Mammoth Workhorse, Day 3

Monday, May 18

 Edward and May had an 11:00 appointment for rental house tours, so I cooked bacon and pancakes and spam for a long, leisurely breakfast. Sadly, I forgot to reserve Ed's two slices of bacon, so he didn’t get any. The kids ate lots.

The parents ended up being gone all day. Ed and I took the kids to Sunrise park playground. It was nice but not great; still we had a very good time.

 

For a late lunch I cooked chicken nuggets and shells ‘n cheese. And the kids ate lots. Then we walked over to the Marathon gas station and got ice cream at the Mexican ice cream shop next door to it. For reasons unknown, Elyanna totally refused to touch her ice cream bar with real strawberry slices in it.  But their parents returned while we sat outside eating, and they were able to finish the ice cream.

 Then we all had supper at Love Pho 4. It was fast and close by and had very good food—my tofu dish was the best I’ve ever had. Sadly, it was a little too expensive to make a habit of. And of course Ed disliked his fried rice thingy.   No matter—we can’t afford to keep eating out.  I made a quiet vow to cook more meals even though I’m already sick of cooking. 

 

Mammoth Workhorse, Day 2

 Sunday, May 17

I don’t remember what took us so long, but it was 11:00am before we left for El Paso. I guess it was from me cooking breakfast—I probably made bacon and eggs, plus sausage-egg-muffins for Edward and Ed. I don’t remember much of anything of the morning—probably exhausted.

We made good time and checked into the Fort Bliss RV Park in mid-afternoon. It was awesome!  Cheap weekly rates ($126 for military, which was us this time on account of we were supporting Edward); a family room and workout facility right next door; six private bathroom/shower units just across the drive; and three huge dog runs just a few minutes walk away. The runs were equipped with poop bags but also had little shovel/rake combinations.

It was a great place to park, too. Big concrete slab sites with picnic tables and room for two cars to park behind the motorhome. Full hookup, of course. Nice digs!

We went to Kiki’s Mexican, which my research said was very good. It wasn’t good at all and there was a 40-minute wait. There was nothing vegetarian on the menu so I got Huevos Rancheros. They were okay but drenced in cheese. Edward’s taco were very good—he said if he ever went there again he’d just get taco. Fine, but I was not impressed and will not be going back.

Mammoth Workhorse

Saturday, May 16

At 7:21 in the morning—a record!—Mammoth departed from home.  The planned destination was El Paso, Texas, but the 10-1/2 hour drive was being split out over two days. Even a 5- or 5-1/2 hour drive was pretty serious stuff for a massive motorhome with a Jeep trailing behind.

It carried a bunch of bedding and assorted crap to support the sleeping arrangements for seven human beings. Sort of human—I’m not sure if I should include children in that category.  In any case, four adults and three juveniles and a dog were all going to sleep in Mammoth’s massive belly…which appeared to be shrinking every second as we considered the logistics.

As far as beds go, Mammoth is equipped for the job.  The bedroom has a queen-sized mattress. The dining room table pushes down to make a bed which is a little bit smaller than full sized. And there is an overhead bed in the cab which raises and lowers, stopping just above the driver’s seat and accessed with a little collapsible ladder. Its mattress is a little bit smaller than queen size.  Two smallish people could fit nicely and the extra kid had to climb up in the overhead and squeeze between her parents. The boys slept on the table-bed; Molly got the spot on the floor under the main bedroom’s mattress overhang.

So the space worked for sleeping but it was a daily pain in the kiester to assemble and disassemble the beds and turn the space into a living area. And the television in the master bedroom didn’t support network connectivity or bluetooth headphones, so Ed and I had to go to bed at the same time (more or less) as the kids. Technically we didn’t have to, but when bedtime rolled around each evening, we were so tired that we chose to.

I chose Monahans Sandhills because it was a little past half way and I love the place. But after a long, hard drive, Edward (my son) did not share my feelings. It was very windy and he was tired from driving and the sand was blowing everywhere. Painfully blowing--sand blasting our arms, legs and faces. We set up camp and everyone retreated inside.

 

But after a little while, the wind eased a bit and I got the kids out to climb on the dunes with me and then roll down. (Them, not me). Ed and I fixed poke for the grownups; chicken nuggets and quesadillas for the kids.

Ethan, Elyanna and I had a lovely sunset view from the nearest big dune. And that was all for the day.

The Lincoln Highway

By Amor Towles

I don’t think I would have chosen this book on Goodreads, but I found it in the book exchange at El Paso RV Park. I picked it up and discovered that it seemed to be about travel—two boys set off on a journey to San Francisco along the Lincoln Highway.

 Once I got started, I found it hard to put down. Although it turned out not to be about what I thought, at all. It was four young men, plus a woman and a man and another man, taking a journey. Or rather, a lot of journeys. They don’t exactly travel far in their chosen direction—it’s most definitely not a travel story. It’s more of a “what sort of wild and unusual things can happen to a crew of wild and unusual people?” story.

 I enjoyed it very much, but be aware that nothing that happens is what you expect to happen. Ever. Some things happen for better, some for worse. But never what you expected.

Review: 100 Rules For Living to 100

 100 Rules For Living to 100:

An Optimist’s Guide for a Happy Life

By Dick Van Dyke

I found this remarkably enjoyable! It’s semi-autobiographical but not arranged in any sort of chronological order. It’s just a bunch of random “rules” (or essays, or even episodes from his life) that preach the gospel of humor, persistence and enjoyment of life. I hope I even learned something from it!

 

 

Review: Slow Noodles

 

Slow Noodles

A memoir of life in Cambodia (and Vietnam and Thailand). So much death—so much starving—and even when hope was gone, they managed to survive and, eventually, thrive. Painful to read but not unbearable because of the tiny sliver of hope she sustains through memories of her mother’s recipes.

A lot of the recipes are included in the book (22 or so), but it’s definitely not a recipe book. It’s just a lovely memoir of a woman who survived by helping others.