On the road again...

So yesterday (or “nesterday”, as Izzie says) when I said we all loved it except for it was cool and rainy, I should have said I loved it. So since it was cool and rainy, we packed up first thing this morning and headed west, where it’s currently cool and rainy. We’re in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Nothing too exciting today on the drive, except that there was a full-grown bald eagle at the side of road, lifting off into flight as we passed by. That was pretty cool.

And the other day I mentioned how fantastically bumpy Wisconsin roads were… today we actually pulled over to make sure we hadn’t somehow knocked the axles off of the camper. Hopefully I'll actually get the video of Kieran singing the alphabet loaded tonight!

So, since there’s not too much to report, you get a special treat... Two thoughts from Kieran:

1) We went on an adventure drive Monday evening with no map, just heading north and east and north and east and then—suddenly—the road turned into a pier and there was water as far as the eye could see. And Kieran exclaimed, “I have to tell Mrs. Sanderson I know where the road ends!” (I think you have to be either Kieran or Mrs. Sanderson to fully appreciate this.)

2) So on our first night of camping, in beautiful Toledo, Ohio, one of the things that made that day so very special happened while I was putting down the stabilization jacks. I was cranking the rear jack down with the device that is closely related to a tire iron, when Kieran walks over and leans his face down right next to it. Being a parent, I immediately had a flash of danger in my spidey-sense and was able to instantly visualize Kieran getting blasted in the face with the wrench. So I looked at him and started to say, “Kieran, you shouldn’t be…” But my taking my eye off of the jack to tell him of the danger, I fulfilled the prophecy. The wrench slipped, swung up, and popped him just outside of the corner of his eye. Luckily, he was okay. Didn’t lose the eye, and we got ice on it quick enough that the swelling was contained to a very small area. So now it’s two days later, we’re driving along, and Kieran spontaneously tells us…

“If anybody asks why I have a black eye, I am going to tell them that my daddy hit me in the face with a wrench. But if they call the police, I’ll tell them not to arrest you, Daddy.”

Our First Hike

We’ve had a lovely day here in Ellison Bay, Wisconsin. Jerry, Kathy, and all five Gowmans went on our first hike of the trip this morning… it was a wonderful three-mile round trip out to the Mink River. It was nice and flat (excellent for the flats as well as both Jerry and Mark whose wee knees were injured 2 months ago and are on the mend) but through beautiful woods. We saw ladyslippers (flowers), birch trees and a birch bark mask, a snail (Kieran spotted it, even though it was perfectly camouflaged), a beautiful dragonfly that looked like a butterfly, wild irises and wild strawberries.

Izzie didn’t exactly start out at the top of her game… enjoy the video:



Kieran says, "Three words: It [pause] was [pause] cool."

It’s been mostly cool, cloudy, windy, and rainy, but we’re loving it here. Lake Michigan was very choppy this evening, and the rapid change in weather made it easy to understand why there have been so many shipwrecks on the Great Lakes.

We had a great dinner tonight at Wilson’s in the town of Ephraim. It’s a 1940’s/50’s-style ice cream parlor and burger joint that I’d say is retro, except it’s been like that since the 40’s and 50’s.

On the way there, we passed another restaurant with a grass roof… and goats grazing on top of it!

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh

I'm afraid to say there wasn't much in the way of terrifying drama today, which I know isn't as much fun for you all as it could be. Liz and I did have a great new kind of moment today, as we had somebody screech to a stop directly in front of us... our Denali (SUV) stopped, but our 4-ton trailer wanted to keep going just a teensy bit further and to the left. If you've ever wondered what it's like to be in the tractor-trailer that's sliding sideways down the highway in the action movie, it's sort of exactly like that.

It turns out that the good folks in Wisconsin have spent millions of dollars finishing their highway with a surface that causing our truck and trailer to bob up and down violently with a frequency of about 110 beats per minute. (Yeah, I know, musicians.) But it only lasts for two or three hours. When it gets especially bad, both adults and all three kids simultaneously start droning with their voices, causing a five-part dissonant harmony to go uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh. Kieran enjoyed reciting the alphabet.

We've arrived in Door County without incident, and went out to a lovely meal at Shipwrecked, the local brewpub in Egg Harbor, in operation since the late 1800's, who claim to have hosted Al Capone for many meals back in the day.

Everybody's tucked in for beddie-bye, so I'll get some pics in tomorrow and we'll see you soon!

Westward Ho!

Or is it westward, ho?

So yesterday we finally hit the road. I was woken up by the thunderstorm at 5:30 and assumed everyone else was, too, so I got up and started preparing for departure. Sadly, that was not the case.

We had no end to the problems of getting our new trailer hooked up and turned down the driveway. I’d say it was a comedy of errors, but it was more like a hysterical hours-long rage-filled spastic fit of errors. Liz says she wishes we had filmed the entire process in grainy black-and-white, sped it up, and had some old-timey piano music to play over it. I assume it goes without saying that we lost a few square feet from the flower gardens. We finally left Victor at 10:30 am.

As we reached the Thruway entrance four miles from home, Izzie looked around and asked “Are we in Alaska yet?”

We got to the outskirts of Toledo at about 6:00 last night, and setting up the first night was almost as much fun as our departure. The power cord that runs everything was actually tied in a knot deep in the bowels of the camper. Dad had to get out tools and disassemble the port while I was setting other things up.

The best part of yesterday was that Grandma Gowman came down to visit us and stayed out at the campfire with us until almost 11pm. The kids were very happy to see her, and had a great time playing with her. We all enjoyed what is sure to be one of only a few campfires we can have on this trip, and got to roast marshmallows while gazing at the stars. We were all saying that despite the hardships of the day, sitting around that fire put us firmly in vacation mode, and the thoughts and stress of work were already feeling like a vanishing memory.

But yesterday’s final hilarity was Liz, Gabe, and Alex going to see Transformers in Toledo…. And taking Izzie’s pull-ups, blankie, and Molly the Dolly with them until nearly midnight. At least she got to see the stars!

So thank goodness that yesterday is behind us and we can get on to relaxing, starting with a nice relaxing ride in the car. Liz is driving and I get to blog and everything is good and vacation is upon us at last…

Except that Dad just accidentally went over the world’s steepest train tracks ten minutes into our drive at approximately 94.835 miles per hour, and the bike rack on the back of the RV has broken. (sshhhhhhh... he's kind of upset about it... don't bring it up...) My beloved Kona is hanging on for dear life… We’re heading for Home Depot right now to try to effect repairs. But at least we get to see more of Toledo, Ohio. It’s lovely this time of year.

UPDATE 12:30 pm: Okay so we made it to Home Depot, but then realized that the bike rack couldn’t be fixed. So we headed for a bike shop. But the Garmin Nuvi GPS sent us into a wildlife preserve instead. So we got the bike rack installed and headed back to the Ohio turnpike. But the Garmin Nuvi GPS sent us into a neighborhood gold course instead. But now we’re heading in the right direction.

UPDATE 1:10 pm: So the Nuvi sent us one way and the road signs sent us the other. Mom and Dad followed the Nuvi (hah! suckers) and Liz and I followed the road signs. And the Nuvi was right. So we had to stop to turn around now that Mom and Dad are 10 miles west of us, and we decided to make some quick adjustments since the trailer was riding funny.

UPDATE 1:14 pm: Liz just ran a red light.

UPDATE 1:21 pm: We are at the Toledo Airport, and are now entering the Ohio Turnpike. We are now SW of Toledo, and even if we have more fun later, we will be away from Toledo. God, how I hate Toledo.

Man, if only I had Twitter.

Did I mention that Liz and I forgot to bring our atlas?

We hope you enjoy our little blog this summer… By the time you read this, we’ll be in scenic Milton, Wisconsin.

UPDATE 9:55 PM: We have arrived in Milton, Wisconsin, and it appeared for a short time that the Four Horsemen had arrived just ahead of us and the world was about to end. Fortunately, all we got was a bit of rain and a spectacular light show and a lovely double rainbow, and the rest missed us.

This... was a day.

Oh! By the way Brian, can you just help me turn on the lights and set up two or three microphones? Thanks.

Just one more day...

Hey there! It's been five long days since the last post, as we've all been driving down the coast in in Argent-- er, I mean, hiking the Appalachian Trail. We're down to the crunch now with packng (oh yeah, and finishing up our jobs) and other preparations.

In anticipation of limited selection and increased prices in the Great North, we are packing large containers with food for the first time ever.

Here's a short tour of our new North Trail camper. This video is, in fact, the dorkiest thing I've ever done. At least since I cut off the mullet...

Looking to start the trip already? Here's a short video on bear safety in Glacier: http://www.nps.gov/archive/glac/video/bearsafety.mp4

Congrats to Brian on the new job! Markie sad...

One week to launch!

The school year is frantically coming to a close, which means we are frantically preparing for departure... We've been as busy as clever little monkeys packing, installing things in the RVs, making repairs, downloading Radiohead to the iPods, making sure boots still fit, ordering new boots, returning new boots, hitting BJ's twice a day, and hoping that those Amazon orders arrive at the house before we leave! Having a new RV is quite a bit more like having a new house than a new car. You have to go get everything... plates, cups, pots, pans, sheets, towels, etc.

We want to wish good luck and good times to our friends the Regans and Willards, who are also trying to slip away from the confines of this mundane existence with trips of their own!

By this time next Friday, we'll be in camp outside of Toledo, headed toward scenic, quaint, and perpetually cute Door County, Wisconsin. From there we're on to Teddy Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, and them home to Glacier National Park. (Claire, you're going to love it!)

There should be great times ahead, and we hope you'll stick with us! I promise to be at least a little bit entertaining.

XOXOXO

Mark