From Bruce Springsteen’s “Growing Up.” on Asbury Park, 1973: I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere, And you know it’s really hard to hold your breath. I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared, I was the cosmic kid in full costume dress. Well, my feet they finally took root in the earth, […]
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Thankful, Behind and Ahead
Last Thanksgiving, we were in Big Cypress National Preserve, in the first part of our long winter tour of Florida. I feel like we’re a world away this Thanksgiving, here in the desert in Southern California. But it’s funny: we’re in our same home and cooking and eating our same meal (thanks for putting up with […]
I Spent My Birthday on Tatooine
I didn’t know this until I’d been here a few days and was scrolling through the Death Valley info on the NPS app: several Star Wars scenes from two of its movies were filmed here. This was a national monument back then, not a national park and national wilderness like it is now, so it was legal […]
Death by Paper Cuts?
That’s an exaggeration—in both directions. We’re still loving this lifestyle (so, far from death), but we’ve faced more than just paper cuts lately. An older guy dumping his trailer tanks at the truck stop next to us was just hopping to tell me that he’s sold his house and bought this RV and is going to […]
Perpetual Stranger in a Strange Land
I’ve a friend who lives in her Airstream but travels less than we do; she and her husband own a parking pad in a little Airstream community that they use as a home base. So we share quite a bit in terms of lifestyle, but we also live very differently within that lifestyle. What’s funny is […]
What Would I Do in a Real Emergency?
And by that I mean, what if Tracy unexpectedly, suddenly dies? This happens, you know. Hollywood movies and my own experiences tell me that the prime scenario, if you’re blindsided by grief and lucky to have the resources, is to be at home, first in bed and later at your home desk, surrounded by capable […]
Lessons from Isolation
Tracy says it’s been ten days only that we’ve been camping without cell signal, and in truth it’s not been more than two consecutive days, since we’ll drive out to download email pretty frequently. But when I check my calendar and my social soul, it feels for sure like three weeks. Maybe all summer? When was it I […]
Waterwheel Tiny House Start
I don’t know if this is a good use of my time or not. I constantly chide myself that I’m not spending my downtime productively, like researching more about where we are and where we’re going, being better on top of the trailer maintenance schedule, or, heck, even something more productive personally, like learning a […]
Impossible Tiny House Finished!
This one was torture. The detail work was so small and fiddly that I didn’t want to work on it late at night when I couldn’t sleep, and that was the whole point of it. I got it done though, and I’m hoping no one but me can see the mistakes and all the details […]
My Weird, Wonderful, New Tattoos
This is Molly, family to several Iowans in this blog and now-owner of Creative Images in Des Moines. She is personally responsible for my mini tattoo obsession. Back when I wanted something colorful and flowing to offset my first humble (but significant) tattoo—the black-lined geometry of my family-shared Star Trek insignia—Tracy told me, “I know […]
