WARNING: This blog entry really isn’t about travel but rather answers some recent popular questions about our lifestyle, particularly now that there is a baby on the way.  I provide this warning only because my blog feeds on some other travel-related sites and someone recently gave me a very low ranking (okay, the lowest ranking possible…um…ouch!) on a particular site.  So, ye who seek a blog entry about travel and tourist information may want to discontinue reading this particular entry.  But, please do come back and visit my blog again.  I do offer travel related posts! Thank you.  Now, on with the entry!

Our new campsite. Seriously, are we not looking good on that hilltop?

We get a lot of questions about our lifestyle.  Some folks do not understand why we would want to sell everything and hit the road.  Some have never heard of Airstreams.  Others can’t figure out how a young couple with a baby on the way can live this way.  So, we are used to questions.  And, we can usually tell right away if a person “gets it” or doesn’t.  Like the time I explained to a woman that I lived in an Airstream travel trailer and traveled the country.  After explaining what we do, she still had the all-to-familiar confused look on her face. Finally, she just looked at me and said, “how do you tow an airplane?”  I thought the whole “travel trailer” part might clear things up but nope. Apparently not. So, yeah…we’re used to questions.  All types of questions.

Here are the recent ones that have come up quite frequently from family members, friends and even total strangers:

Why did you choose New Hampshire as the location to temporarily “settle” and have a child?

Our families are the in the south yet we chose New England.  Why would we do this? First, and most importantly, we don’t dislike our families.  In fact, we love them very much and look forward to sharing this whole experience with them.  We chose this specific area for a number of reasons, from finding an incredible out-of-hospital birth center and an awesome midwife to just our simple love for this region.  We did, after all, get married in New England.   We also met and dated while living in New England. (Okay, we actually met online (yes…it’s true…we’re that couple) but we lived in Boston while dating.)  So, we love it here and feel very at home here.   As with our lifestyle, some may never understand why we chose this location – even some locals are surprised to hear that we chose this town.  But, we did choose this place and the decision feels right.  And, hopefully our families will forgive us for being so far away.  But, then again, they should used to that by now.

My Buddha Belly and I are doing just fine on the road!

So, you’re going to continue this lifestyle with a baby? (Asked with a look that screams, “Are you crazy!?!?”)

Yes…to the first question. (And, yes…maybe we ARE crazy.)  We are at least going to give it a try.  When we first embarked on this journey, countless number of people told us we were crazy.  ”It will never work!”  ”You’ll get tired of each other!” I heard lots of these comments.  But, we did it anyway.  We left Virginia with an open mind and acknowledgment that at least the first month would be challenging.  We felt we needed to at least give ourselves three months to adapt to the small space and life on the road.  Honestly, it took no time to adapt.  Sure, there were challenges and some lessons learned but it took no time to adopt this lifestyle.  And, we’re still happily married!

We are taking the same approach with this new upcoming phase of our life.  Living in this small space may not work with a baby.  But, unless we try, we’ll never know.  There are plenty of other families living this lifestyle.  I’ve done my research.  So, we’ll have a trial period.  We are not opposed to saying, “That’s it, we need to settle!” But, we also don’t feel pressure to do it right now.  We’ll take it one day at a time!

How are you handling prenatal appointments while being on the road?

This was a big concern for me early on.  Seriously, I cried since I thought it would be impossible.  However, because we spent our winter in the south near our families, I was able to work in my monthly appointments at a medical practice in Georgia.  We split our time between Florida and Georgia and I just made sure that our schedule worked out so I was always in Georgia when it was time for an appointment.  It worked out very well.

Once we met with the midwife in New Hampshire and decided on this particular birth center, we then planned our travels so we would be in New Hampshire once the prenatal appointments were necessary every two weeks.

Have you found a campground yet to call “home” for the season?

Think we look good in the daytime? Check us out at night! Whoa!

Yes! At last! While we felt right at home in the Keene, NH / Brattleboro, VT area, I’m not going to lie to you, finding a campground was not that easy.  Like I said in an earlier post, I loved the KOA in Brattleboro but it’s location to the birth center was not the greatest for two people who are consistently late to everything.  We spent a recent weekend visiting every campground in a 30 mile radius but still never felt really comfortable with the distance or with any particular campground. Just like the town and the birth center felt right, we were searching for that campground that just felt right.

We revisited the Ashuelot River Campground, a campground within minutes of the birth center.  We did a drive-by of the campground in February when it was covered in snow and it didn’t look promising so we had actually ruled it out as a potential basecamp.  But, with nicer weather and no snow on the ground, we decided to visit one more time since the location was ideal.  Thankfully, we found it to be incredibly beautiful and we really wanted to make it work.  The campground primarily caters to tent camping but does have a few sites with hookups.   They had one spot left that they could allow to be a seasonal site but it was in a spot in which only a very special and small rig could fit.  Could we do it? Were we special enough?

It was a tricky spot to maneuver the Airstream into but Chris has become an expert at getting into tricky spots.  Seriously, the guy is genius at this – even as I stand there and say, “It’s never going to fit.”  It always fits. And, our beautiful shiny (and, indeed, special) home fit perfectly.  And, I must say, we look good sitting atop that hill.  Really good.  Because the spot was not an easy one to get into, we won’t be moving it until we leave at the end of the season.  So, there it shall stay.

We still had some challenges to overcome.  If you look at a Verizon coverage map of Keene, NH there is one teeny tiny patch on the map where coverage is weak.  Really, really weak.  Yup…that’s our campground! This means our phones and our beloved MiFi did not work in our site.  Houston…we have a problem. A big problem.

Here's our view of the campground from our site. At the opposite end is an entrance to the Ashuelot River, a perfect river for our kayaks!

After giving our lovely tripod internet satellite unit another try and continuing to face some more challenges that have yet to be resolved, we purchased a Wilson Electronics cell phone booster.  Now, If I could go back to July to the time when we purchased our satellite as our backup internet plan, I would have slapped myself silly and gone the cell phone booster route instead.  It works.  I now have 3G service at our site!   Our MiFi also works – it has its moments but 98% of the time works very well.  We’ve also discovered several lovely locations in and around Keene that have free Wifi.  So, on some days, Chris heads into town to his new “office” which has been nice for both of us.

With our major challenges (the campground and internet issues) resolved, we are settling in nicely.  Of course, there are  still some minor issues, but like most things in life, they will work themselves out with time and patience. We’ve visited some great New England towns and still have a lot of exploring to do.  I can’t wait to share the pictures and information of my findings so far…but that will be for the next entry!

Have a wonderful holiday weekend, everyone!

Our lovely home at the Brattleboro KOA in Brattleboro, Vermont.

It’s obviously no surprise that Chris and I love our Airstream.  As you’ve seen in previous entries, we can’t seem to take enough pictures of our shiny home.  We wear Airstream shirts.  Listen to songs about Airstreams.  We made the pilgrimage to the Airstream Factory in Jackson Center, Ohio last year simply so we could take the tour.  Yes, we love our Airstream.

I also really love the Airstream community.  Where do I turn when I have an Airstream-related question?  Why, Airforums, of course! I love how when we are driving down the highway and see another Airstream, we each blink our lights and wave furiously at one another.  Our wonderful aluminum abode is a great conversation starter in campgrounds, especially with other Airstreamers.  Yes, I love the Airstream community.  And, I was reminded once again of how much I love this community on my first day in my new, yet somewhat temporary, hometown.

We arrived in New Hampshire super late on Saturday night.  We found a Wal-Mart parking lot and got a good night’s rest in preparation for our first childbirth class the next day.

And another picture of our shiny home.... You know, just in case you missed it the first hundred times.

I was really nervous about going to the childbirth class.  And, since we had not found a campground, we had to tow our Airstream to the birthing center.  Would the other parents-to-be think we were freaks? Would we find parking? Had I made the right decision by choosing New Hampshire as my new temporary home? Should I have read some birthing books prior to this class? Oh, the thoughts that went through my head as we pulled up to the birth center.  My nervous ways were in full force.  I wanted to vomit.

We parked next to the birth center in an empty parking lot, the only place we could fit.  As I stepped out and began the walk to the center, a truck pulled into the parking lot and the driver was looking right at us.  I was sure the man in the truck was going to tell us that we couldn’t park there.  I was ready to beg and explain that we wouldn’t be parked there for long.  The tears were ready to flow.  But, no.  This kind man in the truck was not there to punish us or demand us to move.  Instead, he pulled up, turned off his engine and immediately introduced himself.  He, too, has an Airstream as well as another vintage trailer and was ready to chat!  With great sadness, we had to cut the conversation short to attend class but not without exchanging information.  He seemed excited to learn that we were in the area for awhile and later emailed us about some camping events coming up in the region and sights we should make sure to see.  Just this brief conversation made my day.  The first official person to welcome us to the area was a fellow Airstreamer.  He took the time to pull over simply to talk about Airstreams and camping. How cool is that? So, to Frank, thank you for welcoming us to the community.  Thank you for being so friendly! It made my day!

The view from our KOA campsite: Walker Farm. This is one amazing farm with a fabulous farmstand.

I went on to class feeling better.  I think I’m going to enjoy New Hampshire.  Class was fine.  If we are freaks, the other parents did not seem to relay that opinion to us.  In fact, they were intrigued with our lifestyle and had lots of questions.  Some even stayed for a tour of the Airstream after class! See? Once again, theAirstream is a great conversation starter.

Feeling positive, we set off afterwards to search for a campground. Our choices were limited since many campgrounds had not opened for the season.  Limited choices means making a quicker decision.  There were two campgrounds to choose from and the first one we drove by, well…we kept driving.  It was special.  And, not in a good way.  That left us with the Brattleboro KOA.  It had good reviews on RV Park Reviews so I was feeling pretty optimistic.

This was our first KOA experience.  I know…you may be thinking, “What!?! How can you travel all over the country and not stay at a KOA?”  It’s true.  We had not yet stayed at one.  The ones we did stop at or look up online were really expensive compared to the local park and we always chose the public park options.

Okay...last picture of the Airstream...for this entry.

The Brattleboro KOA was awesome. The price was right.  The location was right.  The facilities were clean. The owners were super nice. And, the sites were lovely.  The KOA was our home for the first two weeks of our New England experience and I have only positive things to say about this park.  For Mother’s Day, the owner left flowers at our door.  How nice is that?

We’ve since left the KOA, with sadness, to check out another campground that is very close to the birth center (a feature I feel is important to consider since we are always late to EVERYTHING and I could totally see us late to our birth and having a baby in the truck on the side of the road).  So, the closer we are to the birth center, the better!  But, KOA remains high on my list and I highly recommend it!

Our first three weeks here have been busy but wonderful.  We are enjoying our classes (and learning that we can’t do breathing exercises without giggling uncontrollably - we’re working on this), exploring the surrounding communities, establishing a P.O. Box, checking out the local YMCA for membership possibilities, successfully shopping at consignment stores for maternity clothing (a big woo hoo!), finding good eating establishments, and meeting new people–all who seem supportive and intrigued with our Airstream life.

Life is good.

Our site at Pocahontas State Park

Literally, I will bust.  This baby bump is turning into a mountain. In approximately two months, we’ll meet our little bundle of joy!

We spent a weekend in Richmond, Virginia to see my brother and his family.  We had a lovely visit with them and stayed at a great state park, Pocahontas State Park.  The park was huge as were the campsites.  It was impressive.

My only complaint:  The pet fee.  The posted pet fee is $5 per pet/per day.  I’ve traveled all over this great country and that is the most absurd pet fee I’ve seen.  Seriously, Virginia? If there was a nice dog park or even bags provided for doggie messes, then I might be more accepting of this fee.  But, nope…none of that.  I may be overreacting.  I do that. A lot.  Any dog owners out there? Is this excessive? Have you seen other similar fees?

Chris and my nieces on the swings at the state park.

My one complaint still didn’t interfere with the beauty of this park.  There is a wonderful lake that looked great for kayaking, some museums (which were closed during our stay), and tons of trails.  Because we were there to see family, we did not take in a lot of the park’s amenities but I would definitely recommend this park.  Looks like it even has a great aquatics center during the summer time.

On Sunday, we made our way up to DC and found another really nice park that we totally didn’t take advantage of at all.  We found Pohick Bay Regional Park, part of Fairfax County, about 45 minutes south of DC and near our old Metro line that we used when we lived in the area. The park has mini-golf, frisbee golf, trails, and water access.  But, it is pricey. $30 for electric only.  Eeek! They do have a few full hookups but none were available for the entire week.  While the price was a bit high, the location couldn’t have been better. And, as we learned when purchasing our first home in the DC region, it’s all about location, location, location.

The lake at State Park. Looks like a great place for kayaking!

The remainder of the time was us quietly working.  Chris was swamped with work and had to be in DC for a meeting on one day. And, I had six days to prepare for a major event: Chris’ birthday.  Every year, I worry about this event for weeks, maybe months. He has big expectations and I think I’ve failed miserably every year at meeting those birthday expectations.  I wanted this year to be special but I couldn’t spend a lot of money. So, I got crafty.  And, I NEVER get crafty.

I spent countless hours putting together a 24 minute video of our past year on the road.  My point was to show him how fabulous his 35th year of existence had been and how thankful I am to have him for a husband. I love his crazy ideas, adventurous ways, and I can only look forward to the years to come.  It was a celebration of Chris video. I thought he would love it.  I had music, great pictures of our travels, transitions in the video, and captions.  I was beyond proud of myself…until I tried to convert it to movie format. Epic failure. It wouldn’t work on my laptop. It would, instead, shut the whole system down.  Repeatedly. I learned this hours before his birthday.

Our site at Pohick Bay Regional Park in Lorton, Virginia

He spent his actual birthday driving.  All. Day. Long.  It was our big moving day.  We are temporarily settling in the Keene, New Hampshire area for the entire summer.  This is where we will have the baby.  We have found a fabulous birth center and midwife. We flew up in February to meet her and explore the region and well, it just felt like the absolute best place for us to call home during this exciting time in our lives.

He may be only 4 years away from the big 4-0 but it doesn't mean he can't play on the playgrounds!

FYI for those towing a trailer: prepare to spend your life savings to drive along I-95.  We paid the first few tolls and then reached a toll in Maryland that cost us…wait for it…are you ready for this…$23.00.  After looking online at the remaining tolls, we decided it was best to reroute.  Our GPS lady (who clearly did not like us that day) took us down some not so great paths when trying to reroute.  We did a lot of circles.  I felt like Clark Griswold saying, “Look kids! Big Ben. Parliament!” over and over again.

At last, we finally arrived.  Not at 6:30 p.m.  Not even at 8:30 p.m. But, at midnight. Almost exactly.  It was a long day.  But, it wasn’t without highlights.  We saw the New Jersey governor’s mansion;  got caught in a festival in downtown Princeton, NJ; passed Manhattanville College (twice, I think) and learned about a murder that recently took place on campus; had incredible pizza in Northampton, MA; and, most importantly, avoided the remaining tolls along I-95.  (Yes, I recognize that we probably paid more in gas, but there was determination to avoid the tolls and well, once we had our mind set, there was no stopping us!)

So, we are now “home.”  For the first time in a year, we are settling in an area for an extended amount of time.  Still in our Airstream, of course but we will be known as “seasonals” this summer as we search for a campground to serve as our basecamp.  Stay tuned!

Kayaking to the Headsprings of Rainbow Springs State Park

I’m back and I promise I will catch up this week! Our final days at Rainbow Springs State Park were glorious.  The temperatures were in the 80s and it was sunny and hot.  So hot, in fact, that I finally got up the nerve to put a swimsuit on and spend some time at the Springs and the park’s pool.  Of course, I tried to go at times when there were no people since I’m a bit uncomfortable wearing a bikini with a pregnant belly.  (I swear, the bikini was the only swimsuit I had that would fit which is why it took me so long to work up the nerve to even go swimming.)  I may have scared some kids away but other than that, all was fine.  It felt great to be in water and get some much-needed exercise.

On Thursday, Chris’ brother came up and we took the kayaks out again.  This time, we made it to the headsprings, which is the main portion of the state park.  The water and grounds were beautiful.  Chris and his brother took the kayaks out again later that day once Chris finished work.  They swam in the headsprings where the temperature is always 72 degrees.  The water was crystal clear and the fish and turtles were abundant.  They even saw an otter. Here’s some video footage of Chris’ underwater exploration.  (Please pardon his loud breathing at the end. The fact that I edited video is an accomplishment. My audio editing attempts will come later.)

Chris’ underwater exploration of Rainbow Springs from Lani Pokrana on Vimeo.

After seeing their video footage and photos of the headsprings, I was determined to go one more time and check out the park’s trails and actually swim in the springs.

View from the trail

Chris and I returned on Friday evening, our final evening in the park.  We walked the trails, which were lined with vibrant pink azaleas.  The sun was setting and creating a beautiful color on the springs.  As the park was closing soon, we had limited swimming time, but we took advantage of the almost-empty swimming area.  Chris grabbed snorkel gear and our camera and took off exploring.  I enjoyed floating leisurely in the warm springs.  Sadly, Chris took video of this moment.  If you’d like to get an idea of what I look like swimming, just Google “whale swimming” and you’ll get a pretty good picture.  Thankfully, Chris took lots of video and not just the one of me and my belly floating contentedly.

We returned to our site and began our packing up process.  We both admitted to feeling sad to leave this park.  It was a great two weeks.  We met some fabulous people, including Jim and Julie from Ohio.  They were our incredible neighbors who shared their breakfast with us twice, dinner once, and then gave us their outdoor carpet.  Um…how awesome are they?

The swimming area at Rainbow Springs State Park

We also met a really cool couple from Canada, Marcel and his wife, Suzanne (I hope I’m not spelling her name wrong…).  They travel in a Safari Condo Alto.  Chris has really wanted to see inside one of these trailers so, of course, he wasted no time in introducing himself and asking for a tour.

Lastly, this was also the first campsite where family has been able to come visit us.  It was great having people over for a cookout and some outdoor fun.  We definitely left this park with some great memories and are hopeful for a return visit someday.  They ARE looking for camphosts.  Hmmm…tempting….

My family enjoying a walk at Maymont

Since we have been staying with family in Georgia recently, I don’t have much to write on the Airstream life.  The Airstream has been parked outside of my parents’ house, and resting from its long cross-country journey.  Chris has spent some time working in an actual office in Atlanta, while I have been spending some quality time with my folks and eating mom’s home cooking (which, in my opinion, is the best food EVER).  During this visit, however,  I did take a  trip to Richmond, Virginia sans Airstream and husband. It was a road trip with my Mom and Dad to pay a visit to my brother and his family and see my six-year old niece perform as a tomato in her school play. Who could pass up an opportunity to see a singing tomato? I simply couldn’t!  She, along with the other singing tomatoes, eggplants, carrots, cabbage,  flowers, and weeds (yes, weeds), did an outstanding job!

Maymont Park

Having lived for several years in Virginia, I have visited Richmond numerous times.  It’s a great city, with charming neighborhoods and a nice downtown. While the weather was less than pleasant, we did manage to take a lovely day trip to Maymont Park, a 100-acre park just outside of Richmond that offers incredible walking trails, wildlife viewing, a nature center, and a beautiful historic home surrounded by impressive gardens. 

I had been to Maymont before and was anxious to return.  This time, in addition to walking the trails, we visited the nature center and took a tour of the mansion, where we learned about the home and land’s only owners, James and Sallie Mae Dooley.  Upon Mrs. Dooley’s death in 1925, the home and land were given to the City of Richmond, and today the park is maintained through its Foundation and donations. 

The Italian Garden

While the nature center and home tour do require a entrance fee, the park is free and well worth a visit.  In addition to great walking paths, scattered about are wildlife viewing areas which include bald eagles, foxes, bison, and black bears.  The animals kept within the park have recently been rehabilitated after injuries and while are healthy, are deemed unfit to return to the wild. They are cared for or being nursed back to health by the park’s zoologists.

And, not to be missed if you like gardens, are the Japanese and Italian Gardens. Although our visit to the park was on a chilly and cloudy November day, the gardens are still worth seeing for their statues and peaceful setting.

The trip to Richmond was short but delightful and I needed the time with family to share a surprise.  While Chris and I were in Blacksburg facing our scary storage unit and decluttering our home, we also found out some exciting news.  In addition to two adults and two dogs, come July, we will welcome a baby into our tiny aluminum home and have been anxious to share the news with family.  And, before you ask:  No, we don’t know what our plan is yet.  We don’t know where we will have the baby. We have no immediate plans of ”settling down” at the moment.  And, yes, we may need a bigger Airstream. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!