May Road Trip - part 1

We have a relatively quiet summer planned. We have a house to begin building at some point this summer, and we are also recovering from the Recession. The Recession alone stopped me from doing some of my road trip plans of last summer and then again this spring.

My oldest son, Colt, has been living about ten hours from our home in another town. We have not seen him since Christmas. That has been a long time! His 19th birthday was also approaching and there was no way that I was going to let that go by without his family there to celebrate!

Also, Colt's girlfriend, Tyler, lives in a town near to where he is staying, and I had not yet met her.

Colt is intending to come home in July to spend the summer. He has plans to go to a technical school to become an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer this fall. Tyler is going to Cadet camp again this summer, and then her future is uncertain, as she makes plans for her college options. I knew my only opportunity to meet her would have to be this May before they parted ways.

I headed out on this road trip on Cash Fumes. I know you have heard of Gas Fumes, but this is different. Same idea, different issue. We packed a lot of bread, jam, sandwich meat, cheese slices, cans of beans and tomato sauce, and fresh fruit. My intent was to not eat out except where I really needed to. Of course, we had to stop at Tim Hortons and buy some Timbits and "a large decaf mocha, heavy on the hot chocolate, don't forget the whipped topping," for the road!

Our first stop was to have lunch at a playground. This is one of the few (if not only) pictures you will see of me on this trip. This is at the beginning of my 10 hour journey that turned into 12 hours.

After we left the playground we were driving down the freeway when I saw all these motorbikes lined up in this guy's yard. I was going to check it out on my way back, but then decided to turn around and go back. I am glad I did, cause I know I would have been too tired on my return trip. We stopped to look and the guy showed us a dirtbike that would suit Austin just fine. It was already sold, so I told him if he got another one in like it, to please give me a call.

The Girls Were Surprised to See Goats on the Road!

We spent the night in that town and found ourselves a nice little motel. Previous to the girls coming home I am used to travelling with only four or five boys and I can squeeze into a nicer hotel in one room. When I travel with Ray (rarely) we have to use two rooms and it is very expensive.

This was the first of what will probably be many roadtrips with six children and me. That means we will not fit into one nicer hotel room. So that leaves us with a nicer motel room. I refuse to pay for two rooms when I travel with a pack of small people! When the boys and I did more local roadtrips we have often 'camped out' in motel rooms, because it was so much cheaper.

So camping out was the way to go: We found a husband/wife owned motel that was very clean with a kitchenette. They were willing for us to camp out with sleeping bags on the floor. The price was also very reasonable. I will certainly recommend them to anyone going in that direction: Travellers Lodge, Cranbrook.


We ordered in pizza and had a quick bite, before the little ones hit the bed and the big ones began to read. Then the big ones and I hooked up the computer and found the new movie How To Train Your Dragon free online. Cheap entertainment!


First Stop Next Day: Walmart. We have no Walmart in our town and I love being able to find what I want! In this case - beads for the girls hair, plus organizers to put them in. And Cassidy took his wad of cash shopping. Our children begin earning wages from their dad as soon as they are able to clean up the job site. They don't begin putting away money in their House Funds, until they are about eleven. Until then, they spend 90% and tithe 10%.

When they hit thirteen they are expected to begin buying their own clothes. Cassidy has been fortunate in that he was blessed with clothes being given to him by a couple of friends of ours! Colt and Dane were never so well-off! lol Cassidy rode it easy until just recently when he decided that he really wanted some cozy sweater/sweatshirt type shirts. So he packed up his cash and headed to Walmart, where he commenced to try on and price check his items, until he came up with the best deal.

The thing I appreciate about this is seeing how different children are. You really see their personalities emerge. Colt wanted clothes, and so he bought them, beginning at thirteen. Dane preferred to live in a couple sets of clothes until just this last year, when at age 16, he finally went shopping. Before that he managed with t-shirts from cadets, gifts, and hand me downs from his brother. Last fall, before he took his trip to Guatemala, he decided it was finally time to spend some hard cold cash.

After Cassidy's weekend with cash and coin burning a hole in his pocket, he realized how quickly money goes! He enjoyed the feeling of blowing it on candy, clothes, a baseball hat, but when he came home he was quick to tell me he would not be spending again for a while, because he is saving for a dirtbike.

Cassidy in His New Duds

Do you know, when I brought the hair beads home I had boys begging me to allow them to be the ones to sort out the 4,000 multi-coloured beads into the organizer! Must have been relaxing. (smile)

The children also made birthday cards for Colt, since it was to be his 19th birthday the following day. Before we headed to our son's town, we stopped to visit a friend who had adopted Raine's best friend. He doesn't know he is Raine's best friend (smile), because he is so much older than her (about 12), but she considers him that.

Once we left there, I headed to Colt. The kids were so excited to see him.


They had a ball playing football and tackle and soccer in the yard of where he lives.


After we had been there for a while, it was time for Colt to go meet his girlfriend, Tyler, and bring her back to his place to meet us. I know it must have been very intimidating to have to walk up to our crowd! When I met her she was everything I had envisioned: quiet and sweet, and very kind to the children. I know in time she will become more comfortable around us and begin chatting and I really look forward to getting to know her more.


We had a makeshift Save-On Foods style dinner (cheap! lol) and then headed out to the park for some late evening fun.



Later on, when I drove her home, I had the pleasant opportunity of meeting Tyler's mum and her sister, Rebecca, before we headed home for the evening. It was a relatively quiet day, but my plans for the next day were more in style with a real road trip. This time I would be taking along Colt and Tyler. Thank goodness I have this wonderful 15 passenger van!

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