First Trip, Day 2

We woke up at a leisurely pace Friday morning after a warm night's sleep in our bus. The big boys were delighted to have "slept in" while camping, since usually they are up with the birds :) 

After breakfast we headed down to the beach. With boys on scooters :)

Of course, Joshua was climbing the first high thing he found. I tried to get a series of photos to make a vertical panorama but just as I was taking the pics Joshua accidentally slid down! And he was in every shot, lol!

On to the tide pools...

Nate and I were excited to show the boys the neat rock formations at this beach...

Sharing finds and knowledge :)

Lots and lots of crabs

I was fascinated by these snags full of nests and birds swooping all around. I wanted a closer view but this rock wasn't visible from the tide pools.

Sandstone. Fascinating stuff.

After lunch we packed up the bus and drove down to Bandon to see the Washed Ashore art display (http://www.washedashore.org/)

The sculptures are made from plastic washed up on shore. The artist who began it was trying to think of a way to inspire people to pick up all the plastic trash along the tide-line instead of just ignoring it. 

  

While we were at the beach we kept our eyes open for any trash we could donate to the project. Joshua has the only piece of plastic we found in his hand. 

Some of the pieces are interactive. This giant starfish can be played with "drumsticks" (lengths of plastic pipe) or the bottles can be blown on.

At this sculpture you are encouraged to walk through and imagine what it would be like to be a fish trying to swim through the swirling mass of garbage...

Oil spill. Brannon said it would be Scary to be a sea creature and see this huge black mass come spreading toward you

Masks made from bits of plastic that are too brittle to be used in larger sculptures.

Styrofoam compressed by the pressure of the ocean makes great drum sounds

A dead coral reef

More drumming

A giant sea jelly. The kids are encouraged to walk through it and grab the tentacles and swing it around

Another fun thing about the Washed Ashore project is the workshop that is set up for anyone who wants to spend some time helping out to work on some of the bits that will go into new sculptures. 

 Joshua had his piece of plastic to donate and gave it to the lady running the "front desk". A few minutes later she brought it back to him and said the artist who began the project, Angela, was actually in the gallery today and would Joshua like to meet her and give the plastic directly to her. He thought that was a great idea. So, with me in tow, he walked up to where Angela was talking to a couple of visitors. 

When she was done she turned immediately to Joshua and introduced herself. They shook hands and he showed her the plastic he found on the beach. Angela said, "You know, this would make a great penguin feather." 

Angela showing Josh the pieces that will make the penguin.

Then Angela suggested that Joshua drill the holes in his piece and wire it to one of the bases. He happily agreed and they gathered the tools needed then Angela showed him how to drill the necessary holes...

Brannon, Joshua, Nate and I worked on some of the other pieces as well. We wove soda can strips through wire grids for a parrot fish, made "kebobs" of plastic and foam bits for a sea horse and a star fish. Stuffed styrofoam into water bottles for the ice for the penquin...

Brannon weaving plastic strips for the white penguin feathers

Angela had to leave shortly after helping Joshua with his bit of plastic, but her meeting was in the gallery. A few minutes into it she called Joshua's name. She introduced him to the engineers and other artists who help make the sculptures a reality (this is so-and-so he makes sure our sculptures can withstand 100 mile an hour winds...).

My heart, already full, overflowed. Angela was so kind and wonderful. And she treated Joshua like a real person who mattered. These are the experiences I want for our family :)

After we were done at Washed Ashore we went next door to a lovely little coffee shop and got drinks for everyone (Angela was there too and greeted us again:) ) 

Then we climbed into our bus and headed south. We planned on stopping at the Prehistoric Gardens but found out it would cost us nearly $50. We talked to the boys and told them that we didn't have the budget to do both the dinosaur walk and dinner out (Joshua had Really wanted to eat at a seafood restaurant for part of our trip). We gave them the choice and they chose dinner. As we drove away from the dinosaurs Joshua curled up on his bed and shed a couple tears. He was So disappointed. But he understood the need to pick and choose and stood firm on his choice of dinner out. 

At our next campground we got to choose a site right next to the playground which made for some very happy boys. After some delicious "tin foil" dinners and hot showers we settled in for another warm and comfy night's sleep. 

Traveling Dreams: Our First Trip, Day 1

It's been about four or five years now that hubby and I have been talking about "someday" buying a school bus, converting it to a home on wheels and setting off across the United States. We want to experience as many of the mini-cultures of our giant country as possible, work seasonal jobs together as a family, hike, bike and explore all the wild places that strike our fancy. One son wants to visit many wildlife rehabilitation places, another wants to meet a "Real" Texas cowboy and visit the part of New York city where Percy Jackson "lives". 

Constrained by financial questions: how to we earn money on the road? How will we save up enough to buy a bus? And other concerns (will Brannon be too old when we finally get it together, i.e. not want to leave his friends, job etc?) We were starting to feel like our dream was never going to be a reality. 

We started to talk about buying and converting  a cargo trailer or a short bus and starting our explorations in our own state. There are so many beaches and hiking trails we haven't explored yet. Mostly because tent camping is just too darn Cold! My health has also been a big issue. Anyhoo. We figured if we could sleep warm we'd be a lot more likely to do more "weekend" trips. 

We started to look for a short bus. And immediately found one in our price range, partially converted. There were no pictures on the Craigslist add and next to no description. Except the year, 1969. We made the hour drive to look, both of us secretly expecting to be disappointed by a ratty, unusable bus. We talked about deal breakers, mold (of any kind) and leaks being the biggest. 

We came up the driveway to find a beautifully painted, dark green (Nate's favorite color) nice looking bus staring at us. 

The inside was as clean and nice as the outside.

We didn't bring our money with us because we know no matter how good our intentions we'll get excited about something and agree to buy it right away. We drove away after telling the owner of the bus we would "sleep on it" and get back to him the next day. We were both brimming with excitement. Our bus was perfect! Oh, and the price "included" the dmv fees we would need to pay, in other words, the owner listed the price $300 higher than he wanted so when he let potential buyers know the title and tag fee would be about that much it wouldn't be an extra expense (who does that?! :D ) 

Two days later we were the proud owners of our "dream machine" and already planning our first trip.  There was a beach we really wanted to take the boys to, and an art display in another town on the coast. Six days after our purchase we were on the road...

The big boys riding on the top bunk for a while (after shoving all their coats and life jackets out of  the way.

They didn't stay there long though :) but moved up front to the long benches which were set up as their beds.

Around midday we stopped at a park to ride scooter and eat lunch.

 While we were there a gentleman and his mentally handicapped son were eating lunch near the playground. When they left he gave us the remainder of their lunch and ten dollars. We were perplexed. Did he think we were broken down (the battery had to be turned off each time we stop and so we had the hood up)? Did he think we were living in a little bus under unfortunate circumstances? 

The boys mulled this over for a while and finally Brannon said, "Well, I think the world would be a lot better if a lot more people were like that man." 

"Yep." I said, "That's why we act that way too. Helping people whenever we can. And hopefully we are teaching you guys to be the same way."

Beach!

After he threw himself down on his face and got a mouthful of salt-water for his pains, lol!

So many heart-melting smiles!

This crow came to check our our bright collection to see if any of it was food

Brannon got Nate (and eventually Joshua and Blaizen) to throw rocks at their sand castle to try and knock down all the knights and flags. 

Sand angel! 

After dinner we set out around the campground with the boys on their scooters. Eventually we came to a trail leading up to a cliff-top view. I was SO sad I didn't have my camera with me as we arrived just in time for a Gorgeous sunset. There were some very scary cliff edges and the boys were keeping us on our toes! There was one spot where you could see people had climbed over a large root and dropped from an overhang to a very precarious trail that eventually led to a little sheltered beach at the base of the cliffs. No thank you! We really enjoyed the view though and the big boys crawled to edge to look over, very carefully. Then on the way back they got into wrestling matches in a big meadow, and got Papa playing with them too. It was a fantastic evening.

And we slept nice and Warm! :)

Day 2: http://downfromthedoor.blogspot.com/2013/05/first-trip-day-2.html

Day 3: http://downfromthedoor.blogspot.com/2013/05/first-trip-day-3.html