Hummingbird: Evan and the cat and the park

We went to the park with our cousin Evan and then went to Walmart to get a new cooler. At the park we played tag and I did a chin up. I hung on the chin up bar for 30 seconds.

I love aunt karyn's cat. He's my best friend.

Captain's Log: Trip day 2 (after nap). Arrived in Aledo @ 8:00 am local time. A little over 1100 miles in 25 hours for the first leg of the trip. 18.1 mpg ave. I will introduce a new statistic at this time called cabin pressure (stress level within the family truckster 1-10, low to high). So far I would put the cabin pressure at 2.5 max. Not bad!

95 degrees, sunny, beautiful at 4:00 pm. Smoked brisket is on the menu. The nephew/cousin/sister/in-laws etc are great. I will attach a cactus picture from the front yard for you to enjoy.

Captain's Log: trip day 2. 1100 miles into the trip at the start of day two. I will include a pictures. Cheapest gas 3.21 in Bentonville, AR. Setting in a Fort Worth Dennys... brain is tired. (About 45 minutes of interrupted sleep so far).

Pictures I didn't take

At home it's June 7, but here in western Arkansas we still have some minutes left in Day 1. The kids are just about all asleep. We had a wonderful visit with my aunt and uncle and cousin's family. I'd love to show you a picture of the foundation and logs of the log cabin my uncle and cousins are building - by hand. You would be impressed.

Or maybe I could show you the barges on the Mississippi at the base of the St. Louis arch. That we saw at the picnic we had by the river.

In the "morbid curiosity" file, I could display the crown which fell off of Eric's tooth about 6 hours into our drive that led to an educational lesson on tooth cement. No? A moment of gratitude that I was driving instead of taking pictures at that time.

Sadly, I am not showing these pictures.  Primarily because I took none of them. As I prepare for my sleep shift as we head for Texas,  I declare that tomorrow I will do better. Because we will see my nephew. And he is cute. And his mother is a photographer.

MP

I leave you with the one pic I did get in...These kids (and Mark!!) are cute too!

Launched!

And we're off! Only took 2 times unlocking the house to get forgotten items. Left the house by 8 a.m even with a half hour search for "misplaced" flip flops. Played our first road trip song as we left the driveway!

Message from the captain: The family truckster is packed... all except for the last few things... and the stuff we forgot. There is a lot of excitement because it is the night before launch. MP and I are putting the final touches on the packing, planning, music selections, agenda etc. I just registered at the Bonneville Salt flats for a try at the land speed record for a Chevy Suburban fully packed with 7 passengers. A definite highlight for me. It's a surprise I haven't told MP about. By the way I'm looking for some sponsors. See

you on the road!

Details, details

When you plan and budget and dream for years about a road trip, and spend the winter before it nailing down reservations and routes, this is what happens:

* your smugness about being ahead of the game lulls you into a planning stupor, in which the simplest of decisions - tubs? or individual bags? - creates havoc in your mind

* early discussions about everyone's clothing needs either create daily shopping requests for 4 months (girls) or insistence that everything is "all good" until the week of (boys)

* you realize that it is much more fun to choose rental houses than to check off GasX, Tums, and Pepto on a shopping list

* mild panic sets in about Captain's need to see out of the back of the vehicle

* things relegated to "we'll do that in May" have become "we have 3 days to get that done"

* the inevitable unexpected - mysterious rashes and Suburban heated seats with mind of their own - put a big dent in that "week" you thought you would have to pack and prepare

And all of it just makes us realize - we're really doing this!

(FYI - we updated the route map below! Take a look if you like.)