The scenery on the way to Quebec City.

I do not speak French. At all. I am ashamed to say that I hardly know even the basic French phrases. Beyond “Bonjour!”, I’m at a loss.  Oh, and I know “Croissant” but how many conversations involve this word? Not many, I assure you.  So, I had “lost tourist” written all over me a few weekends ago when we took a trip up to Quebec City. It didn’t stop me from having an amazing day, though. I just did a lot of smiling, nodding, and giving my best “I’m so very sorry I don’t speak your language” look.

Being in Burlington put us less than an hour from Canada and that was just too tempting.  So, I did my research on what documents were needed for Emerson to cross the border and off we went!  (FYI: For one’s own children under 16 years of age, a certified birth certificate is the only document needed if traveling to Canada via land. All other persons require a passport. If you are traveling with other people’s children under the age of 16, the rules are different. And, if you are traveling via air, all persons need a passport, including children. Make sure you check out the State Department’s website before traveling!)

One of the many beautiful parks.

We departed for Quebec City once Chris was finished with work on a Friday afternoon.  We got to the border and for some reason this always makes me nervous. I find I start lecturing Chris miles before we get there; telling him not to make jokes and to answer their questions seriously.  I have all of our paperwork in order and ready to hand over.  We get up to the booth, hand our papers over and Chris begins answering questions.  He threw in a joke or two…I’ve decided he can’t help it. He doesn’t even realize what he’s doing. I give the agent the “Please excuse my husband’s bad jokes” look. I’ve gotten really good at that one.  Thankfully, the border agent tolerated the joking and wished us well on our journey as our 7 week old daughter screamed bloody murder from the back seat.

Downtown Quebec City.

We proceeded on to Quebec City with no reservations and no clue where we’d stay the night.  By 9:00 p.m., after a few stops along the way to eat and feed Emerson, we were about an hour away from the city. (Hmmm…that last sentence is so poorly worded and makes it sound like I’m eating my child. I should remove it but it made me chuckle, so I’m leaving it in.  And, no, I’m not eating my child.  I’m feeding myself and my child on these stops.)  Anyways…we were exhausted by 9pm. Emerson was crying and we needed to stop and try to soothe her to sleep.  So, we did what other RVers and truckers were doing.  We stopped at a rest area for the night. Is this allowed in Canada? Anyone? Anyone? I suspected to hear a knock on the door through the night from officials asking us to leave but no one did.  We slept peacefully (as peacefully as expected with a 7-week old) and continued on our journey the following day.

Downtown.

As you may know, Chris and I approach travel a little differently. I usually like a plan while he prefers spontaneity.  I don’t dislike spontaneity — this method has provided many entertaining and wonderful travel memories.  But, sometimes (like when traveling with a trailer into a foreign city where parking may be an issue), I like a plan.  So, as we got closer to the city I continuously called out, “there’s a campground!” only to be ignored.  His thought was that there would be street parking for us and we could just park and walk into the city.  I had my “I told you so” speech all prepared for when we could find no parking.  I mean, come on! Parking a trailer within walking distance to a popular tourist destination? On a Saturday? In the summer? Not possible! And then I heard, “Look! There’s a parking lot with plenty of spots! And, it’s free!” D’oh! My “I told you so” speech was never delivered. Chris was right. Again. I cannot even begin to tell you how tired I am of him being right.

Playing with Emerson in the park.

Quebec City is one of my favorite places. It’s full of culture, life, beautiful parks, fabulous shopping, delicious food, and entertainment.  If only I knew French so I could easily converse with Quebec’s lovely people! We spent the afternoon walking the beautiful and crowded city streets. We watched the street performers do their break-dancing, magic acts, hula hooping, and creepy mannequin/statue poses. Seriously, those statue people both intrigue and creep me out.  We listened to a great band perform. We had incredible falafel wraps followed by delicious gelato.  We sat in one of the many parks, playing with Emerson and people watching. We witnessed not one, not two, not even three, but four wedding parties getting their pictures taken around the city. Finally, we ended our afternoon with some tasty Tim Horton’s coffee (my first ever!) before walking back to the Airstream.

We made our way back to the states that night, crossing into Maine but not before Chris joked around with the border agent.  Again.  And, once again, the border agent did not laugh.  Shocker.

We also learned a valuable lesson that night.  When traveling from Quebec City into Maine, always remember to make sure your gas tank is full.  Just as we crossed the border, our fuel light came on.  It was dark out. We had no cell phone service. We were in the middle of nowhere.  And, at one point, we were towing a trailer up hill fearing that the truck would die at that moment.  We passed a moose and I’m pretty sure he was laughing at us.  Thankfully, we made it to the town of Jackman, Maine on fumes and found a gas station.  Phew! We called Jackman home that night and boondocked at a lovely roadside park.    It was a fun-filled, exhausting day.

Shelburne Farm

As you all know, we have a thing for farms. Someday, I suspect, we shall live on a farm.  With a pig. Chris loves pigs.  And, chickens. He loves chickens, too. After our (my) tour of Ben & Jerry’s, we headed to Shelburne Farms, a 1400-acre farm that sits on the shores of Lake Champlain. Given our slight obsession with farms, we had heard of this place earlier in the summer.  I was interested in checking it out so with the Airstream in tow, off we went!

When we pulled into the Farm, we noted the admission price.  I confess. We’re pretty cheap.  Yes, I’ll pay $3.00 for an ice cream tour but did I want to pay $8.00 to see a farm? I saw a lot of farms this summer. For free.  We parked the Airstream and sat inside it while I fed Emerson and we discussed whether we wanted to see the farm or continue on to our campground in Burlington. We were tired…Chris from driving and me…well…I was probably coming off my ice cream sugar high. Oh, and that whole minor detail of the fact that we have a newborn and nights of peaceful sleep are just a memory at this point.  So, yeah, we were tired.

View from the trail.

We convinced ourselves, however, to go and check out the farm. There have been too many occasions where we ended up not going to certain places because we didn’t want to pay the fee and too many people have informed us that we made a big mistake by not seeing said places.  Well, we were not going to be accused of that this time!

We loaded up the stroller with child and the bazillion things necessary for child and took off for the farm. (Seriously, how can someone who is not even 10lbs require this much stuff?)  The trail to the farm was 3/4 mile through an open field and then into a wooded area.  It was a beautiful day for a walk and Miss Emerson seemed quite content in her stroller.  She loved the bumpy gravel trails.

You can't possibly look at this without smiling, right?

Neither of us knew what to expect but as we came out of the wooded area the trail opened up again and in the distance we saw the amazing farmhouse. Or, farm mansion.

Developed in 1886, the farmland was to be a “model agricultural estate.” At one point, the farm had 300 employees working the land.  Today, it is a nonprofit organization dedicated to conservation education.  The grounds encompass a farmyard where children (and Lani and Chris) can meet the farm animals, a cheese-making building, an elementary school, an inn, a conference center, beautiful gardens, and miles of walking trails. Additionally, it still remains a working farm.

We explored the grounds, checked out the petting zoo, and watched some cheese being “cheddared“. (I learned something new during my visit!)   But, the highlight of our day were the piglets that were only three days old.  Oh. My. Goodness.  They were too cute.  We stood and watched as the piglets battled one another to nurse on mama pig. It was an amazing sight. So, amazing in fact, that I took a video of the piglets and it here it is for your viewing pleasure: (Sorry about the poor video quality.)

Isn’t that the cutest?  It does make me happy I only have one child to feed. (And I thought my nipples were sore!) Watching these piglets was worth the $16.00 we paid.  We could have stood and watched them all day long.  But, we didn’t.  We checked out some of the trails and I burned off some of the ice cream calories.  It was a beautiful and wonderful day for all three of us!  So, if you find yourself near Shelburne Farms, I highly recommend stopping.  If you don’t you’re making a big mistake!

We’ve been fortunate enough to see some pretty incredible sights while on our Airstream journey.  Sometimes, I look at our pictures and continue to be amazed at the places we’ve been.  For several places, however, it is not just the scenery that makes the memory so special.  Oftentimes, the wonderful memories are of the people we met while there.  We refer to our “Hall of Fame” often as we recall these individuals that have touched and inspired our lives.

We had the pleasure of meeting some truly awesome people while we lived in New Hampshire and Vermont this summer. Excluding our campground owners, of course, we felt incredibly welcomed into the community. I’ve highlighted a few of those individuals in previous entries (Yep, that includes you, Frank!) and I’d like to take an opportunity to highlight another person that overwhelmed us with her generosity.

When we first settled into our campground, one of the first things we did was visit the local library (which was just minutes from our campground.)  It was a tiny but beautiful historic building and we were both anxious to check it out.  I love libraries. Sometimes (okay, daily)  I wonder why I did not go to graduate school for library science. It’s a field that would fit me perfectly. I’m quiet (except when in labor), I love research, I love books.  See? Perfectly! But, I didn’t go that route for unknown reasons and it baffles me often. Ah, but I will not digress into the discussion of “The career path Lani should have taken….”

Showing Emerson all the great books.

So, Chris and I visited the Stratton Free Library soon after we settled in the area. Since we weren’t residents, I knew we couldn’t qualify for a library card but I thought I’d ask the librarian anyway. It seemed such a shame to be this close to a library for several months and not be able to take advantage of its services.  I explained our situation to Carol, the librarian, and she immediately emailed the Board of Trustees to see if we could be granted a temporary card.  She saw no problem with it but had to get permission from the Board.

We returned a few days later (this little library is only open 3 days a week) and Carol informed us that we could have a library card. Yippee! We took full advantage of it. We checked out books and movies and enjoyed our conversations with Carol throughout our time there.

Of course, when the baby came along my time for reading suddenly disappeared but we continued to visit the library to check out movies. We were proud to introduce Emerson to Carol and happy that this friendly little library would be the site for Emerson’s first library visit!

Carol, Emerson, and Chris

On one of my last trips to the library, I was returning a movie (embarrassingly, it was overdue…maybe I should rethink being a librarian?), and Carol had a gift for Emerson. In a small bag was a book about animals that was perfect for a baby, a beautifully knitted washcloth, and a personalized letter to Emerson on the library’s letterhead telling of her first visit to the library.  I almost cried. My daughter’s first library visit has been documented by the librarian in a beautifully written letter. How awesome is that?

So, Carol the librarian rocks.  We went back for a visit after we had left the campground and regretfully informed Carol that we were no longer in the area. We took some pictures, said our goodbyes, and thanked Carol once again for being so awesome and making us feel so welcomed.  While I have no intentions of returning to the campground (and the owners probably wouldn’t let me back on the property), I do look forward to returning to the library when Emerson is older and sharing with her the fond memories.

Thanks, Carol!

An empty but beautifully kept campground.

Remember when we first arrived at the Ashuelot River Campground? I noted how beautiful the campground was and how conveniently located it was to Keene, NH and our birth center. Those were two big factors in why we chose to call that campground home for the season. But, I also noted that there were a few challenges that we hoped would work themselves out over time. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to happen so we had to move on a few weekends ago.

Like I said, it was a beautiful campground. The owners did an excellent job of keeping the grounds immaculate and the facilities clean. When we first arrived there in May, however, Chris and I both had a bad feeling about the management. They didn’t seem to want us there and we felt more like a burden than welcomed customers. We thought that with time, we would earn their trust and we (and they) would feel more comfortable. As the summer progressed, we knew that would not be the case.  They just were not very pleasant people and did not seem too interested in having campers come to their campground. And, we still seemed more a burden to them even though we were quiet and had few requests.

Hello KOA! So nice to see you again!

Perhaps other visitors to this park have felt the same way as I’ve never seen a campground so empty during the peak summer months — and I’ve been to a lot of campgrounds.  Even during July 4th, there were few campers at this campground.  So, it was a lonely summer.

Chris and I grew accustomed to the lack of people and unpleasant management.  We could tolerate it although we did long for the happy campground camaraderie that we have come to know and love. We thought we could continue on with the way things were primarily because we’ve met so many awesome people outside of the campground and we really  enjoyed the area.  Our patience, however, was tested when we had family members come visit us  to meet their newest family member.

Halloween Night at the KOA.

The majority of our family stayed at the campground. It was great to have family around to help us out with a newborn baby and keep us laughing and sane at a time when Chris and I were severely sleep deprived and overwhelmed.  But, this so-called “family campground” wasn’t very welcoming to our family. The treatment our families received from management made our their’ visits awkward and uncomfortable at times.

I won’t go into the specifics of everything that happened but the actions of management did frustrate us to a point that we felt it was best for us to leave the premises despite the fact that we had paid and intended to stay through October 31.  So, with the help of family (to whom I am eternally grateful), we packed up and somehow managed to get the Airstream out of our campsite–not an easy task!

We decided to go back to the KOA in Brattleboro, VT–the campground we initially started out at when we first arrived in this region.  We were instantly greeted with smiles. The owners, who remembered us, ogled over my child and welcomed us and our family members.

"Okay, Mama and Daddy, I'm ready to do some Airstreamin'!!"

As we were setting up camp, the owner came by on his lawn mower/tractor pulling a wagon and offered my nieces and nephews a ride around the campground. As noted by my brother-in-law, it was as though we had entered a new universe. The campground was (gasp!)…happy and fun. Sure, it didn’t have a river and gigantic campsites but it had people. Friendly people! And, activities! Now, I’m not one who seeks out social activities or requires kids’ events when searching for a campground (at least not yet), but the Halloween in July events that took place while we were there were a welcomed change (as was the free ice cream night!)  While I wasn’t sure if I could handle the sudden  move in my emotional state (hello, baby blues!), it turned out to be a very positive change for us.

So, we are officially back on the road again. Let’s hope Emerson a) doesn’t get us kicked out of campgrounds for excessive crying, and b) likes her car seat for extended periods of time.  Oh, please let her like her car seat.  Please, oh, please!

Our first walk around the campground.

It’s been awhile since my last blog and we have a lot of catching up to do and a lot of pictures to share.  I’ll try and catch up but it may take some time. For now, here’s the most exciting news we have to share.

The week I found out I was pregnant, we were in Virginia at a campground that had cable.  We spent an afternoon cleaning out the Airstream and while doing so, watched a show called “I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant.”  I know, right? Crazy. How does one NOT know she is pregnant? We were intrigued, of course.

In one scenario, a woman showed up at the hospital complaining of severe abdomen pain. That pain moved down into her pelvic region and then suddenly disappeared while she was on the ER bed.  When the doctor cut open her pants, they exclaimed with great surprise, “Ma’am, did you know you have a baby in your pants?”  Seriously. And, given the title of the show, of course the woman was all’ “Wha? No! A baby?”

Emerson loves her Daddy!

In another scenario, a woman went camping and woke up with stomach pains.  She rushed to the campground bathroom only to discover the baby was making its entrance into this world. In the bathroom stall.  On the toilet.  Obviously, I’ve seen my share of campground bathrooms.  All I can say to this is “Ew. I SO wouldn’t want to have a baby in a campground bathroom.”

Thankfully, I neither had a baby in my pants or in our campground’s bathroom.  On July 5, 2010 at 2:53 a.m., Chris and I welcomed our beautiful baby girl, Emerson Skye, into this world…at our designated birth center near Keene, NH.  It was an intense, magical, crazy, humorous (now), and beautiful moment. (For those not interested in my birth story, you should probably stop reading now….)

Traumatized after bath time.

My due date was July 3, and coincidentally, I woke up that day with early signs of labor.  I told myself for months that I would not be THAT woman that panicked and called her midwife too early.  Alas, I was totally THAT woman.  I called her right away actually. I felt she needed the warning that labor was underway.  I’m polite (and annoying) like that.

On July 4, the contractions grew more intense so we met Mary the Midwife at the birth center that morning only to learn that I was only in the very, very, very early stages of labor.  She sent me home. D’oh!

The day progressed slowly but the contractions grew worse.  I was sure I was moving along at a good pace.  I was doing an exceptional job of using my breathing techniques learned in class and my hypbirth CDs.  I considered myself the model woman in labor.  Seriously…I was thinking positive at that point.

Emerson Skye

Mary called around 8:30 that night and asked if we wanted to come back in to be checked.  You bet I did! This was it! I knew it!  We got there and I had only dilated one more centimeter…to a big, whopping 2.  Mary said it could be quite awhile before active labor began (days, even) and recommended we go back home.  But, I refused.  I didn’t want to go back home.  We got permission to stay the night and we all agreed that I would probably be going back home in the morning.  All this happened around 9:30 p.m.

At 11:30 p.m., my water broke.  Mary checked in on us and told me to try and get some rest.  We all still believed it was really early. I promise, I tried to relax.  Chris was amazing at helping me try to breathe properly.  I was listening to the hypbirth sessions on my iPod and struggling to take those deep breaths that the woman in my ear kept telling me to take.

Our first outing was to our pick up our CSA share at the farm.

In my perfect labor dream, I was silent throughout labor. I had fears of being vocal.  In one of the birth videos we watched in class, one woman yodeled her way through labor.  I didn’t want to do that.  And, I didn’t yodel.  But, somewhere around 12:45 a.m. or so, I became demon-possessed, channeling my inner Sigourney Weaver from the movie, Ghostbusters.  You know, “There is no Lani, there is only Zuel.”  And, I did what I really did not want to do…ever.  I screamed.  At the top of my lungs. Probably the loudest I have ever been in my life.  I began telling Chris in my Zuel-like voice to take me to the hospital.  I needed the drugs.  If this was early labor, I was so not prepared for natural childbirth.  Yes, we both still believed this was early labor.  I had visions of Mary coming into the room and saying, “You are only dilated to a 4.  Get some rest.”  Right. Rest? I don’t think so. So, we both avoided calling her into the room.

Introducing her to farm life early.

My screams continued and Chris tried to calm me down.  Around 1:30 a.m., however, the screams and my pleading for a hospital and drugs became too much.  Chris finally called Mary and we waited for that dreaded news that I had not progressed into active labor yet.

Mary came in and once again I screamed like a baby and begged for drugs.  In her calming voice, she, too, told me to relax and then checked my progress.  As I yelled out, “I can’t do this!” Mary uttered words that were music to my ears.  She said, somewhat shocked, “It’s not that you can’t do this! You’ve already done it!” No, there wasn’t a baby in my pants but it was time to push.  And, pushing I could do! My superhuman strength kicked in at that point (just ask Chris) and my screaming ceased.  And, it’s true…a woman immediately forgets the pain of labor once she sees her baby for the first time. The experience was incredible.

So, that’s my story.  Emerson is beautiful.  We are blessed.  And, really, really tired.  We look forward to seeing how this next chapter of our lives progresses.  For now, we continue the Airstream life and are very excited to start our travels once again with the newest member of Aluminum Bliss.  Stay tuned…

"Eternal Presence" by John Wilson

We took a trip recently to Boston to see our friend, Hong. You remember Hong, right? If not, here is a link to our introduction to him. He spent several weeks with us last summer as we traveled through Canada, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. He has been taking dance lessons for years and we were finally able to catch a performance now that we are in the area. He did an outstanding job. Way to go, Hong! Nice jazz hands!

While it was a short trip to Boston, Chris and I both wanted to make a stop at one our favorite places, Walden Pond. Only 30 minutes from Boston, the park quickly became one of our favorite places to escape the hectic city life when we lived in the area.

"Feral Goose" by Kitty Wells

In the summer months, the pond is open for swimming.  The natural beauty and of course, it’s history, always left us feeling rejuvenated and inspired. We’ve been eager to return.

The weather was beautiful that weekend and after a gigantic breakfast at the S & S Restaurant, a landmark in Cambridge, we needed to move around and get some exercise and we agreed that Walden Pond would be the perfect solution. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea on that lovely hot day and the Pond was closed for crowd control when we arrived.  Doh!

Forced to change our plans, I quickly pulled out the iPhone to see where else we could spend the afternoon near the fabulous towns of Lincoln and Concord and I found the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park to be nearby. From what I could tell, it had lovely grounds and fit our needs at that moment. Hong, Chris, and Hong’s friend, Jose, wanted a place to toss a frisbee around and just be outdoors. I just needed to walk since I had all-too-easily consumed massive amounts of blueberry pancakes, home fries, and fruit.

"Figure from the Sea" by Elliot Offner

The park was a nice surprise. The 35 acres of land owned by the park are beautiful and, of course, filled with sculptures and beautifully landscaped gardens. There is also a museum although we didn’t take too much time exploring the museum as we wanted to be outside.

Opened in 1950, the property was given to the town of Lincoln by its owner, Julian de Cordova. An avid traveler and lover of arts, he remodeled his home on the property to resemble a European castle. Today, the home serves as the museum to contemporary American art, primarily from artists in the New England region.

"Manna" by Tom Chapin. I have no idea why I was so drawn to this sculpture. Hmmm....

Currently, the park is the only permanent public sculpture park in New England and displays approximately 80 sculptures on the property. We walked quite a bit of the property that day and viewed a good portion, if not all, of the sculptures. We also found a nice open field where the guys could toss the frisbee while I sat in the shade and held my breath hoping they wouldn’t hit the nearby sculpture.

While it was no Walden Pond, the DeCordova Sculpture Park was a great find and a lovely place to spend an afternoon.  Actually, Chris and I were reminded on this little trip that, like many New England towns,  the towns of Lincoln and Concord are on our list of dream towns.  Ah, if only we had an unlimited amount of money!  These quintessential New England towns, so full of history and gorgeous landscapes, for us are an idyllic location.  But, for now, and probably forever, we will remain content to be tourists of Concord and Lincoln.  My goal is to make it back for another visit while we are up here for the summer.  I realized all of my focus has always been on Walden Pond and the area has so much more to offer.  So, Lincoln and Concord:  I’ll be back!

Packing up the house. Not fun. At all.

One year ago today we left Blacksburg, Virginia and embarked on our Airstream adventure.  That’s right! One full year.  365 days.  52 weeks.  8,766 hours. 525,600 minutes.  Wow! (And, if you’ve seen the show “Rent” and you’re like me, you’ll now be singing “525,600 minutes” just like they do in the show.  And, the song will be in your head for hours.  Hours! I’m sorry.)  And to think I just thought this new adventure was one of Chris’ phases that would only last 3 months.  Glad I was wrong.

It seems like just yesterday we were making what felt like thousands of trips to our storage unit and still finding junk in the rental home. Packing up the house took a lot longer than we anticipated.  I think our departure was almost a full day later than we told family and friends.  In fact, we didn’t pull out of the driveway until around 1:00 A.M. on June 1st.   That final day of cleaning and packing was excruciatingly long and painful.

All hitched up...

This brings me to a confession. Something Chris and I are both ashamed to admit. The first night we left, we checked our hitch connection for about the 100th time, we hopped in the truck, made the last trip to the storage unit in the wee hours and prepared to hit the road even though we were exhausted. But, after stopping at our storage unit and unloading those final items, our bodies were so tired that we…well…we….um….stopped at a hotel.  In Christiansburg, Virginia. Which is only 10 minutes from Blacksburg.

Yes, there we were towing our new home behind us and we stopped at a hotel. Call us losers. Laugh all you want.  We laugh often when we think about our stupidity.  Our home is following us.  It has a bed.  And, a shower. Yet, we stopped at a hotel? Thinking back to that night, I can only say that our exhaustion as well as the time of day influenced our decision to just pull over at a hotel and get some rest.

Leaving Blacksburg, Virginia on June 1, 2009.

It was too late to go to a campground and apparently we failed to consider a Wal-Mart parking lot at that point – which was across the street from the hotel, I might add.  So, there you have it.  Our first official night (or, morning, I should say) of full-timing and we stayed at a hotel.  Please don’t judge us too harshly.

Since that first night, we’ve learned a lot about our Airstream, full-timing, campground living, water conservation, the joys of simple living, and yes, we have even stayed at plenty of Wal-Marts and other random overnight spots. What an exciting year it’s been!

Thanks to all who have followed along with us on our journey. Thanks for the comments on the blog which truly make my day.  It’s been a pleasure meeting others both on the road and online.  I look forward to the next 525,600 minutes.

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!