Road Trip: Rock 'n Roll

Slightly damp, they made it to Cleveland and ate some "Real food!! Wall eye beans and rice." I thought wall eye might be an autocorrect for rib eye, but I was informed "It's a fish from Lake Erie. Ugly but tastes like sea bass." He did not take a picture for me, I had to find one for myself.

After a most welcome shower and a real bed, they got to the purpose of the stop, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"RR HOF was really cool. We spent 2 hours there and saw it at a medium speed.  You'll like it. "

"The school teacher from The Wall Tour."

"John Paul Jones' bass and tour outfit from The Song Remains the Same."

"Kurt Cobain's guitar"

"Mimi Hendrix guitar." Autocorrect doesn't like Jimi.

I'm glad he liked it, because he's going to have to see it again on the way back.

Hello from Homer

Homer is pleased to report that he is doing very well. 

Life is good. 

The belly is full and he's regained all the weight he lost. 

Perhaps too much weight!  He might have to start counting kibbles soon, or at least restrict the unlimited supply. 

Huh?  Wha?  He doesn't think much of that suggestion. 

Road Trip: The Mighty Mississippi

"Tonights menu is chicken alfredo with peas. Chocolate cheese cake slices we got at a market today.  It's hot and humid as hell here. There are tons of bugs flying around the lantern. Francine should be here to protect us." Ernest must be wearing his windbreaker for bug protection. They didn't take any insect repellant.  Francine loves bugs! She gets so excited when she finds one flying in the house. 

"This one bumped into Ernest and scared him." Francine would love this one.

Making up for the lack of communication the day before, I got the following text at 1:10 AM.  "Big storm just went through. Tent is not very waterproof. My orbs and sleeping bag are soaked. Nice!" His orbs? Is that a new word for the family jewels?

No, it's just an autocorrect for clothes. "My sleeping bag and pillow soaked up a ton of water. Here's the bag draining." 

"Potato, salami, egg burritos this morning." All that salami is giving me mental heartburn.

"And later, crossing 'old miss."

Road Trip: The Silence

I started to worry a bit when Handy didn't check in with me the second night. But I figured they got to the campsite late. Then I did get a text from Ernest confirming that. Nothing the next morning. Handy didn't respond to my cute cat picture messages, either!  Well, that bothered me. So I called and his phone was not answering. I broke down and called Ernest. Funny thing his phone was working just fine!  Handy said he hadn't had any signal throughout South Dakota but Ernest didn't have a problem. Android vs apple?  Then Ernest got the bright idea to restart Handy's phone and then it worked just fine. So I got one picture.

Road Trip: Breakfast and Bigfoot

The autocorrect fails are pretty funny.  Handy is not the greatest typist to begin with, plus he needs reading glasses which I'm sure he isn't wearing when he texts.

"I'm staring at a loooooong straight away at the moment. Ernest is the Puppet" The PUPPET? Ernest is no one's puppet.  Pilot, on the other hand...

"Salami, onion egg and cheese burritos. Apple and cookies for desert."  I think they passed the desert already.

"We saw Bigfoot."

I immediately texted back with "I saw a yeti."

Tomorrow, a mystery.

Road Trip: Eastward Ho

Handy has sent me a few pictures along with his usually clever texts. 

"Solar Farm outside of Nevada." OK, that's not very clever.  But he gets better.

"We made it. Sand lot campground. An appropriate name." What is Ernest doing, an interpretive dance?

"Chicken rice and veggies. Maybe a few crane flies as well. They're everywhere." Ernest has his headlight on.

That looks like a lot of food but those are really small plates.

See you in the morning. Stay tuned. 

Just Call Me Heloise

I hate the word "hacks."  20 hacks every cook needs to know, etc.

In the old days, they used to be "helpful hints" and Heloise was the queen.

This hint has been working well for me recently:  Rinse strawberries and cherries in water mixed with a little cider vinegar. It really keeps them from getting moldy.

What's your favorite helpful hint?  

The Road Trip: The Notebook

Sorry there is no Ryan Gosling in this post. Yet. Wait for it.  

eDevices are wonderful little things but sometimes...

Ernest's google maps failed him in Wyoming but apparently there was still cell service as he called his girlfriend to navigate for him.  Only he didn't have the physical address of where he was going so he texted me for that.  It was a small town, I think he could have found it in an old fashioned way. 

And then there was that time last summer on the Boston T where I couldn't access my Facebook message from Janet and I exited on the wrong side of the subway and we had a funny text exchange until we finally waved at each other across the street. 

So I thought I'd print out a few things.  Then it became an obsession.  "We're going to need a bigger boat notebook." 

Here's the notebook.

And here's the Gosling.  Make way for Goslings!   

And some Gosling cake. 

The Road Trip: Reservations

It's been a long time since I had a project that so consumed and obsessed me.

A cross-country road trip has been in the back of our mind for ages.  With Ernest going to college in Boston this fall, it seemed like it was the time.

Oh we'll just camp on the way out said Handy, and we can just find motels on our way back.  I'm skipping the camping park by flying to Boston. On a red eye, but splurging with first class!

Ernest's recent trip to Wyoming pointed out that one might actually need a reservation for a campground nowadays. En route, he told me he'd gotten a campsite at Zion but it turned out he just pulled off the road in the national park. Wisely, he did get a reservation for the way back.

Handy's experience in Bakersfield last year was clear evidence that making motel reservations is a good thing.  Did I blog about that?   Once again, at first I only heard the pretty part of the story. That the Vagabond Inn they checked into turned out to be questionable, so they found another place.  Questionable means guys in their underwear drinking beer on the landing, parking lot drug deals, and well, the general description sounded like something out of Breaking Bad. Then they drove around for hours trying to find another place with a vacancy. No refund from the vagabonds, either.

These mistakes are not going to happen on this trip. Ernest reserved campsites for the journey east. Although I fear that in Cleveland they are leaving the hotel situation up to chance. At least they'll have a truck to sleep in.

Instead of having reservations, I have just been making them. From the East Coast to the West, I have a route and nightly stops. What we see in between is completely open, although I have mapped out the "must sees" like the ancestral grave site in New Jersey, three Laura Ingalls Wilder homesites and the Wigwam Motel in Arizona.

I'm not sure if I will live blog this or wait till I get back.  My laptop is heavy and obsolete and I have
trouble with the Blogger app for iDevices. We'll see!

I made my last motel reservation tonight.  We are good to go, a couple weeks ahead of time.

Gratitudes

I am grateful that Ernest made a double batch of his brother's famous cookies. 

I'm grateful he changed the light bulb for me. At 6'1" he didn't even need the stepladder.

On the other hand, he's grateful I pre washed all his new extra long twin bedding. (You'd think that said 6'1" person would already have an extra long bed but he chose a double and sleeps diagonally.) 

And that I unknowingly bought his favorite type of laundry detergent. 

It goes both ways, doesn't it?

I would be most grateful for tips on useful items for college-bound people.  We've got the bed and bath stuff, but what else have your people found handy?

The Return of Beardwatch

Sunday evening there was this. 

But then a couple days later it was back to this. 

So no more beard. He looks younger without it, dontcha think?

On top of the world

 Ernest returned from a month of rock climbing 

on top of the world, both literally and figuratively.

I, of course, stole all these pictures from his facebook page.

What else can a mom do?

That green speck on the left there?

That's Ernest.

On the lighter side,

he practices his blue steel look.

They did a little fishing, too.

Fish heads fish heads

Roly poly fish heads

Fish heads fish heads

Eat them up yum

And one more piece of humorous information.

He peed on both sides of the Continental Divide.