Ahh the joys, the fun, the laughs, the screams, the blisters, the tires, the pooper, the dog, the cat, the kids, lack of medicine, not enough coffee, have we eaten yet?, Hot Tubs, pools, beaches, starfish, rides, excitement, pictures, friends, hugs, goodbyes, hellos, new friends, old friends, troubles, smiles.

Yes, that sums it up in a nutshell!

What a long amazing trip it has been. We pulled away from Neptune, NJ- leaving my mothers home December 18^th, here it is January 25^th and by the time this post gets up due to lack of internet, I am sure it will be sometime in later Jan or Feb. We have done more in this last month then we have done in 6 stationary years in our stick house in Salt Lake. It has been fabulous!

I still remember that day, pulling away from our golden, Victorian home in Salt Lake City-

August 1^st we set out on the delayed adventure, an adventure to our new life, our new life which has just been an extension of the old. We are heading into finishing our 6^th month away from what was our home, and what appeared to be a stable life. Did I want to turn back? Eh, yes, maybe I did consider it~ yes, maybe, I was scared. Scared of what? Maybe the unknown.

When I threw out my fears, I threw out all the old, I threw out the debt, the worries, the hassles.  As there is no problems unless I believe there are problems. It is amazing how powerful our simple thoughts truly are!

Life has been being lived! For once! Yay us!

We have taken control of our lives, we have taken control of our happiness, our sadness, our thought patterns. We know life is what we make it~ I certainly do hope you all stay on this ride with us.

We have had our ups and our downs, and I am sure we will continue to hit road blocks and bumps, but, we must remember that most detours are set up so we do not get hurt. If we continued down a road that had a barrier with a detour this way sign, and we ignored it…. we may end up in a ditch up ahead…now, when we let go..let God (as some may say), and trust in the flow, just as I trust the water knows how to flow through a river bank, we wind up in the natural course of things. Have you ever noticed if you take your hands off of something, it just somehow works itself out? Similar to the old adage, “A watched pot never boils”

We have been having the time of our lives and are so grateful to have you all still checking in with our happenings. I am sorry that we haven’t done any new YouTube videos. We had a few from the first leg of our trip, but, I am choosing not to rehash and remember some of the hell during the initial departure! We may be able to do more videos, but, honestly it seems there just isn’t time~ all the editing etc videos take, I truly really rather be playing. So I do hope you all understand. However, we have a ton of great pictures up on my facebook page, I will actually be setting up a Follow That Bus page too, for all of our convenience… this way you can stay up to date with our pics and where we are, etc!

For now, we have been playing in Orlando! Disney, Universal Studios, before this we were on the beach in Cape Canaveral just loving life!

Damn! It just doesn’t get better then this! Mornings have been spent at the hot tub, looking at palm trees… the evenings usually wind down the same way.

Leaving our friends behind was very difficult, but, we have been making new friends along the way~ we hope our new friends will become as close to us as our oldies but goodies

For now, I will sign off, as it is time to buy a new phone, a swiffer, repair a tire and get to Lake Toho Fish Camp for another week of rest, relaxation and life on vacation.

Keep the Vibe real!

Xoxo

Tara

Living the bus life, where living is easy, where it slows down, but, still seems that the slow circle still spins fast. Just as the earth spins on its axle our lives take its on spin on our index fingers’ tip.

“Its better to be out of control once in a while, then not enough all the time”

“Meat Eaters have more fun” We can just handle it!

Mommy why is my pee blue?

First ride ever: space mountain, Welcome to Disney!

“my moms just sittin on her lazy but drinkin coffee doin nuthin’”

Big bus

The armadillo ears

Billy and the raccoon

The apple, the most incriminating photo ever

Hot Stuff

Big Cat Out side

Jules takes off

Ghetto princesses

Golf Carts

Peanut butter, chicken and Vaseline

You’ve got the wrong site

Kitty Creepin in the woods

running from wild armadillo

We will always have Chuckee Cheese

The shower heads turn up, the great switch-a-roo

The OPs, Invisible Rope, a flower proposal

A few manatees

Hobo Hubby

Trash collecting, Cd selecting, rockin out to stripper tunes

The Sloans, The Stones, a trippy psychedelic view

teepees, Some wine, laughs and hats, a number of beers slayed

Glow Stick fights and starry nights, filled with cemeteries, Rv skating, and sign stealing too

Bacon Breakfasts, Girl Scout fires, Blue moon nights and guys named Bill

The drum, The stage, the pen guy and the hot day of pepper palace

Winston’s a peanut

The van sounds like a helicopter, frozen water, drinking out of the bottle,

One in the toilet striking up the sounds of a one man band

The greatest room in my home is the bathroom! Quite the utility room indeed!

Showering in a real bathroom, wow. It has been so long

“Family Theme”

The Balloons, the ghost, the rose feather flower, birthday balloon great escape, tinkerbell, pink, pink, pink

Bud Light, Am Egle’, don’t drag me away, I need to do my dishes. Aren’t you glad I took you!

His car is a wreck- class G motorhome complete with bed

Sangria

Nirvanna

Lego Rockband Karaoke, Howie Mandell, Outburst, telepathic teams of Taboo

Pink Ipod

she dresses more like her mother each day

Mom, you know they think we are Jesus freaks right?

I feel old, knitting my scarf on the loom, the jersey pocket

Can you believe we almost took a shower today?

Do you like like him?

Ghost Tours, males need attention…too?!!

Your turning into your mother

What way is the bathroom? Both ways

Animal Spirit Guides, I love Jesus

Year round temperatures boast of 72, the chill reads me as 29!

This place is like freakin Vietnam! 15 mins ago was like Spain,

I feel like this is a land of Universal Abyss!

Quite cold in Florida, but, yes, I know, much warmer then elsewhere! So, I will take it and keep a smile on my face about it

Faver-Dykes State Park is a cute little park inland of St. Augustine, The wildlife is fun, plentiful and friendly and the rangers are always patrolling. When we first pulled in, 2 different rangers commented on the size of the bus! “My my…what a big bus you have.” The other just simply said, “Big Bus”. Being we are 5 ft larger then we should be, we just nod in agreement and nicely skate across the subject. I don’t know much about the park, because it is so damn cold I have been hiding under my covers and staying in.  I hear there is Pelicer Lake (taking a wild stabbing guess at the name.) and a few nice trails. All I have seen is the bathrooms which were freezing but quite nice, and the campsites we are in, along with a raccoon, armadillo, a FEMA trailer, a 14 year old ranger and what I am fearing is the el chupacabra lurking in the woods. This place is the darkest place on earth! When the night falls, the only thing glowing is the stars in the sky. The air in front of you is so black, you can not see your hand in front of your face. walking back and forth from our camp to Gayles seems as if it takes forever, the darkness, creates a dissolution.

The company is great and the scenery rocks, I will never trade on of these fabulously magnificent days in for anything less then, nor anything more.

xoxo

T

Wow! Movin day again! Too fun! There was a day in time when I hated moving from one home to another~ I loved the excitement of the new place, the new locale, different scenery, but, the idea of packing up our shit, and dealing with the tedious tasks such as packing, unpacking, more organizing, and detailed cleaning would freak me out. So, here we move usually every 3 days-1 week, and it is always exciting~and we move with our things and with our home, and hell, our mess comes with us! Caravanning again, we are following Gayle and Eddy and behind us follow the car with the kiddens! Off to… Faver-Dykes State Park in St. Augustine, FL! Only 15 miles south of where we just were, but, it is time to move again… We are now cruisin’ through the park with yes, the silly name. It is looking quite tropical here, all the palms and wildlife, really beautiful, feels like I could close my eyes and be in the Amazon, as I listen to the rain bounce off the metal roof of Da Bus.

We are in now, for about a weeks worth of chill camping with all our friends, The Sloans (Organic Tribe) are headed to play again today with us as well!

We usually will keep it mixed between sight-seeing camping and chill camping to just live. As we want to still navigate and explore and learn and teach ~ yet, we always have to remember, though we live what seems like an on-going vacation, we must keep a grounding and centering by remembering the bus is not our weekend camper, it is our home. So, this next stop will provide me with some time to write, place photos in albums, rest and reflect.

I do highly encourage all of you heading to Florida to stop in St. Augustine, if you are camping to stay somewhere cheap, like St. Johns RV Park, it is a flea market on the weekends and really close to everything, with our passport America discount we only paid $13 a night. We had to disguise Jersey as a poodle to get in, but, eh… she didn’t mind

Must do’s in St. Augustine:

The Fort~ Bring your National Park Pass~ This place is awesome for the kids to see and learn about J

Do not go to the Living Spanish Colonial Museum, way too expensive for what you get, take your kids instead through the store and tell them yourself about things- was not worth price, if it was free, would have been worth it, or even done for a donation. The Blacksmith was drunk, the carpenter was a great history buff (and honestly, if he wasn’t there, I would have requested our $ back!), The pen guy … well, he was just a jerk, all he was missing was a spectacle, pocket watch, pipe and a prescription for happy pills. Yes, mama had to reprimand him, as I believed he was an awful demonstrator and was not very good with our children.

The streets are even history enough with the cobblestone streets and sidewalks, the old buildings have history, flair and unique boutiques

Take the Ghost Tour-walking ($12) at night, a young adults must do! Just be sure if you send your older kids alone they don’t break into cemeteries and piers afterwards… (ahem, you know who you are). Chelsea-Rain did capture some spirits and energy rods on film. I am hoping to post pictures soon.

Alright my lovelies, off to settle into our new backyard for a few days before Families on the Road Rally!

Xoxo

Tara

Obladi oblada ~ Oh, for the love of Disney! And a plan for a greener earth! Disney’s Volunteer Program is magnificent! Of course, being in Florida, we have been seeing tons of commercials for this new Disney program, apparently it is temporary, so hop on the site and find out more, you can volunteer all over, in your own area, in exchange for a Disney World/Land Ticket. We, and the Bennetts took off for Tallahassee for the day yesterday, about a 3.5 round trip drive and 5 hrs of work, we have earned our Disney Tickets which will be given to us within 2 weeks ? The kids were excited to of course be earning such a fabulous reward for helping, but, also to just jump in and lend a hand! Sage said, “Mom, I love picking up trash!” hehe, ok, well, maybe I wish there was some more eloquence to it, but, hell, at least the kid wants a cleaner environment. Each of us with trash bags and cameras amongst us, we walked along the trails and picnicking areas of Wakulla Springs Park, Cleaning up lots of cigarette butts and beer cans along the way, we also stumbled across a cd collection and hub cap, and even a rug along the highway prior to the Springs Entrance. This showed us all how we really do impact our environment, it is very important we clean up after ourselves, just as we did as children with our toys back into the toy box! Now, as adults, it seems we need to learn our toys and games are often different now, and disposable, maybe some things aren’t good enough for our toy box, but, then we need to find a trash can, instead! After Florida, our family was going to begin volunteer efforts along our travels, so this was a great opportunity to kick start it! We are all very excited to keep this up and a part of our lifestyle. We will be looking for volunteer opportunities in areas we go to, so please if you know of an organization or even a family that needs help with handyman stuff around their home and can’t afford it, we are here to help. Please let me know what we can do in your community when we pass through ? Just be sure to wave at Da Big Brown Bus as we roll on by! Xoxo, Tara

A Day in The Life

Woke up, rolled outta bed, did not even drag a comb across my head! Lit a fire and drank a cup, looking out, I knew we were running late. Found my dog, grabbed my cat, made da bus in seconds flat. Found my way to where we are going, and wish I had a smoke, and somebody spoke….ahhhhh

Time to move it is the 12^th day at www.musicliveshere.com, we had spent a wonderful Christmas here in Live Oak, Florida. We had quite an eventful time since parking Da Beast! All good! Too good! Yes! Much deserved, rest, relaxation, friends, fun!

Christmas was peaceful, NYE was the party we were all waiting for! The Spirit of Suwanee Music Park was hoppin~ Beginning around 1pm, the once tranquil setting began filling in with Rv’s in all shapes and sizes, multitudes of children and their camouflaged parents began to set up for the New Year Celebratory Evening.

They were not alone, as we were also ready to party! Our good friends of seven years, The Sloans (Organic Tribe) rolled into town the evening before in what was once a very deep attachment of mine, ahhhh, my dirty sea foam teal Westfalia camper! I so loved seeing it once again. I am grateful to the Sloan family for takin’ her in when I needed to purge and sell off all our belongings. This was my deepest attachment, was very hard to let go. The house was even easier. It was great reuniting with our friends and the long lost hippy van. Thank you Julie and Steve <3

Our newer friends the Bennett’s had come to stay and play also while we were at Suwanee, We had too much fun! So much, that we are now driving (as I type), Caravanning across to St. Augustine, Florida for the next leg of this adventure!

New Years Eve was filled with food, celebration, drinks, and a Blue Moon Ceremony. The kids had a blast, and were on their best behavior all day looking forward to making their wishes~ Which instead we called~ Manifesting and willing, as if you “wish” that is all you will ever have is wishing

We had found out that not only was NYE a full moon, but, also a Blue moon, and not only a Blue moon, but also something else cosmic and lunar too! That I forgot.  Plus, Mercury and Mars were in Retrograde. This night was a Planetary, Cosmic Wallop.

We were prepared as we knew the shifts were a perfect time to embrace the energy of the moon, the earth and to encompass all of the human magnified energy we all were putting out.

Blue Moon Ceremony:

Light a fire, we also placed sprinkles of fire color, blue into our fire

We placed Sage(not my son, the herb ) into the big fire

Gathering around in a circle, we played tribal music and the children began dancing

They danced, and shook out all the energy of 2009, bringing in the renewed energy of 2010 to them

We then turned the music lower as we gathered together holding hands around the circle

We did the wave, and some wave hand squeezing to spread our energy (too much silliness to leave out, really loosened everyone up for some fun!)

I spoke telling the emperors and empresses of the evening that we have the power to change the world, we just all need to believe, and put forth good healing energy into the world, into eachother…as we did this, we pictured us being showered in the blue light of the moon and the blue heat of the fire, then we re-directed those beams to eachother and out to all the universe… We hummmmmmmmmed to create a deep vibration.

Once the little ones started giggling then we moved onto the next and final task of our ceremony.

Our Wish or Our Will for 2010 and our lives. Going in a clockwise fashion, we each stated what we want for ourselves, this was to be repeated 3 times.

The evening finished off with a Cheers ~ The adults each having a Blue Moon Beer and too much fun for 1 night!

Xoxo,

Tara

IRIE!

Ahhh… Here I sit, fire going in our woodstove, it is about 40 degrees in Sunny Northern Florida! We have been at Spirit of Suwanee since 12/23 or as I like to say Christmas Eve, Eve

It’s a great place here, the amount of land they have along the Suwanee River is amazing! Hiking trails, Cypress Trees, A wonderful place for the many music festivals they put on here. www.musicliveshere.com

Anyone passing through with kids should check out the Kids Music Camp beginning 2/5 running through 2/7, I believe

Very Peaceful here, we are very much left alone, which is perfect. hehe, For me anyway FOR THE LOVE OF SOLITUDE!

Our Christmas was content and joyful, we have a wire lit tree we put up inside on our table, Santa left presents around the tree for us all, even a RV water filter! Santa ROCKS! I just don’t know how he fit down that skinny chimney we have? hehe

Things are great, all are getting along well, Sage made some friends, he is out playing now, which is fun for all of us!

The restrooms are clean here, not cozy but, clean- Great for a festival. The nicest restrooms we have had so far was at Duncan Family Campground in Washington D.C.! Hey when you live on the road and the only space you may get is in the shower, the cozier the bathrooms the better! Especially for us mommies!

We left NJ after visiting family for 3.5 months on Dec. 18th, Hard to believe we have only been gone like 11 days or something. It is is even hard to believe we were there living in the bus at my mothers even for so long. It was a good beginning however, as we as a family that have just renounced our whole life, all our belongings, our friends, our everything material… We were all going through our own emotions. Nj was much needed.

Now, we are ready to roll! Roll on!

Some Events Since we have been back on the road:

Washington DC, Did the sites and the Smithsonian! Best FREE vacation ever! Great for homeschooling the kids! Do not drive thru DC without stopping at least 3 days!

We were cold, so blew straight thru to Fla, When we got here….

Chelsea was in extreme ear pain, so thankfully the town had kicked in to help us get her to and from a doctor! So sweet of all involved! and a nice family also brought us canned goods to donate to our “unemployed” selves.

Thank you Specifically to: Annette, Genie, Bob (Country Cab), Caroline, Linda~ You all showed us true humanity and love.

Now, for today

Off to a shower, Friends are pulling in soon and camping next to us for a few days, can’t wait, will be so fun, and a little birdie tells me my brother I have never met is coming to see me today! I am very happy today!

xoxo

Tara

The rubber highway calls our names, begging the wheels of the beast to roll down it once more

The air becomes brisk and cold, as the sky at the Jersey Shore resembles the gray ocean that stretches to the horizon

~3.5 months since we have pulled up, and surprised mom! The tears of joy when I came, I am sure mirrored the tears of joy when we left! My mother had provided a perfect place for us at a perfect time! A haven! Thank you Mother. We had still been living in the bus but, have had it stationed in the yard of her house for ease of us visiting, finances, etc.

We had a chance to visit with friends and family, eat our favorite Jersey Shore treats and now are on our way to enjoy our Christmas in Fla!

We are currently heading into Savannah, GA today, to finish up some Christmas Shopping, Laundry, Groceries and yes, my damn nails! I hate doing them! if I do not get them done tho, I will bite them! nervous habit!

We will talk to you soon frown www.musicliveshere.com

xoxo

Tara, Billy, Chelsea-Rain and Sage

Cute! Cute and more cute! I love Madison! Thank you Chris my friend from Facebook for making me want to check it out! So nice to be outside of the woods for a little while, just as it is a nice thing to be out of the city for awhile! This little college town has quite the heart! Very diverse community, a nice place for hippies, college bound, professionals, alternative folks.. I love it… When in town, be sure to check out State Street~ a very hip area, street performers, quaint shops, and restaraunts line the streets.  Then head over to the Student Union… Grab a pitcher of your favorite beer, I will suggest Hoppolicious, a Hamburger, sit on the lake terrace and listen to the band play. Family friendly, tons of people, a great place to relax and hang out… easily you could spend the day and get lost in time here! Williamson Street is its own little mecca itself, this runs parallel to an amazing lake. I am sure there are many other cool niches in this town, but, this one I know being we slept on the side of the road here for a couple nights!  Coffee Shops, Bakerys, Bars, Victorian close knit homes! Love it! Almost don’t want to leave, but, at the same time… it is time to move on…. being somewhere more then 4 days doesn’t sound appealing to me right now, unless it is SLC…

Our first night in Madison, Chelsea-Rain found an open mic night at Escape Coffee House and Art Gallery on Williamson St. Very exciting as a few short months ago, she wouldn’t even let me hear her sing! She did great! Only was to have 3 songs prepared, Alex (the man in charge) asked her to continue and play more, I believed she did about 5 songs. She sounded great through the microphone, looked cute as always and Alex and the owner, Dwayne, invited Chelsea to come back and play Saturday, which was last night.

10 songs down… and my girl did awesome as I knew she would, prior to her going on, was Adam Pitt~ wow! this kid could rock it! Chel is still new to playing in front of others, that seeing this boys stage presence it made her a little nervous.  We had a fabulous time in Madison, met some amazing people we will never forget. Got to hang out with my friend Chris Johanowicz… and let me say having a friend in town to show you around is invaluable! Thank you Chris!

~ well, waking now and off to Michigan~ we are picking up another inverter while we are there. With $300 to our name … Well $290 after we buy coffee, wish us luck!

xoxo

Tara

ack! yep, scary sound! Pop, Bang… Tire SHREDDED on the Freeway!
Thank Goodness, 16 miles away was a free fairground in Blue Earth Minnesota to camp in… 48 hrs free, showers and hookups! RAD!

Made some calls today, got tire fixed finally for only $109! complete! woohoo! yes, it is used, but, it shall do! not to mention, we are running on – $150 in the bank right now! yikes!

Today we made it to Preston, MN – Camping at Maple Springs Campground, nice folks here, gorgeous piece of land, hiking, wild flowers and a creek stocked with trout!
Nice…
We shall be here for 3-4 days. Thank Goodness we do have internet, but, we do not have cell now… ugh, only to have all 3 for once, satellite, cell, internet!
We are safe and relaxing for a few days here, it is a well needed rest, yet at the same time, I am very antsy to continue moving… I really don’t like chillin’ too much it seems..well, at least right now.

I am normally opposite, but, at this point,I am more like, “hey, lets go sight seeing..etc.” Very excited to keep moving… is it because I think getting back to Salt Lake will come faster? I just don’t know…
hmmm…
or maybe because we anticipated the trip for so long, that I just want to see it all…..

Things are good, I will focus on writing, and making some tie dyes for the next couple days, the kids and Billy will fish and hike, I am sure

As for right now, we sit cozy in the livingroom watching the Hannah Montana movie with my boy

Enjoy the Evening and as always
xoxo
Tara