We have a new addition to the family!

We have been in Kingman now for over a week. I wish I could say that we used our time wisely. I wish I could say we got the most we could out of Kingman.  I wish we could say that under this kind of pressure, we pull out all the stops and do what needs to be done. We have, in our own, unique kind of way.

We have been making a lot of hard decisions. While this might not sound like any great accomplishment, it is very taxing. I recently read a quote that said "When life hands you lemons, the lemonade is gonna be pretty nasty unless life also hands you water and sugar." Life felt like that for a few days. Our problem is not a lack of choice, but rather, too many. The more choices you have, the more likely it is that you will choose the wrong one. Despite there not really being a wrong choice here, there are most certainly preferable choices. Our task has been a balancing act between what we should do, what we want to do, and what we can do. We are both fortunate enough to have very kind and generous parents. I have spent a lot of time wrestling in my head over whether to accept parental help. You always hear people complain about others whose parents 'bail them out.' But after much consideration, I should count myself lucky enough to have parents who can/will help in dire circumstance, as long as the generosity is not overused or abused. It is a bit of a knock to the pride, but sometimes you just have to suck it up.

We thought about moving to Phoenix, the nearest big city to us. Turns out it is one sprawling suburb with minimal public transportation. Good in theory, but we would probably have to buy 2 cars to get us to work. Austin was always the plan and if anything better came up along the way, we would stop. But now we are so close!

Cloudy Kingman

Our time in Kingman has been pretty limited to our RV. We were told on the way in by the tow guy that there is a lot of white supremacy here. They don't like foreigners who look foreign. And you can tell. It is monochromatic as far as the eye can see, despite this one little mosque. I haven't seen anyone go in or out, but it's there. Kingman is big to look over at night when the lights come on. Lots of empty plots of land between housing complexes preparing for a boom that never quite happened. It spreads across the valley and up its sides. It has been raining in Kingman for the past 2 days, which we have been told is almost unheard of. The sky loomed low over the tops of the mesas, trying to scratch some long hidden itch within the clouds. It is cold here too - 7C, or 45F.

We had the same friend who swooped in and tried to fix our engine come up with all manner of schemes. He could tow us for free if he got some work in Austin. We could store it at a friend's house in Las Vegas, he could replace the engine at some point and we split the cost of the sale. I can't imagine much stands in the way of Paul. If it does, he'll find a way over, under, both at the same time or just plough on through. He's been a great help, but in the end we have decided to store the RV in Kingman and try to sell it remotely.

We have since bought ourselves a van. A big van. It's a Dodge Ram 2500 for anyone who cares or understands. We have yet another leaky roof for which we knocked the price down by $700. Sweet! We contacted Paul before buying it to ask if this was a serious issue. Vans, luckily, are not the same as RV's.
The holes just require a bit of silicone, which we have after doing up the roof on Damon. I believe the new name of our vehicle is Mark. I'm sure the name will be embellished over time, but for now, just Mark.















Our one foray into Kingman was to see a movie at the local cinema. Upon the approach we noticed how small it was. It looked like a misplaced bit of strip mall. Sure enough, they managed to fit a cinema screen in it. But not just one, but four! The theaters were small, but it did the job. I haven't seen a cinema that busy for anything but a special release since I was a child. Looking around Kingman made the reason for this apparent - there is little else to do here. Not only was it crowded, but phones went off all the time, two disabled ladies behind us thought that their disabled badges meant 'free pass to do what the hell I want' and spoke in patches throughout the film. Overall though, it was a pleasant experience. There were a lot of families out, which is nice to see. In cities you so rarely see families do things together that doesn't involve a harness, leash and a pissed off parent.

So now we are just waiting to see if we can sell Damon before we leave. This would be ideal obviously, but unlikely. Today we are going to do much of what we have done for the past week - Stumble (internet timewasting device) and play video games. We have to take the van out for a drive and hit the local Walmart. We need to winterize the RV before storing it which requires the purchase of an air compressor. Tomorrow we take Mark to get an engine tune up and find out if we have an engine on its last legs or a stout piece of machinery. Fingers crossed, again. I'm going to have arthritis in all my joints at the rate I cross things at!  

If all goes according to plan, the next blog I write shall be from Austin!