A Year And A Half Later...

 “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” 

~ Anthony Robbins

Morning sun through my bedroom window.

 We've lived in Texas, in an RV, for a year-and-a-half and to some it may seem genius, to most a bit of craziness.  Sometimes I feel it's a bit of both.  There's a lot of give and take when you undergo such a change in lifestyle, but we feel what we have given up has all been worth it.

I've often written about the changes, but with another year under foot, I feel the need to write up another list. (Sorry list haters.) So here it goes; the positives and negatives of selling everything, moving halfway across the country for better employment, and moving 3 into an RV:

Zoey and the neighbor Courtlyn.

Positive aspects:

Zoey, Savannah, Tessa, Sara, and friend :)

• Cut out the Fat -We own very few possessions and cannot purchase more unless something goes.  It keeps things concise.
• Fewer bills - We've cut out the unnecessary including a mortgage.
• No More Plastic!! -Bye-Bye credit card debt....I hope to never see you again.
• Vacations!!!- Now we can afford to take a vacation without breaking the bank or putting it on credit.
• Being a mom - Zoey starts school next year and I'm savoring the moments with her.
• New Friends- We have friends at the hall and Zoey has made a good friend with the 3 year old neighbor girl, so I feel more comfortable when she wants to play outside knowing she's not alone.  (Zoey says this is the best part of moving to Texas.)
• Realizing our dream - We are well on our way to someplace exotic!!

Everything must fit in there.

Negative aspects:

• Long Hours - John's work schedule can be crazy long hours, and I miss him often...temporary life upset.
• Midland, TX - I hate to be such a downer on Midland, but....I keep saying temporary. (Zoey says we need to find "a place with just the right hot and cold.")
• Bad Bathroom Setup - We knew this when we bought our RV, but finding  an affordable RV with space for 2 bedrooms; limits options.  The bathroom/bedroom combo gets a bit tight and chaotic....not our forever home=temporary.
• Limited Space - As I said no unnecessary purchases, but I LOVE to shop and find a great deal.  So sometimes I bring something home, a toy, dress or shirt, and find there's no space....grrrr.
• Organizing - Part of this is my fault, I've never been good at keeping things tidy, but I feel I'm organizing this place allllllll the time and it still needs work!

Fun little craft projects are great in the RV.

My sister-in-law, Jessica, asked me when we were last in Idaho if the RV ever really felt like home?  The answer is: Yes, it is home.  It's amazing how easily a completely different environment, especially a nontraditional one, can become a home.

 In the end, things get to me at times when we can't find much to do or get any customer service in this town, or when I shove another shirt into an overflowing drawer and reorganize an entire cabinet to fit a box of cereal.  When I feel whiny, I think of all the progress we've made, the stresses we left behind, the fun we're enjoying now, and the dreams we're realizing; and I remember the little inconveniences are worth it.  Everything in life has positives and negatives, the trick is finding an imbalance between the two.  For us the positives of our change vastly outweigh the negatives.  It's good to be imbalanced.

Amarillo by Morning...

"Amarillo by morning, Amarillo's on my mind."

 -George Strait

It was time again to pack our bags, don our finest dresses, and clip on our badges for the convention.  In years past I was assigned to Ogden, Utah, but this year my cross-country move had adjusted our assignment to Amarillo, TX; another first. (Click on title for musical accompaniment in another window, skip ad)

Growing up, going to Ogden, Utah each summer was a treat.  We would go a day early to avail ourselves of the many offerings in the area:  water-slides at Cherry Hill, Lagoon amusement park, and the Salt Lake Zoo.  The convention site, the Dee Events Center, is large and accommodating to the massive five to seven thousand in attendance with well cushioned seating.  Women's restrooms were always in high demand (Honestly what are you ladies doing in there that takes so long!) , parking although adequate was a pain to negotiate out of, the massive center tended to get a bit warm, and the hotels were at times quite a distance away.  There are positives and negatives and I loved the place.  So this year I was a bit saddened, although curious to be going to Amarillo this year.

Karlie and I had asked around as to what to expect, and the area was given low reviews:

"We call it Cowtown because it smells like cows."

"It's just like Midland."

"We'd rather go anywhere else."

Therefore,  our expectations were low, which I think always helps you enjoy a place.  Low expectations lead to little surprises.

It was a four hour drive from Midland, but the terrain and scenery changed little on the drive over.  We found our way to the Amarillo Zoo  which had a low, $4 adult entrance fee.  They had Lions, Tigers and Bears oh-my; lemurs, foxes, parrots, and snakes; even a Long-horn cow, horses, goats, and sheep...not exactly your normal zoo residents.  It was small, odd, a little sad and certainly a $4 zoo.  Afterwards we strolled by a stinky (there's that cow smell we were told of) duck pond, then found our way just out of town on I-40 to the Cadillac Ranch.

Cadillac Ranch is a public art installation with tailfin Cadillacs ages 1949 through 1963 planted nose first in a field west of Amarillo.   Having seen it on the Travel Channel, I had planned on this visit as soon as I found we were headed that way.  

After a brief visit by what I'm sure is the top-selling-in-spray-paint Home Depot in the nation, we met up with our friend Reuben and wandered through  the fence bordering the property.  Graffiti nuts had started their tagging well before the actual exhibit, decorating the dumpster, fence posts, even the barbed wire around the field.  A careful circle was plowed around the path and the cars to discourage people from wandering into the arid field.  Spray-paint cans and lids littered the area, noisily rolling about in the wind.  Graffiti is encouraged and embraced.  After a few hesitant sprays to test our colors, we went to work making our temporary art.

We labored for the better part of an hour, I think, under the Amarillo (yellow in Spanish) sun.  Our art was great, but short lived.  Many of our pieces were already covered by other enthusiastic tourists before we had finished.  Years of this practice left the cars drippy, looking like they were melting in the hot sun.  With Silver, Blue and Purple finger tips and satisfied with our experience, I gathered as many paint cans as I could carry in my little bag and we left the place a little cleaner than when we arrived.

Zoey's personalized graffiti.

Reuben and I.

Karlie climbing for art.

Melissa hanging out a windshield.

Lastly that day we ventured to the Big Texan Opry,  an outlandish display of all things Texan:  big steaks, big hats, big chairs, big boots and creepy hologram pictures on the wall (not sure how that's Texan, but amusing nonetheless).   Dinner there was a bit overpriced so after out self-guided tour,  we ventured out and enjoyed our meals elsewhere.

Oh and big Cows!

 The next day we arrived at the convention site, parked across the the street from the site and made the short walk into the Cal Farley Civic Center.  To our surprise, the majority of the seating was already taken as the stadium seating only holds 4,987.  Additional seating was on the floor, but we still ended up behind the stage staring at a curtain for the first half; but the second half, we had front row seats to the drama as they took down the curtain for the presentation.

Zoey in her princess dress!

The average attendance was between 3,500 and 4,000 making it a much smaller crowd than the conventions in Ogden.  The site had the opposite positive and negatives of the Dee Events Center:  hard seats, tight seating, and too much A/C, were offset by great parking that is easy to get out of, close hotels, and adequate restrooms. We arrived much earlier the next two days to ensure better seating, although we slipped behind the stage at noon on Sunday to position ourselves in front of the drama once again.  Zoey declared the Sunday drama to be the best play she had ever seen.

Our afternoons were short, but we managed to see the premier of Man of Steel (not the best, in my opinion), and experience a few local eateries.  Our favorite dinner was at Sava!, an Italian restaurant which made their own cheese!!!  The three of us split three dishes and desert and loved every bite.

Overall, I'd have to say my experience of Amarillo was good.  Not exactly a vacation destination, but if ya'll find you'self in Amarillo by Morning, Ah believe y'all 'll have a giddy-up time.

Desert Oasis

 

“In the desert, the only god is a well.”
― Vera Nazarian, Dreams of the Compass Rose

We live in a desert, and like all deserts, there are oases.  All of the oases in Midland are man-made, slippery slime coated ponds unfit for even the ducks who frequent them or local highly chlorinated pools where every soul for miles retreats during the summer 100° temperatures.  Last weekend Karlie, Melissa, Zoey and I decided to make the trek to find a pool a little less chlorinated and whole lot more beautiful; Balmorhea.

Balmorhea State Park was created under Roosevelt's New Deal program in the 1930's during the great depression.  The program cemented in an area of wetlands to create a 3.5 million gallon freshwater swimming pool, complete with a shallow area for kids and 25 ft deep "natural"  (term used loosely) area with rocky bottom.  Many people bring their snorkel and scuba gear to view the various underwater mosses, fish, snails, and the occasional turtle (from what I hear).  All of this bad for the habitat, but good for a fresh dip.

We arrived early since the park limits entrance to the number of parking spaces and made full use of the crystal clear waters.  Zoey is practicing her swimming abilities, ie thrashing, so she donned a cute little whale fin life jacket for the adventure (I think it's a shark, but I guess sharks aren't cute enough for her). Zoey spent a lot of time in and out of the pool because the 70° pool was just too cold for her skinny little body to endure for too long, but she enjoyed every minute nonetheless. 

The kids in adult bodies, Karlie, Melissa and I, took turns snorkeling and improving deep water diving skills.  Once as I floating along I viewed a man scuba-diving nearby.  I waved and he waved back, then rose from the bottom extending his spare regulator towards me.  I was not going to pass this up despite the little thought of what other slobber may be on the regulator.  So I quickly dove to meet him, and grabbed the regulator, shoved the possible germ infested piece into my mouth, purged the water (this can be done by pushing the purge on the back of the regulator...a little trick I learned during a short lesson 13 years ago scuba-diving through Sandals Resorts in Jamaica) and off we went along the bottom of the pool.  It was a blast, and upon surfacing I am convinced I need to get certified.

Midway through our day we walked to the source of the water, where, in the 90's, efforts have been made to rehabilitate a fraction of the wetlands that were destroyed during the construction of the pool. As in the pool there were several large black Headwater Catfish, Mexican Tetras, and Comanche Springs pupfish(an endangered species specific to the area).  We sat on a dock tossing bread crumbs to the fish,glimpsed a garter snake slither throughing the water, and lured Red-eared slider and Texas spiny soft-shelled turtles to the surface with our delectable white bread, not fit for human or animal consumption.

A little bit sun baked and a whole lot tired, we left around 3pm for a quick glimpse of the Balmorhea Lake then on the road again, Zoey was out like a light and slept the entire 2 hour drive back to Midland.  Along the way we took a few moments to photograph one of the many cool old farm buildings supposedly abandoned when farmers and ranchers became rich from the oil under the land they once worked.

The trip was a great outing for the weekend and was reminiscent of  the cool although not so clear waters of Dierkes Lake I had grown up with.  I think we'll have to go back sometime, perhaps next time we'll drag John along, even if it isn't his cup of tea.