Happy Holidays

I started writing this little bit of nonsense on Christmas Eve. We were so busy during the week following Christmas Eve that I didn't get back to this bit of nonsense until just today. A lot happened in this past week and we have covered a ton of ground since I started this, so I never had the time or energy to get back to this nonsense, but since I started it, I thought I should finish it. And I actually thought it was interesting where the past week has taken us since as per usual, nothing was as “planned”. So here you go...a little bit of nonsense that has changed mid nonsense. And this is how it started...........

We are celebrating Christmas this year in an unfitting place...Death Valley. I am a self proclaimed Bah Humbug, so I honestly don't really care where we are at during Christmas. Brenda on the other hand loves Christmas so I think this is a little bit hard for her to not be around family and friends during this festive time of year. For the first time ever, we are by ourselves for the holidays. And since we are by ourselves and living in a little tiny home on wheels, we aren't decorating. No Christmas tree, no lights, no stockings hung by the fire. Normally, Brenda would have put up lights and decorations on the inside of the boat, she would have hung our stockings in the hopes that Santa would bring us something good, and we would have listened to Christmas music for the entire week before the big day. Not this time. Even for this Bah Humbug, it seems strange to not be forced into feeling festive by my wife.

We aren't even getting each other gifts this year. Mainly it's because we are living in a tiny home on wheels and we have no extra room for any extra stuff. But also, its because we have everything we need and just about everything we want. The only thing that Brenda seems to want these days is some new clothes and I've learned in the past that I am not the one who should be buying Brenda new clothes. The only thing that I seem to want these days is some horse power that comes with 2 wheels and says Harley Davidson on the side. Even though I have begged and pleaded for the new Harley, Brenda doesn't seem to think I really need one of those, so no gifts for either of us. Bummer.

And really, it doesn't feel like the holidays when it's a whopping 84 degrees out. It's hard to believe that it's even winter time since we have had a pretty constant string of great, sunny, and warm weather for just about the entire 7 months that we have been gone. It's been an endless summer which I have to say has been pretty incredible. Aaaaaaaand cut.

This is as far as I got when I originally started this bit of nonsense. On this Christmas Eve, we saw some incredible sights and hiked 12 miles in Death Valley. It was 84 degrees on this day. At the end of our day I was so exhausted that I could write no more...it was sleepy time. I was going to continue this story when I got up on Christmas day and tell you about some of the amazing things that we saw in Death Valley (we think Death Valley could be one of the coolest and hottest places on earth) and I was going to tell you about how my wife thinks that I am incredible and I was probably going to tell you about my big muscles, but I guess those will be topics for another time.

At 2am on Christmas morning, while I was dreaming of gum drops and candy canes and all of the accessories that I would need for my shiny new Harley that I wasn't getting, our home on wheels got hit with a cold wall of wind that felt like the Seahawk's defensive line was blitzing the side of our home. Our little home on wheels was shaking violently, creaking, and really felt like it was going to tip over. There was a sand storm that hit in the middle of the night that was so thick and violent that we actually had a swirling dust cloud inside of our home on wheels...and all of the windows, doors, and vents were closed. When daylight finally came, I went outside for a little walk to experience this experience. It was like a white-out blizzard except with sand instead of snow accompanying the 40-50 mile per hour winds. After my short walk outside, I had sand coming out of every orifice of my body...yes every orifice. My eyes, ears, teeth, and unmentionables all had a fine layer of grit that just wasn't as comfortable as you might think it would be.

We had planned on staying in Death Valley for a few more days but since this new weather that we were experiencing was supposed to last for the next day or two, we decided to move on. We left Death Valley on Christmas morning and started driving north. We had recently made a tentative plan to spend a couple of months in Bend, Oregon during the winter so I could be a ski bum at Mt. Bachelor, and since we started driving north, what better time to go to Bend than now. 2 days after we left Death Valley, our little home on wheels was parked in Bend. What a difference a couple of days makes. On Christmas Eve we were in shorts with 84 degree sunny weather. When we pulled into Bend it was a freezing 18 degrees out. Somewhere along the way, we misplaced 66 degrees. Brenda would like to find those 66 degrees and to have them back.

So we are now sitting in a campground in Bend with the heater cranked up and our ski clothes on. It is dumping snow outside and it is supposed to get down to 0 degrees tonight. You read that right...zero degrees. That is cold. It's so cold that I am starting to think that being a ski bum this winter might not have been the best idea that I have ever had. I was starting to get used to constant warmth and sun and I was really starting to like it. I am sure that once we get up to the mountain and strap on the skis, this will all make sense again.

On the warmer side of all this coldness, some of our best friends on the face of this earth recently moved to Bend so we have been hanging out with them for the last 2 days. It's been really fun to catch up and to spend some time with people that we consider family around the holiday's. I know it's made it feel like Christmas for Brenda even though Christmas has already passed. Tomorrow we are going to be leaving our home on wheels in Bend while we head to the coast to spend New Year's Eve with some of our other good friends who live on the water in Tillamook, Oregon. I'm looking forward to some fresh seafood and some salty air. Brenda is looking forward to some festivities and trying to stay up until midnight. Should be fun!

So really what I am getting at after all of that nonsense, is that we really want to wish all of you a late Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, a Glorious Kwansaa, or whatever it is that you celebrate. We also want to wish you all of the best in 2015. Happy holidays! We love and miss you all!