Monahan Sandhills SP

Monahan Sandhills
Originally uploaded by jakesmome.

We made it back to the bus just before the big ice storm hit, the one that we were right on the ice line of. It sure didn't seem as bad from the inside as all the news reports were saying it was, though. Luckily I had just been grocery shopping so there was no need for us to leave. Other than stepping outside for some photos of the ice, I stayed in the bus for three days. By monday our tanks were frozen, the water faucets outside were frozen, and we were out of toilet paper. The roads had cleared so we headed west. I-20 between Abilene and Odessa looked like a graveyard with all the flipped over tractor trailers and a fifth wheel, so I began to believe the roads were as bas as all that. We camped just past Odessa in the Monahans Sandhills SP (State Park) getting there while it was still dark. We knew there were some sand dunes but we were happily surprised in the morning by the massive amounts of sandhills that surrounded us. It was awesome! As an added bonus another storm was hitting so we had to spend another night. The ranger gave Joey a tour of the area and gave him some sand disks to use to sled down the 40 -50 foot slopes, normally they rent for $1 an hour. We had so much fun sledding, but what a workout! We all slept extremely well and then woke up to an inch of snow. What a sight. We debated snow sledding but decided we didn't need to get wet and cold, plus I don't think anybody could have made it up another slope. The snow melted by noon and we headed farther west.

We spent the next night at a rest stop just past Deming, NM after unsuccessfully finding a big enough spot for us as Rock Hound SP. Our tanks are still frozen at this point, we're using our drinking water from the two five gallon water jugs to fluch the toilet and wash our hands. The dishes are piling up though, oh well, nothing new. By the next afternoon, yesterday, the tanks finally thaw so we dump in Wilcox, AZ and fill our tanks. Then we hit the next rest stop and take showers, wash dishes and clean house. While I'm in the shower Joey helps a weary traveler by filling up his cup of noodles soup with water and nuking it for him, and in return he gives Joey his own cup of soup. It was a little wierd hearing a stranger in my living room while I'm in the shower, but it was no big deal in the end. He was very intrigued by our lifestyle and absolutely loved the bus, but I'm sure a bit bewildered when Joey said the kids don't go to school or even do school. He couldn't just say we homeschool, he likes to shock people and say we don't teach them anything. Don't worry folks, they learn plenty, we just don't drill it into them.

In Benson, AZ we bathed and fed the bus, the truck and the Jeep, and discovered that for at least the second time we've had gas syphoned from at least one tank. This time it was the welder. Made mental note to get keyed locks for all gas tanks. Jeesh.

We arrived at Joey's brothers in Mesa, AZ just in time for pizza! It had been a couple years since we'd seen them but their grandsons and our kids didn't miss a beat, and were instant friends. We're off to a great start to our old hometown. I think this is where we would say we're from?? That's still a tough one for me to answer, I don't know where I'm from. Anyway, we unhooked the Jeep and left it and the truck safely parked at Jim's house and we headed out before midnight to get two new house batteries and find a cool spot to sleep for the night. Instead something under the dash caught on fire and stranded us where fate would have us sleep for the night. Luckily it was well lit and seemingly safe.

In the morning Joey figured out what had happened and was able to fix it himself, woo hoo, so off to Wally world for new batteries then over to his sisters house for breakfast.....where we are now. Until next time.....have a good one!

Perfect daughter

We're still really enjoying the campground and with Joey working the night shift we get to hang out alot more than we would otherwise. If he were gone working all day the kids and I might just become hermits, instead we've been fishing, hiking, climbing trees, swinging in the park and throwing big monster disks......occassionally the kids join us. As an added bonus us old folks have even lost a few pounds.

Right now however, we are back in Fort Worth visiting my parents. We surprised them yesterday and they in turn surprised us with the purchase of a bus of their own. It's even green! They were hoping to surprise us in Abilene, too bad...we win. I also did what every good daughter would do...I brought my laundry and secretly used my Dad's razor. He used to get so mad at me as a teen when I would use his razor, I just couldn't resist. I hope I'm still here when he tries to use it.

We were supposed to leave this morning but Joey's sick so we're staying another night.

Abilene, TX

Abilene, TX
Originally uploaded by jakesmome.

We left my parent's place on Tuesday, the day Joey turned into an old man of Forty. Knowing Joey's obsession with the weather my Mom got him his own professional weather station and my brother gave him a jumbo pack of T-Bones. He was starting the night shift in Abilene, TX but by the time we found an RV park, and it had a free (no license) fishing lake Joey decided he needed to fish and eat T-bones instead. To top off the big 4-0 he got a call from someone special whom he hadn't talked to in over three years! Forty's looking good! Joey is too.

We stayed at that RV park for three nights and then drove out to Abilene State Park today to do some hiking. The state park is the kind of camping we like, and its only 5$ a night, and I just paid the
RV park $325 for a whole month. We hurry back to the RV park with B1 bombers flying overhead, rattling everything loose inside the RV it possibly can, and try to get our check back. We got it back but he
wants $50 for the last night of camping plus the three hours we were parked there past the noon check out. What a crook! I wanted to cause a big scene and tell him what I thought of him and his
lousy RV park but Joey was inside with me and doesn't like it when I argue with men. He knows he'd probably end up punching the guy and he really didn't feel like going to jail tonight. I'm still pissed. I'm tempted to stop payment on the check. I have no problem paying him
the nighly Passport America rate of $18 plus prorating the three hours we were over, but $50??!! He claims he usually only accepts PA for 2 nights and after that it's $25/night, so apparantly three
hours over equate to a full night. Do not stay at the Tye RV Park! I should have seen that coming when the first night we got there I asked about a weekly or monthly rate and he said he doesn't
do that because they're too busy. The park was almost empty! The next day once he figured out I'd be scouting around for a new park he suddenly can do monthly's. Argh...

The Abilene State Park is great, though! Check out Flickr for some photos.

We are Sanford & Sons on the road

dirty bus
Originally uploaded by jakesmome.

We are Sanford & Sons on the road. At least that's what I felt like driving down from Nebraska with the Jeep loaded full of stuff and the truck bed full of even more crap, with the bikes thrown on top for good measure. No one's ever said anything mean but I know RV parks must cringe when they see us coming. At least we're not that bad.

If you give a man a welder...

****edited to add link to video clip****

Whew! What a busy couple of weeks.

We've been talking about Joey getting his own welder for a couple years now, and the opportunity came for Joey to get a nice shiny red welder to match his nice shiny red truck, so we took it. Now the Nebraska job is no longer good enough, it's getting colder, and we have people to see and places to be.

We spent the first night back on the road in a Wal-mart parking lot after meeting Joey's friend's wife at their storage unit to get the leads that go with the welder.The kids and I decide to grocery shop at midnight so I wouldn't have to deal with saturday morning christmas shoppers. Shopping is a breeze in the middle of the night, unfortunately all the leisurely strolling down the aisles is painful on the budget. Oh well, at least now we're all set for a great road trip.
We stopped at a park in Osceola, KS for lunch and ended up spending a huge part of the day there. Even Joey couldn't resist the slides here.

We pull into the Fast Stop in Minneapolis, KS just as the bus runs out of gas. Whew! What luck!I hand over Joey's paycheck, run back to the bus to get a band aid for a lady in the store and realize the bus won't start! Joey says it just needs to get the diesel into the fuel lines, it'll be fine. I go back inside to get the phone book. I ask the girls inside if they know any diesel mechanics. In walks boyfriend, he calls a friend, who calls a friend and as soon as I come out of the store there's a nice young guy offering to help Joey. They fiddle for a bit, thankfully the clerks don't mind one bit that we're taking up two gas stalls completely and blocking easy access to two more. Young man can't fix it, he leaves to get someone he knows that can and within five minutes he's back with an older gentleman that proceeds to give Joey a complete lesson on our engine. They fixed it in no time and then would not accept any money! Not only did we save hundreds in towing and repair work but Joey got priceless info for future mishaps! That my friend, is unschooling on the road. What a Xmas gift!

We Google Earthed my parent's new place to familiarize ourselves with the layout so we could plan a sneak attack. It worked. They weren't even moved in yet. I called my mom and in usual fashion she asked "Where are you?" Sitting in your jacuzzi...surprise! :) They hurried home, bringing my brother and his family with them. It was so good to see everyone, it had been about nine months since we'd seen them. We also got to tour the bro's new mini mansion, where my folks grabbed their toothbrushes and headed back to their acreage with us. We all agree it's a good thing my mom and brother never cut the umbilical cord, Fort Worth is so much more convenient for us, being centrally located and South.

Mom and I had a whirlwind week of non stop christmas shopping, or at least what seemed like it. My mom's cousin, Diana, came over from Dallas to visit, and do more shopping. Her and husband, Rick, came over for Christmas Eve as well and brought some cool gifts. She got Joey a DVD game by The Discovery Channel called Road Trip America. We spent hours in the bus that night with all five of us playing it. I was a little surprised when my five year shouted out South Dakota for the answer to Where is Mount Rushmore? She hasn't even been there herself!

We're really enjoying this carefree life on my parent's property but we do have to figure out our next move soon. I'm sure we'll know more after this weekend.

homeschool homies

I'm reposting this video by two homeschool brothers, because they're right...they're hella tite!

Dear Mrs. Claus (because we know who really does the shopping)

Jake's Xmas List

Star Wars Lego II for XBox

Cowboy boots

Pokemon Gold for GBA

CoinStruction Set

Tangle World Map

Pattern Play

The Way Things Work Game

*********

Jonas' Xmas List

Thrillville for XBox

Pokemon Rescue Team Red for GBA

Cowboy boots

Pokemon Pikachu Version for GBA

Robotic Insect Kit & Book

Chemistry Experiment Kit

Anatomy puzzles

Erector Design Sets

*********

Jewel's Xmas List

Nintencats for GBA

Cowboy boots

Crunch Art

Robo Reptile

Tekno Robotic Puppy

earrings, jewelry

Rotters! Book

Round & Square Art Magnets

Scenic Sliders (lions)

Amazing Animal Trivia Game

Roller Bowl Game

Robotic Helicopter

Living Life

We're still in Nebraska. I guess I feel I have to say that because people that know us, know that we don't stay in one place for too long. We're planning on staying here all winter, though. That's the plan, at least. We spent Thanksgiving with a fellow road dog and his wife at their rental house. Joey really had to sell me on going there, next year I won't be buying. We absolutely enjoyed the rest of the weekend, though. We got a burst of energy and started remodeling and reorganizing. We took down the temporary bunks we had made for the boys and built them big new bunks, the full length of the old closet. We also made the frame for the foot of our bed so we can turn our full size bed into a king. We still have the side frame to build, new cubicles/drawers for our clothes, and mattress to buy, but we're off to a great start. For the bunk beds I glued material to the walls, and for the frame we used 2x3's, stained a red mahogany (which I'd eventually like to convert all the wood into the bus to).

I had to drive all the way to Iowa again. I thought I could register our new cars just over the border in Iowa, but no, they have to be registered in the county of residence. For residency purposes we're still using our house in Fonda. Knowing this area all too well you wouldn't think I'd go 100 miles out of my way, do you? Oh, you do know me, yes I did. I missed a turn early on and never thought twice about it, until I saw I was 12 miles from Minnesota! I got the cars registered with one day to spare, gotta leave room for error. We then swung by Mel's to pick up our mail and then hurried back to the Bus to beat the roads from turning to ice.

This last weekend we made YET ANOTHER trip to Iowa....to pick up Joey's Jeep. Jeep? What Jeep? I thought you sold it, you ask. We got it back. Heck, we had an extra hitch, may as well tow something with it. While we were gone this day our breaker decides to go out leaving the bus without any heat all day long. We came home to a frozen black tank, that was extremely full! Good thing we knew the temps were dropping and picked up a bigger radiant heat heater on the way home just to put under the bus. Joey ended up having to take the next day off work to deal with the frozen tank but eventually the heater thawed the tank out and we were able to drain it. We also ran out of propane! The propane guy came the next day around noon and we were able run the furnace again. We made it thru a 9 degree night with just two small electric heaters. While the heaters do an excellent job heating the bus there was still a huge cold draft coming form the windows, so yesterday I bought insulation that is basically bubble wrap wrapped in aluminum foil and covered every window with it. It has stopped the drafts completley. It truly is amazing at how well the bus stays heated now. The furnace hasn't kicked on at all, and last night I only had one heater running on low, and it was very warm. We're pretty confident now we can hang out the winter in comfort.

Breaking and Entering 101

We had a knock on the door yesterday from the neighbor, and friend, requesting the help of one of the little ones. Jake come back moments later, super excited. He got to shimmy through an outside storage unit, emerging in the inside of the trailer, from underneath the couch. He said he struggled a second trying to unlock the front door for Mr. LockedOuttaMyTrailer, but in the end had a very successful first mission. Too cool for a nine year old. Jonas can't wait for his first break in.

No vegetables here. We raise convicts.

Calling on the Tooth Fairy

Jonas' first lost tooth
Originally uploaded by jakesmome.

About an hour ago I asked Jonas to show me his teeth, which I often do to see if he's got any loose ones yet. This time I actually felt one tooth that gave just a slight, not much, but enough to declare it slightly loose. That was all the info this seven year old needed, within an hour it was gone and he said it didn't hurt a bit! He's so proud.

wtf?

anybody got a phone?

we're leaving...we're not leaving

After some really cold days we decided it was time to head South. We took a few days and then started hunting down a tow bar for the Land Rover (which I traded the Excursion for.....you know, to have a tow car) Turns out my cute little Rover is a heavy beast, we couldn't even rent a tow dolly for it. After an exhaustive search for a towbar, lack of exciting jobs elsewhere and this cold front leaving we decided the best choice is to just stay put. (A week off didn't hurt either) If we can get a nice long stretch in here we should be set for a good six months off this Spring and Summer. So, we are true trailer trash now with our beautiful wood skirt under the bus. I haven't decided if we're going to paint it to match the bus or do some crazy graffiti on it to really freak out this tiny little Nebraska town.

Since we've made the commitment to stay here I finally decided to make nice with the fifth wheel behind us and installed my router in her trailer, enabling us to pick up her DSL line. With a great wi-fi signal I also downloaded and installed Skype so I now also have a telephone number so we can be reached at home and not have to drive three miles to make a call.

Now I can get all caught up with blogs, emails and comments I've been wanting to read/respond to. It feels good to be back.

New Castle, NE

We made the move to New Castle, and I'm adjusting to it pretty easily, even without phone or Internet. I have found a good use for those old public schools though...free wi-fi. I've been sitting here for almost two hrs now tryng to download a video from the conference and photos from family. Everything is now downloaded, but nothing will open. Oh whoa is me.

It took me over an hour to find a town with laundry, you'd think a town like this would have one Within seconds I had to give them a reason. I finally found a town with laundry, in South Dakota.

Jonas seems to be going a little stir crazy


We spent halloween in Iowa at my cousin's place, where we trick or treated at a nursing home. That was our first time doing that and it was a really good experience. The boys were right there getting their candy, staying warm inside while Jewel was a little shy and stayed real close to me. There was also a really cool bird aviary inside the home. here's the kids with their cousins:
Geneva and Jewel helped us make caramel apples, Geneva's didn't stand a chance

My parents have finally found a house!! They sold their home in California a couple months ago and have been searching for a new one near my brother in Fort Worth. They found what sounds, perfect. The only stipulation we had was that there was somewhere for us to park, if they wanted us to visit for more than a night. They ended up getting two acres with a 1500 sq. ft. RV garage....and there's even a gutted bus which they're trying to negotiate into the deal. Not sure how much longer we're going to last up here, let's see....what day do we sign?

Lots of nothing

I was informed yesterday that they were shutting the water off, I had a few minutes to fill my tanks and then after that the only way we could get water was to drive to one of a couple faucets they were leaving on. That's crap! We moved to this spot so we'd have full hookups, and I've already paid for the week. They then said they'll give me some money back so we'll stay the rest of the week. Ugh!Also after this week I won't have Internet. That pushed me to update my blog (check out my favorite unschoolers blogs), and put the boys' four wheeler on the great big bidding site. All I ever need is just a little push.

We made another quick trip to Iowa, Fort Dodge this time and then spent the rest of the weekend relaxing. Yesterday a friend from Fonda came out to visit, bringing three of her four kids which thoroughly harassed the poor hamster. He only managed to get one bite in. Better luck next time.

After spending hours trying to get the new PCI card for the desktop to work I've finally decided to throw it away and get a new one, the wifi card, not PC (although I would love to trade it for another laptop).

The microwave also took a dump today.

On the bright side, my new realtor likes my house and says it's "so cute" and very clean. I heart her. My last realtor did nothing but give me grief and tell me how it wasn't good enough.

I've decided to get rid of my Excursion. As much as I love this truck, I've fallen in love with another. I'll know tomorrow if we have a deal to trade it off for two new (to us) vehicles, a truck for Joey and a car for me. I know I was the one that said we only need one vehicle and I was the one that sold Joey's Jeep before we left, but really....What was I thinking?

Going home & staying home

License Plate
Originally uploaded by jakesmome.

We made a quick trip to Iowa to pick up our personalized plates that came in. We are now officially an Unskool Bus! The kids stayed at the farm and played with their cousins while Joey and I ran a bunch of errands. I got to see Mel and then we ended the day with a nice visit with Rob, Angie and the kids. It was good to see them, it had been a long time. They built a little barn in their backyard for Angie's "half pint goats" and the windows for her barn are old barn wndows that I used to use for picture frames. It was neat to see how they were recycled back to what they were intended for.


It's pretty cold these days so no one wants to go outside and play. Luckily for us the bus offers new creative ways for us to enjoy our days.
A little window art:
Self expression:
Homemade bumper sticker:

Unschooling through Life

Last night I wanted to get to bed a little earlier than usual so I asked the kids to find something quiet to do so we could rest, since they weren't ready for bed yet. Jewel (5) decides to draw. Great, see ya later. Minutes later....How do you spell Tinker? T, she runs away to write it down, then comes back. I, run and write. N...shaking the bus as she runs. K...skipping away. E...and so on. This went on for two hours, and although I'd like to rest I couldn't deny her her desire to learn. A friend once asked me "How will they learn to write if they're unschooled?"....... "How can I keep them from it??" is a better question. All three of the kids have learned/are learning to read and write with never having a lesson, and more importantly...enjoying every second of it.

Speaking of Tinker, she hasn't returned. The minute we pulled into this campground someone accidently let her out, which was OK, but then Joey started the bus back up to level it out and the loud thunder of the engine scared her so much she took off running. She ran a couple hundred yards away under someone else's truck for safety. (I was up at the Office when all of this happened). At one point Jake got her and tried bringing her back but she was still so scared of the bus and lack of hiding spaces that she jumped out of his arms and ran again. I decided to let her chill a bit and I'd get her once all the commotion died down. The truck she was hiding under took off before I could get her and now we haven't seen her since. The other morning someone knocked on the door asking if we'd found her yet, and if not, she thinks she's found her. I took off running in my jammies, but it wasn't her. :( We're all still really sad and Jake, Jewel and I get pretty emotional at times, but we have come to accept the fact that we will never see her again. She was such a cool cat, a perfect fit for our family, and will forever be ours, with us or not.

S Sioux City, NE

We moved campsites over the weekend and now along with full hook ups we scored a wi-fi signal. Yah me! My view here isn't as nice as it was along the river but I'm not complaining.

Since I last blogged we've had a couple visitors. First my cousin Amy and family that moved into our old farm house. There's nothing quite like "cousining".
Hopefully we'll be trick or treating with them in a couple weeks.

Heather and family came out next. Up until they came out it had been beautiful weather but of course when we have fun plans to hang outside it's freezing cold. The kids didn't mind too much once Heather broke out the smores! After the fire died the kids tried reviving it with a bike pump. It worked for a while. :)

The cold temps broke for a day so the kids and I went on a bike ride...to Iowa.
back to Nebraska now Come on Jonas, don't give up yet!

Albuquerque to Nebraska

Just a quick post to upload my new picture story. It's my wrap up of the last few weeks starting right after the Conference in ABQ, up to arriving here at camp along the Missouri River. I hope you enjoy the video :)

I removed the video but you can see it here.

No words

Plainview, TX

I wasn't planning on posting but since I have such great friends that actually wanna know........Joey came home from Hawaii on Thursday night, and we're now doing laundry in Plainview, TX. We thought we'd stay here and work but in true FuhKaui fashion we'e already leaving. We should be in Jackson, NE by Thursday night and hopefully by Friday afternoon I'll get caught up with all the stuff that we did last week. I promise! We did some fun things, saw some awesome sights and visited with an amazing family.....Stay tuned.

Still in Albuquerque

Where do I start? I'm on a slow dial up in the laundry room so I'll try to keep this short and sweet. I guess I should start where I left off. We left Denver City, TX and drove about 150 mi. thru some mountains in Southern New Mexico and ate supper overlooking some beautiful mountains and then drove a little more to the next cool pullover and called it a night. We went to sleep in the mountains with a nice light show twinkling below us from a nearby town, and woke up to even more spectacular views. I don't think there could have been a better time to drive thru NM, with all the rain it really made the desert come alive.

We got to Albuquerque and immediately hooked up with Peg and family, where Jonas, Jewel and I got some red streaks, or spikes in my case, put into our hair. We're starting with a bang! My parents drove in a couple hours later, and then we all attacked the ice cream at the ice cream social. Well, except Jake, he was still sick from Jewel's sweet birthday cake frosting. :( It was so good to see my folks!! The boys spent the night with them in their suite while Joey, me and Jewel stayed in the bus in the parking lot. This is getting way too long and boring already......

The conference was great, not at all what I was expecting. I was expecting Joey to stay in the Bus, Dad to stay in his room, and Mom and I hopping from funshop to funshop with Jewel, and meeting all the other fantastic moms. Reality was EVEN BETTER!! I was so impressed with my husband. He was extremely social, in fact I wouldn't have met half the people I did if it wasn't for him. His passion for unschooling and family really showed during our Families on the Road funshop. He opened up, relaxed and really enjoyed himself. He also helped to shatter some stereotypes. :) I guess since I know how great he is I forget that he can look like a real meat head, with his muscles, bald head and tattoos. We got a lot of good feedback from the funshop, and we learned quite a few things ourselves. The best thing to come out of it for me is the fact that Joey is now 100% with me on traveling thru Mexico this winter!! Our passion for unschooling was reinforced, along with a new direction towards even more peaceful parenting.

After the conference we met up with Kathy, Jamie and kids at a campground East of ABQ in the mountains, where we still are today. The day we were leaving out he got a call that he was needed in Hawaii ASAP so he flew out the next day. It really put a ding in my plans for joining Hopalog in Mexico, but I thhink it will all still fall into place. I actually have no desire to go back to Hawaii any time soon, I've got Mexico on the brain. The short term plan is for the kids and I to join Joey in Hawaii in a few weeks, but I'd rather save my pesos.

Some cute things that happened at the conference:

We're on the elevator and this little boy (Lucas) asks Joey to press one of the *buttons* on his hand. Joey presses one and gets a huge hug from the little guy! It was so shocking, it was funny.

Jewel walks into the jacuzzi and announces to the moms in there "I'm coming in, my Mom taught me to swim"
"OH, you can swim?"
"no"

Jake looking thru the schedule, spots something and tells Joey real seriously, "Dad, I see something here I think you should go to. It's at 3:30, see...It's called 'My crazy wife' I really think you should go."

Albuquerque or Bust

We've finally decided to head to Albuquerque today. For the last couple weeks I wasn't sure if Joey was going or not, and we're so happy that he is indeed going. Joey figured out last night why I want him to go so badly, not because I actually want him there, but because I don't want to pack! If we take the motorhome I have everything with me and makes my life so much easier. And it is true, if Mama ain't happy, ain't no one happy. I do really want him to go, though....the no packing thing is just a bonus.

We still don't know where we'll go next, but we're not coming back here. Last night driving back home from Hobbs, to do laundry, we were talking about where we should go. Little ears in the backseat piped up, "Somewhere where there's other kids." I was kinda shocked because we just had two boys in the campground the last few days and none of our kids bothered to go meet them. They're just still missing Dillon and his sisters from the Michigan campground. Jonas says there's no one else in the World that loves Pokemon as much as they do (the triplets and them). I'm sure they'll meet all kinds of Pokemon lovers this week at the Unschooling Conference, and learn they're not the only ones. They're so excited to see Bryce, and meet new gamers, and sad they won't get to see Sylvio, Nevan and Sunday's boys. I'm sure our paths will cross again someday, though.

I better get back to loading things up.....peace out.

Jacob's pictures

Jacob's imagination was sparked by watching a Pokemon cartoon. I know so many parents are against their kids watching or even having anything to do with Pokemon, but for ours, they've learned so much from them. One of the things was trick photography so Jacob spent the day taking pictures. Click here to see them, and then see if you can figure out how he did them.

Things were going too good

The rule in our house is if things are going too good, something bad is about to happen. And don't they usually come in threes?
One:
When the light is red, I must stop or Johnny law will follow me.
Two:
Finally after seven years of me asking, is that rack gonna hold that tool box? I have my answer. For seven years it will.
Three: What I like to see in my rear view mirror:

And what I don't.

The bike is supposed to be standing on the trailer, not taking a nap.

Click on any of the above pictures to see more photos I've uploaded.

We actually left Iowa

I know I said we were gonna do it, and we have now officially done it. We left only a week ago and already feel the freedom. While we've been on the road a long time now, having a house the last few years had taken away that sense of freedom for us. It's a great feeling knowing *this is it now*, no more worries about things back home.

We were originally going to NE so my Mom shipped Jonas's birthday present there. First stop: Nebraska. The package was a huge hit! My mom never leaves anyone out so each kid is just as excited as the kid whose birthday it is. They're not big gifts, dollar store stuff, but our kids treat them like treasures. They each got their own roll of bubble tape, confirming the fact that I'm not as cool because I make them share one. With the gift card Mom sent, Jonas got his RoboRaptor he's been after and then some more gifts for Jake and Jewel.


We headed South after getting our mail and saw pretty much nothing but this for miles and miles. I was hoping to come across the sunflower fields but they must have been harvested already, too bad. We then spent the night in Holdredge, NE at a 5$ a night city campground (it used to be free). From camp we walked across the tracks to check out the train station.











During our walk we must have come across 50 toads, and Jonas and Jewel had to stalk them all. They played way into the night with these toads. The kids made up a game of *let's see whose toad can play dead the longest*. Luckily no toads were harmed during the making of A Good Night in Nebraska.

Math, art and an unschooler

This is how the kids have been sleeping

Every morning they say they slept great. Then I caught Jewel right before she fell off

So today we tore down my closet (sob) and built temporary bunks for the boys

We built these without having to leave the property or, my favorite, spend a dime.

After the boys had them all set up to their liking Jonas figured out he was going to have to sleep sitting up because of all the pillows and sleeping animals. Jacob said Jonas focused too much on design and not enough on usability. He said he "figured 65% design into his bed and 35% on sleeping ability and Jonas figured 99% design and only 1% on sleeping ability".

Joey and I just looked at each other and smiled.

Happy kids

Happy kids
Originally uploaded by jakesmome.

It's been raining, the grass is green again and the weather's perfect for playing...life is good

These are a few of my favorite things

That I'll miss like crazy when I'm gone:

Jumping on the trampoline to firefly twinkles
Long baths
Jewel crashing in on my baths
Mowing the lawn on the rider
Mowing in my underwear
Watching the corn grow
Softened well water
Walking the lane with Joey
Watching the wild rabbits play
Late night porch chats

Taking our time

We're still in Iowa. We've decided against going to Nebraska, and for giving ourselves a few extra days to get things wrapped up. We've been sleeping in the bus now for a few days, and thankfully everyone is sleeping good. We took everything that we've decided to keep to storage today, and tomorrow will be the final Goodwill load and the dreaded cleaning. Ugh! Joey hired out some construction work at the house, I may just hire cleaners myself. It's only fair, right?

I planned on doing a much better job at chronicalling the steps we're taking to get back on the road, but by the end of the day I'm tired, and really...who wants to hear all the boring details anyway. I'll do much better once we're on our way and life is simple again.

We have direction

We're going to Nebraska, it's not very far, in fact only 104 miles but at least it's another state. Joey was worried about accepting a job knowing that he'd have to "drag up" when it was time for the Live and Learn Conference but luckily he's found a company that sees his talent and will take him when they can get him. He doesn't have as much confidence in himself as I do, so he wasn't even looking for a job. Being so close by actually works out great for selling the house. We'll be close enough to pop over to the house if I need to, hopefully it won't be until the end of escrow, though.

It's been so hot this week that we've been in slow motion, which has actually been a blessing. We're taking our time loading the bus, and really sorting thru things. I thought we'd get away without having any storage but it's just not going to be possible. I've held on to some things for 30 yrs, I can't just throw them away now! It's amazing though at how much we're able to pack into the bus but sadly the trampoline is not one of them. We're sure going to miss it.

The old motorhome and our boat are on eBay, ending on Saturday. Then all we have to do is wait for them to be picked up and we're ready to go. Woo hoo!