Life on the Road

Do you ever feel like you are struggling to get through every little thing? It’s like scientists were right when they thought the ether surrounded us all. Now somehow the ether has thickened and every move becomes a struggle. Or like we imagine sometimes that the humidity in the air is too thick to move through. Your mind gets bogged down and everything moves in a surreal haze. This is my life …

When we got our RV we knew a 3500 to 4000 watt generator was the best thing to have. We got a 2000 watt Honda. With this one we could add another 2000 watt Honda at a later day to boost our power up to 4000 watts, since they make a parallel kit just for that purpose.

Great plan … or maybe not.

Yesterday we were swimming in our own sweat. It’s been around 100 degrees here in Mississippi for the past few days. And we all know what the humidity is like in the south United States. We drove to Jackson, en route to Convention in Dallas, and I was ready to enjoy the cool, refreshing AC when we stopped for the evening, but my plan was thwarted.

Every time I started the AC, the generator would trip its breaker. When we first got the generator our air conditioner would run fine. Now we are having problems from time to time with it tripping the breaker. It improved as the temperature dropped a little, or the barometric preasure changed, or I changed my shoes, or who knows why. Anyway, after a while, our generator decided it would run the AC, and it was fine all night.

Well, we have already purchased the parallel kit for the Honda generators and we are going to buy another one, but I really wish I knew what was going on with the AC on the one 2000 watt generator. The Honda generator is about $1000, so I wish the one alone could do the job for a bit longer. If I only knew the secret formula to get it to run every time.

Maybe I can contact Batman and he can run it through the Bat-computer …

Everything fits into God’s plan for His glory.

Someone recently emailed me and said they were enjoying the blog, but wondered how we had gotten on the road in the first place, and over all just “what our story was.”

:)  It was nice to know that someone cares! 

Anyhow, let me try to give you enough to understand the situation, without it turning into drudgery like home movies.  It’s all very interesting to ME, after all…

Wolf and I were married on Leap Day 2004.  We moved to the small town of Williams, AZ (near the Grand Canyon) and opened a little shop to sell his handcrafted furniture, as well as sell some home decor and gift stuff to complement it (and get customers who didn’t need furniture!).

Well, Williams proved to be a challenging place, and the business and political climate (local issues) proved very hostile to new people and new businesses.  After two years there we had burned through our savings and were ready to call it quits.

We put our house on the market, and our searching finally turned up a home business opportunity that sounded like a good fit (see our Team Blitz website). 

It took most of a year to sell the house.  Since cold calling isn’t our style, we got our business going by working online and by spending a couple of days each week driving in different directions to get to civilization and put our flyers.  By the time the house sold (end of January, 2007), we were ready to go!

We put our “stuff” in storage and bought an RV (It’s amazing how little of the contents of a 3,200 square foot house and oversized garage you can fit into a 200 square foot trailer). 

It’s a 2001 Springdale by Keystone travel trailer, with bunk beds in the back for the kids (Nick is 12 and Jewel is 2).  We also have two cats travelling with us, the “old ladies” Squeaker (about 16) and Loki (13).

Our intention is to travel the country doing some sightseeing, some educational trips, visiting our spread-out families, and working our business (everyone in the country has teeth, right?).

Does that about cover the “Who are they and what are they doing?” bit?  Please let me know if you still have any burning questions…

We’re here in lovely Bowling Green, Kentucky…  where apparently there is no Verizon wireless internet coverage, and no WiFi hotspots (unless you are a student at Western Kentucky).  Great.  At the moment we’re parking in a KFC parking lot, connected (I can only assume) to the wireless connection of some unsuspecting homeowner nearby.

We arrived as planned on Saturday, and parked ourselves at the Camping World store here.  They have an RV parking area across the street from them with free elcetric hookups, and they have a dump station and water available.  Wow!  Glad to support a store that will do that for us, we purchased their discount club membership and picked up a few items from our RV shopping list.

Sunday we dropped Nick off at his summer camp program at the University, which deserves its own post.

We’ve spent the last few days putting out business flyers around Bowling Green - and we’re already getting phone calls from people interested in the dental benefits.  I love this business!

We’re planning to do some more travelling, so maybe Louisville or Lexington will serve us better in the connectivity department…

REVIEW:  Cracker Barrel, Bowling Green, KY

The smoke in a “divided” area really just doesn’t stay on its own side of the imaginary line, does it?  I suppose it will always be a totally non-smoking location that is our favorite, for that very reason.  This Cracker Barrel was unremarkable (in a good way).  Food was fine, service was fine.  Not in our Top 3, but not in our Bottom 3. 

If you look on a map of Kentucky and Tennessee, you’ll see two long lakes, with a lovely strip of National Park land in between.  This is The Land Between the Lakes, an amazing park with over 1,000 acres of camping, fishing, nature preserves, and programs.

 On our first day, we arrived after the offices had closed, so we pulled into one of the more primitive “self-service” campgrounds where we could drop our payment envelope in a box and register. 

Wolf came back from a trip to the water faucet carrying a turtle.  Needless to say, she was quite frightened and stayed well inside her shell for a long time.  I was the first to notice her timidly peeking her head out, and called to her, “Hey, Honey, it’s okay.  We won’t hurt you.”  Jewel quickly joined me, coaxing the turtle out - and calling her “Honey.”  Probably not too many turtles out there by that name, but it worked for us.

 Wolf has really enjoyed having the chance to do some fishing.  That very first night he caught (and released) five fish, including a crappie, a bluegill, and a trout!  As so often happens, though (or at least as you so often hear!), the big one got away.  True, in this case, and he took Wolf’s favorite lure with him!

We moved from that site to one of the “back country” sites.  A flat, clear area, a table and grill at the site, a pottyand trash dumpster nearby, and right on the lake…  All yours is you just get a $15 annual permit!  It’s amazing.  Wolf fished there, too, and the kids enjoyed trying to catch the many frogs (toads?) that seemed to be breeding in the area.

Now we’ve actually relocated to one of the paid camping areas.  We’re enjoying having electricity to run the a/c all the time, as well as microwave and watch a family movie at night.  These campgrounds are also the only places with designated swimming areas.  Nick really wanted to swim, and I was afraid to take Jewel out other places - stepping on a fishhook didn’t sound like fun.

We watched a show about the most spectacular features of the Solar System projected on the 40′ domed interior of the Planatarium, and took a walking tour of The Homeplace, the working 1850’s farm that Wolf talked about.

Jewel’s favorite was the drive-through Elk and Bison Prarie.  She’s been fascinated with bison ever since we saw them in Oklahoma (where people typically call them buffalo), and the bison stuffed animal we got her there has been a consistent companion.  

There were plenty of bison … 

And elk …

A group of each of them was actually hanging around at the same water hole.  Fortunately for us, I suppose, it was hot enough out that all the animals had decided it was time for a water break.  Also fortunate, of course, that when they designed the park they put all three of the water holes near enough to the road for good critter viewing.

Jewel was particularly taken with the many baby bison that were present in the herd we saw.  She eagerly pointed out the baby bison nursing - God’s plan for all the mammal babies.

We’ve also been swimming in the lake, watched the birds and squirrels at our campsite, and enjoyed sunrises and sunsets over the water - with lakes on both sides you don’t have to go far!

We’re going to try to get over to see the Nature Station before we leave today.  We’re heading out Bowling Green, so that we can be parked and relaxed when it’s time to take Nick to camp tomorrow.  Guess we’d better get going then, eh?

Lots of folks say they were born in the wrong decade or in the wrong century; I guess I’m no exception. I can work in computer networks and fiber optics with the best of them, but I love working with wood. I’ve spent the last few years making rustic furniture, among other things. I keep getting the idea that I could have lived a hundred years ago or more. I could work the land and make furniture up in the mountains here in Kentucky.

Yea, we’re here in Kentucky at Land Between The Lakes ($15 per year per adult for a backcountry camping permit, wow). We went to the Homeplace yesterday and had a great time. The Homeplace is a working 1850s farm. Yea, I could do that…

Not long ago we were in an old antebellum home for the Pilgrimage in Columbus, Mississippi. One of the tour guides made an observation about Tiffany and me. She noted that women, including my wife, were interested in the families and home history, while the guys - that would be me - were always looking at the workmanship in the old homes. I kept looking at door knobs and window sills.

Back to the Homeplace…

There were farm animals running around and they had a couple of cabins and I loved the barn/workshop. There was a wonderful old style work bench with manual clamps.

I wish they had been working the day I was there, but the fields needed tending…

They had devised an ingenious way to automatically close doors behind you. A chain was attached to the wall and the door. A heavy weight suspended between the ends pulled the chain down and closed the door.

Then there was the wood lathe. I really, really want the wood lathe. It was a powered by a foot pedal. A leather strap went from the pedal and wrapped around a shaft and connected to a tensioner at the top.

I felt like I was home again. I was ready to put the kids to work in the field and start working in the barn.

It would be great to find a little piece of land, park the RV and start on my own “homeplace.” How about it, anyone else out there looking for the simpler (hard work) life?

Praise God in all things … even when you don’t agree. His plan is greater than ours.

We had the most delightful experience for lunch on the road Wednesday, I just had to share!

Almost out of Missouri (at last!) we started seeing the billboards for “The Only Home of Throwed Rolls” - Lambert’s Cafe. 

It’s Southern “Country-Style” food - ham steaks, pork chops, fried chicken, and the like.  Drinks served in mugs so huge you could swim in them.  The food was delicious, and we actually enjoyed it immensely all over again as leftovers!

In addition to the huge portions served with your meal, the staff circulates through the restaurant constantly serving the “pass-arounds”: macaroni and tomatoes, black-eyed peas, fried okra, fried potatoes and onions, and yes, “throwed rolls” and sorghum molasses.  There was one server who was clearly the designated roll thrower, and he truly tossed them all the way across the big dining room, to the delight of young and old.

All the wait staff were friendly, helpful, and fun - there was much joking and dancing in the aisles as they served the food.

They were happy to provide a booster seat for Jewel, her milk was cold and fresh (What, you haven’t heard about the milk trials? There’s a milk rant coming!), they had brown sugar (and cinnamon) ready for my baked sweet potato when I inquired, and they met Nick’s bland food pickiness challenge with a tasty burger.

Even when we were packing up our leftovers to go, the staff was offering the freebies.  Where else do you get generousity and service like that?

There are 2 locations in Missouri, and one in Southern Alabama.  Lambert’s is without doubt someplace we’ll look forward to visiting again and again!

Well, yesterday we were in Arizona, no, wait … we were in New Mexico, ummm, no, I think it was Texas, or maybe Oklahoma. Now I remember, we were in Arkansas last night. And Oklahoma the night before that, and Texas the night before that, and New Mexico the night before that, and yes, Arizona the night before that. Tonight we are sleeping in misery … Missouri.

Let me explain … No, that would take too long. Let me sum up our travels.

We left Arizona on Monday. We were told to get out of town by high noon. (The campground checkout time was noon.) We drove east to Flagstaff to run some errands and ate at Cracker Barrel (second best Cracker Barrel we have eaten at in the U.S.) Onward to a nondescript place called Restarea. (A Rest Area just west of Winslow, AZ.) Nobody slept much because of the truck noise. We decided not to park in Restarea any more.

Day two’s travel took us to the east side of Albuquerque. We stopped at a WalMart there and enjoyed an evening meal at Boston Market and a better night’s sleep.

The third day we hauled ourselves to Amarillo, TX. We found free parking for overnighters at the Big Texan steak house. Great food … not so great parking. The lot fills up with truckers, soooo …

OK, on day four we pushed on through Oklahoma City to Shawnee, OK. We pulled off to eat at Cracker Barrel (average food, the worst are in Kingman, AZ and Tupelo, MS) and settle into our friendly neighborhood WalMart. Not too bad of a night.

Then, rollin’, rollin’, rollin’, on into Arkansas and we turned north. We found a little RV park northeast of Springdale where we finally had hookups and restrooms with showers.

Tonight, and I hope the next couple nights, we are hooked up in front of my mother’s place. We can spend a little time cleaning up us and the RV.

So, fulltiming in the RV is a challenge, but we are slowly adjusting. You just need to adjust your focus to go a bit farther ahead in your schedule. If you are fulltiming, your house is right behind you. We are hoping that any traveling can be done in short day lunges. You can always stop and stay a couple days if you like the area. We still push ourselves a bit when we are driving and trying to get to our final destination at a scheduled hour. We just need to relax and let the road take us.

If God is your co-pilot, … switch seats!

Bleaaahhh… This part stinks. Traveling out of one state, across two more, and into a fourth, crossing into two time zones, all in the space of three days… Double Bleaaahhh… Still, there is some good.

If you are ever in Amarillo, TX…wait, strike that… if you are ever within a hundred miles of Amarillo, TX stop at the Big Texan Steak Ranch. They have such good, no, great, no, amazing, no, (insert best descriptor you have ever heard here) that I can’t think of a word that even comes close to describing it, food.

If you like Ranch dressing at all, you must try theirs. I was in ecstacy! I had it with everything! I had ordered a Cheeseburger, side salad, and it came with rolls. I had it on the salad and fell in love. Mmmmmm… I put it on my burger, on the rolls, and bought a jar of it to take home. Double Mmmmmm…

My mama got prime rib and said that the only prime rib that might have ever been better was at Lawry’s in Beverly Hills. Triple Mmmmm… Papa got a steak and said it was the second best he had ever eaten. Coming from him, that was an extreme compliment. Quadruple Mmmm…

And afterwards, they have (insert same as above) fudge and a really, really, really, really, really, really, cool shooting gallery and slot machine setup. They slot machines are only for fun you don’t get money if you win, but it’s still fun.

We were parked behind them in their free lot for RV’s and trucks. It rained so hard that night I thought we would be flooded and be mired in mud. In the morning being alive and not mired we ate at their breakfast buffet. The stuff sitting in the bins wasn’t fabulous, but their fresh made omlettes and waffles were fabulous.

We are in Oklahoma and I am zzzuffering from jet lag zzo I better go to Zzzzz…

Hello World!! It’s me!

We’re finally leaving Prescott, AZ for Mississippi, with a stop in Misery, I mean Missouri, to see Grandma Karen, Papa’s mom.

In Mississippi we stay in a really cool spot. Our church (East End Baptist) has a HUGE shed behind them with a BIG slab of covered concrete where they park their buses. Now get this… they let us park there!

On flat, level concrete, with water and electric hookups, and a bathroom, for free! It’s amazing! We sometimes pay 25 bucks or more to stay in an RV park that isn’t half that good.

After that, we are going to Kentucky to maybe buy some property, but for now just looking. Also, the Western Kentucky University (there isn’t a lot of North-South, so they had to go East-West) is having a Summer Camp specifically for gifted students, and guess what? I’m a gifted student.

After that we are going to Jamestown, VA for their 400th anniversary celebration. It is going to be so awesome!!

Then we are going to the Ameriplan conference which is about a week long. Wonder what Ameriplan is? Check out our website and be sure to click the Nick sent you link. I can’t go so I will mostly be playing Xbox. Yes!! I will probably rent a game from Blockbuster which will be free with Total Access. Double Yes!!

We’re in a hurry to leave so I better finish up so we can start the laundry. Bye!

A recent post on Crystal’s Biblical Womanhood blog got me thinking again about the skyrocketing price of gas, and what we do about it.

Here in Prescott, Arizona, gas is running just over the $3/gallon mark.  We were glad to come back out of California where the average cost was over $3.50 - and we saw places there that were charging over $4!

There are a lot of great tips that we’re all familiar with for stretching your tank of gas:

• Walk, bike or otherwise don’t drive.  Public transportation is also available in some places.
• Combine trips, find the most efficient route
• Make sure your car is in good shape: oil changes, tune ups, properly inflated tires, etc.

But the one that’s had the most dramatic impact on our gas budget (and we do drive A LOT running aorund all over the country) is one that I seldom hear mentioned, and it seems like I never see it being followed.

I most recently read it again in one of my favorite columns, The Daily Cheapskate, from Mary Hunt of Debt Proof Living:

Slow down. Gas mileage decreases rapidly above 60 miles per hour. If you drive 70 mph instead of 55 mph, experts say you could be burning up 17 percent of your fuel just to get there a few minutes sooner. In fact, each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is equal to paying an additional 10 cents per gallon of gas.

With the speed limit at 75 on the Interstate, that’s 15 mph over 60 - so we’re paying an extra $0.30 a gallon?!  We were just desperate enough to try it, and the results were amazing. 

To drive the round trip from our then-home in Williams, Arizona, down here to Prescott and back took almost a whole tank of gas when we drove the speed limits (65 on the rural highway, 75 on the Interstate) (we already didn’t speed, but that’s another post…).  When we slowed down to 60 max, we could make the round-trip on half a tank!

The results aren’t always that drastic, naturally, but it was really a wake-up call for us.  At $50 or so a tank in my Tahoe, I prefer to stretch it as much as possible — and getting somewhere a few minutes later just isn’t that crucial, anyway.

We save gas - and money, we stress less, we’re safer on the road…  Sounds like a pretty good deal on a number of different fronts.