January 14, 2009. Brantley Lake State Park, New Mexico (32° 33′ 5″ N, 104° 23′ 2″ W)

DESCRIPTION OF PREVIOUS WEEK:
Alice: Whew! Meeting with inspiring overland travelers, visiting magical sites, teaching the kids about geology, the truck coming together, great food, my birthday in style – what more can I ask!?!?

Jay: I'm really thankful that the family is happy with all the activities, it's been a bit of a slow start but feels like we're really hitting our groove now. Arizona and New Mexico are definitely states we'll come back to.

Kurt: Had a great time playing with other children, but the best was running around on the sand dunes and getting my junior ranger badge at Carlsbad Caverns. I went around the 1.2+ mile trek all by myself!

Maya: It's not easy being a younger sister sometimes, I can't ride a tricycle yet, I fall asleep in the backpack on hikes. But, Kurt's letting me hold onto him and teaching me lots!

Perl & Flash: We're getting the hang of this swaying truck, learning to jump up into the beds, figuring out our favorite sleeping and lookout locations. Perl – I especially like going on the front dashboard and sitting right in front of the driver (don't know why everyone starts yelling at me though), it was a little scary though when I almost fell out the window by stepping on the window open button on the highway...

PEOPLE ALONG THE WAY
Friends
1)Lance and Veronica Blair, their kids Nathan and Martine. We met Lance at a nice park just south of Scottsdale and we felt like we were part of an expedition, being parked next to Lance's very fierce-looking truck. Lance is the founder of Disabled Explorers (www.disabledexplorers.org) and brought his WAVE which is an incredibly designed machine, developed for people with limited use of their legs to be able to be fully free to go off-roading, even alone. It's built on a Sportsmobile Chassie, has a lift for a wheelchair, a drivers seat that swivels around so that someone in a wheelchair can easily get in, and all driving controls within easy hand reach – BUT – all in a lean, mean over-roading machine! In the back is everything one can need for a week long expedition, including kitchen, dining and sleeping facilities, all designed especially for people with limited let mobility. Kurt had a great time operating the lift into the truck, going up and down so many times that all the adults' patience (except incredibly Lance) was worn out. I am a little concerned though, whenever Kurt or Maya as me to drive our cars/truck, I always tell them that they can do it when their feet touch the peddles. But, here is a truck that they can drive with their hands, so there goes my iron-clad answer (thanks a lot Lance!). But seriously, this is a great design and really allows disabled people to go wherever their 4x4ing buddings can go, truly inspiring. Thanks to Marine and Veronica to playing with the kids while Jay, Lance and I chatted about all the exciting shows and activities that Lance is leading with his organization.

2) Amy and Brian McVickers, their kids Charlie (4 yrs old) and Max. Amy and Brian were absolutely wonderful and invited us to their son Max's birthday party (he just turned 3) at the train park in Scottsdale. The children rode the train, the carousel, Kurt's tricycle, played in the playground and generally ran around while the parents talked about global travels, crazy experiences and shared children rearing joys and woes. Amy and Brian (prior to kids) lived on a boat and on islands for 2+ years. The gleam in their eyes recounting their adventures was very bright, I'm sure Charlie and Max have a life full of excitement ahead of them. We're talking about doing a joint family camping trip together after the ExPo this year somewhere in Northern Arizona, perhaps combined with a Muskoka Foundation volunteering activity. Getting quite excited about that!

3) Roseann and Jonathan Hanson. Well, even though this was a short dinner meeting, we had a great deal to discuss about all the Muskoka Foundation activities, the ConserVentures organization that Roseann and Jonathan lead (www.conserventures.org), the conservation efforts in Tanzania (www.whistlingthorncamp.com), Jonathan's editor activities at yep, our favorite magazine, Overland Journal, and of course the upcoming Overland ExPo April 2010 (www.ovexpo.com) that Roseann is putting together. While the kids colored on the floor, we brainstormed at a record pace and came up with some great ideas for programs and opportunities. The immediate one is to focus the upcoming ExPo on inspiring people to “do good as they go,” details are in process. Another interesting thing to note is that Roseann is off for an exciting adventure in Mexico, solo-motorcycling and then doing an advanced Spanish immersion class- Roseann, you are a bundle of energy and innovation, we're going to need regular doses of meeting with you whenever we get discouraged or tired!

4) Scott Jensen and his 6 yr old son. As a testament to the fact that Arizona is teeming with Overlanders, while we were in Jamba Juice on Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard just off the 101, we bumped into Scott Jensen and his son. Scott was looking admiringly at our EcoRoamer and we were looking admiringly at his Toyota Troopie. Our children recognized the Overland craze in each others' parents and knowingly shook their heads. Scott popped by for a visit to the EcoRoamer and we asked all sorts of questions about his Troopie. Scott is actually one of the founding members of the Overland Society (www.overlandsociety.org) and knows Roseann & Jonathan, Amy & Brian, and Scott and Stephanie very well. It's a small world...

Eco-guests – None at the moment, a little sad, but with the delay given Jay's illness we won't be able to have our friend Marina come join us this time around as she needs to start teaching at her prestigious positions at Columbia University and the New School. Sometime soon I'm sure though!

PLACES
Camping:
1) McDowell Mountain National Park. One of the best RV parks we've been in to date. It is on a high in the National Park, the sites are relatively far apart, the views are gorgeous, the playground is very adequate and the bathrooms are clean. There are also very large individual shower rooms which we used as a family. The sites are very nicely raked, you pay when someone comes by your site to collect, there's campfires allowed and they've even left all the nice cacti around the campsite, which adds an element of danger. Kurt and I stayed up late into the night in front of the fire, looking at the sky, sharing “opinions,” trying to match the constellations that we see to the guide that we bought in Sacramento a few months ago. The sunrises were brilliant, very nice for lowering our back deck and a little yoga action. And, this park is only about 30 minutes outside of Scottsdale and just 10 minutes outside of a very pretty town called Fountain Hills. A good find.

2) Catalina Mountain National Park. Probably the best one would get around Tucsan, AZ in terms of a national park site (unless you have friends with desert property). The views were really great, toilets/showers ok but nothing special. The sites were large for our truck to fit, but rather close to other campers, needed to walk through others' sites to get to the toilets too. Nice hikes in the area though, including equestrian tracks and various nature walks. Yoga on the back deck looking up at the mountains was a bit hit!

3) KOA at Las Cruces. This is our first time staying at a KOA and it is true what they say, these are just gravel parking lots. However, that being said, this was probably the best of the bunch. Not a bad view into the valley, free REALLY great coffee in the morning, unique items in the gift shop, 6 working washers and 3 huge working dryers, everything in great condition and a pool during the summer. The playground was ok, but the equipment a little old. The best part were the operators of this one though, really nice people and not fake nice. Had great chats while my laundry was going and while I was sipping on that (did I say great) coffee.

4) Brantley Lake National Park – Unfortunately the only decent place for an RV to stay while visiting Carlsbad Caverns (note we did not see the new KOA, so that could be surprisingly good, however, given that it's a KOA...). All the other private RV parks looked very dilapidated (eg Whites City) and were right on the road. Driving into Brantley Park though took a little while from the main road, but mostly worth it. You get a nice view of the lake from most sites, there's walks down to the lake and during the summer there are boating activities. The bathrooms were fine and they say usually heated (except the furnace was broken during our stay). Worth the drive while visiting Carlsbad Caverns.

Natural sites/attractions
1)Taliesan West – for my birthday, the family went to Taliesan West, the winter home of Frank Lloyd Wright in Scottsdale, Arizona. A beautiful compound, well worth the entrance fees and the longer guided tour. So great to hear all the stories of how it was built and to see all the Asian influences, the way that the structure blends into the mountain as it was supposed to be a campsite in the desert, my favorite was the carved out hole in the wall for the grand piano while Kurt's favorites were the fountains. Luckily Maya fell asleep in the backpack after only 20 minutes of crying. Given that my mom really loved Wright's architecture, went to see many of his designs, but never made it here before she died, I felt really connected to her and happy that I could be here, especially appropriate since it was the day that she gave birth to me (and yes, boo-hoo that makes me 36!)

2) White Sands National Park: highly recommended park that has beautiful white sand dunes, a great picnic area at the end of the drive and lots of opportunities to climb the dunes. The kids loved running up and down the sand dunes, we even saw people sledding down. Coming in the winter now meant that there were almost no people around and the dunes had a very thin layer of glistening white snow, really magical. We had a picnic in one of the appropriately constructed shelters and took lots of great truck pictures . We are able to make this a good educational stop as well, the National Parks websites have great descriptions of the formation of certain natural wonders that are made especially for children. We read all about the gypsum that the sand is made of, how the dunes move, and what plants & animals live in the desert.

3) Carlsbad Caverns: When I was a kid, my brother and I went to several caverns while touring around the country with my parents, however, we never experienced anything like this. The self-guided tour we went on through these beautiful caverns was 1.2 miles of complete silence, no one was around, the caverns were perfectly lit in subtle lights without any wires visible and the best of all, we could hear the water dripping (whenever our kids managed to whisper or were quiet). This cavern also has many caves that we're going to have to come to because there is serious cave exploration with headlamps, knee pads, helmets, etc., where people on the tour have to squeeze through crevices and the tours are 4+ hours long. They had a minimum age requirement of all the tours which our kids didn't meet yet, so we will definitely be back. In the meantime, the kids had a great time in the section that we did go to. Kurt even walked the entire 1.2 miles by himself “without going in the hiking backpack even once!” and given that he kept running back and forth throughout the cave, he probably hiked closer to 2 miles. Kurt even took a test at the end and became a junior ranger, complete with shining badge! Similarly to the sands park, we studied about the limestone formations, the movement of the tectonic plates, the sulfuric acid that carved the caves in the mountains, the formation of the stalactites and stalagmites with calcite, etc. Kurt was able to retain a lot of the information and we made a little video of him in the cave telling the story of Carlsbad Caverns. We'll post it on-line soon!

Notable food:
1) Birthday dinner at Harvest in Oro Valley at the north side of Tucson. Very nice New American food, focused on local ingredients, chef was the iron Chef winner for Tucson, great gnocchi, spciy clams, lots of flexibility in ordering for our kids, good wine list and great cocktails, very nice ambiance (which was probably spoiled by our 2 annoying children). Desserts were a disappointment, but mine had a candle which I blew out with Kurt, so it was fine!

THE TRUCK (OUR HOME)
Yes, more shopping! Now we have a latte/cappuccino machine, electric tea boiler, better vacuum, a 50/30 amp adapter so we can actually plug in and cook without using our generator.

We're also making a list of all the things that still need to be done on the truck. However, aside from the things that don't work that will eventually get fixed, I must say that it is amazing. Really room, comfy to live in with very little that I would change. The kitchen is amazing, the dinette can fit 6 comfortably, our bed lift for the master bed really works and the kids feel like they have their own room. The only major structural thing is the level of the windows around the dinette, they are too low – they should have been 1 foot higher. It's a really big job to move them, but we (at least I) am considering it!

The heating with the propane heater (not our long term heaters) is working very well and the truck is now nice and toasty inside. The new comforter that Jay bought for our bed is completely ridiculous, after about 30 seconds you feel like you are in a sauna no matter the temperature around, I have no idea what's in it, but it is amazing. Maya likes her new polka-dotted comforter and Kurt is very happy with his Thomas the tank engine one.

YOGA ON THE ROAD (YOTR)

There is a really good studio in Scottsdale called AtOneYoga (www.atoneyoga.com) and the class to take is with John Salisbury, specifically Ashtanga or Ashtanga Mix on Tues, Thursdays and Saturdays. John also overseas the Mysore on M, W, F mornings. The only thing is that there is either a new student $25 2 week rate (which is not encouraged for travelers, only for locals) and the drop-in rate for travelers is rather high also at $20! The drop-in rate for locals is lower at $18, but that's higher than most NYC studios, However, I just found a great site that works well for travelers doing yoga on the go called Om Pass at www.om-pass.com. It's $14.99 and you basically get down loadable coupons good for 1 visit at participating studios, this takes the rate down to something reasonable, e.g. $16 at AtOneYoga or very cheap such as $10-12 at other studios. If you plan on traveling and trying different studios (as I'm doing) this is the pass for you!