Monday, March 28, 2016

Changing our plans. Heading to California

We had decided that I was not going to do the traveling critical care nurse job anymore and made plans for a different life. Tuesday morning I woke up and told Mike I felt I needed to get a contract for the summer and was not comfortable with giving up the job. I contacted Julie, my recruiter and had her send over my file to a hospital in Washington state. We will see how that pans out. All of the best laid plans were set aside and we headed to California. I am glad he is flexible, we went about changing our plans again.


Price of gas $2.79 a gallon, Driving in Los Angeles on Easter Sunday Priceless
When we left Arizona, the dust storms were not too pretty off in the distance. Not too much sandblasting for us though.
 
The moisture in the air felt so good. My skin started to plump up and not feel so dry.






Entire sides of mountain in the Los Padre National Forest were covered with these flowers.




We are staying at Rancho Oso, a horse ranch, for a couple of days.


There are multiple accommodation options, even covered wagons. 

We took their little waterfall hike to stretch our legs. The mountains are always so abrupt and steep leaving the coast. Every hike is an up hill climb.


We heard a turkey scuffle outside our camp site and found two male turkeys arguing over a female.

 


We have been trying to figure out the best way to live this nomadic life. Starting 14 years ago taking contract jobs as a traveling nurse and Mike would often find jobs in bike or ski shops. In Alaska he worked at the mall as a maintenance person.  The company provided furnished apartments until we moved on. We tried returning to our home base a few times in Woodland Park and then Colorado Springs until the "itch" returned.
 
Since full time work wasn't necessary now, I tried part time which did not allow for extended time away. We are now trying 3 months on and 3 off living in our travel trailer and weren't sure how all of that closeness would go over. Actually, we haven't minded the small area as long as we can continue having new experiences.I bet we change our minds once again.

Now that we have been in Arizona for 6  months, it is time to go. This is the first time to spend this much time in one area.


Cuenca, Ecuador

An Expat Destination The morning after returning to Quito we boarded an hour-long flight to Cuenca. Driving up the winding roads would have ...