TRAVELING IN A TINY HOME THAT IS REALLY AN ARTISTS' BOOK ON WHEELS

Peter and Donna Thomas have been making fine press and artist's books for over 40 years. When they started, as craftspeople at Renaissance Faires, they fell in love with the graceful beauty of "gypsy wagon" caravans that other vendors had made to sleep in or use as booths for selling their wares. In 2009 Peter and Donna built their own tiny home on wheels, designed after a typical late 19th century Redding Wagon. This blog documents their trips around the country, taken to sell their artists' books, teach book arts workshops, and talk about making books as art; as well as to seek out and experience the beauty of the many different landscapes found across the USA.

Peter and Donna started their business in 1977 and made their first book in 1978, so from 2017-18 are traveling to celebrate 40 years of making books with shows in a dozen libraries across the country. See the schedule on the side bar to find if they are coming to a town near you....

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Monday, May 3, 2010

Snow, Canyon de Chelly, chocolate chip cookies







I’ve been thinking about the concept of full time RV-ing. Arizona is a prime location for snow birds and a prime location for mobile homes and RVs. We’ve met all kinds of RV folks, or just people on the road permanently. So what I am thinking is, if this trip is what life on the road is like, then I’m all for it! We camped in a cottonwood grove campground last night in Canyon de Chelly National Monument, 



after a full day of hiking and painting in the canyon. In the morning, we woke to snow falling. No problem, turn on the nifty propane boat heater we have in the caravan! Then, snow keeps falling, so, bake some cookies! We pulled out at 10 am, but the snow just kept getting thicker until we had white-out and stopped in a parking lot to watch it pass. 



As it lightened, the monoliths of Monument Valley came into view! So we continued into the park as the sun came out and lit up the rocks until sunset. 


Oh, we cooked frozen pizza and ate while watching the sunset from inside the warm caravan.


 Now we are camped where we will happily get to shower in the morning before taking off down the slow roads to Canyonlands National Park. I don’t know if I would ever want to be a full time RV-er, but right now, I am loving it!

5 comments:

Barbara Cowlin said...

Wow, what beautiful photos. I've lived in Arizona for most of my adult life and have been to Monument Valley a zillion times, but have never seen it in the snow! Fantastic thunderstorms, but never snow. Glad you were so well equipped so that you could enjoy it.

The scrolling book workshop was wonderful. I'm deep into experimenting with an accordion pleat book. Have botched the first two tries, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. Your instructions for the process in your book are great. It was really kind of you to help me with ideas for this project during the workshop, too.

Enjoy the next leg of your trip. Did you know that state park campgrounds in Utah have showers? Free and clean (at least they were a year ago).

Velma Bolyard said...

wow. beautiful amazing country.

Unknown said...

wonderful! Great sweater too hon - did you just finish that? Weird to see snow and chocolate chip cookies in your post when I got my first big sunburn of the season this weekend!

Tanya Cothran said...

I'm so glad you made cookies! Suzanne, Toby, Boyd and I enjoyed a sunny summer day yesterday and thought about how cozy it would be to have cookies in cute little Paloma. Great job on the sweater!

Polly said...

Beautiful sweater, Donna! And beautiful photos! thanks!