The Sunshine State

This would be a picture of my happy husband as he walks out of the Sun Coast RV store in Jacksonville with a new crank (only $10)!  Yea!

AARC moose coming into the big city of Orlando!

Day 5 - 1/7/10
Lovin’ it here in Orlando.  Somehow all the palms make it seem warmer than it is -- they just look warm.  The campground we’re staying in (Bill Frederick Park at Turkey Lake) is gorgeous and we hardly notice all of the gargantuan buses around us (not!).  Lemon, orange and Clementine trees are all around us and full of fruit that needs to be picked before it freezes (a dirty job but someone has to do it).  Beauty and free food - what more could we want?  Okay. . . maybe a little warm weather would be nice.

Me climbing in a clementine tree - just trying to rescue the fruit before it freezes.

Enjoying the fruits of my labor (tee hee)

Trying to stay warm takes lots of fleece

We’re one of two pop-ups in the whole campground.  Funny enough the other PUP houses a homeschool family as well.  I have to tell all my homeschool friends – this family homeschooled all 11 of their kids (nope, no typo there!) in New Hampshire before any of the schools even knew what to do with homeschoolers.   I bowed down to this mom (who looks not a day over 40).  She’s one of our pioneering moms who paved the way.  They have the same PUP as ours though it’s seen a little more action, understandably so.  They only have their “babies” with them on this trip – the three youngest – 19, 18, and 16.  I’m amazed at how sane and young the mother is – I promise to try and figure out her secrets.  Scott wants to interview them. . . . we’ll see.

We stopped briefly in St. Augustine on the way down to Orlando.  We didn't spend a lot of time because we didn't want to set up the PUP in the freezing dark - not fun.  But we were able to stroll down St. George Street and walk over to the oldest port in the U.S.  We even got to see the oldest wooden schoolhouse in the U.S.  (not much different from the pubic schools of today. . . just kidding).

Who's cranky now?

Day 4 - 1/6/10 
On the road to Orlando, having left Savannah.  Unfortunately we didn’t see much of Savannah.  I’m still trying to figure out how a 2 hour drive from Charleston to Savannah turned into 7 hours in the car. One cause – we realized as we pulled into the Savannah area that we had left something very important back in Charleston (no, it wasn’t the camper, but it’s close).  We realized that someone (who shall remain nameless) forgot to take the crank handle out of the back of the camper when he were done closing up.  Apparently it jiggled out and is laying somewhere on the highway between Charleston and Savannah.  To make things even more interesting we learned (after visiting and calling several RV dealers) that Fleetwood (who bought out Coleman) has now gone out of business so no one sells Fleetwood campers any longer and thus very few will have the crank that fits our pop-up.  Without the crank to raise the pop-up we’re pretty much stuck to hotels.  Luckily we had already planned to stay in a hotel last night since it’s so dang cold and it just didn’t seem worth the work of setting up for one night (especially when we’re freezing our booties off). 


So, we’re on the road to Orlando by way of Jacksonville where we think a guy has a crank that will work.  I’m sure he won’t charge us much since he knows we’re 600 miles from home and totally dependent on getting this crank.  Ha!


Scott just read an article on the AP about how this cold snap in Florida is lasting longer than they’ve seen in years and is threatening the crops.  Needless to say, we’re feeling a little irritated that the two weeks we’ll be in FL there’s going to be record lows the entire time.  At this point we’re starting to laugh though.  What are the odds, really?!? 

We’re enjoying the landscape – the beautiful live oaks covered in Spanish moss, the palm trees, the flowers.  We had a great dinner last night at my cousin’s house in a beautiful area of Savannah.  It was great spending the evening with them and catching up.  Their boys, Collin and Evan, were the perfect hosts and Kerby and Joelle enjoyed them immensely.

Okay, time to get some schoolwork done while I have them trapped in the car (insert evil laugh).  More later.

Day 1

We did it! We actually left Richmond and have officially embarked on our journey.  I can’t believe it’s truly here.  I’m totally psyched! 

It was 17 degrees this morning when we left. We kept hoping for warmer temps as we headed south but it never got above 40 even in the mid afternoon.  Needless to say, here we are, camping in Charleston, SC and it’s in the low 20s.  Our little heater is working hard but not exactly making things toasty in here. I’ve got on long johns, fleece pajamas, a hat and wool socks and I can tell it won’t be enough.  Scott has on a black ski mask (which makes him look like a ninja).  The kids are asleep under about 5 layers of fleece blankets.  Dang it’s cold! 

However, we had a nice surprise that warmed our hearts if not our toes.  The campground we’re in (James Island County Park) does a Festival of Lights every holiday season and tonight was the last night.  It was quite impressive.  We drove around and enjoyed the last of the festive holiday event.  This is a great campground.  We’ll definitely be back for a longer stay sometime in the future (during a warmer season!)

Day 2 - 1/4/10
Woke up to continuing freezing temps but the important thing is that we did wake up.  There was some doubt in my mind at several points during the night.

We went into downtown Charleston this morning, walked around, shopped in the market and then grabbed a bite to eat at Moe’s. Charleston has such an old time charm with all of its row houses, quaint restaurants, galleries and waterways.  I love it here.

Kerby decided to test out a wall-scaling tactic that he read about recently in the book “Crispin and the Cross of Lead” since he had access to some narrowly spaced brick walls. 

Not something you can see every day in Charleston – a water fountain that’s working on becoming a glacier.

We also took the kids to one of our favorite spots – a place we first (and last) saw 11.5 yrs ago on our honeymoon.  Angel Tree is a 300-400 yr old live oak that is now preserved and protected in a small park environment.  I wonder how many storms, people, animals and insects this tree has experienced in its lifetime.

We leave tomorrow a.m. for Savannah, GA to join my cousin for the evening.  They have two sons about Kerby and Joelle’s age.  Should be fun.

Cold Feet?

Brrrrrr!  I’m thinking about how cold it is out there and how nice and toasty it is in here by the fire.  Record low temperatures across the southern U.S. but, we won’t let it stop us. . . maybe delay us for a day or two. . . but not stop us!  We’ve all been feeling a little melancholy about leaving all of our friends, family and pets behind.  It’s been hard to say goodbye even though we know it’s just for a short while.  Friends and family have been so generous with gifts, visits, and hugs (not to mention, taking care of all of our pets while we’re gone).  We’ve gotten a great send-off.

The Christmas decorations are all put away.  The pets have all been delivered to their temporary homes.  We blasted off a few rockets at the Walsh's annual New Years Day Rocket Launch.  We’re mostly packed up at this point with only a few last minute items to be added.  It’s been an interesting exercise —figuring out what we “really need.”  Of course Kerby “needs” his Star Wars figures, Joelle “needs” her fingernail polish and 3,000 markers, Scott “needs” every electronic gadget we own and I “need” my 6 pairs of shoes and 4 knitting projects.  It’s amazing what we think we can’t live without.  I dare say we may not have room for food or people on this trip. Though I'll admit, it ain't easy to squeeze 4 month's worth of clothing into a 20"x15"x10" bin.  What's the old addage. . . 10 lbs. of ---- in a 5 lb. bag. If you want to challenge yourselves this New Years take a few minutes to create your own list.  What would you “really need” to feel secure when away from home for four months?  You might be surprised by the things that make the cut.  Of course, the things I thought I’d want to take 6 months ago are not at all the same things I find myself packing now that the moment is here. I hope I find that I didn’t need nearly as much “stuff” as I thought I did.  When did I become so attached to material things and comfort?  The funniest part of it is that we’re packing as if we were taking off to some remote and deserted corner of the earth when the truth is we’ll probably never be more than an hour away from a WalMart (sad but true). 

Another challenging task has been deciding what we’ll eat on this trip.  On top of limited space, we have a very limited budget and we’ve all agreed that we’d rather spend our money on fun instead of food (aren’t they really just one and the same?)  However, this of course excludes things like beignets at Café du Monde, fried peach pies in GA and authentic Mexican food in San Antonio (all worth-the-splurge according to my friend Kristi) but, beyond that, how does a family of four eat healthy while camping for 4 months?  To date, our camping menus have consisted mostly of hot dogs, hobo packs and s’mores – not exactly health food!  But I’m convinced it’s not impossible to produce healthy, and even tasty, food from a pop up.  The crock pot, Dutch oven, microwave and toaster oven should help a bit (smile). Who says you can’t have it all?

No cold feet here (not yet anyway).  We’re ready to go!   See ya on the road.

2 Years in the Making

Officially I began this blog as a way to document "The Big Trip."  It's been a long time getting here and now our departure is less than 2 weeks away.

In 2008 my husband reminded me that he had an upcoming sabbatical in 2010. Being a homeschooling family, there's little that prevents us from traveling save my husbands job.  With 4 months off from that responsibility we were free to roam.  I conjured images of tropical Caribbean cruises and romantic Paris retreats until I came to my senses and remembered the other two things that keep us from such things - our 8 and 9 year old children. The Louvre and the Caribbean quickly faded and a new idea began to form -- the image of the four of us crammed into an SUV, RV in tow, driving across the great U.S. of A.  What could be more appropriate for a homeschooling family in the midst of studying American History?

I remember sharing this idea with my husband who basically laughed at the thought.  And so it began -- me planning and sharing with all of our friends how excited "we" were about our upcoming cross country trip in 2010, while my husband stood nearby rolling his eyes and muttering under his voice "Uh Huh."  Oh, don't get me wrong -- there were rainy evenings when we'd sit and talk about the trip (much like we'd discuss winning the lottery which we never play) but while I was imagining all the wonderful possibilities my spouse was busy pointing out the obstacles (not the least of which was money). Saving greenbacks has not always been my forte. It was apparent I'd have to resolve this small issue if I was going to win his support.

After months of creative accounting and recreating our spending habits, I was finally able to convince my spouse that I was, indeed, able to save a dollar or two.  After 10 years of marriage I think he was quite impressed with his new penny-pinching wife and thus, the window of possibility began to open.  And so the real planning began.  What had previously been only speculation of where and how we'd travel, became a full-time preoccupation and research project.  Terms and acronyms such as horsepower, tongue weight, towing capacity, GVWR and CVL became part of our everyday conversations as we worked diligently to educate ourselves about campers and tow vehicles.

Conveniently, the annual RV show was in town and gave us a great opportunity to get a closer look at all the wonderful possibilities. So after touring the 40 ft. models with their drop down 50" t.v. screens, formal master suites, and $200,000+ prices, we ventured to the back of the show where the real possibilities awaited us -- the 10, 12 and 15 ft. pop-ups. Whoo Hoo! I'll admit there were some mental gymnastics involved in making the leap from a 400 sq ft apartment on wheels to the  90 sq ft space we were suggesting we live in for four months. Visualizing the four of us eating, sleeping, hanging out on rainy days -- living in this space, day-in and day-out, for 120+ days was no small feat.  But we soon embraced the idea with open arms and our search ensued for a "gently used" PUP (as we learned they were called in RVing circles). 

Of course finding the right PUP meant that we needed something with which to tow it home. Although we entertained the idea, it didn't take long to confirm that the Mazda MPV minivan sitting in our driveway wasn't quite up to the challenge.

We now have a Ford Expedition with a nice tow package sitting in our garage, an old but well-kept Coleman Niagara PUP sitting in our back yard (the neighbors love us!), our pets all have temporary homes (thanks to some very generous friends), and our friends have given us a warm send-off.  It's been quite a journey and a lot of work just getting here.  There have been many moments when I asked myself  "What were we thinking when we decided to leave for this trip just after Christmas?!?"  There's been no small amount of chaos in trying to prepare for both.  But, I'm looking forward to spending a lot of quality time with the three people I love most in the world and that will be worth every moment it took getting here. 

Christmas is just around the corner and our departure date approaches -- 13 days and counting. . . SO LET THE ADVENTURES BEGIN!

A New Holiday Tradition

Last year we ventured out in early December for a little fun down the road.  Great Wolf Lodge - an indoor hotel/water park was offering great deals to homeschoolers during the first two weeks of December.  We took the bait and spent 36 hours in a wild & wet indoor water world and had a blast. 

 We enjoyed it so much last year that we decided to make it an annual pre-Christmas tradition (as long as the rates last).  So this past week we made another trek down to Williamsburg for more of the same fun.

Almost as much fun as the water -- running around the Lodge in Christmas 'jammies.'

 

And of course visiting with the big guy is always a winner.

 

Thank God!

Relaxed atmosphere, family fun, great food (that someone else cooked), it's all something for which we can thank God! This year my brother and his wife hosted the feast. Like myself, they both love good food and I can always count on them to come up with some unique and yummy accouterments to compliment the traditional dishes. This year they started our meal with an amazing roasted corn and red pepper crab soup and ended it with a rich lemony cheesecake. From beginning to end, it was a treat for taste buds everywhere.
Richard was home from his first semester at Old Dominion University and Kerby and Joelle were happy to see their cousin. They spent quite a bit of time getting lessons on riding 'longboards,' apparently a popular means of transportation around the ODU campus.