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!

VanCation

In a previous post, I mentioned camping in our van.  I want to show you what I mean.  A fellow mom and blogger Mrs. Gray wrote recently about "mommin it".  This.  This right here is the epitome of mommin it.  I packed 3 of my kids, collected luggage from the 16 year old, packed myself and then fit it all in our 2008 Nissan Quest with enough space to sleep all 5 of us, comfortably.  Ready?

Step 1: Take about a weeks worth of clothing, a cooler, a swamp cooler, an air mattress, some sleeping bags, and a baby back pack, and a Wal-Mart Hammock and put them in the back of the van.  Not too hard.

Step 2:  When its time to turn in for the night, place all items except air mattress, sleeping bags and hammock to the front two seats.  See yesterdays post for the placement of the swamp cooler.

Step 3:  Put all the seats down and get the air mattress inflated.  I got one with an built in pump and plug it into our inverter so I didn't have as many pieces to loose.

Step 4:  The sleeping bag goes between the mattress and the front two seats in a nice little person sized cubby.  My 5 year old claimed this spot as her very own.  Of course I didn't manage to catch a picture of this part, but I will over the next 24 days, and I'll show you then.

Step 5:  Put up the hammock.  Not going to lie, this was a little challenging to figure out.  The length of the fabric was too long for the van.  The who thing was almost to the ground before I made some adjustments.  Two ties go out the trunk and tie to the roof rack at the very back of the van.  I could knot the front end, but for just a little extra circulation, I drug it out the moon roof and tied it to the roof rack till it was to taut that you almost think no one can get in it.  Weight pulls it down just enough.  If it rains, I'll try knotting it off where I can tie off through the sliding doors, but this works for now!

<---- here is the corner of the sleeping bag

There it is!  Basic sleeping set up is DONE!  

The kids LOVE it.  I'm sure I'll have some better pics as we travel, but you get the basic idea.  Well, bed it is, as we are leaving in 6.5 hours!  WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!