We Kid You Not Childfree Forums

Or if you prefer, Bee and BJ's Antiques Road Show. To see why, please visit my blog at

leztrek-journeys.blogspot.com/

I'll be updating this blog periodically during our travels, so you can all see what kind of trouble we get into.

Sounds like a BLAST! I did several of those states on my solo road trip last summer, and I highly encourage everyone to do it at some point. The US is a fascinating country with so much interesting history and geography. I *loved* SD including Custer, Mt Rushmore and especially the Badlands. I went to the Laura Ingalls Wilder home in Missouri as well as I've been to Kentucky and Tennessee several times. I love Mammoth Cave in Cave City, KY, about 2 hrs from Nashville. The trees in Mobile are spectacular and the plains really are gorgeous.

My road trip blog was here -- http://montyollie.livejournal.com/tag/roadtrip+%2708 -- however Live Journal has put it in reverse chronological order. You can go to July 28/08 in the regular blog and read from that point into November. It was a magnificent journey.

That sounds great, Jo. I'll check it out before we leave.

You guys also might want to google "Vandwelling" and see the amazing conversions that some people did to live in their vans. I did it too -- I lived in my Dodge Grand Caravan for over three months -- crashing on people's couches now and again, and getting a motel once in a while if I was desperate for some cheesy teevee and a hot bath. HA! And it wasn't even a van so much as a MINIVAN, so hell, if I can do it, anyone can.

But yeah, I had everything in there. Here are the pics from the initial conversion where I ripped out the seats and put in the bed -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/montyollie/...074809496/ -- After that, I had underbed storage with rubbermaid bins, a butane stove, 12 volt cooler (fridge) and running water and a dishpan in the form of a one-gallon pressurized weed sprayer. HA!

I think I also hold the record for meeting the most people off this board -- I was relentless... if I was in a state that someone was in, I generally invited myself right on over. On the bright side, I can say with complete certainty that Americans are the nicest most hospitable people EVER. And I'm Canadian. HA!

Okay, sorry about this horrid 'picspam' -- but I had uploaded all my photos in batches to Facebook, and this is the only way you can see them in an orderly fashion, or pick and choose which states you want to see. LOL

The Van conversion:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13...712d2bd14a

Early August 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14...787738157a
-- Northern Ontario; Winnipeg,MB; North Dakota; South Dakota Badlands

August 6th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14...065f1bfee6 --
South Dakota; Wyoming, Montana

August 7th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14...fc33f670e7 --
Glacier National Park, Montana; road to Banff, Alberta

August 9th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14...cfe3436c97 --
Banff and the Columbia Icefields, Alberta

August 11th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14...cfe3436c97 --
The Alaska Highway and Watson Lake, Yukon (plus pics of the converted van)

August 12th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14...c2ee9d7fec --
Watson Lake, Yukon

August 13 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14...587206b406 --
Whitehorse, Yukon; Lake Laberge, Yukon

August 14th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14...b281100f7f --
Whitehorse, Yukon; Skagway, Alaska

August 18th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14...5e3f3585f4 --
Canol Road (Yukon) and Liard Hotsprings, Liard River, Northern BC

August 18th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14...14bb667506 --
Prince George and the road to the Okanagan Valley

August 22nd 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14...066f74ce14 --
Kelowna and Westbank, BC

August 22nd 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14...ea2ee31a2b --
Kelowna and Westbank, BC (part two)

August 24th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...2225cfe9c5 --
Port Moody and Vancouver, BC; damage to my van

August 25th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...ad525aef5a --
Vancouver, BC

August 29th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...1709d20773 --
Bremerton, Washington; KW Miller and the Rocky Point Allstars

August 30th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...718d585945 --
Astoria, Oregon and the Pacific Coast

September 3rd 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...b14ff4fcaf --
Portland, Oregon

September 5th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...92d0de79b0 --
The Oregon Coast; Highway 101

September 6th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...e26c463050 --
California Redwoods

September 8th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...d3622ded38 --
San Francisco

September 9th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...7af3ed2c27 --
Monterey, Carmel and the road to Big Sur, California

September 10th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...f22f6839c0 --
Santa Barbara, California

September 12th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...7f5f2d4097 --
Hollywood and Beverly Hills, California

September 12th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...4db4fc78b1 --
Venice Beach, California and the road to San Diego

September 13th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...ec4248a630 --
San Diego, California

September 14th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...916920b4b0 --
Palm Springs, Palm Desert and Indio California (Coachella Valley -- "The Desert")

September 15th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...0206ef2210 --
Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave Desert

September 17th 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...a5336a02a1 --
Las Vegas, NV

September 18th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...3daf7b8b1e --
Mojave redux, Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam

September 19th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...5394b11910 --
Leaving Las Vegas / the road to Utah

September 20th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15...ce84d3191a --
Utah is not just for Mormons

September 21st, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16...a388b7fb38 --
Vermillion Cliffs, Navajo National Monument (Northern Arizona)

September 22nd, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16...e41422d83e --
Grand Canyon, North Rim, Northern Arizona

September 24th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16...8e194f933f --
The Four Corners (Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico)

September 25th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16...749a8eeb00 --
Mesa Verde National Park (Colorado)

September 27th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16...5890bd44d6 --
The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

September 27th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16...cd962fe8aa --
Denver, Colorado (Red Rocks Amphitheatre, downtown)

September 28th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16...5f58d8d07f --
Denver and Boulder, Colorado

September 29th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16...4d369159fb --
Boulder, Colorado

October 2nd, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16...4fe3609766 --
Nebraska (Scottsbluff National Monument) and Kansas

October 2nd, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16...e71de49c08 --
Kansas (Eisenhower Presidentail Library/Home, Tallgrass Prairie Preserve)

October 4th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16...f49cefe03b --
Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial

October 8th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16...d9ffcb016a --
Missouri (inlc. Laura Ingalls Wilder house)

October 10th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16...266be9d9a8 --
Arkansas (Buffalo National River, Clinton Presidential Library)

October 12th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16...aba67597eb --
Southern Arkansas (Crater of Diamonds State Park (Murfreesboro), Little Rock) and New Orleans, Louisiana

October 14th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16...e526b93294 --
the Gulf Coast (Biloxi MS, Destin FL)

October 22nd, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17...5a0188e398 --
Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina

October 22nd, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17...d707c50f95 --
Washington DC, Part One

October 22nd, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17...4dc2739baf --
Washington DC, Part Two

October 26th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17...e3bf64709f --
Misha & Tim's Hallowe'en Party (Lorton, VA)

October 27th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17...2110b88431 --
The Jersey Shore (Ocean Grove / Asbury Park NJ)

November 4th, 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18...231e6226b2 --
New York City, Election Night

I also have a YouTube channel with some REALLY boring home videos. LOL Let me know if that interests you at all.

Jo

So glad I'll have my laptop along (I don't usually) so I can look at these as we go along.

Travelling as senior citizens with three dogs isn't the same as camping. We definitely don't camp. So you will hear a lot about La Quinta, which is very dog-friendly.

LOL!

I am a bit of a hippy and nature buff, so I enjoyed your National Parks system something fierce. My I got the "Passport" -- the book for kids where you can get a stamp at every park you go to, and it was almost like my travel guide. I would go to states ONLY to visit the national park there.

My favourite one... you ready for this???? KANSAS!! The Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Kansas. It was so gorgeous and serene. There were locusts or grasshoppers EVERYWHERE. Totally reminded me of that chapter in the Little House books when the locusts come and wipe out their crops!! LOL

Oh, yeah, we're getting the Parks Pass at the first park we go to, whichever that is. We'll also look at a lot of state parks. And we're always on the lookout for dog parks, or at least places we can walk the dogs.

I just spent a couple hours going through all the plastic bags we've been saving, and making sure I can pick up poop with them, as in no holes. The rest will go to recycle. Three dogs use up about 6 bags a day, unless two of them go at once.

Aren't these useful things to know?

Just a reminder, we've been on the road almost a week, more or less keeping up with blogging.

leztrek-journeys.blogspot.com

Good stuff. I just put it in my RSS feed reader so I will get an alert when you update.

One thing I found about traveling in the south and 'hick' states, was to try and be 'respectful' I guess is the word, of things I don't understand. I stayed with a SAHM of four in rural Missouri -- military wife, Bush lovin republican, the whole nine yards, and I had to put my personal prejudices aside for the time I stayed with her, because I CHOSE to stay with her to see what makes people in red states tick. And the way I did that was by not judging them based on what I presumed they were like. Of course, I was pleasantly surprised in most ways, and shocked and saddened in others, but I did give it a fair shake.

I noticed you said things like 'white trash' in your blog and outlined when you felt it was necessary to take out your firearm, but if you substitute the word 'nigga' or 'fag' or any other socially unacceptable label, perhaps you can see how it comes off sounding like you just want to get the fuck THROUGH those states instead of enjoying what those states have to offer.

I don't mean to sound preachy. I just know that I was AMAZINGLY pleasantly surprised when I put my notions on the back burner, and focused on what was right with those states and those people vs. what was wrong with them.

Thanks for the heads up. I *love* travel blogs, specifically road trippy blogs, specifically from people I "know"!!! YAY! Have fun you guys, and don't give Joyce anymore heart attacks going around hairpin turns on the edges of cliffs at top speed. LOL

The difference being that I keep my views to myself while IN these states, something red state people do NOT do when I am in their presence. They have no idea the contempt or revulsion I feel on occasion while passing through, feelings I wouldn't have unless they did something right then and there to elicit them. Come next week, when we hit Iowa, I'll have been in all 50 states, and yes, some I DO just want to get through so I can be somewhere else. Also, there are some parts of the world I never want to visit because of the way women, children, animals and the environment are treated. Now that I have (almost) visited all 50, I can happily say there are quite a few I'd never go back to except under duress. When we say "travel broadens," we don't necessarily mean we're gonna like everything we experience (sheep eyeball, anyone?)

Putting up a few pictures at a time from the earliest of my travel blogs. Will try to add a few every day or so for the next week, or thereabouts, since we're stopped in Custer, SD.

I visited and left you a comment.

When you guys talk about "those" states I think you might be referring to where I'm from.... ack!!!! I am a military wife from Missouri. (Notice I did NOT say Bush lovin'!!!!!!)

Jo - I'm glad you enjoyed Kansas. I meet so many people who say it sucks and there's nothing there - BUT THEY'VE NEVER BEEN!!!! I can find something I like in ANY state - usually state parks, at least. I miss state parks!!!

Dana Wrote:I visited and left you a comment.

I'm glad you mentioned this, because CNK and others have also commented, but Blogspot won't let me respond there. I appreciate seeing remarks from readers.

I, too, probably live in one of "those" states to a certain extent. There are parts of Florida that are very backward and unpleasant. Having seen them, I'm happy to say I won't be re-visiting those parts, ever, if I can help it.

We got home a couple days ao, although I am still blogging in Wisconsin. I fell and dislocated my elbow in Illinois. VA is sending me to an orthopedic consult, but also I have my cataract and thumb reconstruction coming up. I may have to check myself into a nursing home!

Not really. I can take care of myself even with all that, but must move slowly!

Weather back here in Florida is brutally hot. i venture out only to swim in the late afternoon when the sun is off the pool, and the water temp is STILL high 80s. Meanwhile, I'll keep on blogging, try to upload more pictures, and work on my next book. not even sure I'm working this fall, so I better get used to typing one-handed. Just not sure which hand!

Welcome home! Florida in the summer - brutal is the right word. Sorry to hear about your elbow. I've got to go read the blog! I hope you are feeling better soon!

catsnotkids Wrote:Welcome home! Florida in the summer - brutal is the right word. Sorry to hear about your elbow. I've got to go read the blog! I hope you are feeling better soon!

Thanks, CNK! The show must go on, even if it's limping a little.

Just a quick update. All my entries and pictures are complete.