California

Well here I am doing another early morning post. Not much to report this far but I had the time so I thought I'd share. Yesterday we drove from Gila Bend to Pine Valley, California. Pine Valley is a small town close to Julian and about 35 miles outside of San Diego. We were planning to go all the way to the beach yesterday but we seem to have an affinity for mountain towns. Pine valley won us over as soon as we walked outside and felt the wind and warm sun in the air, the grass on our toes, and saw the pine trees above and mountains surrounding us. Its a very quaint and cool town so far! The drive through the desert to get to the coastal areas was intense! I've never seen such rolling sand dunes followed by mountains of rocks on either side of us while we were winding up a 3,000 ft. gradient. We passed through a part of the desert that began the elevation gain and saw a sign that said "Turn off A/C next 10 miles to avoid overheating". This was a little bit daunting because we were pulling a heavy trailer up a sharp long hill with very high winds. We made it, chugging along at a comfortable 40 mph. Japanese cars are the best. Anyway, when we made it to the top of the elevation change we were very relieved and ready to get out of the car for a bit. So we stopped at an observation tower at the top of the cliffs but it was closed due to high winds. Turned out the winds had been about 100 mph that day, pushing against us, and had knocked out all surrounding power. 

Here's the lookout from the observation tower deck. We drove from those wind turbines and beyond!

Here's us doing some much needed yoga at a park in Pine valley. 

Pine valley peaceful evening. 

Shine on you crazy diamond. 

On the road

Well folks we have finally started our grand adventure! Last night we slept in Gila Bend a small town in western Arizona with the largest Solar farm in Az. We actually got a chance to camp right next to the solar farm, which was funny because we had no electricity, just candles. It felt nice to see the inside of the trailer glowing with warm fire light while we cooked our first meal. This space really does provide all that we need in such a small and simple area. We love it so far! Also towing it on the freeway is a breeze. We got a nifty bike rack that fits over the hitch so that we can still tow. We look like the Beverly hillbillies heading to California! Here's a photo of Kyle jumping for joy after our first night of restorative sleep in the trailer. (Which hasn't been painted yet) but it's kind of cool to see the aluminum underbody. It took us so long to scrape off all of the layers of 60 year old pair to apply new silicone.. we couldn't wait a moment longer to hit the road. Anyway it also helps us to not stand out!! But we will get it painted in California somewhere eventually :)

Here was our last photo taken in Tucson! A fond farewell to our puppy companions~ 

 

We'll update you from California next!! <3

A hot desert job~

Hello all!
We are in the final week of our productive stay here in Tucson. Last but not least we are stripping the three layers of old (possibly 60 year old) paint from the trailer. This really needed to be done before we put a new layer on, the old stuff was chipping away, and uneven and frankly a little unpleasant to view up close.
Its a fun job because we get to see the shiny aluminum underbody!
In this picture you can see the nifty screen door that Kyle designed.

The new paint color will have to be a surprise :)

We can't wait to hit the road oh so soooooon!!!

Much love,

To the Blood Moon and Beyond

So, it's predicted that the moon will "bleed" tonight. That is, the reflection of sunsets across the horizons of the world. It's beautiful really, and hard not to be inspired!

We've done lots since we've last updated this maiden-ship. Hooray!

Some nice artwork in Tucson!

Some beautiful lichen up on nearby mt. lemmon

Here We're making a new screen door, the old one was just hanging together~We've used solid 1/2" Oak

Getting things in order to get this thing put together!

Here's a sketch of the design that I've come up with for the center cutout. The holes are so I have a place to start with the Jig-Saw cuts.

Here we have the lunar thing going on. 

Some stain and it hangs from my basketball hoop as I write this, drying. We'll finish it up and put a screen on it tonight!

Some beautiful cacti, Maddi's kept busy with her camera!

Get one last look at it's antique paint job, it may not be this color next time we update!

Ol' skipper needs a new coat.

Finished interior wall and some cushions for our "open space." 

Here's the other end, with our new bed area and the bamboo wall installed. We've been sleeping in it the past few nights, it sure is comfortable and peaceful! It feels like a treetop bungalow in here. 

We have a few more loose ends to tie, such as leak proofing gas lines, installing the solar panel, and wiring a brake controller into the truck. When finished, we'll be able to hit the road!

Thank you all for following and there should be more coming soon~Chao

A hop, skip, and a jump away!

Build a wall

Watch us build a wall!
One of the last things we need to do is build the front and back walls of the trailer. This front wall had been being used as the front of the barber shop. It has cork board walls a countertop and a giant mirror. Not really what we were going for so we decided to use bamboo!

Many thanks to Kyle's Uncle Kevin (and Kyle) for building two amazing bamboo walls!

Our trailer looks even more "hippie" now ;)

Almost there!

Hola Amigos! Here we are in our final preparations to get Skipper on the road. While the endeavor has taken us longer than we originally expected, we realized we've done restorations that could have taken about a year, in only three months.
We've been working very hard and barely taken any days off, we are so excited to hit the road and begin our new life journey across the states.

Here's what we've been working on lately:

Kyle found that a small piece of wood that made up the floor of the doorway was a bit loose when we stepped on it to enter/exit the trailer. He found that the wood was rotting and needed to be replaced for a sturdy entryway. He did all of the measurements and cut a piece of wood just the right size for the space.

Before:

After: 

We've also been doing a lot of painting on the interior of the trailer recently. We chose some pretty cool retro pastel colors such as a lavender for the kitchen area and a light green for the interior of some drawers around the trailer which add a nice pop of color when you open the closet door, etc. 

Here is the first coat of the lavender paint color on the shelf above where the kitchen counter will be. (More pictures of that to come)

Here is what the old paint looked like (right) and the new coat of "Asparagus" green paint on the left. We would choose a paint color named after a vegetable... :)

Kyle found an awesome deal on craigslist for an icebox, sink and faucet from a 60's trailer which fit our theme really nicely. The teal color matches the original trim around the kitchen counter in our trailer. 

The icebox uses no electricity. This is important because every bit of solar energy we have is precious. 

We will put blocks of dry ice in the box to keep food refrigerated for 1-2 weeks at a time. 

The original paint on the icebox had seen better days, especially around the handle area, so we decided to spray paint on a new coat.

First Kyle sanded the door of the icebox down so we could start fresh. And we hung it from his basketball hoop which made for an interesting floating canvas~

The next Picasso... 

Hooray! A clean matte finish with no drips.

We'll try to post a few more times before we hit the road, but our departure date is just around the corner! We are shooting for about two weeks. We will most likely begin by exploring Southern Arizona some more before it gets too hot to handle. Then we plan on heading West, and North!!

Thanks for everyone's support, suggestions, and love. Its meant so much during this difficult, yet very rewarding learning experience. 

Now here's a picture of an Ocotillo in bloom. Spring is beautiful here in the Southwest!

Peace and Love, 

Maddie and Kyle