Roswell

We drove 45 minutes north of the ranch to check out the quirky town of Roswell.  We had it in mind to maybe do a hike just outside of town but that didn't pan out.  We went to see Star Wars, The Last Jedi, instead, at the Galaxy 8 theater.  And i couldn't resist buying up a Groupon for the international UFO museum.  Before calling it a day, we stopped in MickyDs for shits and giggles, and (what they call) ice cream. It was a fun, outer-spacey day 👽

The day after, we pretty much hung around at home, making a couple loaves of bread in our little house for the first time, and they turned out great- YaY!  and finally did laundry since leaving the farmstead in Kansas (!  it was piling up.  couldn't hold out anymore.).  While we waited for the bread to rise, we went on a bike ride into the middle-er of nowhere, leading us down some overgrown asphalt roads, eventually spitting us out on to a dirt one.  we were looking for the Pecos river, and... Success.  I didn't take many pictures.  Just felt so great to keep peddling on my bike.   It was a really neat ride.  There are some lumpy foothills we got much closer to, and a wide array of desert brush and trees I have never seen before.  i made some art to leave behind in the river.

it was nice staying around home for the day.

Carlsbad Caverns and Holiday Hayride

cave within a cave.

These things are mindblowing.
GIANT, intricate formations, and teeny-tiny ones;  HUGE rooms & spaces, and small, narrow ones to creep (easily) your way under; crystals being formed (Gypsm, yellow Calcite);  gentle, spacious drip-drops tinkling down from above;  and clear pools of water, all existing together, scattered into a mish-mash of oddity, continually changing and morphing ever-so-slowly.  i would almost describe it as "WTF".  (WTF am i LOOKING AT???!!)   HA!!
GO.  It's incredible.  Awesome in it's scope of shapes and sizes.  Other-worldly, and surreal.  750 ft under the desert floor.  A consistent 56ish degrees and high humidity, that never changes.  This was a dream come true for Joel- he had permagrin going for hours, that began in the first steps of our descent into this wide, gaping hole.  I am so glad i got to experience this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  You really gotta stand in it for yourself.  Hence, only several pics that i will share.  beyond this- GO!!!

say goodbye to daylight.

After about 4 hours in caves, we took the 9 mile scenic way out of the park, atop the foothills, then down into a valley, stopping for a couple little hikes.

Joel went cautiously ahead of me.

We got back home in time to grab my fire hoop and head over to the club house.  there were about 15 people gathered for the evening's activity:  a caroling hayride around the park to admire all the pretty lights and decorations that are up for Christmas.  Hot cider and treats inside when we get back.  I set our tree outside and hung a green string of El Wire 😁 I did my hula hooping and everyone was very thankful for the show.  Immediately after we all piled onto a trailer hitched up behind an old tractor, sat on hay bales, and passed out sheets with the words to songs on them.  then WE WERE OFF!!  It only took about 15 minutes to putter through the entire campground, and it was just so darn cute.  Some people poked their head out of their rig to see what all the commotion was about.  A couple different sites had a little bonfire going with ppl around them.  We did a lot of waving and singing and saying Merry Christmas!  

Nominated ding-a-linger

We made it to New Mexico!!!

What a deal this place has for new members: 7 nights stay for only $50!

Now we're in a different time zone.  and the middle of nowhere.  It's desolate out here, other than a random run-down-looking shack, a pecan grove a mile away, and the post office set up in a mobile home type structure just further down the street.  It was close to 3pm when we arrived at the ranch, another Escapees campground, and this one is a co-op.   Most of the lots are owned, many of them by retirees, and then rented out when they decide to up and travel some more.  It says online that this one in particular is "the most friendly park in the [escapees] system", and no sooner had we gotten out of the truck to register, 4 smiley people were walking toward us.  WELCOME! they said, shaking our hands, and one of the ladies gave Joel and I each a big hug!  We were shown which spot was available for us to occupy, then told about "happy hour" in the clubhouse, coming up soon.  I didn't think we would make it, given what time it already was and we wanted to get hooked up and cook a meal.  Joel reminded me it was an hour earlier than i was thinking, tho- so it turned out we arrived in perfect time!
We went to "happy hour". 😊  Somebody was making coffee, and there were about a dozen folks there, all so seemingly excited that we showed up.  The 4 ppl that welcomed us earlier were all there, 2 of them a married couple, who sat at the same table as us and immediately started asking us questions about our travels.  A few minutes later, happy hour began, with the ring of a little bell, and then someone on a microphone at the front of the room introduced himself; he said his name, his member #, what # lot he stays on, and then everybody clapped!  He then went on to ask if anyone present is new.  Since we were, they asked us to introduce ourselves and say a little bit about our travel plans.  so Joel and I got up in front of everyone and did just that.  Everyone clapped.  The MC, Walley, then asked if anyone was having a birthday, if there were any anniversaries, or if anyone was planning to leave the park soon to travel on.  nope, nope, and nope, for this day.  Next were announcements- some of them he told us about, and a few others were told by others.  Each of these other people stated their name, member #, lot #, then we all clapped, before they made their announcement!  After all the campground business, to close things up, Walley asked who'd be willing to "be the ding-a-linger" (bell ringer!) and MC for the following day.  They rotate who leads the show every night.  One of the guys sitting at the table next to us leaned over to me and said that newcomers were welcome to do it.  I said something to the effect that i supposed i could handle it.  This man then spoke up, directed at Walley, and pretty much nominated me to do it!  a few ppl cheered.  I laughed and decided to accept.  So i'd have to be back there at 4:30 the following day. 

After park Happy Hour, Marilyn and her husband Bob invited us back to their place for a real happy hour.  We followed them past their RV and were led into a small and cozy building with a screen-in porch area.  It was chilly outside so we went indoors.  all around the top of this room were books sitting on a continuous row of shelves.  i almost started drooling.  i noticed one in particular and thought "Hey- i remember hearing about that one and I'd like to read it for myself some day."  there were two large couches and a comfy chair for us to sit on.  Marilyn offered us a drink, and asked what we prefer.  I said something about whiskey.  "Oh, I am a Jack Daniels lady, myself."  So she and I had some of that, while Bob and Joel sipped on scotch.  We hung out in here for almost 2 hours.  somewhere in there it was brought up that i have a hula hoop that i set on fire and Marilyn asked if they could see me play with it sometime during our stay here.

These two have been married for 60 years, and full-time RVing for 30+.  Before coming here, they lived and raised their family in El Paso.  Then they made this place, in the Lakewood area, their new permanent home.  Bob was telling us about how everyone owns or lifetime-leases their lot, yet they all still do a regular amount of traveling- so this is basically their home base 😁  Folks tend to leave in the spring then come back in the fall, settle back into their space, and gather together again with everyone to share their stories during their time apart.  it's a tight community here, and Fall is like a big family reunion!
Before we left our new friends, they shared a 30 minute video with us about their favorite place on the whole planet: Big Bend national park in southern Texas.  These two have been all around the world.  and all around the U.S.  and they both feel a deep affinity for this one particular park.  I've been looking into and reading a bit about it over the last couple of weeks, being we have been in Texas.  It's not jiving with our schedule at this time to make it down that way, but between the video and all they had to say about it, we definitely have this gem on our list of places to make it to!  These two have visited there at least 25 times, rafted the rio Grande, rode horseback through canyons, and seen some amazingly wild, untouched places.  Have any of you been there before??

As of today, we plan to stay for the week.  We keep going back and forth about wanting to be here for Christmas.  Everyone's gonna have a big holiday dinner together.  it would be a lot of fun and we truly feel like family here.  we'll have to sleep on it tho.  multiple times.  HA!  every day we tend to feel different!  every day we just... have to wake up and decide how we feel that day.  that really does seem to be the most satisfying and effective way to make our decisions now.  it's really cool!!  being so spontaneous.

We slept really great that first night.  Joel was very excited to visit the Carlsbad caverns, a long-time

Carlsbad Lake 

dream of his, but we had to be back by 4pm for me to be ding-a-linger, and the caves were looking like an all-day/late day thing to me.  So we packed up a our bikes and went into town to see what was where and explore around .  It was a lovely day for our planned activities.  The lake is quite beautiful.  Shaped more like a river, it's a pretty blue color, and we even found an area off the beaten path that lead us to a babbling creek in a rather rugged-looking area.  I sat by it for 10 minutes blissing-out to the sounds of water and birds as Joel scoped out where to continue taking the bike path.  After 2 hours of pedaling around we had quite the appetite and tried out a mexican place called Juniors, just on the outskirt of town, and FOR HEAVENS SAKE, it happened again- we each had THE BEST mexican meal we've ever tasted.  The FLAVORS!!  WOW, the flavors were incredible.

off the beaten path

my strong and mighty husband! hoisting up a giant tumbleweed

Got back to the ranch around 4pm and wandered into the club house.  One of the ladies in the room from the previous night showed me the outline on a piece of paper for what to say as MC, then handed me the mic.  I started talking, about to get into it, then several ppl chimed-out "ring the bell!!" and some chuckles rippled through the room.  I picked up and rang the small, fist-size bell, and suddenly everyone was smiling.  it was so funny!  I re-introduced myself since last night:  name, member #, lot #, everyone clapped!  and I remembered this time to mention that I came equipped with hula hoops- I'd love to do some hooping with anyone who was interested.  Marilyn then stood up to mention about my fire hoop, and asked if Joel and I had plans to partake in the holiday hayride the following nite.  Yes we were, so we agreed that i'd do a little show for everyone beforehand.  A few different folks came up to take the mic for announcements (a card to sign for a past-camper recovering from an illness, and the pecan grove tour going on at 1pm the following day.), first stating their name and #s, and we all clapped, then i wrapped things up and we just socialized for another half hour or so.

Neil, the Happy Trails guy, asked about seeing my fire hoop in action before he leaves town.  i said "Sure!  I'll set up in the open space at the end of our road, Quail Trail, once it gets dark out."  He and Bob and Marilyn showed up and watched me burn a couple times.  it's always so satisfying and fulfillingly-fun to do this for people.  Bob and Marilyn were wowed.  "I've never seen anything like this!" I heard Neil say. It just usually blows ppl's mind.  i love that.  i LOVE sharing this gift!  of wow, flame, and wonder.  it's such a great feeling, for everyone, in a variety of ways.  i know i have a lot more of this in my future.  YeeHaaw!!!

It was a wonderful day.  and next one up was already feeling epic = Carlsbad Caverns 😵

Alley Oop!

Does this state ever END?  i see boarders on the map, and we keep driving, for hours, 200-300 miles a day... and we're still in Texas.
but WHAT DO WE CARE?!   we're not on a schedule.  we don't have to be anywhere.  there is no reason to rush through.  there is reason to arrive in the Pheonix area sooner than later tho... we are looking for warmer weather. it has been chilly down here in the evenings.  very chilly.  like, running-the-space-heater-to-not-burn-through-all-our-propane-fast kind of chilly.  we have a couple space heaters, but they suck too much juice from our solar power set up.  so we've been landing at places with eletricity we can hook up to.  sometimes even for free!

Like the lovely Robert:  he lives on several acres of land in Wimberly with his family, two longhorn cattle, a black lab, and some chickens.  Robert is one of many ppl that offer to host campers on their land at no cost.  We rolled into his place just before sunset on the day we left Escapees RV park.  SUPER friendly and VERY hospitable-  he was kind enough to share some extension cord and electricity to help keep us warm thru our 2nd nite.  we tried winging it the first night with heating our home on our own, but in the morning it was really, really cold inside.  we realized eventually that our water pump drained the battery, and we need the battery to regulate the thermostat, so the heat stopped coming on.  We had very cold noses in the morning!!  (at one point we both got up to put on our stocking hats!)  so we figured out the issue that afternoon, happened to mention it to our host, and then he insisted we hook up to his juice so we could run our space heater all night.  that was very nice of him 😄

So we spent the day hiking around and later drinking some rum.
First we walked up a tall foothill called Baldy's mountain to catch a view of the whole town.  Didn't
look too interesting in photographs, but it was fun to go up there and see for ourselves.  We then went on to Jacob's Well.  the water was SO CLEAR, yet blue-ish.  there is a cement wall that was built way back in the day that still stands, and a bit of a boardwalk added by the park that maintains it.  we could see bluegills, and the very bottom of a giant round hole that went pretty far down.  the water actually made me think about how we were getting low on drinking water back in the camper.  Joel and I much prefer to drink spring water- tap water tastes gross to me sometimes.  so i brought this up with Joel and we agreed we should look into if there was a place to go and fill our jugs that were in the truck.  there were trails we hiked around this area as well.  we enjoyed the trees, yucca plants, seeing many deer, and tranquility of the area.

After that, we swung in to Crystal Creek rum distillery on a whim.  the gal behind the bar was Autumn.  she immediately whipped out samples and started explaining what they were and how they make them.  "The water makes ALL the difference.  we have amazing water from our well here.  I'm kind of a water snob", she says.
Well, ya don't say??  i thought.  then Joel asked if we could perhaps fill our jugs with some of this lovely water.  and yes, of course we could!  👍  Joel was also gifted a pair of overalls to work in by a guy named Bob who comes by every day, for Autumn to serve him up his (daily??) rum and coke.  Bob was super chatty.  After the samples i had, i picked a mixed drink from the several listed on the menu.  i went with a mojito.  and it was the best i've ever had.  Seriously.  i had tasted quite a few when i lived in Peru.  they LOVE their rum in peru, and they know how to make a great mojoito.  but Autumn had her own technique, much in the syrup+mint combo, to their drink.  and it was SUPER YUM.  WoW.  the mind of my tongue is still blown.

We stayed cozy-warm sleeping that night, woke up around 8am, made breakfast then started packing everything in.  We walked up to the house to say goodbye to Robert and ended up meeting his wife as well.  They are from Michigan!  they still have a cabin up there and other family that lives in the area.  they spend winters down here and summers up there.  it took us about a half hour to say our thank you's, gab a bit, and eventually squeeze in the goodbye.  HAHA.  then we drove, drove, drove (well, i was riding.  i'll drive the RV for my first time eventually!) for a long time that day.  we encountered some rough roads and a couple detours.  we had planned to go farther than we did that day, but i got this gut feeling to find a different place for us for the night.  Joel was a bit skeptical, but went with it.  (After we arrived and got hooked up, he thanked me :)  I navigated us to a cheap, run-down RV park next
to"fantasy land"- the theme park that was home to Alley Oop- the comic book characters!  There was a giant Dinny the dinosaur, but that was about it.  it's abandoned and run-down now.

we biked into town after the dino picture, and ended up having THE BEST BBQ brisket we've ever tasted!  a heaping helping, too- we split a "plate" instead of a sandwhich, and the container must have weighed 5 lbs!  it was more than enough for the two of us, and it was cheap as well.
Gotta love small towns and their home-cookin' meals.  Mmm, mmm!!

we got up the next morning and TODAY WAS THE DAY!  we were gonna break through Texas into New Mexico.  as we ate breakfast we could see out our window that rain was coming our way!  the first rain we'd encountered so far.  and in the desert?!   We started packing everything in for take off.  joel and i marveled a bit at how quickly and fully we wrapped everything up and were ready to go (about 15 minutes).  we're getting better and better at this 😁  We drove through rain for about an hour, it started to clear as we swung north, and just before we left Texas, off to the west we could see our first mountain/foothills.  it was so pretty.  i just love mountains.  we drove about 270 miles total that day, to a place 20 minutes north of Carlsbad, another Escapees park, known as The Ranch.
We had no idea the warm welcome that awaited us here!

Escapees

Joel and I are cruisn' west across Hwy 10 as i type this!  We are using our mifi signal in the truck for the very first time.  AND the little fold-down desk he crafted.  this is so great.

Blogging has not been in alignment with me lately, like it was when we were chillin' back at the farmstead.  But we've been really busy, with a lot of business to take care of while staying in Livingston, Texas...  Escapees RV park and headquarters, to be exact.

We joined the Escapees club for $39.  We will enjoy discounts at their various campgrounds all across the country (even into Canada), they set us up with a new, legitimate mailing address, and we also opted-in for their mail-forwarding service (for an additional fee).  We also registered our vehicles (truck and 5th wheel) in the state, got new plates for those, got new driver's licenses, switched our auto insurance and signed up for new health care coverage.
*Whew*
it was a lot of work.  but it went well!  and we really enjoyed our 5 days stay at Rainbow's End  😊  (Isn't that a cute name?  It is quite the place.)  We were gonna split after 4, but the vacant lot next to us became occupied Monday afternoon, and our whole world changed!  We've been meaning to be social, meet some neighbors, maybe partake in one of the campground activities and such, but it just hadn't worked out for us to really connect with ppl yet.  So Life brought the party to US.

Our new arrivals came over to introduce themselves and asked if we'd be willing to sign a waiver stating it was OK for them to film their activities later in the evening.  They figured our RV would probably end up in some of their shots, so they wanted to be sure we were cool with that.  Turns out they're going to be featured in a film being put together called RV Nomads.  It will be the first feature-length film of it's kind!  All about the full-time RV lifestyle.  Laura, the wifey, is also handling the social media and marketing stuff for Eric, the producer of the film.  

Now, Joel and I began watching various ppl's youtube videos on RVing and boondocking many months ago.  They got our juices flowing (even more than they already were) and provided great information/education on how to step fully into this world.  While we were staying at the farmstead, i found myself wondering if we'd end up running into any of the folk's who's channels we were viewing and learning from.  I mean, sure, EVENTUALLY we probably would.  but it is a big country we're traveling through.  there are many campgrounds to park at.  there were only a dozen or so different ppl's channels that we were frequenting.  so what are the odds?  i guess pretty darn good 😁  but i didn't know it would happen so fast!

(I have several links you can follow in the stuff below)

First we have the Hebards- Laura and John.  They have their own website and youtube channel.
If you're friends with me on facebox, you may have seen their pug video that i shared the other day.  if you have not yet seen it, YOU SHOULD, it's hilarious- click here!
The Hebards were new to us.  They have a crap-ton of videos about various things that broke down and were repaired on their rig.  so if you're interested at all in that kind of stuff, they take the cake.  They were about to be interviewed for the film just before we left this morning.
We also met the stars of RVLove- Julie and Mark.  Julie's accent is lovely.  HeHe.  We discovered their videos only recently, when we were staying back at the farmstead... So it was a little trippy seeing them in person all of a sudden!  They are being featured in the Nomad film too.
Lastly, we befriended some incredible solar-panel ppl, John and Brenda.  Joel was stoked- John had a Packers jacket on, and we discovered the Hebards are big Packer fans as well.  John and Brenda were pulling around a trailer with large panels on one side and on top.  It's a sight to see, pumping out 7.2 kW.  They told us they can camp off-grid, AND plug a friend's rig in and power theirs as well!  talk about generosity 😄  They've also figured out how to dry-camp for up to a month and a half at a time, as they converted their black water tank to an Xtra grey water one.  They use a composting toilet and minimal water for bathing and such.  It is absolutely fascinating how they do it- and IT WORKS!  They weren't smelly, malnourished, or seeming to feel lacked in anything.  it totally works for them.  and it's got Joel and I wondering how we'll change and evolve what we're doing, too.  John was ALL ABOUT seeing the solar set-up that Joel and his brother Jeremy put together for us before we left.  He and Brenda were quite impressed!

Brenda and John being video-interviewed next to their solar panel trailer.

So, what we thought was going to be only our rig in this movie-pfilming, turned out to be Joel and I as well.  All 6 of them, plus Eric the film guy, invited us over to enjoy the Christmas dinner they were going to have that evening. I was STOKED!  i had been wondering what we could do about having a holiday meal of some kind.  then these ppl just show up and invited us over??!  YES.  i was IN.  I wasn't aware tho that they would be filming it, until we meandered over a bit before sunset.  That's when we also met Sean, the CEO of the whole Escapees organization.  He was dressed nicer than the rest of us.  "He doesn't look like a camper" i thought to myself.  Then he introduced himself and let us know he was NOT staying there in a camper, but he lives about an hour away.  He ate dinner with us tho!  A native to the Los Angeles area, he claims to have grown up in the valley... where the classic concept of "valley girl" came from.  he's very friendly and funny!  He came out stargazing with us the following night, too.  more about that in a moment.

Christmas dinner with our new friends.

Eric told us all to just try and ignore his presence, along with that of the drone flying overhead in the beginning, and even all the bright lights he was to wander around with, setting up on tall stands, before moving to and fro with his camera and captured shots.  He wanted us to act natural, enjoy our meal, and just be campers! as he does his thing.  it was easy enough, as we became engrossed in conversation and stories and shared our plans for beyond Rainbow's end.  It was just lovely.  it felt like we were all one big family.  and Laura, sitting next to me, said this was one of the things she loved most about living as a nomad and staying at places with other nomad-y folks: the sense of warmth and community is unlike what they'd ever experienced back at home.  Everyone is so friendly, strangers will walk right up to you if you're working on something and offer to give you a hand, or give you a tip, or pass on helpful information, share a wonderful story about their time journeying along, and will invite you right into their camper to show you around their tiny home!

Dennis showing Joel how this telescope works

All that being said, dinner was wonderful, we laughed a ton, heard some amazing stories, they sent us home with leftovers, and it sounds like they're all going to a huge gathering in Arizona next month (Quartzsite) that i think they convinced Joel and I should show up at.  😊  John and Brenda, the solar-panel ppl, also let us know about an astronomy viewing gig they were going to be doing the following night, and said we should join them.  We were planning on leaving in the morning tho, so we'd miss it.  but after such an awesome time with everyone, we changed our minds!  we are SO GLAD we extended our stay for one more night.  Brenda and her husband have been doing these viewing events all across the country for 13+ years, i think she said.  They are very passionate and fun about it.  We learned a lot and had a very hands-on experience with 3 of their powerful telescopes.  we had gorgeous night sky conditions for viewing, and i LOVED watching Joel take it all in, as he asked questions and had conversations with the two of them and one of their colleagues.  Ever since i first met Joel, he has had a vivid interest in the sun, galaxies, and everything spacey.  this was such a stellar little surprise that we got to be here for!  ⭐

What else?  Well, we arrived at Escapees on Friday afternoon... Joined the club, changed our address, and started calling around for car insurance quotes.  only an hour later and the weekend was beginning.  offices were closed.  we HAD to go out exploring and play around until Monday.  So Saturday we spent driving around through national forest and wildlife management land, looking for possible places to camp for free/ off the beaten path.  we found some really neat areas! but not for us right now.  we'd be better off with just a tent.  it was BEAUTIFUL driving through the forests tho.  They do everything BIG in Texas, and their pine tree forests are no exception!  TALL towering acres of them, had me mesmerized.  the air smelled incredible.  we checked out about 8 possible camp areas and it took us a few hours.  by the time we got back to our camper, we pulled off an hour-long bike ride around the resort and surrounding neighborhoods before nightfall.  it was a lot of fun, as the roads have low speed limits, and there was a lot to look at, with all the different rigs, trailers, Texas homes with their own rigs built into or next to them, PLUS it's Christmastime, so lots of decorations to see.  We pedaled past a yard that had a bunch of those inflatable, air-blowing characters in it, and one of them was a snowman.  but i had never seen a snowman like this before.  because it was holding a rifle.  A RIFLE!  built into the snowman!  part of the inflation, lit up at night, lo and behold- this is Texas!  And our Frosties hold rifles.  where the heavens do you even FIND that?!  i suppose the answer is "the internet".  i've seen home depot down here but no menards.  they also really love their Sonic drive-throughs.  even in the smallest, dumpiest, run-down towns, you'll see a brightly-colored Sonic restaurant.  makes me laugh.

touching the gulf for the very first time

Sunday we went to the gulf of mexico.  I had never been before!  that was neato!  We rolled into our
first sea side town, Crystal Beach, and all the houses were built up on tall pillars and stilts.  that was funny to see!  and we drove through a lot of marshy, swampy areas to get there.  it got me thinking "how far west do alligators live??  they're in florida and louisiana, but what about Texas?"  Sure enough, they occur all around the area we were staying in.  we were over an hour north of Houston, and they were found in ppl's homes in the city after the hurricane hit.  i haven't seen any yet tho. We ate lunch at a restaurant across from "goat island"- that has an interesting history to it.  but no goats on it that we could see!  So we hopped the ferry across the way to Galveston.  And we saw dolphins!!  i did not expect that!  it was spectacular!!  i love me a great dolphin sighting!  it's just way more exciting than a walleye, IMHO.

That about sums up our stay in Livingston.

We are staying just outside of Wimberly, TX tonight, on a guy's longhorn cattle ranch, for free!  up to 2 nites, he lets ppl "hang their hats."  (HAHA- that's what they say :)  we arrived just before dusk.  This morning we reached out to the guy to see if we'd be able to stay here for the night, and now here we are!  Welcomed warmly by the friendly and boisterous Robert.  He lives here with his family and some critterss.  Besides cattle, he's also got chickens and goats roaming around somewhere.  Robert told us about a road that makes for a great bike ride, or trails that will take us over an hour to hike, all over this pretty plot of land he's on.  I think we may hit him up on the maximum night's stay!  there's a bonsai tree place we passed on the way here, and Jacob's Well, natural spring, that i'd love to check out.  At one point we crossed over a creek and the water was this BREATHTAKING clear, but blue-ish hue... i want to go back and see more of that!  and what else is around here??  we're in "the hills" we've heard folks call it.  There are very different kinds of trees around us now.  i am loving every iota of freedom i'm feeling, with having no schedule to be on.  we can change our plans day to day, it doesn't matter to anyone else!  and this wonderful website we joined that connects us to ppl with land that we can stay on for free... just priceless.  we have no hookups tonight, but i'm cozy as ever with our solar power lighting the Christmas tree, and we have plenty of propane for heating us through the night.  (it is winter down here, after all :)
btw, HOLY CRAP TEXAS IS HUGE.  what the HECK??!!!  crimony sakes!   hopefully we make it to New mexico before 2018 (Hardy har har.)

the Hebard's dogs.  they travel with a cat, too!

OK

Alright,
we gotta get out of here.
This farmstead vortex has been loads 'o fun!  There's colder overnight weather in the forecast tho, and we should get to Texas to wrap up some business before we float around much more.
We'll begin packing it in tomorrow, getting ready to leave the following day, then we're Oklahoma bound!  The plan = drive 6ish hours and plop down overnight at a boarder town.  We've got our eyes on a campground with hookups on a lake, and for free, being it's the off-season. 
(NIFTY.)

I want so bad to unpack our bikes and go for a nice long ride.  There's nowhere much to ride around here, IMHO.  but HEY!  i've gotten to go swinging.  Joel had us spinning so hard last night, i had to lay down for a while afterward.  Ha!   haha- oh my goodness.

The guys slapped it together yesterday afternoon- Andy climbed up into the tree to set the rope in place...  got it hooked up, then they ALL went to town on it!!!   i enjoyed some alone time on it after dinner, swinging back and forth while i stared out in front of me at the gorgeous moon newly emerging.  i hardly ever bother to photograph the moon, but i was moved to in this instance.  OOooooooooh........

The day before that, we moved the goats and their pen with all the fencing to span over a large, fresh area of field, and wrapped around the shelter that was built from the weekend before.  It was another warm weekend with lots of sunshine.  We spend the entire day outside, and sleep like rocks at night.  I notice Joel and I both sleep so soundly.  We love our bedroom, and how well we rest in it.  It's just lovely.  Our whole home is lovely, and i'm just so stinkin' happy.

I've been reading this for the first time...  i don't recall anyone ever sharing these stories with me. ?!   I'm almost done with Titan, as I intend not needing to take it with me.

Andy's been showing me how to crochet.  I'm totally new to it.  He's sending me off from here with a ball of yarn and a needle.


Tonight Lou made us lasagna for dinner and it was fabulous.  Joel tried his hand at some sourdough bread sticks to go with it.  they were great!

the rabbits are due to have their babies any day now.  not sure if we'll see them.

we're aiming to shove off early wednesday morning.