Categories > Celebrities > Fall Out Boy
Adventures with Girl in the Moon
0 reviewsGrace a.k.a. Moon is a van lifer and YouTuber living and traveling in her camper van with her two cats. She stops at a campsite for a few days when she gets a visit from two children who recognize ...
0Unrated
My name is Grace. But it isn’t that important, most people don’t know it and call me Moon or Girl in the Moon because that’s what I use on my YouTube channel. I’m a content creator. I live in my converted van with my two ginger cats and travel across the country. I film parts of my life and put it up on the internet. Been doing this for about five years now. I’m five foot six, I’m 44, my hair is light brown, with a few grays coming in, and I have bright blue eyes. I'm single, been divorced for a while now, and I’m childless. I was laid off just after my divorce. I decided to make a huge change and bought my van. I named her Luna and converted her into a camper. I went on the road and have been living the van life ever since.
I’m in California right now. I’ve been here for a few days and will be heading north soon. I normally don’t stay in campgrounds unless I’m going to need someplace I can get internet access, or have need of the facilities. I still need to invest in Star Link so I can stay out in the backcountry longer and still keep my upload schedule. I post twice a week. Wednesdays and Sundays.
“Hello everyone!” I said with a smile into my camera. “For those of you that are new, welcome! For those of you that have been around before, welcome back! I’m Moon, and this is my channel, Adventures with Girl in the Moon. I live the Van Life here in Luna with my two cats, Fred and George.” I gave my usual greetings. “I’m still in California. I’m going to be here for a little while. I’m staying at a campground in the Los Padres National Forest for a few days. I’ve stayed here before, it's nice and quiet. Not many people seem to know it’s here. It looks like I only have one neighbor a few slips down from me.” I moved the camera to show the campground. I made sure not to record anything identifiable about my neighbors. I have always been extremely cautious about privacy. Mine and anyone else that has ever appeared on my channel. I didn’t even use my real name on the channel. But I do always say that if you see me in the wild, come introduce yourself. I’ll tell you my name then.
I hadn’t taken a good look, but I think it was a family staying there. Pretty sure I saw a couple of kids running around.
“It’s a nice spot. Lots of sunlight so my solar panels should be able to charge up the house batteries. I need to set up camp and let the twins out on their leashes so they can burn off some energy. I’ll set the catio up for them too.”
I set up the camera on my tripod so it would record me setting up my camp and getting the cats out. People watched my channel just for the cats. Their names are Fred and George. Ginger boys that were the only kittens in the litter. Being a Harry Potter fan, I couldn’t name them anything else.
I had just finished putting the awning up and was about to climb up the ladder to get into my roof storage. The ground cover, catio, and my good chair were all stored up there.
I heard two little voices behind me, “Are you Girl in the Moon?” “Can we meet the kitties?”
I turned around to see two young children standing there. A blond girl around 4 or 5 years old. And a dark haired boy who looked to be around 7.
I grinned at them, squatted down so I was eye level and said, “Yes I am. And who are you?”
“I’m Saint.” The boy told me.
“I’m Marvel.” The girl said
“Well hello Saint, hello Marvel. Do you watch my channel?”
They both nodded enthusiastically. “We watch with our brother ‘n Dad.” Saint informed me.
“Can we meet Fred and George?” Marvel asked.
“Yes you can. But I need to meet your parents first. Are they here?”
“Dads coming.” Saint said and pointed over his shoulder behind him in the direction of the one neighbor I had at the campground.
I glanced around Marvel to see two men, one older, probably around my age, and one younger, a teenager, heading our direction. I smiled at them to show I knew they were coming over. The older of the two flashed me a smile and I knew who he was. The names of the kids had triggered something in my brain, but I hadn’t put my finger on it. Seeing him and that smile, I recognized him. I did my best to not let the recognition show on my face. But holy hell, the little emo girl in me wanted to squeal!
“Hi. Sorry if the kids are bothering you. They recognized you and your van. They wanted to meet you and the cats.” Their father said as he came up.
I stood up and greeted him and his teenage son with a bright smile. “No, they aren’t bothering me. I always say if you see me in the wild to come over and introduce yourself. You must be Dad?” I asked as I offered him my hand.
He grinned at me and took my hand to shake. “Yes. Hi, I’m Pete.”
“Pleased to meet you Pete.” I said as I shook his hand.
I turned to the teenager standing next to Pete. “And you must be the big brother.” As I offered my hand.
“Bronx, nice to meet you.” He said with a shy smile. He was growing up to look a lot like his dad.
“Nice to meet you too, Bronx.”
I looked at all four of them and said, “My real name is Grace. But you can call me Moon if you want. Most people do. Either works for me. It’s very nice to meet all of you.”
“Can we meet the kitties now?” Marvel asked.
I grinned down at her. “I just have to talk to your Dad about one more thing and then I’ll get the twins out. Ok?”
She nodded and I looked up at Pete. “Alright, full transparency, there is a camera over there that’s recording everything. I know the kids can be seen. Pretty sure you and Bronx can be seen too. Before we go any further, I need to know if you guys want to be in the vlog or not. I need to go get the camera either way. I just need to know if I need to shut it down, or keep filming.”
“Dad, can we?” Bronx asked.
“Do you guys want to be in the vlog?” Pete asked all the kids. All three of them wanted to be, so he agreed to let them.
“Now, you all know I don’t use real names on my channel.” I said to the four of them. They all nodded. “So, I’ll introduce you as...” I flicked my eyes up to meet Pete’s, “the W family?” I asked. He instantly understood I knew who he was.
“Yeah, that’s fine.” He said with a small smile.
“Ok, I’ll go get the camera, introduce you to the rest of our YouTube family. And then you can meet the boys.” I said as I smiled at Marvel.
“Hey guys, change of plans.” I said into the camera as I picked it up. “Turns out my neighbors are some of you. They’re part of our amazing YouTube family. They’re viewers and came over to meet me. And they’ve agreed to meet all of you as well.” By this time I was back to the van and the W family.
Turning the camera around, “This is the W family.” I started with Marvel. “This is Miss. M.” She waved to the camera. “This is Sir S.” The camera was on Saint. He waved and said hi. “This is Sir B.” Bronx said “Hello YouTube family.” and waved. “And this is Dad.” Pete smiled and waived.
“Alright, let’s get the boys out.” I said as I opened the side door of Luna. Both of the cats came over knowing they were going to get to go outside. George came over to me butting his head against my hand looking for some pets. I set the camera up so it would record everything.
Marvel was by my side, I looked at her and asked if she knew which cat this was. “George! He has the fluffy tail!”
“You’re right! Let me get his harness and leash on, then you can play with him.” I handed her George once he was ready to be outside. Fred was next. I got him in his harness and leash, then handed him to Saint. For cats, these two are very friendly and love attention from anyone that will give it to them. They act more like dogs than cats. George instantly loved on Marvel, purring and asking for pets by rubbing his head against her. Fred was happy getting pets and attention from Saint. Both leashes were attached to the van and about 20 feet long. The boys could explore and play without being able to run off. I also pulled out some of their toys and handed them to Bronx so he could play with the boys too.
“I need to get the rest of my camp set up. Give me a minute and I’ll get a chair for you.” I said to Pete.
“Can I help? We did interrupt your setup.” He offered.
“Sure, I’ll hand things down to you.” I climbed up the ladder on the back of Luna and got on the roof. Opening the roof storage was the easy part. Getting everything out was a little more work. But I got the catio out and handed that down. Then I got the two nice chairs out. When I handed the first one down, Bronx was there offering his help too. The groundcover was the last thing I pulled out. I was going to just toss it to the ground, but the two of them got it from me and took it over to where the awning was.
“Thank you very much.” I said as I came back down the ladder. With their help we put the groundcover out, set up the catio, and the chairs. I had a third chair in the van that I pulled out so Bronx could sit too. He wasn’t as interested in the boys as the younger two were.
“Would you like something to drink? I have water and juice.” I offered.
“I’m good, but thanks.” Bronx said.
I looked at Pete and he shook his head no.
“Have a seat.” I offered to both of them as I got the chairs set up in the shade of the awning. I reached inside of Luna and grabbed a bottle of water for myself.
“So, how long have you been watching?” I asked the two of them as I got settled. The littles were having a great time with the boys. The three of us were watching the two cats leap and run after the toys Saint and Marvel were playing with. I had turned the camera off by this time.
“I’ve been watching for a long time.” Bronx said. “You were already living and traveling in Luna and had just got the cats.”
“That was a long time ago. That was back in 2019. You’ve been watching that long?” I was surprised by that.
“Me and Saint were looking for camping, van life, and cat videos. I searched for that on YouTube and you came up. He liked the cats, I liked the camping gear.” He grinned at me. I had to smile back at him. “I told Dad about you since we weren’t supposed to watch anything without a parent knowing what it was and he had to approve.”
Pete picked up the story at this point. “They showed me your channel and I gave permission for them to watch. And then I got sucked in.” He chuckled and grinned at me. “You’re a lot of fun to watch. You’re funny and so upbeat and just, I don’t know. You’re a nice splash of positivity. I didn’t see any reason to not let them watch you. Then lockdown started and we started watching as a family. We watch every week now.”
“Thank you. I’m honored you all have enjoyed the boys and I for so long.” I smiled back at him. I really was honored that he had gotten a little entertainment from me. After all, I had been enjoying his band for about 17 years.
“Daddy, I’m thirsty.” Marvel came up and said.
“I have some water and I have orange juice. Would you like some?” I offered her.
“Can I have juice?” She asked.
I glanced up at Pete to be sure it was ok, he nodded.
“You sure can. Let me get it for you.” I got up and entered Luna. I have a small refrigerator in the van. I had a couple of individual orange juices. I pulled out two in case Saint wanted one too. I handed Marvel one and then asked Saint if he wanted one too. He did.
The littles went back to playing with the boys. I sat and enjoyed a very nice conversation with Bronx and Pete. We mostly talked about the places I’ve visited and what I liked most about them. Bronx was very interested in camping and hiking. He wants to try backcountry hiking and camping. He had a lot of questions.
I found out that they started camping as a family because of me and other van lifers and just other campers that are on YouTube. We talked about those channels and I actually knew some of them personally. I’ve met Chrome from VanCity Van Life. And Emmy from The Cat Lady Van. The littles watched her too for her little Kelly.
“You guys really started camping because of my channel?”
“Bronx and then Saint kept asking. When we had been on lockdown for a few months I finally cracked and took just the boys on a trip. We only had a tent at the time. After that trip I realized I was too old to sleep on the ground.” Pete laughed. “I got the camper after that and started bringing Marvel and their mom with us. The boys still like to sleep in a tent. But at least I get a bed to sleep in.”
I didn’t want to ask why their mom wasn’t with them this time. That’s private, and not something I would ask about.
As we chatted, the littles and the twins wore each other out. After about two hours the cats wanted to just hang out in their catio. Marvel wanted to lay down with them in it. Saint ended up in Pete’s lap looking like he was going to fall asleep at any time. He was fighting it hard too.
“I should probably take these two back and let them nap.” Pete said as Marvel yawned and whined a little about wanting to sleep with the kitties.
I smiled at him and told them all that they were welcome to come back later if they wanted to spend more time with the twins.
“I don’t want to impose. You haven’t had a chance to even finish getting settled.”
“You’re not an imposition. The company’s been nice.” I smiled at Pete when I said that. “And the twins had a blast with those two.”
“Well, maybe we’ll come back later.”
I said goodbye to them and then started working. I still had a vlog to film and I had some editing to get done. And, I had another source of income. I also write romance novels. They aren’t the best, but they sell well enough. I don’t talk about them on my channel because I publish under my real name.
I had stopped filming shortly after the boys and the littles started playing. I didn’t bother to film anymore at that time, nothing very interesting was happening. I ended up bringing my laptop out and working on my latest book. The cats were sound asleep in the sun.
A few hours later Bronx came over to ask if the kids could come back for a little while to play with the cats again.
“Sure! You’re all welcome to come back. Have you guys had lunch yet? I was just thinking about fixing something.”
“Dad and I had a sandwich. He’s making the kids eat right now.”
“Come on over when y'all are ready.” I grinned at him, he grinned back. When he did that, the resemblance to his father was remarkable.
Bronx headed back to his camp site. I went ahead and got my lunch. I made a quick salad and was sitting under the awning eating it when the Wentz family came back.
The two older Wentz’s sat with me as the littles kept themselves and the twins busy. All four of them were rested and full of energy again. I wish I had that much energy.
“I’m sorry if we’re keeping you from anything.” Pete apologized.
I actually laughed at that. “I live in a van and travel for a living. I make my own schedule for the most part. The only thing I had planned for the next few days is to get some editing done and maybe some writing. And if I’m really lucky, some sleep. Nothing that can’t wait.”
Bronx sat and started with a line of questions about a piece of gear I had tried out a few weeks ago. I hadn’t liked it much, but it did the job it was designed for. It was just too big for what I needed. I’m going to have to give it a way or something. I don’t have the storage for it. I only had it because the company sent it to me to try and do a video on.
“You write?” Pete asked after I was done telling Bronx about the tent/screen room I had tested out.
“Yeah. YouTube isn’t my only source of income. I have three books published. I’m working on the fourth.” I told him.
“I don’t think I’ve heard you talk about that before. What kind of books do you write?”
“I don’t talk about it on the channel. I publish under my real name. And they’re just silly, smutty romance novels. Nothing you’d be interested in.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Silly and smutty sounds like a good read.” He said with a smile I wasn’t sure how to read. Flirty? Maybe? I don’t know. I didn’t want to read too much into it.
I laughed before I said, “If you can find them you’re welcome to read them. But I promise they really aren’t that good. It’s housewife porn at best.” He wasn’t going to find them. He didn’t know my last name.
“What’s your last name?” He asked.
I just looked at him, blinked a few times and didn’t answer.
“You really do keep your information secret don’t you?”
“Yes I do.” I said with a big smile. “No offense, but I don’t trust anyone. It’s a me thing, not a you thing.”
“Ok, fair enough.” Pete said with a smile.
Bronx asked me, “Why are you so secretive with your name?”
“Because even though I put some of my life up on the internet, I don’t put all of it out there. I did this to document my journey. Not to share everything with everyone. I’m still surprised that anyone wants to watch. Let alone so many people. By keeping my name a secret, it keeps my family private. And it keeps the parts of my life I don't share private too.”
Bronx thought about this. I have a feeling he could understand and appreciate that. He nodded after a minute and said, “I think I understand.”
“I can appreciate that.” Pete said. “Keeping your family out of your public life is important if they don’t want to be part of it.”
“I didn’t give them an option. My mom and step-father weren’t interested when I first started building out Luna. I just kept it that way. And then I decided that I didn’t want my name out there, so I just kept it that way.” I said with a shrug. “How long are you guys staying?” I asked them to change the subject.
“We got here last night and are leaving Saturday. You?” Pete answered.
“I’m planning on leaving Saturday too. I’m going to the lake tomorrow, do you all want to join me?”
“Sure. We were planning on going tomorrow anyway.” Pete said with a smile.
“Awesome. It’ll be nice to have some company.”
“You were here last year. What’s the lake like? Is it deep enough for a good swim?” Bronx asked me. He was excited about swimming in the lake.
I answered his questions, and continued to chat with the W family for a while. As it started to get later in the evening, I decided to light my campfire. I wanted it to burn down a bit because I had planned on cooking on it that night.
“What are you guys doing for dinner?” I asked them. Turned out that they were going to roast hot dogs since that’s what the kids wanted. I knew I was going to have a campfire so I had also picked things I could cook over it. I offered to share my fire and food with them if they wanted. Pete agreed, but offered to run back to their camper and grab some things to go with it. I didn’t have hot dogs, but bratwurst. I also had picked up some pre-made pasta salad, chips and a few other things that were easy to eat and didn’t take any cooking. The five of us enjoyed our dinner very much.
When I was in the store picking up my groceries the day before, I had found gourmet marshmallows. Raspberry and strawberry flavored ones. I had to pick them up to try because they looked good, and to make a video on. I had also picked up milk chocolate and dark chocolate, (Hershey’s of course) regular marshmallows and graham crackers to make s’mores with.
I quietly asked Pete if the kids could have some. He was fine with it so I asked them if they wanted to try and if they would be ok with doing it on camera. I figured having the kids taste test them would add to the vlog.
Picking up my camera and starting to record, I said “Thanks to editing, it’s now many hours later. I’ve just been hanging out with my new friends. But, I found something at the store yesterday that I wanted to try and thought I’d do it on camera.” I pulled out the bags of marshmallows. “Strawberry and raspberry flavored marshmallows! I’ve never seen these before and just had to try them. Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever tried these. Anyway, we’re going to try them tonight. We have three kids and two adults to let you know what we think.”
I turned the camera around and started asking the kids what combinations they wanted to try. I had a set of campfire utensils that included a set of marshmallow roasting sticks. I pulled those out and handed Bronx one, Pete and I helped the little kids with what they wanted. After some burnt marshmallows everyone got to try the different flavors, and combinations.
The marshmallows were actually pretty good. We had far too many because everyone wanted to try all the different combinations. The results were thumbs up from everyone on both flavors. The littles liked the strawberry with milk chocolate best. Pete and I liked the raspberry with dark chocolate the best. And Bronx liked the regular marshmallows with dark chocolate the most.
By the time we were done with s’mores Marvel and Saint were ready for bed. They didn’t want to go to sleep, but they wouldn’t have been able to stay awake for long.
“I think I should take these two back to our camp and put them down for the night.” Saint was falling asleep on Pete’s shoulder. Marvel was just about asleep in the catio.
“Let me help you. I can carry Marvel for you.” I offered.
“You don’t have to.” Pete started to protest but I had already picked her up. She was almost asleep. She wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist.
“It’s okay, I got her.” I said as I looked at him. A strange expression crossed his face.
“Thanks,” he finally said as he turned to head towards their campsite.
The five of us headed to their campsite, Pete with Saint in his arms, me with Marvel, and Bronx following us. When we got to their site, Bronx got the tent open so Pete could get Saint in. I started to hand him a sleeping Marvel when she woke up.
“Moony, will you tell me a story?” She asked in a very sleepy voice.
“Do you want a story?” I asked her. She just nodded against my shoulder.
“Okay, I think I can handle that.” I said as I tried to think of a story to tell her. I sat down at the picnic table with Marvel in my lap, her head resting on my shoulder.
“Once upon a time, there was a little princess named The Marvelous Miss. Marvel. She had two older brothers, the Princes Lord Bronx and Sir Saint.” I started the tale. I went on to tell her a story about a dragon that had entered the kingdom of Wentzville. And how the good King Peter III was going to send his bravest knights to slay the dragon. But Prince Bronx asked his father if he could try to slay the dragon. He was a very brave young man, but the good king didn’t want to send his son to face a dragon. Then Prince Saint asked if he could go with his brother and together they would face the dragon. The good king agreed that the princes could try to slay the dragon, and even lent them the magical flaming sword he had. At this point Marvel was sound asleep.
“I think she’s finally asleep,” I whispered.
Pete took her from me and put her to bed in the camper. I got up with the intention of heading back to my campsite for the night.
“Well, goodnight.” I said as I started to leave. “Still want to go to the lake tomorrow?”
“You don’t have to leave.” Pete said as he came out of the camper. “I mean, if you want to stay you can. I mean, I know Bronx and I aren’t ready to go to bed yet. I was gonna light a fire and just hang out with him. Please join us. We’ve been over at yours all day.”
“Okay. But I need to put the cats in the van. Let me go take care of them and then I’ll come back over.”
“Moon, will you teach me how to light a fire the way you did yours? It always takes us forever to get ours going.” Bronx asked.
“Sure, I’ll be happy to. Tell you what, you get all your fire making material together while I run over and put the boys to bed. I’m gonna go use the bathroom too. That should give you plenty of time to get everything ready. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Bronx, go with her and help bring back one of her chairs.” Pete told his son.
“I’m ok. I’ll be right back.” I said as I walked off into the darkness of the campgrounds. My fire was still burning low. The boys were ready to head into the van and go to sleep. I put them in the van and took off their harnesses. They sniffed their dishes, Fred got a drink of water and then they got comfy on the bed. I grabbed a sweater and locked up Luna. I put out my fire and then went to use the restroom. On my way back I grabbed my chair.
When I got back to their site, Bronx ran up and took my chair out of my hands. He set it up so I was sitting next to his dad and he was on the other side of the fire from us.
“Ok, let’s see what you’ve put together to make a fire.” I said to him once he got my chair set up. “Where’s your tinder?” I asked.
“Oh, over here,” he showed me.
I smiled and said, “Perfect!” Then I started to instruct him on the placement of the tender, the kindling over the tender, and then had him light it. Then, once the fire had taken to the kindling, I had him place a few of the larger logs in a tee-pee formation so it would burn long and slow.
“That was easy!” Bronx exclaimed.
I smiled back at him and said, “Yeah it is, and now you know how to make a fire that will burn in most weather conditions. Even in a light rain. If it’s pouring you're just out of luck.”
I settled into my chair after we got the fire started.
“I have some adult beverages if you’d like one.” Pete offered
“I’d love one. What’cha got?”
“A couple of beers, and a few hard ciders.”
“I’ll take a cider.”
Pete went and got us the drinks. He also grabbed a soda for Bronx. He handed me mine and then sat down. I went to open my bottle and realized it wasn’t a twist off. So I pulled out my Leatherman tool and popped the top off. Pete realized the same thing at about the same time and tried to apologize.
“No worries. I got it. Want me to get yours too?” I offered.
“Yes, please,” he said as he handed over his bottle. I opened it for him and handed it back.
“Thanks. I didn’t even look to see if these were twist offs or not. And I don’t think I have a bottle opener in the RV. Good thing you were prepared.” He laughed at himself.
“Would you like some music?” He asked. He had his phone out and a small bluetooth speaker.
“Sure, I’d love some.”
“Have you been listening to anyone lately? What kind of music do you like?” He asked me.
I laughed at that and said, “You mean besides So Much For Stardust? ‘Cause that’s been in constant rotation for the last few months.”
Pete just chuckled but Bronx’s mouth dropped open. “You know who Dad is?! Why didn't you say anything?”
Pete and I both cracked up at the look in his face. “Bronx, she knew to introduce us as the W family, but didn’t ask what our name was. And didn’t you hear the story she was telling Marvel? Wentzville and King Peter the third? Of course she knows who I am. She’s just being really cool about it.” He looked at me and then said, “Thank you by the way.”
I looked at him, smiled and said, “Anytime.”
Then I looked at Bronx. “Bronx, you said you watch my channel. Haven’t you realized that every time I say, ‘to quote my favorite poet’ it is always a Fall Out Boy song? Or the fact that Luna has a FOB sticker on her ass?” I asked him.
“I did notice that sometimes it’s a Fall Out Boy lyric, but I didn’t think it was every time.” Bronx said thoughtfully.
“When I quote any other band I say what band. I’ll say to quote Queen, or to quote Tom Petty, or something like that. But, I don’t quote other bands that often.” I turned back to Pete and said, “I listen to all kinds of music. So, anything is fine with me. Put on what you’ve been listening to.”
He put on Burn by The Cure. “Oh,” I said, “I haven’t heard this in a long time. Great movie.”
Pete grinned at me. “We just watched it last week. I had forgotten about this song.”
“Do you have any plans for the summer?” Bronx asked.
“I’m heading north for the summer. I have a ‘Bucket List’ trip planned.”
“Where are you going?” Bronx asked excitedly.
“Alaska,” I answered with a grin. I was so excited about my trip.
“Alaska!? That’s so cool. Where’re you headed? Are you going to do a lot of backcountry camping?” Bronx was full of questions.
“I’ll end up in Fairbanks by June 21st. I want to be there for the Summer Solstice. And I have friends that live just outside of Fairbanks in a town called North Pole. I’m very excited to meet them in person for the first time. They have a channel too and I’ve been watching their family for a few years now. And they watch me. We’ve been talking for years. But, I plan on being up there all summer. It’s a big state with lots to see.” I told Bronx.
I sat and sipped my cider and just hung out with Pete and Bronx. We laughed a lot and just had a nice evening. But, I was feeling tired as it got later. Finally, I was ready to get some sleep.
I checked the time and it was after 11:00 pm. I finally had to give up and go back to Luna.
“Sorry, but I’m done for the night. I’ve got to get some sleep.” I said as I yawned.
“What time were you planning on heading to the lake?” Pete asked.
“I’m an early riser. I’ll probably be ready to go by 7 or 8.”
“I’m not that early of a riser. Will you be alright with leaving a bit later?”
“Sure. Anytime after 8 will be fine.” I assured him.
“You know Moon, you should move to the site next to us.” Bronx suggested.
“Ya know, that’s not a bad idea. But it’s too late to do it tonight. Maybe in the morning. Goodnight. Thanks for the company and the drink.” I said before grabbing my chair and heading to my campsite.
I unlocked Luna and got in. After changing into my sleep clothes, I got into bed. Both Fred and George cuddled up with me. As I was falling asleep the little Emo girl that still lives in the back of my brain was screaming at me ‘You just spent the day with Pete fucking Wentz and his kids!’ I had to laugh at myself just a little.
I’m in California right now. I’ve been here for a few days and will be heading north soon. I normally don’t stay in campgrounds unless I’m going to need someplace I can get internet access, or have need of the facilities. I still need to invest in Star Link so I can stay out in the backcountry longer and still keep my upload schedule. I post twice a week. Wednesdays and Sundays.
“Hello everyone!” I said with a smile into my camera. “For those of you that are new, welcome! For those of you that have been around before, welcome back! I’m Moon, and this is my channel, Adventures with Girl in the Moon. I live the Van Life here in Luna with my two cats, Fred and George.” I gave my usual greetings. “I’m still in California. I’m going to be here for a little while. I’m staying at a campground in the Los Padres National Forest for a few days. I’ve stayed here before, it's nice and quiet. Not many people seem to know it’s here. It looks like I only have one neighbor a few slips down from me.” I moved the camera to show the campground. I made sure not to record anything identifiable about my neighbors. I have always been extremely cautious about privacy. Mine and anyone else that has ever appeared on my channel. I didn’t even use my real name on the channel. But I do always say that if you see me in the wild, come introduce yourself. I’ll tell you my name then.
I hadn’t taken a good look, but I think it was a family staying there. Pretty sure I saw a couple of kids running around.
“It’s a nice spot. Lots of sunlight so my solar panels should be able to charge up the house batteries. I need to set up camp and let the twins out on their leashes so they can burn off some energy. I’ll set the catio up for them too.”
I set up the camera on my tripod so it would record me setting up my camp and getting the cats out. People watched my channel just for the cats. Their names are Fred and George. Ginger boys that were the only kittens in the litter. Being a Harry Potter fan, I couldn’t name them anything else.
I had just finished putting the awning up and was about to climb up the ladder to get into my roof storage. The ground cover, catio, and my good chair were all stored up there.
I heard two little voices behind me, “Are you Girl in the Moon?” “Can we meet the kitties?”
I turned around to see two young children standing there. A blond girl around 4 or 5 years old. And a dark haired boy who looked to be around 7.
I grinned at them, squatted down so I was eye level and said, “Yes I am. And who are you?”
“I’m Saint.” The boy told me.
“I’m Marvel.” The girl said
“Well hello Saint, hello Marvel. Do you watch my channel?”
They both nodded enthusiastically. “We watch with our brother ‘n Dad.” Saint informed me.
“Can we meet Fred and George?” Marvel asked.
“Yes you can. But I need to meet your parents first. Are they here?”
“Dads coming.” Saint said and pointed over his shoulder behind him in the direction of the one neighbor I had at the campground.
I glanced around Marvel to see two men, one older, probably around my age, and one younger, a teenager, heading our direction. I smiled at them to show I knew they were coming over. The older of the two flashed me a smile and I knew who he was. The names of the kids had triggered something in my brain, but I hadn’t put my finger on it. Seeing him and that smile, I recognized him. I did my best to not let the recognition show on my face. But holy hell, the little emo girl in me wanted to squeal!
“Hi. Sorry if the kids are bothering you. They recognized you and your van. They wanted to meet you and the cats.” Their father said as he came up.
I stood up and greeted him and his teenage son with a bright smile. “No, they aren’t bothering me. I always say if you see me in the wild to come over and introduce yourself. You must be Dad?” I asked as I offered him my hand.
He grinned at me and took my hand to shake. “Yes. Hi, I’m Pete.”
“Pleased to meet you Pete.” I said as I shook his hand.
I turned to the teenager standing next to Pete. “And you must be the big brother.” As I offered my hand.
“Bronx, nice to meet you.” He said with a shy smile. He was growing up to look a lot like his dad.
“Nice to meet you too, Bronx.”
I looked at all four of them and said, “My real name is Grace. But you can call me Moon if you want. Most people do. Either works for me. It’s very nice to meet all of you.”
“Can we meet the kitties now?” Marvel asked.
I grinned down at her. “I just have to talk to your Dad about one more thing and then I’ll get the twins out. Ok?”
She nodded and I looked up at Pete. “Alright, full transparency, there is a camera over there that’s recording everything. I know the kids can be seen. Pretty sure you and Bronx can be seen too. Before we go any further, I need to know if you guys want to be in the vlog or not. I need to go get the camera either way. I just need to know if I need to shut it down, or keep filming.”
“Dad, can we?” Bronx asked.
“Do you guys want to be in the vlog?” Pete asked all the kids. All three of them wanted to be, so he agreed to let them.
“Now, you all know I don’t use real names on my channel.” I said to the four of them. They all nodded. “So, I’ll introduce you as...” I flicked my eyes up to meet Pete’s, “the W family?” I asked. He instantly understood I knew who he was.
“Yeah, that’s fine.” He said with a small smile.
“Ok, I’ll go get the camera, introduce you to the rest of our YouTube family. And then you can meet the boys.” I said as I smiled at Marvel.
“Hey guys, change of plans.” I said into the camera as I picked it up. “Turns out my neighbors are some of you. They’re part of our amazing YouTube family. They’re viewers and came over to meet me. And they’ve agreed to meet all of you as well.” By this time I was back to the van and the W family.
Turning the camera around, “This is the W family.” I started with Marvel. “This is Miss. M.” She waved to the camera. “This is Sir S.” The camera was on Saint. He waved and said hi. “This is Sir B.” Bronx said “Hello YouTube family.” and waved. “And this is Dad.” Pete smiled and waived.
“Alright, let’s get the boys out.” I said as I opened the side door of Luna. Both of the cats came over knowing they were going to get to go outside. George came over to me butting his head against my hand looking for some pets. I set the camera up so it would record everything.
Marvel was by my side, I looked at her and asked if she knew which cat this was. “George! He has the fluffy tail!”
“You’re right! Let me get his harness and leash on, then you can play with him.” I handed her George once he was ready to be outside. Fred was next. I got him in his harness and leash, then handed him to Saint. For cats, these two are very friendly and love attention from anyone that will give it to them. They act more like dogs than cats. George instantly loved on Marvel, purring and asking for pets by rubbing his head against her. Fred was happy getting pets and attention from Saint. Both leashes were attached to the van and about 20 feet long. The boys could explore and play without being able to run off. I also pulled out some of their toys and handed them to Bronx so he could play with the boys too.
“I need to get the rest of my camp set up. Give me a minute and I’ll get a chair for you.” I said to Pete.
“Can I help? We did interrupt your setup.” He offered.
“Sure, I’ll hand things down to you.” I climbed up the ladder on the back of Luna and got on the roof. Opening the roof storage was the easy part. Getting everything out was a little more work. But I got the catio out and handed that down. Then I got the two nice chairs out. When I handed the first one down, Bronx was there offering his help too. The groundcover was the last thing I pulled out. I was going to just toss it to the ground, but the two of them got it from me and took it over to where the awning was.
“Thank you very much.” I said as I came back down the ladder. With their help we put the groundcover out, set up the catio, and the chairs. I had a third chair in the van that I pulled out so Bronx could sit too. He wasn’t as interested in the boys as the younger two were.
“Would you like something to drink? I have water and juice.” I offered.
“I’m good, but thanks.” Bronx said.
I looked at Pete and he shook his head no.
“Have a seat.” I offered to both of them as I got the chairs set up in the shade of the awning. I reached inside of Luna and grabbed a bottle of water for myself.
“So, how long have you been watching?” I asked the two of them as I got settled. The littles were having a great time with the boys. The three of us were watching the two cats leap and run after the toys Saint and Marvel were playing with. I had turned the camera off by this time.
“I’ve been watching for a long time.” Bronx said. “You were already living and traveling in Luna and had just got the cats.”
“That was a long time ago. That was back in 2019. You’ve been watching that long?” I was surprised by that.
“Me and Saint were looking for camping, van life, and cat videos. I searched for that on YouTube and you came up. He liked the cats, I liked the camping gear.” He grinned at me. I had to smile back at him. “I told Dad about you since we weren’t supposed to watch anything without a parent knowing what it was and he had to approve.”
Pete picked up the story at this point. “They showed me your channel and I gave permission for them to watch. And then I got sucked in.” He chuckled and grinned at me. “You’re a lot of fun to watch. You’re funny and so upbeat and just, I don’t know. You’re a nice splash of positivity. I didn’t see any reason to not let them watch you. Then lockdown started and we started watching as a family. We watch every week now.”
“Thank you. I’m honored you all have enjoyed the boys and I for so long.” I smiled back at him. I really was honored that he had gotten a little entertainment from me. After all, I had been enjoying his band for about 17 years.
“Daddy, I’m thirsty.” Marvel came up and said.
“I have some water and I have orange juice. Would you like some?” I offered her.
“Can I have juice?” She asked.
I glanced up at Pete to be sure it was ok, he nodded.
“You sure can. Let me get it for you.” I got up and entered Luna. I have a small refrigerator in the van. I had a couple of individual orange juices. I pulled out two in case Saint wanted one too. I handed Marvel one and then asked Saint if he wanted one too. He did.
The littles went back to playing with the boys. I sat and enjoyed a very nice conversation with Bronx and Pete. We mostly talked about the places I’ve visited and what I liked most about them. Bronx was very interested in camping and hiking. He wants to try backcountry hiking and camping. He had a lot of questions.
I found out that they started camping as a family because of me and other van lifers and just other campers that are on YouTube. We talked about those channels and I actually knew some of them personally. I’ve met Chrome from VanCity Van Life. And Emmy from The Cat Lady Van. The littles watched her too for her little Kelly.
“You guys really started camping because of my channel?”
“Bronx and then Saint kept asking. When we had been on lockdown for a few months I finally cracked and took just the boys on a trip. We only had a tent at the time. After that trip I realized I was too old to sleep on the ground.” Pete laughed. “I got the camper after that and started bringing Marvel and their mom with us. The boys still like to sleep in a tent. But at least I get a bed to sleep in.”
I didn’t want to ask why their mom wasn’t with them this time. That’s private, and not something I would ask about.
As we chatted, the littles and the twins wore each other out. After about two hours the cats wanted to just hang out in their catio. Marvel wanted to lay down with them in it. Saint ended up in Pete’s lap looking like he was going to fall asleep at any time. He was fighting it hard too.
“I should probably take these two back and let them nap.” Pete said as Marvel yawned and whined a little about wanting to sleep with the kitties.
I smiled at him and told them all that they were welcome to come back later if they wanted to spend more time with the twins.
“I don’t want to impose. You haven’t had a chance to even finish getting settled.”
“You’re not an imposition. The company’s been nice.” I smiled at Pete when I said that. “And the twins had a blast with those two.”
“Well, maybe we’ll come back later.”
I said goodbye to them and then started working. I still had a vlog to film and I had some editing to get done. And, I had another source of income. I also write romance novels. They aren’t the best, but they sell well enough. I don’t talk about them on my channel because I publish under my real name.
I had stopped filming shortly after the boys and the littles started playing. I didn’t bother to film anymore at that time, nothing very interesting was happening. I ended up bringing my laptop out and working on my latest book. The cats were sound asleep in the sun.
A few hours later Bronx came over to ask if the kids could come back for a little while to play with the cats again.
“Sure! You’re all welcome to come back. Have you guys had lunch yet? I was just thinking about fixing something.”
“Dad and I had a sandwich. He’s making the kids eat right now.”
“Come on over when y'all are ready.” I grinned at him, he grinned back. When he did that, the resemblance to his father was remarkable.
Bronx headed back to his camp site. I went ahead and got my lunch. I made a quick salad and was sitting under the awning eating it when the Wentz family came back.
The two older Wentz’s sat with me as the littles kept themselves and the twins busy. All four of them were rested and full of energy again. I wish I had that much energy.
“I’m sorry if we’re keeping you from anything.” Pete apologized.
I actually laughed at that. “I live in a van and travel for a living. I make my own schedule for the most part. The only thing I had planned for the next few days is to get some editing done and maybe some writing. And if I’m really lucky, some sleep. Nothing that can’t wait.”
Bronx sat and started with a line of questions about a piece of gear I had tried out a few weeks ago. I hadn’t liked it much, but it did the job it was designed for. It was just too big for what I needed. I’m going to have to give it a way or something. I don’t have the storage for it. I only had it because the company sent it to me to try and do a video on.
“You write?” Pete asked after I was done telling Bronx about the tent/screen room I had tested out.
“Yeah. YouTube isn’t my only source of income. I have three books published. I’m working on the fourth.” I told him.
“I don’t think I’ve heard you talk about that before. What kind of books do you write?”
“I don’t talk about it on the channel. I publish under my real name. And they’re just silly, smutty romance novels. Nothing you’d be interested in.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Silly and smutty sounds like a good read.” He said with a smile I wasn’t sure how to read. Flirty? Maybe? I don’t know. I didn’t want to read too much into it.
I laughed before I said, “If you can find them you’re welcome to read them. But I promise they really aren’t that good. It’s housewife porn at best.” He wasn’t going to find them. He didn’t know my last name.
“What’s your last name?” He asked.
I just looked at him, blinked a few times and didn’t answer.
“You really do keep your information secret don’t you?”
“Yes I do.” I said with a big smile. “No offense, but I don’t trust anyone. It’s a me thing, not a you thing.”
“Ok, fair enough.” Pete said with a smile.
Bronx asked me, “Why are you so secretive with your name?”
“Because even though I put some of my life up on the internet, I don’t put all of it out there. I did this to document my journey. Not to share everything with everyone. I’m still surprised that anyone wants to watch. Let alone so many people. By keeping my name a secret, it keeps my family private. And it keeps the parts of my life I don't share private too.”
Bronx thought about this. I have a feeling he could understand and appreciate that. He nodded after a minute and said, “I think I understand.”
“I can appreciate that.” Pete said. “Keeping your family out of your public life is important if they don’t want to be part of it.”
“I didn’t give them an option. My mom and step-father weren’t interested when I first started building out Luna. I just kept it that way. And then I decided that I didn’t want my name out there, so I just kept it that way.” I said with a shrug. “How long are you guys staying?” I asked them to change the subject.
“We got here last night and are leaving Saturday. You?” Pete answered.
“I’m planning on leaving Saturday too. I’m going to the lake tomorrow, do you all want to join me?”
“Sure. We were planning on going tomorrow anyway.” Pete said with a smile.
“Awesome. It’ll be nice to have some company.”
“You were here last year. What’s the lake like? Is it deep enough for a good swim?” Bronx asked me. He was excited about swimming in the lake.
I answered his questions, and continued to chat with the W family for a while. As it started to get later in the evening, I decided to light my campfire. I wanted it to burn down a bit because I had planned on cooking on it that night.
“What are you guys doing for dinner?” I asked them. Turned out that they were going to roast hot dogs since that’s what the kids wanted. I knew I was going to have a campfire so I had also picked things I could cook over it. I offered to share my fire and food with them if they wanted. Pete agreed, but offered to run back to their camper and grab some things to go with it. I didn’t have hot dogs, but bratwurst. I also had picked up some pre-made pasta salad, chips and a few other things that were easy to eat and didn’t take any cooking. The five of us enjoyed our dinner very much.
When I was in the store picking up my groceries the day before, I had found gourmet marshmallows. Raspberry and strawberry flavored ones. I had to pick them up to try because they looked good, and to make a video on. I had also picked up milk chocolate and dark chocolate, (Hershey’s of course) regular marshmallows and graham crackers to make s’mores with.
I quietly asked Pete if the kids could have some. He was fine with it so I asked them if they wanted to try and if they would be ok with doing it on camera. I figured having the kids taste test them would add to the vlog.
Picking up my camera and starting to record, I said “Thanks to editing, it’s now many hours later. I’ve just been hanging out with my new friends. But, I found something at the store yesterday that I wanted to try and thought I’d do it on camera.” I pulled out the bags of marshmallows. “Strawberry and raspberry flavored marshmallows! I’ve never seen these before and just had to try them. Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever tried these. Anyway, we’re going to try them tonight. We have three kids and two adults to let you know what we think.”
I turned the camera around and started asking the kids what combinations they wanted to try. I had a set of campfire utensils that included a set of marshmallow roasting sticks. I pulled those out and handed Bronx one, Pete and I helped the little kids with what they wanted. After some burnt marshmallows everyone got to try the different flavors, and combinations.
The marshmallows were actually pretty good. We had far too many because everyone wanted to try all the different combinations. The results were thumbs up from everyone on both flavors. The littles liked the strawberry with milk chocolate best. Pete and I liked the raspberry with dark chocolate the best. And Bronx liked the regular marshmallows with dark chocolate the most.
By the time we were done with s’mores Marvel and Saint were ready for bed. They didn’t want to go to sleep, but they wouldn’t have been able to stay awake for long.
“I think I should take these two back to our camp and put them down for the night.” Saint was falling asleep on Pete’s shoulder. Marvel was just about asleep in the catio.
“Let me help you. I can carry Marvel for you.” I offered.
“You don’t have to.” Pete started to protest but I had already picked her up. She was almost asleep. She wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist.
“It’s okay, I got her.” I said as I looked at him. A strange expression crossed his face.
“Thanks,” he finally said as he turned to head towards their campsite.
The five of us headed to their campsite, Pete with Saint in his arms, me with Marvel, and Bronx following us. When we got to their site, Bronx got the tent open so Pete could get Saint in. I started to hand him a sleeping Marvel when she woke up.
“Moony, will you tell me a story?” She asked in a very sleepy voice.
“Do you want a story?” I asked her. She just nodded against my shoulder.
“Okay, I think I can handle that.” I said as I tried to think of a story to tell her. I sat down at the picnic table with Marvel in my lap, her head resting on my shoulder.
“Once upon a time, there was a little princess named The Marvelous Miss. Marvel. She had two older brothers, the Princes Lord Bronx and Sir Saint.” I started the tale. I went on to tell her a story about a dragon that had entered the kingdom of Wentzville. And how the good King Peter III was going to send his bravest knights to slay the dragon. But Prince Bronx asked his father if he could try to slay the dragon. He was a very brave young man, but the good king didn’t want to send his son to face a dragon. Then Prince Saint asked if he could go with his brother and together they would face the dragon. The good king agreed that the princes could try to slay the dragon, and even lent them the magical flaming sword he had. At this point Marvel was sound asleep.
“I think she’s finally asleep,” I whispered.
Pete took her from me and put her to bed in the camper. I got up with the intention of heading back to my campsite for the night.
“Well, goodnight.” I said as I started to leave. “Still want to go to the lake tomorrow?”
“You don’t have to leave.” Pete said as he came out of the camper. “I mean, if you want to stay you can. I mean, I know Bronx and I aren’t ready to go to bed yet. I was gonna light a fire and just hang out with him. Please join us. We’ve been over at yours all day.”
“Okay. But I need to put the cats in the van. Let me go take care of them and then I’ll come back over.”
“Moon, will you teach me how to light a fire the way you did yours? It always takes us forever to get ours going.” Bronx asked.
“Sure, I’ll be happy to. Tell you what, you get all your fire making material together while I run over and put the boys to bed. I’m gonna go use the bathroom too. That should give you plenty of time to get everything ready. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Bronx, go with her and help bring back one of her chairs.” Pete told his son.
“I’m ok. I’ll be right back.” I said as I walked off into the darkness of the campgrounds. My fire was still burning low. The boys were ready to head into the van and go to sleep. I put them in the van and took off their harnesses. They sniffed their dishes, Fred got a drink of water and then they got comfy on the bed. I grabbed a sweater and locked up Luna. I put out my fire and then went to use the restroom. On my way back I grabbed my chair.
When I got back to their site, Bronx ran up and took my chair out of my hands. He set it up so I was sitting next to his dad and he was on the other side of the fire from us.
“Ok, let’s see what you’ve put together to make a fire.” I said to him once he got my chair set up. “Where’s your tinder?” I asked.
“Oh, over here,” he showed me.
I smiled and said, “Perfect!” Then I started to instruct him on the placement of the tender, the kindling over the tender, and then had him light it. Then, once the fire had taken to the kindling, I had him place a few of the larger logs in a tee-pee formation so it would burn long and slow.
“That was easy!” Bronx exclaimed.
I smiled back at him and said, “Yeah it is, and now you know how to make a fire that will burn in most weather conditions. Even in a light rain. If it’s pouring you're just out of luck.”
I settled into my chair after we got the fire started.
“I have some adult beverages if you’d like one.” Pete offered
“I’d love one. What’cha got?”
“A couple of beers, and a few hard ciders.”
“I’ll take a cider.”
Pete went and got us the drinks. He also grabbed a soda for Bronx. He handed me mine and then sat down. I went to open my bottle and realized it wasn’t a twist off. So I pulled out my Leatherman tool and popped the top off. Pete realized the same thing at about the same time and tried to apologize.
“No worries. I got it. Want me to get yours too?” I offered.
“Yes, please,” he said as he handed over his bottle. I opened it for him and handed it back.
“Thanks. I didn’t even look to see if these were twist offs or not. And I don’t think I have a bottle opener in the RV. Good thing you were prepared.” He laughed at himself.
“Would you like some music?” He asked. He had his phone out and a small bluetooth speaker.
“Sure, I’d love some.”
“Have you been listening to anyone lately? What kind of music do you like?” He asked me.
I laughed at that and said, “You mean besides So Much For Stardust? ‘Cause that’s been in constant rotation for the last few months.”
Pete just chuckled but Bronx’s mouth dropped open. “You know who Dad is?! Why didn't you say anything?”
Pete and I both cracked up at the look in his face. “Bronx, she knew to introduce us as the W family, but didn’t ask what our name was. And didn’t you hear the story she was telling Marvel? Wentzville and King Peter the third? Of course she knows who I am. She’s just being really cool about it.” He looked at me and then said, “Thank you by the way.”
I looked at him, smiled and said, “Anytime.”
Then I looked at Bronx. “Bronx, you said you watch my channel. Haven’t you realized that every time I say, ‘to quote my favorite poet’ it is always a Fall Out Boy song? Or the fact that Luna has a FOB sticker on her ass?” I asked him.
“I did notice that sometimes it’s a Fall Out Boy lyric, but I didn’t think it was every time.” Bronx said thoughtfully.
“When I quote any other band I say what band. I’ll say to quote Queen, or to quote Tom Petty, or something like that. But, I don’t quote other bands that often.” I turned back to Pete and said, “I listen to all kinds of music. So, anything is fine with me. Put on what you’ve been listening to.”
He put on Burn by The Cure. “Oh,” I said, “I haven’t heard this in a long time. Great movie.”
Pete grinned at me. “We just watched it last week. I had forgotten about this song.”
“Do you have any plans for the summer?” Bronx asked.
“I’m heading north for the summer. I have a ‘Bucket List’ trip planned.”
“Where are you going?” Bronx asked excitedly.
“Alaska,” I answered with a grin. I was so excited about my trip.
“Alaska!? That’s so cool. Where’re you headed? Are you going to do a lot of backcountry camping?” Bronx was full of questions.
“I’ll end up in Fairbanks by June 21st. I want to be there for the Summer Solstice. And I have friends that live just outside of Fairbanks in a town called North Pole. I’m very excited to meet them in person for the first time. They have a channel too and I’ve been watching their family for a few years now. And they watch me. We’ve been talking for years. But, I plan on being up there all summer. It’s a big state with lots to see.” I told Bronx.
I sat and sipped my cider and just hung out with Pete and Bronx. We laughed a lot and just had a nice evening. But, I was feeling tired as it got later. Finally, I was ready to get some sleep.
I checked the time and it was after 11:00 pm. I finally had to give up and go back to Luna.
“Sorry, but I’m done for the night. I’ve got to get some sleep.” I said as I yawned.
“What time were you planning on heading to the lake?” Pete asked.
“I’m an early riser. I’ll probably be ready to go by 7 or 8.”
“I’m not that early of a riser. Will you be alright with leaving a bit later?”
“Sure. Anytime after 8 will be fine.” I assured him.
“You know Moon, you should move to the site next to us.” Bronx suggested.
“Ya know, that’s not a bad idea. But it’s too late to do it tonight. Maybe in the morning. Goodnight. Thanks for the company and the drink.” I said before grabbing my chair and heading to my campsite.
I unlocked Luna and got in. After changing into my sleep clothes, I got into bed. Both Fred and George cuddled up with me. As I was falling asleep the little Emo girl that still lives in the back of my brain was screaming at me ‘You just spent the day with Pete fucking Wentz and his kids!’ I had to laugh at myself just a little.
Sign up to rate and review this story