Gannon Blogs

Well, season 5 of My little pony comes to Netflix on July 30!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It will be the best!!!!!

And, I think this road trip should  be known all around the world, so I encourage everyone who knows about The Jolly Camper to upload videos on any social network  that YOU know of + YouTube so my family can pay off debt fast!  And don't forget Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!!!!!!

What I think about the road trip is that it has been very enjoyable.  I really enjoy it because I'm spending time with my family.  And it's very fun.

My favorite part of the trip so far has been going to my grandparents house and seeing them.  I like to play with things and playing with everyone.  I also like when Grandpa takes me fishing.  I am crocheting too.  They let me eat un-crustable peanut butter and jelly.

My least favorite part is losing my hat in new York city because it was from the Pentagon.  I hope mom will be able to buy me a new one on Amazon.  I was really sad when I lost it in Times Square.

The most challenging part so far is walking (what feels like) 200 miles.  It was very tiring.  Washington DC and New York City were the hardest walking times.  I got to see bike-man outside the White House though.

Next year I'm looking forward to earning money because it will pay our debt off faster.  People need to know about our road trip so we can pay off debt so we can go on more, cooler road trips.

Family road trips are important to me because it's family time. with my everyone but my dad.  My dad doesn't come because he's in Haiti working with orphans.  I'm very proud of my dad.  Plus, it only costs $10 to get into Haiti.  TEN DOLLARS!  THAT'S CHEAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Route

So planning is a HUGE part of trips like this.  Just kidding.  Having a general idea of a plan and being ridiculously flexible is the MOST IMPORTANT THING I can tell you about doing a trip like this.
Gannon wants so badly to go to the Pentagon, that we actually booked that in advance.  Yes, I'm taking Gannon to the Pentagon.  I'll post a link for the GoFundMe for my bail money later.  We HAVE to be at the Pentagon on July 14th at 1400.  That's our only MUST.  So here we go....We leave Sunday at 3:00 PM.

Leg 1:  Leave Cibolo and go to Baton Rouge, LA.  Putz around the old capitol for a bit, see some of the history of LA.  Drive to P'Cola, FL!  We'll probably go across to Gulf Breeze and spend some time on the boardwalk, trying to not be eaten by sharks or contract flesh eating bacteria.  Next stop, Noccalula Falls in Gadsden, AL.  This, according to my friend Tammi, is a MUST SEE.  From there, we go to Lithia Springs State Park out side of Atlanta to see confederate ruins where Hunger Games was filmed, and see my awesome cousins Lenny and Sue!  North to Charlotte where there is an abundance of historical stuff to see and do.  We have to fit West Virginia in there somewhere, so Monongahela State Park is where leg one ends.

From West Virginia, things get CRAZY.  We spend a few days in DC, up to Gettysburg, over to Philly, PA, to New York City.  We could easily spend over a week in each place, but we're hitting the highlights.  From NYC, we're going to Plymouth Plantation, MA, then over to Boston to walk the Freedom Trail.  We won't have hit all the states without a stopover in Maine, so lobster dinner, here we come!  This is the end of leg 2 and the northern most point in our adventure.

From Kittery, we have a looooong drive to Niagra Falls State Park!  We were originally hoping to go up to Ontario, but opted to stick to our goal of 50 states before "international" travel.  From Niagra Falls, we head to Cleveland area for fun with Debbie, Thad, and the kids.  VERY excited about that time together.  Up to Detroit for the auto museum, then down down down to Mammoth Cave, KY.  I LOVED Mammoth Caves as a kid.  Back up to Indianapolis for the Children's Museum, then to see mom and dad in Galesburg.  From the 'Burg, we'll take an Amtrak up to Chicago and spend a day in the Windy City.  End Leg 3.

Leg 4 is where total whimsy comes in!  I want to go the Shreveport, LA on the way home to find out information on my great grandparents from Sicily.  Other than that, we can go to St. Louis, Kansas, Oklahoma, Dallas....wherever the wind takes us! (Hopefully the wind and not a tornado...).

So there you have it!  T-3 days and counting!  Now I have to disconnect from the computer so I can start packing.  Ugh.

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The Most Epicist of All Road Trips 2014

2014 road trip was fantastic. We went 7,152.6 Miles.  We drove for 147:40:24 hours.

We visited 16 states in 24 days.  We hit MANY landmarks on "must see" lists.

We bonded.  We grew stronger.  We grew as a family.  We loved it.  We're doing it again.  15 days till our next adventure begins.
I wasn't sure I would be able to do it this year, as Alia moved to California in January to live with her grandparents, and opted to not come this year.
Fortunately, working at a high school this past year, I was honored to be introduced to Ms. Kayleigh! She comes very highly recommended.
I will be very excited to introduce her in a later post.
I'd love to hear suggestions/questions for this years trip!  Comment below, and subscribe :)

Carlsbad and home

Our final destination was a rough start.  We had driven to Gallup, New Mexico, and I just couldn't go any more.  We parked in a McDonalds parking lot and slept in our seats.  We woke up late, and the car wouldn't start.  The jump started I had just in case the car wouldn't start, wouldn't start.  The O'Riley's Auto Parts in Gallup didn't open till 9 on a Sunday.  At 9:30 I got a jump.  We headed towards Carlsbad.  About halfway between Gallup and Albuquerque, I got a speeding ticket.  That one was my bad. Once we got off I-40, I let Alia drive for a little bit.  I apparently dozed off and startled up to her running a red light in Roswell.  I took back over driving.  Everyone was tired.  We weren't sure we were going to make it to Carlsbad for the bat flight.  

We just made it, running up the hill to the amphitheater to watch hundreds and hundred of bats coming from the caves.  They came in what seemed like herds.  A hundred or so at a time.  I have NO pictures of this, as phones and cameras aren't allowed AT ALL, and I'm a fairly compliant person.  We watched for over an hour as herd after herd left the cave.  The kids sat silent, just watching.  When an hour was over, Gannon had questions.  Walking back to the car, our path was crossed by a mamma and 6 baby raccoon's.  The experience was very surreal.  

We left Carlsbad after the bat flight to surprise Gordon a day early.  We drove to Ft. Stockton, Texas, slept, and loaded back up for our drive to Cibolo, Texas!

The Great Salt Lake

Leaving Goblin Valley was hard.  It was beautiful, and I hope we get to go back some time.  Alas, all good things must come to an end.  North we headed, to the Mormon City!  Up to the Temple Square we ventured.  I was NOT expecting Salt Lake City to be as beautiful as it was!  It was clean, the people were friendly, and very family oriented.  We were also lucky enough to have a tour guide!  Alicia was kind enough to show us: Talking Space Jesus

 The GIGANTIC organ in the building where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearses

 And the temple grounds.

What was really amazing though, was the conversation I got to have with my kids.  We looked at Goblin Valley State Park, where God spoke into existence some of the most imaginative and beautiful rock work I've ever seen, and then at the Tabernacle where man toiled for a hundred years to construct something that will decay with time.  I got to see their faces as they embrace the Glory of Gods Good work, and THAT was priceless.

We enjoyed a fabulous dinner at the Red Iguana, (from DDD, for those who watch the show)

and ate the most delicious sopaipillas I have ever eaten. Fluffy, sweet, hot....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.   

 From there, we headed to our campsite on Antelope Island State Park.  I'm not going to lie, the sign concerned me.  Bison MAY be dangerous?  It's an island.  Why don't we just remove the possibly dangerous bison to another location where campers with small children don't have to wonder about their camping safety?  And how dangerous "may" they be?  I'm at this point envisioning our car being trampled by stampeding bison while we're sleeping.

As it turns out, the bison were't a problem.  I didn't see even one.  There were, however, another enemy.  You can't easily see in these pictures, but they were EVERYWHERE.  Covering the brush, on the picnic benches, on the car when we woke up.....Spider webs with Giant spiders in them.  Huge, disgusting spiders.  The black dots that seem out of place in the below picture

Are these

Not a fan.  

Probably won't go back here, being completely honest.  

I was so so so so so very happy we were sleeping in the car, and not in a tent.  We battened down the hatches, and slept.  The next day would be a long drive, to CA.  

We woke up to a most amazing view of the Great Salt Lake and headed East.  End July, Enter August!

Day 3: Memphis/St. Louis

We left New Orleans and headed up to Memphis a little early to start fresh.  We had beautiful weather on the drive up.  We left the rain in Louisiana, and headed through Mississippi (state 3).  We stopped at an awesome park near Jackson, MS for dinner.

The kids got out of the car, ate, played, and ran.  It was a lovely break!  Back in the car to T. O. Fuller State Park where we camped for the night. 

 In the morning, poptarts were the prize for waking up at 5:00! 

 The old two slept for almost another hour 

while the little girls and I enjoyed some time together looking at the scenery.  

#nofilter

We had shower (YAY!!!!!)  and did a load of laundry (YAY!!!!!!) and headed into Memphis to explore Mud Island!

Unfortunately, Mud Island is closed on Monday.  Epic Mom Fail.

Do you know what else there is to do in Memphis for kids?  Fortunately, a bunch!  We hit up Graceland,

The Peabody Hotel for the Duck March,

The Civil Rights Museum

,

 And of course ate some FABULOUS BBQ!!!!!!!!! 

We finished up around 1pm and headed North to an unplanned stop,

ST. LOUIS, MO!!!!!!!!  Through Tennessee, Arkansas (Are Kansas to Boy JC), and into Missouri, we jetted to the first logical touristy place we could think of...GATEWAY ARCH.

We surrendered the pepper spray (I still need to buy more) to be admitted to the State Park under the arch.  There, we purchased tickets to the top.  I really wasn't sure how the baby camper would do.  I shouldn't have worried.  She faced the height with all the gumption I would expect of one of my kids.  

The view from the top was spectacular.  It was so worth the trade for time in NOLA.

630 Feet in the air with 4 kids.  Amazing.  

We found a camp site which reminded the Oldest JC and I of a scene from Criminal Minds.  Lacking in pepper spray, we opted for a Target parking lot in Shiloh, IL...just across the Muddy Mississippi from St. Louis.  We had alternative reasons for camping there.  Cool nights, good sleeps, and Day 3/ State 7 in the books.

Day 1. Leaving Texas.

So this is the first time I've had Wi-Fi (or time for that matter) since our adventure began.  Looking at the rout in The Jolly Camper Makes Contact, this is the first leg.

We started Saturday, July 19th out of Cibolo, TX.  We packed lightly with more than half of our supplies being camping needs and the cooler.  We said good bye to the Stay Behind Fellow and headed East.

Our first stop was past Houston at Sylven Beach.  We passed over a beautiful bridge to a great little swimming beach, ate a picnic lunch of PB&J, and splashed around for a few hours.

Leaving Texas and entering Louisiana was significant enough to stop and take a picture.  Out of state VACATION had officially started!!!!!

A few hours in, every one was hungry, so we found a park in small town and I was mommin it.  This picture is dedicated to Mrs. Gray and Mrs. Tucker. 

More driving and we made it to New Orleans.  A long story lead us to a Wal-Mart parking lot for our first night camp.  Another long story lead to us throwing the swamp cooler away and buying a giant fan that only lasted an hour and we were hot, hot, hot!  

Thankfully the Wal-Mart parking lot was tandem to the New Orleans Police Department, so we felt safe.  Day one was in the books.  We all still liked each other.  We were hot, but slept and felt safe.  In the morning, NOLA EXPLORATION!

Swamp.....cooler that is

As we previously established in The Jolly Camper Makes Contact, The JC's are taking a 24 day 14 state road trip.  We've got quite the setup for van camping, as we have a diverse age span of campers (32, 16, 8, 5, and 1).  We'll be experiencing a plethora of climate and altitude changes and needed to address the climate control inside a closed unit van.  So I build a swamp cooler.

Step 1: Gather your supplies.  I used a rubber storage container, a styrofoam cooler, packing filler, 1 1/4" PVC, silicone calk, a sharpie, some kitchen scissors, a saws-all, and a car fan

Step 2: Use the sharpie to trace the holes the diameter of the PVC pipe.  I did three, and you'll see why space wise later.  You can spread them out for your set up.

Step 3:  I used a drill bit almost like a router to carve out the holes.  It took about 10 minutes.

 Step 4:  Cut the PVC to your desired length and make sure it fits in the holes, not too loose, but easy enough to slide in and out.

 Step 5:  Because of the disparity of size between the cooler and the tub, I used packing filler to help insulate and stabilize the cooler so the PVC wouldn't be bumped or knocked out.  I ribbon folded it and put it on the sides and back of the cooler.

 Step 6:  Get your fan and the lid of the cooler.  Mark on the TOP of the lid the circumference of the outer most part of the fan cage.  Mine was a little square on one side, but I rounded it out after one fitting.

Step 7:  Calk.  I got silicone easy bead fast dry.  It was maybe $5.00 at Lowes.  I calked the outside of the rubber tub and the inside of the styrofoam cooler.  This provides stabilization and a little more insulation.

Step 8:  Put the whole darn thing together!  Mine is going between the front two seats.  The fan plugs into the front and we pre-tested by running it overnight to make sure the battery didn't drain.  It didn't.  So we have air flow when the van is off, and for colder air we can add water or ice!  

There is your completed swamp cooler.  This was SUPER easy and cost around $35.00 total including the fan.   I'm so excited to show you our camping set up tomorrow!  I'll show you how to mount a hammock, a cot, and a queen sized air mattress inside a mini-van.  If you aren't impressed, I don't even know.