s not that we don’t have any money, or that we don’t make any money; we choose to only spend what is needed to live comfortably and eat healthy. This allows us to work jobs we enjoy (generally speaking), where the wages are inferior to our flexibility and satisfaction. The less money you spend, the less you have to make, and therefore work. 😊

Our past house-sitting lifestyle guaranteed we never paid for rent or utilities. Our biggest expenses this year involved our camper van Zesty. Setting him up to live off the grid (we still have to work more towards that) and travel full-time will provide savings in the future. We prefer boondocking (“dry” camping for free, usually without facilities and preferably in nature) to RV parks and official campgrounds. I compare it to anchoring on our sailboat, as opposed to staying in marinas, which we rarely did, for similar reasons. We prefer privacy, natural surroundings, and spending no money on camping (or mooring). In the year we have owned Zesty, we have paid twice for a “bare bones” campground without hook-ups, but with toilets, trash receptacles and a dump station. Once in Zion National Park last October, and once on this two-week RV trip.

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Two-week RV Trip, Part 2 – Indian Pueblos and Culture

June 21, 2018 / / 57 Comments

After less than one week on the road in Zesty, Mark and I returned to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in case an urgent health matter had us drive back to the East Coast in our van. Juan, the “window guy” at Extreme Twist, added an extra layer of silicone to the inside of our windshield, in the hopes it would finally be fixed. We couldn’t water test it until later. Mark’s health scare proved less urgent than we thought, but it kept weighing on us the rest of our time in the van. Today, I’m happy to report that it was false alarm.

Instead of retracing our steps yet again, back to Arizona, Zesty took us north, to Chaco Canyon. The idea was to spend the afternoon in Chaco Culture National Historical Park and see some of the most spectacular ruins of the Chaco Indians. But, by the time we reached the area after a 4-hour drive, and conquered the 14-mile long washboard gravel road to get to the park (which took another 2 hours instead of ½ hour because we are heavy and extremely careful), it was too late and hot in the day to stick to plan. We decided to camp for the night at the only (pay) campground in the park and split the excursion over two days.

Bonito Pueblo

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Two-week RV Trip, Part 1 – Rocks and Petrified Wood

June 13, 2018 / / 69 Comments

After Mark and I finished our two-month house sit in Santa Fe, the end of May, we had no other assignments lined up. Partly because the 2.5-week gap before our train journey east was tight to find a “perfect” house sit; partly because we wanted to give full-time RV living a chance. We planned to make a loop from Santa Fe west into Arizona, north to the Four Corners region, east through Southern Colorado, and then back south into New Mexico. Memorial Day weekend would offer us a little break away from the computer, and since our business partner was on holiday for ten days early June, Mark’s job would be more relaxed then as well.  During those once-a-year periods, he only deals with customers over email, and postpones phone calls until “vacation time” is over.

The southern part of Petrified Forest National Park

Our trip was off to a rocky start, since our windshield was still leaking. We’d come back earlier, after two weeks, and deal with it then. First stop: El Malpais National Monument, where we’d briefly stopped for a free night of camping after picking Zesty up in Arkansas, almost a year ago.

El Malpais National Monument

Already on day one, our bikes came in handy. We explored the eastern part of the park at our own pace, and photographed rocky outcrops, peddled through Indian Reservations, and discovered a natural arch.

Zesty and the bikes in the Joe Skeen campground of El Malpais
The black patches are lava rock
Sandstone Bluffs
La Ventana natural arch

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Wordless Wednesday – Liquid

May 16, 2018 / / 53 Comments

It’s been a while since I combined a Wordless Wednesday blog with the weekly prompt of the Daily Post. Since my week has been incredibly busy and I don’t have time for a regular post, I decided to share some photos with you. This week’s Daily Post photography theme is “liquid“. As many of you know, Mark and I lived, sailed, and worked on our 35’ catamaran Irie for eight years, so it will be no surprise that my liquid of choice is water.

As I’m working daily on my memoir, the memories of our experiences aboard Irie are fresh. Welcome to a visual of that period of my life!

The Galapagos Islands

My favorite activity is interacting with and observing wildlife in their natural surroundings. The Galapagos delivered!

All we had to do was look over the side of our boat…

Penguin swimming around our boat
Sea lion swimming by our boat

… or jump in the water.

Snorkeling with eagle rays
Snorkeling with sea lions
Snorkeling with turtles

French Polynesia

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Highlights in Southern New Mexico – A Long Weekend Away

May 9, 2018 / / 64 Comments

Mark and I finally did it! After months of frustration, stress, and dealing with atrocities out of our control – from having both our websites hacked, to rude Wirie customers, to issues with Blue Host, to incapable Mass Health employees messing up our health plans six times – we pulled ourselves away for a long weekend. Our destination: White Sands National Monument and Carlsbad Caverns National Park into warm weather. Both New Mexican highlights had been on the mental list since last summer, when we first house sat in Santa Fe for four weeks, but remained in the area.

So, we packed up Zesty, filled the water and diesel tanks, and drove south for about four hours. Lake Holloman became our free campsite for two nights, merely 3 miles away from the National Monument.

Free camping at Lake Holloman Military Base

White Sands National Monument

The scenic drive brought us smack in the middle of dunes, created by the brightest, whitest of sand. Where is the ocean? Continue reading

Day Trips around Santa Fe, NM – The Turquoise Trail

April 18, 2018 / / 53 Comments

Some readers might remember that when Mark and I did a one-month house sit in Santa Fe last summer, every Saturday morning, we would jump in Zesty for a weekend away. We visited a national park or interesting attraction in the area. It was our first prolonged time in New Mexico, and the state has a lot to offer. Due to the windy weather, among other things, we haven’t been able to go on weekend trips this time around. Luckily, we are here for two months, so stay tuned!

Mark and I passed by Galisteo – and its cute church – to cut off part of the trail and pick it up closer to home

A few days ago, we went for a Sunday drive, to follow the Turquoise Trail, a scenic byway between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. The route is named after the turquoise gemstones that used to be mined in this area, and is 54 miles long. While we’ve seen more impressive landscapes on road trips, the stops along the trail were worthwhile.

Cerillos

Cerrillos is an old mining town…
… resembling a ghost town
The two bars are the busiest places in town
The church is scenic
The movie Young Guns was filmed here

Madrid Continue reading

Completed House Sits – Albuquerque, NM (February 18th, 2018 to March 28th, 2018)

April 11, 2018 / / 52 Comments

Every house sit is different – the house, the owners, the area, the pets, the tasks, the climate – and provides us with new experiences and routines. I always enjoy arriving at the next place and settling in.

Cuddles with Beck and Gunner

As mentioned in an earlier post, our most recent house sit was a last-minute decision. Mark and I had nothing lined up after our 3.5-month house sit in San Diego, CA (with a three-week visit back East), because we wanted to be flexible. We faced six weeks in Zesty, until our current 2-month house sit in Santa Fe started. Without jobs, the prospect of exploring the American West in our camper van and soaking up the sun in Arizona (with the idea of meeting up with my brother on a business trip in Phoenix, and RV blogging friends in that area) sounds perfect. But, since we need decent internet and two offices, our preference goes out to more comfortable and reliable quarters. So, when this house sit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, appeared, we jumped on it.

Our home for six weeks
Gunner and Beck hanging out with us in the kitchen
Snuggling with Mark
Gunner hoarding a toy
The pups after their bath. Yes, they have their own spa towels. 🙂
Resting with a new toy

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Wordless Wednesday – Behind the Scenes

March 28, 2018 / / 54 Comments

Mark and I never had the amount of money or the required connections to ever go behind the scenes of anything. That was until we reconnected with our friend Amy this past winter. As a recently graduated zoologist and no-nonsense environmentalist, she has friends in the right places, namely the renowned San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. So, on our last weekend house and pet sitting in San Diego, California, she treated us to a return visit at the Safari Park, where we came up-close with tigers and elephants, and learned a bunch more about those species and the zoo’s conservation efforts.

The two tiger cubs we first saw in November 2017 had grown substantially!
The “mother” of all tigers
The tigers take turns at the exhibits, and rest, eat and are given “enrichments” (like toys and smells) in their “chambers” when not outside.
One of the cubs was seized during a border smuggling attempt from Mexico, and the other was brought from Washington, D.C., to provide companionship.

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Truth or Consequences – A 5-Day Road Trip

March 21, 2018 / / 50 Comments

No Plans

Up until our last week of house and pet sitting in San Diego, Mark and I had no concrete idea of what was next. Because the unpredictable condition of my mother-in-law in New England earlier this year, we had not booked another sit, in case we’d have to fly back. Flexibility has been an important part of our lifestyle. Luckily, the situation back east was stable, mid-February, so we could remain “out west”. Since we had no house sit to get to, and we own this amazing little camper van, our plan was to bridge the seven-week gap between sits in the desert, being warm. Baja California in Mexico was dismissed, after we discovered our favorite beach spot there has no cell service, so we mentally aimed for four different boondocking areas in Arizona to split our time and work from the van. It would be tricky.

Free camping in the Sonoran Desert

A New Plan

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Completed House Sits – San Diego, CA (October 31st, 2017 to February 11th, 2018)

February 28, 2018 / / 53 Comments

After every house sit, I post an overview of it on my blog. Here’s the one about our time in San Diego.

When Mark and I were selected for this recent fall/winter house and pet sit in San Diego (this was the ad), we were very excited. We love San Diego – the climate, the sights, the activities, the friends we have there – and looked forward to a healthy balance of restful, exciting, social and productive times. For three full months (later extended by two weeks)! It seemed like a nice, long time to settle in and get things done. Suddenly, it was all over. 3.5 months… gone in a jiffy.

Christmas with Alex and Dave
Visit from Johnny Coconut and his brother
Unexpected visit from our cruising friend Patti and her rescued Mexican puppy
With Kathy and Thom on New Year’s Day
Visit from Amy and Skylos

This house sit was unusual in many ways. We arrived four days earlier, as Mark was scheduled to fly back east for health check-ups the end of October. I became a roommate of Diana, the owner, for a few days before she left. It was a perfect transition for both of us, and for the two sweet Italian Greyhounds, Frida (12) and Elvis (10). The following ten days, I took care of them, the house, the yard and the mail by myself, while working on my book and exploring the area by bike on weekends.

San Diego skyline from Harbor Island

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