We ♥ Hill Shade!

Several months ago, when we announced that we were headed back on the road, a reader named Summer left this comment over at WSLW:

"If you head down through Texas I know some tree hugging,
Jesus loving, hippies that own a small RV park."

Sweeeeeeeet! We were all over that one. Summer left me the web address of Hill Shade RV Park and of the owner's blog. I started to read through it, and I knew instantly that we would be spending time there.

Michael and Christine were in full time ministry for 20+ years and last year, they followed Jesus down an interesting (and sometimes scary) road. They left it all and bought an RV park in the middle of Texas. Oh, and did I mention that they have 5 kids? They are an amazing bunch and it's been such a blessing to live in community with them.

We've been at Hill Shade for almost 2 weeks and we love it. We're planning on staying at least another 6 weeks while Matt works on different projects for them around the park. We're one hour from Austin (love love love that town!) and one hour from San Antonio. We're 11 miles from the closest town, and we have longhorns for neighbors. The pastures are so green and beautiful and the wildflowers are a truly splendid sight. I now understand why people love Texas. Well, until summer hits anyway! I hear it gets pretty toasty warm 'round these parts.

Bella is in heaven...because their youngest daughter, Precious, is 7 years old. They tear up this place on their bikes every day and run, run, run until sunset. Tonight, Precious was gone to town for a few hours and I Bella was in full "friend withdrawl". I think she said "I'm bored!" 10 times in one hour.

They have 4 other kiddos, Mackenzie, Andrew, Rocky, & Marah...each one unique and wonderful in their own way. There is always something new and exciting going on around here.

Christine and I have much in common...we both love Jesus, we both have dreads, we unschool our kids, we like chia and green smoothies, and she doesn't complain when I bring her green curry. She's sassy and hilarious...and has the cutest southern drawl. Her blog is a hoot...her writing is irreverant and funny, and she tackles the big issues with ease.

The girl loves her coffee...every morning I see her doing her rounds in the park with a steamy cuppa joe in her hands.

Michael and Matt are having fun together too. The first 18 years of Michael's ministry was spent in youth ministry. Matt has a degree in youth ministry. Lots of stories to tell. Michael is trying to suck Matt into his sports watching obsession...but so far that isn't working. Both of their wives have dreads, and they both prefer that their hippie wives continue shaving their legs and armpits. Love those guys together.

We have an endless supply of farm fresh eggs (Christine takes Bella with her to pick them at a neighbor's house and then delivers them right to my door!). There is nothing quite like an egg that has been picked that very same day...yummy.

We have waters to test and docks to walk. There is a retired science teacher who lives just down the road and he has been showing Bella how to pick the wild onions in his yard and the wildflowers that are indiginous to this area. He's traveled the world and has the artifacts to prove it...such interesting people in the heart of Texas!

We've already had our dear friends, Dan and Alicia (along with their 4 kids) here for 11 days (more blogs on their visit soon!)...and now my parents will be coming down next week (yay!). Chris and Cherie of Technomadia fame will roll in right after they leave. After that, we have the NuRVer's rally, and hopefully more friends coming by to stay awhile! We're looking forward to all the excitement. Even in writing this, my heart leaps because we just love it here so much. Thanks Michael and Christine...and to Summer for planting a seed that has blossomed into a lifetime friendship.

You can see all the photos I've posted so far in the Hill Shade RV gallery. There will be more coming as I recap the Thiede's stay, but you can have a preview there :)

Sun & Fun

We've made it to Hill Shade RV Park and we're having a BLAST. So much so, that there isn't much time for blogging. :) So much playing, eating, sunning, laughing, and dreaming going on. I promise that I will unpack all the highlights for you soon...including a mama's only overnight trip to Austin and a family of 13 who is also on the road! Stay tuned...

The Syrup Incident

We had been noticing that our fridge door was not latching properly...but didn't really pay too much attention to it because we were always able to get it to shut tightly with a little extra push. Well...apparently we didn't push hard enough before we pulled out of Landa.

As we were leaving on the very bumpy and hilly road out of the campground, I looked back in horror to see the fridge door swinging freely and several items were being catapaulted out onto the floor. All of this was happening in slow motion of course as I was envisioning the mess that was about to happen before my very eyes.

We had just purchased a brand new container of pure maple syrup at Costco the day before. This bottle is made from plastic...perfect for an RV lifestyle! It won't break if it falls on the ground...right? Wrong.

It must have hit the top of the container just perfectly and it cracked off and dumped it's entire contents of onto our kitchen floor WHILE we were moving. Matt got the RV stopped. And luckily, Angie was riding in there with us at the time and she was able to help Matt clean it up (Lucy was sleeping on my back). There was also a container of maple yogurt that opened and splashed on every surface. What a horrible sticky mess! It was everywhere. We were able to stop most of it before it went under the slide out, which was good.

We've had SO MANY things happen like this...glasses breaking, water containers exploding, etc. But I think this one takes the cake for messiest road disaster so far. Good times.