The Traveling Performing Family Troupe's Life is Rough

If you have followed our blog over the last couple of years you know that our life on the road has been filled with adventure, all kinds of performing, occasionally trouble-shooting, lots of discovery, a cornucopia of challenges, a few heartbreaks and boredom (sometimes) and more. Today, at least for today ( I repeat it to stress...for today) all was a laid back and wet! No it did not rain. We spent the day in the pool. Mami even slid down the slide into the pool (picture below). You have to understand she is a very quiet, take no chances (except marry me) kind of person. This poor woman who has been stressed having to deal with me as a husband, a disabled son and six other kids actually let her hair down and had fun. She even plaid soccer with the kids today. I tried but I really suck as a soccer player...speaking of sucking...We all got bug bites.

The sunset was red-purple and orange..red sky at night...sailor's delight!

Everyone is enjoying the home cooked meals and the Rving (though still new and challenging) has brought a kind of relaxation to the trip.

RVers like to keep their rigs looking nice so each day I spend time cleaning bug juice off the hood, sides and windows. We also have the constant job of handling limited space so order and patience is a big part of our trip. Move one thing to make room for the other....ever seen the counter space in an RV.

We had our animals out today so they wouldn't burn up in the van. The 20lb Flemish Giants and the snake get a lot of attention from fellow travelers.

While still at home a few days ago, after gassing up the night before our departure, my "check engine" light came on in the van. I worried little because the same thing happened a last year on our drive to Texas while 300 miles away from home. I called the Ford Dealer I bought it from and the told me it was emissions related and was probably nothing and that it would take a day or two for the van's computer to clear the error. He came to that conclusion because I reported no loss of power or unusual sounds.
I tell you this because right after gassing up in Idaho yesterday the same thing happened to the RV (also a Ford). I am hoping the error will clear out as the Van's had sometime over the next two days or else I have to take it into a shop. And if you know how crazy the next 7 days are going to be you will understand there isn't much time for that. No loss of power, gas mileage, or strange sounds.
One other scare was we were smelling an LP or natural gas smell around our rig at the RV site. At first we thought it was coming from other places. But it was only around us. So I checked the tank, valve, pipes, etc and found nothing. Then later while feeding the mice (our snakes future meals) I discovered a rotting dead one. After ridding ourselves of it we ridded ourselves of the smell.
Below are pictures from the day at the pool. By the way, even Titus, my disabled sone got some pool time.

Mami taking the plunge

Olivia taking the plunge.

Victor going in...Amelia and Mami in the foreground.


Titus and me!



Titus, me and Mami




Mami and Amelia.

I also wanted to mention that the RV park (Bear Canyon RV Park) is great. They messed up our reservation and we ended up not having to pay for our RV spot, just our tent spot (saved a bundle). They run a clean camp with everything for the family...you could stay here a week and be happy. The only draw back is their Internet router limits the number of people who can go on at a time so if the park is packed Wi-fi could be difficult. The view from here is incredible. But the sounds, a train every two hours with an engineer who loves to toot his horn kept me from a deep slumber. But any RV park in the area is subject to that guy! Oh well! Almost as bad as the hotel next to the Harley Davidson repair shop that opened at 6AM in Oregon a few years ago as far as noise goes..otherwise this place is top notch and the view (see yesterday's photo of the sunset) is wonderful.

Miles Baby sitting