Author: gallupwandering

Challenge Accepted – Cake Making in a RV

My husband has just recently become lactose intolerant, so ice cream (which was his go to dessert) is no longer an option. Because of this he switched to cakes about 3 months ago. This is good and bad. They don’t generally require refrigeration which is great for our small-ish RV fridge, but they are expensive if bought pre-made, and I also like cake which is not good for my waistline.

Because of the price, I have been trying to perfect making cakes at high altitudes in our tiny RV oven. Let’s just say that my first few attempts were more like cake crumbs held together by icing.

After some research and a little trial and error here is what I found works…

Use a spring form pan. Seriously, this made a huge difference in getting the thing out in one piece. For a single box cake (yep, I use boxed cakes), I use a 9″ one that came in a set of three from Walmart for around $9.

You need to grease and flour the bottom and sides (of the inside) of the pan. I use Crisco, but butter should work also. Then layer the bottom with parchment paper (cut to fit the circle) and grease/flour that also. Yep, you double up.

For my RV oven, I always increase cooking temp by 25f no matter what I’m making. For cakes, I increase mine 50 degrees f. So 375 for my specific cake mix (your mix and oven may be a little different, so play with it).

When mixing your cake, follow the directions on the box, but add (extra):

1/4 cup flour

2tbs water

1tbs oil

1egg

I place the cake pan with mix on the second level from bottom. And set the timer for the lowest time listed for “two 9″ rounds”.

For this cake it was 24 minutes. Then I check it, and add 5 minutes until it’s done.

There are a couple methods to testing to see if it’s ready. 1) the good old toothpick test to see if it comes out clean, and/or 2) checking to see if the cake has separated from the sides of the pan and top is turning golden in spots. I use both.

I cool my cakes on a rack until coolish to the touch. You can let them cool however long you want, but if you pull the pan too soon you might find trouble.

When ready, remove the spring form sides, then place a plate/cake platter on top of the cake and flip it over. You should be able to pull the bottom and parchment paper off easily.

To make your single pan cake a two layer cake, use a long bread knife to slice it down the middle. Then carefully lift the top off and set aside while you ice the bottom layer.

A trick I’ve found for using store bought icing is to heat the tub up (after you remove the lid and foil), for about 15 seconds in the microwave. Stir well before applying.

Place the second layer back on top of your iced lower layer. I leave the bottom facing up (as the top layer) as it’s flatter and firmer for final icing.

Then ice with the remaining icing, sprinkles and/or fruit as you please.

Enjoy!

1

It’s Days Like These…

That make me love our decision to leave everything we had behind and search for a brand new path.

Ok, so maybe John is not on a completely new path (he’s still doing maintenance and lived in Colorado previously) but this has been foreign for me for sure.

Living at 8,000 ft above sea level, on a large wooded property far from the ocean, or a port of some type, and in a new field has had me go through so many mixed emotions that I’ve question who I am multiple times. It’s exactly what I needed.

I’ve been laid off before, and as with that situation I found that sometimes that push to go outside of your comfort zone is necessary to figure out where you really need to be. Don’t get me wrong the change in jobs, uncertainty about where we will live and being in a new town all at once has been a lot; but as I said, days like this are what makes it all ok.

After our FIRST Easter egg hunt OUTSIDE, we got to spend the day together working hard on property stuff. Followed by an amazing hike through the neighborhood and some baseball and badminton in the yard. And yes, I mean hike. From our lot to the top of where we go, there is about a 1500 foot climb.

It was a sunny 60 degrees (f) here; so everyone got a good dose of vitamin D. We traded 360+ inches of snow a year for 300+ days of sunshine. I can handle this. (Sorry Alaska friends)

Here’s to stopping to look out the window, hear the trees blowing in the breeze and long family walks…

0

This Weather!!

It’s 74 degrees here, which makes everything so much better. With the shorts and flip-flops taking the place of winter boots and jackets, the overall mood has increased greatly.

The spring birds have arrived. So far we have identified Chickadees, Pine Siskin, Nuthatches, Downey Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, Blue Jays, House Finch, Magpies and Turkeys!

We even had our first Rat Bird (aka Squirrel) spotting! Darn it.

The dog has even been enjoying the opportunity to lay outside while we tend to the property.

We spent a good part of the weekend removing brush and deadfall to piles that can be grabbed at the driveway edge and be turned to mulch or taken off for disposal. It feels good to be good stewards of the forest.

We also took some time to explore the Off-leash Park. What a great use of public lands, and a gorgeous day we had.

We get to remove the skirting soon, which means moving day is coming up soon! So exciting ❤️

0

Not What I Expected

By now I should be doing the final designs on my home and concrete should be pouring in a few weeks, but none of that is happening.

After many back and forth conversations with banks and builders, the reality hit in February that this dream was not coming true. At least not for now.

So as we finished our first winter and are rolling into spring, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. All our expendable cash is now invested in this land that won’t see a home built on it while we own it.

Hoping someone else can afford to do what we couldn’t, we cross fingers that driving our rig out of here in May means we are moving to a new wheel-less abode, and someone else is building their dream, and not a RV Park while we wait to return for winter.

When we set out on this journey I never expected to feel so much defeat and angst. My kids want a “real” home, and have, on occasion, reminded me that this was not their idea.

I look around and see happy young couples, who are able to somehow afford the American dream and still have time to park and pick up their kids from school with seemingly not a care in the world. All the while, I am looking for a second job that will surely mean rushing from one place to the next, all so we can just afford to even look at houses.

Why is that? First, he jobs here certainly don’t support the cost of housing, they just don’t pay enough. And Secondly, too many retirees and otherwise rich people have made this a retirement/vacation destination. They are rolling in with their equity from homes they’ve paid off, and that have doubled (sometimes tripled) in value. Meaning they can afford expensive homes, and are driving up home values and the cost of building for those who could barely afford what a house “should” cost.

Well, my star struck, dreamy eyes have played me the fool and left me (and the family) with the feeling of “this is not what I (we) expected”. Im starting to think that being on the east coast somewhere (by now), still wandering, would have been a better choice. But reality is what it is, no matter how disappointing, and we are finding ways to make it ok.

So for now, we wander in place, in limbo between settled and not, and learn new things about ourselves and each other daily. Such as: We watched the eclipse while standing in the driveway under a star filled sky; have listened to owls call each other at sunset; have roasted s’mores over a muddy fire pit; and found joy in watching the spring birds arrive at our feeders.

3

A Different Kind of Adventure

It’s been a while since we posted. Quite a bit has changed in our adventure plans. After some research and checking some areas out, we fell in love with a place called Durango.

Now the locals say we cannot share how cool this place is, as they do not need anymore transplants, but when you talk to them further you find that a good majority of them are transplants themselves. So we have joined the many Alaskans, Texans, Californians and on by deciding to make this our next home.

Kids are in schools here, both of us have now found employment, and we are prepping a lovely lot for us to winter in the RV until we can build. That in itself is an adventure. Both exciting and stressful, we have had the ups and downs of reviewing plans, dealing with contractors, watching your savings disappear, and feeling very behind schedule.

This past week has been especially productive with power being installed, the septic system being approved and water lines being run. I also started my new job (John started a few weeks before me) and the kids are doing great in their new schools. Even Andie is pretty happy about it all.

We will try to keep this site updated for those who are curious about life in an RV, which we will be in for about 11 more months, or our family journey in general.

It’s been an amazing 5 months, and we intend to keep it that way.

0

Weekends

So we have just been hanging out in the southern Colorado New Mexico border area for the past few weeks. We plan on being here a bit longer and I think it is a much needed weekend.

Weekends are typically considered days off. Days off from work and the routine of a scheduled life that most of us participate in to make money , raise a family and accomplish goals we set for ourselves. We tend to limit these things to just the work week, Monday through Friday and we pretty much know what we need to do every day and then when the weekend comes we are free to do what we want.

Now we have not been on a set schedule or routine for the last few months other than the routine of getting the camper ready to transit and setting up when we get where we are going. It may seem like all of this has been one big weekend but in discussion it seems we did not think of it this way but more of that we did not get days off, so we are taking a few.

Life in Southern Colorado is relaxed and really from day to day we do not have set or scheduled things we want to do or need to do so these are days off.

I think about my career sometimes in reference to days off. Have I really had them or was it just the perception of not having to go to work or kids going to school or dance class, baseball volunteer events or grocery shopping. Did I really have days off or were they just other days to do the scheduled things that you don’t do during the week. And was work really so structured that I knew what I had to do from day to day? No

Work for the past decade with the exception of the last two years has been a chaotic mess at best. You actually start your day at the end of the previous day thinking of a plan for the next day. Things that did not get done or new things that have come up and the the next morning roles around and overnight some piece of equipment has failed or someone quit or any other number of things that you did not think would have to get done that day. You had a plan remember the day before of what you were going to do today, but that is shot to hell in the first few seconds of getting to work the following day.

Many people will tell you they thrive on the pressure and the chaos, I’m not sure I do any more. I used too, I had most of the answers to anything that could just spontaneously combust and throw a wrench into your well planned day. So in this time it was not a big deal and the pressure did not feel like it was going to be too overbearing to my well planned day so it was not to cumbersome . However I think there has to be another way. I got tired of reacting all the time instead of planning and following through.

But a day off should be just that. Not a day to do all the things you did not get to in your work week but a day off. No plans no expectations no hurry.

The leaves are turning,

The air is crisp,

Thoughts wander to things of imagination,

You can think with a clear mind.

Hmm that cloud looks like an alligator, I’m starting to like weekends!

2

Sick Kid, Water in the Camper, Tree Damaged Roof and a few AWESOME Parks!!

Holy moly it was an eventful few days after leaving the Grand Canyon!

As we headed down the road through Arizona towards Gallup, NM our son was in the back seat making awful moaning noises. Now this kid does not complain about much, which usually is great, but we sure wished he would speak up when he is not feeling good.

So the moaning turned to “can we pull over, I need to go to the bathroom” and the window rolling up and down. Finally we find a place to stop, which luckily was a National Monument (translate – Passport Stamp).

This stop was a blessing in disguise because not only was it a cool location, we were able to identify a big issue with the camper. Apparently the water pump was left on when we departed, and the kitchen faucet overflowed the grey tank and some of the water got onto the floor from the faucet swinging around with the road motion.

So while I was dealing with that, the poor kid was throwing up outside the camper. Finally he was good enough to get into the bathroom, but the poor bystanders in the parking lot got more than they bargained for.

So after him spending some time in the bathroom, and me getting as much dried off as possible with the slides in, we got to check out Walnut Canyon National Monument.

What a cool little unexpected stop! An old cliff dwelling in a beautiful little canyon.

Continue reading “Sick Kid, Water in the Camper, Tree Damaged Roof and a few AWESOME Parks!!” →

0

A Grand Adventure

Pardon the title but it was a pun. None of these photos will make even a small impression, I don’t think they make a big enough camera lens to capture the Grand Canyon, you have to see it!

We made our Grand entrance on the east side of the Canyon and our destination was Trailer Village. I think we felt pretty lucky to be able to spend 3 full days in the park but lucky is just not a Grand enough word for it.

Continue reading “A Grand Adventure” →

3

Arches and Moab

Flash back 17 years, and John and I were on our first road trip together adventuring through Washington, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Nevada, with a side trip to Maine via plane!

We stopped in Moab and Arches NP on that trip. It was awesome then, and even better getting to show the kids and Poppy this area!

So after leaving Springville/Provo, we headed south. The route was breathtaking!

Continue reading “Arches and Moab” →

1

Hanging out in Provo, UT

Well Springville to be exact, but they are close by.

So we had to make a little detour and stay near a major airport so John could fly to meet his daughter and grandson. From what he’s told me the visit was well worth it.

This is them all together and him getting drooled on! John is going to be an awesome grandpa.

So while all of this was going on, I hung out with the kids until Poppy showed up.

Continue reading “Hanging out in Provo, UT” →

4

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑