....and horses.

Within Five Minutes of Arrival...

... Bridget caught a frog!

The Eagle has Landed!

They said it couldn't be done. They said it shouldn't be done. We did it anyway! Made it to Grandpa's in Ft. Myers, Florida. Five days on the road. Now the real fun begins! Where and what are we doing next. Check in and see!

Pronunciation Lesson

Meee-ah-kah? I don't think so Pete.

This One Goes Out to MaryAnn Dach

We gave Maryann's parents, Julio and Maria, a wink as we went by Sarasota, Fl.

Finally a Proper Road Sign

So annoying...miles and miles of road signs giving the distance to Naples! Hello....Ft. Myers is way bigger than Naples AND it is closer! Clearly, I need to call the Florida Dept. of Transportation and get this cleared up. We shudda been seeing Ft. Myers signs long before we got to Ruskin, Fl. Nevermind the fact that the Naples signs showed up back in Gainesville.

Evidence We Are in Florida

Off to Ft. Myers!

0600 hours. Time to get up after an hour of sleep (dang bubbas), cup of joe, few bites of breakfast, then a quick trip to Grandpa's house.

Dang Bubbas

There is a group of hunters at our campground. Real good ol' boys with boots, jeans, John Deer tractor caps, and diesel pick-up trucks. So what happened at 3:30 am? The trucks get loaded, doors slam, and you know you have to let a truck idle for an hour to warm up, and then rev it up some before you go. Kids slept right through it. Dang bubbas! Don't they know it is quiet time?

How's the Water?

Kids cautiously wade into the cool, refreshing pool after 9 hours in the car. They swam and made friends with some kids from S. Carolina. Tomorrow we make Ft. Meyers or bust!

Made it to Florida!

Some said it was crazy, some said why. We said life is good and we gunna try!

Smooth sailing through three states and the camp host had pecan cake waiting for us. A swim will help work out the kinks then a good nights rest at the Monticello, Florida, KOA (east of Tallahassee). Tomorrow we finish the road trip and land at Grandpa's house!

Marianna, Florida

Stopped to fuel... $2.64 a gallon. Upstate Florida is very beautiful with thick pines on both sides of the road. Almost to Monticello, Florida for the night, then on to Ft Myers!

Holy cow, FLORIDA!

I can't believe we are finally in sunny F L O R I D A!

Missouri

Beautiful skyline of Biloxi, Missouri.

Alabama

I am a bit behind in blogging the pics today. Here we are entering the home state of Forrest Gump. In fact, we drove right by Bayou Le Batre... (watch the movie again)

Mississippi

Driving into Mississippi!

Muddy Waters

Okay not really muddy here as we cross the Mississippi river in Baton Rouge.
Just making a southern blues reference. Muddy Waters is generally considered "the Father of Blues". He was a major inspiration for the British blues explosion in the 1960s. Muddy was born in a town called Jug's Corner in along the Mississippi River in 1913.

Baton Rouge

Driving thriugh Baton Rogue and I can't see a red baton anywhere! I did see huge swamps and the mighty Mississippi River. A first for me.

Roadside Sign in Louisiana

Beef...it's why space aliens steal our cows. Jodie and I laughed out loud... sorry LOL!

Day 5

Sigh....got off to a later start than I wanted due to an unplanned detour through the town of Lafayette LA. Due to traffic not allowing me to change lanes with my big ol' trailer, I couldn't merge over to the lane I needed and had to take a detour on anther highway. We'll be driving thru 4 states today...LA, MS, AL, and ending in beautiful Monticello FL.

Good Morning Louisiana!

Homemade muffins and fruit to start the day, jumbo coffee for Dad, and on to Florida.

No Gators here…Dad checked!

Made it to Louisiana!

Lafayette, Louisiana KOA. Made good time, so the kids said, "we're going swimming." Are there gators in this lake?

Welcome to the other LA

Phew almost to the end of today's journey.

Turkey Dinner?

Ok, we let this guy live to see another day. This tom was very much the "guard turkey" gobbling and strutting around while we had pull over for Bridget's tummy ache. Another Bridget disaster afterward, the car was on a steep angle and she couldn't hold the heavy car door open and....Wham! right on her hand - shake it off kid, we are in Texas! A few tears, a few kisses, and some ice made the incident quickly forgotten.....and....we're off again!

My Tummy Hurts

Bridget announced here in Alleyton, Texas "I have a tummy ache". So here we are with our new friend while we wait for Bridget to finish. Afterward we are having a nice turkey dinner!

Buffalo!

We are near Kingsbury, TX and just passed a big herd of buffalo! Way cool! Sorry, no picture.

Day 4

8:30am and 550 miles into TX, approaching San Antonio. 5,000 miles to go until we're out of TX ... Okay I'm exaggerating. We should be in Scott, LA by dinnertime tonight. It just feels like TX will never end!

Went to bed last night with a big orange full moon and a herd of deer all around the campground. Woke up to the sound of Crackles, which is the name of the birds that make a crackling sound with their tail feathers, and a zillion deer all over.

The hill country of TX is beautiful. Time to sign off and look for a gas station.

Monkeys in Texas?

Kerrville, Texas... third night stop at the KOA. Jodie and I had a difficult time planning our overnight stops. We could had chose less expensive campgrounds. Jodie suggested we use KOA Kampgrounds. This way we could be assurred of clean, friendly camps... and the kids loved the swimming pools, except this one was not yet open for the summer season.

Ok, just did a 500+ mile run. We had a longer stop than normal in Sonora, Texas due to everyone needed a bathroom break and to stretch our legs. Another picnic dinner, this time by the light of the rising full moon. Weather is nice... 500+ more miles tomorrow!

(I didn't know there were so many monkeys in the US)

The Need For Speed

Wow... Look at the speed limit! From these signs, I guess Texans have poor night vision and need to drive slower.

"The Yellow Road of Texas"

We didn't see the yellow Rose of Texas, but this section of Highway 10 was bordered with millions of yellow Black-Eyed Susan flowers and some pretty purple, red, and white flowers too. Kids are doing great; reading, playing games, and doing puzzles. More later in a few hundred miles.

Don't mess with Texas

We are cruisin' through Texas now. Been shook down by the Law at a US Border Patrol station. Got through no problem, even when Jodie told the officer that his mustache looked like he only had three years on the Dept. Rookies! She's got some guts!

Yes, it's the Rio Grande River

SCORE! We bagged us a New Mexico geocache! Signed log, TFTH! I hear Jodie from the car, "come on...let's get on the road!" **Jack, That's Mexico behind you!

Onward to Texas!

0700 hours. Time to go to Texas. Homemade banana bread for breakfast. Oh... and we ran out of T.P. What we saw of Las Cruces was fantastic and the weather was perfect. More later from the road. (gotta get a geocache in New Mexico... and more T.P!)

Las Cruces. New Mexico!

Made it! Day 2 of eastward travel is behind us. Got to our site at the Las Cruses KOA and found this beautiful view of town and purple mountains majesty! Had a great picnic dinner and look forward to winding down for a good night rest.

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

Stopped at last stop and Bridget "had to go". In the lovely town of Marana, Arizona, she "has to go!"

White Line Fever!

Jodie's first trailer driving! We're behind a Toby Keith concert big rig. Jodie says she's not moving from the slow lane. Desintation descision...Las Cruces, New Mexico. Our butts hurt from sitting!

Arizona

Just gassed up in Casa Grande, Arizona. $2.93 for premium! Not too hot yet....keep on truckin!

Day 2 New Mexico or Texas?

Heading out now. Slept great, swam in the pool. Whipperwills and Crackles screeching at 0500 was a lovely wake up alarm. Heading for either Las Cruces, New Mexico or El Paso, Texas...don't know til' we get close.

Day one is done

After a grueling 12 hour car ride, we pulled into the Blythe KOA @ 2000 hours. Its right on the Colorado River, just the California border with Arizona. Jodie made quick work of making a hearty meal (the camper's microwave is so nice!). Afterward, the kids and I went to the pool and swam the kinks out. The pool and hot tub was just what the doctor ordered. Everyone will sleep good tonight! Tomorrow....Arizona!

Monkeys on the Grapevine?

Jack swinging the blood back into circulation after hours in the car.

Camp Tejon

Camp Tejon at the Top of the Grapevine Grade

Why Stop Here?

Well, things were going smooth until the Grapevine Grade. The transmission was getting pretty hot going up the grade, so we stopped at Fort Tejon to let things cool. How fun...our first break down! This Army base was home to the US Camel Corps. Interesting site AND we found a geocache there too.

Day 3, 2, 1...GO!

We have been so busy getting ready that we haven't had time to add more updates. Our plan was to get everything washed, packed, stowed, fueled, repaired and repacked so we could just jump in the car in the morning at 0600 hours and be on our way.

We left at 0815 hours, 2 hours late and…I forgot my camera! Yup, on a huge x-country vacation…no camera, except the cell phone.

Well, we are off! The kids are very excited and can’t wait for 5 days on the road. Florida here we come!

4 Days & Counting

Well, just sent the truck in for service. Funny how when you ask for an oil change, they call you back and tell you your vehicle needs another $300 in other repairs! Better safe than sorry. Don't want to be broken down in Armpit, Arizona and not have the ability to get the SF Giants game updates!
The house looks like we are getting ready to deploy to a foreign country for a year. Piles of things getting staged to stuff in to the vehicles. Barring any major vehicle issues, we leave on Sunday, April 25.

5 Days until Departure

Today is a work day for me, so most of trip prep is gunna be administrative. Do you think it’s a good idea to update my vehicle registration with DMV before we head east? Might be fun to be on national TV with 12 State Troopers with their lights and sirens on pursuing me down Highway 10! I'm probably going to get only 10-12 MPG, so it would probably be a short chase. I have no time for Troopers! Besides, I can write my own ticket! I'm heading out to register the vehicles now.

The countdown has begun!

6 Days until launch of the 2010 Dalepalooza! This will be an extended adventure across the nation from California to Flordia. From the land of oranges to the land of....oranges and gators, rain in the summer, humidity, grandparents, and Mullet! Oh, and we are driving with a travel trailer the entire way, oy vey!

Everyone is very excited and preparations are going according to plan:
Launder clothes, sort, stack & pack clothes, get food, make lists, fix the trailer, organize and pack trailer, fix trailer, service truck, call post office, fix trailer, unpack trailer, repack trailer, fix trailer. Whew, can't wait to get on the road and drive for 10 hours a day for some rest.

We will be blogging the trip and plan to have real-time mapping so you can see exactly where we are at any time. We'll post photos and updates. Send us ideas on where to go and what to see, and post your message to keep in touch.

Gotta go and fix the trailer! again. Check back tomorrow.