We are just a few weeks away from our road trip that will take us to two greyhound events and several National Parks. We are planning on leaving around August 27th but if a hurricane starts heading our way before then, we will begin our trip sooner. The worst part of hurricane season is usually from the end of August until the end of September for us.
Dad is busy making a few changes to the van to make it better for us on our long journey. He has added heat which we will probably need in UT and maybe even Colorado. He made a table top that will fold down when needed to give Mom more cooking space. He has moved the microwave to a new location. I think he said something about adding an inverter which will charge our batteries while driving.
Mom asked Dad to get the van inspected early so that she could get the license plates renewed before we leave. He did that and also had the oil changed. However, as the guy was moving our van out of the oil change garage, he didn't notice that the garage door wasn't all the way up and he ran into it. It damaged our AC unit cover. We still haven't received the money for a new AC cover but it is supposedly in the works. We will not go into the long story of the round around that we had with that but we think Mom accidentally called someone big because after she spoke with him, things started happening in our favor. Dad still needs to replace the cover. We purchased it but he has been busy with other projects.
Mom has been busy organizing our reservations. She has a binder with all the reservations and she made a calendar that shows us where we should be each day. The binder also has a place for their Covid vaccinate records incase that is necessary somewhere along the way, my shot records too and a few other important documents. She has a book that she will record each of campground stays just for fun and for the memories. She went to Office Depot and that put a spiral binding on it for her. She also has her National Parks Passport Stamp book that she started back in 2012 ready to go.
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| The reservation binder, RV Logbook and the National Parks Stamp Passport |
Mom ordered the America the Beautiful card which will get us into all the National Parks for free. We will definitely get our money's worth out of it since we will be visiting so many places.
Dad ordered Mom a new set of pots and pans for the van. You have to remember that our van is very tiny and we don't have much storage space. Mom said the little skillet will work for breakfast but not for much else. Dad really wanted the kettle for making coffee on days when we might not have electric. The sauce pan will definitely work.
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| It all stores in a mesh bag. |
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| The small items are a scoop, a spoon, sponge and the red piece is a knive, spoon, fork, wine opener. |
Mom bought a Chromebook for the trip. It is much smaller than her old laptop and so far she likes it It the kind that you can flip and make it a tablet. The reviews said it was used by a lot of schools and good for kids because it is so rugged. It can have liquid pulled onto the keyboard and it still works and it can be dropped without breaking. It may be good for kids but my Mom is clumsy, so it works well for her. She got it for a really good price because it is "renewed". It looks brand new and so far it has been fine.
We ordered a duvet for Mom's van bed last night. She plans to sleep on top of it to add more comfort to her bed and then when it gets cold, she will use it like a blanket. She is pretty excited about that and I think I will like it too.
Jaxson,
The Greyhound Who Is Excited To Start Traveling
