Organic Tribe

1992 Thomas School Bus/RV/Skoolie for sale

2010-06-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

SOLD
So here we are, the time when we say good-by to the open road. We are selling Burnie. Tell all your family and friends this is a steal for the price we are asking. It is already titled as an RV, which makes it much easier (and cheaper) to get insurance! I have tried to list the important info, the good and the bad. I want you to be very happy with this cool Skoolie and enjoy it! Miles are at 155,400.

40' 1992 Thomas MVP Diesel pusher
3116 CAT Engine
AT Alison Transmission
Air Brakes
Current RV Registration in NC
Solar Power System
4 Large Solar Panels
1750 Xantrex Inverter
30 AMP Shore Line
110 Power
Inverter/ Converter
2 House Batteries
2 12 Volt Deep Cycle (for Solar)
Tow Hitch
Large RV Propane Tank

Interior Info:
Sleeps 6-8
Queen Bed (Master)
2 Sets Bunks (4 beds)
2 Closets
2 Desks/ Entertainment Centers
Lots of Storage
2 Couches
3 Fantastic Fans
composting toilet

Kitchen Includes:
Pantry w/ Pull-out Drawers
Cabinets & Counter top
4 Drawers
3 Burner RV Propane Stove and Oven
Sink and Faucet
NO fridge or furnace

IMPORTANT ITEMS THAT WILL NEED ADDRESSED/ FIXED
Needs new Tires
Passenger Front Windshield Cracked

Other Items You May Want:
Water tanks (There is NO running water or black tank system)
Furnace (duct work and thermostat is already installed)

We really enjoyed the year on the road living in the Skoolie!

Check out our products

2009-11-17T20:23:00.000-08:00

So I have been working a lot for months to figure out a way to cut cost and create a site to sell the GREAT stuff we make. If you like the new Organic Tribe Thredz logo, I have opened a cafe-press http://www.cafepress.com/organictribe store that you can by silk screened shirts and other items with our logo. I am so excited seeing it all finally come together. Now it's all about adding more items and receiving comments from all of you on what you like and what you think I'm still missing. The other hard part is figuring out how to get the site and our items out to the rest of the world. If any of you have great ideas on cheap (or FREE) marketing please shoot me an email or comment. And I know I'm beating a dead horse, but would you pass the word on to friends and family that would be AWESOME! I would love the world to see our stuff, thanks for all the support! http://organictribethredz.blogspot.com

Washington we LOVE you!!!

2009-11-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

After a LONG pit stop in Utah we headed on to the Great North West! We LOVE Washington! We spent 4 yrs in Tacoma and started our family there! Our oldest 2 are natives. We got to WA the end of June, just in time to run a 4 day fireworks tent. It worked out nice that one of my good friends lives in the same town that we sold fireworks. So we got to catch up with Jamie and meet her new (to us) hubby Corey and see their kiddos! They took the kids to play and had us over for a BBQ.

Then we headed over to our old stomping grounds in Tacoma. We stayed with our friends Andre and Joan and their son Dominic. Joan and I had a nice night out..... dinner and walked around downtown. We found some good local music to listen to. Another day we checked out the farmer's market and took the kids to play on the Ruston Way walkway and beach. We drove around town talking about the good ole days and visited our favorite beach in Steilacoom, Sunnyside Beach, where there was lots of HUGE jellyfish washed up to check out. We also made it to Point of Defiance Park Zoo. The kids loved playing with Dominic and all his cool Lego's and electronics! Joan and Andre introduced us to a SUPER funny show Flight of the Conchords! The adults had a nice night out to a yummy Mexican place and we went to downtown to look at all the cool glass art and marina.

After our great visit with Andre and Joan we headed up north to see Uncle Mike and Aunt Joleen. While visiting them in beautiful Seattle we did our favorite things that we use to do there. Like see the Troll under the Freemont Bridge, See the Space Needle, visit Mike and Joleen's new sail boat that they are working on and yes of course it wouldn't be a visit to Washington if we did not do the Pikes Market and watch the fish be thrown around. We also spent an afternoon with Mike and Joleen at the Lake during Seafair.

Onward we headed further up North to Probably one of our favorite National Parks now Cascades National Park. It was so peaceful and beautiful. We got in some amazing hikes (some of the best we have ever done)! On one of our hikes we had the dogs running back and forth on the trail. When we were heading back down Coco decided to run off the path and chase a deer he had seen. We thought we had lost him for good. For minutes we yelled for him and nothing, then he finally decided to show up. We looked up above us and there was a deer looking down at us. We thought that was strange, the deer then disappeared and for some reason we were whistling and the deer reappeared over us. He looked at us for a few minutes and then disappeared again. We whistled gain and he reappeared again. We couldn't stop laughing about it. We thought this was a trained deer, and someone left him in the woods. The deer actually listened better then Coco did. Another hike we hiked miles up to a lake that had a glacier still and ice burgs floating in the lake. So what does a crazy family traveling the country do. They strip down to nearly nothing and run into the freezing cold water, SCREAM!!!! like girls and run back to shore and get attached by the biggest bugs ever seen by man. What a wonderful time we had in the Cascades.

After the Cascades we headed over to Anicortis and the San Juan Islands. We went there to meet up with our sweet peeps on the road The Chinchens! We boon docked with them for a week or so over looking the water and some of the other islands. Had a blast with them. Steve went with Jason to watch him play a show at one of the local bars, we got together and jammed with them, and with doing so we found out that we have an awesome drummer in the family (Isabelle). She rocked the studio. We went to the beach and had a wonderful picnic. We went on awesome bike rides around the Island as a large group, it must have been a sight to see all 11 of us riding around together. While we were in Anicortis Winston learned how to ride his bike with out training wheels. Yah Winston! Thanks Kara and Jason for the good times!

We then put the bus and the VW onto the ferry, that's right I said ferry! Nothing like seeing the skoolie and the VW on a ferry. We crossed over to Port Townsend. We again met up with Jamie and Cory and kids while they came up to camp at Fort Worden. We toured the run down Fort and looked for surviving ghost. It was kind of scary. We did a day on the beach with them and went to the local farmers market. One of the best farmer's markets we have ever been to.

Update

2009-10-30T07:12:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, NO! we did not fall off the face of the Earth! We are going to try to get more stuff up on the blog soon. For now I would like to share the new site that I have started putting together. organictribethredz.blogspot.com. I want it to be a site that I can show off and sell our craftiness and in the future I'd love to add friends and family creations as well and help get their stuff out there. Etsy, Ebay and other sites have not worked so well in the past. It seems I post an item on those sites and I end up selling the piece in person and then have to go on-line and take it off. The Christmas season is coming up soon so enjoy the site as I add more things. Comment if you will on what you like and what I should add to the mix. I only use 100% recycled fabrics for my creations. If you have a special order shoot it my way and I'll see if it can be done. Thanks for all our friends and family who have bought our items the past few years you guys are the best! As I said I will be posting more of our travels soon.

Real Jobs.....kinda!

2009-08-13T03:57:00.000-07:00

So being on the road full time mostly means, for us, being extremely frugal (broke) and picking up jobs along the way. Usually we do short term jobs like remodeling or seasonal/ holiday jobs. Most last 1-2 weeks. We decided after visiting Bryce Canyon (BC) in March for the funeral that it might be a good place to stay for a bit. We love southern Utah & since Steve has a ton of family there that we didn't really know we thought we'd pick up a job & explore the area & get to know some more of his relatives. The kids were really excited to meet some cousins too! So we got jobs as ATV guides. Our boss was one of Steve's 2nd cousins and a pretty cool guy. We worked 3 or 4 (12) hr days then we had 3 to 4 days off to play. Of course the "work" was riding ATVs on beautiful trails and seeing wildlife. It didn't pay squat, but it had to be the funnest job we've had! This was our 1st work camper job and we found that we were MUCH younger then all the other work campers, which we kinda assumed, but hoped for at least a few other people our age. We'd met some really sweet people there. One of our neighbors (also work campers) was always bringing treats by for the kids (and dogs) and surprising us with little gifts. We are truly blessed to know them! Others have been a bit ummmm, stand offish. I think our dreads had really thrown some of these ultra conservative people. We really had hoped to get to know some of the family, but unfortunately I think they are all too busy with their daily lives. Our kids have been real troopers, but our long days at work had wore on them and they were really missing friends. Even though we travel full time they have always had /made friends everywhere we've been. When we first made it to Bryce, we met up with The Chinchen family, one of our favorite families on the road. We also had fun meeting up with Jana Smith and her boys, thanks Jana for dinner and the good times. We went on many hikes. We had been in Bryce for 2 months and it was time to move on. Over all we really enjoyed our time at Bryce and have some wonderful memories to take with us!

Some of our side trips we took on our days off were a visit to Zion's NP. The older 3 kiddos took Steve up to hike Angle's Landing, Winston & I played in the river. We did the Riverwalk hike as a family (the prettiest I think) and I took Lincoln & Winston to the Emerald Pools. We had hoped to hike the Narrows, but the spring run off made the river huge & cold...44! The kids did the JR Ranger program and got to add another pin to their collection! Another trip we took was up to Blue Spruce campground which is off of Devil's Backbone. This drive was beautiful! We stopped to play in a river and collect pretty rocks. We were hoping to find Jasper, but didn't really know what it looked like. Memorial weekend we spent with my sis & her family in St. George. We did a fun/ challenging hike near Silver Reef. Which included climbing a bolder with hand holes & a rope. Then we ended up at a slot canyon and had to swim to get through it. We made it to the bottom of a little waterfall. none of us were prepared for water so we swam in our clothes. It was a bit more extreme then the easy going hike we had planned, but we all loved it and the kids did great! We also got a date night with just the adults!

Zions entrance

Angel's landing up behind the kids before the hike up to it

the switch-backs up to Angel's landing

the kids at the top of Angel's landing

you have to hold onto chains to climb the last half mile

this is looking at the last half mile with 2,000 foot cliffs on both sides of the climb

the last thing you see before you climb with the chains

more switch-backs on angel's landing

Winston and Lincoln at Emerald pools

more Emerald pools

Zions was our first camping trip with Baby our new VW

the Bison outside Zions near the East entrance

the kids enjoying Zions

Lincoln and Conner in Bryce Canyon

Steve and the kids in Bryce on a hike

some of the amazing trees on Navajo Loop trail in Bryce

the boys holding up the arch in Bryce

switch-backs on Navajo Loop trail

Winston wanted to carry the hike pack

Aquarius Plateau you can see from our ATV trail

view from ATV trail

Buck seen on ATV tour

we witnessed lots of baby Pronghorn being born

Prairie dogs at Ruby's Inn area

Bryce's sister and her fam came up to Bryce to visit

Jana Smith and her boys and the kids

Fossil hunting in Tropic was a fun day trip and found some really cool fossils and Conner found 2 nice pieces of petrified wood and what we think is a dinosaur tooth. Steve had taken the kids back there twice when I had been at work and his collection of rocks is getting quiet large! He has been bitten by the rock hounding bug bad!

Conner looking for fossils

Bryce, Lincoln and Winston looking over fossil piles

Isabelle looking for fossils

We headed up to Layton for our niece Brittani's High School graduation party. We are really proud of her! She had a baby, Cadin, a year ago and still managed to graduate on time and she got her CNA and plans to go to nursing school. She is one hard working single mama! We also celebrated Cadin's 1st b-day. It was a great day with family & the cousins had a blast doing slip & slide and hot tubbing! Since we were up north we had to see our good friends the Dudley's! We spent the night in their beautiful house in Logan. It is a historic home that has been decorated and fixed up beautifully! They are a full time family also and they rent their home. So if you are looking for a vacation rental in Logan, this is the place to stay! The adults took a walk around town and the next morning Dave made us a d-lish breakfast and then they showed us more of Logan. It really is a beautiful city! We got a super short visit in with Crystal & the girls & my parents. Then we had dinner & stayed the night at Steve's parents. It was nice to be able to spend some time with them and they spoiled the kids rotten....as always! We also went to the Sloan family reunion near Bryce Canyon.

Steve and Nick (Steve's bro) playing horse shoes

the kids played alot of fun games with their cousins

the kids get their hooping skills from their Grandma Sloan

Conner won his age groups hooping contest

Winston won his hooping age group

Lincoln won his age group, is their a pattern here?

Nick and Amber at the reunion

Lincoln and Winston with the Aunt and Uncle and Easton their cousin

the kids won a lot of bags of candy

I talked June & kiddos into hiking Timpanogus Cave with us. Yeah, I had forgotten just how hard that hike is! It's only 1.5 miles but it is SUPER steep! The cave is really cool and the hike down was nice. The kids did the JR Ranger program and added yet another pin to their collection!

the kids saying the JR. Ranger pledge

the fam atop Timp

inside Timp Cave

the view from Timp down into Utah valley

the kids and their cousins on Timp hike

June and her kids Curtis and Annabelle

UT Fun Stuff!

2009-07-24T07:43:00.000-07:00

These are some of the high lights and fun things we did in SLC & Provo. We visited the SLC Children's Museum twice. Once with our FOTR friends, Gayle & Eddy, and another time we took Mylie and Sage with us. It's a huge new children's museum and we get in free! We also visited the Clark Planetarium which is always fun, with Karen, Nate & Margaret. I took Lincoln & Isabelle to a play with Karen, Nate & Margaret too. I took the kids to the SLC library, which is our very favorite library! We spent a day with Grandmom Sloan exploring the BYU art museum, which was really really neat! Then we dropped by the small BYU dino museum, which even though it is small, it has some really cool stuff! We made it up to Park City with the kiddos to meet up with our new friend Jenny O. She showed us some really cool rocks & gems at Park City Jewelers and let the kids cut geodes. Then we rode the trolley up & down main street.

Winston and Abby

Conner and Isabelle at the Salt Lake Children Museum

Lincoln climbing at SLC Children museum

Bryce at children museum

Gayle and Abby at children museum

Winston and his cousin Mylie

The kids building things at the children museum

Conner and the bike he built at the children museum

Sage and Isabelle

Winston and Mylie acting a scene for us

The tribe with Grandma Sloan at the BYU art museum

The boys of course being eaten by all the dead Dino's

Conner meets so many new friends on the road

We were attacked by a surprise snow while in Provo

Isabelle and her Geode

Conner and his Geode

Lincoln with his Geode

and last, but not least Winston and his Geode

hanging out in Park City, Utah

Lincoln, Conner and Steve on the Trolley

Winston enjoying his soda on the Trolley

taking the trolley

the kids with Jenny O at the Park City Jewelers

Steve & I also had some kid free fun! We went to see Izabella & Brian Friedman with Tara & Billy. Then we saw Brett Dennon and Angus & Juila Stone with Tara & Chelsea. (Thanks again, Tara!) We couldn't get enough of Bryon Friedman so we went back to see him again with June & Matt! Then to top things off we celebrated Earth Day with Michael Franti & Spearhead! Good times!!!

Baby bus & Big bus

2009-07-09T00:38:00.000-07:00

Burnie and our newest family member Baby

Burnie masked up ready to paint

Burnie's backside masked up

Skot painting Burnie

new and improved Burnie

We decided we wanted a small car/van to tow so we can do day trips and Steve decided he needed a new project so we bought the Bove's old 78 VW camper. So now we have a baby bus and a big bus! Of course he had to get it running, which took a good wk between putting in a new clutch and getting the lights all working and putting in more seats. After alot of time , sweat & $$ we got our baby bus registered! Yes it passed safety & emissions....YEAH!
My brother, Scott, was super helpful with telling Steve how to do oil changes on both buses and helping Steve put a new clutch in the VW. And he painted Burnie!

THANK YOU SCOTTY!!!!

Winston turns 5!!!

2009-07-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WINSTON!!!!

We are so very blessed to have this sweet wild redhead in our lives! Winston celebrated his 5th b-day in Utah and usually we do something small as a family, but he had 2 parties! One at Chuckie Cheese with his cousins Mylie & Maddy and Uncle Scott & Aunt Crystal and his new friends Damek and Kyan & Grandmom & Papa Lovelace. Then another one at Aunt June & Uncle Matt's house with the Sloan crew. His cousin's Curtis, Annabelle, Easton, & Britti & baby Cadin were there along with Grandmom & Grandpa Sloan, Nick & Amber, Brian & his girlfriend (Rashel....I think?) So needless to say the kid got spoiled! Winston asked me the next day if he was gonna have another party! I think he thought turning 5 meant you get a party everyday! LOL! It was really special to get to celebrate with so much family!

Kids enjoying Winston's birthday breakfast

Winston with Uncle Brian

Winston with the man (I mean Mouse) Chuckee

who won a million tickets?

Winston with his friends Damek and Kyan

Mylie, Winston's cousin

Winston and more tickets

PARTY!!!!

more Utah friends & family

2009-06-07T10:21:00.000-07:00

Well since we were here, in Utah, for the funeral we figured we might as well drive up north to see some friends & family. We stayed a wk at Steve's sister, June's home. We love staying with June & Matt & their kiddos, Curtis & Annabelle! There is such a feeling of peace in their home. We can just kick back and enjoy our time together. Steve got a ton of sewing done. Which was good cause he had completely sold out of everything! June & I went on long walks took the kids to the park and just hung out.

Steve's Sister June and her fam

We then headed to SLC to see friends who just bought a skoolie and plan to hit the road. Check out their blog at http://followthatbus.net. While with them Steve put his sewing skills to work and sewed together a large tie dye banner for Desert Rocks. Desert Rocks puts on alot of concerts and events. We also had a booth at a Desert Rocks festival. We ended up staying with the Bove's for 4 wks! It's hard for us to stay that long in one place, but we had good times and I think Steve got a lot done on their bus with Billy. They get to learn from all our mistakes on our bus design, so their bus will be pimp when it is done!

Nick, Amber and Easton

the banner Steve sewed together

Tom and Bryce going for a ride

Winston and Conner in front of our booth

Winston and Mario

Lincoln and Mario

Isabelle making money (face painting)

Steve becoming a spin-master DJ

Annalee lighting toms fire-hoop

Tom fire-hooping

While in Slc we also had the opportunity to meet up with Dennis and Kimberly Goza from FOTR group. They travel the country putting on skits and plays check out their site. http://activated-storytellers.com

We did get to see my parents and my brother & sister and their families (except Jim who had to work). I had the chance to go on lots of long walks with Crystal, my sis-in-law and snuggle their new baby, Madie. My kids had lots of fun playing with Mylie and wish they had more time to play with Toby & Arielle!

baby Madie

Crystal with Mylie and Madie

Skot, Bryce's brother with his cute girls

Isabelle and Arielle

We got to see our good friends the Murray's from Park City. Isabelle & Margaret (and me & Karen) have been friends for 5 yrs....I think? Conner & Lincoln got to help celebrate Nate's b-day with a sleepover. This was Lincoln's 1st ever sleepover with a friend and he had a blast!! They both did.

I reconnected with an old friend who I've missed, Noelle. She is not only a good friend, but an amazing midwife! She helped us welcome Winston to our family 5 yrs ago and I was lucky enough to attend some other births with her. We had coffee one day and did brunch another day. Good times!

We also snuck in a way too short visit with Rachel & Sam as they were heading out of town. We got to meet their cute new baby Banks (not his real name, but what we call him)! They own a sweet custom bike shop and high end car dealership in downtown SLC on State St, called Skull Motors. Check it out if you get a chance http://skullmotors.com/Contact_Information.html!

We also had a nice few visits with Annalee and got to see her art finally. She makes amazing glass art! We were able to trade her a custom made bag by Steve for a beautiful piece for our bus! Annalee is one of those people that just brings a warm fuzzy feeling of peace to those around her.

We met some new friends, Julie & Lee, and their sweet kids Damek & Kyan. Winston instantly became best friends with Damek and asked to see him everyday! They invited our family over for homemade pizza and everyone had a great time (except me who stayed home sick...bummer) And Winston invited them to his little b-day party and had a blast! Sweet family! Check out their blogspot http://lerendzonderschool.blogspot.com. Also check out Julie's Etsy shop http://lensmatter.etsy.com she has great stuff. We hope to see more of our Utah friends soon!

Isabelle's new Etsy shop (Bella's Wonders)

2009-05-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

So Isabelle loves being an artist and entrepreneur. She has seen me put together my Etsy shop and create the many things that I do. She wants to sell her creations as well to others out there. So I have sat down with her and created her own Etsy shop. She wants to earn enough money for a new laptop computer and other things. Please check out her shop as we add more of her things and if you'd like go ahead and purchase something, I know she would be thrilled. http://bellboo.etsy.com. We will be adding more to her shop so keep checking back.

Organic tribe thredz Etsy store

2009-05-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

So here we are again, it's been a week or so since we have posted. We have been pretty busy. One of the things that we have done is created more product to sell on the road. For those that are new with us, I (Steve) sew a lot of things to sell to support our travels. I sew patchwork and panel skirts, hair ties, bags (small & large) and many other items as they are created in my mind. The coolest part about most of the things I sew is that the fabrics are from recycled clothing, drapes,bed spreads and anything else that may have fabric on it. Most of the power that is used to sew comes from our solar panels on the Skoolie. It's really cool to say that my creations are pretty much 100% recycled materials. Besides the things that I sew Bryce and Isabelle love to make jewelery. So tell all your friends and families about our Etsy store. I just added new stuff to it yesterday and there is much more coming in the future. If you decide to open an Etsy store tell them we sent you, I think we get some kind of points for it. Enjoy looking through the things we love to make and if you feel the urge go ahead and buy something while your there. We would appreciate it. Remember Christmas in July is right around the corner, don't be caught with out anything. Thank you for so many of our frinds and family who have supported our cause and bought items from us in the past. We hope to sell much more in the future. The website is http://organictribe.etsy.com Thanks

Funeral & Family

2009-05-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

We were in LA when we got the sad news that Steve's Grandmom died. The funeral was to be in Bryce Canyon Utah. We decided to all go and show our love & support for our family. We spent a night in Las Vegas on the way. We forgot how UN-kid friendly Vegas is till we got there. It was unusually cold & windy and the few things we thought we could do with the kids was closed...the pirate show, the tigers, the volcano, ect. We did get to see the fountains at the Bellagio, which sprayed us cause it was soooo windy, but always really neat to watch!

the kids in Vegas

Bryce remembering her favorite cartoon

the kids at the world famous FAO Schwarz toy store in Vegas

We got into Bryce Canyon the night before the funeral. It was a beautiful drive from Cedar City! There had been a big snow storm the night before and everything was white. We had never seen Bryce in the winter and it was beautiful! A big change in weather seeing as we have spent most of the winter in Mexico & sunny LA. It was really nice to see so much family! All of Steve's siblings made it to the funeral except Kathy & Heather (who were missed). It was sad to say goodbye to Grandmom, but a good time to bond & reconnect with family. There were cousins there that Steve had not seen in years, children we had never met and we had a really nice time meeting & catching up with family. Our kiddos had a great time playing with cousins & seeing Grandmom & Grandpa & all the Aunts & Uncles! We are really blessed with amazing family!

the snow levels in the mountain to Bryce Canyon was amazing

part of the drive up to Bryce Canyon

Red Rock Canyon, this is on our way up to Bryce Canyon

cousins carrying Grandma to rest

left to right - Steve's parents and Uncle and Aunt

Huntington Beach and Disney

2009-04-30T07:58:00.000-07:00

Bryce's sister and her family came out for spring break to go to Disneyland and see the beach. We met up with them for beach time at Huntington Beach and dinner at Disneyland. The kids love it when they get to hang with their cousins.

Bryce and her big sis Christi

Isabelle with her cousin Arielle

Conner, Lincoln and Winston playing in the sand

Toby (standing) Jim, Christi and Steve having lunch

the cousins having some great beach time together

the kids at The Rain Forest Cafe at Disneyland

the tribe at The Rain Forest Cafe

We're being told not to hang on the Lego wall (we are such rebels)

Bryce and Christi enjoying the night.....

LA FREE FUN!

2009-04-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

We next moved on to LA. We got to hang out with my super cool cousin, Ryan! He had us over to BBQ & swim one day. Our kids have decided Ryan has the coolest job ever! (He's in film) And they kept trying to get him to take them to work with him so they can watch new movies. He met up with us another day too at the LeBrea Tar Pits which was really interesting and FREE one day a month, which happened to be the day we were there. A must see if you are in LA! There is tar still bubbling up from the earth. not really what you expect in the middle of LA! Lots of really cool ice age fossils of huge sloths, dire wolves, mammoths and lots of others! There is an open excavation pit where you can watch them work too. We boondocked right across the street from the pits. Nothing like free camping in LA!

Bryce, Isabelle, Winston, Conner, Ryan and Lincoln

Steve, Isabelle, Winston, Conner, Lincoln and Ryan

The fam at the tar pits

Tar pits

Conner, Ryan, Lincoln, Isabelle, Steve and Winston

that's a BIG Bone-r

Conner, Isabelle and Winston

Ryan and Lincoln

Pit 91 is still pulling stuff out

Pit 91 (lots of tar)

Ryan, Bryce and Winston

Where we stayed for a few days in L.A.

Right next door, on the same block is the big LA Art Museum (can't remember the real full name??) It is free (donations) after 5pm. We only got to see 2 of the buildings, before our kids good behavior had expired. LOL! Steve took pictures of some Picasso's, umm yeah they yelled at him, cause no photography was allowed. Then we snuck and took some pictures of some Jackson Pollock's (he's a relative of Steve's).

Isabelle, Lincoln and Bryce in front of Picasso's art

Steve in front of Jackson Pollock's work

We also went to the Griffith Park Observatory. We parked down by the Greek Theater and watch a big coyote wonder around the parking lot. This is an amazing planetarium and it is FREE! We did pay to watch a laser show which was really cool. As it got dark we could see the whole city lit up. Great views! They also had some big telescopes out on the grass and we were able to see Saturn and it's rings.....very cool!

the Hollywood sign is across from the Observatory

Isabelle in front of the Observatory

L.A. view from the Observatory on the mountain

view of the Observatory on our hike up to it

Coyote near the parking lot at the Greek Theater.

Oceanside & Hollywood

2009-04-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

We are still trying to do catch up on our blog from the last 2 months. Sorry we've been slackers! Just playing too much to write. The end of Feb after the Families On The Road (FOTR) rally we got to hang with a few of the families for a few more days in Oceanside. The high lights for us were the beautiful beach with gold sparkles...amazing! Watching sea lions and hearing them "bark"! Sitting around the camp fire with good friends and fun jam sessions.

Lincoln

Burnie created in the sand

surfer

Dolphins swimming around the surfers

John from the Wild Tribe Fam cutting Winston's hair

Steve & John setting Winston up for a hair cut

Winston playing on the beach

Then we were off to Hollywood, where we met up with other friends. Hollywood....meaning the strip, was not what I was expecting. Crazy, wild, crowded and very touristy....maybe that IS what I should of expected?!? Great people watching and fun street shows! A ton of people are in costume and wanting you to take pictures of them and they expect you to tip them....pretty much they harass you. So if you ever go be prepare to avoid them or bring lots of 1$s.

Winston & Isabelle at Walt Disney's star

Winston is amazed by the bird on his arm

Harry Potter star's - hand prints

Isabelle putting the bird to sleep

Winston was pretty stoked on this Limo

Conner by Ozzy's star

Snoopy & Winston

Isabelle, Kelby & Winston near Darth and his Storm Trooper

Isabelle, Winston & Conner near Bumble-Bee the Transformer

Isabelle near Marilyn Monroe's hand and foot prints

Gayle, Conner, Winston, Isabelle & Bryce with the King

Joshua Tree, FOTR rally and sk8 parks

2009-04-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

So we are trying to catch up on our travels. We are running about 2 months behind. So the next few blogs will be our adventures from the last little while.

We spent a few nights in Joshua Tree National Park. It was a cool area, but a bit sad & stressful for us. Our beloved cat Smokey jumped ship and Burnie (our bus) broke down. We plan to head back someday to enjoy it more!

So thankfully it was beautiful in Joshua Tree and the stars were amazing....cause it was freakin COLD at night, yeah ice on the INSIDE of our windows...that cold! We had no internet or cell reception and we were broke down. Some way nice guy camped across from us and came to our rescue....Matt you are the BEST!!! Thanks again!

Lincoln finally pulled out this tooth that had been lose for a LONG time. Isn't he cute!

The kids really loved the boulders and had a blast hiking and climbing and finding hideouts.

Yeah my kids ROCK!!!

Do you see the face?

Ride the wave!

CRAZY..... LA traffic on the way to the FOTR rally!

We had so much fun at the CA Families On The Road rally! 14 families that travel full time. 40 something kids, art, hooping, making icecream, movies, drumming, guitars by the bonfire, playing on the beach, swimming, riding bikes, making great friends and amazing memories!!!

Exploring cool tide pools!

Icecream with friends on the beach....yummy!
DeMichaels, Sloans, & Bennets.......cool people!
More hot mamas and kiddos at the Rally!
Isabelle & the Dudley chics
How many men does it take to fix a skooile? I think we had 5 guys under there! Thanks again for helping us!!!!
Shredding it up at the SK8 park!

This is where Lincoln became "PRO"!!!

Sweet rigs!!!

Dentist, eye exams, & more Mexico we go....

2009-04-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

So we missed Mexico so much that we went back. We met up with Steve's Aunt and Uncle and their friends Donna and Doyle. We have heard about cheap dental and Optical. So we decided to go and try it out. We headed to Yuma area of Arizona to stay in the bus out side of the Mexico boarder. We boon docked for a few days and walked into Los Algodones to see the dentist and have our eyes examined. Over all the price was great for not having health insurance and it was great to get local fresh tacos. We were tired of the long lines we had to stand in to cross the boarder back into the States. One night crossing we stood in line for at least 2 1/2 hours. We had a great visit with Steve's Aunt and Uncle and their friends.

The line to cross over into the States

The kids at the park in LosAlgodones

Bryce and Conner enjoying their Paletas

Lincoln and Isabelle enjoying their paletas at the park

Doyle and Donna

Uncle Frank and Aunt Shaunna

The Yuma party

Steve and Aunt Shaunna

Conner find

Winston, Lincoln and Conner in their hiding place

Organ Pipe National Park

2009-03-16T23:21:00.000-07:00

After we left Mexico and interred back into the States, we stayed at Organ Pipe National Park in Arizona. It was a different kind of National Park with many verities of cactus and Desert plants.

There are a few hikes that the park offers. One of those hikes takes you to some of the old mines.

Enjoy the pictures.

Bryce, Isabelle, Conner, Winston and Lincoln

Winston, Bryce, Conner, Isabelle and Lincoln

Isabelle and Bryce

Isabelle

Conner and Lincoln

Lincoln found a jaw bone on our hike

at the mines

Raven hang'n on a cactus

Isabelle, Steve, Conner, Winston and Lincoln

Isabelle and Lincoln standing next to small cactus plant

Organic Tribe on a hike

Isabelle, Lincoln and Winston receiving their Jr. Ranger badges

Concha Del Mar

2009-03-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

While we were in Mexico we stayed in Puerto Penasco, Sonora. The RV park was called "Concha Del Mar". The great guy in charge of the Beach front park is Edgar Penuelas. Edger went out of his way to make our family and all the others we were with feel at home. If we needed local info. Edgar found it for us. If we needed something fixed he would fix it our shop around town for a good price for us. We are so grateful for everything he did for us and our friends. If any one ever wants to visit Puerto Penasco near Playa Bonita Resort, go see Edger for a great place to stay. There are no hook ups, but there is a place to pump out sewer from RV and water tap to fill RV.

The showers are new and very warm. Very nice bathrooms. The view was to die for. This trip to Mexico was wonderful. We made many new friends, and enjoyed the time shared with old friends.

If you are interested in going to Puerto Penasco and wanting a great place on the beach here is the info for "Concha Del Mar".

Concha Del Mar

Edgar Penuelas

Tel: (638) 103-1137

pedgar626@hotmail.com

conchadelmar2008@hotmail.com

Price is $10 a day

Leaving Mexico

We had to leave our Lemon and Orange Tree with Edgar

Isabelle, Bryce, Edgar, Conner, Steve, Lincoln and Winston

FOTR families staying at "Concha Del Mar" on our own private beach

FOTR rigs in Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point)

Simply Living

2009-02-16T10:42:00.000-08:00

I have been blog lazy for a few months letting Steve take over. And he has done an amazing job. I just have been thinking I should post some things out, some thoughts. We get questioned often about how we live and how we do without lots of things, why we live this way. Lots of questions. Well we feel strongly about experiences and little about things. I've always wanted to travel and love to explore. We are life learners. We love to see and do. To learn about things up close and personal. We could read about all the cool interesting places we go and teach our kids out of a textbook but why not let them experience it, live it. Some people like having the security of a stable house, job, life. Others live that way cause they are stuck in the rat race and want out, but are afraid to take the leap. This is YOUR life, what are YOUR dreams? As a good friend told me once, YOU need to make a decision and then make it happen.

So for us, living in an old school bus, cooking on a camp stove, hauling water, using a composting toilet, not owning a shower or bathtub, not owning a washer/ dryer, not having some of the basics (by some peoples standards) are OK with us. And sometimes they make life more fun. Not owning a shower/ pool means we get to go find local pools/ showers across the country and check out all kinds of pools, hot tubs, hot springs. Cooking on a camp stove means we keep our food simple and hauling water means we know how to conserve....big time! Using a composting/ sawdust toilet means our waste is not going into your drinking water....and conserving water again. Not owning a washer/ dryer means I only do laundry 2-3 times a month and get it all done in 2 hrs at the laundry mat, while I read a good book. We own much less clothes then most US families, and we recycle if it's not dirty. How can we live in such a small space, 40ftX7ft with 4 kids 2 big dogs and a cat? Well we really don't mind the small space, except the cat which often tries to jump ship. We have the world as our backyard! We are often found hiking, biking, swimming, exploring, so when we get a rainy day or we feel like staying home, we all just find our spot and relax, read, draw, make crafts, listen to dad play guitar, play games, ect. Hopefully this answers some of the questions about how we live and why we choose this lifestyle. We feel so very blessed to be living our dream!

Friends, Sun and good times

2009-01-31T15:27:00.000-08:00

Well we are still alive here in Mexico. You would think being in Mexico on the beach that we would have plenty of time to catch up on the blog. Here we are 2 weeks later after our last blog entry. We have done a lot of fun things since we have been here. Bryce and I have celebrated our birthdays, we have visited a place that has a whale skeleton and a shop made from tires and dirt called an Earth-ship building. We have walked the beaches and seen many of its living organisms. We have meet new friends, welcomed the LOUD family to our beach and had to say good by to the Dudley's. We are really enjoying our visit and invite all of you to visit here if you ever have the chance. You won't regret it. Enjoy the million pictures we have posted.

going to see the Earth-ship building

Joleen and Dave

the whale

the kids at the whale

Winston having neon ice cream

dolphin tale

breakfast on the beach

Steve working hard making skirts

Steve, Winston and Lincoln

Christian and Tina

Bryce and Steve at sunset

Dave and Joleen

Chef Dave cooking shrimp

Christian made steve homemade Key-lime pie (your the best Christian)

Auvi rockn the guitar

Steve playing a little something

Lincoln

Winston scored the biggest find that day

Lincoln found a cool Starfish

Steve and Bryce shopping for local produce

Steve and Bryce at the produce stand

Vern, Steve, Bryce and Kati

Christian, Joleen, Kati, Vern, Steve and Bryce at the markets

smores and fire

Winston

Bryce and Steve

punk-rock Winston

Organic Tribe and the LOUD family

Organic Tribe

the LOUD family

Bryce looking good in her new hat

traveling to the market

coloring in the park

we found see-saws (how fun!)

duck duck goose

we had 4 families from FOTR in Mexico together

old town Puerto Penasco

bird

one of the many style of homes in the city

more homes

Hugos was great local food

Organic Tribe and the LOUD family

Lincoln and his cool hat (it really keeps the sun off his face)

more homes in the area of the markets

Winston and his small hat

Conner and his new friend

the crab Lincoln found

loading up on new fresh water for the day

Mexico FOTR rally 09'

Dudley's leaving us

Zoe, Isabelle and Auvi

let's play!

Lincoln loves to find things

the military police drive around town with there big guns

We love Mexico!

2009-01-13T22:38:00.001-08:00

Sunday the Dudley's drove us around the town. We also went to visit Joleen's Grandmother, who has lived in the town for many years. She is a wonderful lady. We have really enjoyed our stay here in Mexico. We can't complain with the sun, ocean and the relaxation that together they bring. The kids have had a wonderful time playing at the beach all day long. In the mornings we like to get up and walk down to the beach while the tide is out and we study the ocean life that is exposed. It's fascinating the things you see when the tide is out and the things it uncovers. The dogs have loved running along the beach and chasing the birds in which they will never catch. The Sunsets are beautiful, but you have to see them in person to get their full effect.

Today we took some locals that live in tents on the beach some fresh Papaya fruit. They were very nice and gave us the scoop on some of the local places. They are all from various places in Mexico. They live on the beach and rent out chairs to tourist to sit on. Some of them also sell timeshares. They were very nice and did not push it to hard on us. We have on the other hand had more then we can handle of locals walking up and down the beach day after day trying to sell anything and everything to all of us visiting the area. They have tried selling lots of things to the kids as well. The US economy has really hurt the Mexican people. It was a real awakening Sunday driving around the real parts of town (not the beach area) and seeing how the locals live. Very simple, small shacks or houses no grass and lots of wild dogs roaming the streets. For the most part the streets are sand and dirt and are not paved. We feel like the bus we live in is more then most of these people will ever have. We are very blessed for what we have and the wonderful children we have. Enjoy the pictures from the last few days.

Dudley's truck

Jayden, Isabelle and Adriane

Conner and Winston

Conner, Winston and Lincoln

Humming bird at Joleen's Granmothers house

Burnie overlooking the beach

Conner and one of the many collected shells of the day

Overlooking the Sea of Cortez

Steve in the morning at low tide

Bryce walking the beach, enjoying the sun

Let's toast to family time

the tribe hanging out having chips, salsa and drinks looking out at the beach

Isabelle had her hair braided

our sweet little Winston

Organic Tribe as the sun goes down

Sunset

it doesn't get any better then this!

2009-01-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures from the National Park we went to Friday.

cool cactus plants in the park

Bryce in the park

Isabelle in front of a small plant

the tribe

Andre this is for you (sorry, but we don't ever want to see El Paso again)

Steve got rapped up with a cactus plant

Lincoln

Steve and the dogs

sweet little Winston

Burnie in the park

So we made it across the border. We didn't know what to expect, but it was there was not much to it. We drove across and the Mexican authorities waved us through. It was then about another 1 1/2 hour drive down and over to our destination. We are on the Sea of Cortez. It is an amazing site. The Dudley's drove us around some of the local town. It's so amazing to see how simple other counties live. We are camping on the beach around hi class resorts, but away from the beach is another world. The people here are doing terrible now that the United States is not doing well. We have added pictures of yesterday and today. Enjoy I know we and the Dudley's did.

The Dudley's crossing the border

the sunset crossing the border

the moon at sunset near the border

Winston, Conner and Justice Dudley heading for the border in Burnie

Isabelle

crossing the border

Dudley's crossing first

this was the RV park we stayed at the first night

this is the new RV park we are at (all to our selves)

Did I mention on the beach?

Steve and the dogs

the kids digging their hiding pits

Steve, Joleen and Dave Dudley

Conner on the beach

walking the beach

Mexico

2009-01-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

So we woke up in Tucsun, Arizona this morning to beautiful blue sky. You can feel the excitement in the air that we are close to leaving for Mexico. We are all so excited! We met up with another family on the road last night. They are the Dudley's. We are hoping to have a few other families come with us as well. The Dudley's have a grandmother who has lived in Mexico for many years so it will be nice to have a local we can turn to for all the great local stuff. We will be right by the beach during our stay there. We made it to a National Park yesterday in Tucsun, it was Saguaro National Park. Lots of Cacti and other desert plants and animals. It's always so peaceful when we are in National Parks, you can feel nature around you and not the busy every day happenings. We do not know what our internet options will be, but we do know we will not be using our cells often. We hope to have running email and updating the blog. If anyone wants we can bottle some sunshine and send it to you with love......

Fireworks, New Years and moving on....

2009-01-06T15:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas day we headed down to Easley, South Carolina to work at a fireworks stand for the New year. We worked a larger scale tent back in July in Boone NC. This stand was alot of work to get ready to sell to the public, but it was much easier then the July tent. Once again we had a front row viewing area of people watching. There are some really crazy people out there.

our Skoolie Burnie

All the product in boxes

Let's sell

Lincoln and Winston helping with sales

Isabelle and Lincoln having some fun

Coco and Shelter

Julie H. took Lincoln with her and her boys ice skating he loved hanging out with Clay and Reed.

Clay, Lincoln and Reed

Clay and Lincoln

When we went back to Asheville from doing fireworks we stayed with Julie H. and her kids again. Since we can't do fireworks while we are doing fireworks, we did some with Julie and her boys at her house.

Steve and Conner

Winston

Steve and Reed

Winston, Steve and Lincoln

the kids having fun

So this is what happens when dad is working on the bus geting it ready to travel. The kids thought they would have dress up time. Well Conner and Winston did just that, they put dresses on. How cute! The kids had fun dressing up and playing.

Conner and Winston

Winston

Conner

Bryce and Julie

The tree kids

Organic Tribe and the Houstons

One last picture (this ones for the kids)

So with all that has went on the last week since Christmas, we are heading South West to Mexico..... We are in route as this post has been made.

The Houston's and Christmas 08

2008-12-30T11:43:00.001-08:00

Since we have been back in Asheville (our home base) we have been so lucky to have found the best place in town to stay. Julie Houston and her two boys Clay and Reed let us park our 40' home in their driveway. They have shared everything with us, including communal meals, crafting sessions, late night TV video series watching, lots of Pokemon trading, skateboarding and flying around the yard on brooms. The kids created a clubhouse in her shed. We felt so blest to spend this Holiday season with Julie and her boys. Thanks again for everything Julie.

Clay, Julie and Reed

Julie and Bryce

Winston and Reed fighting like......well like starwars

I can't believe Darth Spider was in the same house as us (He was very polite)

Lincoln was so excited to go to karate with Clay

Clay and his many Pokemon

The kids making Christmas treats for others

More dipping

ok and some taste testing

Christmas Eve dinner (we went all out white trash style)

more dinner pics

Santa brought more Pokemon

Santa must have been a dentist when he was younger

Santa gifts

first Christmas in the Skoolie

Winston got more lego's

Isabelle and Conner opening presents

Lincoln loved the Spy stuff he recieved

Reed, Conner and Winston opening presents

Winston received a cool Starwars laptop Learning system

The kids eating breakfast and checking out their new gifts

here's to you Julie.... Thanks

Asheville Pizza and Brew night out

2008-12-27T15:34:00.000-08:00

Asheville Pizza and Brew had free movie night. Bryce and our friend Julie H. who has been so awesome to let us park at her house for the last few weeks picked up free tickets. It is such a fun place to go and hang out with friends and family. It's an older movie theater that you can order pizza, food and drinks and then lounge in the full size theater and eat while watching the movie. The movies are cheap when you actually have to buy them. We watched the old funny version of Scrooge with Bill Murray. The kids had a blast with their friends and food. Bryce and I had a great time hanging out with Julie H. and our other friends Todd and T. The sad part of the night was when Julie's son Reed got sick and she had to leave early and go home with him. We'll have to try it again sometime.

Conner and his best friend Quinn

T, Todd, Isabelle, Bryce, Clay, Lincoln, Conner,Quinn and Winston

the kids in front of the funny mirrors

Isabelle dressed up for the movies

Back row: Julie H., Steve, Todd, T

Lower: Quinn, Conner, Isabelle, Winston, Clay, Lincoln and Reed

Winston ready to party!

Clay (Lincoln's best friend), Lincoln

Gingerbread houses at The Grove Park Inn

2008-12-24T05:24:00.000-08:00

Last week we met up with some friends from the Asheville Unschooling group and went to The Grove Park Inn in Asheville to see their yearly Gingerbread contest. This was our third year going, so I guess you could call it a yearly tradition for us to do. Isabelle did a house with some girls from church two years ago and one a ribbon and last year all the kids had helped build one with other homeschoolers. We love visiting The Grove Park Inn it's very beautiful. The views are amazing of downtown Asheville from the top level of the inn.

The Grove Park Inn

Model of the inn

Amazing houses

more houses

Conner and Winston

Conner and best friend Quinn

Organic Tribe at the inn

The kids checking out the water falls

downtown Asheville

downtown

Made with gingerbread and icing

Back side of the inn

Beautiful gingerbread skills

More great houses

Quinn checking out the houses

The kids love to pick out their favorites

arn't they so cute!

Asheville Co-op Christmas party

2008-12-23T12:24:00.000-08:00

We had a fun time with Asheville homeschool co-op. We got together and set up tables with crafts for all the kids to work on. After making crafts we all had a pot-luck lunch. The kids made some pretty cool crafts and Bryce had her own table set up for the kids to make bead candie canes and bead Christmas reefs.

Bryce helping the kids at her craft table

Winston made his own wrapping paper

Isabelle made a beautiful piece to hang in the bus

Winston made stuff to hang

Winston and Lincoln made wool sheep and wizards

Lincoln making his sheep

Isabelle making a sheep

Winston making a candie cane

Bryce helping the kids

And where is Conner you may ask your self? Well he was off playing Game boy with his best friend. Isn't that what Christmas is all about? (video games)

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-16T05:48:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was great. We spent the day at Bryce's cousins house with family in the area. The kids played, the adults watched football and ate. Thanks for the great times Bahnson and Joyce. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Lincoln, Isabelle, Negy, Winston and Conner

Magen and friend

Kathy, Ann and Paul

Paul, Joyce and Bahnson

Randy being taken over by the kids

Lincoln and Sarah

cute little Erin

Nancy

Negy, Conner and Joyce

Bahnson and Negy

Aunt Nacy and Lincoln

Bahnson and Joyce

Let's eat!

Lincoln, Isabelle, Winston and Conner

North Carolina and Twilight

2008-12-16T05:37:00.000-08:00

We made it back into North Carolina. We made it just in time for Bryce to suprise Isabelle with tickets to the opening night of the movie "Twilight". Isabelle has read the books and is such a huge fan. Bryce of course is a huge fan of Edward (is there a female around that isn't in love with Edward?) It was such a change from warm humid days in Austin to very bitter humid cold in Asheville. We miss the warmth that we complained about a few weeks earlier. Is there really a place that exist that has perfect weather all year long?

Welcome to North Carolina!

Twilight

Isabelle got all dressed up for the movie premiere

"Isabelle" the Twilight nut

Tennessee "The Oringderff family"

2008-12-11T08:51:00.000-08:00

After going through Nashville and taking the kids to the zoo, we headed on to East Tennessee to see our friends the Oringderff's. We met this awesome family at the coolest music festival called "LEAF" in North Carolina. Conner had met their daughter and hit it off. We stayed with them for a few days when we had left North Carolina a few months ago. We for sure had to see them on our way through Tennessee again. We think we have them convinced to buy their own bus and convert it and travel. Rob and Darla and family thanks for the visit and the front yard to park the bus on. Hanging out playing guitars and watching Kelty play her violin was so relaxing and fun.

Organic Tribe and the Oringderff's

Connor, Lincoln and Winston

Kelty playing her violin

Kelty

Winston with the chickens

Isabelle loves the animals

Winston and Isabelle collected eggs

Isabelle feeding the chickens oats

Kelty and Conner

Kelty and Conner creating a swing set

Isabelle and Conner trying out the swing

all the kids trying to lift Kelty

Nashville Zoo

2008-12-11T08:39:00.000-08:00

After leaving Arkansas, we went through Tennessee. We decided at the last second going through Nashville that we would take the kids to the zoo. It was fun and relaxing. Enjoy the pictures.

Hot Springs, Arkansas

2008-12-11T06:43:00.000-08:00

So a few weeks ago on our travels towards Asheville we went through the state of Arkansas. We had seen on our map that there was a National Park in the state called Hot Springs. We did not know anything about the place. We thought it was a lot of hot springs and so they called the area Hot Springs. Well now we know that there is a town in Arkansas that is a National Park. We did not know there are actual towns that are named as National Parks. To us a National Park was Yellowstone or Mnt. Rushmore, not a whole town. So we visited the bath houses and walked the town and it's parks. It was really cool learning about the springs in the area. It was pretty cool along the streets in designated areas there would be fresh spring water fill up stations. This is no ordinary fresh spring water, this water is hot fresh spring water. The kids couldn't resist and had to make hot chocolate. They said it was the best hot chocolate they had ever had.

Home of Pres. Clinton

Bryce and the kids

Parked at the visiter center

fill station

some building in town

warmth from undergound springs

Winston climbing

covered springs

park in town

another warm vent underground

Conner chill'n

Steve and kids by hot spring pool

under ground spring incased in basement of Bath house

Steve and Isabelle next to elevator system in basement

room where men hung out with out the ladies

Check out the Sloan bottle (SWEET!)

Steve made it into the womens changing room

beautiful windows in the bath houses

Lincoln, Conner and Winston

inside bath house

Isabelle in one of the showers

room in bath house

People would sat in these boxes with their heads sticking out to steam

Conner relaxing in a smaller bath tub (not #2ing)

Conner in a large tub (still no #2ing)

another shower

old fountains in the bathing rooms

beautiful glass work on ceiling

Isabelle

Winston running around a spring fountain

Conner and Lincoln at fountain

walking the town

bath house row

tribute to people well known from Arkansas (We only cared about Johnny)

Organic Tribe Family

The kids earned another Jr. Ranger badge

The LOUD family

2008-12-05T11:30:00.000-08:00

So we were so blessed to meet up with the LOUD family finally. Hearing Bryce and Kati on the phone together on a daily basis you would think they've been friends for years. That isn't the case, we feel like we have known their family for ever, but we actually just met them in person last weekend. They are working a Christmas tree lot in South Carolina. We took the bus down to Bryce's cousin’s house so that her cousin could help us install our huge RV propane tank. Friday we celebrated Lincoln's birthday with pizza for dinner and then we decided to head down to see the LOUD family. Little did we know that it would be around 10pm when we got there. We visited with them late into the morning. We then drove back to Bryce's cousin’s house and Saturday we installed the tank (pain in the butt!). It rained all weekend and was very bone chilling. Sunday we hung out for a little while with her cousin and his family, and then we thought we would go and see the LOUD family one last time before we headed back up to Asheville and they head out West. We were going to surprise them, but we were surprised instead. We came upon an accident on the freeway and had to slow down and merge into one lane. The Highway patrol stopped us for a moment so that the tow truck could backup to one of the smashed cars. Then he waved us on, when we went to drive forward there was no gas and no acceleration. We did cruise up the road out of every ones way at about a mile an hour. We had no clue what was happening? I thought it was because I had cursed a lot of idiot drivers butting in front of the merging lane. While we tried figuring out what was wrong, Bryce gets a phone call from Kati (LOUD fam. mom). She wanted to know if we were alright from the accident. She had driven past us and seen that our bus was pulled over with all the other smashed cars. She turned around and came and picked up the kids and took them back to her place where it was a whole lot warmer. Bryce and I stayed with the bus and waited 6 1/2 hours for good old Good Sam’s to find us a wrecker to tow us to a shop. I have a big feeling we are done using Good Sam’s. It shouldn't have taken that long! So any ways the nice man that came out to help us got the bus working again and drove the rest of the way to where the LOUD family was staying. I need to find his card and post his companies info. He really was handy and a big help. So we were reunited with our kids and the LOUD family. While we were stranded at the bus, the LOUD family’s daughters Auvi and Zoe took Isabelle to Kohl’s to do make-up on each other and then went to get a bite to eat. Isabelle had the best time with them. We hung out all night until early into the morning again chatting about life. Thank you LOUD family for rescuing our children and thank you for becoming great friends that we will always cherish.

LOUD family hang'n in our bus

Zoe and Isabelle

Conner and Connor

Kati, Bryce and Auvi

Vern, Auvi and Steve

The boys fight club

Vern enjoying a warm meal (Cold outside)!

Lincoln's BIG 7

2008-12-03T07:20:00.001-08:00

We celebrated Lincoln's 7th birthday. Wow it's amazing to watch them grow up so fast. We had a wonderful day with him. Happy birthday buddy! We love you, your getting so BIG!

The Bus

2008-12-02T13:43:00.000-08:00

We have been asked by many to see the transformation of the bus. Here you go...

This is our new home the change from school bus to skoolie bus....We loved being able to create our own living space. We have much more to add, but there is plenty of time. We tried to recycle as much as we could with building the living space. We have recycled oak flooring, many pieces of furniture from Habitat, re-used appliances from our old house or from old parted out RV's, the wall paneling was end scraps from a local man and other things that we are able to recycle we do. Enjoy the pictures, we worked hard on what is done and we love what we got out of it.

This is looking from the bunk area towards the kitchen/living room

Looking from front windows towards living/kitchen areas

This is our Pimp Master bedroom looking towards the back window

Master looking towards the door

This is the kids bunk area

Framing of the kids bunks

Starting to add paneling to walls

Look at that sweet composting toilet!

Master and bunk area stick framed

Recycled solid oak T&G flooring

Composting toilets being created by Bryce

We free formed the couch's

The first stage of the first couch

These few seats were a pain to cut out!

Starting stage of Master bed frame

Master bed frame under storage area

Small dresser/TV stand in Master bedroom

Hang up closet and dresser in Master bedroom

Installing converter and Inverter boxes in Master bedroom

This is Burnie before white primer

Burnie side profile

Burnie after primed

Burnie's good side after primed

Taking out the back heaters (what a mess)

Cleaned out except for the floor heaters

Insullation added to the floor

Layer of plywood and then starting of the oak floor

12

2008-11-24T06:25:00.000-08:00

So today we are feeling quite old. Isabelle turns 12 today. She has become a beautiful little lady. It seems like just yesterday we were back at McChord Airforce base in Tacoma, oowing and awing over our new pride and joy. Here we are 12 years later! She is such a big help for us and a wonderful big sister to her little brothers. She is still mad at us for not having a sister for her, but we're not sure if sometimes (mood swings) that would be healthy for those of us that live with her. We love her and wish her a very, very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Texas - o - Texas

2008-11-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

Nov 13 we headed north to visit our FOTR friends the Watkins near Fort Worth. They were staying with Vicky’s parents for a bit. The Watkins have a bus and her parents have one too (so you know they are cool!). Neither of their buses were at her parents so there was plenty of parking. They have a trampoline & swing set, which the kids loved. They have 2 little chickens and the cutest chicken coop! They also just found this pretty bird (can’t remember what kind??) but it is sooo funny. It only likes Vicky’s dad, everyone else it bites. They have a private fenced area where our dogs could run around. The kids had a great time playing with their kids. Vicky’s mom cooked for us…yummy! And we all enjoyed hot showers and I did laundry….till I killed the dryer….yikes! I feel really bad about that! They are such a nice welcoming family, we really got the royal treatment!

Organic Tribe in front of our bus

Jewels, Vicki and Joey

Lincoln and Jewel

Victor and his bird

The Chickens

Conner and Jake

Winston rockn

We took the kids to the Mint, where they make cash (or notes as they called it) on Friday.

Fort Worth Engraving and Printing

Entrance at Engraving and Printing

Entrance of Engraving and Printing

Saturday was cold so we mostly stayed inside and just enjoyed chatting. That night we took Isabelle to the Twilight pre-movie party at Borders, which was pretty lame-o. But we did enjoy hanging out at the bookstore checking out lots of books and listening to some good music. This guy was playing and was really good…kind of sounded like the Decemberist. Conner stayed and slept over at the Watkins. He had a great time with their boys! We stayed at a Lowe’s that night so we would be close to town. Sunday morning we headed over to the Stockyard. There is a little western town with brick streets and guys on horses and longhorn cattle that go right down the middle of the street. Winston even got to sit on a longhorn! We watched some cowboy mounted balloon shooting, and checked out lots of little western shops. Sunday afternoon we went back to the Watkins…as if they hadn’t had enough of us. Monday we hit the road again. Thanks Vicky & Joey for everything!!!

The kids at the Stock Yards

Winston, Isabelle and Lincoln

Bryce and the best cookbook ever that we found

Watching the longhorns going down the town

Winston and Isabelle with Jake the Longhorn

Steve and kids

Isabelle, Winston and Steve

Steve and kids

Lincoln and Winston

Bryce and Isabelle

Bryce and kids at Stock Yards

Isabelle got a Twilight bookmark at Borders pre-party

Austin Rocks!

2008-11-17T18:47:00.000-08:00

We rolled into Austin on Halloween and our friends the Xtreme Family invited us over for dinner and trick or treating. This was our first time meeting the Extreme family in person. They used to be a FOTR and have a SWEET bus that they converted. What a nice family! Cindy is an AMAZING hostess & cook!! She even made marshmallows in the shape of bones. She had her place all decked out with great Halloween decorations too. Their kids are teens, but were so nice and easy going with our younger ones checking out all their cool stuff/ toys. We met the Weed family that night too. They have 3 boys close in age to our boys so the kids had a great time playing and trick or treating!

We took the Dillo (city bus) to the Extreme Fams house

Trick or Treating

Lincoln and Bryce at the Halloween party

Steve watching this lady play her propain tank drum (sounds real peaceful)

Winston, I mean Batman OOPS!

To much candy does this......

We spent the following 2wks in Austin. We found a cool park right down town to boondock at. We could walk all over downtown. We really like Austin! It's a big city, but doesn't feel like it. They have a beautiful lake and a great walking/ bike trail that goes around it. It seems to be a very green & healthy city. Lots of people out running, walking, biking and kayaking! We loved watching the turtles. Our dogs were thrilled about the HUGE off leash dog park and enjoyed swimming in the lake too! We went swimming at Barton Springs and visited the Nature Center. The kids LOVED the Children's Museum and we enjoyed the YMCA! We played at the playground on the roof of the huge Whole Foods, had free Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and free nachos at Chuy's for happy hr! Steve saw Lance Armstrong at Chuy's one of the nights we were there. We checked out SOCO's 1st Thursday and got to hang out with the Barenaked Family. Isabelle really had a great time with Sunny & hopes to meet up again!

Asher and Winston

Winston and Asher

Isabelle and the Acorn she found

Turtle

Steve and the dogs on Tara and Kevins pimp ride!

Austin Childrens museum

The amount of birds in the city was crazy

Views of Austin

Walking bridge in Austin

Walking to Whole Foods (Their headquarters)

Beautiful Austin at dusk

Lincoln rockn at the childrens museum

Lincoln at CM

Little Jack Black Winston (Rock on)

Lincoln and Winston at CM

Lincoln and Isabelle making things at CM

Bryce and Conner creating project at CM

Lincoln and Winston at CM

Bryce excited about her creation at CM

Isabelle creating art at CM

Walking to downtown Austin

Gamebay time in the bus

Downtown Austin

Swimming with the Weed family at Barton Springs

Downtown Austin

Entrance at Nature Center

Isabelle and Sunny at NC

Conner and Brennon at NC

Sloan and Weed boys

Kids digging at the Dino dig at NC

Isabelle and Sunny uncovering Dino bones at NC

Conner uncovering bones at NC

Dogs swimming in the Lake

Coco decided he wanted to climb the tree with Conner

Boondocked at the Baseball fields in Austin

Sloan and Weed Fams

We did most of the above with the Weed family....we just couldn't get enough of them! They drove us down 6th St and around town in their HUGE truck. Steve & I sat on the back with our dogs...it was crazy fun! We had lots of movie nights at their place, fun at the play ground, a couple date nights, and more! I really enjoyed hanging with Tara and the kids really hit it off! Even their baby Asher started calling me mom...LOL! We will miss them & look forward to crossing paths again!

Organic Tribe

1992 Thomas School Bus/RV/Skoolie for sale

Check out our products

Washington we LOVE you!!!

Update

Real Jobs.....kinda!

UT Fun Stuff!

Baby bus & Big bus

Winston turns 5!!!

more Utah friends & family

Isabelle's new Etsy shop (Bella's Wonders)

Organic tribe thredz Etsy store

Funeral & Family

Huntington Beach and Disney

LA FREE FUN!

Oceanside & Hollywood

Joshua Tree, FOTR rally and sk8 parks

Dentist, eye exams, & more Mexico we go....

Organ Pipe National Park

Concha Del Mar

Simply Living

Friends, Sun and good times

We love Mexico!

Mexico

Fireworks, New Years and moving on....

The Houston's and Christmas 08

Asheville Pizza and Brew night out

Gingerbread houses at The Grove Park Inn

Asheville Co-op Christmas party

Thanksgiving 2008

North Carolina and Twilight

Tennessee "The Oringderff family"

Nashville Zoo

Hot Springs, Arkansas

The LOUD family

Lincoln's BIG *7*

The Bus

*12*

Texas - o - Texas

Austin Rocks!

Lincoln's BIG 7

12