New Orleans

And our $70 million view in downtown New Orleans. #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #powerball #powerballer #ballerrvspot

All over the French Quarter, there were people spilling their drinks, stumbling in the streets and almost peeing themselves. I even saw one girl getting wheeled down the sidewalk. But most of that was just us and @livingistheadventure/@h_livingistheadventure taking the kids down for beignets. #neworleanswithkids #neworleans #frenchquarter #cafedumonde #beignets #familytravel #travelwithkids #airstreamwithkids

A Jazz Junior Ranger badge (we think it's number 16!) from the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park has gotta rank up there, especially when earned with #littleairstreamfriends. #juniorranger #neworleans #neworleanswithkids #jazznationalhistoricalpark

Apprently the Marines like to use New Orleans to run training scenarios with their attack helicopters. At least five or six of them have been coming in low and fast, hovering over a spot in a lot next to the RV park, and then looping back around for another run. Don't Marines know about nigh-nigh time? #commandocamping #neworleans #airstream #airstreamwithattackhelicopters

I hope they return to recreate this picture in 20 yrs. #sisterhoodofthetravelingparents #travelwithkids #familytravel #neworleans #neworleanswithkids #jacksonsquare #wynneandmaestrolling

Date night! We waded through the spectacle on Bourbon St down to Decatur and finally over to Frenchman where a full New Orleans brass band played one neverending song of the best music we've heard all weekend. Fortunately, we thought better of immortalizing the night in ink, but still was one to remember. Thanks @h_livingistheadventure and @livingistheadventure for the babysitting swap! #datenight #neworleans #neworleanswithoutkids #childhoodasleep #whyareweabletowalksofast

It's gettin' real in the Target parking lot. #airstream #pairstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #lookslikewegotusaconvoy #parkinglikeajackass

Our 21 minute scheduled tow this morning took us over 2 hours, mostly because of a stop at Target to pick up a floatie for Mae. The stop seemed necessary since we'd not yet figured out that, despite the confirmation email from Bayou Segnette State Park stating that their awesome sounding wave pool was open, it would in fact not be open for several months.

As noon approached, we reached into the backseat to poke and torment Mae in an effort to postpone her nap as long as possible. At the gate to the park, Ann brought her into the back as I *carefully* (or so I thought) crept the trailer - admittedly quite a bit farther than I'd thought it would be - to the dump station and around to our site. As I put it in park, I finally received 7 texts with themes in the vein of "Slow down!" and "Easy on the brakes!" and "Did we just hit an alligator?" and a few I can't reprint. The DSNE (Dump Station Nap Experiment) was ruled a definitive failure.

After a quick catchup with @telegramsam and @jesscurren at their trailer, it was time to feed the DNA/LITA kids. But first, a cocktail hour texting brainstorm that ranged from iced tea to Long Island Iced Tea to realizing that there was no iced tea in that to Bourbon Sweet Teas and a run to the PigglyWiggly for mint only to find that they used to carry it but no one bought it (which begs the question of how they augment their juleps) eventually landed us on basil and lime as a substitute.

With happy kids eating pizza with the lounge pullout as a table, @livingistheadventure, @h_livingistheadventure, @advodna_ann and I sat at the dinette to enjoy our creation: 6 cups iced tea, juice from two oranges and two limes muddled with 10 fresh basil leaves, 1/4 cup honey dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water, 1 cup Makers Mark and all the ice in your Airstream freezer, garnished with an orange slice and crazy straw (if tiny flamingo swizzle sticks not available). Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, Rivet Tea.

#airstreamwithcocktails #rivettea #theydontsellmintatthepigglywiggly #maeeatslikeaboss

So, we've been hinting at this a bit in the past months with mentions of missing family, friends, a home community, and tangible things like a garage or hobbies. In fact, a plan's been underway since my 24 hour flight back to CA from Chicago (the same day our trailer door opened on the freeway!) in mid October when I actually went to attend inspections on an almost 100 yr old house in our homebase town of Petaluma.

While visiting for the holidays in December, we met with an architect and a contractor who we feel we can work with remotely to undertake a gut and remodel (mold in the walls) of this 800 sq ft house in a great neighborhood of small houses, within a block and a half of our favorite park and walking/biking distance to downtown Petaluma over the course of the next 7 months (including design, permits, demo, etc). After our experiences living in the Airstream, we feel like 800 sq ft - two bedrooms with loft areas, a Jack 'n' Jill bathroom plus a new 3/4 bath for guests/high traffic times, an open common room with vaulted ceilings and skylights for living/dining/kitchen, a small garage and good sized backyard - will suit our family of 4 perfectly for the next 5-7 years at least. This pic is my SketchUp design, mostly just opening up and increasing efficiency in the existing floorplan, that we delivered to the architect for more precise, permit-ready drawings. And yes, the trailer will fit in the long narrow driveway!

In November 2016, after more than 2 years of living in the Airstream and traveling from CA to Alaska to Massachusetts to Texas to Florida to Nova Scotia, we'll transition to using this new house as a base of operations for something like a 50/50 split of home life and future travel, some in the Airstream and some farther abroad.

I know a lot of you have similar plans of small houses, homesteads, mountain retreats, etc or are even just in the planning stages of hitting the road that we love hearing about. We've come to the realization that once you've had a taste of freedom, there's no one solution that will make you happy forever, and what you really learn is flexibility and keeping an open mind to possibilities! #smallhouse #bigplans

Yesterday, I mentioned to @jesscurren that we should do a potluck dinner tonight, but when she asked me about it today, I confessed we didn't really have much energy or anything to bring. She responded that she had everything we needed for everyone and told us what time to expect dinner. That's not a potluck, that's just luck. Great to catch up with @telegramsam and the whole @currentlywandering family who we haven't seen since January of 2015! Tomorrow, they head west as we continue east. #airstream #liveriveted #myrivetedlife #silvercommunity #airstreamfriends

After a morning of working on the to-do list (reattaching an airbag hose on the truck and cleaning the bathroom fan!) and saying goodbye to @jesscurren and @telegramsam, we drove about an hour to visit the Oak Alley Plantation with @livingistheadventure and @h_livingistheadventure. While other plantations have better historical exhibits on slavery, they seemed like a bit much for kids of our ages to grasp. And there can't be anything much prettier than these two rows of 14 oaks planted 80 ft apart which channel a cool breeze off the Mississippi right to the homesite. #littleairstreamfriends #roadschool #oakalleyplantation #louisiana

These 300 year old oaks should be here another 300 years (though a lot else has and will change!). #oakalleyplantation #louisiana