Day 19 Tuesday 7/09

The only abnormal part about the morning this time around was my computer deciding it wanted to do a diagnostic of itself and thus be useless for about an hour and a half. But once that was out of the way it was a perfectly normal morning.

Well almost normal, parents decided to run to the local store for some items while me and sister stayed back and relaxed/got ready. And then when they got back and had put way the items it was into the Van and off to explore a national park…though hikes.

The first hike we did was a little under a mile, and next to a stream. It was a good hike, and left room for me and dad to do a bit of stream hoping and risk taking, love it.

We did some driving and then a second hike, this one around 1.5 miles give or take .2. It was in a forest area this time and had some ups and downs, not bad really, the quiet that you could get was nice.

Once those were out of the way it was back to the RV for some lunch and taking care of pets. We probably stayed at the RV a bit longer than we needed to but eventually we got off our butts and was back in the Van to go off to one more hike.

This last hike was a killer. It was a 1.5 mile give or take as well, the difference was that it was up and down a cliff, not a sheer cliff no but you get the point. It was first down some switch backs and into a canyon and then a bit of walking into another canyon and to even more, a LOT MORE, switch backs this time going up. It damn near killed have the family, and the rest…well we were jumping between “we’ll hurt tomorrow” and “Oh I feel good.”

We had time to figure it out and rest as we drove around in the Van some more, did a few stops and eventually went and got dinner. And then even MORE driving in the Van, eventually though we came back to the RV.

And when we did we sadly found out our mutts problem had come back. He had dropped his liquid crap in the RV, and it does not smell good. So we got a few things taken care of and then settled in for the rest of the evening/night.

Tomorrow is more driving in the Van, this time for a different park. Oh goody…….HELP!

Typed July 9, 2013

Day 13 Wednesday 7/03

I’m starting to think there is no longer such a term as sleeping in with me, Why? Because I woke up at Eight again. That is starting to get bothersome, but what can I do. Well all I can do is what is done every morning, wake up and get the RV ready to travel as well as relax a bit. And that is what we did, and I say we because the rest of the family eventually woke up as well.

We left camp late sadly, by about a half hour. But like always once on the road we were…well traveling yet again. I know I’m being repetitive but I’m running out of things to say.

Eventually we dropped an hour, and by that I mean we went from Central time back over to Mountain time. So I guess I can say the timing of everything is a little messed up. But Hey I would rather gain an hour than loose it.

 At 12:01 local time we got to stop for some gas, and lunch. And since it was a Flying Js I decided to get some pizza, I’ve been seeing them every time we’ve gone into a Flying Js and I couldn’t resist any more. As always we were back on the road in no time, continuing are long trek across…I don’t know what to call this terrain anymore so I’ll just say: across the road. Don’t like that? Well then you can come up with a better idea because I’m getting confused out here.

Eventually we did a stop, this stop was not like our normal. This stop was so that we could go shopping for food at whole foods. Time? Two. After I do believe to be about an hour, we left with a what we wanted plus a bit more. And one they were put away we were back on the road.

Though we were already decently close to our destination for the next few days. It took a bit of work this time around to get the RV into position and all of that but once done we all settled in for a nice relaxing afternoon/evening.

Well actually that didn’t completely happen. We decided to go out for some dinner, which was damn good. And then once done with dinner we drove to a store and got some bottled water, which we had basically run out of, I will never know how that completely happened.

But once done with that it truly was back to the RV for relaxing/fighting with the RV and all the other stuff we do here.

Tomorrow the RV is staying in place, but instead we will be driving around in the Van doing different things for the day. So all in all I am expecting a semi-busy day. But we’ll all find out tomorrow. But if you want the knocking can continue (and if not for safe travel then for me not trying to kill one of our pets, these guys are getting annoying. I mean as I type this I have a cat balancing on my leg, and it is not comfortable!).

Typed July 3, 2013

Day 5 Tuesday 6/25

As has become my normal, up at seven, and this time I’m the first one up. But sadly that came with a price, my back felt like it had a knot the size of Texas, and I’m in Texas, go figure. Well we all woke up in good time and got ready to leave.

Before we left we made sure to have a slight laugh at the name of different places and how the computers and phones pronounced them.

And then were off, and we left early, 8:44.Yes we consider that early. Though we did have to stop for has before even an hour went by, it was 9:20 when we got to the gas station. And be back on the road ten minutes later, with news that our budget is doing good.

At one point during our drive we had to stop for what appeared to be construction. It was 10:25 so we didn’t mind all that much, it was a tad annoying to just sit and wait thought, but we dealt. When we were let through we found that they were remaking the road, the whole damn thing. And at the point of crossing it appeared that as far as they got was stripping the old road so it was bumpy. Eventually we reached a smoother part of the construction area, and then the end, of sorts. They had only stripped so far so there was much that was untouched beyond being watered down and marked off. But once we reached the real end we continued on our way like nothing really happened.

Sadly we got to hit another construction effort about twenty minutes later…But thankfully it didn’t take us very long to get through it. And then a good bit after that we hit a THIRD construction sight, but again got through it quickly.

In time we pulled over and had our lunch, it was on the side of the road but we got an RV so we always got something to eat around here. Well we have a good lunch after a few inside repairs we set off again.

We would stop again at almost two on the nose for gas. We had a bit of trouble getting out of the station but we figured it out and went right along with our drive.

After a few more hours, we FINALLY arrived at where we will be staying for a good many days. We actually arrived at the campground 4:21. But it took us a good long while before we could even get our spot thanks to the fact that there was a line just to get one. Thankfully we thought ahead and got reservations. But sadly this line….well it’s a line what can you expect. So we settled in a bit and waited it out, what else could we do?

Well we eventually got our spot…and it was not the type of spot we requested. Dad was NOT happy or in a good mood by any extension of the word. But well we got a spot and settled the RV in, we’re going to be here a while so we had little choice.

But setting up…all I can say is that Oklahoma is somehow WORSE in its weather than Texas. That’s right we are in Oklahoma, and it feels like I walked into a toaster oven when I walk out there. Different weather things are saying it’s in the high 80s lower 90s, and with a good wind, but with the sun…well it sure doesn’t feel like that. And then you go into the RV, so much better. But sadly I can’t lock myself in it, so I just have to deal with the crazy weather, then again who am I kidding? You get between the mountains of west and the mighty Mississippi and you get a crap ton of heat. Don’t ask me why it likes that area it just does, I sadly can’t really tell you how high up it goes….I’ll say somewhere near Montana though is when it gets cooler again…..probably because it has more rivers. Look I don’t know I just it’s hot here and I don’t really care for it.

Well anyways, all set up and working things out, we got a good WiFi here so that’s good. Well after all the setup we decided to drive around. We went and took a look a few places we wanted to go to later and then went for some dinner, it was a decently good place.

Once done with dinner we had to go and shop, again. Well long story short we finished and came back to the RV and got about doing our own thing. And had a peaceful night.

Sadly I don’t think tomorrow is going to be as peaceful as today, we got a good amount of things lined up so it shall be busy, how busy? We’ll well have to wait to find out.

Typed up June 25, 2013.

Vacation 2012 - Day 6, June 27

Day 6

     Well woke up to the sun in my eyes and some family members talking. We had a few things planned before we even left the RV, and from the sounds of it I was going to be bored almost the whole time

     We left the RV somewhere around nine. We had to drive to the convention center so that we could set up a few things, as well as figure the place out. Once there we first had to go to registration so that we were all set, before we left the area though we talked to several different people that we knew.

     Once done talking we went searching for a certain place in the center, we eventually got lost but quickly figured out where we were going. Once we found the location we needed mom, dad, nana, and sister started to set up a rather large item. I however sat near a window and spent the time ether looking out said window or checking a few things out on the Internet with my phone. We spent anywhere from an hour to a bit over two hours at that place, and I was bored the whole time.

     Once done with that we went looking for another room, a room I will most likely be spending a lot of time in. We found it with little trouble. The family, minus me, was happy with the room and the room that it had, me on the other had did not like it. I saw the room as place that did not have enough room for a kid to be a kid. Well we will see who is right.

     After checking out that hall we went back to the van and went for a drive up a highway by the name of 395. Dad wanted to say he drove the whole thing, and as we had nothing else to do we let him do it. I was able to last for around thirty minutes before I fell asleep for most of the way.

     When I woke up we were in a forest area getting close to the US-Canadian border. Next to us was a river that was in major overflow, sadly that was nothing more than cool to see. Once we reached the border we turned right around and went back the way we came.

     On the way back we made few detours. One a quick drive around an area that let us few the over flowed river a bit more. Another was to a museum that was about the place. I was not happy when we stopped; I really wanted to get back to the RV, more on that later.

     When we were done with the museum we went a bit further down the road it was on and got out of the van again. Well correction, dad, sister, and nana got out and explored the place even walking down a trail while mom and I stayed back at the van and relaxed a bit.

     It took them a LONG time to get back, but once they did we were off again.  The next time we stopped was at Michaels for some craft items for sister and mom. But once done there we went across the parking lot to a place called The Onion.

     The Onion is what one could consider a gourmet hamburger place. The service we got was outstanding and the server was the friendly as can be. Mom ordered a gluten free burger and some gluten free fries as well. For the first time in a while we had no problems with getting the gluten free food, the rest of the family also got their food with no event.

     The burger I got was good, but I wished I had gotten a bigger one. The fries were also good.

     By the time we left the time was coming around 8:30. We had originally planned to go back to the RV, change then go to the convention center again. But as it was getting late we scrapped that plan and decided to just stay at the RV.

     So we paid for our meal and headed back to the RV where all did our different things.

Day six typed June 27, 2012.

By the way If you are looking for a quicker summary of the days events as well as a slightly different perspective You can try my dad's blog: j-e-may.blogspot.com

Vacation 2012 - Day 5, June 26

Day 5

     Woke up to the falling of water from the tree above us, the time being closer to eight than anything. The plan is to make it to Spokane today, that shouldn’t be a problem.

     Before we left we had to do a couple of items. We had to feed the cats, we’ve decided to switch up what they eat from just dry food to a mixture of dry and canned with the hopes that it will help with one of our cat’s digestive problems.

     We also had to put some flea killing stuff on all of our pets. They’ve had them since we left the house and we’ve been forgetting to give them the stuff. With luck the medication should stop our dogs from biting and scratching themselves so much.

     We set off at nine, again.

     We stopped around 10:30 for a bit of shopping. We got some more pet stuff, plus a bit more human food. We also got some clothes, which included swimming trunks for me and dad as we had forgotten ours at home.

     After shopping we went a little ways and stopped at a Subway for lunch. We were hoping since we were in Oregon that they would have gluten free bread, like they said all Subways in Oregon did. But just our luck, they did not. So mom was unable to get anything from Subway, but the rest of the family got something for lunch.

     We got back into the RV around 11:30, and started to eat our Lunch. We set off around ten minutes later.

     We stopped for a bathroom break a while later, but were soon on the road again.

     We pulled into Idaho, the state we are staying in.

     At around four we stopped to fill up, had a little confrontation with another driver when we had problems getting out. But that was quick and only verbal.

     We pulled right across the street to our stop. The place we will be spending the next several days at. It is in a town called Post Falls, it is near the border of Idaho and Washington. Before we could plug in we had to quickly take the van off the trailer and then we had to back into the spot we had been assigned.

     We had several problems hooking up. For one, our power cable was too short, and even with our extension it was still too short, but not by much. It was just short enough for one of the adapters we had, so we hooked into a plug in that was meant for a bit higher amperage.

     The second problem, and the main one, was our sewer hose. Even with all three of our hoses we still had a bit over twenty feet to go. Dad had to go up to the front and buy another long hose. And once he got the hose he had to fight to get some connectors onto it, but then broke the connector.

     So dad had to go back up to the front and buy a different form of a connector. This one basically connected the two hoses without any practical way to unhook them again. It took a little bit but eventually dad was able to get the piece in and then finish hooking up the sewer. And with that we became fully hooked up.

     We had a few other things to move about but the rest of the set up was uneventful.

     About two hours after we pulled in, we all jumped into the van and went off for a drive. First scouted a couple of places, finding a waterfall like area, spent a few minutes checking it out. Once done with that we went looking for food, sadly we failed. We could not find any local food place open at the time, which was nearing nine.

     We had to drive for a while before we finally decided to just go to a Denny’s, and had a good dinner there.

     After that we went straight back to the RV and went about our different business.

Day five typed up June 26, 2012, all past vacation entries this year edited same day.