Don't Worry About Me, My Dear. I'm a Canadian - Have Gun, Will Travel

"Don't worry about me, my dear. I'm an American - Have gun, will travel."

Oh, I love it!! I heard this line on Downton Abby, and I thought that was the perfect line for me. Not that I have a gun, but it sounds so adventurous and daring! I did want to get an air soft gun, just for precautionary warning if necessary, but the last thing I figured I needed was to get thrown in jail in some distant state for carrying an unregistered firearm - toy or otherwise!! lol Mind you, it did cross my mind what good material for a book that might be!  Then a friend suggested perhaps a chainsaw just for looks. That comment had me cracking up! I could just see my 15 year old son backing me up with the revving of a chainsaw! lol  Not even sure I could get pepper spray past the border guards though, so I am going to have to trust my trusty guardian angels will keep me safe!

This last week has flown by so quickly with preparing for the big trip! I didn't even begin packing clothes until today, because the rest of the weeks have been filled with so much else! The first three weeks were creating the route, and then that was followed by purging the house for a garage sale to help fund the trip, and then it was preparing the trailer, and preparing a myriad of meats and chickens for the little freezer to ease the cost of the trip.

I created a menu of sorts for about 30 days of our trip, knowing that we will wing it some meals, and others we will be eating leftovers from the night before.  I then added about twenty crockpot recipes for extra opportunity, since we don't know how far the wind will blow us. This was followed up by frying up ground beef, bacon, sausage, and chicken, and putting together some muffin and cookie mixes for simple baking on the road. When a friend heard that I intended to buy milk while traveling and make our own cream cheese and yoghurt, she said it didn't sound like much of a holiday. I beg to differ. Living the simple life, in a caravan, as if this is your full-time life-style, and keeping with what is important to your family, is not work - rather, it feels delightful! It is taking the time to slow down and meander versus race through this excursion that will make it memorable. 

And how much more interesting is it hanging laundry from lines strung across the back half of your fifteen passenger van as you drive down the interstate than in some noisy dryer in a laundromat? So much more nomadic, I say! 

The picture above shows a few of the crates we packed with canned goods, baking supplies, and goodies. We also picked up some notebooks and little file folders for the 'accountants' I will have on board. One of them has been chosen, from three volunteers, to keep the gas receipts, so that we might see how we fare compared to what I budgeted for gas. 

Many years ago, when I was traveling in Europe, I kept a little notebook, and in it each day I wrote down how much I spent. Based on the See Europe For $30 a day theory, I knew I had $30 for each day of travel, and as I settled each day I would write down the amount I had spent, and if there was any left over from my budget, it was moved to the top of the next page.Thereby giving me the permission to spend $30 plus whatever was saved from the previous day the following day. Of course, I being very frugal and wishing to see more of the world, allowed this dollar figure to grow knowing that each $30 saved meant another day on the road! 

That theory was not lost over the years!! I have trusty farm-sitters, and adventurous children, and our goal is to see as much of the continent as we can, before our money runs out! If Ray can get away from work we have devised several options for him to join us on route for various periods of time. We shall see what we can do with it.

I was testing out my 'bedroom' in the trailer. I love how my movie screen fits so nicely, so we can all cuddle up on the bed for a relaxing show at the end of a long day. 

The trailer is packed, and I am very impressed with our packing ability!! We have all the boxes of food in the back of the van, and the children each have one backpack full of clothes. We have a bucket in the van with our cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, and clothesline. They each have a small pack with items they want for the trip, and then I have a cupboard in the trailer with a handful of very popular board games.

More Boxes to Come!

And of course, we have a nook in the dinette filled with a wonderful assortment of pleasure reading books. During the year my children read oodles of books for learning: literature, science, nature, history, biographies, and more, and so for this time frame we are leaving those behind. The only things we are bringing with us are journals, pencils, pens, pencil crayons, crayons, glue, and sketch books.

Their daily task will be to write in their journal all the wonderful things they have encountered through the day. This is not new to them, as they have been writing journals for the last three years, and they have wonderful keepsakes full of exciting, intriguing, curious, adventurous, and hilarious memories!  They will also each have a camera to take their own photos, as well as being able to access the thousands I will be taking.When we arrive home they will spend the following month or two compiling their hand-writings into their own www.blurb.com books, and anyone who has seen the ones they have done in the past from previous road-trips will recognize the amazing record they will have of this time.

As well as their journals, reading, and obvious history and geography lessons that they will live through during our entire journey, the little maestros will continue their piano practice, as we are fortunate enough to have purchased a keyboard, so that they will be able to regale us with their melodies as we travel, and our teacher is kind enough to have arranged for the children to be able to email in their theory pages, and check in with her. They are doing so well in their lessons that we don't want to lose weeks of practice time.

Audio books are another wonderful addition to any road trip, and no road trip is complete without them. Audible.com is a site where I had a membership for a while, so I was able to download a bunch of books, so that we will all have the pleasure while I am driving of listening to a storyteller tell a story!

Tomorrow brings an exciting beginning. When Isaiah comes home from school at 4:00 pm The Lady Jane will be packed, ready, hooked up to the Silver Limousine, and we shall embark on our first leg. That first piece is very tiny, and almost not worth mentioning. We are only heading 3 hours down the road before we take a night. I wasn't planning to leave until Thursday, but then I thought why not leave on Wednesday night and knock three hours off a long day. Then Thursday we head for the border. So please be praying for safe travels, favour with the border guards, and whatever your heart leads you to pray for!
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