The Camper

Boon-Docking, TX, our first night on the trail.

Well, after Vail (aka surgery) we had to think long and hard about our plans. We had an emergency savings set up… And used it within the first week of our travels! At least we can say “That’s what it was for.” But now what?

Our original plans did not call for a camper. Not yet. We were going to stay in a two bedroom, furnished apartment for the first contract or two, to make sure we liked traveling first. I already had the walk through set up. If we ended up liking traveling, we would invest in a camper.

Josh was thinking this through. The surgery was out of network. Out of network = $$&$. To make matters worse the agency Josh was  set up to work for pushed back his start date by two weeks. Not working for two weeks = no $$$ for two weeks longer! We decided to retreat.

We went back home to Kansas for two weeks and stayed with my mom and sister. Josh was still employed at his previous employer. He could go back and work until we began his new contract. We would have help with the kids and be with family. This sounded good. And that was just what we did.

Back at Mom’s

Three days before we were planning to leave town Josh came up to me and began going over the finances. We could go ahead as planned and be fine. But if we had another catastrophe we would be uncomfortable. If we changed our plans and got a camper we should be okay no matter what.

We bought our camper the next day. And left town two days after that.

Kara at Ford

Josh, just before driving away in our new home!

Welcome to our home!

We have a 2016 Forest River Wild-Wood. It is 29 ft trailer. It has:

• our “master bedroom” if you will. Swivel TV
  

  
• Kitchen
  

  

  Always a pot of coffee on!

  
• living/dining with booth seats (We prefer booth seats. We can sit as many as 6 that way and get storage underneath.) I turned the seat cushions upside down to keep them washable.
  

  
• Bathroom with a tub. A must if you have small children.
•  A bunk house with 4 bunks. One sleeps two. Or we can convert it to have a table and couch. I have changed our sleeping arrangements several times.  This room could support a pack’n’play and still leave floor space for play. I use one upper bunk for toy storage and the other for added play are. My oldest gets her “alone time” there.

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• We have a grill and an extra refrigerator outside
• Plenty of storage compartments

Our first night in it we spent parked at my moms. It was fun letting my niece and nephew stay in it with us for the first time.

The next day we pulled out.

Vail

Vail, CO

Vail, CO is an amazing place to visit. It takes you away like no place I had ever been before. It feels like you are lost in a European mountain village. The beauty is a blend of the majestic mountains, gorgeous architecture, and peaceful fun. One of the peaceful qualities come from the fact that this is a “green” community. Once you have entered Vail you will park your car and bid it a good vacation. You will walk, bike, run, hike, ski, snowboard… But no cars.

I can’t tell you how much this adds to the peacefulness and charm. The wildlife agrees and

Calf (Sorry it was the best shot we could get)

this is evident by their not shying away from the village. Actually, moose sightings are common. It is not unusual to see one walking down the cobblestone streets among the shops. Josh had a few encounters with them on our visit.  When playing at the pirate ship playground with the
girls he saw a mother and her calf. He was able to snap somewhat of a picture. As prevalent as they may be, these are wild animals and we should never attempt to approach one. They have signs posted about this.

The architecture is fabulous! It is all so beautiful. They have graced the mountainside with elegance. Even the children’s play areas are beautiful.

Of course you go to Vail to ski. Everyone raves about the skiing. Even the 2015 World Cup Championship was held there. I have never skied. We also have gone in both off seasons.

For our entertainment my family went ice skating.

Leah hoding her dads (Josh’s) hand

That was our two older daughters first time going. Kaylabelle did not enjoy it. After about one minute of being on the ice telling her grandmother “I want my Mini Mouse shoes back on.” Our four year old accepted the challenge and enjoyed the help of one of their “walkers” or holding her daddy’s hand.

The shops were fun. We had to assume that I had not been the only one with an injury there. We found this t-shirt in one of the shops.

My only complaint would be the price tags. In one children’s clothing store I found a cute sweater for about $80! I know we come from all walks of life. That is just a little more than I am used to spending!

The family spent one afternoon hiking. I kept our two younger daughters back with me. Josh put them down for naps then left to explore. I was able to watch and follow them from the balcony for most of their trek.

Another day Grandma Michele took Leah and Belle up the mountain on a gondola. Leah was then able to do an obstacle course. That was an event she talked about for a while. My mother in law told us that there were  a lot of fun things to do up there.

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Tails of the Laundry Room

Keeping Laundry Up

Okay, so one of the realities of camper life is laundry. Oh, Laundry, my life long foe! It has always been my kryptonite. But living in a camper has somehow created a new sense of urgency about it. I tend to, actually, get it done. And in a more timely manner than ever before.

Truth be told, we simply don’t have the space to let laundry sit around. Furthermore, it will only become more heavy as time goes by. That’s a big deal if you are like me. For the first seven months we lived on the road, we had not invested in a wagon. A wagon is nice to pull the laundry to and fro. Also, consider the laundry soap and anything else you may need to bring with you. In my case, three small children. More times than not I would have the trash and recycling alone as well. (Just so I can look ridiculous.)  

If I really want to try to sound like superwoman I can add to this seen the fact that I was on crutches for the first month or two of our journey. Thanks to God, I have an awesome

Not much room

husband who was more than helpful through that! Josh did all the laundry at first. The kids had to help too.When I was well enough (after knee surgery) to walk with one crutch I started to take over the laundry again. I would sling the hamper bag with my free hand over that same shoulder. I would use the small laundry soap pouches and dryer sheets. That way I only took as many as I needed. A bag of trash in the crutch hand.   My 41/2 year old would push my one year old in a stroller. My two-year old would carry a piece of recycling. (This helped in two ways. She was helping to carry something and it kept her focused on where we were going.)Maybe I could have opted not to take the trash. Sometimes I did, but you have to understand that at that point, I only went outside once a day. It was one mad dash to get fresh air, sunshine, and complete our chores before I retreated back inside. Just getting the kids shoes on was exhausting!

Things would not always go as planned. That is why I am also thankful that I had wonderful neighbors. (Thank you Theresa for chasing my child!) You know, like when a cat would walk by… The excitement of recycling a milk carton only goes so far!

I remember early on, one of my neighbors reproach “Your husband should be doing that.”

I am sure it looked that way. I also know she meant well. However, what she could not see was how much he was doing.

Josh was working at his new hospital. He had three thirteen hour days a week with a forty-five to 60 minute commute each way. He was taking care of me. He was still in school online completing his bachelors. He did all maintenance, bills, laundry, shopping, dishes, cooking, cleaning, and most importantly playing with the kids (esp. outside). So when I was feeling up to taking over a task that would free up his days off,  I did it!

Being Courteous

Back to the topic… Laundry in a camper. Most likely you will be sharing a laundry room with a whole campground . A little thing that can get big quickly is.- Be timely when picking up your loads or moving them over to dry. Our first park had only three washers and three dryers for 101 sites. That is a shocking change from one per household. It was pretty important to be on time. If I even left the laundry room, I usually set my timer on my phone. I am normally a few minutes early to grab them or within a couple of minutes.

Santa Cruz Redwood RV

If you are not timely who knows what will happen to your clothes! In my experience it is laundry room legal to remove someone else’s load if they are not back in time to take care of it. Personally, I feel that we should try to be there within five minutes give or take. Busy or not, we should give someone at least fifteen minutes before tampering with their clothes. Be realistic, life happens! We do not all live to do laundry.

• “Where is Leah’s other shoe?”
• “I don’t want to go to the laundry room, Mommy, we want to go to the play area” (which was inconveniently located between the camper and launry room.)
• You are cooking lunch and can’t just walk away.
• “Kitty!”

I have only had a problem with inconsideration  once. At our first RV park I found that if a “certain person” was in the laundry room, it would be hers for the day. She would come in with a months worth of laundry once a week. Only most of it would be stuff that the rest of us did not see a need to wash weekly. Comforters and blankets, coats and hats, bags and backpacks… I kid you not – a full load of shoes! This was regular. I honestly don’t really care what people wash. I care about how they treat others. This woman would take your clothes out and put them on the counter at the first chime of the machine. Then she would use a whole washer load on one backpack.

One day,to the best of my memory, I had three loads to do. I loaded the wash. (Wash takes 29 min. Dryer takes 45 min.) I set my timer for when the drier would be open -45 minutes, and left. (The other washers and dryers were in use. I see no point in removing clothes from the washer until a drier is free.)  When I came back, this lady was in the laundry room and I could tell she was livid. She was using the other two washers now. I flipped my loads around and started the second load. Because I could tell she was upset, I set my timer for 29 minutes this time, even though the dryer would not be done yet. When I came back I made sure I was on time! If not early! Only to see all my clothes wet on the counter and she had taken my washer!I was shocked! Can you be more blatantly rude and selfish! I had my last load to be washed still sitting there. She knew I still needed the washer.  So much for that. To add insult to injury she began to tell me, “I had to take your clothes out because you were late. And I was not sure how long you would be because you were like 15 minutes late last time.” (Not so. I told her I had a timer set and could not have been late. She had no comment.)
…Can I say this again? Why take my clothes out of the wash until there is a dryer open? Your only as fast as your slowest horse.  I guess she expected me to do as she did. Bring garbage bags. She would stuff them to the brim with wet clothes then stand at the dryers 45 minutes at a time with bags full of wet clothes. I did not dare tell her that my method was just as fast. I also got lunch made and the dishes done.

I stood there for 15 minutes until my dryer opened up and flipped the clothes. I set my timer for about 40 minutes.Josh and the kids went with me the next time because I wanted some back up. When we came back…early, our close were out of the dryer on the counter. She had taken the dryer. She had taken our cloths out before they had even completed! Something to note: people can remove your cloths put theirs in and just add quarters for time. Wow, I was glad Josh could witness that first hand.On the flip side you can use this as a courtesy. If you check your cloths early and they are done you can let someone else throw theirs in and just add time as needed. I guess the point is – Don’t be a hog.
Anyway, you do have to keep an eye on your clothes sometimes. However, I would say that the laundromat is the best place to get to know your neighbors. I have rarely had a bad experience.

Avoid Busy Times

One way you can prevent some of the chaos is to avoid the busy times. Mainly the weekends and weeknights. Obviously, this will only apply to those of us who are not working nine to five.

A Good Time To Go

In San Jose, they clean the washing machines once a week-Monday mornings.  Clean machines, weekday, morning…good time to go.  Ask if the place you are at cleans the machines and what day. This is a VERY good thing because people will wash anything. I remember commenting to someone on how comfortable the blanket they pulled out of the dryer looked. The response was “Yeah, my dog got sick.”  It is gross! I know, how else are we going to get our linens clean? That is what they are for. So a laundry room that takes the time to clean is a good thing!

Laundry Room Access

Some RV parks will have a code for you to have twenty-four hour access. That is a big plus. One of the downsides of this is that some people give the code away and they are not equipped to handle the town coming in to do laundry. I have literally stood in line to do laundry before.

Others parks will leave them unlocked through the day but then lock up at night.  Make sure that you get what you need done before closing because some will lockup with laundry still running. Once in San Jose, I was yelled at for being in there five minutes before closing time. At that same location, I have had them lock up an hour early. This prevented my gathering clothes off the line that day. There is no real harm in this. It is just inconvenient.

The Cost

I have seen it take $1.25 – $1.75 to wash. Drying has been $1.00 for 45 minutes or $0.25 for 8 minutes. For my family, it had cost an average of $20 a week. I feel like that is a ton of money. You can cut on cost by hanging to dry. Some places will provide lines to dry. You can also wash completely by hand.  Wink-Wink

Where to Get Quarters

The campground office.  Normally they just take them straight from the machines to the office. They should have a ton. Though, the campground we are traveling to next said they will take a credit/debit card! That is cool!

Unless…

It really is not too bad. Laundry is laundry.  I do enjoy the quiet time when Josh stays home with the kids. Most days the kids do enjoy going. We love meeting new people! Well, that is the saga of the traveling laundromat. Most likely you will find yourself dealing with similar drama…unless you decide to do your laundry by hand…but that is another story.

A Terrible Take Off Lands in Paradise

 

Josh’s mother is faithful about taking family vacations about every other year. This year she had set her sights on Vail, Colorado! This would be a first for all of us. We had planned on going before we had even thought of full time travel. Now, it would work out perfectly to leave just before the family vacation and meet them there. When family would head home to Kansas, we could take our time leaving and drive on to California. It was a great half way point!

The trip began! The whole family ended up driving with us as a caravan. I asked to drive first in our car, just to get my shift over. I drove for the first three hours.

Out in the middle of nowhere Kansas, we pulled over at a rest area. Bathrooms, play and a change of drivers. As we played we all explored a creek behind the restrooms. Leah and I found a small flock of purple butterflies. There was a cute little bridge and some small trails.

Josh went running down a small trail along the stream. I followed. At a moments notice he took a leap and landed down in the riven.

He looked amazing! I wanted to try! But once I looked at the jump I was second guessing myself. With some encouragement from my sisters in law, Brianna (And one of my besties) I did it! Kind of…

I landed and screamed. I could not walk and almost fainted. The lower portion of my leg would shift under me. They carried me to the car and drove about an hour to the Hays, KS ER. It was not broken but something was definitely wrong. He told us to continue to Vail. Stay off of it. Just see a doctor once we would get to California. Nothing could be done until the swelling went down anyway.  I was given a brace and pain medication. Josh picked up some crutches. We left for Vail.

Hays, KS ER

We enjoyed Vail for a few days. Josh and the family would go out and explore. On one of their first outings Joshua came back and surprised me with a wheelchair! Apparently the awesome Village of Vail Information Center provides free stroller and wheelchair rental from 9-5 each day! I was so excited and felt so loved! I had gone out a little on crutches before but it was hard.  So I had planned to spend most of the time enjoying the beautiful view from our condo.  My mother in law, Michele had gotten us an awesome place! (The pics do no justice!)

A stroller we rented.

The view from our condo. Ski slopes on the mouton.

Surprise Mom!

One day Josh mentioned that there may be some good doctors in Vail. Due to all of the skiing the doctors must have seen an injury or two. That settled well with me so we looked into it. Apparently Vail, CO had a world renowned facility. So I called. The very nice secretary told me that it normally takes at least six weeks just to be seen by a doctor. She would see what she could do being I was only in town for a week.

Vail Valley Medical Center

When she called back she told me to come in at noon to see the doctor! At noon the doctor told me to come back at five for an MRI. They said they would call back with the results at 7:00 pm.  We said okay and did as we were told.  At seven they called back and told us I needed knee surgery.
It was a torn ACL and both of my meniscus. I could come in the next day at 10:00 am to have it done!  Wow, that all happened so fast!

As we entered Dr. Laprade’s office the halls, waiting rooms, offices, patient rooms…every inch of that place was covered by pro jerseys that have been signed by all kids of famous people.  They were all thanking Dr. Laprade and his team for preforming their surgeries and helping they return to their careers!  Basketball, soccer, hockey, skiing, ice skating, Olympic champions… you name it, it was there. The Howard Head Physical Therapy was outstanding as well and also covered in thank you jerseys, balls, pictures…  Thank you Rachael and Melissa and all of you there! Thank you Dr. Laprade and all of you!

The next few weeks were much harder! Josh’s family had to go back home to Kansas the day of my surgery. Josh moved us to a hotel right next to the hospital called Evergreen Lodge. The employees were great and they give a discount if you are a patient at the hospital. Eventually I was able to crutch myself back and forth to PT and the kids could watch from our window. This is when my WONDERFUL MOTHER (Karla) drove all the way to

Mom reading to kids

Alisabeth watching me crutch back 

Colorado just to help us.  Once she was there Josh could focus on helping me and taking me to physical therapy. Thank you Superman! My mom still would help me but we really needed her to  help with our girls. Our kids were 41/2, 2 and 11 months. She stayed with us as long as she could. I think it was about a week. Thank you mom! I would like to apologies and thank my who family for their kindness at that time. I know I was a grump!

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In exchange for her goodness she did get to see a few of the sighs. If you have to be stuck in a town due to an injury, we could not have planned it better! The book she is reading was written by a local authors Elyssa Pallai and Ken Nager. We were able to meet them at a book reading of the Eli and Mort’s Epic Adventures of Vail.  Vail as my favoret library ever! Josh also took her out to a neighboring town called Frisco.

They have great eating in Vail.

Dillon Reservoir, Frisco, Co

In the end I think we spent three weeks in Vail and i have stopped by once since then.  We would not mind living there some day. Even with a knee injury I had a fabulous time. But you should hear about all the adventures in Vail everyone else was having!