Journey of the Wolf and Raven

5 June 2024 – TD 66

I (Alan) needed a rest day, and the kids weren’t feeling too hot either. Meagan took Jarek and Randal to see the Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monuments while the we took a rest day.

Ed note: I had hoped that Meagan would be able to fill in the story and description, but in the interest in getting it published, I’m going to post the pictures and let them tell the story!

 A view of the volcano.

 Jarek completes his Junior Ranger book.

An artist’s rendition of the structure in its hey day!

“Don’t mind me, just checking in, seeing if you had any snacks and what you’re up to. Keeping the boss informed, and all that.”

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22 May 2024 – Trip day 52

I (Alan) took a rest day today. Meagan took Jarek, Arya, and Evan to see the Colossal Cave. It worked out, because the littles weren’t allowed on the tour.

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1 Aug 2024 – TD 123

For Jarek’s birthday, he wanted his traditional rice krispi cake in the shape of the Master Sword from the Legend of Zelda.

 Evan cooks french toast in our outside kitchen setup. The little induction plate is quite handy.

Arya and Randal get some cuddles!

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29 July 2024 – TD 120

We took a rest day, for the most part today. Meagan and Jarek wanted to go back and do the hike to Landscape Arch at Arches National Park. Alan stayed back and got caught up on a few just-as-fun chores with the littles, like defrosting the freezer!

Meagan dropped off a bunch of postcards and saw the really cool Raven mural (banner image on the post).

After the post office, Meagan and Jarek headed over to Arches for an evening hike in the cooler weather to Landscape Arch.

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26 June 2024 – TD 87

 It was time to pack up from Monument Valley. We were headed out to Fredonia, AZ as our next stop.

We ended up driving past Glen Canyon again on the way through. Meagan grabbed this picture when she stopped for a rest stop.

There is not much to say about the park in Fredonia, although it did have very big sites. Here, we are getting set up.

As we were finishing the set up, we were hit by a microburst. It was some of the most intense rain and wind we experienced on the trip. The RV was rocking pretty good!

 After the storm, had passed by, I went and did a check for damage. I found that one of our awning covers had been partially pulled out of it’s retention slot.

A view of the cover from the top. Later, I was able to get it tucked back in there.

After taking shelter from the rain, thinking I was done, I was, in fact, not done. I had left the back bay open, and it took on a bit of water. I emptied it out and started to dry out the items and the bays. The bays have a barrier, but it is not sealed on the bottom, and some water got over from the ‘stuff’ bay to the ‘food’ bay.

The wind had blown around some of our sewer hose track, but nothing was broken.

 The storm in the distance after it had passed by.

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15 June 2024 – Trip Day 76

Early morning video games. The kids have taken a liking to Stardew Valley which they get to play together and work cooperatively. They are allowed to play video games and tablets on weekends as long as behavior has been good.

We went out to lunch in the morning with a friend for some Mongolian Bar-b-que. Afterward, we came back  to the campground, and saw a helicopter parked in an empty shopping center.

 Apparently the New Mexico State Police were putting a community out reach event, but we didn’t find any advertisement about it. The kids were still stoked to see the helicopter up close, but they were getting ready to depart when we arrived.  We stuck around a few minutes and watched it lift off.

My order of the Flagpole Buddy came in. I spent a few minutes assembling it and got it rigged up. Much better for installation of the Starlink antenna than kludging it on the ground. Especially helpful for those places with very narrow sites, which we seemed to hit a number of on this trip.

 Garrett and Randal engaged in shenanigans!

I went off to run some errands and shopping while Meagan took the kids to the campground pool to cool off in the Albuquerque heat!

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12 June 2024 – Trip Day 73

After our adventures at Pecos National Historical Park, we took another rest day.

 I got my parts shipment in. I fixed a shelf in the refrigerator that broke a few days ago. One of the shelves cracked and it took a while before we were in an area long enough to get the part shipped. One of the challenges of being on the road and moving often is coordinating logistics and supplies, especially when one is out in the boonies.

 Meagan took this opportunity to go to one of her favorite stores and get kiddo things.

 Randal was curating the book offerings.

 Back at the RV, Randal enjoys dinner. The rest of us took it easy.

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Our trip has come to a close and we have returned to Florida!

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind as we’ve gotten settled back in and immediately got started catching up on appointments, doctor’s visits, and the like.

We’ve also been dealing with cleaning up maintenance on the vehicles and the RV itself. I picked up ‘Fenrir’ – the truck that I sent back from South Dakota. The van (Zephyr) and the new truck (Huginn) await their turns at the shop to have various maintenance issues addressed as well.

The front AC on the RV is on the short list to get replaced, which I hope to get done this next weekend. We have the replacement on hand, but the last two weeks have been rather busy with all the things, and not to mention, the rain and fog which is contra-indicated for an AC replacement job which exposes a hole in the roof.

It is my hope to get the physical holiday cards out in the mail this weekend.

I’m also working on the 2024 in review post, which will be a bit different this year, given that so much happened! I plan for that to release on 2 Jan 2025 – so watch for it then! There are still quite a few posts that I need to do about the other adventures on the trip – I haven’t forgotten those! They will be coming as well, but perhaps they will flow out in the new year as time permits.

Happy Holidays, wishing you a Merry Yule and a Happy New Year!

13 Aug 2024 – TD 135

Randal hangs out with me in the morning by the river, enjoying some quiet time outside the RV and all the chaos inside as the rest of the family wakes up and gets breakfast.

We decided to head out to the Big Hole National Battlefield.

It was a nice drive through the mountains of Idaho and Montana and the remote forests. Most of the drive was without cell phone service.

It was a blustery day, the winds had picked up a bit and it was cool. We got to the visitor center and there were a few people there, but you could easily tell that they did not get as much foot traffic as other sites.

An overview of the battlefield and movements.

The kids work on their books while waiting for the park movie to start.

All done with their books, they get their badges.

Duck explores the touch table at the visitor center.

Ducky tries on the bandoleer of Winchester 45-70 ammunition, used at the time by the US Calvary units.

Meanwhile, Evan and Randal work on some coloring.

Back at the RV, Randal checks out one of his favorite books.

Ducky is enthralled by motorcycles. These travelers showed up and the gentleman was showing off his bike to Ducky. He offered to let Ducky rev the throttle, but it was a bit too loud for him.

Randal, however, was not interested in the loud motorcycle.

Randal enjoys his dinner on the rocks, shaken and not stirred.

After dinner, Randal and his one sock head to the river for some playtime with Evan and Ducky.

Daddy rescues the wet baby and delivers him to the shower, much to his dismay.

Later that night, the kids enjoy some s’mores!

Thanks for reading!

Sign up on Patreon as a free member to get notified of updates on our Journey! You can read about other stops on our adventure here on Patreon, or at our blog at https://www.wolfandraven.blog

You can also buy us a coffee!