Month: November 2017

It’s Not All Fun And Games

It’s Not All Fun And Games

By |

Hey Guys!! One of the main reasons we took a travel hiatus is to work on the growing list of projects for the RV aka…our home. We do little odds and ends while we’re on the road, but there are some things that would be easier to do while stationary. I thought I would let y’all see behind the scenes of what it takes to keep this nomad life of ours going.

The very first thing we do every time we driveway camp at my (Jennie’s) parent’s house is to clean out and organize our “basement”. We take everything out, reevaluate its place and if we still want/need it, and clean out all of the bays under the RV. The first year we left we had all of the bays totally packed. Completely filled. There wasn’t a single inch of free space. Now…we’ve actually got quite a bit of empty space in our “basement”. The longer we do this nomadic life thing, the more we realize life isn’t really about the “stuff”…it’s about the memories and the moments.

Once we got everything cleaned out and reloaded, we put new seals on the bay doors that needed it. The seals are what keep the wet and dirt out of our “basement” and off of our stuff.

We (I’ll say we, but really it was just Jerl) did some electrical work. We (there’s that we again) added a strip of electrical outlets under a lip on our closet. A couple of our light sensor switches (I totally just made that name up…I don’t really know what it’s called) went out on the main control panel so Jerl took a look at all of those wires too. These switches tell us if our water pump and arctic pack is on or off. So, they’re kind of important.

So…funny story (not really…heavy sarcasm). The bottom slide out compartment of our freezer broke so our freezer door wouldn’t stay shut. We looked and looked and looked some more for the part or for someone who could tell us where to look for the part and no one in six or seven states could help us. Y’all…we had to keep the lock strap on our freezer door or the thing would just stay open. That’s not helpful. While we were back in Missouri, we finally found a place that could look up the part we needed and actually order it! We did a little happy dance after it was fixed!!

We have three ceiling vents in our RV. Two of them are in the bathrooms with these little dinky fans that help ventilate the…well, you know. Our plan was to replace all three with an upgraded fan. We started with the one skylight that didn’t have the fan. We LOVE it! It’s a reversible fan so not only can we vent air out when we’re cooking we can also pull cool air in to help cool the RV on days when it’s not hot enough to turn on the AC. We only got one switched out because we simply ran out of time due to some unexpected injuries. I’ll fill you in about those later.

We replaced this doo-hicky in both of our hot water tanks. The bottom one is the one we took out and the top one is what a new one looks like. I’d say we replaced it just in time. What the heck is it? Well, it’s actually called the anode rod and it helps protect the hot water tank from mineral build up and rusting.

We took out all of the cornice boxes around all of the windows (I’ve disliked these from day one) and my (Jennie’s) mom and I made curtains!! It took me forever to pick fabric. For…ev…ER! And then when I decided I went back and found that one of the fabrics was almost gone! Sheesh! I bought up the rest of it that day and luckily we had enough for the curtains and a small pillow! We lined all of the curtains with the grey insulating material you see in the picture above.

And, because I’ve already gotten several questions about that insulating fabric…you can see the details in the picture above. I got it at JoAnne’s back in the upholstery section on the big, long rolls.

The curtains made a huge difference in the way the RV looks and feels. It feels so much homier and more comfortable now. We’re loving the curtains! And… because I love the fabric…here’s the fabric that I almost missed out on. The big curtain in the back of the bottom picture. When I first found this material there were five full bolts of it. Five! When I just happened to stop in to have one more look there was only one partial bolt left. One. And it was almost empty. I grabbed it and carried it around the store in a panic trying to finalize my decision on the other fabrics. That’s what I get for procrastinating and trying to wait for a good coupon.

Jerl fixed a leak in one of the slides. It had been leaking for some time and we’d had it in to the shop. The pros couldn’t find the leak, but we kept seeing evidence of it, so Jerl took matters into his own hands…and leak be gone!

If you look back at the very first picture on this post you’ll see our trusty 4Runner. We had to replace her this past summer. Our first thought was to get a truck, but we couldn’t find one that fit us better than our old 4Runner so we ended up with a newer 4Runner. My (Jennie’s) dad and Jerl worked on getting her ready to go.

It was a hard decision. Not only did we really love our old 4Runner…she was totally paid off.  But, we can now flat-tow and get rid of our big, bulky, heavy trailer. The trailer has caused us some issues on our travels. We always had to make sure we could get a pull-through spot or if a pull-through wasn’t available we had to make sure there was a spot somewhere for our trailer. Some parks let you park on the grass right next to your spot…most don’t. Some parks want to charge extra for either another spot or storage. So, while we’ll miss her and the no payment it was definitely the right decision to replace her. *sniff sniff*

Ever wonder how to replace a mattress in an RV? Well, it’s actually pretty darn easy! We ordered ours from a company called Mattress Insider and they shipped them to us in the boxes you see in the picture above. So, getting the new mattress in the RV was easy peasy! When you take the mattress out of the box it’s wrapped up tight. We found it easier to cut the wrap than try to pull it apart. Once you cut the wrap, you unfold it and the mattress expands…and voila! New mattress! We got new mattresses for all of the beds. After two years of sleeping on the factory mattresses it was time for an upgrade. Our backs are thanking us!

Getting the old mattresses out of the RV door wasn’t as easy as getting the new ones in, but with a little muscle we made quick work of it.

In between all of the projects and explorations, life happened. Charles got started on straitening his teeth with the help of appliances and these trays. We were able to get all the trays he’ll need to take with us so over the next year his teeth will straighten out and when we get back to driveway camping next October we can go back in for a check up.

Nicholas had a pretty big growth spurt which effected his vision so we had to find somewhere to get his eyes checked and get him some new glasses.

Charles and Jerl took a quick trip down to Texas to get a driver’s permit. We’re late on doing this. Charles isn’t in a hurry to drive…this doesn’t bother me at all. I get it. I’m not a driver either.

Jerl had a retina detach from his cornea. He had to have eye surgery. He’s actually still recovering from it, but is able to drive. It’ll take a solid three months for it to really heal up and then he’ll need new glasses. Remember that bit about me not being a driver? Well, thank goodness we were around family when this happened. My parents watched the boys while his parents drove us around to Jerl’s various doctor’s appointments. This is the injury that put a stop to any more big projects. Hard to work on something if you can’t see it properly.

Oh yeah…and three of us got a stomach bug. Gross.

So, while 16 weeks sounds like a lot of time…well, you know the saying…time flies. We started our Grand Western Loop on October 28, 2017. This loop will take us an entire year and will allow us to finish up 49 of 50 states with Hawaii being the odd state out. We had planned on doing Hawaii this past late September/early October, but with the growing number of projects we decided to put it off and take care of business instead. I’m so glad we did or we would have been in Hawaii when Jerl’s eye crapped out. That would have been…bad.

Well, Guys! That’s it for this post! The next post will be the first in our #grandwesternloop so stay tuned!

See y’all down the road!

George Washington Carver National Monument

George Washington Carver National Monument

By |

Hey Guys!! This week we’ll finish up the National Park Units we squeezed in during our 16 week travel hiatus. I’ve only got one more park to tell you about, so let’s get into it!

George Washington Carver was born a slave on the Carver farm around 1864. He and his mother were both kidnapped from the Carver farm. George was found and returned to the Carvers, but they never found his mother. He was orphaned and nearly dead from a bad case of whooping cough so he was excused from most of the daily chores. This extra time gave him the opportunity to explore and start learning about plants. In the visitor center museum, you can learn all about George’s life from his early explorations in the forest all the way to his teachings and findings as an adult.

George Washington Carver had many accomplishments throughout his long life, but he’s most notably linked to his discovery of 300 uses for peanuts.

The day we went to GWCNM it happened to be Prairie Days where the park sets up all kinds of interactive displays to show what life used to be like on the prairie for early settlers. The picture above shows some of the medicines a field doctor during the Civil War might have had in his medical bag.

Volunteers (adults and children) came dressed in period appropriate garb to spend the day showing the public what it might have been like on a typical day during prairie life. We walked around learning about the different skills needed to survive during the 1800s.

We found a candle maker and two of the boys learned how to make a candle. They thought it was pretty cool…plus they got a souvenir that they made.

There were also wagon ride through the prairie available! The bumps and bruises were free of charge. We didn’t take a ride but it looked so neat. Reminded me of a scene from Little House On The Prairie.

The boys earned two different badges at George Washington Carver National Monument! There was a special book and badge for completing ten Prairie Day activities…so, of course, they had to do both booklets. They never pass up an opportunity to earn a specialty badge.

There were sooo many pretties out on the prairie! So…many! I only got pics of these two though. I didn’t really want to go traipsing through the tall prairie grass to get pics…sorry guys. The itchy threat of ticks and chiggers along with my fear of all the venomous danger noodles (snakes) totally outweighed my need to show you all the pretties.

We ended our day with a trip to one of our favorite foodie places. Eagle Drive-In in Joplin! My parents had never been before so we were able to show them one of our favorite places!

National Park Units are a huge part of our travels. I did an official count on the number of NPS Units we’ve visited during our travels. As I’m typing this…the count is 89! We loved getting to share the experience with my parents during our hiatus!

The next post is the last post for our travel hiatus. It wasn’t all fun and games, Guys and I’ll tell y’all about the many projects we got done while we were moochdocking.

See y’all down the road!

Battlefields

Battlefields

By |

Hey Guys!! We managed to sneak in four National Park Units during our 16 week travel hiatus! One of them, Homestead, I’ve already posted about. I’m going to try and squeeze both of the battlefields into one post. We’ll see how it goes.

I’ve confessed to y’all before that when we started this nomadic lifestyle, I didn’t plan any battlefields at all. Not a single one. I wasn’t interested in walking around a big field that so many people had died in, but then we toured our first battlefield. Little Bighorn Battlefield was…eye opening. It was also during this visit that we all realized how important it is to go to these battlefields. To learn, to see, to remember. The boys learn more history in one day at a battlefield than they do in a week of history lessons. They retain the information. They get to put a physical place with the stories. Needless to say…we visit every battlefield we can. It makes me sad to realize everything we would have missed if Jerl had never talked me into Little Bighorn.

The first of the two battlefields we visited was Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield. We spent some time going through the museum and getting ourselves acquainted with the overall view of what happened at Wilson’s’ Creek before we set off on the auto tour. I feel like you can get a better idea of what the soldiers’ lives were like and who they really were when the National Park Service has displays like the one above set up with personal items.

It’s always nice when there are a few trails that lead you off the main auto tour road. We hiked this short one to see Wilson’s Creek. The spot was kind of grown over so I didn’t get a good shot of the creek itself. We were impressed with the size of it though.

The Ray house was used as a Confederate field hospital during the battle, but was originally used as a post office since it was built along Wire Road. It was called Wire Road because of all of the telegraph lines that lined the road linking the nation.

The battle at Wilson’s Creek in 1861 was the first official battle of the Civil War to take place in Missouri. Missouri saw fighting for the next three and a half years as raiders destroyed anything military or civilian that might possibly aid the enemy.

There were so many pretties at this battlefield, but in the interest of keeping this post semi-short I’ll just share these three. The one on top is my favorite. I have no idea what it is, but I  absolutely love the way it looks and come on…that purple!

We ended the day with some grub. We went to the Black Sheep in Springfield and got one of the biggest burgers we’ve ever seen! It tasted as good as it looks!

The second battlefield we visited was the Pea Ridge National Military Park in Arkansas. I love it when there are interactive displays! It keeps the kiddos more engaged and curious.

Are you wondering what the answer is to the question? What did soldiers carry into battle? Half of a two man tent, a miniature bible, a blanket, letters and photos from home, tobacco, a small sewing kit, and some personal hygiene stuff like a razor, brush, soap…and if they were lucky they might have a spare set of socks and a shirt. This, of course, would vary from soldier to soldier and what they could afford to bring with them from home.

I can’t tell you how many battlefields we’ve been to off the top of my head…quite a few. This was the first time we were able to actually hold one of the guns the soldiers carried. The guns were heavier than we thought.

After we perused the museum, we set off to explore the battlefield armed with a map, the audio tour, and my trusty camera. We encourage y’all to purchase the audio tour any time it’s available at a battlefield. It truly adds so much to the whole experience.

In all of our travels, we’d yet to actually set foot on the Trail of Tears. The boys have learned about it…we were close to it several times, but this was the first time to walk a part of Telegraph Road. Telegraph Road would later be renamed Wire Road.

Pea Ridge was the battle that kept Missouri in the Union. Each battlefield is different. Different landscape, different feel, different story.

Elkhorn Tavern was used as a supply base for the Union until it was captured and held by the Confederate troops. It ended up being a field hospital caring for both Union and Confederate wounded. The original tavern was burned in 1863 by Confederate guerrillas.

This field was the main battlefield at Pea Ridge. There are some traces of the trenches the soldiers dug. If you look very closely, you can see a cannon here and there. And if you listen hard enough…you might be able to hear the echoes of the gun shots, the shouts of the men, and the canons going off.

The boys learned some valuable history and earned another Junior Ranger badge at Pea Ridge National Military Park. It’ll be our last Civil War battlefield for a while since we’re heading west for the next year.

There weren’t as many pretties at Pea Ridge, but I do love this one.

In the next post I’ll finish up with the National Park Units we visited while on our travel hiatus! There’s just one left, but I thought this post was long enough as it is. So, stay tuned!

See y’all down the road!

Branson Day-Trip

Branson Day-Trip

By |

Hey Guys!

One of our favorite days during our 16 week travel hiatus was the day trip we took to Branson, MO with my parents!

For as long as I can remember, my parents and I have spent time in Branson every summer. I love that I’ve been able to show my boys some of the fun I had growing up and give them some Branson memories of their very own! This was the first year they were all tall enough to ride the go-carts solo.

Fitz’s Adventure was new to all of us. It was so fun running around being a kid with our kids! If you’re ever in Branson, MO…this place is definitely worth an afternoon!

Alex and I loved the rope course the most. It’s not really for the faint-of-heart. It’s all perfectly safe though.

You’re strapped into a harness then clipped onto a safety rope. Even Nicholas did alright on the rope course once he got over being up so high.

Rope course not your thing? You could do the wall climb! Yup, that’s Nicholas, Alex and me trying to make it to the top.  The wall climb was the hardest activity there for me. Not because of the height thing, but because I’m short, and out of shape. I think every muscle in my body was sore the next three days! Ha!

The two little boys both tried this. Alex got really close!

Nicholas took several turns in the laser course. There’s a viewing room so I got to watch him in action. There’s a huge plane suspended from the ceiling that you can climb up to. We did a few times just so the boys could sit in the cockpit and mess with all of the buttons, switches, and levers.

We spent the evening at the Dixie Stampede. Another first for all of us. This show had it all! Action, adventure, music, games…

and food! Food that you get to eat with your fingers during the show…which…is very cool, unless you want to take pictures. Let’s talk about the food. You get a soup (this was really good), an entire small chicken, half a baked potato, a slice of pork loin, corn on the cob, and a biscuit. No silverware required. You even get dessert! Score! It was all really tasty! I’ve been to quite a few of the shows in Branson and this one was so unexpectedly fun. It’s different from any of the other shows I’ve been to. Y’all should totally go check it out if you haven’t already!

The last thing we did was visit Branson Landing. The two little boys rode the zipline across the river. It goes pretty fast! Nicholas was a little unsure of it at first but seemed to warm up to it once it got going. Alex never hesitated…he’s my daredevil.

We found a soda shop that sells every kind of soda imaginable. And I do mean every kind. Dinosaur Dung soda…I think I’ll pass.

Nicholas found a Peanut Butter & Jelly soda that he had to try. He drank the whole thing. I’m still not sure if he actually liked it…he’d make a face every time he took a drink of it. Charles found a Chocolate Soda. He said it was really good!

We had the best day in Branson with my parents. We got to experience several firsts…which for people who’ve been to Branson soooo many times is hard to find. And, we got to share some of the oldies-but-goodies with the boys.

See y’all down the road!

Travel Hiatus

Travel Hiatus

By |

Hey Guys!! We took a hiatus from traveling this past summer and spent time with family and friends in MO while we worked on some projects around the RV. We spent 16 weeks having fun, touring National Parks, and catching up with family and friends.

If you ask the boys…they would tell you one of the best things about our hiatus was being able to shoot off fireworks. One of the downsides of being nomads is missing out on holidays with family. We were away for the July 4th celebrations the last two years. We didn’t get to celebrate on July 4th this year either…but we were only four days late.

When we go back to MO we always stay in my (Jennie’s) parent’s driveway. We driveway camp/moochdock. The boys love to play games and spend as much time as possible with family while we’re back.

They also love all of the toys that they have access to while driveway camping. 😉

Shhh…be very, very quiet…he’s hunting birds. Magnus spent the summer stalking birds…we put up a bird feeder to keep him entertained. He’s very serious about his bird stalking. I tried to get a video of him chattering and charming the birds, but every time I’d get close enough, he’d stop. Apparently, he’s a shy hunter. Who knew cats could be shy?

Sadi spent the summer doing what Sadi does best…sleeping. And eating. She’s a champion eater.

We took a mini trip up to Omaha, NE to visit friends and see the eclipse! You can read all about it here.

We also made it to a local Vietnamese festival! Please don’t ask me to spell out the name of the festival. It’s an annual festival held every August in Carthage, MO. We had a great time wandering around, drinking boboa tea, shopping and eating. Guys…the food! We didn’t get anything that wasn’t good.

Speaking of food… one of the things we look forward to is hitting all of our favorite foodie places. Bonus points for anyone who can name all four different places in the pics!

I’ve got a few more posts planned to catch y’all up on what we did over our travel hiatus. We’ll talk about the National Parks we visited, a fun day trip to Branson, and all of the projects we’ve been working on…along with some not so fun things that happened, so stay tuned!

See y’all down the road!