I have no idea how to start this post, other than to say it’s all catching up to me. I’ve been tired and sluggish since we arrived and am so thankful we’re staying with friends while we all acclimate. No plans, no sightseeing; just hanging out. It’s a nice way to ease ourselves into things. (We’ve all been catching up on sleep and making our way back to eating Real Food; we’ve been eating lots of bad fats and not enough good fats and fresh veggies lately. I think Justin and I will be restarting our cleanse soon and I’m going to assist the process with a green smoothie fast.)

Friday morning Zeb fell asleep before we left, so we moved him to the RV and let him continue sleeping. He woke up around Kingman, immediately went to the map and found our location, as well as our destination and figured out our estimated arrival time. He spent the next couple hours, sitting and watching the scenery out the window, never once feeling bored.

Of any “life learning” moments, those quiet ones feel the biggest. When a person has the time and inclination to just sit and think, amazing things emerge: thoughts and ideas, questions and most importantly, processing. I was happy to see Zeb enjoying the ride and curious what was passing through his mind.

Friday and Saturday were both beautiful and warm. We’ve spent time at the park, splashed in the residual puddles, rode bikes, ate homemade tacos, played Wii and watched the highly-debated Radical Parents on DVR. (I thought the families were great, but the “experts” could have done a bit more research before pushing the same outdated stereotypes and misinformation.)

The rain has been coming down hard since last night; so hard in fact we’ve found two leaking windows. (Ahem. For the record, I had suggested resealing the windows when we did the roof.) On top of that, our water pump stopped working.

But somewhere around the time two people are balancing on a narrow hitch in pouring down rain with a giant umbrella over their heads threatening to blow away, trying to dry a window so that they can duct tape a trash bag to it to give the silicone sealant a chance to dry underneath and they get a whiff of a black water tank that needs emptying, you realize you can do nothing but laugh at yourself. Ah, the joys of vintage wheels.

Thank goodness for neighbors in need of a massage for the exact price of the pump and friends willing to give us a ride to the nearest RV store.

I’m beginning to think I could make some extra money by taking bets on what Benny will do (or not do) next.

We were planning to head out tomorrow, passing through the Petrified Forest and ending up in Albuquerque the day after, but with the rain and snow, we’ll be playing it all by ear.