0 Like So Many Things

Like so many things, when we first purchased Minerva, the foam we bought was not exactly upholstery foam but it would work perfectly for weekends and vacations.  After all we weren't going to be living in it......right?  So why in the world would we spend THAT much money on foam.

Well we have found that it is not so perfect for fulltiming.  As a matter of fact, Shawn and I have turned into grumpy non-sleeping people since our not exactly upholstery grade foam has developed a dip in the middle of the bed.  Ok, dip is a bit of an understatement.....

For the last two weeks it's caused one problem or another with our sleep.  First one of us would trap the other one in the dip.  Once we figured out what was happening, we have tried sleeping on "our side" of the bed.  However, the dip is so large that you tend to slide down into the hole.

Have you ever tried to really sleep while clinging to the edge of the bed so you don't trap your spouse in a gigantic hole in the middle of the bed?

Or tried to sleep while enduring the "slight" draft or cold that radiates when you are up against the wall?  It just doesn't work very well.

Bright and early this morning, Shawn was up researching options.  Thankfully he found an upholstery store at our next stop that has the correct foam in stock and he hit up Walmart for a 4-inch memory foam mattress topper to, we hope, help stop the slide...........

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0 Little Things

The time of laziness is coming to an end, thank goodness.  I'm am beyond ready to hit the road and see the scenery change again.  Yes, I know it's been less than three months.  Yes, Texas is pretty.  Yes, I've enjoyed relaxing.  However, my addiction to see new vistas has been back building and it's about to overflow and I'm tried of randomly driving around Texas just filling in the time.

Though we will have a week or two here and there that won't have a purpose to it, from now until mid-April almost every week will be spoken for.  We've already started planning out the next two months.  This week starts tax preparation and Dr. Appointments, next week we start the "See Ya Next Year" family tour (will span 2 months... off and on)and the week after that we tackle over due haircuts (an entire year without my favorite hair stylist... the horror!).  Before I know it, I will be ordering school curriculum for next year.   I can't wait to get to the storage shed to offload some junk from the trailer too.

We are still getting accustomed to the new hitch.  I have not towed with it yet.  Shawn likes to get use to driving with it before he lets me loose with it.  It does seem to have cut down on hitching up time but I'm still learning how to direct Shawn to back it up right.  (Jason, I promise to get a picture for you.. when I remember to!)

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0 Sunset On An Airstream

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2 Fullfillin Another Dream

I am not completely sure when my obsession with NASA started but it might have something to do with a flyer that was all about Space Camp   It was certainly sealed by that movie called "Space Camp".  Unfortunately, my mother wouldn't spring the $350 dollars for me to spend a week playing astronaut but I've always wanted to go to Johnson Space Center.  Anyway, we finally managed to make that one happen.  

The mural on the wall at the Tram Tour loading area-

This building houses, on loan from the Smithsonian, an actual Saturn V Rocket..

Mission Control-

Space Shuttle Mission Control (I really wanted to see the Apollo Control...but it is still mission control)-

If you look in the back corner you will see lights shining on some plaques.  Those are for the missions that are still ongoing ...the ones that will never return.

Our next stop is the astronaut training facility...a mock up of the International Space Station-

This is shuttle training equipment is headed to a museum somewhere -

The new rover will house a few astronauts for about 14 days -

Here you go boys.... ROCKETS!

Finally to that Saturn V I teased you with earlier.  Massive, titanic, gargantuan... don't really cover it.  It was also my son's FAVORITE THING!

Now we are going to head back into JSC (Johnson Space Center Museum)-

Inside a mock up of the Space Shuttle-

A random Skylab mock up picture -

Lunar Capsule -

We spent about almost six hours.  We missed a movie or two and the playground but we did enough to satisfy the dream.  Well not the one about going to space camp but.....some things just weren't meant to be!

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3 Yes, Despite the Lack of Photos.... We do Have Children.

In Response to:

"I feel like getting on to the both of you. You appear to want this blog to be about a FAMILY adventure. An occasional picture of your kids in unfocused settings will not endanger them. The dirty toilet in one of the above images was not appealing. Who do you want to know what you are up to, and what do want to share?"

First, the dirty toilet was behind a glass window.  Second it was rust.  Third sorry if it offended you.  Fourth there is a joke there but I won't go there... even though it pains me to keep it to myself.

Now for the kids.

For everyone reading it's a harmless travel blog about two adults, two kids, and two dogs who hit the road in an Airstream.  For us it's our life.  The mental and physical safety and health of my kids overrides everything and everyone else.  I have no illusions as to what this world contains both good and bad.  I choose to err on the side of caution.

When this blog started it was more about the renovation of Minerva than about anything else.  Naturally, our kids had very little to do with that process.  Then things changed and we, as parents, had to make a decision about posting pictures of our kids.  We discussed several things that caused us to decide against posting pictures of our kids.

I am an avid follower of several "mommy blogs".  One day one of them posted about picture theft.  Some other woman was writing a blog about HER children, using HER photos and claiming HER kids.  She had little to NO recourse because she had not done anything to protect her photos.  She only found out when someone who read her blog found the fake blog.  This same blogger, once her older children reached the age of awareness, requested she quit including stories and pictures of them in her blog.  Some of the things she was posting embarrassed them.  She also had more than one instance of someone reading her blog and using it against her children.

I had a blogging friend who had her pictures stolen to be used as advertisements.  I don't want to be driving down the road and see my kids up on a billboard.  Though I admit very unlikely, it has happened.

Then there was a certain website that you could search for people on.  At the time, this website used sample pictures from people's facebook accounts to confirm it was the person you where looking for.  At the time I had only posted pictures of my crafting not my kids.  My pictures showed up for anyone to see.

The internet is a strange thing.  You have very little and in most cases absolutely no control over who views your photos.   The only way I can insure the privacy of my children is to not post their pictures and request that no one else does either.

I believe my kids should have a choice as to wether or not their pictures are plastered all over the internet.  I chose to start this blog, my kids did not.  At this time they are not old enough or aware enough of the world around them to understand exactly what the consequences are.   I am and that makes a world of difference.

I can hear you thinking "Everyone else does it"... well I am happy for Everyone Else.  As a matter of fact, I routinely enjoy looking at Everyone Else's pictures.  Everyone Else has some very adorable children.  That is Everyone Else's choice but mine is simply different.  AND frankly, if Everyone Else took a long walk on a short pier at least I'll still be dry.

I am guessing that the last sentence might have meant to be "who do you not want to know what you are up to what don't we want to share".

This trip is very much about OUR family.  This blog is very much about where we go, what we see and how much we want to share.  I am not hiding anything special.  As a matter of fact those who are close family and friends will tell you that my life is pretty much an open book.  I have been accused of having verbal diarrhea at times (just read this post).  Our families and friends just have to send out a single email, text, or place a call and we will bombard them with pictures.

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2 The Blue Ghost

Last weekend, the kids and I decided to head out and visit the USS Lexington, otherwise known as "The Blue Ghost", which is a floating museum located in Corpus Christi, Texas.  We've visited the Intrepid in NYC, but the kids were a bit too young and really didn't remember much, so this visit was quite exciting and memorable for them both. 

So the history of the USS Lexington is that it is an Essex class aircraft carrier (same as the Intrepid, actually) that was commissioned in 1943 and was decommissioned in 1991 (the longest of any of the Essex ships).  She fought in WWII, had a hand in the Cuban missile crisis, and trained most navy pilots from the 60's until the 90's on carrier take offs and landings.

The story of her nickname is interesting....apparently during WWII, she was painted dark blue, and was the only ship in the fleet to not have camo (because she was so heavily fortified and defended).  Anyway, the Japanese thought they had sunk her many times, only to find out later that she survived the attacks...hence the nickname "The Blue Ghost".

Unfortunately, a lot of the pictures have my kids in them (especially the really good ones of all of the restored heavy artillery), so those won't be posted here :(

What you see when you approach the museum.

The obligatory aircraft and propeller displays.

The main island as seen from the flight deck -- all said there are 5 levels that you can explore within the museum, including the flight deck, the airplane storage deck, the quarters, the engine room and the island.

The listing of battles and action.

A close up view of the island...apparently the Lexington was to be named the Cabot, but was renamed the Lexington (CV-16) after the prior Lexington (CV-2) was lost during the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942.

"Dont Bother Running You'll Only Die Tired"...this was painted on the side of an Cobra attack helicopter displayed on the flight deck....I thought it clever and quite appropriate to the machine it was on!

This is the "view" out of the bridge of the ship...there were all kinds of cool stuff up here....again, lots of kids pics!

This was the admiral's quarters..it was funny because since it was still in use up to the early 90's, it was quite "modern" in look and feel.

This was the admirals and the captain's galley.

Captain's bathroom.

Captain's quarters.

One of the many air operations rooms, where all of the aircraft were monitored and tracked -- think of it as the air traffic controllers for the navy at sea.

Being on the sea for so long, you had to have everything on board, including a barber.

One of the many berthing rooms on the ship...the 4" thick mattress would lift up to expose their personal area for storage.  They were also given a single locker.  The Lexington was the first coed ship, so there were specific women's and men's rooms.

This was their quite impressive on-board machine shop.

Everything on-board, right?  Here's the dental department!

And the post office.

And the x-ray office.

And the emergency room (the medical facilities where quite nice and seemingly capable).

And the medical isolation room (which was quite scary, actually).

All in all, it's a nice museum, and the kids had a blast there.  In the forward aircraft elevator, they converted the space into basically in IMAX theater, where they show movies related to aircraft, or naval combat.

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4 Minerva Gets A New Tongue Ring

Our day starts out pretty good.  After all we are going to put the new hitch on and we did but it involved a lot of trial and error.  I have mixed feelings about it because I'm gonna have to relearn how to hitch up all over again.  I just got it down to a science.  Sure, once I learn hitching will be a piece of cake, a walk in the park.... etc.

The first thing I did was unthinkingly undo the trailer coupler dropping the 100 lb hitch head onto the ground.  I have no excuse but muscle/routine unhitching memory.  After unlocking the padlock on the coupler you always pull it up.. at least until the new hitch.  I missed Shawn's foot by.. well centimeters.  We had an audience so at least it did not disintegrate into a martial spat. After reattaching the hitch head to the stinger and backing the truck up to the ball, we finally got our act together and the hitch installed.  We even had a trial hitch up session.

At this point, Shawn tested the umbilical to make sure it was long enough... it wasn't.  The last time he had to mess with that thing it took about a week to get it all figured out.  We headed to the nearest RV place.. camperclinic (I think) to get cord.  When we arrived home, starving for lunch, we discovered the dogs (yes, plural) and both had a stinky mess in the trailer.. ON THE NEW FLOOR!

Once we have the mess cleaned up, Shawn instructs the kids to clean up their toys so we can eat.  That's when we discovered ANOTHER tambour door had bit the dust and Woody's (toy story) head was decapitated.

The tambour door will have to wait and Shawn will have to look into reattaching Woody's dismembered head but on the plus side(and we need a plus side today), the new hitch is installed, the new floor is clean, we have a new umbilical cord AND

(Hey Jason check this out) WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....


ONE MORE TIME
WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....

No it doesn't make me happy at all!  Happy is just too tame a word.  I'm, however, sad that we won't be driving somewhere new this week.... we can't try out the new hitch yet.


WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....WE CAN OPEN THE TAILGATE WITHOUT UNHITCHING THE TRUCK.....  Sorry I couldn't help myself.....

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3 Floor Almost Done......

Shawn go the last of the floor laid.  We FINALLY have flooring!!  I really can't tell you how exciting this is for us.  It really changes the look of the Airstream.

On one of the Airforums threads, Shawn saw were someone used rope as trim/base boards.  We like the idea so much we decided to use it too.  There was a lot of hammering and some drilling too.

At least until he broke the drill bit...

 The front room, sans dogs and kids................

The bedroom finished... 

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