Hitting the Beach Tomorrow!!

July 18.
Back in the van headed to the Cape, the kids asleep before hitting the interstate. It is comforting to be back in the familiar, Rich by my side. His family are wonderful hosts, and it was easy to fall into their routine without being too disruptive. The kids were up way too late every night, getting up to early. There was a definite break in parenting with children running amuck, watching as much TV as they wanted, playing capture the flag and catching fireflies until 11pm.   Reese went to the ravine with two of his older cousins and caught salamanders, crayfish and a frog.  Stuff memories are made of, one can only hope.

Despite all the nay-saying, the van is once again running with AC. The shop tracked down the leak and Rich fixed it. We'll see how long it lasts this time.  And no more brake squeaking!!!  Not sure what caused all that noise but it is gone and we no longer feel like the crazy people in the half broken down van rolling into town.

We have yet to figure out our Eastbound route, only that we will come back through Utica to pick up a few random items some of which Rich scavenged from his childhood home. He also bought a used PackaSport, a rooftop carrier. More storage, just what we need!  We will also be able to see one more niece. It is so tough to leave family!

Barreling down I-90 in New York we have noticed signs stating 'It Can Wait' and a mile down the road a pullout. It is for texting!  How brilliant!  Leaving Idaho we are reminded how backwards our state can be---no bottle bill (cans and plastic bottles here) and texting pullouts, where it is illegal to text and drive. C'mon Idaho, let's join the 21st century!  Hitting the beach tomorrow!!!

Family everywhere We Go

July 15. At home in New Hartford, surrounded by yet more family. Everyone who is home finally gathered at 9pm for dinner after work, lacrosse, and other responsibilities. Paul and Regina did not disappoint with delicious home made dinner and lots of laughs. Pete and Ellen came over with three of their kids who are home for the summer. Of the other three two are working and one is at a camp. I think I am busy until I witness the New York Rayhills picking up and dropping off their five or six kids at various activities. Serious planning!

Today has been at a nice, slow pace. Ruby has been running around in an Elsa dress, two of her cousins fighting over her attention. Reese has caught up on his movie watching, being deprived as he is. He watched 'How to Train Your Dragon' which made him very happy. Rich took the van in, 'don't count on it' he was told on both accounts, the AC and the brakes. They have been making a terrible noise our entire trip.  Me? I wondered today why I bothered to decant lotion Into a smaller container for the trip. I mean, I didn't use it camping because it feels like a dirt trap and then I hit humidity and don't use it because it makes you more sweaty!  So much for planning!

We are at the pool now, kids doing laps on the diving board. Eight cousins. Life is grand!

On to the Rayhill's!

July 14. On the road again, new creaks and rattles noticed after a couple of days away from driving. Rich plans to look at some stuff on the van while in Utica. We are headed to Rich's childhood home for a few days before heading to the Cape. We got off to a semi early start after a full day yesterday. Despite gloomy weather we managed to swim, fish, visit and swim some more. Reese found a new friend in a cousin. Tommy is eight, my cousin Tim's eldest. They caught crickets and spent lots of time jumping off the boathouse. He went with Tim and his family after playing with Tommy for an hour without looking back. They tubed and swam for hours. Stacey and Gillian showed up with baby Charley and the little girls went crazy saying 'I want to hold it!' which made us all laugh. Charley, as all nine month olds, ate up the attention. The adults marveled at where we are in our lives, and what we had done as youngsters. Adam, another of my cousins, (uncle Adam to the kids) helped end the day on high note with fish catching at the Marina. It is truly a kid's paradise up in the Muskoka Lakes. Not bad for adults either. We head south toward a stop at Niagara Falls before barreling across New York to the Rayhill side of the family. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful, kind, fun generous family!!! My heart is full!!

Stuck in Buffalo traffic after a stop for gas, it is 5pm and both kids are passed out in the back seat. We are anxious to put the last couple of hours behind us and be at Paul and Regina's place. We'll be staying with Rich's brother and sister in law for few days before we all pack up for Cape Cod. Peter, another of Rich's brothers, and his family live down the road so we get a lot of bang for our buck when we visit. We barely made it through the border again. The kind looking gentleman admonished me about crossing the border without a passport, as if I had done it purposefully. They can look up the electronic version which I found interesting. Niagara Falls is as you would expect. Lots of people, lots of gulls, lots of water. We went down to the falls in yellow ponchos and disposable shoes to get whipped into a wet waterfall frenzy before jumping back in the car. Ruby even liked it even though she was convinced she didn't want to go.

July 11. Broke open the music for the first time in the trip. Nine days without music. For such audiophiles it is odd we have been so quiet. We are 25 miles or so from from the border and it is strange to see convoys of army trucks and later a car marked Border Patrol. Don't think of our northern neighbor when considering border issues. We made it through the border despite my best efforts to prevent it from happening. In my packing frenzy I picked up the passports bound together with a rubber band and tossed them in the glove box without looking at them. Not only were there only three, it was Reese's expired passport, the picture taken when he was six months old. Needless to say, I was mortified and disappointed, but the border official let us through. It would have been a loooong detour through Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania if he chose to enforce the law. Let's hope the US Border Patrol is as forgiving. July 12. We pushed the kids hard today. At least they pushed back hard. It will be great to be out of the van for more than one night. We are staying at my cousin Amy's on Lake Joseph in the Muskoka Lakes of Ontario. I grew up spending at least a week every summer visiting grandparents here. Naturally my vision of what we will encounter is tainted by time and nostalgia. I hope it lives up to half of it. It will be exciting to meet up with east coast cousins again, as it has been at least ten years since I have seen them. We drove along Lake Huron, through Amish country and heavily wooded, wet lands. We spent the night in a Provencial Park. Unfortunately we didn't capitalize on what it had to offer, such as hikes and waterfalls. It was very nice, heavily wooded and more privacy than we have been accustomed to. There are KOAs here in Ontario, but none in striking distance. The kids were disappointed, but not I.

It happened. The inevitable. One day, only one day not using it and it stops working. The air conditioning. It blows great, in fact sometimes it blows detritus out at us, but the air is no longer icy. Or cool, even. At least not cooler than outside. So here comes better gas mileage, smelling the surroundings, more noise and personal swamp coolers when needed. The kids can't really hear the music either, the wiring went weird last night, maybe after Reese was kicking the rear speakers. The kids tend to turn the van into a gymnasium when we stop. They climb, hang, jump, whatever they can do in the van instead of running around outside.

July 13. We are here!!! Muskoka!! It is wonderful! Amy, Ross and Abby are wonderful! Amy is my cousin on my dad's side whom I haven't seen since we don't know when. Abby is 3 and a half, a perfect companion for Ruby and someone else for Reese to terrorize. Their house is beautiful, built from the ground up by themselves. We went down to the lake, to Ross's cousins where Reese was initiated into lake life by jumping off the boathouse into the crystal clear water. My heart was so full seeing him experience what I grew up experiencing! It is probably about a 12 foot drop off the boathouse to the lake. Reese did about 20 laps. Ruby and I raced off the dock together, but surprisingly she wouldn't consider going off the boathouse.

Another first for Reese---he caught a fish! A small mouth bass, which is quite the step up from sunfish or rock bass. Rock bass are the predominant fishing fare from the dock. Once again, my heart filled with pride and love. It was uncanny, as Ross and I were on the other side of the boathouse at that very moment talking about Reese fishing and getting him some bait. Once again, stopping through and visiting cousins, it seems blood runs thick. Homes and hearts are opened and connections are re-established. Shared interests and values are discovered. We draw on past experience and the knowledge we are bound together by shared ancestry. It is lovely. It is raining hard this morning, potentially squashing plans to go out on the boat, visit an old family island. We are getting together with Amy's siblings and my uncle as well as another Canadian cousin who is coming up with her family. So lucky! And so nice not to have to get in the van and drive away this morning!!!

Across the Mississippi!

July 10. Happy birthday Pop!!! Can't wait to see you!! And good by to Minnesota, where the state bird is the mosquito. The kids are constellations of bites to prove it. We exited the wind farms and corn fields of Minnesota across the Mississippi into Wisconsin. More corn fields but no wind farms. We have been traveling mainly back highways on our journey into the Upper Penisula to spend the night with my cousin Randy and his family. It is refreshing to be off the interstate seeing small towns with people lounging at the town pool, combines filling up at the local gas station, white picket fences and brightly filled flower pots. Rolling green hills of trees surrounding farmland. Silos. And more corn. Yup. We are in the Midwest!

Today is the first day we are eating on the run. Dished up last night's spaghetti and meatballs on the road to appease the monsters in the back seat. I have been avoiding eating in the van primarily because of potential mess. One has to find control somewhere, just ask Ruby. After reviewing the calendar, New Hartford, NY is just around the corner. His siblings and lots of cousins are there, and it is the jump point for Cape Cod. How slow and fast time seems to simultaneously move sometimes. Hard to believe we will be out of the van for a few days soon. Long day in the van without stops. Ruby wore out the battery on the iPad. Randy drives in tonight after us to catch us before we push off in the morning. Surreal to think how far we've come. How little conversation we have had outside of family. The windows are down because it is so pleasant and the mosquitoes can't get in. Trees tower over the road, clearing only when someone bothered to clear t

hem. Lakes slip by on either side. Birch has replaced Aspen as the white bark. Ferns everywhere. July 11. Great night, a bit too much wine, and lots of fun in the UP with family. Camp G is a wonderful spot. A couple of cute, comfortable cabins nestled in eleven acres of woods and lake. A lot of care and thought was put into decorating the cabins and landscaping the area around them. Mary and the girls spend the summers up there and Randy comes up for the weekends. The visit was entirely too short but we managed to fit a bit of fishing in. It reaffirmed connection, from the history of shared lineage as well as we are often more alike than different. There was no problem establishing common ground, we are all about the same age, with kids, shared values. I can't say enough how fortunate I feel to have spent time with Mary and Randy. We have just finished lunch at Lake Superior, the largest lake in the world. Reese says he can see Canada. I can't. On our way to the border. We are headed into Canada for a few days, to the Muskoka Lakes. I grew up going there to visit grandparents. Really looking forward to seeing Amy and her family, and anyone else who shows up. Won't be posting from across the border unless I have WIFI. Too expensive to use cellular data. See you soon. Thanks so much to Randy, Mary and the girls for a fabulous, but too short, stay!!

A lot of Interstate Time

July 9th. On the road after a relatively earlier bedtime, later wake up and relaxed morning. We just crossed into central time which may help. Not many pictures, lots of road time from here on out. Ruby is continually singing and coloring in the back seat, Reese is looking out the window. It is hazy overcast, and the AC is still working!! I had a mini-moment this morning wondering if it would just quit again. Life is good. We stopped in Sioux Falls for some excellent Arabic food at Sanaa. Found through Yelp, it gave us an excuse to explore the downtown and the falls themselves before hitting the interstate again. If you are ever in the area I recommend it. Another first (the first being Arabic food), was a bit of profiling on the interstate. Here is Rich's account of it: We got profiled by the South Dakota state police today. Rolling east on 90 about 100 miles west of Sioux Falls, 2 troopers in the median, west facing trooper spots the vanagon and shouts to his friend, "I'm off!" I saw him shift into drive and come out onto the highway with visions of methamphetamine dancing in his head. He closed quickly as I watched in the rearview. His shoulders sagged when, instead of kilos of cocaine, he spotted Ruby's pink and white hello-kitty bike. In under a minute he was westbound again to join his interdiction confederate.

Reese and Ruby are lifting a car with a giant lever outside of the Kirby Science Discovery Center. Leaving South Dakota, land of hand dryers instead of paper towels. I think I preferred the dryers despite the noise. We come into Minnesota, a big wind farm just over the border. There are more wind farms in Minnesota than Idaho and it is evident by the number we have seen in the first 100 miles. Headed for---you guessed it---a KOA. I spent a lot of time on my phone trying to find a state park with swimming within striking distance of the interstate to no avail. Oh well, at least the kids will be happy. Bikes and pools, ice cream, what else could a kid want???

July 8th. Monday??? No, Tuesday!! I thought it was Monday! We are a week in! We are hanging out in a laundrymat catching up on popular culture. Dr Oz is babbling above my head, the kids are hooked into Cartoon Network. Complete corruption, as the TV won't change channels therefore robbing me of parental control. They have never experienced it before. I won't go back there as I am afraid of how awful it is. Plus, it is wonderful to be unbothered at the moment. The WIFI doesn't work here, with no attempt to fix it. I am once again putting the blog on the phone. Forgive typos and grammatical SNAFUs please. Why are we here, besides laundry? The van is at the dealership getting a new compressor and hopefully charged with freon. After spending another night at a KOA---very convenient with a pool (!) I am concerned we are turning into converts!! And we are done! System tested, no AC compressor needed, no leaks and we have AC. In true Vanagon fashion it quit working for no apparent reason and didn't really need a fix. But the kids---they need a fix, especially Ruby. I think the lack of routine as well as erratic mealtimes and bed times have take a toll. She has been a monster on many occasion. And of course, the parental units of Taurus and Capricorn take the power struggle head on instead of finessing it. We need to exercise some smarter parenting skills. After a decent meal nearly ruined by four year old obstinacy and acting out we are at the fountain in downtown Rapid City. The kids are running around in the water getting kid time. Rich is running the last of the errands before heading east, potentially to Snake Creek Recreation Area. We have a plan, and we can change it. Time change! And another KOA. Kids voted. With the time change and an attempt to tame the savage Ruby I think it will be better. Car is cool, kids are listening to Huck Finn and it is blessedly quiet without the windows open.