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Airstream Accessories

Got Power?

Windfarm in Iowa

When you travel with as many gadgets as we do, keeping things charged is a necessary evil. Today’s must-haves include the core things we use for charging.

Power Strip

Yes, really. Wall plugs are often in short supply in hotels, friends houses, and powered campsites. A power strip can help you get everything plugged in, and plugging everything in in the same place can limit the number of items you forget when you pack up to go. We use an average 4 outlet power strip at the moment, but I’m tempted to try  a PowerSquid.

 4amp USB charger

Many of the gadgets we have use a USB cable (mostly micro-usb, and a few mini-usb) for charging. We use a 4 amp charger, with 4 USB slots. This allows charging a few devices at once off a single plug. Getting a 4 amp charger is important if you want to charge multiple (and larger) devices at once.

 Car DC USB adapter

Someone brilliant created these 2 outlet USB devices for the cigarette lighter in your car. The best ones have a 2 amp slot for charging larger devices. This adapter is a 3.1 Amp adapter, allowing both the 1 and the 2.1 Amp slots to be used at the same time. We have two of these.

 Car Inverter

Sometimes you just need a plug, and an inverter can supply you with power on the road. You can swap out the cigarette lighter adapter for some battery clamps, which allow you to use the inverter directly from the car battery while parked. This has come in handy several times during our trip.

Most trailers and some new cars have these built in, but if yours doesn’t, it’s worth having one.

Well, that’s the bulk of it – for the record our pile of charging cables and cords is a tangled mess in a backpack. Something we’ll need to fix at some point.

 

 

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Illinois Most Popular Posts State Parks

It is 9:20 on a Saturday

It’s 9:20 on a Saturday evening, and I’m sitting on a bench, snuggling Rachel on my right, and Jess on my left. Jess has little Cara in her lap, with Andrew on her other side. Above us is a starry night sky, seen through the branches of the trees that surround us. The bench is in Kickapoo State Park, just west of Danville, Illinois. The park holds movie night on the weekends, and tonight’s movie is Toy Story 3.

The day started with a few rays of sunlight casting a dappled light on the side of our tent, a welcome sign that the scattered rain the previous night had passed. Oatmeal for breakfast, and some quiet time for the kids. Jess changed into her cycling clothes, and headed out for a ride. I opened the laptop, reviewed my most recent email, and started coding an LDAP bulk user linking utility.

Fresh local peaches purchased yesterday at a roadside stand on the other side of Illinois became a morning snack. Jess returned from her ride, a 24 mile loop that I’ll enjoy later in the day. Kids head off on bikes to play at the swingsets with the small mob of kids here for the weekend. A little more work and a phone call, some lunch, and Jess heads into town for some groceries and a load of laundry. I leave on that bike ride, then finish the LDAP tool, committing and pushing my code for review and deployment. That customer will be happy.

Fire roasted hot dogs for dinner, then showers for everyone. Jess braids Cara’s hair, and we gather jackets and blankets for the movie.

Later in the evening, Jess and I sit together looking at the night sky, and ponder.

Why is today the exception, instead of the rule?

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Faith Most Popular Posts

Leaving the Known for the Unknown

We’ve been to Denver before. Denver is not new to us, in fact it was a little like coming home. Right now, if I could pick anywhere to live it would be there. I love it. I love the people, I love the landscape, I love the city. I love the outskirts of the city.

Turns out though – neither Sam or I have ever driven PAST Denver. Nope. Denver was the edge of the known universe. Up to the eastern city limit, we could recognize landmarks and have a general idea of what to expect. Past it and my brain had a hard time even visualizing what to expect. Is the middle of the country as flat as I think it is? What’s out there? Does it all look like…gulp… Nevada?

In some ways our journey really starts here near the edge of the Rocky Mountains. From here everything is new – we have to work together a little better to make sure things don’t go sideways. To make sure that we stick together as a family. I’ll admit I’m a little nervous.

We pull into a gas station in the middle of nowhere and I have a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. “Are we really going to do this??” I think to myself. I look out over the brown, desert Eastern Colorado landscape and just for a moment I am afraid. There are so many things that could go wrong, yet at the same time there are so many that could go right.

Once again we leave the known for the unknown. Time to take a deep breath and just drive.

 

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Airstream Accessories

Must Have Monday: Travel Potty Seat


Let’s be honest. Potty training your youngest child while traveling 2700 miles across 11 states is not ideal. Not even close to ideal, in fact its downright crazy. But what in our life isn’t crazy these days? I have seriously been trying to potty train this girl for over a year. We’ve tried on and off and maybe because she’s my last (not ready to let go?) or my most stubborn (not willing to duke it out with her?) it just hasn’t clicked. “She’s not ready” and “We’ll try again when she’s a little older” are my most common excuses.

Fast forward to 2 weeks before we leave. I desperately realize that having her still in diapers will be not ideal. So, it’s GO time. I’m going to get this DONE once and for all and then we will never have to buy another diaper again. I can totally do it in 2 weeks. My friends have managed to train in 2 days – so I have given myself plenty of time.

Not so much. I became so stressed, unhappy, and hating my life that I decided it just wasn’t worth it. I put the panties away, pulled out the Pull-ups again (gasp! I know!) and decided that when she wanted to, she would. And guess what? She did! The next day! I about fainted when Sam called to tell me Cara had gone upstairs and taken care of business all by herself.

We’ve not been without our accidents, but she’s actually doing quite well. The BEST thing I ever bought for this was a travel potty seat. This thing is a LIFE SAVER. I kid you not. Not only does she love it (who doesn’t love frogs, right??) it helps her to not be scared when we pull into the mangiest gas station in the middle of nowhere Nebraska and cheerful say “Okay Cara!! Time to go potty!” She tends to walk into the bathroom, look at the nasty toilet and say “No, mommy. I don’t need to go.” Luckily the frogs coax it right out of her. And it even comes with a nice little travel bag to keep it clean. Brilliant I tell you!

So, next road trip with a potty training child? You definitely need one.

 

Don’t we look amazing while we road trip?! Leaving Utah & Cara “driving the car”

 

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Video

Rifle Falls to Denver, CO

The drive from Rifle, CO, to Denver, CO is one of my favorites. The canyons are beautiful, they have some really long tunnels to keep the kids entertained (Rachel held her breath through the entire Eisenhower Tunnel, not an easy feat) and it really just epitomizes “rocky mountain grandeur”.

“Babe!!”

“What??!”

“Check out that bike path! One heck of a climb but just LOOK at it!”

I glanced out my window to see the most picturesque paved bike trail I’ve ever seen in my life. The black and yellow winds up through the pine & aspen trees to the top of a giant hill (possibly Vail pass? I’ve lost track of where we are) before beginning a quick descent back down the other side. It was so beautiful I almost cried. Well, not really, but we did decide that we could easily spend a few weeks here.

Imagine this: Park the airstream, Sam spends some quality time with a signal booster and a mifi card while the kids and I hike and play in the dirt. We spend our evenings on long, scenic bike rides with the kids. Sounds glorious doesn’t it?

For now, though, we just drink it in and keep driving to Denver.