Fireworks are legal in South Dakota (Day 2) - pics added

And they are not legal in Iowa. Which means, for the uninitiated, that if you are in the legal fireworks state very close to the illegal state...and you happen to be there on the 4th of July...

Here's the best way I can describe it. Imagine your typical small-town festival fireworks grand finale.

Now imagine that volume of fireworks going up from every house in a small suburban subdivision.

Now imagine it going on for over 2 hours. We're talking a small armory.

And now imagine that the subdivision is right across the street.

It's gonna be a long night. Amazingly the babies are sleeping through this but it's only a matter of time.

I'll post a video here, but this is a poor representation. Literally every time I turn the camcorder on the spectacle dies down.



Had a very rough night getting to sleep last night - I remember being very uneasy and anxious on the 2007 trip until about the 4th night, until the rhythm of life on the road sunk in. So I expect those restless nights for a while.

Today was an uneventful (aka boring) day. Got up to unhook in a fairly major downpour, and headed west. Grey, dreary, rainy weather pretty much the whole way. Iowa is more like Kansas than Kansas is. More fun trying to fuel up the Chevy in regular gas stations...ended up having to turn around in some Industrial parking lot in Urbandale twice. In fact, the most interesting thing that happened en route was Faith literally howling in agony...because her foot fell asleep. That's our daughter. Drama queen? Try drama goddess. Anyway, her bout of "spikey foot" (that's what she calls it) ended without any amputations.

Meanwhile, Steph is catching up on naps during the drive. Lots of naps. =) We're at the Sioux City North KOA. Yeah. Steph and I actually did compile our top ten list in the car today during one of her awake periods, and...this one won't be on it. It's not bad, but there's nothing good about it either. But, we did manage to meet up with the Towners for the big Specter Family Blog/Team Towner Crossover Event. I'm going to step aside and let Steph post about that now.

Here she is:

We were so excited that the Towners agreed to come out from suburban Sioux City, IA to North Sioux City, SD to spend the evening with us! Gina and I were in the band together at XU and became fast friends when we discovered that we were both language majors (she was French) and both wanted to teach our languages. I'm pleased that we have remained friends even after she and her husband Cliff, who is a band director, moved to IA. Now, Cliff and Gina have two kids, Laura who is 3 months older than Mari, and Nathan who is 2 months older than the twins. Nathan and Laura are so so cute and sweet. We'd met Laura once before when the Towners were visiting Cincy but it was our first time to meet Nathan. It was neat for me to watch Faith, Mari and Laura play together this evening and to see how similar Nathan and the twins are developmentally. It was a special treat for Robby to be able to "play" with another boy! ;-) So we grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs (special thanks to Zayde who did the grill work) and got to catch up. I'm so excited for the Towners as they embark on the adventure of moving their family to Lincoln, NE so that Cliff can finish up his doctorate full-time at the University of Nebraska. Go 'Huskers!

Wanted to add one more thing to Matt's comments about the fireworks. Our poor pup, Salsa, is one unhappy chica about these fireworks. When we were outside hanging with the Towners, she was freaking out inside because of the noise. Poor thing. She's better now that I'm in with her. The thing is, she's 9 years old now. That's not old, especially for a small dog. But she's certainly not getting younger and the cataracts in her eyes have really started affecting her eyesight. She sometimes doesn't see FOOD (her FAVORITE thing) right in front of her face. Poor thing. She really needed some puppy valium tonight. And Mambo who literally barks at moving blades of grass hasn't "said" a word.

Matt here again - FYI the fireworks are dying down. It is so smoky outside I can't see the other end of the KOA. Tomorrow we finally make it to our first real destination. Tune in to see where we are!

Pics of the day:

Baby zone (Nathan, Hannah, Robby):


Big girls (Faith, Laura, Mari):


A little bit of South Carolina in South Dakota:


Bud has an idea:


Salsa wonders what is going on:


Matt

Pics part 2 - main post below

In honor of Mari's problem...it just so happened that I managed to take like 3 pics in a row at Coney Island with people with mouths full of food - gross but funny. Enjoy:





And this one doesn't have chewed food, but a classic expression on Hannah's face.


Check in tomorrow night!

Matt

Day 1

A good first day!

Got up at 5:30 and I was literally dancing around the room to some dumb song on Q102 (Steph chooses the radio station) because the day was finally here.

We were PERFECT getting ready. Out the driveway exactly on time, loaded and hooked up with time to spare. The inverter worked like a charm, the battery is fine.

And out we went.

Driving the trailer for that long is not as easy as just driving a car, but it's not TOO bad. A little frustrating at first that you just can't go as fast as you want, but after a while your mind and body adjust and you fall into the groove. Passing slow trucks is a little stressful, it takes a while, but all in all you get used to it.

Stopped for lunch/fuel at a Pilot station in Covington, IN. First time pulling into a gas station with the trailer. Not too bad...had to back out but had plenty of room to do so - I am starting to understand the secrets to backing up with the trailer. Someday I might even be able to back into a space.

Fuel. Yeah. When the Suburban is towing, we can get about 225 or so miles per tank. That's it. It drops FAST.

Lunch on the road is a challenge - basically in the old days it would be a bit of a free-for-all in the RV with the slides in at a rest stop or gas station, everyone kind of jostling each other reaching for various food items. We decided a few days ago that adding the babies to that mix is just too much. So someone stays back in the Chevy and feeds the babies until someone else is done eating, then they take over so the first person can eat. Today it was me feeding the babies. Well worth the mess to not have to drag them in and out.

After lunch, the girls switched over to the RV and it's a good thing too because MARI PUKED!!! All over. If she had been in the Chevy that would have derailed the whole day - in the RV, my mom had a spare set of clothes, she could wipe everything up, bag up the nasty clothes, all without my dad having to stop the car. She's been fine since and all is well we think.

Pulled into the Galesburg East Holiday Best Trav-L-Park at around 3:30 local time. Or was it 2:30? Not sure exactly. Checked in, pulled in with no problem.

This is a very nice RV park. Steph and I have had a little project going, to rank our top 10 favorite RV parks we've stayed at. This one might make 9 or 10 - there's nothing particularly special about it, but it's all the little simple things that make it so nice. Really shaded, simple layout, level sites, clean pool, decent playground...and it probably helps that the temp never got above 80 degrees.

Girls played on the playground, twins crawled on the grass.

Got everyone set up and hooked up and headed out to Coney Island...a local hot dog establishment. Now this was probably not the best location to bring our particular crew. No high chairs, no frills...just really good hot dogs. Steph and mom took one for the team and held the twins while they ate and managed to feed them enough to keep them from screaming. It really was a neat little dive and we would have loved to go with fewer bodies to worry about...but it ended up okay.

Downtown Galesburg has some nice little areas...not all strip mall sprawl like so many places. Carl Sandberg's birthplace, a historic church...and they were having a dwontown street party in one neighborhood...again, with fewer people, on the 2003 trip for example, we totally would have stopped and looked around...but with 8 people stuffed into the Suburban...not this time.

Got back, had a pretty casual evening. Just about all the stuff is put away now. All in all, a really good first day, puke notwithstanding.

Here are a few pics:

Faith swinging, twins watching. Note the nicely maintained pool.


Mari on the big slide:


I love this one - you may have to click on it to get it full size for the real effect. Check out Steph saying a silent prayer for patience:


The girls in front of Coney Island - nice effect with us in the reflection.


Home for the night:


More to come soon!

The Journey Begins

We're up.

All is well again...

...battery is charging, fridge is on. The open road awaits us.

Thanks to all who have had any small part in us getting to this point.

Here goes nothing.

Matt

Recharging batteries...

...literally.

Took another load over to the trailer and the battery was dead. No big deal, other than we were hoping to run the fridge overnight to make food transport easy. UG is coming back later with an inverter to try to charge that baby up.

Ominous beginning, don't you think? Stick around for more...

A moment to reflect

Steph is out with friends, the kids are in bed. In two days we will be off on our wild journey. Been planning this for a year or so, been thinking about it since the end of the 2007 trip. Sometimes the moments you wait for can be the most intimidating. But they are a chance to rise up and show the best you have to offer.

Some random thoughts:

I hope that someday my kids will share my love of travel. I hope that they will learn to discover the magic that any new place can provide. I hope that they won't be travel snobs and can make anyplace in the world a destination, no matter how mundane it might seem on the surface.

I hope that mom really attempts to run the video camera when she's in the RV.

I know that, even with a major breakdown in the middle of Texas, we were incredibly lucky on our last trip to have so few problems. I hope we are so lucky again, but more importantly, if we are NOT so lucky, I hope we all handle it well.

I hope that some day I am able to share this kind of journey with close friends.

I hope that my camcorder holds out, and if it does decide to die, that it does so near civilization.

I hope I can find the time once school starts to make the DVD of this trip.

I hope I don't have to back the trailer up too much. I suck at it.

I hope people read the blog and are interested in our goings-on while we're gone.

I hope I don't forget anything important.

I hope I can enter this trip in a mentally good place, ready to open myself to the experience, enjoy the freedom of place, share the wonder of the world with my family, and come back a richer person for the memories.

I hope there are more trips like this one to come.

...

T-minus 34 hours...

Let's do this.

First things first

This is my new haircut:


Something had to be done. All the Anderson people...remember Mr. Kraus? That was happening to me. I had developed a little island of hair that was slowly distancing itself from the mainland. Got really obvious when wet. Anyway, we consulted with a reputable stylist today for the best thing to do and this is what we came up with. It does minimize the effect of the lonely tuft on top. I asked if we should just take the whole tuft right off but we were advised against going to war with my hairline...it could create a different "situation" she said. Anyway, what's done is done. If the tuft doesn't fall out soon I might have to go Chrome Dome, because this tuft is just silly. I like the new cut fine - I can get used to it - I just wish that my hair would bow out gracefully instead of hanging on in uneven patterns.

Anyway, beyond that, a busy day of trip-prep-shopping. Odds and ends and this and that. Tomorrow the trailer is moving to a closer location and we will be able to pack it whenever we want. Looking forward to it. Had a family meeting today to go over details of the first few days, and we all feel ready to hit the road.

Opinions on the hair are welcome.

Matt

Insert "Home" Quote Here

We're back!

This morning, hung out at the Baymont Inn and Suites in Knoxville. Okay hotel, but...well...the carpet was not what we would call clean. We waited as long as we could stand it, then headed for an early lunch at Cardin's Drive-In. As I said, no website, but here's a shot of it in Google Maps Street View (a very cool thing indeed). Gives you some idea of the character of the place. (I see now that it's not working right - if you can't see the image, click on the "view larger map" text below it - you'll get the image.


View Larger Map

Being our last meal of this vacation and all (and with Steph and I fully intending to eat a lot healthier on our big trip) we splurged. Good bacon cheeseburgers. Mari liked her hot dog, and the babies and Faith liked the grilled cheese. Good fries, good rings, good cheese sticks, good tater tots (hey, I told you we splurged) and good milkshakes. I had read good things about the peanut butter milkshakes so I got that - was NOT disappointed. So, Cardin's gets my seal of approval - if you're in Knoxville, a fun local dive to stop by.

Rest of the trip was totally uneventful. I am proud to say that we drove from Cincy to Jacksonville to Hilton Head and back to Cincy and only put in 2 movies the whole time we were driving. And very little TV during the week as well. I feel like a successful parent for that. And really, we are so blessed - the girls were GREAT during the trip, and the babies were so agreeable and pleasant most of the time. We have a great travelling family and it's a good thing.

Coming home...well. I think it's an indicator of a really good vacation if when you come home, your house seems a little unfamiliar. And it's not a question of being gone a long long time or anything...it's about where your mind has been while you've been away. If you've been just sitting there thinking about stuff back home then probably you won't feel like you've been gone. My mind has been completely in the moment for a week and a half and it's felt great. My house looked a little strange to me and I like that feeling. It's probably also a function of me already being mentally on the next big trip, too.

So now is the weird turnaround. Three days at home, trying to keep the house nice and neat and trying to get ready for a monthlong cross country trip. Also mentally switching from being with Steph's family to being with mine. No need to get into specifics - we love them all, but they function very differently and it's a different way of existing.

Keep checking in!

Matt

Getting back is half the fun

Who says the return trip has to be sad?

This morning was a little bit of a bummer as we loaded the car and headed home. But I am daddy and I always have a few more tricks up my sleeve. We're spending the night in Knoxville, so I of course did my research. The girls' first surprise was a trip to The Chocolate Factory for a few treats for being so good on vacation. Really a lot of selection and the girls were very excited to get to pick out a few things on their own.

Then, we headed down to World's Fair Park in downtown, where we let the girls run around in the public fountain. Again, they really enjoyed that especially on a hot day. See pics below:





Lastly, to give them a little time to dry off, we went up into the Sunsphere for a view of Knoxville. Got to see a major storm rolling in. When we came down I ran to get the car and bring it around because it looked like the heavens were about to open up and pour down rain.

Came back to the hotel and chilled for the rest of the night. Tomorrow we're going to take our time leaving - check out is 11am, and we'll use every last minute. Hoping to grab lunch at a local fixture (again, I've done my research) called Cardin's Drive-In which is a few miles from the hotel. No website available - should give you some idea of the kind of place.

Hopefully be into Cincinnati in time for dinner and a low-key evening. As always, returning home will be emotional - and even more so this time with the quick turnaround to the big trip.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. See you at home!

Matt