Moving Forward

Two steps back, is a simplistic way to describe our life after the tragic loss of our friend Joe. I have been dealing with  the harsh reality that it's game over for our friendship. I don't ascribe to the notion of a miserable afterlife, so my only suffering comes from the loss of my friendship, and knowing that his son Drakin will grow up not knowing his father. I come close to tears reminiscing of our many good times together. I can't even bring myself to drink our favorite mixed drink, spiced rum and coke.

We are in Mesa, AZ staying with the Lamas, a close friend that has offered his home for our family of five. He is training me in the art of sales, I have been learning how to sell home security systems. The potential money is really good, with flexible hours and I can come and go as I please. Meaning that I can leave for Central America and have a job back the day I come back. The work is not hard physically but it is emotionally draining. We have pushed back our trip for a few months, to give me more time to learn my new vocation.

This life and circumstance has been hard on each of us, taking its toll on us in different ways. The kids have been acting up to get more attention, the Hazel is teething (crying all the time it seems), Miranda and I are struggling to keep personal time during this hectic time. It's truly a trying time for us. On a positive note we have visited family and friends on this leg of our trip. We miss them all.

We lost our Cannon XTI camera in Las Vegas, we set two bags down and loaded the kids, but forgot to put them in the van. Sad day that was. So no more pictures until I can replace it. On a side note, the two bags where found sans camera, but our kids baby blankets where recovered. The van is making a funny noise too. We need to have some one look at it as soon as we can afford it.

Things are starting to go our way, I have made a couple of deals that will bring in some much needed money. I'm also getting more comfortable selling alarms. -Jason

Tragedy in Bellingham

We were happily playing at a park in sunny San Luis Obispo, California, taking a week jaunt down south from Sacramento for the holiday weekend, and to see some friends in family in the Bay area when we got the most horrific phone call. One of Jason's best friends had been killed in a motorcycle accident in Bellingham. We immediately packed up the kids and hit the road heading towards a long journey home...1100 miles in two day... We are right back where we started. Big Sigh....

 Joe Woodell was a brother to my husband, and an Uncle to my children. As tragic as the circumstance are, I take comfort in the fact that he did die doing something he loved.

I started this entry about three weeks ago. We are still in Bellingham, getting ready to pack up again. We've been shown amazing hospitality from our friends here. Giving us a place to just "be" in this time of hardship. We had two beautiful memorials for Joe, one with just family where we spread his ashes atop Mt.Baker, and one the following day for everyone. Since then Jason has been helping the family pack and deal with Joe's belongings.

Thank you to all of our friends and family (thank you Dad and Gretchen! and the Quesadas!!) who have helped us get back up to Washington, as well as prepare to go back to Sacramento. We really really couldn't have done it without your support.

Twighlightville aka Forks, WA

We're leaving the Washington State peninsula, Jason is driving, I have the netbook in my lap, feet up on the dash...(anyone who knows me, knows whenever I am in the passenger seat of a vehicle, I have my feet up on the dash, not so safe I know, but very comfortable) the kids are happily sitting in their car seats. I can hear Hazel cooing away as I am sure she is gnawing on one of her toys...Evan and Faelynn are snacking on blue corn tortilla chips, each with a stack of books on either side of them. They're prepared for a long drive. We're ready for new ground, wanting to see something new, tiring of gray cloudy skies and rain. Today we are going to see how far we can make it in efforts to reach warmer weather.

I realized I get a bit bored camping with just my family, I am trying to adjust to life without my normal distractions, but some new blood to chat with also sounds nice.. we didn't encounter any social camping neighbors though.. In preparation to camp out here, we stopped at the Forks Thriftway, scoured the aisles not only for food that would work well with camping with no refrigeration, but things that fall into our many dietary guidelines. Spoiled by the wide variety of organic options in Bellingham, we did find a few our favorites in Forks. While shopping though, we started to see just how much the town has been impacted by the Twilight books series, even in their grocery store, there was a sizable corner devoted to Twilight souvenirs, from posters and hoodies, to shot glasses and keychains.

As we made our way through town, heading to the campground, we saw a row of stores in their tiny downtown devoted solely to Twilight: Dazzled by Twilight, Twilight Tours, and Twilight Lounge. Jason and I wondered how the locals felt about this tourism being thrust upon them. If they welcomed their town and community being spotlighted unbeknownst to them by Stephanie Meyer.

We asked a local about a good beach to play on, and headed to Rialto Beach, just across the Quillayute River from the famous rocky La Push. The whole drive up the peninsula we had been promising Faelynn we would get to play on the beach. But then we decided to slow down, find a campsite, hang out, and we'd go play in the morning. At Mora Campground we scrutinized the many spots to find the perfect one, we needed a spot that was hammock friendly, had a good amount of space for the kids to play, and was level to park the van on.. we finally found the perfect spots and paid our twelve dollars for it. We all had a blast playing in out double hammock for the first time, enjoyed a great dinner of bean tacos, and had a very restful nights sleep.

Rain, it rained all night long, and was raining when we woke, not ideal beach play weather. Sorry Faelynn, we headed out to La Push to see what kind of impact the Twilight series had on the reservation. As we drove we saw a sign saying “No vampires beyond here- Treaty Line” We stopped to take some geeky pictures for some of our diehard friends. Jason ran in and got some amazing local smoked salmon, and found out it really was the real reservation line too, I thought that was pretty neat. La Push is gorgeous, we passed the resort we later found out that Stephanie Meyer had stayed in while writing the series. We talked to the woman who owned “Jacob's Java” and discovered her parents lived in the house that the Black's house in the book was inspired from. She told us a funny story

After the first book was written people started stopping to take pictures of the house.. at first her mom thought it was because she had just put up new flower pots, and her dad thought it was because people were stopping to admire the new deck he built.. then someone clued them in! And she built Jacob's Java!

At the same frame in time, people were starting to make their pilgrimage to Forks, says the girl that works at what was formally a flower shop. They were disappointed there wasn't any souvenirs for Twilight loving folk like themselves, so the people of Forks started giving them what they asked for! In summary the tourism, even though many locals have reported some real crazies, is very welcomed by the town of Forks, and it really is as gray as the books say! -Miranda

Day 1 on the Peninsula

I'm sitting facing our crackling campfire, its 8pm, the concrete picnic table is cold to sit on, but it's warm enough outside. The few bugs that are around are held at bay by the smoke. We found a good deal on fire wood on the way here, $3.50 per bundle compared to $5 in town. The old man who sold it to us seemed to be earning extra retirement money, selling it from his property that conveniently was up the road from our campsite. Miranda is putting the kids to bed or hammock to be more specific. Its tranquil here. A few are birds singing. The quite is only disturbed occasionally by the sounds of other campers.

Miranda just knocked on the van's glass to get my attention, our youngest, Hazel is not wanting to go to bed and is keeping her brother and sister up. She now sits on my lap as I write this blog entry. Our campsite is large and has a good location, close to the bathrooms but well shrouded by under brush and trees, loads of ferns and tall evergreen trees. We set up our 2 person hammock, which as you could guess turned into a 5 person hammock. The Eddy family hung-out for about an hour, singing songs and cuddling. It was nice to relax, and recline comfortably. Evan would get in-and-out often, he would spot a crow eating our food, he would hop out, run and wave a stick at them to get them to fly away. This was entertaining until my arm became sore from picking him up to put him back in the hammock.

Our campground is located 30 mins from the, now, famous Forks. Twilight has put them on the map and they are working it, shops abound that have used the words Twilight or vampire in the name of their business. The Twilight Bar is one I remember off hand. We stopped in Forks to get grocery’s, and coffee. The coffee sucked, barely warm and commercial beans I'm sure. The town folk seem like normal country folk, but I haven’t talked to any yet,other then the clerk who sold us our grocery’s. Tomorrow we plan on spending time there after we hang out at the beach, taking photos of all the Twilight cheese-mo, this will be done on the behalf of Teresa (Miranda's friend back east) and my cousin Amanda, they're Twilight nuts. Both of whom wanted very badly to take a trip to Forks, but it didn't work out for either of them.

While we are in town I will be asking locals for any cool things to do, or places to go, the type of stuff only the locals would know about. Hopefully some good coffee will be found.  

1050 Miles

We have traveled 1050 miles so far, been to Canada to see Miranda's friends, and now we are wrapping up the Washington family tour. It has been really nice seeing every one, like a mini oasis on our trip. Hospitality of our family was much appreciated, thank you all. The use of the tub and showers was a particular treat for me, LOVED the full size tub! Pampered much? As much as I enjoyed the company and comfort of our family, it will be nice to be on “our” own, in the lifestyle we are going for. The off and on, is hard to keep a routine for us. The kids get grumpy when their sleep schedule is changed up day by day, or they don't want to go because of where we are or whom we are visiting. We are excited to be going to the Olympic Peninsula after this stop (Spanaway), free camping, ocean shores and hopefully hot springs. Please, please mother nature allow us a pest free experience with a reasonable amount of rain.

Emotionally I'm having ups and downs, getting used to being around my family all day every day is an adjustment for me. I enjoy the time with my family, but I was used to more alone time. I'm getting used to the new life style, but it's hard on my relationship, I have been a bit grumpier then I would like to admit. Sorry honey, I'm working on it.

I haven’t been taking the time to do the activities that I brought with me, like reading and meditating. I need to make the time, even if it's only for a short time each day. My goal is to slowdown from here on out, taking it slow should allow us to do more during the day. My brother & sister-in-law renewed my interest in alternative education. Crystal has a kick butt blog Constellation Contemplation. If you check it out read and watch the post about water, mind blowing. It changed my views. Water is amazing, powerful and sensitive, and more complex then I ever imagined, watch the video.

The kids are having loads of fun, they are enjoying all the attention we are giving them. They get to play at the park 2-3 times a day. They love it and we like that they are worn out at the end of the day. Faelynn makes friends quickly at the park and plays with the new kids as if they were old friends. Evan tends to play by himself more then joining in the group play. It's good for him to have time to solo play, because he usually just follows Faelynn around doing whatever she's doing.  -Jason

Track Our Journey On The Map

The link on the right side of the blog is now being updated. You will find a maps and stopping points that are click-able, if you click the stop point you may find a description of our experience and have access to our photos. This is the link you are
 looking for---> track our journey on the map -Jason

Down Sizing: AKA The Yard Sale

Two days of beautiful weather allowed our yard sale to happen. We sold lots of our stuff, and gave a lot away. It feels great knowing that the next step was just taken. We needed to down size. This was what was mostly left, I called a charity to come pick up the rest, hopefully they will be here today. I would prefer not to have to bring it inside! We kept some stuff to sell on ebay. -Jason

Curt Hitch and Rola Cargo Carrier

It took two of us (thanks Joe) to install this hitch. We had to cut the bumper and bend it a bit to do it. But voila, it's on. I had to borrow a grinder from a friend (thanks Kevin), to get it done. It doesn't look like much installed but as you can see from both pictures there is a lot more under the van. As we where getting the last bolt tightened it started to pour down rain. Woot, we rushed to throw the tools in the van and run inside. We needed this hitch to be able to use a cargo carrier. Click on picture of license plate to see the hitch better.

 It does a lot of nifty things as you can see. We are going to use it to store our sun oven and other items, that we will need mostly when we are outside the van, like fuel for a small stove (in case we want to fry). We are buying the cargo carrier from a really nice gentlemen in Carlsbad, CA. He is giving us a great deal on it and delivering it to us in Sacramento in late July. He and his wife are going to Washington this summer and on their way up to WA we will meet up. Thank you Terry. -Jason

Safe & Secure

We needed a place to lock up our valuables, passports, important papers, netbook, ect., I thought at first of a safe, but they were expensive, heavy and small. then I stumbled onto the idea of a truck tool box, they are meant to store expensive tools out in the open. I figure I could also use it to extend the length of our bed. It locks and I am planning to bolt it to the floor. It was relativity inexpensive, especially if you consider the high cost of a safe. I'm happy with the fit and function of the box. -Jason

Last But Not Least: Hazel's Passport

We sent off for Hazel's passport today. We had to run around town to collect everything to apply for the passport, on the birth certificate I found a mistake the midwives made, they spelled Miranda's maiden name wrong (Kanarr, forgot a "r"). We will have to send in a correction form to Olympia. Luckily the postmaster allowed us to apply for the passport with the misspelling.We also had to get her picture taken, she rocked the photo shoot, got it on the first take. The postmaster mentioned how good the picture was, much better then most baby shots she has seen. $112.00 later and its done. -Jason

The Case of The Slashed Tires

Our neighborhood was the seen of a crime spree about a month ago (I didn't want to think about it until now), 5 blocks of slashed tires. We lost 3 tires our selves, 2 on our conversion van and 1 on my motorcycle. It was a Sunday morning when I went out to load the van to go Seattle, my neighbor thought I got a ticket because a police officer stopped at our van and put something on it. It was our case number, because the van had 2 slashed tires on it. I looked up and down the block and saw others looking at their slashed tires too. 6 blocks in all was hit, thousands of dollars in damage, $350 in our tires. On the bright side though our van had 3 old tires and one brand new one before the incident, thankfully they didn't slash the new one. So now our van has three brand new tires. We are leaving soon so new tires will be a benefit. -Jason

I Think....

We're leaving early!! Well, I don't think you can truly be "early" for anything in life, but the possibility for us to leave Bellingham earlier than we originally anticipated has opened for us! SO EXCITING!!!

We have a LOT to take care of in regards to wrapping up our apartment, and as soon as we do, we are gone.. My estimate is mid May.. -Miranda

Hazel Elizabeth: AKA "The Baby"

One more item (or person) to check off the list! Now in a few weeks we need to get Hazel a birth certificate and apply for her passport. This was a big step closer to the jump off day. Thank you Miranda, way to grow a healthy baby, and thank you Hazel for being punctual (born on her due date). Grow baby grow! -Jason

Problem With Keys: Solution Found

The idea of losing our van keys in Central America was a real concern. How would we get back into our van in remote areas without breaking a window? If we did break the window, we would have to have a spare set inside the van, available to whom ever else breaks into our van. This problem is now solved! With a real estate key lock box we can leave our keys safely secured to the van (on the hitch chain loop). You can program it yourself, and it has a 10 key pad, so the likely-hood of someone figuring it out is very slim, and its designed to keep people from breaking into it. With this we don't need to bring keys with us, they can stay safely at the van, where we need them. -Jason

Shade: A Must Have

I have been looking and looking for a reasonably priced awning for the van, they can cost a $1000 or more! I have even searching for used ones.The Shady Boy awning may be the answer I've been searching for. Its light weight (15lbs) water resistant and will hold up even in the wind. We would get the silver one. I don't know the currant price but they should be around $360. There are no mechanical aspects to this awning so it should hold up nicely. If you have any other ideas please let me know. -Jason

Water Filtration: Part 2

The Aquapak is a solar pasteurization system that can pasteurize  up to 3 gallons of water day. Just fill it up and leave it out in the sun, when the wax indicator melts its done. I ordered two of them to increase the amount of water I can produce. I will also need some sort of holding bottle for the water to keep in. This system will do the bulk of our water pasteurization for: washing, cooking, showering, and drinking.

Thanks to my friend, Jay, who brought the SteriPEN into my search efforts, it will supplement my water pasteurization needs when we are out-and-about and run out of water. You just sterilize the water you are about to drink, it takes about 90 seconds for a Nalgene. This will keep the drinking water in Central America safe to drink. It has draw backs though, you can only use it on clear water, so a non filtered water source wont work, but thats where the Auqupak comes back into the picture. (the SteriPen pictured has a solar charger!) With the addition of these two systems I will have three sources to make safe water with if you including the Sun Oven. -Jason

Passports Step 4: Their Arrival

We now have four of the five passports that we need!! I am soooo excited,  I've never had one before. When they arrived, I felt like how I used to when I was a child, opening the big present on Christmas. It was a nice feeling. This step really brings the trip into focus for me, somehow making it more real now. To complete the passports for our family Miranda needs to get that baby out, unless an ultrasound picture would work, the 3D kind. I'm usually against that sort of thing but maybe for this......not. I'm hoping for a baby tonight! -Jason

Free-Diving: The Art of Holding Your Breath.

As a child I loved snorkeling, I would swim for hours looking at all the mysteries of the deep. It was liberating at a time of my life where I was faced with many struggles. I loved looking for lost treasures on the lake floor, or stalking crawdads in Whatcom creek. When I think about all the beautiful ocean shores we will be visiting on our voyage to Central America I become elated, thoughts of tropical fish, coral reefs and hidden treasures flood into my minds eye.I'm exploring the sport of free-diving, using a mask, snorkel, and long fins, to dive deep, 50 plus feet down. There is a large subculture that enjoys swimming in this way, playing with dolphins,

spearfishing or exploring. There are breathing techniques that will help you stay down longer and training techniques that will build up the length of time one can hold their breath. I'm looking forward to learning how to dive this way. I will be bringing a free-diving set up and speargun depending on legality and cost to spearfish. -Jason

Sun Oven

The sun is looking like the miracle-cure I've been searching for. With a Sun Oven you can bake, boil and steam, so the only foods you cannot cook are fried foods. Also pasteurizing water is done at bellow boiling point. It can reach temperatures of up to 400 degrees!


All without the need to buy fuel. The only requirement is the sun. It will even work in winter. The R/O system most likely will go out the windows to make room for this baby. -Jason 

Water Filtration

So I thought I would install a R/O system to filter our water in Central America, but it wastes 4 gallons to every 1 it cleans. I feel like that would be irresponsible to bring such an inefficient water filtration system to a country that may pay a lot for its water service. I'm a bit stumped, I need a filtration system that is good enough to filter out all the nasty things that may be in a third world country. More research is required. -Jason

Living Out of, Not In

This question keeps coming up, "How are you all going to live in that small of a van?" The answer is, we're not! Think of the van as a place to sleep and store our stuff, but on wheels. Kind of a tent on wheels, that we camp with like a tent but cooler and wont leak or blow away. We'll have power, music, video, a/c and drinking water (R/O system) all fixed into the van. We understand it will be a sort of roughing it experience, that may wear on us over time. The idea is to go as long as we are enjoying it, and return when we are ready. The fact that the van is small is a good thing from my point of view, it will keep us from wanting to hang-out in it, forcing us to see the sights and meet people in a culture. Remember this, if the 185 miles of tropical beaches of Belize was your backyard for a month, would you just hang-out in the van? -Jason

The Man Van

We bought the van! We had it checked by a mechanic and it needed $600ish dollars worth of repairs. Negotiated a fair price, and stayed in budget. We are super excited. Jay is driving it from Grants Pass and he should be here in a day or two. I will schedule the repairs to be done asap. Now we have to make it livable. The bed is too short as it is, we're going to buy an extension for it. It goes behind the back seat to add length to the bed when the rear seat is down, it makes it into roughly a queen size bed. I hope we can find one to match our vans interior. -Jason

Drivers Permit: International

We both applied and received our International Driving Permit today. It helps  police in other non-English speaking country's interpret our drivers licenses. It isn't strictly necessary but can smooth out any potential hassle in regards to us driving out of country. It's good for a year from date listed on it. What you're seeing is the front cover and the last inside page. The I.D.P. is 17 pages long, including the front cover. It has a ten other languages in it, that explains our drivers licenses and how it is coded. It costs $15.00 plus the $8.95 for the photo. It's a nice feeling to be getting all the details done, it helps make it real now. 137 days till we are on the road and a few months after until  we are leaving the U.S. of A. It was about an hour from start to finish, including completing the applications (online form) getting two photos taken (same place as our passport pictures) and running across town to the AAA to get the permit. Not too bad. -Jason

Passports Step 2 & 3: Pictures and Applications

So, last Thursday, we went down to a local printing place that does passport pictures.. talk about anxiety with two little kids!! They were, however great to work with, and were quite speedy about the whole process! Poor Faelynn looks a bit stoned in her pictures.. he told us we weren't supposed to smile.. but then today when we went in to actually turn in our applications, the lady said it was no big deal.. I am kind of grumpy about that, because now we all look like we have our mug shots on our passports... se la vie right? 

Today we went into the good ol post office with our printed out passport applications!! (got to love the internet!) 375 dollars later we are all set! The woman at the post office was SO helpful, she checked our applications line by line, and helped me fill out mine (I had to send mine separately since I just had to change my name) So now we just wait for 3-4 weeks!!

And then of course in about 6 weeks we get the pleasure of trying to get a passport picture taken for a two week old! -Miranda

The Van: A New Direction

So the Ford van in Florida fell through, after a month of being jerked around the guy finally sent pictures on the interior. Not good, it wasn't in the shape one buys from across the country. It would of been a big ordeal to inspect, buy and fly Jay there, to have him drive it cross country, so I'm ok that it is working out this way. So now we are in negotiations  to buy this van in Grants Pass, in Oregon. Jay and Heather should be able to be there tomorrow or the next day. They are on there way back to Bellingham, returning from a month long  road trip to San Diego, and happened to be in Arcata, Callifornia today, which is a few hours south of Grant's Pass. A bit fortuitous I think. This van is a 2000 Dodge High-Top Conversion Van, with 74,000 miles on it. It looks to be in great shape inside and out. It has a built in cooler in the back that I am curious to see. It doesn't have the bed extension that I would of liked it to have, but hopefully it can be added. We will be having a mechanic do an inspection before we buy it. Heres hoping it works out. Miranda is super excited about this van and has a good felling about it. -Jason

Passports Step 1: The Birth Certificates

We needed to get certified birth certificates for Faelynn, Evan and me; Miranda luckily already has hers. Passport requirements as they are stated, say that the birth certificate must have the state seal that is raise. The one I have lacks the required seal. So I went to work to get all three, Evans was a quick stop into the local health department and they printed it off faster then I could write the check for it. Faelynn and I were born in Oregon so I had to call the Department of Vital Statistics, I thought it was going to be a hassle, but a ten min phone call and its in the mail today. Total cost for all three $75.00. I think thats a bit costly for three fancy sheets of paper. Oh well, life goes on. It will be worth it in the long run. Now the ball is in Miranda's court as she has the responsibility to get the passports. She is a bit intimidated by the bureaucracy. So wish her luck. -Jason

Cards

After literally looking for hours at templates, we finally ordered some travel cards! -Miranda
The cards are just like business cards but tweaked for our traveling needs. -Jason

The Broad Strokes: The Plan

The Plan: to travel in Mexico, and Central America for approximately a year.

We realize this goal isn't the "norm" and wanted to share some of our why's.

History: At 27 Jason walked away from society and backpacked all over the US with a good friend. It was the happiest and most freeing experience of his life. One winter visiting home though, he connected with an old friend in a new way (me!) luckily (I think so anyway) I was eager to travel too... We floundered around for about a year together, and on a visit to see Jason's first traveling partner and best friend in Ashland Oregon, we spontaneously signed a lease there and decided to try a different kind of life together, not a month later I was pregnant.

Jason always missed the road though, and after 5 years of living back in "normal" societal life, being a full time student and working part time, it slowly started to wear on him. With the 3rd baby on the way, a transfer degree in psychology within reach, Jason's spirit and passion was so worn down, and he settled into a depression. There were several times I tried to bring it to Jason's attention of the changes in him that were effecting our whole family. But we simply didn't know what to do. Finally one morning I couldn't take it anymore. We had to do something different. I posed the question "How long do you think we could live in a third world country off our tax return?" and our plan was born...

We started (ok Jason started) researching vehicles, we started gathering books, and gear. Our next big step is to get everyone passports! And learning Spanish....

We feel like this year will be amazing, and a once in a lifetime experience. While being extended enough in time to not only to feel like more than just a vacation, but to be able to experience other cultures in a real way. In a way I feel like I owe this to Jason.. not that I am not thrilled to be going too, but he has struggled, and worked hard for the last several years. Already I have seen such a light return to his life. We hope the trip will give our family the opportunity to bond in a way we haven't allowed ourselves time for in the past. - Miranda

Preparing For Our Central America Trip: The Van

We are trying to buy this 1995 E350 turbo diesel high top extended length conversion van (with 120,000 miles on it), from a family in Florida. It was converted in 2001, rebuilt transmission in 2006 and a brand new engine in 2008 (less then 5000 miles on it). So far we have had a few snags with the owner of it, he decided to take one last vacation with it, lol, so we are waiting for him to get back. Then have a friend of my friends family take a look at it, he is a mechanic. If all goes well we should be buying it later this week. Our friend Jay (and maybe Heather) has agreed to go and pick it up, and drive it cross country, back to Bellingham, WA. Wish us luck. -Jason