Road Trip Survival Kit

My friend Candy (her husband Steve and their cutie potootie dog, Buddy) moved out of state (selfishly I'm bummed about her moving - there goes my "Wine and Design" friend!) so I made her a little "road trip survival kit" for the 2 day drive. And because most of the things that went into the
bag o'shizzle is boring I made little notes for most of the stuff to make things more interesting - I'm sure the gift would have been just as useful without my notes so if you want to make this for someone don't think you have to label everything just 'cuz I did!

Super easy - I've done enough road trips at this point (hello spring and fall cross-country migrations!) to have a sense of what is needed and/or wanted, plus I added a few things just to be silly and made a simple tag on my computer.

Choose a mix of practical things like t.p. (I couldn't find travel t.p. so included a thing of flushable wipes - can't tell you how many times I've been at rest stops that are out of t.p.!), napkins, hand sanitizer, tissues, ginger candy for car sickness, ear plugs (I wear headphones ALOT when I'm in the car with Dave LOL!!!) and a sleep mask; Snacks like m&m's, cracker jack, crackers and packets of peanut butter, dog bones, rice crispy treats; and a couple boredom busters like a paperback puzzle book, magazine, and a card game.

Obviously tailor your road kit however you want!

I do not know how Sarge knew there were dog bones going into
 the bag, but he fell asleep waiting for one to fall on the floor! 

I'm going to miss having them around (Steve had been known to bring me his fantastic homemade soups and that delicious baked mac and cheese I posted here - def gonna miss that!); I'm going to miss the wine and designing, painting, junkin', lunching, and so much laughing!... but I'm very happy for them and can't wait to hear all about their new house and adventures. Good luck guys!

Road Trip 2nd Leg - Mt. Rushmore

After seeing the eclipse in Nebraska (click here for that post) we moved west to visit Mt. Rushmore - I've been wanting to see it for years and can now cross it off the travel bucket list!

The drive from Kearney to Mt. Rushmore took about 6 and 1/2 hours, an easy day of driving. We saw wild buffalo herds and fields of prairie dogs - of course had to stop to take pictures! Sarge didn't like the buffalo and kept barking at them - they were so close to us tho and totally giving us the stink eye, I kept saying "great, we are gonna cause a buffalo stampede"! Yes, these are things I worry about hahaha! 

we pulled over on the highway to watch the wild buffalo

We were getting in pretty early so decided to stop off and see the Crazy Horse memorial on the way - it was going to cost $22 to enter and we could clearly see it from the road (and honestly, there isn't much to see!) so we snapped some pictures from the van and kept moving. They have been working on the memorial for like 70 years, the idea is like Mt. Rushmore - they are planning to carve Crazy Horse into the side of a mountain - but unlike Mt. Rushmore, it is very slow going. They have his face done and are working on his arm and pointing finger at the moment - Dave took this picture, it's showing the side of his face (at the top middle) with what will be his arm pointing straight out in front of him to the right (the equipment is sitting on his arm:

Anyway, since we didn't go in this was a very quick stop. Headed to the KOA at Mt. Rushmore for a couple nights - this is the biggest campground we have seen so far in our limited campground experience. It was a small city! It has multiple pools, waterslides, a rodeo arena, restaurants and stores galore - check out the campsite map:

We were up in the back by the rodeo arena (thank goodness there wasn't a rodeo then, I'm SO allergic!!) which was nice, away from the majority of the crowds but a long way from everything "entertaining" so didn't go explore much.

The next morning we headed a few minutes away to Mt. Rushmore; there isn't an entrance fee but you do have to pay to park. You can see it from the road (just like with the Crazy Horse memorial) if you don't want to enter but it was cool to go in and see it up close. There are trails you can walk around but it was really hot and Sarge was in the RV (we left the generator on but when it's so blasted hot I still worry - what if something happens and the generator quits? I don't like to leave him for long when the weather is like that) so we just took pictures, went thru the little museum and watched a short film on the making of the memorial (note: I totally didn't want to do this but D did, and it was worth it. If you get there and think you don't want to watch I recommend you do!).

We were only at Mt. Rushmore about an hour, so since it was early in the day Dave wanted to drive up to Wyoming and see Devils Tower (it's featured in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind). It's a little over 2 hours away and as we were driving we had the thought that we were then going to have to return 2 hours the same way and then the next day drive the same 2 hour route to continue our journey - that's a lot of doubling back so we made the decision to forfeit our 2nd night at Mt. Rushmore and relocate to Devils Tower. Turned out to be the right decision, the campground at Devils Tower was great, our site backed up to the tower and it's a beautiful area. The opposite of Mt. Rushmore, it's a small quaint campground (although they do have a restaurant and store which was nice) and the people are great. We ended up staying 2 nights here we liked it so much!

our view of Devils Tower from our campsite.

we took about an hour hike around the base of the tower

We were here on Dave's birthday so treated ourselves to breakfast at Cattle Kate's at the campground - it's hooked onto the store so I grabbed some caramel corn to give him as a little birthday treat and when I paid and told the register lady what it was for she said "oh I wish I had something nice to wrap it in!" Haha, so cute - I told her "it's just caramel corn and he's sitting right there watching me buy it so it doesn't need special wrapping " LOL.

My new favorite camping dinner is individual grilled pizza. I brought along small pre-baked pizza shells that we topped with sauce, chopped canadian bacon and canned mushrooms, shredded mozzarella. D put them on the gas grill for a few minutes until they were crispy and the cheese melted, doesn't take long. Oh man these were so good we had them again a few nights later!


one year ago today: wine cork keychain

Popcorn Toffee Crack Bars

My niece and her bf are driving to NC with their 2 dogs and all their stuff - I'm sad about that but excited for her new adventure and phase of life. So to send them off I wanted to make them a treat for the long drive - saw this recipe here on the bon appetit website and thought it'd be fun to make for them. My niece used to be a very very picky eater - we took her to lunch when she was little and she ordered a tuna sandwich without lettuce, "just plain tuna"; when it was brought out to her it had sprouts on it and she wailed "there are WEEDS on my sandwich". Haha, now the kid loves vegetables (even brussels sprouts, yuck) and normally they eat super healthy but I know from experience that once you get in the car the munchies hit so hopefully they'll like this very "unhealthy" treat LOL. I don't like to use negative words like unhealthy when describing food - but this one recipe calls for 3 sticks of butter! If you can think of a better word than "unhealthy" haha please tell me.

It's very easy and quick to make, I followed the recipe exactly other than I don't have aleppo pepper so left that out. I'm not sure what that would add or if it's necessary cuz this is really good without it. I also thought about adding white chocolate chips with the semisweet but didn't have any on hand - and it doesn't need it, there's plenty going on...graham crackers, popcorn, peanuts, puffed rice cereal and chocolate chips. Yum.

The recipe was only given 3 out of 5 stars so I almost didn't make it, but after reading the reviews I found that the reason it was being knocked down wasn't because of the taste but that it has the word "crack" in the title! One person actually asked if there is crack in the recipe. Others thought you shouldn't use drug words to describe food and that "crack" is actually a bad thing so why is this called "crack bars" hahahaha, good grief people. Lighten up. Whatever you want to call these they are really good and quite addictive! Click here for the recipe.

line a rimmed baking sheet with graham crackers

top with popcorn, peanuts and cereal, pour a boiled mixture of butter and sugar over top and bake.

I made Dave a little one without nuts so he could at least try it - he loves popcorn and chocolate.

after baking, while it's still hot, top with chocolate chips. let cool completely then break into pieces. 

Road Trip - day 5 (and a crocheted basket)

Last leg of our trip - St Louis to East Lansing. Thankfully we had great weather other than the extreme heat for the first part, but the a/c held on so all good. In fact I think this is the first trip that everything went smoothly with the rv! Yes.

Not a whole lot happening or to look at today, so thought I'd share a few miscellaneous pics with you about living in the rv:

I have tried everything I can think of to get a wire basket to stick on the wall to hold our fruit and veggies but the whole thing keeps crashing down. So this morning I got the idea to make a lightweight hanging basket out of the leftover polypropylene twine I found in the hardware section of the dollar store (I made a dish scrubby out of the rest of it) and hang it from a suction cup on a less slippery wall - so far it's working. I couldn't find a pattern for what I was seeing in my mind so I based it on this pattern but mine doesn't have rings in it for support (I can only use things that are already in the rv!) and I only made one handle. It turned out cute!

For some reason it is Sarges routine to sit on the picnic table at our campsite - I don't know how or when it started but that's his place now...

We use the campground facilities instead of our teeny shower in the rv, it's taken me a few trips but I'm figuring out the easiest way to get all my stuff to the shower. The bathroom and showers aren't always the cleanest so I don't want to set anything down if I can help it - some places have a small ledge by the sink but many don't, there are always hooks tho so I take advantage of them. I carry everything in a cute lightweight nylon tote bag - hanging toiletry bag, a waterproof bag holds everything that can get wet in the shower (after showering I can put everything wet back in the bag and not get everything else wet), change of clothes, and the extra set of rv keys. I sewed little loops on all of our towels so they can hang up without touching anything else. This system is working pretty good.

I made a pretty dreamcatcher and have put up a couple pictures to personalize the space.

"on an adventure we will go"

not a great pic and the wind is blowing it, but it turned out so pretty!

Turned around to check on Sarge and Lucy and this is what I see - he is as close to her as possible and they are both staring at me. They're good travelers but I'm getting the impression that they'd like to be home already!

Thanks for reading my travel log - will get back to my usual posts now :)

Road Trip - day 4

Inside the Archway

I'm in the back of the rv right now in my "office" - aka the bed - writing down what our day is like today...the drive from Oklahoma City to St. Louis is beautiful but not many landmarks or interesting things to see from the highway. It's the prettiest day of driving ( it's green, hilly, dotted with cute farms and cattle) but also the most uneventful.

view from our booth

While on the Will Rogers Turnpike we stopped for lunch at a McDonald's located in what has to be one of the coolest places ever - it's a building that spans over the highway, and is basically all glass so while you are sitting at a booth you can see the tops of the vehicles on the highway going underneath you. It doesn't have a glass floor but sitting at the windows gives you the feeling that you are on a bridge watching the cars pass underneath. The building was renovated recently - it was known as the "glass house" before but now it's changed to the "Will Rogers Archway". It was hard to get a picture that gives the right perspective but I did take a couple to share with you.

Dave and the Turtle in front of the Archway

Then we passed thru Joplin, Missouri - they had that massive tornado in 2011; up until recently you could still see damage (trees and buildings down that weren't cleaned up yet) but it looks better now. I didn't notice last year when we came thru that the big hospital that was destroyed is now rebuilt and open, it seems like they did that pretty quickly.

Just paused writing to sing "Honey (I miss you)" from the 60's - yes super sappy but how can you not sing along to it? Oh now it's "Delilah" - have to sing that one too...D is in control of the radio so it's 50's and 60's when he isn't listening to talk radio and the news! "Why why why, Delilah..." is gonna be stuck in my head now.

I have always loved stopping at the huge wooden bowl factory store in Lebanon, MO - until they closed it after a fire. They are now located in the Shepherd Hills Factory Outlet (the largest dealer of case knives according to the sign) - In the old days the store was full of tons of wood things (not just bowls) but now they only have one row of just bowls, bummer. Check out these two photos - the sign says bowls are "Ozark made" and yet one of the bowls Dave picked up says "made in Holland, Michigan" haha! Still made in th USA which is nice - but Holland , Mi isn't exactly the Ozarks!

   

On a side note - when traveling in the rv it's usually unnecessary to wear much makeup or even clothes that match cuz no one sees me other than people at the gas station or McDonalds haha, but I have to look at myself so I still wear clothes that are clean and mascara :). I am learning to pare wayyyy down tho and wear everything more than once. I'm obsessed with all the tiny house shows right now and every time I open a cupboard and things come flying out and I grumble, D says "and you want to live in a tiny house". This morning I did a braid across the front of my hairline and sent a picture to my sissy because I'm really bad at braiding but today it worked. She wrote back it looked 

good and "too bad you wasted the best braid you've ever done and no one will ever see it". Oh well. 

Road trip - day 3

the row of cars seen from the road - what a random spot
for buried cadillacs haha!

Day 3 had us still just driving I-40, a little monotonous for sure - the land between New Mexico and Oklahoma is completely flat and quite uninteresting, good for raising cattle I guess but boring for driving thru! I've spent years watching for an actual cowboy riding a horse on these vast ranches next to the highway but no luck yet - I've seen Cowboys but they are driving pickup trucks and that's just not the same!

Just west of Amarillo is Cadillac Ranch - do you guys know what that is? I have no idea why (or how? Or who?) but out in the middle of a field there is a line of cars buried nose-down in the ground with the rear of the car sticking up. There is parking in front of the field and then you can walk back to the cars,  up close you can see how they've been graffitied over the years and it's pretty cool.



I just googled to find out more of the story - in a nutshell an eccentric millionaire got some artists together in the 70's to come up with this monument to the "Golden Age" of American cars. At first the cars were in their original colors but people stole anything they could off the cars and started spray painting them, the owner thought they looked even better all painted up so he encouraged people to stop by with their spray paints and continue the tradition.

On the east side of Amarillo is the "Big Texan " restaurant known for its gimmick of giving away a free 72 ounce steak dinner if you can eat the entire meal in one hour or less - that includes a roll, baked potato, salad, and shrimp cocktail! Seriously, who can do this?!! I can eat a lot but...

I took this picture from the car, no way I'm letting Dave stop there - he always asks ;)

Also on the east side of Amarillo is a huge stock yard packed full of cattle. I was in the back of the rv crafting and all the sudden got a very strong stinky smell and jumped up thinking Sarge was sick and had an accident in his car seat! Once I saw he was okay I naturally figured it was Dave but nope, we were just passing the stockyard. He goes "oh nice, you thought I smelled like that?" I laughed hard.

We passed a couple more landmarks in Groom, Texas: first is the "Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" a giant Cross erected in 1995 that is 19 stories tall (190') and can be seen from 20 miles away. Around the base are bronze sculptures depicting Jesus' journey to the cross. Their website says one thousand people stop every day. The other landmark in Groom is the leaning water tower - it used to be functional but now it's just decorative.

That's about it for sights to see today - the rest of the drive is just lots and lots of open land, some tumble weed, and a whole lotta cows. Oh and there's a big sign painted on a water tower in Yukon, Oklahoma that Garth Brooks lives there - he's even autographed the tower - if you're interested...

We ate dinner in Choctaw, Oklahoma at the Old Germany Restaurant - it's become a tradition to eat there if we are camping in Oklahoma City. D likes schnitzel (flattened and breaded pieces of meat) but that's not my favorite thing, I had the daily special Sauerbraten (pot roast) - delish - I took half of it back to the rv and will eat it for breakfast! Yum.

Road Trip - day 2

Today we drove from Kingman to Albuquerque, about 500 miles, it's an easy drive straight on I-40. This time though we left 40 for a bit and drove Route 66 so we could 'Take It Easy' in Winslow, AZ. Does that ring any bells?  We have made the cross country trip twice a year for awhile now, but have never stood on the corner in Winslow. I tried to sing the Eagles song but that's one of them that comes out in pieces -  standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona, 7 women on my mind, or is it such a fine sight to see...

We had lunch at Bojo's Diner across the street - my expectations were pretty low and our waitress looked like she'd be grumpy, but my quesadilla was delicious and she was super nice . She wished us a blessed day when we left, and she didn't seem to mean it the way they say "bless your heart" in the South  (which I've heard usually means the opposite of bless your heart haha!). I'm going to recreate the quesadilla I had when we get home - tons of cheese and loads of mild green chilies in a crunchy tortilla - yum.

A couple hours from Albuquerque we started seeing signs for the upcoming best Indian trading post - Dave is usually reluctant to make shopping stops haha but I convinced him to stop this time. We pulled in to "Fort Courage" which was a big compound of forts, gift shop, cabins .... Figures I finally get D to stop and it's empty, abandoned, and falling down! There were so many highway signs advertising it, how about a sign saying it's been closed for a really long time?! Oh well, I always think I want to buy moccasins and never do...so it's probably for the best it was closed!

I missed it but Dave saw a cool thing while driving today - there was a rattle snake trying to cross the highway. D says it was on the side of the road and reared up at every car that went by with his mouth open like he was going to strike! Yikes - wow, sorry I missed that!

Road Trip - day 1

We have a very small rv (21') that is just big enough for two adults, a smallish dog, and a bird in a cage. Well it's big enough as long as everyone is on good behavior (ahem, Dave). It's name is The Turtle - of course it has a name, I name everything! We are road tripping from California to Michigan this week, and even tho I work on projects on the road (I crocheted a dish scrubby thing today, I'll show ya later), I thought it might be fun to share some road stories and pictures instead of my normal making stuff posts for a few days.

Sarge and Lucy in "the turtle"

Day 1 - short day of driving and not much to see. Stayed at a campground overnight in Kingman, AZ. Most exciting part of the day was making dinner - I love camping food! I learn more tips and tricks every trip - this time I boiled a box of pasta at home and divided it into 2 gallon ziplock bags - that saves lots of time on the road and it's the base for 2 meals. Our first dinner at the picnic table was this simple pasta with red sauce that I put in a saucepan and Dave warmed up on the grill while he was heating the (fully cooked) chicken, mozzarella, spinach sausages - have you tried them? So good, and not super unhealthy. I made a basic garden salad to round it out - cut up some of Lucy's peas, Sarges carrots, and threw in some celery that was left over from making the other pasta dish (tuna noodle salad)...it was basically seeing what's in the fridge!

Here's a couple other short cuts I've learned for camping meals:

- finely chop up hard boiled eggs and put in a disposable plastic bowl with lid (I use an empty cool whip tub), when ready to eat just stir in some mayo and mustard and season with salt and pepper. I like to eat it on saltines, or obviously just make a sandwich.
- pre grill boneless chicken breasts at home - you can then use them in sandwiches or whatever, or heat up for supper.
- break raw eggs into a container with tight fitting top, just shake them up when you want to make scrambled eggs. This saves trying to fit an egg carton in the little fridge, and more convenient to not have to deal with the shells.