Chasing dreams

Are you on the road?

I read a great book this week called 'The Pilgrimage' by Paul Coelho ...

This is one book that has challenged me and inspired me. It made me realize some of the things that have led me and my family to hit the road in our little home on wheels. As you can read about many families who have decided to change their lives and hit the road, there is one overwhelming common denominator, we want to live a life more fulfilled.

That isn't to say, you cannot have a fulfilled life living, and working as 'normal' people do. Often you will read about families who have lived on the road, and then came to a conclusion that it was time to leave the road and live more conventionally. For reasons all their own, they decided that it was best for them to stop the nomad lifestyle. They experienced what they needed from life on the road, and now they can return to normality with a sense of accomplishment. I applaud those who have achieved this and feel that they have found what they are looking for, and settle down to a normal paced life so that they can apply the experiences and knowledge they gained on the road.

finding a geocache

The experiences achieved is like our own pilgrimage. We 'knew' that the conventional life had changed us somewhat. The idea of the open road, living on less, and experiencing more became a rallying point for our ideals of 'freedom.' This can be deceptive too.

The ideals of freedom are just that, an ideal situation. Little do they realize that cramped spaces, inconveniences of living on the road, can and will set you back. My brand new camper was all shiny when I picked it up in July. It didn't take too long before perfection revealed its flaws. So you really have two responses when such things happens. One is to learn and adapt, and use it as part of the experience. The other is to let it get you down, frustrate you, and diffuse your dreams of an ideal perfect experience on the road.

We really dig home schooling

Learning to adapt to change is part of the process. Like in the book, the author had an intellectual ideal of his purpose of the pilgrimage. He had a purpose which was to find his sword, a symbol of mastery in his walk in life. Little did he know of the pains, the suffering, and the battles that awaited him. What was intellectual became experiential. What was an ideal, became a hindrance, yet molded him to achieve mastery in a way he never imagined. We too, who chose a life much different will face many challenges. It will question our very choices to live on the road. How we respond and answer these challenges will mold us and change us, for our own benefit if we allow it.

For my family, we have had things broken. We experienced inconveniences to normal things we thought were a necessity. We had to be creative and adjust our well thought out plans. In the end, we have grown in this short time. By no means have we mastered this life on the road, however we have grown stronger as a family. We have had experiences that will last a lifetime. We put wheels and feet to our dreams in hopes to experience more. Ultimately these experiences will teach us that our dreams are possible, tangible, and we are worthy to pursue them.

Come along for the ride...

I truly thing that is why people do what we do, to experience something extraordinary such as climb mountains. We want a life more fulfilled. We just needed to get out of our normal day to day life in order to define it. Why we go on the road is less important than what the road leads us to discover. The challenges, the experiences, and what we learn form us, change us, and teach us what is truly our own prize.

The other response is to let it agitate us, conflict us, and defeat us. There are some who have chose to leave the road due to hardships. They leave the road because the idea of freedom felt overwhelming, unattainable. That is part of the human condition, simply to allow life to get us down. To allow others or situations to define us. Little by little, we give up our dreams and 'settle.' Of course, we all have the freedom to make our own choices, to determine our own happiness and far be it from me to condemn those who 'settle' down and find contentment. I only challenge those who give up, to find another dream, another purpose, because it was what led them to the road in the first place.

A road less traveled...

So, we continue on the road a few more months before the harshness of winter sets in. We will winter at home for a time to connect with family and friends, and for the practicality of it. However, it will not keep the road from our hearts and inspire us to dream.

Hoosier Outdoor Experience and Disc Golf

Enjoying a day at the park with a picnic and disc golf

This weekend was chock full of minion goodness and experiences. First and foremost, we had a great time at the Hoosier Outdoor Experience. It is something that the Indiana Department of Natural Resources puts on every year to get Hoosiers out and interested in our public lands and resources readily available to us. For me, it was a way to introduce my kids to many different outdoor activities and see which ones they gravitate to. Little did we know that we would be picking up a new sport/hobby along the way!

One of the most important things to note about the Hoosier Outdoor Experience is that it is absolutely free. You don't pay for parking, nothing inside the park other than concessions cost you a single dime. Everything is either donated or sponsored and brought into the park for you to experience. That is a huge plus for us. As you can tell with a family of four kids, it can be expensive to do ANYTHING. Just a night out for dinner and you are dropping some cash. I cannot remember the last time I was able to walk out of McDonalds for less than twenty bucks!

Getting Ready To Play Disc Golf

So, we arrived and were bused into Fort Harrison State Park. For those of you who haven't visited this park, I highly recommend it. It is beautiful and the playgrounds for the kids are absolutely awesome. That said, we got off the bus and followed the map to our first stop... the bathroom. Yes, that is four kids for you. 

Afterwards, we went to our first booth and found out some interesting fun facts about disc golf. They had setup a course for us to play and gave us the basics. It amounted to about a minute of lessons and basically picking up our discs and go out and have fun. I am glad they didn't get all 'technical' on us and just left us to go and have fun. I found out later that they had over 1047 people play their disc golf course over the weekend. With over twenty thousand people visiting over two days, I think that is quite an accomplishment. 

Being instructed in Geo Caching

Next we spent some time learning about Geo Caching. I have done this before with the kids, but since we no longer had our handheld GPS and other things, we stopped doing it after our first adventure as a family. So, this was a good time to try it again to see if there was any interest. For us, it was fifty-fifty. It seemed that Jayelle and JJ were interested while Evie and Tayla wanted to play in the monster playground they had. Jen and I split up and went our separate ways. I was quite happy with the demonstration. The Geo Cache guys were very helpful and provided us with easy 'cheap' ways to get started geo caching without having to spend an enormous amount of money on a GPS. Good thing about iPhones is that they allow for a pretty good novice/newbie GPS absolutely free.

Riding the Trolley

Because Ft. Harrison is a large park, they provided tractor pulled trolleys to take you to different locations in the park. It provided an easy way to see everything the park had to offer without getting worn out. Sure it sounds lazy, but a trolley ride is quite fun and for little ones with little legs, they just cannot walk forever before having a melt down.  Thus our rides to different areas were a time for everyone to take a break and have fun going on the ride.

The minions make a new friend at Critter Chat

There were all sorts of things to see at the park including animals. The minions got to see several different types of snakes, a tortoise, and other creatures during the Critter Chat demonstration. It was fun to see that our kids knew the difference between poisonous and venomous animals. They were also able to answer many of the questions posed by the demonstrator about snakes. Small win for home school, check! Other things that the kids learned was about the different fish we have in our areas, and how the DNR collects fish using some old school techniques combined with new technology to effectively capture and record species.

Kids also learned how to trap! Trapping is something that I taught myself to do the year after my dad passed. It was a way for me to do something new in the outdoors that I hadn't ever tried. Well, at the Hoosier Outdoor Expo, they had great demonstrations on the different traps and even taught kids how to set them. It was a good demonstration about the humane way trapping has evolved and how easy it is to get started.

Tayla Takes Aim

Gruesome Twosome learning to shoot

Of course, I cannot forget to mention archery. That was the one thing the girls wanted to try. I was even a little excited about it myself. Due to everyone in the family reading the Hunger Games, they wanted to see if they had the mad skills of Katnis and fling arrows. Everyone got to try, even little Tayla! I was very impressed with the volunteers and instructors who safely and efficiently taught people the proper and safe way to practice archery. Each of the kids did great and were able to hit the target!

Playing a round of Disc Golf

We finished the weekend out with an afternoon of disc golf at the local park. We had a nice picnic lunch and bought our discs from a local vendor. We learned about the Hamilton Disc Golf Union and the many parks where there are free courses you can play. After buying discs for everyone, we headed off for our lunch at a very pretty park and a great beginner course.

We found the course challenging and fun. We played a non traditional game of disc golf to keep the action moving and preventing long waits between throws. Basically, it was whoever had the best throw, everyone would play their next shot from that location. That was an easy way for the kids to stay involved and not become too frustrated while teaching them the basics of throwing and the mechanics involved. After our first round, the kids wanted to play on the playground which allowed Jennifer and I time to play a round for ourselves.

After a day in the sun, we headed to my brother's house for dinner. He made vegetable soup, hot dogs, mac n' cheese, and it was enjoyed by all. We finished the evening with sitting by the fire in the back yard. We burned marsh mellows to a crisp and have fun just kicking back and relaxing. My brother's wife introduced me to Paulo Coelho, by letting me read one of her books while the kids ran and played in the yard.

Art smart...

Showin' off the artwork

Today was a good day...

After a long day of work, I had my short drive to our little home on wheels, Arrakis. In normal fashion, I was greeted by the gleeful cry of 'daddy' as I entered the door. T-Rex dived for a death grip hold/hug on my legs as Dos hugged me. That is the best way to come home. Little did I know that death grip hug on my leg was a preemptive apology.

I had to work late and Jen had dinner ready to go. She was busy cleaning up a mess that T-Rex created. After using the potty, she wanted to wash her hands. All good right? Well, T-Rex likes to play in the sink and splash the water. If left to her own devices, this probably would last a good while. The problem? She put the stopper in the bottom of the sink to allow the sink to fill up with water and.... didn't turn off the faucet once it was filled.

Area on our outside kitchen door needing attention

You see in most homes, your sinks and bathtubs have this modern technology of an overflow. So if the basin is filled too high, it overflows and goes down the drain. However, we were not so lucky with our camper. That feature isn't available with the lightweight design with our camper. This is either do to oversight or just an attempt to reduce weight wherever possible. While the latter is probably the reason, I really wished we had it.

So Jen we had a small waterfall flowing into the living room of our little home on wheels. The good thing is that it was found early and we were able to get it cleaned up pretty quickly. We even pulled out our lightweight and portable wet-dry vac we keep in our storage compartment to help suck up the excess water that soaked the carpet.

A pipe, great weather, chillaxing...

So, Jen left to run to the store for milk and other necessities of our life on the road and I got to watch over our minions. Eating dinner outside, enjoying the wonderful weather, smoking my awesome pipe helped reduce the problems of the day. What a great way to unwind.

A quick fix on a door I had noticed needed attention. I have mentioned how our outside kitchen door had broken. The fix they used was to put more screws in. It works for the most part but I notice some of the screws starting to pull away. I grabbed my gorilla glue epoxy and added a little to the area that was loose and tightened the screws.

Dos and T-rex wanted to do some art or crafts so we gathered at the picnic table with oil pastels. Dos wanted to know how to draw the human face. I showed her how I go about drawing the face and drew a picture of my dad as he was on my mind. His anniversary was this weekend. While I drew the picture, Dos and T-Rex drew their own pictures. It was a good time sharing and having fun. We ended up all drawing together coming up with some funny and weird pictures all our own.

I love this life on the road...

New friends and frozen mice

You really meet the best sort of people out on the road.  Today I had the privilege of meeting another homeschool family that is also road schooling at my rv park.  They have a blog as well, guess I will have to look them up.  I had a good time talking to the mom, Sara, and Tres hit it off with the son who was about his age.  This is a tremendous thing, because Tres has the hardest time of all of our children with making friends.

Well, if you have been around homeschoolers very often, you might know about the wild and crazy things that happen in the name of education, especially science education.  And when you get several homeschoolers together, it only multiplies.

I met this new family this morning after our kids met at the playground.  Conversation turned to pets, and the son wanted to see our snakes.  So I told him that if he wanted to see them, it needed to be now, because later this afternoon was snake feeding day, and then the snakes would need time to digest.  To most people, this would bring about squeals of revulsion, but to a homeschooler, this is a fascinating learning opportunity.  So, I extended an invitation for them to view the feeding later in the afternoon, which they graciously accepted.

At 3:00, I had the snake cages lined up outside my rv and mice thawed. I use frozen mice that we buy from the pet store, and I thaw them with hot water.  On the road, I usually feed snakes outside so I have more space.  All the children were fascinated to see how snakes eat.  It is really amazing at just how large a snake's mouth can become.

Then we turned to more typical homeschool conversation of curriculum and learning styles.  I am so encouraged to meet this family.

Giving the kids the boot

JJ tempts fate by choosing his chores

Ah yes, chores....

Chores and daily cleanup and maintenance is very important when living in an RV full time. You cannot allow clutter to build up, or the dishes left undone. Now, in our family, everyone pitches in. Everyone has an assigned job duty until yesterday.

You see, we started to hear grumbling. Grumbling turned into whining. Whining turned to shear frustration on the part of Jen and myself. It seems that there are more desirable chores than others. I guess some chores are more fun and take less time depending on minion doing them.

So Jen and I gave them the boot... a boot filled with pieces of paper with a chore written upon it.

"Choose and Perish..."

So, the minions got their assigned duties by lottery. In that way, they allowed 'fate' to decide which chore they received. That worked for the most part. Some where happy, some were resigned to the choice given. At least this took the blame off of Jen and I for assigning duties. I guess at times we assigned duties based upon overall productivity. Some washed dishes, vacuumed, or cleared the table better than others and Jen and I might have the tendency to assign tasks based on who performed which chore best.

A reward for good behavior... frozen yogurt!

This came out of the thought of how to get the RV cleaned up the most efficiently. At times this meant children doing these mundane chores over and over. However, that didn't sit well with our minion nation. Their revolt and cries for fairness, prompted a change.

In the end, all was settled. We had peace in our little house on wheels.

Food on the road

Uno at the stove

Here is another installment of food on the road...

Early on, I wrote about the modern conveniences of living in an RV. One of the things people ask is about food, cooking, and meal planning. As you can see above, we have all the modern conveniences of home, in a more compact space. We even have built in slave, minion labor, that help with the day to day meal preparation.

We love to cook. In particular, if you ever met me, I like to eat! Uno, loves to cook and is quite accomplished at the young age of ten. She can cook a great omelet, and has learned many skills from her mom. She even cooks one dinner a week for the family with the assistance of Jen or myself.

When buying for a family of six, prepping, planning, and storage all begin deeply important. For one, we need to make sure that we buy enough in advance so that we can keep from running to the store everyday. We also have to get creative in sizes. We have found that half gallon milk containers are better to buy simply because their shape is more conducive to our storage needs and limited space.Thus, we have learned by trial and error what we can buy so that it meets our needs yet isn't so bulky preventing proper storage. 

That certainly doesn't mean we eat every meal at home. As a traveling consultant on the road, we have the ability to splurge a bit. Just this weekend, we celebrated my brother's MBA at one of his favorite restaurants, Fogo De Chao. Needless to say, it was an exquisite display of never ending meat! It was a lot of fun, great tasting, and enjoyed by all.

A Pre-Teen Road Adventure

My name is Jayelle and my family has decided to live on the road. at first I thought it would not be so bad but now I learned that it is not so easy but I can toughen it out. First of all I cant bring all my make-up I can only bring one thing off eye-shadow, lip-stick, lip-gloss, and blush . A girl has to have her beauty-products! I guess I can do without .

The big problem is personal-space and that is a big one for me. Almost nothing is private . But that is a small price to pay for all the fun I am having! You see lots of crazy things! I saw a giant pink elephant statue holding a beer in its trunk ,CRAZY! I also saw a giant concrete peach with a concrete little boy poking out of it., It reminds me of James and the giant peach!

It is also fun because last night we had a camp-fire adventure. we roasted marsh-mellows., I love those squishy little clumps of sugar! We also roasted hot dogs. I am a master at roasting things.

My twin sister and brother love to torch theirs and they usually falloff. If they do not fall, they are usually on fire. They try to put the fire out by blowing on the marsh-mellows or waving them in the air. It is so funny!

After roasting hot dogs and marsh-mellows, I played my guitar and almost everyone sang along. My brother attempted to play along on his drum. It wasn’t the best but hey, he's learning.

Today we made the trip to a different RV park in Indianapolis. We ate McDonald's for lunch (ick!!!). Then me and my sibs went to the park and met the owner's daughters. Afterward, we went back to the camper.

After a while, dad took us out to dinner. The food was good but the best parts were the jokes from the waiter. My favorite was when the waiter gave my brother the bill and said that he can wash dishes if he had to. The waiter then laughed, took the bill and gave it to my dad. It was funny.

After that, we went home and everyone just chill-axed and had fun. Some point or another T-rex took Pivas's cat cage and started carrying it around announcing that she had a kitty-cat in it . It was somewhat cute, bot mostly ANNOYING. After that, she was quiet and we watched Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Pets on the Road

Tres with our Children's Python

One of the joys and challenges of being on the road is having pets on the road. Many people avoid bringing pets on the road due to the added inconvenience and cost. But, my family is very attached to our furry and scaly friends, so they had to come along.

“Scaly?”, you question. Yes, we are even different from most people in our choice of pets. We have four snakes living with us in our RV. I had always wanted to have a snake ever since freshman biology with Mr. Riedford at Mt. Vernon High School. Most other students avoided his collection of pythons, but I was one of the few who always sat on the snake side of the room, and handled one of the them whenever I got the chance. But my parents were disgusted by snakes and refused to let my have one. Then when I moved out the responsibilities of adulthood pushed the thought of snakes from my mind. But, there is something about becoming a parent that lets you tap back into the dreams of youth. So, two years ago I finally bought my first snake, a Children's python named Phoenix. Later, we acquired three corn snakes. Much to my husband's astonishment, all four of the kids love the snakes as much as me.

The first challenge of snakes on the road was their housing arrangement. Their usual glass aquariums were completely unfit for the road. So, I drilled holes into the sides of clear plastic bins, and I keep the bins securely closed with bungee cords. Not the most aesthetically pleasing, but it is functional, and the snakes don't seem to mind. Then, to save space, we stack the snakes' bins on top of a set of small plastic drawers. So the kids' room has a tower of snakes!

Tower of Snakes!

The next challenge is temperature control. Snakes are cold blooded, and can neither warm nor cool themselves. Different species have a different range of acceptable temperatures. My Children's python is from a tropical region of Australia, so he needs extra heat. A heat lamp on top of his terrarium works quite well, even with the plastic terrarium. The corn snakes are from more temperate regions and so are comfortable at standard room temperature. But when you travel in August, overheating your snakes is an more pressing concern. The day I left home, it was forecasted to reach 106. I knew my cat and my children could just pant or sweat, but I worried about frying the snakes. So, I left my home at 3:30 in the morning so I could make my drive while it was still a reasonable temperature. Since arriving here, we make sure to always keep the air conditioner running. No dry docking for us with snakes on board.

Finally, we have the challenge of feeding the snakes. In case you didn't know, snakes must eat rats or mice, there is no such thing as snake kibble. At home I keep a large quantity of frozen mice in the deep freeze. On the road, my freezer space is too tight to devote any space to rodent-cicles. So on feeding day, fortunately only every two weeks, I make the trek to the pet store and feed the snakes as soon as I get home. Michigan City has been challenging. The local store had only frozen rats and live mice that they could kill for us. Captive snakes are picky and don't readily switch between types of rodents, so the rats were out. As for the mice, my children had just spent the last few minutes watching the cute little feeder mice run on their wheel, and they begged me to spare the lives of those mice. So then it was off to the next pet store 20 minutes away. Fortunately, they had suitable mice. Hopefully it will be a bit easier in Indy.

We also have our elderly cat along for the ride. She hated the trip up here, but since we have been stationary, she has been pretty happy inside the RV. We knew our hyperactive dog would do poorly on the road, but fortunately my brother and his family are willing to care for her for a long term.

Happy Cat!

Making memories...

Minions roasting hotdogs in the camp fire

Living the RV dream...

The one thing that blows me away about living full time in the RV is all the simple and fun adventures we share as a family. Today, as I got home from a day full of meetings and a long drive, I was greeted with excited and happy campers. Today the are getting to roast hot dogs in the camp fire.

Simple right? Absolutely. 

But it is simple things such as roasting hot dogs in the fire that provide fun and excitement on the road. At home we would probably grill or cook the hot dogs on the stove and have dinner at the table. No real excitement there. Change the scenery, roast the hot dogs over the fire and sitting in camping chairs, now you have adventure.

I think that is one of the fondest memories I have as a kid. The rugged outdoors, cooking your own food, and laughing and sharing during the process implants long, fun loving memories. It is something that the kids and I love to do. Along with fun, it is fairly cheap to do.

Uno playing guitar

The kids thought that playing music and singing by the campfire would make the event even more special. Uno brought out her guitar, my son brought his djembe, all while the rest of us lent our voices to some songs as we watched the sun set. That my friends are moments that make me more resolute that living this strange and fun lifestyle more fun.

Every day is an adventure if you look for it. I am sure you and duplicate this at home living in the traditional way. However, I think that living in our RV, on the road with the kids, it is just easier. They can play, explore, and see new sites and have new adventures almost daily. It truly is an escape from normalcy. We can escape competing with the Jones's. We can set our own expectations, living a life more fulfilled.

A trip down Zaharakos lane

Fun filled day in Columbus, IN and visiting Zaharakos Ice Cream Shop

This weekend was filled with rain and fun. While the hurricane down south prompted a much needed thunderstorm in our area, we had to get a little creative in keeping our minions at bay. Most of the time, we spent sequestered in our home on wheels. There were a few stints where we were able to unleash the kids and have them ride bikes and make their rounds of the RV park.

Today, we got to visit my brother and his family for Labor Day. Having spent the morning conversing with our neighbor about the drag races getting rained out, and that they were moving on Tuesday, we traded addresses and said our good byes. Texting back and forth with my brother and we had plans for the afternoon. I was to have lunch with my brother and one of his friends while Jen and the kids along with my brother's wife and daughter would head downtown to Columbus for fun.

fully functional auto play pipe organ circa 1909

Columbus is really growing on me. The downtown area has lots of fun shops, and things for the kids to do. They even have an indoor play area. What blew me away was the free wifi. Come on, FREE WIFI. I guess being so starved at our camp ground has made me appreciate wireless connectivity especially when I forgot to lock down data traffic on my phone and already hit 65% of my data plan for the month. Thanks ATT, love ya! Now, I either will just use my phone as normal and pay the $10 hit for overage or just tightly control my access. With my job, more than likely it will be paying the $10 extra for overage.

I realized my problem, I tried to download some favorite podcasts while waiting to pick up pizza from Puccini's Pizza in downtown Columbus. When they told us that our pizza was done, I forgot to cancel the un-downloaded podcasts. Needless to say, wham! I just used a bunch of data traffic. Lesson learned I guess.

Looks like T-Rex enjoyed her treat

Lunch was great. Good to hang with my brother and reconnect. Meeting his friend for the second time (he was my brother's best man) was fun. I can see why he and my brother get along. We ate at Hooters. Not my favorite joint but I enjoyed wings, the good conversation, and the opportunity to get out after being shut in by the rain. On the way home, I spotted a smoke shop. After a few near death experiences after forcibly asking my brother to make the stop, I was greeted with the sweet aroma of Cavendish and vanilla.... smelly happiness for sure.

I forgot my pipes at home when we made the trip. I am not a big smoker, but at times, I like to smoke a pipe and kick back. I got my friend into smoking pipes a while back. I think I have created a monster as his pipe collection has surpassed mine. He and I enjoyed pipe smoking, fedora hats, and hanging out. I think our hunting trips last year were more about getting out to smoke and hang out than deer hunting. Needless to say, I missed my pipe.

A Ben Wade Estate Pipe

I found a great deal on a estate pipe. I have always wanted one. They are bigger, usually hand carved and look awesome to look at. More importantly, they are well made. I instantly fell in love with one and after seeing the price, I didn't hesitate. I picked up the pipe, some necessities such as pipe cleaners, and picked up some great smelling pipe tobacco to boot.

After eating dinner and watching the Hunger Games with my brother's family, we headed back to Arrakis. It was a fun, relaxing weekend. I got to enjoy time with the family, spend time with my brother, and I got a pipe to boot.

Frozen custard and a shopping trip

Ritters Frozen Custard...Nom, Nom

Yesterday was tag along With dad day. At first we had a relaxing morning, sleeping in and having a simple breakfast. Afterwards, we hopped in the van and headed out. Our first stop was Camping World. I picked up a satellite dish in hopes of getting our DirectTV hooked up. After several hours messing with the unit and unsuccessful connection with our service, I went to the Internet for answers. To my dismay, the type of receiver we have won't work. There are some extra pieces that power the signal. Actually called a power inserted and necessary in order for it to work.So today I will have to return my dish and hope they they take it back.

After Camping World, we visited Gander Mountain. I was excited to see that they had a Ruger Redhawk with mounted scope(I am a gun nut). The problem was they wanted too much for it being used, and that it was dirty to boot. I really thought about it, but walked away as I can always find better deals. My neighbor at our campground is a gun nut too and we have spent quite a few hours talking guns. He is better than I at finding deals. I have a lot to learn from this guy.

As you probably guessed, this isn't the minion friendly activity, and they began to get a bit unruly. We promptly found a frozen custard shop and had ourselves a treat. Ritters was awesome. Tons of great options and plenty of kid friendly choices. As you can see in the picture, they were enjoying themselves.

Jen is enjoying her morning

On the way back we got stopped in traffic. After a long delay, we pulled off and found a churches chicken for dinner. Right next to it was a gun store with indoor range. This will be a great place to check out later. I did stop in for a sec. While only taking a quick glance, I began to drool over their Kimber selection. 

After dinner, we headed back to Arrakis taking the back roads. I messed with our satellite connection as mentioned before and gave up. Finally, we just kicked back, enjoyed the evening together as the kids played and I rested.