singing the praises of Ameri-Camp

So, with the rain, we’ve noticed a small leak in the skylight in the bathroom.  We actually noticed it in the small town we were in, and started looking into replacing it.  Kids got sick; everyone sick, put it on the backburner.  We did a lot of looking around on the internet and a couple places B&M (brick & mortar) but couldn’t find our exact size.  So I call up AmeriCamp and ask them for a price (we’re out of warranty) to replace it and some other goodies.  They give me a price and I say, great!  Send it General Delivery…but UPS doesn’t do General Delivery.  So I figure out a way to get it to us and call them back; they are upgrading the delivery from Ground to 2nd Day Air, sending us the skylight and the goodies and NOT CHARGING US A DIME!  I even pooh-poohed his offer and tried to give our CC#; he wouldn’t budge.  They’re sending us everything 2nd day air and won’t take money.  What a company!

Goose Island State Park, Texas

Just checking to see if your collective pacemakers are working. Yes, it is an actual post. Merry Christmas! We had such a lovely time with our friends in Texas. All four of the kids made fast friends with all four of theirs. Sissy hung with the boys and Ellen and Mia had a wonderful time playing. They have such a quaint little town and the downtown looks to be on the cusp of revitalization or death. But the parks are nice, the houses are beautiful and so full of character and the laundrymat is CHEAP. Since we’ve been travelling and coming back to the US via Fort Davis, Texas, I have always held the notion that living in a small town of about 2000 would be heavenly. I think I based this on Fort Davis itself. Being with our firends, however, allowed me to realize that the closeness of a small town can be stifling and somewhat boring. I keep coming back to Minneapolis. I can’t believe how much I loved that city - especially since it is pretty much covered by ice and COLD 11 months of the year. Well, I exaggerate. A smidge.

So we left as a front was coming in; literally, as the front moved over, halving the humidity and temperature. Jody met us at the park to say goodbye and mentioned that as she was driving there, passing through the front caused all her windows to fog up. I’m embarrased to say that I thought she was just not used to “weather”, being a sunny Texas girl. So, off we headed to the coast. The route we took, zigzagging all over creation, as Texas likes to offer “alternate” routes to the highway (i.e. 77ALT) that go NOWHERE near the non-alternate route (i.e. 77 goes south, Alt77 goes WEST) and had the fortune to zigzag through the front 3 or 4 times. Each time we went from cold (under the front) to warm (outside the front) the OUTSIDE of all our windows and mirrors fogged and the inside would waver with fog. It was the oddest weather experience we have had. We stocked up in Victoria at the HEB Plus (what a marvel of a store that is!) and marveled at the architecture of Victoria. We made it to Goose Island without incident and decided to pay an extra $2 to camp on the beach. It is a lovely place here and until about 5am this morning, I was loving it dearly. Apparently, at 5am, the duck hunters put out in air boats which rival a helicopter hovering directly over the trailer for noise.
Jamie and Jesse spent yesterday in bed with the stomach bug while the girls and I headed to Port Aransas for errands and to check out the beach. Port “A” is directly on the Gulf and muc hwindier, with blowing sand. The girls were not impressed. So here we will sit and pass the Christmas. UPS is supposed to be delivering to the campground today (apparently they don’t deliver to “General Delivery”; we’ll see how well they do with “Bayfront Site #3, Goose Island State Park”.
I put Christmas lights up inside and outside the trailer yesterday and the kids have nixed the idea of driftwood and shell Xmas tree. They want a real one (nope!) or a fake one. I’m hoping to find a thriftstore in Corpus Christi on Saturday as I don’t want to waste the beautiful sun we are getting today.

Jamie is better, Jesse is better, the sun is out, the airboats and thankfully quiet, the house is asleep, the sun is out (did I mention the sun?), the birds are hopping on the roof (???) and the vistas from the laptop are stunning here on the calm bay.

Kathy, Texas

So, did you all enjoy your drive along highway 82 in Creole country? Along the Creole National Highway Byway backroad place? I sure hope YOU all did because we had a hell of a day. It started out innocently enough (and honestly, it was just a PITA; nothing even comparitively like Colorado La Veda pass…) as we headed out highway 82 from Abbeville through rice fields and sporadic cotton plantations. We’ve been having a weird brake controller problem with the trailer; it started in Ft. Davis and then disappeared only to resurface the day before we got to Abbeville. We replaced the breakaway box (when it is disengaged the trailer brakes slam full on), the wiring to the box, took the 7pin connector apart on the back of the trailer (all electrical from the van goes through this to the trailer (brakes, lights, battery charging and 4 other things) and checked all that wiring and found one problem on the charging pin. The problem is so erratic and sporadic that we can’t see immediately if it is fixed; we have to wait to see if it pops up again or not. The scenery was pretty for winter and the plantations were amazing and some were very very sad. The weatherbeaten shacks, still in use we incredibly sad. As we left Vermillion (?) parish (in Louisiana, a county is called a “parish”) and headed onto the Creole Nature Trail we began to see damage. Katrina and Rita damage. Converseley, the road improved immensely; we had a shoulder again and the surface was without constant holes and patched holes. I had downloaded the audio files to listen to while driving but SOMEONE logged me out and they were all lost (without internet). So i tried to recall parts of the commentary that I had listened to and we all looked very forward to the ferry crossing. We tried stopping at the Rockefeller and Sabine wildlife refuges but there was no room for our enormous vehicle. We figured we’d find some place to walk around by the ferry. About 14 miles from the ferry we found that the ferry that would accomodate us was not running and we were forced up to highway 10. We had traveled very far out of our way and were worried we’d get to the state park (our destination that night) late, but we figured we’d be there a while and it wouldn’t be a problem. The Sea Rim State Park is at the end of the road along the gulf and we thought it would be very remote, quiet and pretty. About 25 miles from the park our trailer brakes (the trailer does most of the braking as the van would quickly loose its brakes if it were required to stop the entire rig on its own) and I was forced to drastically cut our speed as my stopping distance was probably increased 200%. We finally, just about sunset, far after the sun had dissappeared under low clouds, found the state park. It was closed, and had been since Hurricane Rita. Or Katrina. One of the two. What was especially disheartening was that there were numerous signs to the park and not one indicated it was closed. We found an RV park about 10 miles back along the road as last night was supposed to be especially cold.

So, this morning, we had only one mission; to get to an RV dealership or Houston (Camping World) to deal with the pesky brakes. Fortunately, or unfortunately, they have been working well all day long. But since we NEED to spend money at Costco and Camping World, we dropped into Houston (instead of Galveston island and another questionable ferry) and dragged the trailer to Costco. Many many jars of organic peanut butter, coffee, and about $200 worth of other crap, we made it to Camping World just in time for it to close. So we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to buy stuff we probably won’t need, but will be desperate for in Mexico should we find we do, in fact, need them. Then we’ll be off to a small town in Texas which shall remain annonymous (to give some privacy to my friend, Jody) and then to South Padre Island where we’ll FINALLY get some Gulf beach time.

simply lovely in small town Texas

If we had to pick a place to come down with the barfs, we couldn’t have picked a better place. We’re visiting a friend I’ve never met, who has 4 kids, an AmeriCamp 5th wheel (that I’m DYING to see) and a website. She found our website from someone else and that is how we became friends. I’m purposely not giving geographical descriptions nor updating the datastorm map (see the “Where ARE we link above”?) to protect her privacy, but it is a small town and really lovely. The kids are all having a marvelous time and the boys, who have yet to come down with the barfs, have been spending every spare moment with her boys. I hope we don’t overstay our welcome as they are such a loving, caring, open and down to earth family.

We’re staying at the city municipal park which has installed some 20 RV sites with FULL hookups in a 148 acre park. They’re currently rehabilitating the creek running through the park and we have a wonderful view of the process. I don’t know if we’re an oddity or if the town is so small that anyone new is a source of entertainment of if this is simply a busy place, but there are pickup trucks and cars coming through here at just about any hour. Everyone is really friendly though, so it is hard to figure out. For such a small town it is amazingly healthy; we spent the first night at the band concert of one of Jody’s boys and the place was CRAWLING with kids. Kids of all ages. It was such a wonderful experience; not a child was hushed; they played and romped and entertained themselves all through the concert and were simply allowed to be kids.

I’m sure there is much more to the town, but until the females (so far, only the females have been affected) stop the barf cycle, we’re getting a good view of the INSIDE of the trailer and far too many DVD’s. I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll EVER get to Mexico…

I'm thinking Louisana doesn't get cold very often...

I have a thingie integrated into Firefox that gives me weather and stuff.  Sheesh, I don’t know what it is.  Anyway, I just got an URGENT warning!

If you’re anywhere north of the south, this will probably sound funny (especially when we saw negative temps forecast for Minneapolis the other day)
“THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAKE CHARLES HAS ISSUED A FREEZE
WARNING…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 8 PM THIS EVENING TO 9 AM CST
SATURDAY.
A HARD FREEZE IS EXPECTED TONIGHT ACROSS ALL OF SOUTHEAST
TEXAS…CENTRAL LOUISIANA…SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA…AND SOUTH-
CENTRAL LOUISIANA. TEMPERATURES WILL FALL BELOW FREEZING FRIDAY
EVENING AND REMAIN BELOW FREEZING THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING.
LOW TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO REACH THE LOWER 20S ACROSS THE
LAKES REGION OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA…WITH MID
20S ACROSS LOWER SOUTHEAST TEXAS INTO SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH-CENTRAL
LOUISIANA.
TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO BE BELOW FREEZING FOR UP TO 12 HOURS
AND AT OR BELOW 27 DEGREES FOR 4 TO 8 HOURS.
PERSONS SHOULD TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT PLANTS…PIPES…AND PETS
FROM THIS LONG PERIOD OF FREEZING TEMPERATURES. USE EXTREME
CAUTION WHEN USING SPACE HEATERS INSIDE HOMES TO PREVENT THE START
OF FIRES.
A FREEZE WARNING MEANS SUB-FREEZING TEMPERATURES ARE IMMINENT OR
HIGHLY LIKELY. THESE CONDITIONS WILL KILL CROPS AND OTHER
SENSITIVE VEGETATION.”

Abbeville, Louisana

I got a little present last night. It isn’t something anyone can buy, and the piece of mind it brought was priceless. Our time at the mansion in Minneapolis coincided with a certain cyclical event leading to much physical activity. After one particular event, an item used to prevent a 5th was shockingly empty of that which it is supposed to collect. (is it not obvious that I am purposely being vague?) The next day I took Plan B and we worried. The effacy rate was in the high 80 percentile but still… I had no side effects and I was especially pleased as my last foray into hormones was the birth control pill in 1993. Taking that cause some super fertility and Jesse was conceived but I was horribly sick on the pill. I was very happy to find that Plan B (Emergency Contraception) was incredibly side effect free. For about 3 days. I then was dumped into hormone hell. I was ravenous and shoveled sugar on an hourly basis. I was TERRIBLY depressed. I was anxious and worried about incredibly stupid stuff. I second-guessed myself on an hourly basis. I was angry and short tempered. Well, more than usual. I was a classic bitch. And it lasted a good long WEEK. Two days ago the hormone hell started tapering off and yesterday I felt the best I’ve felt in a Very Long Time. Last night I got my present and today I’m in my “normal” hormone hell. So the family gets a super double dose this month. Aren’t they lucky?
Inbetween all this we visited an estate (think plantation) which is run by the NPS and “oohed and aaahed” over all the incredible homes in Natchez, Mississippi. We spent One Hundred Dollars on a single dinner in Vidalia, Louisiana. Apparently, in Louisiana, when they specify “fried”, it really means “deep fried”. Deep fried pickles, hush puppies, catfish, oysters, shrimp; you name it, it came deep fried. And it was DELICIOUS!

I was very impressed with the way that Arkansas merges traffic when two lanes merge to one. The left lane merges into the right lane. If you are a long slow vehicle, this is a wonderful idea! Merging into a lane of cars going faster than you is always hard work and no-one ever wants to let you in. Having those fast cars merge into your lane is so very much more civilized, saner, safer and easier.
We were going to drag the kids to plantation after plantation, but the one we went to ended up being so emotionally draining we decided against it. We spent one afternoon at Melrose, an estate in Natchez, and came back that night for a Christmas program. It was incredibly historic; Christmas through the eyes of the slaves, complete with mansion tour and vignettes around the estate. The kids had hot chocolate and made “mussy tussies” or something like that; little boquets. I highly recommend it if you’re in the area December 1-2. Oh, and best of all, it is FREE!

We have been staying in Passport America RV parks all through Louisiana though it about killed me to pass up incredible boondocking opportunities along the Mississippi. It has been getting down to the 30’s (though last night was mid 40’s) here in LA and we’re needing the heat, if nothing else, to keep the pipes from freezing. Oh, and those pesky kids. Hmmm…maybe the hormonal hell isn’t quite over yet. We’ve only been doing about 100 miles on a travelling day and staying about as long as the whim lasts. The kids are LOATHE to leave camp, preferring to spend all day outside playing or playing with their toys. The long days of travel outrunning the storm were trying on us all. I’m ready for Gulf water though, and hopefully tomorrow we’ll head to the Gulf coast somewhere near Houston. We need to spend outrageous sums of money at Camping World and Costco (and I need to see if Houston has a Trader Joes) and then we’ll head further down the coast. I’m not sure if Christmas will be in the US or Mexico; I thought Jamie was insistant on Xmas on the beach in Port A, but I’ve got an itch that only Mexico can cure and after talking to him (that does help, I find) it turns out he just wants to be on the beach.

So, that’s the non-update. We don’t know where we’re going, we don’t know when we’ll be there, but we’re doing pretty well getting there. 

Conway, Arkansas

What a luxury to be able to outrun a storm. It is balmy, warm, sticky in our jeans and snow boots and sleeveless shirts here in Conway, Arkansas. We left the Waffle House in Lebanon, MO at the ungodly hour of EIGHT AM! We had trucks coming in and out all night and each and every truck had a refrigator unit which was not only deafening, cycled All Night Long. I was very happy to be driving out of the parking lot at EIGHT AM IN THE MORNING with breakfast in all the kids’ lunchboxes, coffee for Jamie and myself and a day of driving OFF interstate. We took I44 down to Springfield MO (the Simpsons creators decided on a good name for their town; there is a Springfield in each and every state we’ve been to in the midwest, and probably many counties as well). I had tried, unsuccessfully, to stop at the Lincoln Museum and Library in Springfield IL but it was located in a mall of downtown buildings with only parallel parking and nothing to accomodate a big ass trailer.

Last night Jamie and I downloaded days worth of weather maps and decided we’d outrun the storm coming down from Canada and turning all the states blue with cold, snow, sleet and ice. We drove lovely roads through the Ozarks and were amazed by the beauty of the mountains. We found all the leaves which were missing from the trees in the northlands; they’ve all migrated down here to Arkansas. Lots of beautiful turning color maple leaves still on the trees. We decided to take highway 65 south through Branston, Harrison and eventually Little Rock and from there we’ll head to Louisana and Mississippi. The coldest of the storm is west, so the beaches and south Texas will be very cold but southeastern Louisana and Mississippi should be ok. At least no snow or ice. According to the weather maps and prognostications, Texas should thaw by Saturday or Sunday and we’ll head down then. For now, we’ll hug southeast Louisana and Mississippi and wait it out on the edge.
For only the second night since we started travelling, we’re at a WalMart. I refuse to shop them and will not even park in their RV-friendly parking lots, but Jamie really only feels comfortable at WalMart so here we sit. I was able to find a Goodwill in walking distance that is not quite as expensive as its midwestern cousins and bought swimsuits for the girls, 2 pairs of pants for Sissy (FINALLY she has enough pants, now that we’re Mexico bound and will be wearing only shorts or dresses until these new (well, new to her) pants are outgrown), a dress for Ellen, books galore and a bear for Pikey. If we are overweight, it must be from the 3,982,355 bears the kids bring everywhere with them.

Lebanon, Mo

I suppose I should be grateful that he doesn’t insist on staying in a paying campground each and every night, but Jamie sure has amazingly high standards of comfort when it comes to urban boondocking.  We have passed large parking lots, churches, hotels with long semis in the parking lots, Cracker Barrels (reported to be friendly to RVers), museums, all in search of the elusive WalMart or Target or Lowe’s.  When the entire family is on the brink of exhaustion he will then abandon his standards and allow me to pick the spot; last night it was the truck parking area of a Conoco gas station and tonight it is the truck parking area of the Waffle House.  There have been lovely quiet areas but by the time he abandons his standards we are all starving and take the first area we see.  There is free Wifi across the street, at a cluster of three or four hotels, but he won’t park over there, so here we sit, surrounded by refrigator trucks (the noise of which knows no bounds) and to get online, I walk out to the roadside and do a quick download and upload.  The trucks are stacked in here like lumber; when we arrived we had 3 or 4 semis accompanying us and now the parking lot is full, with other trucks occupying the edges of the parking lot.  Jesse says it sounds like a thousand cats are purring beside his bed.

We left Janesville, Wisconsin on highway 51 and followed this meandering 2 lane road all the way to Peru, Illinois.  It was a lovely road that traversed many family farms and flattened out into rural Illinois.  Jamie was insistent on making tracks though, so we abandoned the back roads for this and that and tonight find ourselves on I44 in Lebanon, Mo.  He promises me though, that tomorrow we will leave I44 and head into the Ozarks where there are no interstates and I will be at peace again.  We have been traveling very long days; six or more hours of travel and over 200 miles.  For us, this is a LOT of daily travel.  It makes it an even longer day when we don’t leave “camp” until noon or later.  Tomorrow I plan on being on the road by 8 or 9am.

What can I say about this mode of travel; it is tiresome and boring but we did show the kids the Gateway to the West (St. Louis Arch) today and they got some run time at a rest stop.  I’m really looking forward to Texas when we can rest from outrunning the cold front (due tomorrow in Illinois and Missouri) and relax on the beaches before heading into warm Mexico.

I really shouldn’t complain though; I used the very last of our whole wheat flour to make a loaf of bread and the generator ran out of gas with 2 hours left in the bake cycle.  We topped off the genset and restarted it and the breadmaker started up where it left off.  So we have fresh bread for midnight snack.  And Michelle, if anyone, should know how my kids LOVE to eat right before bed.

La Crosse, Wisconsin

Weather Alert!  Winter expected on Wednesday.  mark your calenders.  We watched the weather report on the local station last night.  We’re staying at a wayside stop (CLOSED FOR WINTER) off state highway 14 just south of La Crosse.  Not content to experience the Mississpii once, we realized we missed the exit for highway 14, turned around, back over the Mississippi on I90, exit to highway 14, down the road a bit, back OVER the Mississippi at La Crosse (which has an AMAZING Christmas display in the waterfront area, but with the trailer, I wasn’t about to chance it at night) so we simply enjoyed it from the Mississippi bridge.

We tore ourselves away from the mansion, Michelle and Slade and their four amazing boys yesterday.  It was really hard.  The kids really loved every minute they spent with their cousins and will miss them terribly.  Ellen has already tantrumed about missing Sebby.  Pike is ready to settle down Right Now and doesn’t want to go to Mexico; he wants a house.  It really took no time to get used to the stickness of the mansion; not worrying about water usage and the need to deal with the grey or sink or black water after its use; not worrying whether we had enough propane for heat; having so much room to spread out; having an enormous (in Minneapolis, the word is GINORMOUS, apparently) oven to cook in; coffee flowing at all hours of the day; it was all heaven.  And the company made it even better.  But tear away we did, and a good thing as La Crosse predicts that winter will arrive late Tuesday or early Wednesday and we definitely DON’T want to be around for that.

We spent Friday night at the Camping World; we spent about $300 on stuff there and needed a night to charge the new batteries we bought.  What a deal; we left the trailer there the entire time we were at the mansion; hooked up to electricity and it was all free.  Course, we did spend $300 when we picked it up…  We got such an incredibly late start, anyone in an RV will simply laugh or shake their heads in disgust.  We NEEDED to spend even MORE money at Camping World, the kids did NOT want to get ready to go, we had to test the repair of the black valve and then dump; it was a long, lazy (though not for me, trying to “encourage” the kids to get ready) morning and we finally got rolling around 1:30.  By 5pm we knew we weren’t going to make Janesomething Wisconsin that night so we pulled into a wayside stop just south of La Crosse and setup for the night.  “No Overnight Camping” (we’re parking!) and “CLOSED FOR WINTER” signs adorned the reststop.  We hoped for no interference last night and got none.

If you’re following along on maps, we took 94 out of Rogers to 495 (accidentally; you get very little warning to freeway splits in Minneapolis and there are not quitck manuevers with the trailer) through Minneapolis.  Turned out the 495 accidental routing was good; Jamie decided we’d take 52 to I90 instead of I94 the whole way.  It is a great road; 4 lane and divided.  We listened to “Words of Stone” all the way to Wisconsin and followed that with Prarie Home Companion (live from Cinci).  While we were in Minneapolis, on one of our library forays, I found the “Friends of Minneapolis” store across from the central library where you could purchase old books and audio and cassette books.  I picked up a LOT of cassette books and now I’m worried we’ll run out before Texas…  Yesterday we listened to “The Jungle Book” narrated by Jim Weiss (all the kids recognized his voice “This is the guy who does the Greek Myths!  And Giants!”) and “Words of Stone”.  We took I90 from Rochester (did you know there is an Austin and Houston Minneapolis???) Minneapolis to the Mississippi (which we crossed 3 times trying to find the right exit) and now we’re in Wisconsin 14.  Tonight we’ll be in Janesomething and after that we are making a break for warmer weather.  I think we might take I80 over to I35 and blast down as far south as we can get by Wednesday.  Though, last night, we ran the generator to power the furnace (now that we have working batteries, Jamie is loathe to acutally USE them) and the generator ran all night on one tank of gas.  At least 12 hours so far…  Interstates are really weird; after years of not using them, we’re making great use of them (but still prefer the backroads) to get SomeWhere.

I’m not sure if we’ll actually check out Arkansas or not; we had planned to check out the communities of Hot Springs AK and something else on our way to Texas and Mexico, but now that we’re headed south, I don’t want to stop until I’m on the beach.  And I don’t think we’re Arkansas people.  I think Silver Springs, NM is more our speed…

the dog ate my post. I SWEAR!

Minnesota is either getting warmer or I’m getting used to it. Coming back from somewhere today the radio announced the temperature as 35 and having just been in it, I realized that it wasn’t that bad. Coming out of Yoga today it was “nice” and “warm” and when I got home, seeing the number reading 53 made me agree that it indeed was “nice” and “warm”. My definition of cold has now decreased to temperatures in the 20’s and teens.

Yoga is getting amazing. I started a week ago Sunday, doing my normal practice (Primary to Mari A) and Michelle convinced me to try a local Yoga place (some people call them studios, some call them shalas. Not sure of the difference or what this one is.). We took the Tuesday class (a week ago today) and then Ladies Holiday forced me to wait until Friday for the next class. We attended Friday, Saturday and Sunday and each day I learned something new. Before taking a class, I had worried that classes would stifle me or that I was not good enough for a class. I have learned new facets to poses, corrections to what I was previously doing in poses and been enlightened to nuances that had passed me by relying solely on The Book. Today, Michelle and I got stoned. We were so blissed out after class that we were absolutely S.T.O.N.E.D on Yoga. I’ve never had that happen with my home practice and I’m so going to miss the ease of class. It is a different level of practice, harder than home practice but at the same time easier in motivation. Oh, and chanting. I’ve never done (or known what they were) the invocations and the chanting is starting to grow on me. I’m not doing it yet, but I’m considering it. I was totally roached before today’s practice and even considered not going but we dragged our sorry asses to the shala/studio and I’m so glad we did. I am learning something new each and every time, even today when I had to stop after Mari D due to my aching back. OH! And I got headstands! One class we got to get pointers on specific poses and I was shown how to get up in headstands and I can now do them. Without a wall. Amazing. I’m SO going to miss classes when we hit the road.

Ellen is eating food. The day we arrived I was talking to Michelle about how she and Jesse survive on air and it seems she must have heard me. She must have set out to prove me wrong as she eats all day long and finishes the day with yogurt at 10pm.

You honestly cannot have too much coffee in one day. Slade starts out morning right by making us all a lovely pot of coffee before he leaves for work. We work on that through the morning and sometimes make a second pot for the afternoon. With Oregon Chai at $1.79 a box (I’ve seen it as high as some $6 a box in Santa Fe), we work on that in the evening. Going back to road and restricting ourselves to one or two cups will put us into definite withdrawl. But we’ll instead think happy thoughts of massive amounts of coffee and a pot that never empties. This is a very good house for coffee.
It is absolutely possible to completely double your family size; double your 4 children; double the adults, and in a mansion, it doesn’t even feel tight. The hospitality continues to flow, the kids continue to play; Sebby and Sissy have found wonderful playmates and companions in each other (a first for Sissy) and we’re only using two of three full floors. And the kids are LOATHE to venture outside, so it is all INSIDE time.

Yellow Tail Shiraz is well worth the seeking and finding especially in Minnesota where you cannot purchase wine and bread at the same time. Insanity I tell you.

I’m so glad we came here. The cousins are such a breath of fresh air, the kids are LOVING spending time with them and they are introducing them to all kinds of concepts from video gaming to Montessori school methods.

I picked up a pair of lower rise (though not hip hugging) jeans at a flea market in New Mexico. Today I decided to give Jamie Christmas a little early and replaced my old granny undies with nice and smaller items. I put one on and was writing this post at a backless chair when Ellen passed by me.
“Mommy what’s this?” (she pulls on what is peeping out of my lowrise pants)
“It’s my underwear.”
“It’s very small.” (thong)
“Yes, it’s a different kind of underwear.”
“Do we have any? (she and Sissy)”
“No.” (weesh!)

Apparently this wasn’t enough as later, she came by and pulled, HARD, on the offending item, giving me a marvelous wedgie and proclaimed them very stretchy. I have a feeling the granny panties will be making a much needed comeback.

And that’s the news from not-so-cold-anymore-Minneapolis AND just to show how much I love you all, I re-created this entire post after my hosting server crashed just long enough for me to lose the original post. I can’t tell you how difficult it was to start all over a-freaking-gain.

Minneapolis must be lovely when it isn't freezing your teeth...

The central library in Minneapolis is stunning beyond words. We spent many hours there yesterday and went back for another dose today. I actually got a good exposure to many of the libraries; I hit Northeast, Sumner, one in the SE (Hosmer), Central and Franklin. If Lynden Hills were open I would have hit it. I was able to score 8 museum passes with my sister’s library card (thus the need to hit so many branches). We’ve finally started leaving the house after spending what seemed like too many days without getting out at all. Tomorrow we visit my good friend, Bonny (whom I have never met), Thursday to the Mall of America or and Friday we’ll probably head to the Science Museum I killed myself getting passes for.

Minneapolis is a really easy city to get around in. The downtown is easy to see and head for should you get lost coming home, say, from the library only a 1/2 hour WALK from your sister’s house. I’m already feeling very comfortable with the city but we still need to hit Trader Joes and I don’t think we’ve yet been to that part of town. I’m thinking that is SW. And there is so much to do here and many opportunities for freebies. I got $8 coupons from a convenience store for the Mall of America. I would totally consider living here, were it about 1000 miles to the south.

This weather is insane in the winter and I keep reading advertisments saying, “No mosquitoes” (indoor). So I can only assume that the mozzies are a force to be reckoned with in the summer.
Today I took my first Ashtanga primary class. It was a very different experience. Ever since I began doing Yoga I’ve been reading my friend Julie’s blog (I’ve actually met her) and reading of her deep and moving experiences with Ashtanga. I don’t get that with my home practice and didn’t get anything but a workout from the Green Bay class I took. I’ve never really experienced the mindful part of Yoga but today something was different. Interesting. Still processing. It was a 10 o’clock class and coming out, I felt like it was late afternoon. Weird. I don’t do the chanting or invocations; just doesn’t feel right. If I can still function tomorrow (I’m not more sore than normal yet) I’ll try a class tomorrow evening and then again on Sunday.

we're FREEZING up here!

Jody has asked anyone with kids to link to Kyle’s video and spread the word that a 5pt harness is safer than a booster. Here is Kyle’s video and a picture of my kids. Sissy has upgraded to a Britax SE (from the pictured Marathon) and Ellen is using her Marathon (we sold the Roundabout) so we are now a 3 Britax SE and 1 Britax Marathon family. I’ll weigh the boys tomorrow, but I’m pretty sure they’re still under 80lb.

It has been very hard to get the kids to leave the house. I don’t know if it is the plethora of games and books or incredible company (cousins) or massive amounts of room, but they are all four loathe to leave. Uncle Slade gave Jamie and I a wonderful tour of the town today and we saw more beautiful homes than I ever imagined existed. Living so long on the left coast, I think we figured all towns were like ours; some beautiful architecture here and there but really rare. The further east we came the more innundated the towns were with amazing homes; block after block in town after town, and we decided today that this is the norm in the midwest. Incredibly beautiful homes with gorgeous “bones” and stunning architecture that would make any Bay Area home buyer drool with envy.

We somehow managed to drag the kids to the Minneapolis Institue of Art where Pike was mesmorized by a still life of fruit. I also came to the realization that the boys’ carseats (Britax SE’s) are now too small as they tip the scales at 85 and 83lb. Just two years ago they were in the 65lb range. How they have grown! So I’m researching alternatives but the possibility exists that their seats are good to 105lb (which is what I remember from when I bought them).

We have all found Uncle Slade to be such a most excellent cook that Ellen and Jesse, who previously found air to be a wonderful souce of fuel (instead of actual food) have been eating real food! Ellen has actually been eating all day and just before bed, completely blowing me away. One of the first things that Michelle and I talked about was Ellen’s lack of appetite and thankfully, she is making a liar out of me.

Rattling around the mansion in Minneapolis is getting weary for Jamie and I so we’ve decided to try to lure the kids out. Michelle can get museum passes for the kids at her library, so we’ll try that and I have found a wonderful Yoga studio which Michelle assures me is just around the corner. So there is always that.

There is so much going on in this town, but the cold is simply amazingly cold. And a little too cold at that.

it's kind of hard to sleep in a mansion...

(was the answer Sissy gave when we asked the kids how they slept last night)

We’re in Minneapolis at my (other) sister’s house and it is, to our eyes, a Mansion. She assures me, however, that the real mansions are a bit more toward the lake and I can’t wait to see them.

I honestly don’t know where to start; when I get behind in posting it seems like I can never catch up and insurmountable to try. And honestly, it is boring beyond belief.

Grandma Elinor is doing much better and Maca soldiers on. For 96, hell, for 76, she’s a strong woman, and Dan is taking wonderful care of them all. I picked up a breadmaker at the thriftstore in Neenah after pondering the purchase these last two years and decided the $5 and space it will take is worth it. Converseley, it only took me 6 months to decide to spend $250 on a new camera. Once Dan found out that I had a breadmaker, he wasted no time in showing me his baby and he walked me through the making of a loaf of bread. I’m so glad he did, because I would have been lost when I tried at the hotel. It is such a luxury to make your own bread; to know the ingredients are whole and not to have to scour markets for the whole wheat which is not full of crap. We eat about a loaf (or more) a day, and living in the trailer, it was a daily purchase.

The camera! I have been pondering and wondering and hemming and hawing about a DSLR. I have an SLR in the storage unit and have processed my own film so the idea of a DSLR wasn’t daunting, but the pricetag certainly was. So I hemmed and I hawed and I decided to purchase and I reconsidered. I’ve always been very impressed with my sister (in CA)’s S2IS and kept it in the back of my mind as an alternative to a DSLR. I finally decided that the cost of a DSLR and lenses and probably lots of other stuff just wasn’t worth it for the zoom, video and picture capabilites of the S2IS. Thanks to birthday money, I ordered it today and it should arrive before next Monday! So, expect even MORE pictures to come!

We left Neenah after spending a few hours with Grandma Elinor, Dan and Maca to say goodbye and headed for Minneapolis on an unusually warm day. By the afternoon we were all in shortsleeves and wondering what the weather gods had in store for us. Jamie was under the impression that Minneapolis was a mere 200 miles from Neenah, so we readied the trailer, did errands, spent a bit of time in the pool and finally said goodbye to the Days Inn. They really did well by us; we cooked in the room, brought cooked food into the room, parked the trailer in back and ran an electric cord, kept the breakfast bar open for the kids on Sunday and never gave us the impression we were the incredible imposition I’m sure we must have been. We did clean the room each and every time we had the maid come in, as it was almost impassible with kid crap.

Once we hit the interstate, just outside of Eau Claire, we realized that Minneapolis instead lay some 300 miles from Neenah instead of 200. When I noticed an informational sign on the interstate for a Laura Ingalls Wilder Highway Information thingie, I was off the freeway in a flash and heading through Menomonie. It was dark and closed but Jamie finally relented and allowed us to stop for the night. He was very motivated to get to Minneapolis, but it was a very warm night and everyone else needed to get out, stretch, run, move and stop. So we camped at WalMart. I hate WalMart so much that I will not spend the night in their RV-friendly parking lots but Jamie is very nervous about urban boondocking and only feels comfortable at WalMart. So far, I’ve been able to avoid it, but ran out of alternatives that night.

As warm and lovely as that day had been, the next was as windy and cold. We arrived at Camping World, convinced them to work on our trailer (work ethic on vacation?), parked it and plugged it into electricity. Even if they don’t do the work, as long as they don’t screw things up too badly, we’re still out ahead. There is No Way In Hell the trailer would fit anywhere near Michelle and Slade’s mansion (she is going to give me absolute HELL for calling it a mansion ) so we really needed a place with electricity to leave it. With nightly temperatures in the 20’s for the next week (or more), Jamie actually headed back up today to winterize it (put antifreeze in the plumbing).

The kids are LOVING their cousins, the enormous rooms, the staircases, the boardgames, the videogames, the luscious food and the incredible hospitality of their family. Michelle and I have walked to the local organic food coop and she has a lovely neighborhood filled with homes that Jamie and I will no doubt be drooling over once the kids give us a chance to get out. But as lovely as Michelle, Slade and their kids are, and as incredible as the house is, I can’t get to warm, tropical, sandy Mexico soon enough.  And my children, my “we must find a stick house to settle down in” and my “I can’t travel any longer” and my “when are we going to settle down” children were SINGING and CHANTING “WE’RE TRAVELLING TODAY!  WE’RE TRAVELLING TODAY!  WE’RE TRAVELLING TODAY!” as we left Neenah.  I think I’ve finally managed to brainwash them with wanderlust.  All but Pikey.  He’s a tough nut to crack. 

Love Thursday

I’ve been reading Chris’s Love Thursday posts for a while now and always wished I could do the same.  It just didn’t feel right to me, so I never joined that particular bandwagon.  But tonight, after deciding to exercise again, the SECOND day in a row (!!) a lightbulb went off and I figured out my Love Thursday.  Self love Thursday.  I think that many moms have trouble putting themselves first especially when The Children really “should” come first.  But I think I finally got it when I started doing Yoga; I liked doing something for me and finally, my youngest was normally able to do without constant mommy attention for the hour it took me to do yoga.  Last year I also did a lot of walking, but I have not yet been able to stick to something.  And that is where Love Thursday comes in.

In the spirit of Love Thursday, I am going to hold myself accountable for the past week of self love.  It seems somewhat hopeless exercising after consuming mass quantities of Halloween candy (DAMN that Sugar Sprite!), but I convinced myself tonight and did it.  30 minutes of pool exercise.  10 minutes of leg exercises and 2300 running steps in the water.  Tomorrow I hope to add yoga to the mix, but for now, my immediate goal is 30 minutes a day.  And I hope YOU will hold me accountable.  And that is my Love Thursday.

I took an “accountable” picture tonight and even covered up the naughty bits, but I’m not sure I’m ready to share yet.  We’ll see.  Honestly, you DON’T want to see it but it will hopefully motivate me.

does the Sugar Sprite take Nestle?

We’ve been heavy into negotiations with the boys and finding and paying off all the Sugar Sprite requests by the kids. The boys negotiated $9 for their stash (after they ate what they wanted the night of Halloween and the morning after) and the girls kept bagging up requests and leaving them in odd places for the Sugar Sprite. I think next year we’ll have to introduce the idea of one big gift (or something like that) as they are bleeding me dry. Sissy and Ellen both got about $5. Ellen remembered the Sugar Sprite a few weeks ago and started taking the chocolate chips out of her homemade granola bars and leaving them for the Sugar Sprite. Since she and Jesse really wig out on sugar, their combined love of all things CASH has helped with the sugar roller coaster of All Hallows Eve.

To back up a bit, yes, we’re still in Neenah. As a matter of fact, still at the Days Inn. Maca has been unexpectedly living with Grandma Elinor and Grandma Elinor has been very sick pretty much since we arrived. So we’re trying to help Elinor with Maca’s doctor appointments and simply getting her out of the house.

Monday (I think?) turned out to be a wonderfully warm and beautiful day and we met a wonderful family at the local park. They had an 11yo, 9yo, 7yo, 2yo and 8mo and their three eldest had a lovely time with our 2-3 eldest. Sissy alternated between pouting she couldn’t play with them and hanging out on the perimeter of their play. The mom, Amy, is an amazing soul; she was so patient and loving with her kids; a real inspiration. The 2yo was such a typical 2yo, frustrated and excited all at the same time; he really reminded me of the boys at that age. I must confess more than a little bit of babylust. They homeschool and the boys found out that they are “Democrats”. In all the political discussions we’ve had, we’ve never discussed parties; simply ideas and values. These kids support George Bush, according to the boys, and I was really proud that they were able to put that behind them. They are so rabidly anti-Bush that I have been worried about their black and white stance. As much as Jamie and I hate what he has done to our country, we try to discuss (the little ) humanity that must exist inside him with the boys. Anyway, they really took to the kids and I was not the least bit surprised to find out they are homeschooled also.

The children have been falling, one by one, from a respiratory illness, but we’ve kept it to a couple days of sickness with liberal doses of raw garlic. Ellen got food poisoning from the hotel breakfast the day of Halloween and was far too sick to go trick or treating. Her siblings bought her a Polly Pocket and shared their treats with her (which she sold to the Sugar Sprite but honestly ate more than she sold off) so she didn’t feel TOO bad.

With all the sickness of the kids, the concern about where Maca will live and Grandma Elinor’s illness, we’ve decided to stay in Neenah at least another week. If Elinor is better by the weekend, we’ll probably leave next Wednesday, otherwise we’ll look to rent a home here until all is under control. I’m really glad we could be here to help out. It has been amazingly cold and the hotel is so nice for that; the kids were trick or treating in 16 degrees (with windchill) and the highs this week haven’t climbed out of the 30’s. Ugh. Today we will get snow if it rains and snow is forecast for Saturday. I never imagined September and October could be so cold.

happy birthday Maca! 96 years young!

Today is Maca (jamie’s grandmother)’s birthday. It was expected to be somewhat sucky; she has been abruptly moved from one home to another, her daughter (Jamie’s mom) is very sick, and Sissy is sick (so we didn’t want to subject the kids to her). But it is a lovely sunny (though windy) day, the sky is blue and we’re all quite safe and sane. So Jamie took her out this afternoon and they both enjoyed some retail therapy. Jamie LOVES to shop and I absolutely hate it. So he and Maca headed to shopping, the kids watched Way Too Much TV and I cleaned the trailer. Well, I started anyway. In a nice surprise, instead of taking Maca back to Elinor’s house, he brought her to the motel where she opened a gift we’d purchased for her, an Amish quilt. She seems to really like it and I hope it will be a memory of a good day for her. We’ll take her to a buffet restaurant later for dinner (the kids have been fasting all day in anticipation of the event) and stuff ourselves silly. So, happy birthday, Maca, the first in a line of “el’s”. Helen, Elinor, Ellen and Merry Ellen.

coming out of teh froggy fog

The past couple days Jamie and I have been moving about as if in a fog. We’re not really “present” with the kids and are always distracted.  Today, Jamie and I started coming out of our froggies. The altercation with Aunt Ellen has affected us deeply for different reasons. Jamie is very concerned about Maca (his grandmother) and and I keep wondering if this is payback for the way we kicked Michael to the curb. Granted, we took months and months of warnings, of talking to him about our expectations and many “second” chances, and Aunt Ellen decided to kick us out in the space of minutes, but I keep worrying and wondering. I think about Michael all the time and really think we failed him. So I keep second-guessing our actions and keep wondering where he is, if he is warm and safe and healthy.

The kids, on the other hand, are so resiliant that I had begun to wonder if they’d even noticed that we’re not at the farm anymore for all they seemed to care.  The cheapie motels were completely booked the night we were frantically looking for lodging so we ended up at the Days Inn. The Days Inn has a lovely indoor pool and the kids are absolutely LOVING it. I had hoped to move to a cheapie but can’t take them away from the pool. It seemed like they didn’t even care about the farm and Jamie and I were moping around for nothing. I talked to them yesterday and found that they were all (except Ellen, who is so used to moving spontaneously that she didn’t even realize that Aunt Ellen had told us to leave) very angry at Aunt Ellen and didn’t want to have anything to do with her. We talked for a while; mostly me and the three eldest, but I hope Ellen absorbed some. We talked about not writing people off; that people make mistakes (and I goofed; Aunt Ellen was NOT drunk or drinking when she kicked us out and I made sure the kids understood that. Jamie tells me Aunt Ellen would be very upset at the kids thinking she was drunk) that she does love them and that just because someone does something incredibly stupid and hurtful, you don’t write them off. You’re very careful about how much you trust them, but especially if they are family, you simply do not write them off. So, Jesse is ok with being with her but Pikey, my black and white boy, cannot see any shades of grey in the situation. Sissy and Ellen are very negative about Aunt Ellen and do not want any contact with her. I’m hoping that with time and maturity they’ll forget or soften. I would like the kids to know their family but I will not allow any unsupervised time with Aunt Ellen. I cannot trust her with the children unless Jamie or myself are present. Since she has yet to initiate any contact, I can’t see that will be an issue.

In simply AMAZING news, however, Grandma Elinor showed up at the Days Inn, unannounced, and paid our entire bill! What an amazing gift! It was such a relief not to have to worry about getting the kids to a cheaper place and telling them the pool would be off limits. Thank you so much, Grandma Elinor!

shock and awe

What kind of person gets angry at her brother and shows it by having his family pack up and leave in the dark?  I’m still in shock.  I still can’t believe we’re at a Days Inn instead of Aunt Ellen’s farm.  I still can’t believe she and Jamie were arguing about the fact that she is the ONLY one (her sentiments) in the family who cares about family.  And I guess the way you show how much you care about family is to get angry at them, tell them to pack up and leave, and alienate your only nieces and nephews (Ellen is the only one who wants to see Aunt Ellen again).  Apparently, Aunt Ellen is very stressed out.  Aunt Ellen drinks an incredible amount of alcohol.  I explained to the kids last night that maybe she was drunk, that she does love them a lot (but I’m having trouble with the idea that someone who loves you would make you leave her house because she is mad at your dad), that she was really stressed out, but they were all completely devestated.  They really enjoy being at the farm, the love hanging out with her and the animals and had been looking forward to being with her at the farm for a very long time.

So, last night, when we should have been eating the dinner I made, we frantically tidied the trailer, stowed stuff, packed stuff away, hitched up the van in complete darkness, inched backwards down a dark dirt driveway and drove to Neenah looking for a place to stay.  We had no idea where to go and after trying a couple places ended up at the Day’s Inn.  We need electricity to run the heater as it gets quite below freezing at night here.

So I’m still in shock.  I keep turning it over and over in my head; I wasn’t around for the argument, I was in the trailer with the kids, and I can’t wrap my mind around how this can be ok.  How does she justify this?  We used not one crumb of her food, we cooked dinner for her, Maca and Nate nightly (though I found out she hates all the foods I cooked), we did use her washing machine (I told Jamie not to ), we left food in her fridge, we brought her gifts and a brand new coffee machine, how are we such terrible freeloaders and how is it ok in her mind to tell us to pack up and leave in the dark?  With 4 young children?  She has hurt the children terribly and I will NOT allow that to happen again.

La Porte, Indiana

We have been spending so much time in the Amish areas that when we moved westward today, I was shocked to find road shoulders full of debris instead of horse shit. “This certainly would not do”, was my immediate reaction until I realized that Amish buggies did not travel these roads and this is probably the normal state of shoulders in most of the US. We got to know the libraries at Syracuse, Middlebury and Shipshewana (where we spent 4 hours of a drizzly cold day) so well, that the librarians in Syracuse invited the kids for a “Sock Hop” and tried to get us to come back for a “Monster Mash”. Those crazy Indiana librarians.

The leaves are changing and changing and changing and I wish I could stop so many places to photo the leaves. The sun has been most uncooperative, however, so the urge was not strong until this morning when it made a spectacular appearance. I can’t remember the last sunny day; I suspect it was sometime in Howe. We spent two nights at the Oakwood Inn in Syracuse while Ameri-Camp worked two very full, long days repairing the slide. I have to say that it works better now than it ever did. They changed the gearing and all kinds of stuff. I’m not sure that there is anything that was NOT replaced, other than the room itself. We boondocked in Shipshe, next to the library, that night and found that the nights are simply too cold and the days too cold and grey to continue boondocking, so we found a terribly depressing “campground” and promptly got stuck in the mud. Old hands at getting stuck, we simply dropped the trailer and headed to the “Sock Hop” at the library and got unstuck this morning on our way out.

We fell deeply and terribly in love with the Bulk Food store in Shipshe (quasi-locals, we call Shipshewana by its nickname “Shipshe”). Amish food in incredible variety and incredibly low prices. We actually went back three days in a row. The roast beast (roast beef to anyone not related to me) was so tender and excellent that we got Mass Quantities to stuff into the freezer. The syrups were devoid of high fructose corn sweetner and I got mass quantities of those also. I’ve never seen such variety and quantity; where else can you find bags of colored mOOnmallows* the size of a toddler? I finally caved and purchased Amish Peanut Butter, and it is as good as it might sound.
We have moved about 100 miles west and are parked near the tollroad. This is our first sight of an interstate since we left Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is loud, it is noisy, but our blood being so thin and all, we need the juice to run the heater so we don’t wake up frozen to the core. We’re actually parked at a motel, stringing an electric cord, as the campground was so muddy we decided not to even try. Tomorrow we head for Costco (we’re almost out of BEANS (the caffeine variety) and oragnic peanut butter and many other things we probably don’t need) and then we might get to Grandma Elinor’s before Christmas.

I still can’t believe we’re heading North when the weather is already more than cold enough, thank you. We should be south. Very very very south. No, more than that. Nope, a bit more; there you go. THAT south!

* edited to please the Moon God and to keep my sanity intact.

Growing roots

We had planned to leave last Friday, waiting out winds and snow the previous two days but when we tried to put the slide in it would come in about an inch, no more. We tried all our normal tricks (we’ve had trouble with the slide since purchase) but it was no-go. We had really enjoyed our newly working slide after it got fixed at the factory but it sure was coming in a LOT differently than before. We’ve used the slide many times since leaving the factory without incident, so this was a surprise. We called the factory and they suggested doing the manual crank. Trying this resulted in horrifically bent metal beneath the entire slide. So we were most definitely stuck. You can’t travel with the slide out. AmeriCamp promised to send someone from the factory (luckilly, we’re still very close to Syracuse) out today; simply to get the slide IN. Once the slide is in, we’ll take it back to Syracuse, drop it at the factory, head to the Oakwood (again!!) and wait for repairs. So, that is where we sit. I’m beginning to think we’re the only family who can take a week to travel through Kansas and two weeks to traverse Indiana.

Real estate p0rn

This is one of the reasons we’re going “SCHWIIIIINGG” at the homes out here… Here is another; Jamie and I are crying about this one… This has lovely acerage and we love the town of Bristol… Here is another lovely Bristol home… My heart about stopped looking at this house… And if this is what they consider a “starter” home in Nappanee, well, you can just shoot me now.

It snowed today; weird for me, because I expect different weather for snow, having been in snow about twice in my adult life. It would be sunny and blue skied and snow coming sideways (due to incredible wind), then black clouds and lots of snow, the sunny and blue and snow all gone. Weird. We spent the afternoon at the Bristol thriftstore getting coats for the girls, mittens and hats for everyone and boots for the boys. I think we’re now ready for our month of cold.

After perusing a few more real estate listings, I have come to the conclusion that Jamie and I should most definitely, stay Very Far Away from Elkhart. Otherwise, we might be spending the winter in a gorgeous old farmhouse. Something like THIS one. I wonder if we could move this one to Chama?

This must be why I love him

He’s got chicken soup on the stove, just cranked the stereo and is hip thrusting to “Burning Down the House” and he knows All The Lyrics. He’s cooking up grilled cheese with the Amish cheese and bread we bought yesterday and while he is doing NOTHING the way *I* would do it, but he’s doing it, he’s listening to pure crap (i’d have NPR on), he’s dancing with the kids and he’s goofy beyond belief. And I love him.

Fat and sugar and all things refined

What with the prevalence of Amish foodstuffs and having our trailer in for service (and eating out instead of making our own) we’ve been indulging in Much fat and Much sugar and Much high fructose corn syrup and Much chocolate (we visited a candy factory in La Grange; Plyleys) and then, just when we were getting back on the road to food again, Ellen had her birthday. She wanted fried chicken and shrimp and cake and we basically filled the day with sugar and fat. Yesterday *I* had had enough. I had coffee and eggs with salsa and good whole wheat bread from the Health Food store in Goshen. Then I did YOGA. For the first time in what seems like forever, definietly since Michael came, I did Yoga. And Jamie went for a bike ride. Of course, today, I can’t raise my arms higher than my elbows…

 

We headed to the Shipshewana Flea Market to get apples and a quilt (and came away with much much more) but while shopping for Amish apple butter I got so discombobulated by the ingredients of Amish peanut butter (sugar, peanuts, marshmallow creme, fat, sugar, fat, oh, what the hell, lets throw a couple odd peanuts in, more sugar and some fat) that I completely forgot about the Apple butter. Not a problem, it is raining today and SNOW is forecast for tomorrow (Michelle emails me that it is snowing in Minnesota NOW) that we’ll stay put until the weather clears. And maybe head to Shipshe for some truly decadent Amish peanut butter. My children, should I decide to allow them the hedonistic pleasure of a sample, may never be the same again.

International "buy Amish" Day

Well, international in the sense that we’re an international family. I’ve been thinking of how I can show my support to the Amish for the tragedy in Pennslyvania. I’m being diliberately vague in the event that children are reading. I know mine do. Today we headed to the Shipshewana Flea Market (which runs Tuesday and Wednesday) and shopped at Mennonite and Amish stalls. We bought 1/2 bushel of Fuji and Honeycrisp apples, 2 loaves of bread (whole wheat), breadsticks, whole wheat pita, cinnamon rolls and bread, salt rising bread, (all the breadstuff was a dollar each), a quilt (!!!), cheese, salami and meats, little dollar stuff of which I can’t even begin to remember the specifics and beanie baby cats for the kids (the boys have begun a campaign to get a kitten to travel with us). We dropped close to $60 dollars or more (I haven’t run the tallies yet) and the headed over the border (to Sturgis, Michigan) to do enormous quantities of laundry. Yesterday we stopped at both Goodwill in Goshen and a private thriftstore in Bristol and stocked up for the kids. Again I was surprised at the prices at Goodwill. Three dollars and 50 cents for a child’s shirt??? The store in Bristol was much more reasonable and we spent about $37 there, compared to $5 at Goodwill. As long as we’re in the area, we’ll continue to shop Amish and hope it will make a small difference to their economy, and, by relation of religion, that of the families in Pennsylvania.

We are absolutely LOVING the northern Indiana countryside. Like Kansas, we never expected to spend any time here other than time waiting for the trailer to be fixed. We are loving the small Amish farms, the lovely rolling hills, the gorgeous fall colors and the quiet streams and rivers. It is absolutely beautiful here; we must have picked the perfect time to visit. There are renegade mosquitoes about and I can only imagine how fierce they must be in Summer. We have visited many of the towns in the area, La Grange, Shipshewana (aka Shipshe), Bristol, Howe, Honeyville, Goshen (a very large town) and Benton, but find that the most touristy is also the most “Amishy”, Shipshewana. There are buggies absolutely EVERYWHERE and the roads sport large, wide shoulders for their travel. It still must be absolutely nerve-wracking as the horse seem to be terribly spooked by the cars. I can’t imagine how terrifying it must be in Summer when the tourist population explodes.

Each and every day I have so much I want to record here and by the time I’m at the laptop it has all escaped. There is so much we’ve done over the past few days and many memories I wanted to record, but it is all gone. I suppose I should force myself to sit down every day, but I’m verbose enough as it is; I just might be responsible for death by boredom. The other day we celebrated Ellen’s 5th birthday. It is odd, after 12 years of babies, to have a five year old as your youngest child. She is so much a first child personality and very much like her brother Jesse.

Tomorrow we plan to visit the Indiana Dunes State Park (or National Lakeshore); dunes in Indiana? Who knew??? It is getting colder and colder and it is all I can do to keep the car pointed northward. Next year we do the Midwest in Summer. Course, then I’ll be complaining about the heat, humidity and incessant mosquitoes.

Ameri-Camp rocks our world!!

Ameri-Camp ended up footing the entire bill at the Oakwood Inn. I was absolutely astounded and shocked. According to the front desk, they do this for all their customers who bring units in for service. Just reason number 308,743 to buy AmeriCamp. We slept in so late this morning it wasn’t funny. Two days ago we had a factory tour at AmeriCamp and were up early (8am) for that and I have no idea WHY we got up early yesterday, but we made up this morning. We were rushing around trying to meet the 11am checkout time, pack, draw bath #87,641 for the girls (to be honest, the heat hadn’t been turned on at the Inn and the only way to stay warm was in the gigantic bathtub or under covers), do a load of laundry and pick up the trailer (at 11am, natch). I left Jamie at the hotel after packing almost all up and picked up the trailer. I was astounded at the work they did. We complained about the screening coming out of the door; they replaced the ENTIRE DOOR. I complained about the insulating sheathing coming apart on the electrical cord; the replaced the ENTIRE CORD. We complained about two little guides not working on the bedroom window; the replaced the ENTIRE WINDOW with a new, updated model. I could go on, but I’m sure you get the drift. They found stuff that we didn’t even complain about and fixed it! We got a brand new awning (not under warranty; the way that awnings warranties are written, I think it is about impossible to get one replaced under warranty) and love the new one. I think it is a better and stronger awning but we’ll see what Mexico has to say about it. I can’t make any complaints about their service; they went above and beyond. We stopped by to say goodbye and thank them for picking up the hotel bill and found another AmeriCamp owner in the yard who recognized our rig, knew about the website (HI! Nice man! Sorry I forgot your name) and said a lot of the reason he bought AmeriCamp was due to our experience with it. So, if you’re in the market, you can’t go wrong with AmeriCamp. We have never had a poor experience with them. Truly, they are the best. And if you get the chance, stop by Syracuse and visit them. They’ll go out of their way to please you. We’re still astounded by their excellent service.

So, we headed not too far up the road to Benton or Benson or some tiny town a little south of Goshen and tomorrow will go a bit more north to Middlesomething to a Mill. Or maybe we’ll stay here. We’re at a spillway on the Elkhart river and Pikey is certain to get some fishing in. The moon is enormously full and we are loving the Amish country. I really need to post about the fun we’ve had here in northern Indiana, but I need to sleep more. Maybe tomorrow.

syracuse, Indiana

The children do not want to leave the room. We dropped into Ameri-Camp’s parking lot late last night and carried the sleeping children from the car to the trailer and settled in. The little road next to us was amazingly busy with Semi’s and RV’s and traffic most all night long. I was amazed. For such a tiny road, even on maps, it had more traffic than the large divided highway we’d left. We slept horribly, awfully, woken by thunder and lightening and rain so loud it sounded like hail. Finally, after the morning shift arrived at 5am, we slept until 9. AmeriCamp squared away all the items on our “to-do” list as the kids packed toys and clothes for a few nights away from home. I had expected to look for a little Mom and Pop motel, hoping to spend $20-30 a night, but we’ve apparently hit the resort area of Indiana. Syracuse is surrounded by many many lakes and Amish communities and Kerry (the warranty guy) at AmeriCamp kept pushing the Oakwood Resort/Inn on us. It sounded terribly expensive to me and I was very reluctant to accept his help in making a reservation but Jamie interrupted and said we’d take his help.

It only took us a couple hours to go over the list and pack up, drop the trailer and leave but we somehow managed to leave the trailer without packing absolutely everything from it in the van.
We drove around town a bit; very very many of the homes have docks and boats tied up behind them in place of backyards, found the Post Office (where mail and a phone await me) and the library (where the Jesse wanted to immediately head to) and after getting lost only once, found the Inn. I didn’t expect to be able to check in; I just wanted to see if they had a place for the kids to swim, but they were unexpectedly ready for us. I still have no idea who is paying for the room, AmeriCamp or us, but the kids are in absolute heaven. The bathtub is larger than any tub we’ve ever seen. The room is about twice as large as our trailer, there are TWO lazy-boy type chairs, a closet the size of a bedroom, a hallway and a bathroom the size of a kitchen. I guess they make everything bigger out here. A balcony surrounds one wall of the room and an interior atrium outside our room. We have a lovely view of a lake or one lake or some lakes; there seem to be many lakes here in the Syracuse area. The kids are astounded and so excited by the luxury of it all. The very first item on order was a bath. Both girls were swimming in the extra large tub; then Jamie and Pike shared a bath and now Jesse is bathing. As the kids got somewhat hungry they started making sandwiches from the fixings I bought and were fainting with happiness when I walked in with the lunch special. Three pieces of Amish fried chicken, garlic mashed potatoes and a salad. They are now sipping coffee and Jamie and I are cleaning up the leftovers.

I doubt they will want to leave the room; it is enormous (compared to our normal home), luxurious beyond belief and so relaxing. They keep exclaiming, “it couldn’t get ANY better than THIS!” and sigh and smile and giggle and laugh and appreciate. We’ve been thanked a million times and told that we’re the Best Mom/Dad ever and as their bellies fill, they are finally slowing down…

Farmhouse havens

I spent a couple days trying to recover my budget file and have given up. For now. I’m disgusted that I never put August on the blog; if I’d done that, I would have had to re-create September only, but at it is, I now have 2 months to reconstruct. I have a vague idea of August being $2800 in expenses but it is lost now. Along with September. I have no idea how it disappeared; I had two spreadsheets open when I shutdown the computer (as I normally do) and the next time I went to open them they were gone. I keep all spreadsheets on the external drive so I can move them around from computer to computer but now I’m going to have to save everything in a few places. So all online time has been devoted to trying to recover this file and as such, postings have been scant. We’ve also been setting mileage records (for ourselves) and haven’t had time to do anything at night other than find a place to boondock and sleep. I hate traveling this way; driving to simply put miles on, but we spent so much time at the lake at Chase County (Cottonwood Falls) that in order to be only a day late for our twice-rescheduled appointment with Ameri-Camp we have to drive and drive and drive.

We obviously LOVED Chase County Ole Fishin Hole. Fishermen arrived daily at dawn and late afternoon (there seemed to be two seperate shifts) for fishing. Pike was so inspired by the fish and the prospect of getting a fish that he fashioned a pole out of a tree branch, scrounged line from the shore, found a bouy and a weight and tried and tried. He even found a rubber worm but the fish were not interested in his treat.

The rest of Kansas, from Cottonwood Falls to KC, MO was flat and windy. We had steady crosswinds and sometimes a tiny fraction of a headwind, but mostly it was a hard, driving, diesel guzzling wind. It was hot hot hot hot hot also; hard to go from snow and freezing temperatures to mid 90’s. Missouri was hilly. Roller coaster hill and valley and hill and valley. We stuck to the backroads, even trying to make up mileage and it was lovely to have Jamie in the passenger seat to navigate, get stuff for the kids and talk to. We do most of our talking while driving and had really missed that when he was driving the Westy with Michael. I oscillate between guilt that we didn’t do enough or the right thing or something that wasn’t “enough” on our part for Michael and anger at him for not trying. I think about him all the time, especially at night when I wonder where he has driven to, how he is coping and what he’s experiencing. I wonder if we’ll ever see him again…

We took highway 36 straight across the state and found an absolutely LOVELY state park in Missour in Macon. Long Branch State Park has basic camping sites for $8, electric for $14, electric and water for $15 and full hookups for $17. We decided that we were just going to sleep and if we stayed at the campground the kids would want to stay for days and days and we’re running out of weather to dawdle so much. We stopped at a wonderful playground and the kids played, we made dinner and cleaned up. While the kids played long into dusk, the campground host from the state park took it upon himself to drive by and tell us we couldn’t park there. I remembered the sign at the playground entrance notifying the public that it closed at 10pm and was about to speak up he finally got across to Jamie that we couldn’t camp the night there. I was doing an amazing impression of white trash by taking an outside shower (at the trailer) and washing my hair for the first time in over a week. I was topless, trying to get a good washing in and thought for certain he was going to tell Jamie to “get some clothes on your nekkid woman” but he never knew I was there. We drove on into the night and spent the night at the Welcome Center (to Missouri; we were about to leave) in Hannibal. I SO wanted to let the boys explore Hannibal as they have been reading and listening (on MP3) to “Tom Sawyer” and “Huck Finn” since we started our journey. They put it down and then engross themselves again, and this week has been a Mark Twain week. They were so excited as we drove through downtown this morning and I pointed out various Samuel Clemens landmarks. I really hope we get back to Hannibal to let them explore another time.

I was up at the very early hour of 7am today, make pancakes and breakfast boxes for the kids, coffee for myself and readied the car for travel. It still took us until 8:30 to leave. We drove around downtown Hannibal and marveled at all the real estate porn (I swear, houses just keep getting more and more impressive the further east we travel) and made our way across the mighty Mississippi. The kids were suitably impressed.

Today we crossed Illinois and Will finish with Indiana once we stop for the night. We are parked in an enormously flat church parking lot now, bathing the kids after dinner and I’ll drive the remaining 75 or so miles to Syracuse and the AmeriCamp factory before stopping for a good long while. We all hate traveling this way and I’m as glad to stop the mileage as the kids will be. Today we took I72 across Illinois to Springfield, where the kids are CERTAIN that the Simpons live and were not the least bit impressed at Abe Lincoln’s home. Jamie took the wheel outside Springfield and we took highway 54 northeast and fell more and more in lust with the enormous farmhouses and gorgeous enormous craftsman homes lining the streets of the tiny towns. We stopped in the town of Watseka, just before Indiana and found a lovely park for the kids to play at. I surprised them with ice-cream cones and I’m not sure anyone had lunch. If we had not yet been impressed with the real estate porn of Missouri and Illinois, Indiana has shown us that we ain’t seen nothin yet. The paint may be peeling, roofs rotting, porches falling, but the architecture, turrets, Victorians, farmhouses, old barns; they are all pure and unadulterated real estate porn. And we’re lusting more than Jimmy Carter ever considered possible. We took highway 24 across Indiana to Logansport (where we are right now) and will now head north (where we would have had a tailwind these past two days) on 25 to 31, then over 6 (or something that looks like “6″ to these old eyes) and then we’re almost there. Indiana seems to be going by so quickly; even stopping (because that’s what the road does) in each and every little town.

I’m thinking we’ll be at AmeriCamp getting repairs done for a week or so, then up to Grandma Elinor’s for Halloween. After weeks of listening to “Little House in the Big Woods” and “Little House on the Prarie”, I’m looking forward to Pepin, Wisconsin and the Little House museum.

Sweet freedom whispers in our ears

Oh, where to start? I might need to take this computer down to the beach with a cup (not a Dora cup this time, but a Talavera vaso I bought especially for my wine) of good red medicine. That sounds like just the ticket after a shrimp, pasta with faux alfredo (crema agria (sour cream, but it was leftover from Mexican purchases so it gets the spanish name), parmesan, copious amounts of garlic and some olive oil) sauce and broccoli. I’d much rather a Modelo Negro (dark beer) but the red medicine might be just what I need.

Well, that IS much better. The red medicine is lovely (though it is in the Dora cup; didn’t want to risk breaking the talavera what with splinters of branches and wood flying from Jesse breaking up firewood) and the temperature superb, so far either the red medicine is working or the mozzys continue to present a weak attack.

Michael left last night just about this time. Jamie and I had had many talks with him, starting in Tepic and I never blogged about it because Jamie was not comfortable with my doing so. Interestingly, yesterday he apologised and said it was a ridiculous stance. So yesterday, before heading to the Tall Grass place I can never remember the name of, Jamie and I spoke with Michael yet again to find out how he was going with the “get a job and support yourself” project as we’d seen no signs of him doing anything. It turned out that he had no idea what to do, how to begin and had decided that he’d just hang out on land that he figured we’d eventually purchase to settle down on. Needless to say, that idea went over like a lead balloon. Jamie and I told him that time was running out and abandoning him at the side of the road (how we saw the relationship ending if he continued to do nothing) or getting him a job were not solutions we were happy with. I can’t imagine the stress and worry the kids would feel leaving him roadside. We headed to the preserve and had a lovely time even when Ellen refused to walk and we never got to take a nature walk to see the “real” prarie.
When we returned, Michael had a plan. His plan, to support himself, was that we would give him the Westy, $300 in cash and the keys to our storage unit. He is very lucky I had no implements of destruction when he presented this “plan”. Fortunately for Michael, Jamie was so desperate to have Michael leave that he agreed. I talked him down to $100 and no storage keys and all the kids decided that they would rather have Michael drive away rather than us leave him here at the lake. Michael then decided then and there that he’d leave immediately. It was somewhat shocking and sudden for the kids (we had all anticpated a month of guiding him into a job and supporting himself) but they rallied. In what was typical style for Michael, he neither thanked us for the money and vehicle nor said goodbye.

We were all very very sad and upset and frustrated and worried after he left, and honestly, even this morning (for Jamie and I) but slowly we’re coming out of it. We are all happier. Jamie and I are both amazed (doh!) at how much happier the kids are. Jamie and I feel a sense of hope and freedom we haven’t felt in forever.

Today we headed to Council Grove and immersed ourselves in Pioneer history. We talked about the First Nations peoples, the rape of their land, the hardships of the pioneers, the struggles in new territory and learned an enormous amount. And had cinnamon rolls and cookies and found a great grocery store and incredibly beautiful farmhouses and craftsman sytle homes and, like we normally do, fell in love all over again. We LOVE Cottonwood Falls. We LOVE Council Grove. We are bigoted enough to assume that everyone is very conservative but we love it just the same. We rarely have trouble finding a place to settle down. Our problem is that we find EVERYWHERE to settle down.

And that’s the news from Lake Chase County Fishing Hole, where the geese are honking, the kids are screaming to outdo them and all the men are goodlooking.

the signs of Kansas

It seems so wrong to break the stillness and quiet of this little fishing lake with a generator, even a quiet generator, but I need to work and there is something of a thrill watching the sun rise over a tiny lake, whisps of fog protecting the banks, fish popping to the surface and their tiny rings of disturbance spreading about the lake surface and the sky turns blue then light blue then edges with yellow and then there is no doubt but that the sun will rise again. The thrill? Oh yeah. That we are in a place without drinking water, without electricity, off on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, no phones (but there are fish) and I’m online. Isn’t that so weird?

If you’re ambivalent about having an abortion, driving highway 50 through Kansas will cure your ambivalence. Sign after sign after sign with fat cheeked white babies advertising anti-abortion dot the roadside. I was amazed at how far they have stretched. They are not in Nevada on highway 50. Nor along the portions of highway 50 we travelled in Utah or Colorado.

There are billboards along highway 50 in Kansas, before each and every town, a small sign will advertise a church. Pretty much that is it. Incase you’re ambivalent about abortion or need a church, signs along highway 50 in Kansas will help you out there. Today should be a cold day in Kansas; the weather people here know their stuff. The clouds forecast for yesterday appeared without complaint and the temperature that should drop today, if it follows the cold night and freezing ground this morning should follow its forecast also.

I really enjoy driving the backroads but the trucks in Kansas on highway 50 are driving me insane. Why are the taking the little 2 lanes? Why not drive the interstates if they don’t want to be held up by a trailer going 50-55? All day yesterday, we had convoy after convoy irritated by our poking along. I stay off the interstates because we like the less travelled roads and I don’t want to drive faster than 55. But here in Kansas, all the trucks seem to like the highways I’ve chosen (50 or 56 or 400 they like them all) and I can’t figure out why they don’t just stay on I-70 if they want to zip down the road. We love stopping at the Santa Fe trail roadside markings and reading what they have there, we like toodling along at 50-55 and I don’t like 2597 semis lined up behind me riding my ass.

Real estate agents from California would slowly loose their minds travelling the small roads of Kansas; enormous, gigantic farmhouses litter the roads and it boggles my mind how much even a delapidated ruin would go for in the Bay Area. I can’t imagine these are very old farmhouses even if they look ancient; how did the settlers HEAT those monstrosities? And why are Kansas farmhouses so tall? Why don’t they spread out? I’d love to take the time to simply photograph them all, but I am reduced to trying to capture something from a moving vehicle. They are graceful, ornate, gigantic, confusing and dominate the landscape.

Cottonwood Falls, Kansas

We ended up spending 3 nights in Lakin, Kansas. If ever there was a family that could meander about Kansas, we must be it. Jamie was certain that the fishing lake we stayed at just south of Lakin (which Don Wright’s book reported to be a “beautiful place”) would be the glory spot for the rest of the country. Once we got out of the Colorado mountains Jamie figured the camping would be quite awful and figured we were in the glory spot for the rest of the midwest. The fees were lovely; $5 for water and electric and the kharma must have been flowing liberally (but NOT Liberal, Kansas) because when Jamie got the generator out of the back of the van to drive himself into deep frustration ‘fixing” it THE DAMN THING STARTED!!! He then ran a bottle of carburator cleaner through it and it has started each and every time since. We are thinking it was an issue with altitude (as we never tried to use it under 6000ft) but last year we had no problem using it at altitude.

The kids had a lovely time at the very lovely Lakin library and Jesse has added yet another temporary card to his collection. He took out about 3000 books and Pikey took out 2 Snickett books on tape and both managed to almost finish their selections by the next day.

We left rather late yesterday and managed to get about 75 miles down the road from Lakin to Dodge City before giving up for the night. We had a trailer tire blow itself to smitherenes but the trailer is so steady the only way I could tell was the smell of burning rubber and the sight of smoke behind me. We really had no place to pull over, other than the shoulder but when your vehicle is as large as ours, the shoulder doesn’t give you much. I would have loved to pull off into the grass but the slope was quite severe for the trailer. I had been looking for the Holcomb grain elevator to signal us the best preserved wagon wheel ruts from the Santa Fe Trail, but the exploding tire completely distracted me. I think we must have pulled over and changed the tire just before the elevator and by the time I was thinking again, we’d long past it. We’ve been following highway 50 (The Lonliest Highway) since we crossed the pass in Colorado which, in eastern Colorado and all of Kansas, follows the Santa Fe Trail.

Last night we stayed at (yet another) fishing lake outside Dodge City (where we stopped to replace the shredded tire) and the kids covered themselves with mozzy bites. I was astonished not only at the incredible coulds of mozzys but at the kids’ staying power out in the clouds. We left at the crack of dawn this morning; about 11:30 and the next traveling day, I think I’m going to insist on an earlier start. We stopped in Kinsley, the midpoint of the railway (1561 miles to New York and 1561 miles to San Francisco) and found an absolutely fascinating museum. There was a locomotive, a church which had been moved from a couple towns and a sod house. I expected the kids to play on the locomotive the whole time but they were just as interested in the museum as I was. We’ve been listening to “Little House on the Prarie” for many miles and were able to see much of what we’ve had described to us in the book. It was an amazing collection of Kansas memorabilia.

We kept to highway 50 today and NOTHING BROKE DOWN! At Kinsely, highway 56 follows the Santa Fe trail but we stuck to highway 50 so we could visit the Tallgrass Prarie National Preserve, but by the time we’d gone grocery shopping in Newton (it must be the largest town we’ve hit since Santa Fe, it was almost evening. We had been bypassing town after small town on highway 50 and just outside Newton, Jamie called over the radio that we’d stop in Newton. It looked to be a very large town (by comparison to all the towns we’ve hit since Santa Fe) and I stopped at the very first store. It advertised its recent opening and we were all astonished to find The Most Incredible prices anywhere. It seemed to be a dented can store run by Mennonites and everything was incredibly cheap. We stocked up on canned tomatoes (15 cans?), 10lb of apples, 6lb of potatoes, sunscreen; you name it. Even Jamie stocked up on 3 boxes of PopTarts.

We found yet another fishing lake here between Cottonwood Falls and Elmsomethingorother. It is an absolutely lovely site and we’ll probably stay here a couple days. We’re camped on a beautiful beach that the kids enjoyed until dark.