Day One Drama - Yikes!

Well, those of you on Facebook already know, but here's how it all went down....

We had a great start - I had the best night of sleep before a trip ever and we were on the road by 5:10 a.m.  No traffic through NYC and had breakfast in NJ.  About the only eventful thing to speak of before 8:00 was a Annalise vs. a mosquito and the mosquito won.

After breakfast we had a nice four hour haul to somewhere past the mid-point of PA and stopped for lunch.  We were in great shape to make it to Zanesville, OH by dinner until we got in the truck and it wouldn't start.  It would fire, but just wouldn't start - not picking up fuel, in my opinion.  30 minutes later, AAA Road Side Service is there and the guy is trying to figure it all out.  When he climbed under the truck and starting banging, I thought we were doomed - what could possibly be the issue under there???  He tells me to hit the key and it starts!!!!  Turns out we may have an intermittent fuel pump issue and he was banging on the gas tank which is where the fuel pump is and that sort of got things worked out!!  Off we go - with plans of contacting a Chevy dealer in Zanesville when we get there.  At least tomorrow's Monday.

Scott in the green emergency vest - the dude who saved the day!

So we keep heading west on on the PA Turnpike, have nice puffy clouds to look at and went through a lot of tunnels that we've never been through before - the kids loved it since they try to hold their breath through every tunnel....

It was a little after 3 p.m. when one of the trailer tires blew.   Get it off on the shoulder safely and call Good Sam's for road side service.  I'm really wanting to make it to Ohio by dinner so I get started getting off the spare, jacking the trailer and taking off a mangled tire.  Mind you, this is sooooo much fun with 18 wheelers doing 65 mph about 8 ft away.  Luckily the flat was on the passenger side...  The road side service dude got wrong directions from Good Sam's and I was done changing the flat by the time he got there.  So I had him top off the air on all the tires and we made arrangements for him to come to camp in the morning and give me two new tires - our current spare isn't looking so good!

Thank goodness for Maribeth!  While Lisa was on FB sharing our saga and managing 4 little ones, Maribeth was gettin' dirty!

But we are now camped in a little place in Donegal, PA.  We had I nice clean pool to ourselves for about an hour, Lisa and the kids are making dinner, I'm having a Blue Point Hoptical Illusion and Annalise is casting Harry Potter spells on Graeme.  Tomorrow's another day!

Cross Country Eve!

It's feeling real around here!  All of our packing is now done, last goodbyes to family and of all things, Uncle Robert came all the way down from Watertown to see us on our last day on Long Island!

 Grandma and Pa Olsen with  all of us!

 Uncle Robert being Uncle Robert (with the kids loving it, of course!)

 Bikes loaded!

Camper hooked up!

And wouldn't you know that our departure is so grand that the Goodyear Blimp flew over the house to witness it all!  OK, there's really an LPGA event over at Sebonac Golf Club about 15 minutes away....

Love and miss you all already!  

Gadgets that matter!

There's all kinds of gadgets out there these days, but this is one you may want to consider.  Especially if you have an iPhone.  Ever have your iPhone run out of battery and there's no outlet nearby?  *my Charge+* is a portable light weight battery that you plug into the wall to charge it (2 hours for a full charge) then throw it in a back pack, purse, etc. and if your phone dies, you can charge it - from stone dead to 100% in 2 hours!

Not only that, but it also has a USB port, a micro USB and USB cord that can charge a lap top.  You can literally charge 3 devices at once and by pressing a button, it will tell you how much "charge" is left.  Pretty neat.  With one charge, I've charged an iPhone form 30% to full, 50% to full (twice), my wrist remote for my Go Pro from dead to 2/3 and the Wi Fi Back pack from 1/3 to full.  For $79 from Best Buy, it's definitely worth the money.  And will likely come in very hand for the Olsen's out on the trail...

Routing and reserving our campsites is just about done!  Hopefully I haven't stretched some of these drives too far, but one thing is for sure - we're looking at over 7,000 miles!  Not sure why this map didn't show the route from the Redwoods to Prineville, OR...  Wish us good mechanical fortune, good weather and good times. :)

The BIG Picture!

BTW - we found Scarlett's new bike, too!  It's a GIANT Revel complete with front shocks (with lockout) disc brakes and nice components.  This is her after her first ride (almost 15 miles) and Daddy was amazed at how well she rode - we averaged almost 14 mph which isn't bad on the road with a mountain bike.  It was truly a workout and one that Daddy was not expecting - the last time he underestimates that little Scarlett!  She loves the additional gears (3X8) and, of course, it has some nice orange accents.