Thursday, September 24, 2009

Day 6

Jarrod woke up pretty early to get going. It was still really dark outside so he slept for another hour. The poor man only got five hours of sleep. We stopped in Childress because the Marshmallow was driving funny. Jarrod stopped at an alignment place, thinking maybe that was the problem. They only take appointments. That turned out to be a blessing. Jarrod jacked the front up and looked at the tires. It looked like all we needed were new tires. We went to Wal-Mart, but they don't carry those kinds of tires. They directed us to a place that did. After two new tires on the front we trudged on. It seriously seemed like we would never get there. We hoped to make it to Houston in time for church, but that didn't happen. We were about to pass into Ennis when one of the back tires blew. We were able to get to one of the only tire stores open. This was about three to four hours to Houston. We finally got into Houston a little after eleven. We were so tired that seriously considered stopping before Conroe for the night, but we trudged on. We were very happy to see everyone.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Day 5

We got up early and set off for Texas. It was a pretty uneventful day, thankfully. The weather has been pretty nice, except for those first couple of days. It was downright cold last night. We stopped at a truck stop and got Jarrod an extra blanket. Everyone else slept with two so he needed another one. We would much rather be a little cold than hot. It's hard to sleep when it's hot. We've taken some pictures, but not much. When I can spend more than just a few minutes on the computer I will post them. Right now we are just eager to get to Houston.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Day 4

Since the kids went to bed so late we were able to sleep in. It was nice to be able to sleep in after not getting very much sleep the past few nights. Jarrod and his brother, Gary, took the Marshmallow to have a guy look at it. There was a vacuum leak. The hose going to the fuel filter had a leak. The hose going from the the fuel tank to the engine was leaking. And, he fixed the gas line. Thankfully we was able to fix all that. Another guy looked at our refrigerator, but was unable to fix it. I guess we will just stick to dry ice and regular ice. When Jarrod and Gary came back we all went to eat lunch at this cute little diner. It seriously looked like those diners you see in the movies, from the fifties. They had really good food, too. We went to Wal-Mart after that. We got one of those egg crate mattress thingies. That has made the cabover bed more comfortable. Jarrod wanted to take a nap before we set off. I thought it would be a perfect time to wash some clothes. Well, that took longer than I thought. So much longer that we ended up staying another night, but left early the next morning.

Day 3

We woke up around seven. After going to bed at almost two this was very early to us. But, we must move on. We made it to Flagstaff and stopped at Burger King for breakfast. Back on the road we went. From far away we saw Meteor Crater. We also saw a small ghost town. We made it to Farmington with barely enough time to get ready for church that evening. We ended up mostly getting ready on our way into Farmington. It's difficult to get dressed while the Marshmallow is moving. Church was great! We met some wonderful people. The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins that they didn't want to go to bed. Even though it was after one in the morning. But, to bed they went. Jarrod and I were utterly exhausted, so we slept really good.

I'm sure you all are wondering how everyone is doing with the trip.
Simeon loves it. He's an adventure seeking kind of kid. He's been enjoying sitting up front with his dad. We will let him sit in the back with us sometimes, oup on the the cabover. But, for the most part he's been sitting in front with Jarrod.

Crimson has been getting tired of sitting in her carseat. A lot of it seems kind of boring to her. She's enjoying the trip, but not as much as Simeon. She likes it when we stop and she can get out.
Eliana seems to ok with it. She likes sleeping on the cabover. She's easy though. As long as she's fed and rested she's happy. I was getting car sick. Not too bad, though. I think it was just a combination of bing hungry, tired, and always moving. Or, so it seemed. I'm enjoying the opportunities when we're not moving.
Jarrod is, I'm sure, tired of driving. I wish I could help him out. I know it helps for me to take the kids for a walk so that he can rest peacefully. I know he's glad the stress of the radiator is over now.

Day 2

Neither Jarrod nor I got a good rest that night. We woke up a little before seven. Jarrod immediately turned the Marshmallow around to find someone to fix the radiator, and now hose, in Bakersfield. The kids slept a little longer while we drove back. Simeon woke up long enough to tell me he was sleeping before going back to sleep.

This was a grueling day. We had to stop every two or three miles to let the engine cool. One of the places we stopped at was next to an orchard. Simeon looked out the window and saw a mand in the orchard. H esaid, "Look, it's a cowman. He lives on a farm".
At this point in our day Jarrod sent out an appeal to any family members that could Google places that could fix the radiator. Rebecca and Jessica heeded the call galantly by giving him a list of possibilities. Many places were closed or too far away. The first we went to would fix it on Monday. We were not ok with that answer so we moved on. We let the car cool while we enjoyed some Jack in the Box and wonderful a/c. When we were eating Simeon looked out the window and had seen that someone had parked next to the Marshmallow. He said, "Oh, they're taking our 'are-vee'". Jarrod replied, "Don't worry, they won't get very far." After that rest we went to an auto parts store and found out that new radiator would only cost $150. They also, told us about a radiator place three miles away. To us this sounded like a hundred miles away. We decided to that we had nothing left to lose so we putted on. That place was closed. Jarrod called the number he was given and you could hear the phone ringing from outside. We had started to give up hope. We stared looking for a hotel to stay for the night. We wanted something that had a/c and the internet, but all the ones we saw were advertising color tv, or free tv. None of them said anything about inernet. We were about to text out for help in finding a decent hotel when I spotted an automotive place that looked like it was open. Jarrod quickly turned into the parking lot and the guy said he could fix it. We prayed blessings on that man and his business. He replaced the radiator and the hose. Jarrod also asked for an oil change while they were at it, since we never got a chance to do one before we left. And then we were back on the road again. Every time Jarrod shifted gears or went a little slower I thought there was another problem with the engine or something.

We were thankful to be crossing the Mojave desert at night since it was a scorching day. We stopped in Seligaway (or something like that) for the night. We found a spot to park next to a small hotel that had free wifi. It was a peaceful, quiet, evening.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Day 1

After passing the keys and Spatz instructions to Aaron, and a quick prayer, we were off. A little later than we wanted to, but that's ok. About an hour into the drive Jarrod pulled off at a vista point and noticed that the engine was running hot. The water in the radiator was boiling. Jarrod took this moment to let the Marshmallow cool while he rested. I should've taken a picture of his feet sticking out of the window. The kids and I went for a short walk and then played with the toys in the rv. Long story short we had a radiator problem. Jarrod would drive for a few miles and then have to let the engine cool. We stopped in Los Banos to have someone look at the radiator. It was a tune up place. The guy there took the thermostat out in hopes that that would work long enough for us to make it to the next town. This guy seemed to be a collector of vintage cars. We were most impressed with his amphibious car. That thing was cool!

We stopped in Tulare where the kids and I bedded for the night. Our original plan was to have the kids and I sleep on the top bed and Jarrod on the dinette bed. But, the dinette bed proved to be bigger than we thought and the cabover bed too small to accomodate as many children. Simeon got kicked down to coach with Jarrod. Poor Jarrod got stuck with the snuggler. We made it just past Bakersfield when disaster struck. We were trying to up a mountain into Tahachapi when the radiator hose sprung a leak. We went a couple more miles to find a safe, well lit, turn off to settle for the night.
Here's the hose with the hole in it.
I took more pictures, like of the mechanics vintage cars but, they seemed to have been accidentally deleted somehow.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Cottage

My father-in-law saw a Rose Petal Cottage marked "free" on the side of the street one day and brought it home for our kids. It's big so he wanted us to take it home. The kids LOVE it.



And here is what it looks like after the two "tornadoes" play with it.



Sunday, September 13, 2009

We got an RV

Well, after much searching and prayer we have finally foud an rv that we can afford and like. We bought a 16 ft. Toyota Sunrader. It's small, but exactly what we need for our trip. Which is less than a week away. I'm eager to clean it out and fix it up.
Here is when Jarrod brought it home. The kids and I were so excited we just had to go in and check it out, again.
Of course everything needed to be tried out. The stove works great. The water pump has issues. The kids found the buttons for the radio and windshield wipers. The toilet and shower works. We are still unsure about the refridgerator.
See that thing with the stripes in the corner? That's the refridgerator. Beside that is the closet. Beside that, with the mirror on it, is the bathroom. Jarrod says it's half the size of a port-a-pottie. Simeon used it for the first time tonight and said, "Cool."
Of course the kids had to try out the bed over the cab. It was met with approval.

One of te reasons we bought this rv is because of this bench. It has seat belts. We thought it was installed instead of the dinette set, but it's not. You can take it out. I'm going to look into taking the seat belts off and installing them in the couch instead.
We drove the rv to Stockton tonight. That's an hour long trip one way. It drove pretty good. It's pretty noisy with the mini blinds and such rattling, but not too bad. So far we are pretty satisfied with our purchase.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Simeon turned 4!!

Simeon turned four year's old on Monday. Can you believe he's already four? I kind of miss him being a chubby cheeked baby. But, I really do enjoy him at this age. He's interesting to talk to.

When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted he told me pirate ship cake. So, I set out to plan his birthday party. A day or two later he told me he wanted a dinosaur cake. Well, I had already sent out the invitations via evite.com. They were pirate themed, so it was too late. A day or two later he said he wanted a car cake. He stuck with that until the day before his party. I sat him down and explained why we had to do a pirate ship cake. He was not happy until I promised him we could do a car cake next year. Let's see if he remembers.

The cake started falling apart so we put some cannon balls there (whoppers). We had more than enough sandwiches to feed all the pirates in the world. Or, so it seemed.
Each child that came got an eye patch, telescope, and pirate sword.
Even the little ones.

Some were a little more dangerous with their swords than others.


Everyone ate and the kids played for a little while.
Then we sang Happy Birthday to Simeon and ate cake.
Simeon opened his gifts. I took a video, but it's too long to post online. He loved his toys. Jarrod read the cards to him, but Simeon wasn't very interested. Which is funny, because he was so excited when Toys R Us sent him a card in the mail.
Then everyone played with the new toys.



Grandpa Wilson decided it was a great time to get everyone together to sing songs while the kids played.
And thus ends the birthday party. I hope you enjoyed your tour.