February 23, 2024 - March 8, 2024 -- River's Edge RV Resort in Winterhaven, CA to Las Cruces, NM
Written By: Wendy Ptolemy
Photos By: Scott Ptolemy
The first two things we noticed when arrived at River’s Edge RV Resort in Winterhaven, CA were the heat and dirt. We were back in the desert. It was over 80 degrees when we got out of the car at our campsite, and we had the joy of having our own personal dirt “sandbox” in our site. Scott and I had very mixed feelings about our dirt box. It provided extraordinary engaging hours of entertainment for our kids and all the kids in the campground, but it also provided us with two children who were completely covered from head to toe in dust and dirt at the end of the day and a steady stream of dust blown into our home. I was not thrilled about the continued daily vacuuming of the entire trailer including the floor, couch, and beds. But at least the kids were occupied!
We had two days before the start of the Fulltime Families West Coast Family Reunion. We took advantage of the two days to get some much needed work done and explore downtown Yuma, AZ. The next day was the start of the Fulltime Families event. People trickled in throughout the day, and just before sunset we all met for opening ceremonies. We found out that it was a small event - only about 20 families, making it even smaller than the event we did for Halloween, but even so, we still found some familiar faces. Two families that we had met at the Halloween Hullabaloo and were at Bash were at this event as well. We warmly greeted each other and once again caught up on where we all had traveled the past 6 weeks. There were a couple other families that were at Bash that we had only met in passing, but we were excited to have an opportunity to spend more time with them this week. The first night was a community pizza dinner and campfire. We chatted with friends around the toasty fire until the kids were sound asleep in their beds, the stars were bright in the sky, and we could barely keep our eyes open any longer. Another night that fully filled up my social cup!
What we thought would be an action packed week full of back to back activities and social stimulation ended up being a rather relaxing week, especially after what we had experienced at Bash and the past couple Thousand Trails campgrounds we had stayed at. There were periodic activities scheduled throughout the day, but they were mostly laid back and we didn’t feel obligated to go to everything if our kids weren’t up for it. We were able to chat and get to know a variety of other families throughout the week during organized games with the kids, late night campfire chats, and spontaneous pool meet ups.
One family that we had met at Halloween Hullabaloo and at Bash had several boys that were older. One of their sons was a little business man and excellent with little kids. He had approached us at Bash about offering his babysitting services, but it never worked out. He approached us again on the second day, and Scott and I decided that we wanted to support his entrepreneurship, and we wouldn’t mind a little break. We texted him asking if he could babysit later in the afternoon. He enthusiastically replied that the timing was perfect for his 12 year-old busy schedule. He showed up early and asked all the right questions and seemed to take his job as babysitter very seriously. Once the kids seemed to be comfortable, Scott and I walked hand-in-hand down to the pool. The pool was quiet with mostly older people this afternoon, so we enjoyed a luxurious 30 minutes soaking in the cool water and reading a few pages in our books in the broad daylight in peace. We held hands as we walked back and felt rekindled and grateful for even just the short amount of time for just the two of us. We then enjoyed the “Tour of Homes” without the kids, where several families open up their RVs for everyone to tour. We were wowed and inspired by the massive 5th wheels that had full kitchens with islands and completely separate bedrooms for their kids. Some of the toy haulers even had patio decks complete with patio furniture, light, and plants to create the perfect ambiance. We jotted down ideas to do in our own space, and then we slightly regretted seeing what other options were out there compared to our modest 32 foot trailer. When we went back to relieve our babysitter after about an hour and a half, out kids begged us to keep playing with him. They all had a blast together. The rest of the week, our kids immediately ran to him as soon as they saw him, and he genuinely enjoyed playing with Parker and Caroline throughout the rest of the week. We’ve come to find that one of the magical things about traveling full-time is the exposure our kids have to other kids of different ages and for the opportunities to learn how to get along with kids who are a different age. It warmed my heart all week to see some of the older kids take each of my younger kids under their wing and play toss with a ball in the pool for an hour or dig in the dirt looking for treasure.
Another highlight of the week was when we went to the Stewart Vincent Wolf Creative Playground at the West Wetlands Park in Yuma. It was one of the coolest and most intricately designed playgrounds I’ve ever seen. It was constructed and painted to look like a castle from the entrance. As you went into the park, though, there were different little areas that encouraged a wide range of creative play from an airplane to a train to a little town complete with a bank, hotel, and grocery store. There was jungle scene painted on one wall and a dragon painted on another that had the bottom of tunnel slide as the dragon’s mouth. There was a boat and mazes of tiny rooms that could fuel any child’s creativity for hours. It was truly an awe-inspiring playground, and one that I would go back to.
As the week continue on, we enjoyed creating deeper connections with a few families and getting to know people who had very different perspectives on life from us. We hosted a pizza party one evening, and almost everyone from the event showed up and some even brought sides to add to the spread of #culinarykindness. Scott talked pizza to everyone that asked while I managed the hordes of hungry kids and teens and that would have easily devoured all the pizza we made. After all the pizzas we made, we had a community fire late into the evening and swapped travel stories, homeschooling tips and tricks, and best places to visit. Once again, Scott and I went to bed feeling that we were truly fulfilling our mission and bringing people together in different ways to connect.
One of the families that we had met that week specialized in solar installations. While we were in Winterhaven, Scott had ordered another solar panel that he wanted to install on our rig. He didn't quite have the right equipment and tools, but luckily there were plenty of people around that he could ask and get advice from. He quickly realized that it would be difficult to acquire all the necessary materials to install the panel while we were in Winterhaven, but he was eager to learn how to do it himself, especially since a recent quote we received from a company was way beyond our budget at the moment. The family that did solar installs for a living invited us out to their property that was about an hour north of where we were. We eagerly accepted the offer, especially since they had two boys that Parker had enjoyed playing with throughout the week. When it came time to leave, we grabbed a donut, swapped upcoming travel routes, said our goodbyes, and then made the short drive up to our new friends' property.
We spent two nights at their property. Scott learned all that he could about how to successfully instal a solar panel. I took the opportunity to learn all that I could about homeschool curriculum since their boys were slightly older but equally rambunctious as our kids and needed a more movement based way to learn. We explored the surrounding desert and had a community dinner one evening with another family that was also at the West Coast Family Reunion and happened to be staying nearby for a few nights. When it came time to leave, it was once again hard to leave, and Parker did not want to say goodbye again to his new friends. We were beginning to truly understand the struggles that parents had told us about with making and keeping friends on the road. He was still resilient enough and quickly moved on, but we wondered if it would eventually become more difficult as he got older. We told him about our next adventure - boondocking and testing out our new solar panel - and loaded into the truck and waved goodbye as we drove down the gravel road with our friends waving until we weren't able to see them anymore.
We found a deserted location in the middle of the Sonoran Desert National Monument. We didn’t see anyone else for 3 days and the kids had plenty of space to run around and explore in. I made my first batch of sourdough bread, and just as I took it out of the oven, Scott decided to drive into Phoenix to pick up another solar panel. As we watched Scott drive away down the gravel road, with Parker and Caroline hugging my legs, the scent of freshly baked sourdough wafting out of our trailer, and not a soul in sight, I truly felt like Ma from Little House on The Prairie. I even waved a dish cloth that had been slung over my shoulder for the full 1800s homesteader effect. Never mind the big diesel truck that was driving away, I just pretended it was a horse and wagon, and my dreams of actually being Laura Ingalls Wilder came true in that moment.
We originally planned a relaxing week at a very nice RV resort in Tucson for the week after the rally, knowing that we would be worn out from the event. As is already apparent, we changed plans to get the solar install and then try out boondocking. Since we already messed up the plan, why not mess it up more? We made another last minute decision to stay one night in a boondocking spot just outside of Las Cruces, NM to break up the long drive to Alamogordo, NM. That made it so that that we slept in 5 different locations within a week. Our kids made it abundantly clear that that was completely unacceptable by the drastic increase in the frequency, duration, and intensity of tantrums (for those of you that don't know, I'm a BCBA, so that my behavior lingo coming out :) ). It was a week of adventure, and we learned a lot that week, with the biggest lesson being that we need to slow down, drastically.