Merry Christmas! Christmas...when we remember that our Creator loved us enough to leave His throne in Heaven, come down to earth - not as an all-powerful being - but as a little baby. He didn't choose to spend his days hanging out with the religious people of that day...but rather chose to grow up in a carpenter's family - working the trade himself. As he got older he befriended lowly tax collectors, fishermen, and women (gasp!) He knew that in order for His creation to be reconciled to Him a price would have to be paid for our sins. He took that sin upon Himself - dying a humiliating and miserable death. But He conquered death - raising again and taking His rightful seat back on His throne in Heaven. Someday He is returning for His chosen...those who choose to believe and follow Him. Oh, how I long for that day...to be in the presence of the One who loves me more than anyone. To be with Him who knows me better than I even know myself. Eternally in His presence - where there is no pain, no sorrow, no fear - just His glory.

I believe this with all my heart and all my soul. I have no doubts...so why do I hesitate to share this with everyone? Fear? Will I offend? At what cost?...our souls are at stake. It's not about forcing "my values" or "my beliefs." Rather, I long for everyone to share in this joy...this hope...

I am still human...I will fail my God, my friends, and my family - but God will never fail us. It saddens me when all people see are the "radical religious right" and fail to look at Christ rather than man. Look to Christ this Christmas - know that He loves you.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." (2 Corinth 1:3-4)


I can see how God uses my suffering to bring compassion to others who are hurting. He is softening my heart. He has put so many wonderful people in my life who are stumbling through so much pain right now - I am thankful for His Word and strength. It has drawn me into some deeper friendships and caused me to come to Him in prayer often. I read recently in a book by Charles Swindoll that "our trials are often necessary, proving the genuineness of our faith, teaching us humility...they are distressing, teaching us compassion so that we never make light of another's test or cruelly force them to smile while enduring it." So many of us have that lesson to learn - and this is one of the ways God is shaping me.

This year God's refining fire is strong in my life. Just when I think I can't handle anything more, God shows me He is with me and walking me through this time. Today, I find myself asking, "Is this the right time for this next big step?" The answer seems to be a clear, yet painful, "Yes, now is the time." I pray He will guide us in wisdom and love as we face this day.

"In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (I Pet. 1:6-7)

So, getting motivated to do this has been harder than I thought! I'm still trying to figure out where to start and where to go with this...so forgive the random thoughts - but I guess that what a blog is for. :-).

Our journey this past year and and half has been a test in faith for me. Chris has been wanting to do his own projects for awhile and stepped into the house flipping market just as the forclosures starting becoming available. He has purchased two houses and our lives and resources have been poured into these properties. Of course, life has happened - causing delays and strains (and much anxiety on my part!) But through it all, God has held me in the palm of His hand and is reminding me daily to trust Him. I don't know what is going to happen with our finances (this economy is taking a toll on us) - but our circumstances keep me in constant prayer.

Several other trials have come our way this year - some caused by decisions we've made, but most out of our control. I am just so thankful that I have a hope - a future - with a Father who loves me - who loves my family. He has given me wonderful friends that point me back to Him and a family who loves me. I am studying the life of David and going through 1 Peter with a friend - I look forward to sharing what God is teaching me through His word.

Man, time has flown by. I am way behind on keeping up with this blog. Granted, we haven't had any big trips since 2005 - but we have been a few places. I will make sure to do a brief summary soon! But I think, for now, I am going to shift focus a little on this blog. Due to the circumstances in our life, we won't be traveling much for a bit - so I think I will start sharing the spiritual journey I am on right now. We have an amazing God - and He is showing Himself to me daily.

Unfortunately, I need to get up to Auburn to work on a house....so I will have to continue this later. But I am looking forward to sharing all that God has been doing with my messed up life! :-)

Yosemite 2007

Well, the bus made it to Yosemite again this year. It was literally a test run for the bus as it had been stuck in Truckee since last summer due to an engine water leak. Chris worked hard to get it fixed - but he had to modify the repairs (to do it by the book he would have had to pull the engine - quite a feat - especially when it's in the mountains with no shop!) We managed to get it home from Truckee about a week and a half before our trip. I followed him home and had to use my wipers as the leak wasn't totally sealed. Chris fixed the seal on one side - thought we were ready to roll - and then came in the morning we were to leave to inform me there was a puddle under the bus - the other side had given way. He repaired that - but we had to let the rubber sealant set up for a minimum of 10 hrs before we could pull away. So at 2am - with lots of prayer and a AAA card we shoved off. The bus ran like a champ! We pulled into our campground in Yosemite Valley at 9am the next morning. Chris set up the bus (with the usual stares and questions!) He even set up a solar panel and windmill to charge the batteries. Unfortunately, the trees seemed to break up the wind - so my Aunt Bev was the only one who happened to see it turn a few times. We'll have to save that power source for camping on the coast!

In the meantime - I was busy running back and forth to base camp. We were on this trip with Bayside Adventure Sports - and I was part of the volunteer staff. I handled the registration and site assignments for over 300 campers. Needless to say - it was a hectic few days making sure everyone got settled. The focus of this trip is the Half Dome Hike. BAS had over 100 people hike it this year - 17 miles round trip! My girls decided to join a few friends, Chris, and my cousin Angela, and Uncle Merrill on this insane hike. Chris assured me that they would be lucky to make it to the second set of falls and that they'd probably be back by noon. (They had never hiked that far and the only shoes they had were cheap tennies from Payless Shoes!) Well, noon came and went - no sign of my girlies. By 2:00pm, I figured they must have toughed it out and attempted the whole hike. To keep myself occupied, I joined my friend Natalie on a lovely bike ride around Yosemite Valley (her husband Loren and son Matthew were hiking too). Around 4pm we saw a helicopter heading to Half Dome. We decided to end our bike ride there and head back to camp to get info on what was going on - helicopters in Yosemite are not usually a good thing. We found out that someone had fallen and died - but it took a little bit longer to confirm it wasn't one of the Baysiders. It was an anxious 1/2 hour or so! The first of the hikers started trickling in and assured us that our kids were right behind them and doing great. But I was still a little nervous. My family arrived back for dinner at around 8pm - Julia actually came SKIPPING into camp - must be all that Irish dancing. They had made it to the top - and without any whining (I would have been whining within the first mile - it's steep!) - my Uncle Merrill was so proud of them - and once I relaxed - I was too! I figured they'd earned their "I Made It to The Top T-shirts" - so we made sure they got one the next day. I'm not sure any of them will be doing this hike again - but it's something they'll be able to check off on that list of "Things I've accomplished in my lifetime...."

Hi all -
We're finally settling into a schedule after our travels! We've been asked by several people if it's good to be home - my answer has been, "ask me in a few weeks." We had a great trip and miss the great family time - but it is very nice to be surrounded by friends and family again.

One thing that I became convicted about on the trip is my lack of involvement in what is going on in our country. I am very complacent - and I live (along with several of you) within minutes of the headquarters of one of the most influential states! Learning about our history and the seeing decline of our nation has caused me to want to do something. I was encouraged at an apologetics seminar in North Carolina that a good first step is simply keeping abreast of current events and writing the appropriate government officials when necessary. I have come across a website run by Focus on the Family that makes it really easy to do this - Citizen Link. They post all the current legislation and events that would warrant a letter and even provide a way to easily e-mail your representatives. It only took me minutes to e-mail a note to several of our representatives! I would encourage each of you to make your voice heard. You can check the Citizen Link site out at http://www.family.org/forum/action_center.cfm . I signed up for their daily e-mail - so I will have a reminder on where I need to follow up. If you have any other great resources - I'd love to hear about them.

I swear - I'm not on commission - I just wanted to encourage you to join me in trying to make this place better for our kids.

From my soapbox...
Pamela

California

California

Sunday we made our way over to Joshua Tree National Park. It really is a beautiful place. The Joshua trees are a knarled, twisted tree with leaves that are similar to those found on a Yucca. This park is full of them! I believe they said the oldest was about 700 years old. The park was also full of interesting rock formations. It was pretty cold and windy – so we didn’t do much exploration (let me re-phrase that – Julia and I stayed in the car while Chris & Jess explored for about 20 minutes!) We drove to the highest point in the park – which had a beautiful view down into Baja – but it was soooo windy – that we took a couple of quick pictures and ran back down to the car. :-)

Monday we managed to find an RV park in San Dimas (I had the sudden urge to watch Bill & Ted’s Big Adventure). We set up camp and then drove the girls over to see where their Great-Grandparents used to live. (Chris’ parents are both from Southern California). Tuesday we did the NBC Studio tour – pretty uneventful – but we did see the Tonight Show set (it’s a lot smaller than it looks on TV, thanks to some special camera that really make things look bigger!) We also saw one of Jay Leno’s many cars. The employees say that while most of us change clothes every day and drive the same car, Jay wears the same clothes to work each day (denim shirt & jeans) and drives a different car. We then drove over to Hollywood and saw the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the footprints in front of Gromann’s Theatre. There are definitely quite a few characters in Hollywood (and I mean that quite literally!) We had our picture taken with Spiderman and Cookie Monster. Julia held a little snake offered to her by a Gothic vampire-looking lady (who was actually very friendly!) We also drove around Beverly Hills trying to convince the girls that every house belonged to a movie star – the little houses to little stars and the big houses to big stars – they almost bought it! We spent the rest of the evening visiting with Chris’ Uncle Bud and Aunt Gayle. We hadn’t see them in several years and it was nice catching up.

Wednesday we checked out of the RV resort and drove up to Simi Valley to see the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. They had just recently opened the exhibit that features the Air Force One that was in service from 1973 to 2001. They also had a Marine One (the helicopter) and one of Reagan’s Presidential Limousines. The museum itself is atop a hill that overlooks the valley – it was a beautiful sunset. We were also able to visit Reagan’s grave there. This was our last stop before heading home– but wouldn’t you know it – just before we got to the freeway the bus just died at a light. It was acting like it wasn’t getting fuel (but we had plenty!) Let’s just say that they uppity people in Simi Valley did NOT like that a big, old school bus was tying up traffic at rush hour is their little town! The police station was getting swarmed with calls – but they sent out someone to direct traffic. Our tow truck finally arrived – about an hour later – and pulled us around the corner. Chris started running some diagnostics on the fuel pump – tightened a wire – and the baby fired right up! The tow truck driver was great – he followed us about 14 miles just to make sure we were ok. We’re almost home now – just entering Sacramento. It’s hard to believe this trip is over – 3 months to the day from when we left. We definitely had God’s hand on us in this trip – no serious problems – we were safe – and He gave us GREAT weather (. We come home with lots of great memories, a wonderful appreciation for our country and it’s history, and seven CD’s of pictures (which I promise not to turn into a four hour slide show to torture you all with!). Thanks for joining us on our journey!

Next stop……to be continued next year….

Southwest

Texas, New Mexico and Arizona

Sorry for the long post – but it’s been awhile since we’ve had internet!  Chris has been doing a lot of driving this week!  We made it all the way from Branson to the western Arizona!  Sunday we stayed in Dallas and walked around the area where John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  We met two gentlemen who spend their weekends downtown trying to share the “truth” about what happened that fateful November day in 1963.  One of the men actually witnessed the whole thing and is sure there was a shooter in the infamous “grassy knoll.”  He said that several policeman and spectators ran toward the grassy knoll soon after the shots were fired (and they had photos showing this) where they only found two men flashing Secret Service badges.  The other guy has been researching the Kennedy assasination for over 40 years now.  He was a consultant and bit player in Oliver Stone’s movie “JFK”.  All very interesting stuff!

We spent Tuesday in Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.  It is a huge cavern – we toured just 2 miles out of 30 documented miles.  It has a steep natural entrance (my legs were sore for the next few days!) that winds 1-1/2 miles down to “the Big Room.”  This room is home to many beautiful formations.  I was very glad that the lights never went out on us – we were 750 feet down – losing power would not have been fun!  

Wednesday we took Jess to Rockhound National Park.  She loves collecting rocks.  This park lets you collect up to 15 pounds to take home.  She was so excited – she got a bag and a paintbrush to brush away any dirt.  Chris got a hammer (in case they needed to break open some geodes or make a big rock smaller ().  Jess came back so excited with her bag full of rocks!

We spent Thursday in Tombstone, Arizona.  Unless you are into touristy Old West towns and gunfights – this is not necessarily somewhere I’d recommend going out of your way to visit.  Luckily, it wasn’t too far off our route.  We did a little browsing in the shops.  We found a really cool magnet - a live cactus in a little pot ( (we’ve been collecting magnets to put on the metal walls of the bus!)  The girls enjoyed a sarsaparilla and Chris went to a comedy gun show.

Friday we explored Saguaro National Park in Tucson.  The Saguaro (sa-wore-oh) is the largest cactus and is only found in the Sonoran desert.  They are huge!  We also saw several other varieties of cactus.  The girls worked hard to complete their Junior Ranger badge here.  We even got a little too much sun – we were a little pink in the cheeks!  We enjoyed In-N-Out Burger for dinner – didn’t even know they had them in Arizona.  We then made a quick trip into Lowe’s to pick up some Christmas decorations for the bus.  We have a lit-up Christmas tree decoration in the front of the bus and Chris strung lights on the inside – you definitely can’t miss us now (as if you could before!)  

Today we stopped in Quartzite, Arizona hoping to find more rock stuff for Jessica.  Quartzite is a hopping RV mecca in January and February – so we just missed the chaos – and all the cool rock and mineral vendors.  Jess did manage to find a pretty opal necklace (something she’s been wanting for awhile – it’s her birthstone.)  We are now officially back in California – the Palm Springs area.  We are planning on exploring Joshua Tree National Park tomorrow.  Then we plan on spending a little time in Southern California.  We should be home by next weekend – although Chris and I aren’t quite ready to be back in the “real world.”   (
  

Missouri Illinois

Missouri & Illinois

The Arch in St. Louis, Missouri is amazing!  It dominates the skyline as you come into the city.  I have to admit I had a little bit of anxiety at the thought of taking the elevator to the top – but quickly got over it when we saw the view!  From there we toured the Old Courthouse where the Dred Scott Case was decided.

We spent Tuesday in Springfield, Illinois.  It was nice to spend time in a smaller city for a change. (   Springfield is where Abraham Lincoln made his home for most of his adult life.  We toured the house he and Mary shared with their boys.  Their second son, Eddy, died in this house.  It was in the parlor of this house that Lincoln was asked to run for president.  The girls earned their Jr. Ranger badge at this Historic Site.  In April, Springfield opened the state-of-the-art Lincoln Presidential Museum & Library.  I have to say that this is one of the best museums we have been to so far.  There were two theatres with all kinds of special effects.  The first was a live monologue called “Ghosts of the Library” with wonderful visual effects.  The next was a multi-media presentation about Lincoln with strobe lights and seat vibrators (that shook when the guns went off).  The museum itself was made up several scenes from Lincoln’s life in almost life-sized reproductions – from the cabin he was born in to a reproduction of his casket laying in state in Springfield.  I never realized how much sorrow he had in his life – from outliving two of his four sons to they hatred and torment he endured during a very divisive time in our nation.

Wednesday, Chris took the girls to Meremac Caverns in Missouri.  I stayed back because I was feeling sick – but the girls said it was great!  This cave was one of the hideouts that Jesse James used back in the day.  They described beautiful stalactites and stalagmites along with a rare formation called a “wine table.”  

Thursday found us in Branson, Missouri.  What a great place to be on Thanksgiving.  It the heart of the Ozarks, it’s a great family vacation destination (I’m starting to sound like one of the several brochures I’ve been reading!)  We went to Dolly Parton’s Christmas Dixie Stampede dinner show.  Lot’s of food and great entertainment!  We were on the North side of the rivalry between the North Pole and the South Pole.  The rivalry was decided on the outcome of several fun contests – including horse and carriage races, ostrich races (yes, they were real people riding real ostriches!), chicken chasing, pig races, and much more!  On the more serious side, there were ice skaters, a beautiful solo, and a live nativity with the Wise Men arriving on real camels.  All, in all, very well done!  Not a bad way to spend Thanksgiving!  (    Friday’s show was Branson’s first show – Baldknobbers.  It was a country jamboree with a splash of gospel and Christmas.  Let’s just say that this California girl heard more country music in the last few days than I have in all my life!  I was very glad to get into the car and turn on some U2 (my favorite band – no hint of country there!)  Although Chris and I were both amazed that both shows we attended were sold out and had a very Christian message – not something you’d find outside of church in California!  

We are now driving through Clinton, Arkansas (I’m not kidding!) in route to Interstate 10 west.  We’ll be making stops in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California on our route home.  Just a few more weeks before we return to chaos at home (work, bills, Christmas….)

Tennessee

Tennessee

We spent Friday & Saturday in Memphis, Tennessee. While there we went down to the Rock & Soul Museum and saw the history of Blues & Soul Music in Memphis. B.B. King, Ike Turner, and of course, Elvis, got their start there. From there we drove over to the Peabody Hotel and watched the marching of the ducks. If you haven’t heard of it – it’s really quite cute. The Peabody has an inside fountain that five ducks swim in from 11am-5pm. When they are not working – they are in the Duck Palace on the roof of the hotel. So every morning and afternoon the ducks march to and from the fountain on a red carpet accompanied by music. It draws quite a crowd! We then drove up to the edge of the Mississippi River, hoping to find the Delta Queen docked in town – but we missed it by a few days – oh well!

Saturday we spent the afternoon at Graceland – highly overpriced, but cool to see nonetheless. We toured the mansion which took us through several downstairs rooms, including the living room, music room, dining room, kitchen, pool room, and jungle room. We then saw a few other buildings – mostly used to hold many of his awards and memorabilia. Outside was the Presley gravesite where Elvis, his parents, and grandmother are buried. Across the street is home to the Elvis auto museum, more memorabilia, and his two planes. We found a novelty store going out of business - so needless to say we’ve got all kinds of cheesy Elvis souvenirs! Jess and Chris have been singing Elvis tunes all night (although Chris has now moved on to the Stray Cats – whatever works to entertain him while he’s driving!)

We are currently just outside of St. Louis, Missouri – off to see the Arch!

North Carolina Geor

North Carolina & Georgia

We spent the weekend visiting with friends in Charlotte, NC. It was so nice to see familiar faces again! Friday we hooked up with the McGinnis family – long-time friends from Sylvan Oaks Christian Church – who moved to Charlotte two years ago. We left the girls with them for the evening while we caught up with some other friends – the Beaumonts. They happened to be a part of a big apologetics conference put on by the Seminary where Doug teaches. Chris and I were able to attend Friday night’s session – it was excellent! We ordered the MP3’s for Saturday’s conference – can’t wait to listen to them! Saturday through Monday was spent hanging out more with the McGinnis’ and the Beaumonts. It was hard to leave – especially for Julia & Jessica as they really have missed the McGinnis girls!

Wednesday we spent in Atlanta, Georgia. We toured the World of Coca-Cola – (we actually paid to be bombarded with advertising!) But it was fun – we were able to try all kinds of interesting beverages from around the world. We had lunch at Atlanta’s The Varsity – tiny burgers, but good onion rings, fries, and ice cream. We then drove by Olympic Park and then made our way to the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic Site. We were able tour the house where M.L.K. was born and lived until his 12th year. We saw Ebenezer Church – where both his Father and he preached, a small museum, and his gravesite.

From this point on, we will be making our way back West. Planned stops so far include Memphis, St. Louis, and Branson – all subject to change due to weather conditions!

Virginia

Virginia

We finished up Virginia today.  Monday we spent the afternoon at Mt. Vernon, George Washington’s estate south of Washington D.C.  It is a beautiful house and a huge farm.  It was interesting to find out that Washington was primarily a farmer – that was his true passion.  He designed most of the buildings on his property.  Both he and Martha are buried here.

From there we drove south to Williamsburg.  We spent three days exploring what’s called the “historic triangle” – which comprises Williamsburg, Yorktown, and Jamestown.  Colonial Williamsburg is a restored 18th town with over 500 original or restored building – many available to tour through with costumed guides.  (The Rockefeller’s financed most of the restorations.)  Several shops are functional today staffed by trades people using 18th century technology.  We saw a wigmaker, silversmiths, carpenters, a tailor, shoemakers, an apocatherist (pharmacist), and much more!  Some buildings were toured included the Governor’s Mansion, the old Capitol (Williamsburg was the capital of colonial Williamsburg before the capital was moved to Richmond), the church, the courthouse, and John Wythe’s home (he is a signer of the Declaration and the lawyer that taught Jefferson law).  We watched a minute danced and Chris learned a group dance.  We also attended two interactive performances of actors portraying the first two governors of the Virginia colony, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson.  We would have seen George Washington today – but we wanted to see Jamestown and Yorktown before we had to leave.

I learned a bit of interesting trivia today – in the courthouse there is a railing that went across the room – spectators and the accused had to stay behind this rail (the accused would literally “stand for trial”) – only lawyers and judges were allowed to  “pass the bar” (of the railing) – thus the term of “passing the bar” originated from this old custom.  (

This afternoon we spent at Colonial National Park.  Our first stop was at Jamestown – one of the original English settlements (think, Pocahontas and John Smith).  There are archeologists still in the process of excavating this site and we were able to witness some live digs.  They had recently unearthed a fallen chimney – for artifact buffs, I guess this is a big deal! (  We had just missed a press conference about the remains they unearthed in June.  They are thinking it probably the remains of one of the three original ship captains (sorry, his name is escaping me right now!)  We took a quick drive over to Yorktown – the sight of the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.  This is where Washington’s army defeated the British into surrender.  We took a sunset drive around the different sights of the battlefield.  So much information to digest in this week’s adventures!

Washington DC

Washington D.C.

It has been a busy week! We have been in the Washington D.C. area since last weekend. I thought we could actually see D.C. in about four days – I don’t think we could see it all in a month! We found an RV resort about an hour away in Fredericksburg and have been parking and riding the Metro (subway) into the city each day. We’ve lucked out with beautiful, warm weather! Our exploration of D.C. started last Saturday at the Smithsonian American History Museum – we barely covered half of the first floor! After that closed, we went over to the Washington Monument, the WWII Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. Very impressive!

We decided to avoid D.C. Sunday and Monday due to the fact that it was very crowded (there was a marathon going on and Rosa Parks was lying in state at the Capitol.) Monday we ventured to the outskirts of D.C. to Dulles Airport to check out the new portion of the Smithsonian’s Air & Space Museum. They have a huge hanger with lots of planes, helicopters, spacecraft, and missiles. We saw the Enola Gay, the Space Shuttle Enterprise (it was used for training the astronauts – only been airborne in our atmosphere – never in space), a Concord Jet, and many others. Since it was Halloween, we took the kids to a local church for a Fall Festival. We had the pleasant fortune of meeting some people at a bakery Sunday evening that have a young daughter (Julia & Jessica were thrilled to have another kid to chat with while Chris and I surfed the web to try to find something to do for Halloween!) We asked them about their plans and they gave us the information for the fall festival they attend (and the girls got some wonderful goodies – they have their own confection business – watch for it – Berry Heavenly () Julia dressed up as a Renaissance Princess and Jess was a cowgirl.

Tuesday, it was back into D.C. to tour Arlington Cemetery. Our first stop was at the tombs of President & Mrs. Kennedy and the Eternal Flame. Just up the hill was the simple cross and headstone marking Bobby Kennedy’s grave. When we went to watch the 2pm changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns – we found that they were having a special ceremony for a dignitary of the Ukraine (I believe) – there was a 19-gun salute, full color guard, and fancy wreath ceremony – it was pretty neat! We stuck around for the 3pm changing of the guard – so formal and dignified, you can’t help but feel proud. Near the Tomb of the Unknowns were the memorials for the astronauts that died in both of the Shuttle accidents. Our final stop at the cemetery was Arlington House – the former home of Robert E. Lee (actually, it belonged to his wife, the great-granddaughter of George Washington) – his house and land were seized during the Civil War and made into a cemetery to ensure he would never return.

Wednesday we spent most of the day exploring more of the American History Museum. We saw several inaugural ball gowns of the first ladies, one of George Washington’s uniforms, the hat Lincoln was wearing when he was assassinated, beams from the twin towers, the flag that hung from the Pentagon after 9/11, the original “Star Spangled Banner”, Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers, and so much more! What a fun place to explore and learn!

On Thursday we made our way over to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. They do a fun tour (let’s just say compared to several people we’ve encountered in D.C., the BEP’s staff was the most friendly!) We saw the process of how money is printed from start to finish. Jess thought that they should give out free samples of $100 bills! From there we hit a more serious exhibit at the Holocaust Museum. We started out at the Permanent Exhibit – but there was so much information there for the girls to process (it’s recommended for ages 11 and up) – that I left Chris in there and took the girls over to an exhibit geared more for kids. It was called “Daniel’s Story” and it follows a young Jewish boy’s journal from his 11th birthday in 1933 until he is transported to a concentration camp (which we find out he survives). It gave the girls a good overview of the progression of the violence against the Jews (and other persecuted groups) during the Nazi Regime.

Today we spent exploring the original Air & Space Museum in the National Mall. Julia was excited to see the original Wright Brother’s plane (she read a book about them this last year) and Jess loved all the space stuff. We were also able to secure tickets to a tour of the Capitol (which is basically just a tour through the Rotunda and Statuary Room). It was beautiful. The security was a bit annoying – we had to throw out all our snacks (even though they were unopened in our backpack) – and we had to stick to our tour guide’s side at all times. But at least we got to see part of it!

We’re only spending two more days in the area – one in D.C. and the other at Mt. Vernon and Alexandria. We’re then moving on to Williamsburg.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

We spent a whirlwind week in Pennsylvania.  We started out by visiting Valley Forge on Sunday.  It was a pleasant day.  We took our time driving around the park and seeing the sites in the park.  On Monday we took the train into Philadelphia.  We first followed a local to the market to have lunch and then made our way to the Independence Information center to secure tickets to Independence Hall.  Before our scheduled tour, we made a quick run through the U.S. Mint.  Chris and I had to switch off, as they do not allow cameras in the building and had nowhere to lock them up.  After practically stripping for security, we were allowed to see the Liberty Bell and head to the grounds of Independence Hall.  It was amazing to see the historical places where our country was founded.  We were able to stand in the room where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were ratified.  We were also able to view one of the few remained printed copies of the Declaration (several of these copies were sent out to different cities and battlefields to be read) – one of the copies is just finishing it’s stop in Sacramento.  We spent the rest of the afternoon just walking through the city – strolling by Betsy Ross’ House and Elfreth’s Alley (the country’s oldest residential street).  We were fortunate in that the rain didn’t start coming down until we were about a block from the train station to take us back!  

Tuesday was Jessica’s 9th birthday and we took her to Hershey’s Chocolate World in Hershey, PA.  Here they have a tour that explains how they make their chocolate – from harvesting to the final packaged product.  The girls also were able to package chocolates on an “operating line.”  Of course, we ate and bought lots of chocolate – mmmmm!

Wednesday we drove around Lancaster County – the heart of the Pennsylvania Amish Country.  We sampled (and bought) some shoe-fly pie, visited a farmers market, enjoyed fresh pretzels in Intercourse, watched candles being made at the Candle Barn, and samples lots of wonderful jams and jellies at the Kettle Kitchen.  

Finally, Thursday, we spent touring the battlefield at Gettysburg.  This is the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War.  It really is a beautiful area – it’s too bad it’s remembered for so much bloodshed.

Last night, we drove down to Fredericksburg, Virginia.  We have a campsite reserved for the next 5-6 nights.   The wonderful GPS took us right to a tunnel outside of Washington D.C. that we weren’t sure we could fit through.  So we ended up cruising around the D.C. area in our bus (luckily it was about midnight – so there were only a few hundred people out and about rather than thousands! (  )  Before we knew it, we were crossing Pennsylvania Avenue and smack dab in the middle of the National Mall – the Washington Monument on one side of us and the U.S. Capitol on the other. (It really was the only way to the freeway we needed without going through the tunnel!)   My dad has a friend that is part of the Homeland Security Team – I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a nice picture of our bus sitting on his desk this morning!  Luckily we made it through without being swarmed by police and camped out at the Fredericksburg Walmart  (along with at least eight other RV’ers!)  We’ll spend the day researching and planning out our D.C. visit – it’s overwhelming how much there is to see here!      

Plymouth and Mystic

Plymouth and Mystic

This week we spent Wednesday at the Plimouth Plantation(yes, it's spelled right - probably had to change spelling because of a crazy lawsuit!) in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It is a recreation of the settlement early settlers – specifically the Pilgrims who first arrived to the “New World.” You really do step back in time here. All the costumed actors know nothing past 1670. We met a farmer, a housewife, a thatcher (he was actually in the process of thatching a roof!), and a few others townspeople. There was also a Native American portion of the plantation with Native Americans from different tribes. One had just finished skinning a coyote, a few had different building projects, and others just answered questions. We went through the museum display on Thanksgiving – but we realized that at both the Native American portion and the Thanksgiving display, there were some definite political agendas. From there we went over to the Mayflower II – a replica of the actual Mayflower. It was amazing to find out that there were 102 travelers on the famous voyage that were stuck in almost complete darkness for over 9 weeks - I can’t imagine! Just a short walk away was the well known, but highly overrated Plymouth Rock.

Friday we spent at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut. It’s located on 17 acres along the Connecticut coast. (Technically I guess it’s actually on the Mystic River – but it’s still on the coast!) They have several ships – the big attraction was a restored wooden whaling ship – the last of it’s kind. They also have recreated a seaport town with over 20 buildings – many original, moved there from other locations. We also saw how ropes for the ships were made, a working blacksmith’s shop, an old-fashioned printing press, a current ship restoration project, and much more. We spent over five hours there and still could have seen more!

The weather was great this past week – a nice break from the rain - although the nights are starting to get a bit chilly and we’re forecasted for rain for a few more days. Thankfully the heaters are keeping us warm – we just might not be doing as much boondocking (dry camping at Walmarts, truck stops, etc.) as the heaters really put a strain on the batteries. We do have a generator – but it’s a bit noisy and costly to run for long periods of time. The bus is running great but is looking well lived in at this point (after awhile we get tired of putting everything away just to haul it all out again – so the boxes end up just staying out much of the time!) Luckily, most of our time is spent out site seeing – so it doesn’t get to us too much!

Next we’re off towards Pennsylvania…lots to see there!

Maine

Maine

We found a wonderful RV park near Bangor, Maine on Friday.  We liked it so much, we stayed four nights!  Everyone is so friendly here.  We had some bad weather (rain and wind) over the weekend – so we caught up on some errands, did some thrift store shopping, went to a children’s museum, and went to church (a traditional Baptist that my dad would have just loved – I was the only gal wearing jeans and we actually sat in pews and sang out of hymnals ()  Monday it cleared up enough to go to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor.  Acadia was beautiful!  Lots of fall colors and spectacular coastline.  We drove to 20 mile loop through the park and stopped a few times to explore.  One of the stops was Cadillac Mountain – the tallest mountain west of the Mississippi.  We had amazing views of the ocean, Bar Harbor, and the park.  We also stopped at Thunder Hole where the ocean crashes into a cove of rocks – very cool!  We then went over to Bar Harbor – a cute, touristy port town – to stroll through the shops and get an authentic Maine lobster dinner.  It’s really the first time we all had lobster – have to say we prefer the Tillamook crab (I don’t think anything will ever top the crab feed we had on the beach with the Crist’s youth group a few years ago!) We leaving today to head back to southern Massachusetts – we have a few sights we have to catch there.  So much to see – so little time (and money!)  

Boston

Boston

We didn’t make it into Boston on Wednesday (that’s what I get for not setting an alarm – we way overslept!)  Instead we took the girls to an old Iron Works site run by the National Parks.  We got there just in time to join a group of cub scouts on their guided tour.  This site only produced iron for about 20 years during the mid-1600’s – but it was very interesting to see how it was done back then!

Thursday we set the alarm clock and made it into Boston at a decent time!  I really liked Boston!  What a great city – so much history!  We caught the “T” (MTBA – I found myself singing the old Kingston Trio song – “he may ride forever, ‘neath the streets of Boston, he’s the man who never returned…” – that’s for you dad!)  into Boston Common.  Boston Common is the first public park in the USA.  Here we caught a trolley tour that took us around Boston, up to M.I.T. in Cambridge and back.  We stopped to eat lunch at Quincy Market (in Bahston – they say “Quinzzey”) – lots of food and lots of people.  We then went to see the U.S.S. Constitution – a.k.a. “Old Ironsides” and caught a glimpse of the Bunker Hill Monument (we found out we actually lost this battle after three days – but it’s considered a turning point in the Revolution because we could have won if we had not run out of ammo -  oops!)  

We also took a walking tour around Beacon Hill – one of the more prestigious neighborhoods in Boston (townhouses can go for as much as $10 million!)  All the streetlamps in the neighborhood are gas lanterns that they continuously keep lit.  It was a beautiful, old brick neighborhood.

We couldn’t leave Boston without walking at least some of the 2.5 mile Freedom Trail.  (We walked about ½ of it!)  Along the route we saw the “new” State House built in 1795, several old churches, the Old South Meeeting House where Bostonians met to “discuss” the British tax on tea – from here they left to dump the imported tea into the bay – the “Boston Tea Party”, the Old State House (site of the Boston Massacre – where five colonists were killed by the British), Paul Revere’s House, the Old North Church (where the lanterns were hung to signal the colonists of the arrival of the Redcoats – “one if by land, two if by sea”), and the cemetery where Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams were buried.  Along the way, we also saw the oldest restaurant and tavern, a beautiful memorial to WWII holocaust victims, Little Italy (boy, did it smell good!), at least eight Starbucks (one of which we were fortunate enough to get our drinks before the young employee shut down the espresso bar because his rotator cuff was bothering him (???!!), and so much more!

We left our campground in Salem this morning – just in time to leave behind the mad rush of people coming to participate in Salem’s Halloween festivals (the campground we stayed at is booked solid through the 31st!)  We are now heading up through Maine to see Acadia National Park.  We managed to find a campground that is still open (through the weekend!).  The colors are beautiful (and where we are driving they are only in the low to moderate range of peak!)  If it doesn’t get too windy and blow all the leaves away, we should be able to see some amazing colors in the next few days!

Salem Cambridge Mas

Salem & Cambridge, Massachusetts

We arrived in Salem on Sunday and toured the town on Monday.  Salem is home to the infamous “Witch Hunt” and trials.  About 19 women were hanged during this hysteria in the mid-1600’s.   It was all started by some mischievous young girls who blamed their poor behavior  (or “fits”) on women they pointed out as being witches casting spells.  It’s a great time to visit Salem, as October is their most popular month (because of Halloween).  We went to the Witch History Museum, The Witch Dungeon Museum, and the Pirate Museum (it is a coastal town that has had it’s share of pirates passing through!)  At each, we were led by costumed guides that gave us lots of history!  By this point, the girls were done with witches – lets just say we had to leave a light on for the girls all night!

Wednesday we spent the afternoon driving around the outskirts of Boston.  We drove first to Cambridge, home of Harvard and M.I.T.  We walked around Harvard for a bit and went to a Semitic History Museum.  We then drove over to Lexington and Concord – the site of the start of the Revolutionary War.  The Minuteman National Park is near and we watched a wonderful 30-minute multimedia presentation about the first days of the Revolutionary War.  We then went to the tavern near where Paul Revere was captured and heard more history from costumed guides.  Finally we went to the bridge where the “shot heard ‘round the world” was fired.”  It’s the site where the American Militia killed the first British officers.  What a fun way to learn U.S. History (for all of us!)  

New York City

New York City

On Tuesday we finally were able to find a campground – a nice one just a couple hours from NYC! We were able to spend Wednesday and Thursday in New York City. We managed to meet up with my Aunt Bev, Uncle Merrill, and Cousin Angela, who were also visiting NYC for the first time. We called them as soon as we got into the city. It turns out that they were on the tour bus that just pulled away from the corner we were standing on – what a coincidence! We joined them on their tour (a bus tour of the city is a great way to go!) We saw all the major neighborhoods and landmarks – Little Italy, Chinatown, Brooklyn, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Trump Tower, The Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, and much, much more. Part of our tour included a ferry over to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, we didn’t know that you had to get tickets ahead of time to actually go to the museums. They are not letting anyone up into the statue anymore – primarily because of fire hazard. But we were able to get off the ferry and walk around a bit.

The next day we went up to the World Trade Center site. It is currently under construction. The new Freedom Tower is scheduled to be completed in 2010. They are also putting in a big transportation hub and a memorial to the 9/11 victims. So there really wasn’t much to at this time – but it was still very somber. A little church across the way had some memorials and tributes to the victims and volunteers.

From there we went and looked around the Seaport Museum including a sailing ship named the Peking that used to sail around Cape Horn. By then it was rush hour in the city and it took us about an hour on the bus to reach the Empire State Building. We stood in line to take the elevator to the 80th floor (where they then put you in another line to get another elevator to the 86th floor – where the observatory is.) But the time we got to the front of the line, we noticed several people were leaving. It turns out that the fog rolled in and was currently at 0% visibility. We went up anyways, since it was our last night there. We were able to see around the city – the wind would blow clearings in the fog every now and then. Within a ½ hour, the sun was down and the city was lit up. The fog thinned a bit and we were able to get views of the city that weren’t disappointing!

It was a whirlwind tour – but we saw quite a bit. It was fun being able to see it with Merrill, Bev & Angie too!

Yesterday we just “relaxed” at the campsite – caught up on some laundry and watched a few videos I had taped from the History and Travel channels about New York. Then the rain set in – it’s been raining non-stop since last night. We are heading towards Maine today – although we’re going to check the weather before we go on – plans are subject to change.

We’ve officially been on the road a month now. We miss you all!

Vermont

Well, we made it up to Vermont!  We decided to leave the bus at a Walmart near Albany, NY and take a “day trip” up to Vermont.  We got our first glimpse of the fall colors up here.  But they are just starting to turn due to all the warm weather.  There were dozens of tour buses cruising around the Montpelier area (everywhere was crowded and motel rates were at their peak!) – but many would leave disappointed in the lack of color.  We enjoyed it anyways.  The weather was gorgeous and we splurged on a motel (of course, we had to drive around for an hour to find one that had a vacancy, didn’t look like something from Psycho, or was way out of our “budget” (whatever that is!) – but we managed to find one that even offered a free breakfast.  We all enjoyed long showers (Jess got to take one without a 3-minute timer!).  We then trekked off to tour the largest Granite quarry in the world.  It’s called “Rock of Ages” and they specialize in manufacturing tombstones and mausoleums.  They also did the Vietnam Memorial and part of the new WWII Memorial in D.C.  They showed us the whole process – from the quarry to the transporting, to the polishing, carving, and finished product – great tour!   We then went over and had a tour of the state capital building in Montpelier.  We had a friendly tour guide who kept us laughing while giving us all kinds of wonderful history of the building and of Vermont.  After that, we drove a few miles up the road to a maple farm.  It’s not maple sugaring season (that’s in March) – but the owner showed us a slide show of the whole process and then we got to go in and sample all kinds of wonderful maple foods.  We even tried the maple soft serve ice cream and maple sugar cookies.  Finally, we took the girls to the place they’ve been waiting for…the Ben & Jerry’s factory in Waterbury.  The place was crazy with people (five tour busses at last count) – but we got our tour and our free samples!  Chris braved the line to get him and the girls each a scoop (my stomach was already done in from all the junk we’d been eating – so I just tried a bite of each of theirs.)  We took a short walk up to the cemetery for the retired flavors to see what we missed out on – (Sweet Potato Pie ice cream??? – I see why it died!)  All in all it was a good day.  

Next stop…who knows??  It’s getting a little tricky finding campgrounds that are either open (it’s getting toward the end of the camping season here) or not totally booked by all the other “leaf peepers.”    We’ll figure out our reservations tomorrow – after a good night’s rest.  Top three choices 1 – NYC, 2 – Boston, or 3- head up to Maine.  We’ll let you know!

Ohio to Niagara Falls

We’ve covered a lot of ground in the last week!  We stopped near Cleveland, Ohio to see the house where my Grandma Knight grew up.  The original farmhouse is still there!  The current residents were gracious enough to let us snap a few pictures.  We then went to visit my Grandma’s sister and her family.   I hadn’t seen Great-aunt Jenny since I was about Julia’s age!  We tried to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame afterwards – but between traffic and a shortage of time, we had to skip it this trip – oh well!  

From there we drove through Indiana, the northern tip of Pennsylvania and on into New York.  We spent the next few days (Thurs – Sat) in the Niagara Falls area.  We enjoyed eating Buffalo wings at Anchor Bar – the home of the original Buffalo wings!  (My brother, Jim and his family were here about a month ago and highly recommended it – thanks!)  Friday we spent the day at Niagara Falls.  They were amazing.  We started out on the American side where you can primarily see the “American Falls” and “Bridal Veil Falls.”  We took a boat ride on “Maid of the Mist” that took us around the base of the falls.  We then took the girls over to the Niagara Power Plant Visitor Center where they have a great hands-on learning center.  It was amazing to find out just how much power that plant puts out!  We then decided to cross over to the Canadian side.  Can’t say it was a pleasant crossing – the border guard didn’t seem to like us and made us pull over to have the car searched  (lucky them – anyone who has ever seen our cars – especially after traveling – knows this is scary!).  But the view of all three falls was worth the trouble.   We strolled around the VERY tourist area while we waited for the falls to be illuminated.  It was a long day – but very beautiful!!

Next stop…Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory in Vermont!!!

Minnesota and Illinois

Minnesota and Illinois

Well, I survived the Mall of America.  Chris and I are trying to decide if it was worth the extra driving – it really was just a glorified mall (with a highly overpriced amusement park in the middle.)  But the girls had fun, Chris got some Cold Stone Ice Cream, and I got to hang out in a Barnes & Noble with a Cinnamon Latte to do some research on factory tours.  So I guess it wasn’t all that bad!  While at the mall I heard a radio announcement about a severe thunderstorm warning for later that evening.  Little did I know that thunderstorm warnings are a little different than they are at home.  When we were back at the bus, cooking dinner before we hit the road, a LOUD siren went off right behind us.  Of course – the girls and I were a little freaked out.  I ran in the nearby Cracker Barrel Restaurant to find out what that meant.  On the way in I about got bowled over by a cook running out the front door (that was reassuring ) and everyone in the gift shop looked confused.  A waitress assured me that it was just a thunderstorm warning – they don’t have many tornado warnings there.  But when I turned on my weather-band radio – I found out that about 35 miles north of us there were tornado warnings.  That did it for me.  We could see the storm (heavy clouds and continuous lighting) approaching.  Dinner was put on hold and we moved it south.  We were very glad to reach some friends via phone to have them look up weather for us on the internet.  (Thanks Jim & Elaine!)  It turns out that the storm was weakening (the tornado warning was no longer in effect) – and that we should head towards Wisconsin (not Iowa as we were thinking – more storms there).  We saw a wonderful lightening show and found out where water can get into the bus (Julia woke up long enough to tell us she was getting wet from the a/c vent on the roof) – but avoided any serious weather.

We were now in route to Chicago.  We arrived in Illinois Friday – caught up on some laundry and food shopping.  Saturday we arrived at a little town Southwest of Chicago called Naperville where we visited Naper Settlement – a recreated 19th century village.    Sunday morning we actually all were up bright and early and attended church at Willow Creek’s Campus at Wheaton Academy.  We then drove over to Chicago (yes, we were crazy enough to drive into the city – in the car, not the bus! -  and pay outrageous parking!)  We took the girls to the Museum of Science and Industry where we got to tour a replica of a coal mine, view a miniature version of the city, learn about the internet, and much more.  We then drove around and looked at the city for a while – lots of wonderful buildings to see!  Of course we had to have dinner at the home of the original deep dish Chicago pizza – Pizzeria Uno!  It was a long wait – but worth it – the pizza was great!

Monday we decided to take advantage of Chicago’s public transportation – so we parked the car and road the “El” into the city.  The girls were very excited about that!  Our first stop was Adler’s Planetarium where we learned all kinds of information about the sun, stars and planets.  We then made a quick run over to the Field Museum of Natural History.  The girls really wanted to see “Sue” – the largest T-Rex skeleton.  We also saw a great display on Ancient Egypt (Julia’s favorite unit study last year!) with 24 real mummies!  We were excited to stumble on an exhibit on the Pacific Islands – Jess was thrilled to see information on Hawaii, Tahiti and the Maori peoples of New Zealand (she knows dances from all of these places.)  From there we walked over to Millennium Park where they had a couple of really neat sculptures that Chris wanted to see.   Then the highlight of the day, a sunset view from the 94th Floor Observatory of the John Hancock Tower (Chicago’s 2nd largest building – Sears Tower being #1 – but some locals said the view from Hancock was better.)  We stayed long enough to see all the city lights.  Very beautiful!  

Well, that about brings you up to date!  We are now making our way towards Niagara Falls (with a stop or two along the way!)  Thanks for all the notes e-mails, sorry I don’t have much time to answer - our internet stops are usually short and sweet!   But I will do my best to reply ASAP!
--Pam

South Dakota

We wrapped up our tour of South Dakota by visiting the world famous Corn Palace in Mitchell (what do you mean you haven’t heard of it??) They decorate the outside of the building with dyed corn on the cob. They change the murals every year in September (yes, they were working on it while we were there.) We then surprised the girls by taking a little detour through the town of De Smet. Laura Ingalls Wilder (of Little House on the Prairie fame) lived here in the 1880’s. We happen to be going through the Little House books now, so it was great timing! We showed up at the Ingalls Homestead just as the gift shop was closing, but we found out that they had four RV pads – so we stayed the night! The grounds were open for us to explore at our leisure. There are no original buildings but they have several recreations. We saw a replica of a little house the Ingalls may have lived in, a workshop with actual tools and machines, an outhouse (ewwww!), an old schoolhouse, a barn, and more. The girls got to wash rags with an old washboard (I tried talking them into doing all our laundry – but they just looked at me like I was crazy!), make a button toy, and their favorite, de-kernelling corn in a crank machine. Today we drove around the town of De Smet and saw a house Charles “Pa” Ingalls actually built, a schoolhouse where Laura Ingalls taught (it had only three desks!), and the cemetery where some of the Ingalls were buried. Soon we will be driving through the town of Walnut Grove, MN – another town Laura lived in and the name of the town they used in the television series.

We are now back on course towards the Mall of America. (I must really love my girls – I can barely handle the Galleria at home – now I’m taking them to one of the largest malls in the world – ugghh!)

Chris is making a quick stop from driving to let some live ladybugs fly off the windshield – he felt he was being cruel driving down the road while they try to fly off. But as soon as we started driving away, another one landed on the windshield – guess this one’s going to Minneapolis with us. The girls and Chris also started a new game. There were so many flat rabbits on a stretch of highway – they started calling out “dumb bunny” whenever they saw one. They even made up a song to go with the game – “Run, Dumb Bunny Run.” Talk about your great educational experiences!

The Black Hills in South Dakota...

The good news – diesel prices are down about 45 cents a gallon, the bad news – it’s still stinkin’ expensive!!!  We are making our way out of South Dakota today.  The last three days we’ve spent hooked up at an RV Park near Mt. Rushmore.  I have to admit, it was really nice having hook-ups – no need to worry about running out of water or filling our holding tanks.

Friday we took the kids to a place called Reptile Gardens.  We saw over 50 alligators, crocodiles, and caimans.  The girls each got to pet a baby alligator and an albino python.  I didn’t trust the guy after he jumped at me with the baby alligator –  I kept my distance (  There were also some giant turtles, a prairie dog town, and a bald eagle.

Saturday we spent several hours at Mount Rushmore.  The girls completed their first Junior Ranger badge (a program offered by the National Parks for kids – great for schoolwork!!)  It also buys us parents time to actually read the exhibits in the museum since the kids are busy looking for answers to complete their workbook!    After that we drove through Custer’s State Park looking for buffalo.  It took awhile, but we finally found a huge herd.  They were just moseying along the road – we were within five feet of them!  We also saw “wild” donkeys – they came right up to our window where we were able to pet them and feed them a healthy snack of chips.  We also saw a lot of wild antelope and deer.  We were hoping to go see Wind Cave – but we arrived too late to get a tour, so we just saw the video.  We’ll have to catch a cave somewhere else.  We drove by Crazy Horse Monument just as it was getting dark.  It’s big – but still is a long ways from completion.  We were also getting an amazing lighting show.  We got back to the bus just in time to get the upper room closed up before it rained (it’s not totally water tight when it’s set up).  It didn’t rain much – just enough to make a mess of our car (which looks like it’s caught on fire on the right side due to the wonderful exhaust the bus puts out!)  

We’ll, we’re at the Flying J now, fueling up (again!) – I better get this sent while I have an internet connection!  Our next major stop….The Mall of America in Minnesota!  

To bring you up to date....we left town Thursday night (well, actually morning) at 4am. The girls and I followed Chris in the Toad (tow car) since it had been a while since Chris had actually driven the bus. Nothing like a crash course in double clutching over the Donner Pass! We made it to Reno in a little over two hours. I noticed as we were coming into Reno that the right rear brakes of the were overheating (the smell and the smoke were a good clue!) We ended up hanging out in the Home Depot parking lot for two days, getting the bus organized, trying make the second story watertight (as it did start to rain!), and putting locks on the bays (among other things.) We did head to Wal-mart one of the nights, but security saw us coming and got to us as we were stepping out. Apparently it's against the city ordinance to stay overnight in a parking lot in Reno. I think they thought we were coming from Burning Man - the bus fit the profile! So we did our shopping, cooked dinner, and then trekked back to Home Depot as they were a little bit more secluded (and no security guards!) - it was just too late to go try to find a campground. Before we left town, we took the bus over to a Travel Center (fancy name for a truck stop) and had the brakes checked. Our friendly mechanic, Jason, adjusted the brakes (they weren't releasing completely - thus the smoke!), adjusted the clutch, and gave Chris some helpful pointers on braking and shifting.

We rolled out of Reno Saturday afternoon and arrived in Elko, Nevada several hours later. We pulled up next to a large group of RV'ers in the Wal Mart parking lot and called it an day. The next morning we got up to take showers and all we had was cold water. After Chris tinkered with the water heater for awhile - he concluded he needed a Home Depot. Elko's Home Depot is still weeks from opening - so we hit the road again towards Salt Lake City!
It was Sunday - so we were under a time crunch to get to Home Depot before it closed. We got into town with an hour to spare. Unfortunately, Home Depot did not have what Chris was looking for - so we drove around trying to figure out Salt Lake City to find a Lowe's. We finally found it (1/2 hour before it closed!) - they had what we were looking for - but it was $500! So Chris decided to take another look at the water heater...well as you would have it, the Propane was turned off. (Chris thinks the mechanic turned it off when he was working on the bus - we didn't think to check it as Chris hadn't touched the tank.) So four warm showers later we bunked down in the local Flying J (truck stop).

Finally on Monday we were able to get out and do some site-seeing. Since we were in Salt Lake City, we figured we'd best get the flavor of the city by heading to Temple Square. It is an amazing place. There were friendly tour guides in every building. We had a private tour of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building - which used to be an upscale hotel. It was beautiful. Julia was trying to figure out just how she was going to describe this to Grandma. We then received a group tour of some of the grounds from two very friendly young ladies who are serving their Mormon mission in Salt Lake City. (One was from the Netherlands and the other from American Samoa - we had fun talking about Jess' Polynesian dance!) Finally we went and toured the LDS Convention Center. Luckily we missed the big LDS convention by two weeks - it would have been insane around the city then! The building was huge and had four acres of paths and landscaping on the roof. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir practices and performs here while the actual Tabernacle is being renovated. Unfortunately, our visit didn't coincide with hearing them.

That evening, my mom's cousin Bill, stopped by the bus for a quick visit before he went to work. He is usually in Sacramento visiting us this time each year (he loves Apple Hill - so September is his favorite time to visit.) So it was fun coming to see him for a change.

That brings us to Tuesday - we woke up to dead batteries on the bus (two days without driving to charge the batteries is not a great idea!) - So Chris fired up the generator for awhile, took care of some necessary RV business (dumping the tanks, filling up our water supply, etc.), ran a couple of errands, then we left town towards Mt. Rushmore. Driving at night has it's pros and cons - but we realized that one of the cons is missing out on a lot of scenery. Chris drove through half of Wyoming last night and realized we couldn't see so much of the beauty around us. We're getting ready to head out again - this time during the day so we can see more. They are waiting on me - so I better wrap this up. I will try to post more often so these entries won't be so long! We now have an official subscription to Flying J's Wi-Fi Hot Spots - so I should be able to get on-line easier. I will attempt to post some pictures in a Yahoo photo album. If you would like to see the pictures and didn't receive an e-mail with the link, send me a note at shmerd@yahoo.com
--Pam

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

Hi all! We finally managed to get internet access at a Flying J Truckstop. We are on the road...right now freezing in lower Wyoming on our way to Mt. Rushmore. Who knew that it could get so cold in September??? Not much sympathy for us Californians around here! Thanks Uncle Merrill for the warm sleeping bags. :-) We'll be watching the weather and adjusting our route as necessary. Looks like it's unusually warm on the East Coast right now - I hope it holds out a little longer! I'm going to check the weather and then get some rest. I will post a little more on our adventures so far in the morning.

Well, believe it or not - we're off! We're going east on 80 - Chris wants to leave tonight to get over the grade while there are no cars on the road. The girls and I will follow him in the Honda (or meet him in Reno tomorrow - depends if I can get my stuff all taken care of tonight!) I'll post when I can - it may be a few days or so. :-)
--Pam

Well, I've had issues posting more than one photo at a time. I ended up using my Yahoo account to post pictures to an album. For privacy reasons I have this set up that you need to be invited to view these pictures. I have sent out some invites, but I may have missed you - (it's very late and I'm getting a little loopy!) If you would like to see our pictures and you didn't receive an e-mail with a link, please e-mail me at shmerd@yahoo.com Also, if anyone has any suggestions on the easiest and fasted way to post pics - I'd love to find a better way. I ended up having to download pics into MS Picture It and then saving each picture as a smaller file then downloading them into Yahoo photos. If I want to add a lot of pictures, saving them into smaller pics could be very time consuming. Also, if you know of a better way to share pics - I'd love to have your input!
Thanks,
A very tired Pam

P.S. Now you will understand how we came up with our blog name - we expect to get plenty of funny looks on the road
:-)

Final Preparations and Systems Check....

We are soooo close - it finally feels like it's all coming together! The girls and I spent most of the day finishing up the packing - all that's left is the everyday stuff. I would say the bus is 90% packed - amazingly with room to spare! Although I'm sure we're a bit on the heavy side - Chris is going to have the bus weighed tomorrow to find out! I've managed to pack only three boxes of books - one box for schoolwork, one box of pleasure reading/Bible Study/misc and one box of travel guides.

The bus looks GREAT!! I finally took some pictures to post - hope it works - this is new to me! Chris has done an amazing job on the bus! I'm so excited to see it all come together. He has been dreaming of, designing, and working on this bus for the last six years (of course, most of the work has been done in the last month). It's been worth the wait. I'm glad we didn't leave a month ago - it just wasn't ready. He's stayed the last few nights at the bus to check out some of the systems. (It's at my grandparent's house) Right now he's having an issue with the plumbing not getting enough air (let's just say I'm learning a lot in this process - yesterday I didn't even know that plumbing needed air :-)!) But he doesn't seemed too stressed - thankfully. He's got a few errands to run tomorrow (some things he couldn't do today due to holiday closures) - and if everything checks out and works (pray hard!) - we may actually hit the road Wednesday! We are still analyzing our route. We originally planned to go to Yellowstone first - but our major goal for this trip is to see as much of the East Coast as possible - especially the fall colors. So some of the Western U.S. may have to wait until the next time.

Thanks for joining us on this journey...Pam

For those of you checking on us - we've made a lot of progress this last week - on the bus - not on our trip :-). The girls had fun painting their room - Julia chose Shamrock green for her wall and Jess has a bright sky blue. They picked up some emerald green carpeting which Chris will be installing in the next day or two. Chris found one of the major electrical shorts - there's still more, but we may have to just deal with it. Our friend Chuck came over this weekend and painted most of the interior walls and helped Chris with many electrical things including wiring our "toad" (RV lingo for tow vehicle - in our case a 94 Honda Passport). THANKS CHUCK!! I painted the bathroom and did some cleaning. If I listed everything Chris has done - we'd be here all day! He did surprise me with laminate flooring in the kitchen and bathroom - YEAH!

As of right now we're still taking it day by day. At the latest, I think we'll be out of here by Tuesday (I do not want to get caught in the Labor Day traffic!) As of right now we're still planning on going to Yellowstone first. Although our major goal is to be on the East Coast for the fall colors - so some plans may change to meet this goal.

As soon as I get the bus somewhat presentable (we have tools, paint stuff, kitchen stuff, and just more stuff everywhere!) - I will take and post some pictures.

Until next time....