Wanderlust Adventure: ON HOLD

We’re NOT calling it QUITS at all. We are putting this plan on the back burner for now.

Why? If you are curious please read on. Otherwise to cut to the chase we are now living in Provo Utah at the bottom of some magnificent mountains and freezing our asses off. We will be starting from scratch on building our home again because we really did donate almost all that we had in our 5 bedroom home! I am excited about this, which is key to being happy.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

We LOVE this life. If it were possible and realistic we’d stay on the road roaming the planet. I think of all of the love and support we got at the start and all throughout and it makes me realize how lucky we have been to know so many sincerely good people.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE ANIMALS

You know I’m very passionate about animals: our pets sometimes get overlooked because I’m worrying about saving OTHER animals from harm or pain of any kind (spiders included).

This small breadbox of a home has three “major spaces” for us to “relax”.

• The kitchen/dining room/office.
• The den.
• The bedroom.

Our dogs only get to relax in one space: the den. It’s got 4×4 feet of room (I’m being dramatic, it’s bigger but for a chocolate lab…it may as well be 4×4).

I complain about being forced to hear Kona licking his man-parts, gnawing his foot and Zoey also has a beauty regimen I’d love to not her and/or see. Have someone just lick their arm next to your ear and see how long you can stand it.

The fact is I can leave or go into the bedroom (or bathroom technically) or even put on headphones.

They can’t! They have two fluffy beds on the floor and that’s it.

We should have put more thought into these two love bugs before dragging them with us on this adventure. They are troopers for it and will be rewarded at our new house with a backyard the size of a football field and lots of spaces to move to whenever they want.

WEATHER. RANDY’S LOVE OF EXTREME WEATHER.

Since we were at Oh Ridge we got to experience snow STORMS, wind storms and rain with flooding.

That sort of became COLD.

Randy assured me we were “winterized”. I did not look up what this actually meant on purpose. We were hitting the 20’s on a regular basis (temps) and my memory of science, ice and all that complicated stuff was that at 32 or below things FREEZE. You cannot leave it out in the elements with fluids that normally freeze and expect that it wouldn’t freeze.

We began (well, Randy began) processes to survive the below freezing temps. We took ourselves off of the Full Hook Up water source, we put foam around the pipes, we bought foam puzzle-like flooring. It worked and we’ve never experienced a freeze that stopped us from being comfortable (or with running water).

Our plan was to scoot further across the USA but we waited too long to do it without hitting some REALLY cold weather.

TIME TO FIND A RENTAL (THAT WILL ACCEPT TWO DOGS AND A CAT)

Game ON!

What’s the name of that website you can find things on but you might be killed meeting up with the seller? Oh, ya, Craig’s List.

We began looking for places on Craig’s List. That’s just DUMB, right? Not this time!

First scan: 1010 total available (no stipulation on pets) of which 740 “accept dogs and cats”. I’d say HALF of all of these are scammers. Incredible that a human would be cool with scamming another human (and not expect it to backfire).

FOUND:

$900 3 BED 2 BA HOUSE IN PROVO. Bingo! I wrote the Seller and told him about our pets and gave him my number. He called and was SUPER cool. I made sure he knew about our pets too. His response, “hey I’ve got some friends with 4 cats, 1 dog, 2 birds, fish plus a hamster and they have the most impeccably clean house ever. People need to give pet owners a break.” I liked this guy even more. Plus, $900 for that much house was really good. What’s the catch? I wondered too…we would be sharing it with a couple that lived below us in the basement. Hmmmm…not so sure that would feel comfortable. Remember that Randy walks like Shrek? I could easily predict a tense relationship of people trying to be polite but getting bothered progressively by the lumbering footsteps of my non-ballerina Husband Unit.

So we had to pass on that place and continue the search.

Our quest to find a place has been awful.

The amount of homes, condos and apartment buildings currently being built in Provo, Orem, Springville, Spanish Fork, Heber and Park City is staggering.

There is so much construction happening in and around Provo we wondered WHY!? What’s the deal?

These places are in desperate need of tenants now and we wandered place to place looking.

IF they allowed pets there were extra fees you’d have to pay. One place wanted $1500 a month for a 2 bed BRAND NEW top floor apartment with washer/dryer, dishwasher, fridge, stove and microwave AS WELL you would pay $400 per pet (non-refundable) and $30 per pet extra on the rent. Utilities run $150 for most households…they aren’t included. You can have “basic” internet (required) for $10/month or get a decent internet for $100. You can’t shop around either – you are locked into what the Landlord brokered out (and likely gets a spiff for). OH and that’s not including $70 for the application ($35 each person living in the house over 18) and deposit $1500.

That experience pushed me to just want to ACCEPT FULL TIME BEING COLD AND JUST GO TO DENVER COLORADO continuing to live in our trailer.

OR we could move to Montana.

We got a very very very cool offer for employment in Montana as a Camp Host and we could live in a cabin there while managing. That sounded fun and exciting…we considered it. The place is called Flathead Lake and OMG it looks stunning! PLUS it’s right near Kalispell where the Temple Of OneThousand Buddahs is located! Randy and I visited while it was being built. It’s SO PEACEFUL. I highly recommend you visit Kalispell and experience this place.

MAKING THE FINAL DECISION

We really don’t want to be picky for a place to live. There were a few things we were HOPING for though:

1. A yard for the pets.
2. A bathtub.
3. Solid internet.
4. Two bedrooms at least (we want our kids to visit us!).
5. Be affordable.
6. Be in a safe neighborhood.

Most places have three of these six wishes.

There was one place that had five and we braced ourself when the landlord began to explain her pet policy. Again, it wasn’t negotiable and we completely understood.

Kona and Zoey were in the truck waiting while we were viewing the house.

The landlord was renting the house and would be living right next door. They were a nice husband and wife couple with a child and a dog (who was a wiggly lover named Hugo).

Ahhh…darn. The husband told us it would be totally ok to let Kona and Zoey out to visit while we looked over the place. Knowing Kona would hunt out any food…we declined to avoid the embarrassment. Mr Landlord insisted it would be completely cool. So, Randy opened the door to the truck and both dogs LEAPT then lunged to begin sniffing every blade of grass, bush, tree and rock in the backyard.

Hugo raced up to Zoey (who gave him one small sniff then carried on her quest to get pets from Mr and Mrs Landlord). Then he wiggled over to Kona who is one of the greatest dogs ever with other dogs (as most of you know). He’s so tolerant of any spastic movements or barking. Unfazed he continued to survey the backyard with Hugo bouncing all around him wanting to play. Then he launched into playing and it was obvious they were friends from “way back” having a great time zooming around the place. Zoey remained to be petted completely disinterested in the two boys being wild and crazy.

We wrapped up the visit telling them we’d likely not be able to afford their beautiful home thanking them for opening it up. They really did create a beautiful home. It was built in 1913 but had the modern feel and warmth to make you comfy.

Sadly we loaded everyone back into the truck and headed back to our breadbox.

A few days later on a walk with the dogs Randy got a text or phone call asking if we’d made any decision on housing from Hugo’s mom or dad. They wanted to waive all of the pet fees completely if we would be interested. OH YEAH WE SURE WERE INTERESTED!

We rushed home and crunched numbers. We do not have jobs yet and would need to figure that out soon enough. There are Help Wanted signs everywhere here (probably goes with the booming housing).

That’s when we decided YES. Let’s do it!

We move in 1 December. That should take us an hour (WE DON’T OWN ANYTHING!)

There are way more wonderful things about this house beyond our immediate wish list. I can’t wait to start again.

Soon I’ll be in a big kitchen putting together my Pippy’s Kitchen creations, we will be on google fiber, we live a stone’s throw from the Jordan River which has a 13 mile bike/running path right next to it (see my video snippet below if it will load). They have The Nest! This is something that Brenna Savage showed us ages ago and made Randy wish for almost daily.

After accepting we began looking for basic furniture. That’s when I found an incredible couch, daddy recliner, chair, table, rug and lamp for $400! It had been in one of those rooms that are like a parlor in the old days…but no one uses a parlor and they are really just for show. The lady (who lives in a fancy-schmancy part of town was redecorating her palace and pretty much giving it away.

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So, there you have it!

We’re staying in Provo, near one of our daughters, near mountains and adventure and NEW DISCOVERIES.

I don’t know where I’ll work – but whatever it is I’m going to have fun I’m sure.

I’ve always wanted to be a waitress like Flo. My mom was a waitress at Friendly’s and I have dreamed of doing that myself. She appeared to be having fun at her job when we got to visit her.

Now we need to get me a beater of a car (at least).

Life is still too short to be worried or stressed out about the future.

We’ve got a new chapter to run with now and we’re going to do our best to continue to enjoy every single bit about it.

If you are a close friend and want our address, send me a private message.

LIFE IS JUST TOO SHORT AND YOUR LAST DAY IS TECHNICALLY UNKNOWN

Personally I fear my final days and spend too much time finding parallels in my life and health to my mom. She got cancer and didn’t tell anyone of her family (she did tell the church of scientology who programmed her for more of their auditing…having to pay for it of course because they AREN’T a f’ing church out there to actually HELP people). She died in 2008. We had to take her off life support – I had to be the one to make that decision and I wouldn’t wish that power on anyone. She was born in 1945. After I was out of the Sea Org (still in as a scientologist…as was my mom) I remember throwing her birthday parties. #50 was a giant one I created taking her out horseback riding (and she was sore for a month after), I bought her a house to live freely in and run her daycare business, I helped her pay her bills when I could, I went garage sailing with her and THANKFULLY she got to meet Randy and we had an epic vacation camping together. She died at 62 years YOUNG and didn’t get to have a good enough life. Now that I’m 50 I see that 62nd year approaching WAY too fast. It is partly why I pushed so hard to get out here on the planet and see/experience it with my own eyes, hands and feet.

This week I lost TWO dear people. Sinar Paxman and Steve Apostolof. I’m sick to my stomach that they didn’t get to accomplish things they wanted to accomplish before they died. I have no idea what those would be but I do know they worked hard and cared for their families like true warriors would. They did not deserve to die that young. I lost my friend Dave Liston too young! Randy’s mom Pat died too young! Amanda my daughter died WAY to young! I get angry about losing the GOOD people when there are people out there harming other people and living a large and what appears to be fulfilling life. Then I panic about my own life, my kids, my friends that are getting older and the health scares that are surfacing. I panic that they are on a path of happiness (for at least 51% of their days). From the deepest part of me I really hope so.

No matter what your day is: please please please try to put acts of love and kindness into it. Life is hard and there are so many ups and downs. Focus on the ups and fill your mind with good thoughts. Live life by YOUR terms, not the expectations of other people. That’s a big one. If you want to be an artist: BE IT!! It might mean you have to give up some luxuries right? Do what you need to do but keep your mind positive and filled with pleasantness.

I am not perfect on this at all. It’s something I am trying to practice and get better at. Maybe the practice is what is meant to be for me?

A VIDEO OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

The Provo Jordan River Parkway