Manworld Mobile

What I've Learned

2012-08-09T10:35:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite Esquire magazine features is What I've Learned -- a collection of tidbits from famous, or infamous, people. It's a longer, randier version of Life's Little Instruction Book. In the spirit of What I've Learned, here's my vacation version:

Pajamas are a waste of space. I wore PJs 3 out of 47 nights. We were just too tired to change clothes and crashed most nights in whatever we happened to have on at the time. I did manage to remove my shoes before passing out. Every. Single

Digital photography is fantastic. Period. Shoot now, edit later. Of the thousands of photos I took, I might have a decent photo for the Christmas card this year. Then again, the boys got sick and tired of smiling on command about week #3.

WIFI access is, well, not very reliable on good days. I had counted on being able to upload every day with a clear, strong signal. Not so much. I did manage to get some uploading time in the middle of the night after each and every camper in the park was asleep.

Sugary breakfast cereal will keep children happy - very happy - for up to two meals a day.

Laundry on the road requires LOTS of quarters.

And those pre-measured laundry detergent packs are fantastic.

Ramen noodles can keep kids happy for one meal a day. Cereal, cereal, ramen works. Cereal, Ramen, cereal works. Ramen, cereal, cereal - not so much. *Disclaimer: I did NOT feed my children any of these combinations in one day, although a double dip of Frosted Flakes wasn't unheard of.

The original Starbucks in Seattle is one of the most efficient places on the planet. Unlike any other Starbucks I've ever visited.

There is no "low fuel" light on our Dolphin. Surprise!

AAA is a handy membership to have.

Huckleberry ice cream is yummy.

Boys will wear one pair of boxer shorts forever. Unless Mom notices and forces a change.

Grown men, however, will not. Thank you, Pat.

The Olympic Peninsula in Washington is amazing. As are the Badlands, Grand Coulee Dam, the Redwoods, Yellowstone, Crater Lake ....

I-80 through Nebraska is possibly the most boring drive ever. Unless you put it head-to-head with I-80 in Nevada. Or Wyoming.

Our best meal on the entire trip was breakfast at Otto's Place in Galena, Ill. We had good food in other places, but the bar was set so high early on that no one else measured up. The boys asked to detour to Galena on the way home. They were a bit geographically challenged from eating too many Lucky Charms and the stimulating views across Nevada, Wyoming and Utah.

Yellowstone's thermal features are stinky. So is the Great Salt Lake.

Nationwide coverage from Verizon is a myth. It's really "east of the Mississippi River coverage plus some of the populated areas west of the Mississippi minus mountainous territory". Only 85% of that has 3G.

The alcohol and talcum powder foot spray keeps some of the 'boy smell' at bay.

"Speed Kills Bears" is a common sign in National Parks. Is there a problem with bears and amphetamine addiction that I didn't know about? Or do the bears like to go fast on park roads? We only saw one bear and he was just eating something way far from the road so I'm still confused.

There's no place like home

2012-08-08T12:22:00.001-04:00

We got back about 11:15 PM last night.

After 47 days, 7964 miles, 15 states, 4 time zones, 1 flat tire and 0 major injuries!

I'll catch up on our adventures once I get a hot shower and a few more cups of real coffee.

Images!

2012-07-19T20:48:00.002-04:00

Well, in spite of the poor reliability and low bandwidth of most RV Campground wi-fi connections, Sara has managed to upload a generous bunch of images from the early portion of our trip to her Flickr photo sharing pages. The photos were taken with her SLR and run through the early portion of our first day at the Grand Tetons.

Sara took most of the pictures, but the boys and I snapped a few with her camera, too. Many of the images are awesome, others not so much, but they provide a pretty good record of the early part of our trip.

Here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/saraleigh/

Enjoy!

The kindness of strangers starts a lucky day

2012-07-15T19:00:00.001-04:00

More via e-mail from Sara:

We got up and had pancakes at the RV park. Pat got the name and number of the muffler shop, and we drove over to see what could be done about out LOUD camper.

Fortunately, the guys at the shop took pity on us and worked us in. Turns out our catalytic converter was broken, trashed, and had fallen apart. Since we don't live in a state with emissions testing and since the camper is an antique, the guys at the shop installed a piece of straight exhaust pipe for $50 cash and sent us on our way. I think the cash deal was for 4th of July beer money and the lack of a paper trail likely protects their compliance with regulations of some sort.

We filled the afternoon with another trip to Chik-Fil-A and a little retail therapy. We then started quietly driving north toward Yellowstone. I called an RV park near-ish to the West entrance of the park, got very lucky and booked the last remaining spot in their park for the next 3 nights. Someone had had a medical emergency and had to vacate their camping spot, so we had a beautiful site overlooking a huge meadow five miles off the highway in a very picturesque valley in Idaho.

Gray built a relaxing campfire, we cooked hot dogs over the flames, had some roasted marshmallows and went to bed.

Craters and (broken) tubes

2012-07-15T18:51:00.003-04:00

From Sara via e-mail:

We left the KOA after showers and breakfast and headed to Craters of the Moon National Monument. We stopped by the visitor's center and the boys picked up their Junior Ranger kits. Pat got our caving permits and we drove straight to the cave sites for a ranger-guided tour of one of the caves. Our ranger, Emerald, had just finished her Masters in Geology and guided us through a lava field to the cave site telling us all about different kinds of lava flow, then led us into a giant lava tube called Indian Tunnel Cave. it was a pretty strenuous trek over rocky terrain, but we all made it through the lava tube and up through the tiny hole to the surface.

It was warm, no, hot and being on a big, black lava flow didn't make things cooler. After we left the lava tube/cave area we went to the cinder cone -- a big hill of fine cinder sand. I sat in the camper to sweat while the boys and Pat climbed to the top of the cinder cone. They reported that the view was amazing.

Our initial plan had been to stay 2 days near Craters of the Moon so that we woulnd't have to do so much driving, but we didn't have any good options for places to stay so we drove back to Idaho Falls. Once we reached civilization, we stopped at an Albertson's to get some essentials. When we got back in the motorhome, it started making an awful sound -- we had a huge break in our exhaust system and the muffler was just acting as decoration. Ooops.

We checked in to the closest RV park and Pat talked to the owner of the park about muffler shops in the area. We had a campfire and went to bed knowing there was nothing we could do until Monday morning.

A discovery too late

2012-07-08T11:39:00.001-04:00

This morning's discoveries:

1. The wi-fi at Jellystone RV Park in Wye, Montana works with my phone.

2. There is now a blogger app for my phone.

3. Typing on these tiny keys is a pain.

All of this is coming a bit late in the day for me, as I am catching a flight back to Detroit tomorrow; however, I'll see what kind of fun I can have with this in the next 24 hours. I'll have to catch up on the happenings between Devil's Tower and here when I get a couple of hours with a good computer with a decent internet connection.

The Rest of the Story, Part III

2012-07-05T02:39:00.001-04:00

I'm kind of new at this blogging thing, so please forgive the multitude of short posts, but I can't seem to save or post longer entries. I'm sure Sara will ~~chew me out~~ enlighten me later, but, as she is fast asleep right now, I'd rather face the music tomorrow than wake her up right now. Thus, the saga continues.

June 27: We return to Mount Rushmore so Liam and Gray can earn their Mount Rushmore Junior Ranger badges. I can't say enough about what a cool thing the National Park Service has done with its Junior Ranger program. It helps kids focus on the signifigance of the parks and monuments and enriches their experience immeasurably. From Mt. Rushmore, we head to Belle Fourche, South Dakota - the geographic center of the United States, then we sneak into Montana and arrive at Devil's Tower at dusk. The light was simply amazing, and I snapped some cool images like the one below. We spent the night at the Devil's Tower KOA but skipped the nightly screening of Close Encounters. Riding around in an un-air-conditioned RV takes a lot out of you, and you tend to crash early.

I'm afraid that's all for tonight. Will post again soon until I'm caught up ...

The Rest of the Story, Part II

2012-07-05T01:48:00.000-04:00

June 25: From Mitchell we head first to the new Minuteman Missle national Monument site, then into the Badlands, where two things happen:

1. Gray discovers my fear of "The Edge" and amuses himself by spending the rest of the day walikng out onto peaks and peering over any edge he can find, and-

2. I begin to have a Clark Griswold-grade freakout when I notice the temp gauge needle climbing beyond the half-way point of its range.

Y'see, I had a Toyota pickup of the same generation as the Dolphin for 10 years, and I never, ever managed to get its temp gauge past halfway, no matter how hot the day or how hard I worked it. Mind you,the needle in the Dolphin never went above the 2/3 mark, but it was enough to have me envisioning a molten lump of engine barely three days into our trip. Ergo, off went the A/C and open went the windows and vents.

Fortunately, Wall Drug still offers free ice water to travellers, which we all found very refreshing. We made it as far as Rapid City, then called it quits for the day. Our adventures in the Black Hills would begin the next day.

June 26: Starts out cool with a visit to Wind Cave, then gets hot, hot hot, as temps soar into the low 100s. We're all drinking fluid slike crazy, and I'm making many trips to the ice-filled cooler whenever we stop for fuel (that tiny fuel tank Sara already mentioned). We also hit the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, South Dakota and pay a visit to the Crazy Horse Monument. We retire to the plush surroundings of the Mount Rushmore KOA and retire after viewing the Mt. Rushmore Memorial's nightly light show.

The Rest of the Story

2012-07-05T01:16:00.001-04:00

Spent a long day at Yellowstone. Got back to our site at Red Rocks RV Park in Island Park, Idaho, and Sara and the boys immediately crashed - giving me a perfect opportunity to post several snippetsand observations from the trip so far.

June 22 & 23: Good progress and made up for late start by driving through the night and catching a few winks at a tollway oasis outside Chicago. Packed a lot into the first day (pun intended) with visits to the U.S. Grant house in Galena, IL; the Field of Dreams filming location in Dyersville, IA; the Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth, MN and the Spam Museum in Austin, MN. Spent the night of the 23rd at an RV Park in Welcome, MN. Boys discovered old-school merry-go-round at park -demonstrated the essential "Wheel of Death" pushing technique.

June 24: Toured Southwest Minnesota, including the city of Luverne, my father's hometown and the site of numerous misadventures during visits when I was growing up and the Pipestone National Monument, where the boys picked up the first of many National Park Service Junior Ranger badges, then made tracks for Mitchell, South Dakota and the Corn Palace. Sadly, we missed our chance to meet the Palace's mascot, Cornelius, and get his autograph. The Dolphin is running like a champ so far.

Smoke Gets in Our Eyes on a Driving Day

2012-07-02T21:57:00.000-04:00

After quick showers and breakfast, we started the morning with a trip the Devil's Tower visitors center. Liam and Gray picked up their Junior Ranger workbooks and we headed off for the 1.3 mile trail around the base of the tower. Several climbers were scaling the tower. One of the funnier stories involving Devil's Tower is way back when some guy decided to parachute and land on the top of the tower. He was successful BUT it took climbers six days to reach him to help him get down. Planning. It's all int eh planning.We saw red squirrels and least chipmunks (haven't seen the most chipmunk yet) and even caught part of a ranger talk about the porcupines that are indigenous to the area. We took LOTS of photos.

Heading west from the tower into Wyoming one goes along a scenic route to Gillette, Wyoming. It was scenic and there were several towns along the way. One town had more junk cars than people. Seriously, population isn't a big thing out here. We drove all the way to Thermopolis for the night. As we left Worland we started seeing smoke, and as we got closer to Thermopolis, the smoke got thicker and thicker. A wildfire southwest of here in the Bridger-Teton forest combined with just the right wind pattern made for fairly low visibility. We grabbed dinner at a Taco John's in Worland and settled in the Eagle RV Park in Thermopolis for the night.

Some days are driving days. Kinda boring. Kinda long. But necessary to get from place to place.

Wednesday, or, It's Time You Learned How To Do This, Too!

2012-07-01T23:41:00.002-04:00

And so I must learn to blog. It begins by learning how to post a new entry. Sara has ~~ordered~~ generously offered to let me post the entry she composed for Wednesday but has been unable to post due to the dicey nature of most RV Park wi-fi systems. So, without further ado, I give you, Wednesday
We slept in a bit and went to the pancake tent for breakfast. All you can eat pancakes for $2.50. Liam and Gray each ate 5 pancakes. Plus bacon for Gray. Plus sausage for Liam.

Pat and I did a bit of repacking while the boys went and played on the jumping pillow and worked in a game of putt-putt and some waterslide time. All here at the Mount Rushmore KOA. My guess is the boys think KOA stand for Kind Of Awesome.

Back to Mount Rushmore for some daytime activities. The boys wanted to finished their Junior Ranger badges and we still needed to walk the trail that takes you to the base of the mountain. Thankfully it was much cooler today than yesterday so we took the strenuous trail to the sculptors studio and saw some of the equipment used to carve the mountain and the model from which the mountains carved. Rushmore is so much smaller than Crazy Horse, but we enjoyed it more. "Because it is finished!" piped up voices it the back. Like those children have ever finished anything...

We needed a few provisions - razors (since both Pat and I are getting a bit wooly in face and leg and for the life of me I cannot find the razors I packed for us) and gas and ice (the two permanent items on our list) so we headed into Rapid City.

Gray thinks that fishing is the best thing ever, so we headed to Cabela's so he could check out the fishing 'stuff.' This Cabela's is much smaller than the Bass Pro normally go to, but it had a big display of flies. He wanted one of everything, so to reign him in a bit, Pat had him talk to the fishing section employee who guided Gray to a reasonable amount of gear that might possibly work in Yellowstone.

From Rapid City we headed to Belle Fouche. Why? Because it has been the Geographical center of the United States since Alaska and Hawaii were admitted into the Union in 1959, that's why. We took lots of photos on the granite marker beyond the visitors center and debated going the 20 or so miles north to the field that is the actual center, but we had someplace to go and needed to be there near sunset.

So we took the scenic route to Devil's Tower. We went through several towns that were marked on our map and seemed like real towns with populations of oh, 50. One place seemed to have more old (read junk) cars on the side of the road than people. We first glimpsed Devil's Tower from a turnout miles away. Pat and I commented that the drive to Devil's Tower looked just like it did in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, go figure.

We got to the park long after it had closed but were still able to drive to the top. So we did. We took lots of pictures of the west side of the tower. The light was fantastic. There is a prairie dog town at the base of the hill that leads to the tower, so we stopped and checked out the prairie dogs.

"Do not feed the prairie dogs! They have fleas that carry disease and can bite. Do not reach into holes! Black Widow spiders and rattlesnakes can live in prairie dog burrows." How did we survive before such warnings? We kept our distance and listened to the chatter, took some pictures and watched them go in and out of their burrows.

At the base of the park is a KOA. The boys were psyched! Woohoo! Kind Of Awesome! Uh, yeah, not so much. As with most things, there are many quality levels in campgrounds. This campground has location, location, location. Most sites a view of the tower. We got here late, without reservations and have to walk, oh, ten feet to get a view. Sigh. I suppose we'll have to live with it. For what it's worth, they do show Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Every. Single. Night. But I didn't notice a mountain of mashed potatoes on the menu at the cafe. You can't always get what you want.

Headed West

2012-06-28T09:30:00.001-04:00

We had a slow, easy morning at camp. We all had showers and Pat talked the boys through vital motorhome systems in the daylight, while everyone was rested, and full of homemade egg Mc Muffins. The mini blowtorch we brought along was, in theory, supposed to be a super toast maker. Not so much. Now it's only purpose is to rattle when we cross over bumps in the road. We all showered and the boys burned off some steam on an old-school playground merry-go-round. I hadn't seem one of those in years and was glad they got the chance to play on something that's no longer considered 'safe.'

EVERYWHERE in Southern Minnesota we saw these giant wind turbines. These big white pinwheels planted by a slightly OCD child are EVERYWHERE in Minnesota. (Yes, there are even some there, too.) It's hard to get an sense of scale driving down the road, but these things are somewhere in the range of crazy-big to gianormous.

Pat drove us through the town where his dad grew up, pointing out where aunts and uncles used to live and we headed north to Pipestone. We are driving along when Pat and I had, at the same time, one of those "Stop the car!' realizations. We turned down a little road a behind an industrial building and parked the camper -- in the middle of a storage yard for the HUGE wind turbine blades we had been seeing everywhere! We climbed on old damaged generator housings. We looked down some open hollow blades. We knocked on one end chased echoes going down the blades. We took comparative photos. We had a blast!

The Pipestone National Monument is situated around the Native American pipestone quarries. The bright red stone that is quarried here is carved into the bowls of the pipe (think Peace Pipe from bad western movies) that is the central to Native American religion. The pipe is to native people like a Bible or cross is to Christians. And this holy stone is only found here, at this one spot in Minnesota. All the stone is quarried by hand by Native permit holders. We watched the video in the visitors center before we headed out to the 3/4 mile trail that weaves through the exposed rocks and quarries. The boys became official Junior Rangers.

We headed to Mitchell, South Dakota, home of the Corn Palace. It was getting late, so we checked in at the campground and then drove downtown to the Corn Palace. Yadda, yadda, yadda. We ate dinner at Culver's.

Wait! Wait! Wait a minute, you skipped over the best part! No, I mentioned Culver's. Alright already, the great Corn Palace is decorated inside and out with murals made out of corn, 12 different colors of corn. Every year they change the murals as the grasses and corn are harvested. It also houses a basketball arena, one of the ten best places in the country to play high school basketball. Oh, and as we were walking back to our parking spot, we saw a pigeon perched on a mural, eating corn straight off the cob. That was pretty cool.

Fixin' to and (finally) leaving home

2012-06-28T08:28:00.001-04:00

The boys had their final swim lesson and we ran a couple of quick, errands, most importantly dropping the garage door opener with our dog and house sitting friend, Darcie. Once home we all got to work on the final prparations for the trip. We even managed another visit from Dominic, the heating and cooling guy, to replace the AC fan that broke right after he left earlier this week.

Pat thought we'd leave midday. I thought we'd leave mid-afternoon. So when Darcie arrived between 6 and 7 PM, she was surprised to see us all at home -- showered and ready to hit the road. We were finally ready to leave so we did. In the station wagon. The five of us went to dinner.at Smashburger. Seems we had forgotten all about lunch. Grumpy, tired and hungry is no way to start a trip.

After a quick gas tank top off at Costco, we left Bloomfield at 8:20 PM - the perfect compromise between midday and mid-afternoon. donchathnk?

We stopped just before 10PM to get custard at a Culvers and tucked the boys in the bed over the cab. Liam and Gray looked out of the forward window in the cab bed until they fell alseep. Pat and I drove and stopped for gas and paid tolls until we were both exhausted. At an oasis NW of Chicago, we parked,closed the curtains and took a nap.

Pat's nap was shorter than mine so when I woke up, we were on the road. Northern Illinois is beautiful on cool summer mornings -- so quiet and peaceful at 5 o'clock. We pulled into Galena a little after 7AM. We had to wake Liam up to see the U.S. Grant home and took pictures. Down the hill from the Grant home is a newish restaurant - Otto's, named for the ghost of a man who had attemped to open a restaurant on the same spot generations earlier. Liam got cinnamon swirl french toast, Gray had the egg special, I had a bacon broccoli cheddar omlet and Pat had egg tacos- green onion, goat cheese and just a touch of 'chicken sauce' (Siracha). The food was amazing and we were hungry and tired - all resulting in the perfect storm of foodness. I actually caught Gray licking his plate.

We left Galena and headed to Dyersville, Iowa to the movie set of The Field Of Dreams. After driving down lots of gravel roads through lots of farmland we saw the familiar farmhouse and field complete with lights. The boys and Pat grabbed gloves and a ball and we headed for left field to play catch and walk in the corn field. Neither of the boys has seen the movie yet but perhaps one day they will see pictures of them playing catch with each other and Pat and get as choked up as I did photographing them. After all, this is the purpose of this trip - to build a lifetime of memories for them.

Gray jumped in the pick up game that inevitably takes place here and scored twice while the entire population of the stand cheered him on. It was the best pickup game ever.

Austin, Minnesota was our next stop. Hormel has their Spam museum there. It was awesome - kitchy, informative and fun. We'd go back in a heartbeat. Not surprisingly a uniformed worker walks around the museum with chucks of fried spam speared with pretzel sticks. We tried hickory smoked and bacon. The gift shop is as good as it gets. Spam logo-ed everything.

Our final stop of the day was Blue Earth, Minnesota to take pictures with the Jolly Green Giant statue. Ho, ho, ho Green Giant orginally was at the rest area where I-90 had it's 'golden spike' --connecting Boston and Seattle.

We checked into the nearby Welcome campground in Welcome, Minnesota for the night. We had Hickory Smoked SPAM sandwiches donchaknow and I went to bed. Pat and the boys stayed up and built a campfire then crashed.

We slept late and had homemade egg mcmuffins for breakfast, took showers and got ready for the day.

Deep breaths

2012-06-20T19:49:00.000-04:00

Nothing is more calming and relaxing than large bodies of water -- oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, hot tubs in the Poconos. So naturally the boys jumped at the chance to spend the afternoon and evening with Lil' Kraig's family on Walnut Lake yesterday. After all, yesterday I was forcing those poor children to pick out their own clothes for the summer. And try on those clothes to make sure that sleeves and pants were long enough. Such injustice! Such drama! Such stress! And roughly 72 hours before departure.

After some deep water swimming and pizza, Liam and Gray were much happier. So was I.

I learned several things yesterday - 1) Jet's makes a decent Greek salad. 2) Lakes can have undertows. *I have not independently verified this information, but I have faith in the source and will believe this to be true until I have time to Google* 3) One can get a sunburn after 4 PM in Michigan - who knew?

Right now, roughly 48 hours until departure, things are starting to seem 'real.' The boys are packed and have fresh haircuts (Thank you Lola and Mae!) Pat and I still need to pack, but since the heating and cooling guy fixed the AC for our bedroom this afternoon, we can pack in comfort later tonight.

The list of things to do is getting shorter and shorter.

The Lifestyle

2012-06-16T11:02:00.003-04:00

One of the things that really disturbs Pat is that RVers talk about "the Lifestyle." These folks love the way they travel and many don't ever want to travel any other way. For them it is a way of life. These people have done this, we have not. A few weekends ~~glamping~~ camping close to home doesn't make a Lifestyle, it makes me happier than in a tent with no bed and no AC do.

Fear not! We have spent the last year getting both the Dolphin and ourselves ready. We've thoroughly researched RV travel -- we watched RV , Vacation, and Christmas Vacation (Clark Griswald: So, when did you get the tenement on wheels? Cousin Eddie: Oh, that uh, that there's an RV.) Stripes was on our list, but we've now run out of time for anything but last-minute tweaks to the Dolphin.

Our last week at home is full of swimming lessons and doctors' appointments and stockpiling snuggles and kisses from our puppies.

Six days to go.

Manworld Mobile (MM) taking a back seat

2012-06-11T10:34:00.000-04:00

Manworld Mobile returned to storage for several days so we could do other things -- a Boy Scout Court of Honor with rank advancement for Liam.

Court of Honor

And a Cub Scout campout for Gray.

New Webelo II

Pat really got involved. Smooth and Creamy Skit

11 days until departure.

See? Saw!

2012-06-06T08:26:00.000-04:00

Several years ago at B&W I bought a saw. Everyone thought I had lost my mind. Finally, Pat found the wisdom in that late-night saw purchase. He pulled it out, made some adjustments, I drove to Flint for a part and viola...

We have a door!

A new, reinforced door with two working locks and a new interior panel. Pat did a great job making his first from-scratch door. It should be another 25 years before any dampness creeps in this super-sealed creation. And another 25 years before I can convince him to build another one. Coincidence?

In roughly two weeks we should be pulling out of the driveway. However, we still have a big list of to-dos: installing our new LP tank, finishing the upholstery, and modifying and installing the cargo carrier. The camper doesn't worry me. It's fitting it all in the crazy schedule we have -- field day, a final video project, a weekend famliy camping trip, swimming lessons, orthodontist appointments, end of year parties and field trips, doctors' appointments.... This trip might feel like a vacation after these next couple of weeks.

It's not one thing...

2012-05-31T08:50:00.000-04:00

It's another. And another. And another.

Manworld Mobile (MM) went to Steve and his guys for its mechanical inspection and repair. They treated our baby as if she were a member of their car family. I'm sure they sang sweet songs to her and stroked her lovingly when they weren't muttering and swearing under their breaths at her. She's an older girl, but now that we've caught up on 20-odd years of regular maintenance, she's mostly ready to go. Under the hood, that it.

Pat still has a few things to do before he declares her ready for adventure, but they are weekend projects-- installing a vent for the generator, replacing something called a bushing, installing our new LP tank in its designated compartment.

We need to call in one of those complete makeover teams to dress our girl. She needs some updating. She got dressed in 1989 and has been wearing the same tired outfit ever since. We'll take pictures when we are ready to send our Phin/Cinderella to the ball.

nasty door

Hmmm, is that a warped spot on the door? It is. We should open it up for inspection. Oops. We shouldn't have done that. There has been a leak in the door and the bottom third has some water damage. At least that is what we'll tell people when we are being polite. The hard truth is that the bottom third of the door was packed full of wet mulch and Styrofoam. Oh, yeah, there was some water damage. Pat's breaking out all of his wood shop skills and making a new door.

secure temporary door

The plan is to leave home in three weeks.

Internal affairs

2012-04-01T11:26:00.001-04:00

The generator is in, the old iron rack is gone and Manworld Mobile is going to the shop for his annual exam on Tuesday. "Turn your wheels to the left and cough."

The boys have spring break this week so we might be able to get some foam cut and some interior decorating done. Or we could just sit at home and read The Hunger Games. Not that anyone here has been doing that or fighting over the one copy we managed to get our hands on.

Gray and Dixie reading The Hunger Games

Our 'campsite occupied' sign arrived this week.

Slowly, we are getting closer to adventure.

Manworld Mobile goes on a sleepover without us

2012-03-26T22:05:00.001-04:00

We found someone to install the generator! There will be air conditioning all summer long, thank goodness.

The pressure to get the motor home ready for the summer is on. Bring it.

It's beginning to feel a lot like ... summer?

2012-03-20T09:42:00.000-04:00

This has been a crazy "winter" here in Michigan. We've hardly seen our snowplow guy and we've been wearing shorts for several days. Here on the first day of spring our thoughts are all about summer. At least until we get spring snow and I have to dig the snow boots back out.

The warm weather has stepped up our Manworld Mobile preparations for summer. The generator guy has been called and a plan for refurbishing is in the works.

Busy, busy

2011-07-10T08:56:00.002-04:00

Pat and Liam headed off to Boy Scout camp on July 3rd leaving Gray and me alone with Phin (that's what the boys call him/her/it). We got to work tinting the windows with mirrored film for privacy during the day and temperature control. It's amazing how hot it gets in a metal box sitting in the sun all day. Home Depot trip #483 produced the screen mouse, an amazing little gadget, so Gray and I replaced several screens with sunscreen screen. Seems repetitively redundant, doesn't it? Have I mentioned that it gets hot in there?

Sun protection projects done, we took off for the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area. It's less than five miles from where we store Phin and feels like the middle of nowhere - just what we were looking for in a place that has electric hookups. A friend and her two sets of twins joined us. Burgers? Check. Fireworks? Check. Wine for mommies? Check. It was the Forth of July.

The kids finally went to sleep around midnight. Ahhh, the peace and quiet of nature, blissfully uninterrupted until 5:45 AM when kids started squealing and dancing around. What the...? Who were these crazed little people? Note to self: marshmallows made with Benedryl make excellent s'mores, find recipe.

A quick trip home for Wednesday's piano lesson and we immediately headed out to Proud Lake with another friend and her daughter. Proud Lake is slightly further away and is more of a parking lot type camping area. The kids went swimming in the lake, we tried to set up the awning (a no go) and I cranked up the baby gas grill for sliders. Kids popped popcorn over the campfire and roasted marshmallows. Everyone went to bed a a reasonable hour.

About 5:30 AM Mason and Dixie woke me up to go potty. Oh, yes, little dogs went camping with us. They love it - so many smells to smell. And roll in. And bring inside the camper. I got up to take them outside and we took a quick walk around the campsite loop. We all went back to sleep for a few more hours. The kids took off for the lake for a morning swim and brought back a huge crayfish. It took some convincing but they took the crayfish back to the lake.

We decided to return to the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area for the next night. Same routine - set up, swim, supper, s'mores. We were the only occupied campsite on our section of the campground. It was great being in the middle of nowhere with electricity. I'm really into electricity. A raccoon spent a bit of time knocking stuff off our picnic table in the middle of the night but puppies were so tired from smell smelling and running around that they didn't notice. After a quick campsite cleanup and unplugging, we were on the way home to meet our Scout campers.

On the road to preparing for the road

2011-06-29T09:53:00.000-04:00

The past week has been full of little improvements that will make our road trips more enjoyable. We got new license plates with the Michigan State Parks pass and have done some deeper cleaning.

Pat re-plumbed the LP gas connections and tested the water heater. I thought our water heater at home was hot, but this one is more like our instant-hot! Wow! While this would be a simple couple-of-hours task under ordinary circumstances, there was a lot of, er, uh, "creative engineering" that had to be ~~corrected~~ modified. I just don't think a small propane leak is something I want to live with. I'm crazy paranoid that way. All of this was much more fun that it should have been because the LP tank is a regular gas grill tank located in the travel box on the bumper, NOT the original tank that lies sweetly in its own little compartment with its own little door. We wondered why this modification had been made and the original tank hadn't been replaced until we priced the new tank.

A generator would make life on the road much easier. There was much weighing the advantages of a portable generator or an installed RV generator. We settled on finding the generator that would fit in the generator compartment behind the driver and get fuel from the gas tank. Yes, there is only one generator that will do that and it is bloody expensive. We'd been calling around to various Craigslist ads for generators and finally early Sunday evening we made arrangements to buy a gently used generator - a Onan Mircolite 2800 - on the east side of Cleveland! So the boys and I jumped in the minivan and took off.

By the time we got back home on Monday afternoon from the generator mission the new shocks were on the doorstep. It's always something.

We found it!

2011-06-21T11:52:00.000-04:00

1989 Toyota Dolphin

There she was waiting for us to come pick her up just outside of Chattanooga, TN.

We drove down on Friday right after school. Of course we had to stop for Chic-fil-A on the way. We stopped at what we later called the Skank mall. Seems we were the only folks in the mall that Friday evening that weren't heavily tattooed or pierced. And didn't have unnaturally colored hair extentions. And were dressed like civilized folk instead of streetwalkers and skater-pimps. We enjoyed our lemonade and nuggets in the van on the road.

We met Glenn, a sweet single father, at a fireworks store near the interstate Saturday morning. We walked around the Dolphin. We turned all the knobs. We flipped switches. We kicked the tires. And we bought a motorhome.

Men build fires.

We started home Saturday afternoon. We spent the night in Bowling Green, KY at the KOA campground (or is it Kampground?) After some confusion about which spot was ours, we set up camp, figured out how to get shore power and hooked up the water. The boys started a camp fire. And roasted marshmallows.

Sleeping

Liam slept on the dinnette bed. Gray slept on the foldout sofa and Pat and I perched in the upper bunk over the truck cab. Things were going well until 4:30 AM when a heavy thunderstorm blew through Bowling Green. Thunder and heavy rain are bad under normal conditions, but in a small box, it's LOUD! The budding teenager didn't wake up - he remained totally motionless through the entire storm.

Eating

The next morning, I perked coffee on the tiniest stove and the boys ate chocolate cheerios for breakfast. Pat ran up to the campground (kampground) office to ask for pointers for emptying the black water tank. Ewwww. His best father's day ever began with dumping liquid waste.

We hit the road afer breakfast and drove and drove and stopped for gas and stopped for gas again and again and again. The Dolphin has a teeny fuel tank and boys wanted to take turns riding with dad in the motorhome. I got to listen to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory twice on this trip.

And still looking

2011-06-12T09:12:00.000-04:00

We saw a few more Toyotas this weekend - a nice '91 Dolphin and an empty shell from the '80s. Neither one was "ours." The searching process is constant and while often disappointing, we've learned a lot from the folks we've met. Folks LOVE their Toyota mini-motorhomes. Every person selling a Toy has great tips and hints and stories. Just learning and looking. And looking.