What I've Learned

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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 ...