Ed. Note: I had hoped to have this all done and completed, after all, being back from the trip, we would (should) have much more free time, right?! Unfortunately, it did not quite work out that way. However, I do have quite a bit for you and I’m going to keep at it.
If you’d like to see the later posts, please sign up as a free member, and you’ll get a notification when a post (back dated to the date of the activity) is posted. Not to mention, the future posts! With over 20,000 images captured in 2024, there is a fair amount of material to sort through to make the posts.
Looking back on 2024, the theme was definitely travel! The early part of the year was spent preparing for the upcoming trip, with our departure in April. Alan did a lot of maintenance on the RV and the vehicles to be ready for the trip and Meagan planned out for all the needs of the kids on the road.
January
New Year’s fireworks!
All tuckered out from the celebration!
“I can’t even right now – go away!”
Ducky tackles a friend in the bounce house!
Round two of fireworks and sparklers. The kids make a firing line of Roman candles!
Testing out the kid carrier. Alan ordered a new carrier for the trip, designed for the bigger kids. It was quite comfortable, a Kelty PerfictFit ELITE.
Why yes, I CAN be cute!
Morning!
Evan helps make breakfast. Pancakes are one of his favorite things to make and eat!
Lowe’s workshop for the kids. They are working on assembling little tool boxes.
All done!
A building activity at Cub Scouts.
WEBLOS den hike for Jarek.
Alan took Ducky on it to test out the carrier on a 4 mile hike. Worked great!
Evan has his 7th birthday!
Randal continues to hit milestone!
Soon…Soon, Mommy, I will walk!
Ducky reads a book while waiting for Arya’s dance lesson to complete.
February
Ducky holds onto Evan, sad, because he doesn’t want him to stop playing with him outside.
Gambit is just sick of it all today.
Jarek cooks dinner over a fire for one of his WEBLOS activities. Not quite the same as on a stove.
Firefly cuddles with Evan.
We left a plate out (shocked face!) and came to find the bees our neighbor keeps were drinking the water the next morning after a rain.
Smiling Duck!
I will not be restrained or contained!
Evan tackles the rock climbing wall at a home school event!
Back at Lowe’s, the kids make a flower holder for February.
All done!
I can’t walk but I’m ready to drive!
Cookie decorating with a home school group!
Sleepy Duck gets Daddy cuddles!
The kids sand their Pinewood Derby cars on a workshop day.
Ducky got Alan’s gloves and put one on. He’s ready to fix things!
Photograph me like one of your French babies!
March
Evan paints his Pinewood Derby car.
Alan helps Evan put a clear coat on his car.
Alan adjusts the weights in the car to bring it up to competition weight.
Where are we going and why am I in this wagon!
Alan helps Garrett assemble his picture frame kit.
The kids hard at work on their projects.
With the never ending maintenance issues, we had both the inverter and transfer switch fail. These serve to back up the refrigerator while travelling (or not on shore power).
Alan replaced both of them, and also installed a battery monitor to monitor the charge state of the batteries.
The beading on the orange lines is hydraulic fluid. The original thermoplastic lines would bleed fluid when they aged.
Alan removed the existing lines and took them down to a local shop and had new steel lines made.
Alan works to reinstall the lines and fix the HVAC ducting in the belly of the RV.
Wash day for the RV!
The clean team helps Uncle Jim polish up the RV.
Powered by lollipops, Ducky takes care of a section.
Firefly will tolerate the little hooman.
I heard you had food here, yes?
Randal explores his Easter bucket.
Jesse and Mel bring buckets to the kids!
April
01 April – 05 April And so it begins! – the journey to Texas.
Fixing All the things – Fixing the slide on departure day, the toilet which broke shortly after arriving in Texas, and replacing the brakes which were messed up.
We traveled to Texas to visit Uncle Brian and see the total solar eclipse
08 April – The eclipse!
The kids successfully conquered Uncle Brian!
13 April – After extending our stay for a few days to recover from the illness that we had picked up, we headed south to San Antonio.
Nothing like a closed Interstate and bumper to bumper traffic to make things better in the Texas heat!
14 April – We met up with a friend in San Antonio.
We had a good time playing Ultimate Frisbee Golf.
15 April – We visited the Alamo.
16 April – We visited the San Antonio Missions.
17 April – Natural Bridges Caverns
18 April – Departure to Amistad / Del Rio, TX
On the way to Del Rio, on US 90 W, there were a series of large pot holes and that caused the kitchen slide to break, weakened by previous water damage.
When Alan set up the RV at the camp site, it grabbed the flooring cover and ripped it.
We decided to not open the kitchen slide fully until we could it fixed, for fear it might not be able to be closed back up, preventing us from travelling. After calling around to a bunch of places, Alan found a shop that would do the repair, but like the others, they were several weeks out into early May. We made arrangements to have the damage repaired in Tucson.
Alan found an Air BnB for the family to stay in for the duration.
With all the arrangements sorted, we pressed on with the trip!
19 April – Amistad NRA
Lunch by the Amistad (friendship) International reservoir Amistad National Rec Area.
The kids play in the lake.
20 April – Amistad NRA Ranger Station
The kids talk to the Ranger about the Junior Ranger program.
Floor puzzle complete! They had a nice little kid/Junior Ranger area set up.
21 April – Depart to Big Bend National Park / Terlingua, TX
22 April – Big Bend National Park. Santa Elena Canyon Hike along the Rio Grande River and Scenic Drive
On the trail!
The kids hold up the mountains!
Looking back from the Santa Elena slot canyon towards Big Bend NP. Mexico is on the right side of the river.
23 April – Big Bend NP Fossil Discovery
We made it to a ranger talk about the fossils in the area.
Evan holds a sample of petrified wood.
Ducky gets eaten!
Panoramic view at the top of the hill.
Just another cool day!
An old car we saw on a drive through old town Terlingua, TX.
24 April – Big Bend NP Rio Grande Hot Springs
Petroglyphs along the bank of the Rio Grande River.
Playing in the hot springs along the Rio Grande.
Turning in their junior ranger books, the kids get a bit of swag!
25 Apr – Depart to Fort Davis, TX
It’s always a bit disconcerting to have parts of the trailer fly off when your going down the road. I looked in the mirror and saw the jack foot bouncing off down the road behind me. Fortunately, it didn’t hit anyone – Meagan was behind me. I went back and walked the highway for a mile or so on each side and didn’t find it. Somewhere out there is a nice jackpad for someone!
Meagan rides chase as we climb through the Texas hills to Fort Davis. It was a very pretty drive and Meagan saw a Big Horn sheep on the side of the road.
26 April – Fort Davis NHS, TX
Ducky at Fort Davis.
They had a nice little set up of period equipment that the kids could explore.
We did a hike up to the hills overlooking the site. You can see the officer housing and other buildings below us. Fort Davis was part of the chain of forts that allowed mail service to pass between the West Coast and the rest of the country.
27 April – Rest day
Taking shelter behind the camper and the cold wind as we play our weekly Dungeons & Dragons game. The kids get a movie night while we (attempt) to get some time away from the kids.
Ducky came out for some cuddles despite the cold wind that was blowing.
28 April – Drive from Ft. Davis, TX to Carlsbad, NM
29 April – Carlsbad Caverns NP
30 April – Rest day
The kids enjoyed a spin on this tire swing contraption. They each got on a tire, and I spun the whole thing around like a merry go round.
Putting our griddle to work! An outdoor kitchen is the way to beat the heat in the desert.
May
01 May – Guadalupe Mountains National Park
This was a bonus site that Jarek found on his atlas that wasn’t too far from Carlsbad, so we went and visited it.
Working on their books in the visitor center.
Ducky was very interested in the walking sticks. He really wanted one, even it was a bit too big!
An overview of the Butterfield Mail route. This served the basis for a number of forts to protect the mail, travelers, and formed the basis for a number of interactions with the Native Americans.
Outside the visitor center there was a short trail to the ruins of the way station.
The kids got their books done and then got their badges.
Evan lost a tooth! The tooth fairy made several visits to us on the trip.
02 May – Rest Day
Experimenting with bread baking. Apparently some of the yeast was a bit tired.
Doing maintenance on the washer. I use Affresh tabs once a month to do a rinse cycle procedure to clean out the lint from the unit so it will dry properly. The black bits are lint that was ‘liberated’ and that I wipe out of the tub. The unit is an all in one washer/dryer with no accessible lint filter, so it is a bit different than your typical home unit.
03 May – Roswell, NM UFO Museum
04 May – Rest day
A quick dip in the pool to beat the heat!
Tired out Randal the Vandal!
05 May – Travel To Alamogordo, NM
06 May – White Sands NP
07 May – Travel to Ft Bowie, AZ
Our stop at Fort Bowie, AZ. We had planned to stay a few days here, but with the damage to the kitchen slide, we adjusted the schedule to press on to Tucson and get the repairs started.
Arizona Sunset.
Checking out tomorrow’s drive.
08 May – Drive to Tucson, AZ
One of the hazards of travelling is the glass tray jumping out of the microwave onto the floor. This happened a couple of times on the trip, then we changed procedure to put the tray in the oven during transit. The microwave door would still pop open, but the tray would no longer be at risk of breaking.
Meagan and the kids a rest stop found some big boulders to climb on!
Arriving at the Air BnB, Alan unloads the trailer in preparation for taking it into the shop for repairs to the damaged kitchen slide.
The Air BnB was set up to accommodate RVs and had a very nice big driveway, which made this process much easier than it otherwise could have been.
09 May – Logistics
Leaving the trailer behind at the shop. I had some mixed feelings on it.
The Air BnB internet was not great – it was at the end of a wireless ISP. I set up our Starlink kit and then we had great internet!
Sunset from the back porch.
10 May – Logistics / Rest
Gambit found a comfy place to settle in for the day!
Off to our favorite store to restock – Costco!
11 May – Rest
We took another rest day. We captured a large dust devil off the back porch in the late morning.
12 May – Rest
Ducky eats an apple in his own unique way.
Cinnamon rolls for brunch! A rare moment to have a full sized oven!
Randal gets some Daddy cuddles!
Visit to the Ironwood National Monument and Saguaro National Park
14 May – Rest
15 May – Rest / Logistics
Jarek opens up a cactus fruit and examines the seeds.
Ducky has successfully worn out Mommy!
We ventured out to town in search of new shoes for the kids that could stand up to the hiking we were doing.
The kids play as the clouds gather.
16 May
Alan visits the repair shop and checks on the progress of the kitchen slide floor replacement.
Work is underway, but it’s not ready yet! The camerman did a crappy job with this photo.
The old floor shows evidence of the water damage over time. Some years ago a rat got into the RV, and chewed up the refrigerator condensate line, unbeknownst to me or the repair shop at the time. It took its toll on the wood below.
Lunch at Costco and groceries. Perhaps the van is getting a bit small with all of us. Everyone got to help hold something on the drive back.
17 May – Rest day
The kids knocked out a puzzle!
18 May – Saguaro NP East
Arya and Evan turned in their Junior Ranger books.
Ducky explored their Saguaro model, discovering a hidden compartment!
19 May – Tumacacori
20 May – Fort Bowie NHS
21 May – Rest Day
23 May – Casa Grande NM
24 May – Organ Pipe Cactus NM
25 May – Rest Day!
Another puzzle! WE don’t do them in the RV for a couple reasons, one of which is space and the other is Randal!
Ducky gets up close and personal with a cactus.
26 May – Chiricahua NM
27 May – Rest day
Evan helps prepare postcards to go out.
Randal claims another victim. He was playing with the cabinet and it broke. It’s a toss up if it was due to the low quality of the materials and construction or Randal. We let the host know about it and got it resolved.
Meagan and Arya at sunset.
Arya cooks dinner on the grill.
Mayhem has nothing on this guy.
28 May – Coronado NM
29 May – Logistics – RV Pick up
All fixed up and ready to hit the road again!
30 May – Logistics
While we were loading the RV back up, we got hit by a dust devil. In the bottom of the pic you can see one our sewer hose caddies and other items that were blown around and away by the whirl winds!
I’m not sure who’s messier – Randal or Jarek.
June
01 June – Departure to Munds Park, AZ
We finally got everything loaded up and punched out. We saw this little saguaro family, much like ours.
02 June – Montezuma Castle NM
03 June – Grand Canyon South Rim
04 June – Visiting the Bordello – Jerome, AZ
05 June – Sunset Crater NM & Wupatki NM
06 June – Travel to Holbrook, AZ and Walnut Canyon NM
07 June – Petrified Forest NP
08 June – Rest day!
09 June – Departure to Albuquerque, NM
10 June – Petroglyph NM
11 June – Pecos NHP
12 June – Rest Day!
13 June – Badelier NM / Manhattan Project / Valles Caldera
14 June – El Malpais and El Morrow NMs
15 June – Rest Day!
16 June – NM State Coronado Historic Site and the Tramway
17/18 June – Drive to Farmington and Aztec NM
19 June – Chaco Culture NHP
20 June – Drive to Monument Valley. Chaco (again) and Bluff Fort
21 June – Rest day
22 June – Navajo NM
23 June – Glen Canyon NRA and Rainbow Bridge NM
24 June – Moki Dugway, Natural Bridges NM, Natural Bridges Scenic Drive
25 June – Valley of the Gods Scenic Drive
26 June – Travel to Fredonia, AZ
27 June – Pipe Spring NM
30 June – 8 July – Zion National Park
July
9 – 15 Jul Bryce Canyon National Park
16 Jul – Travel to Capitol Reef
17 – 22 Jul Capitol Reef NP & Anasazi State Park
23 Jul – Travel to Moab, UT
24 Jul – Arches NP
25 Jul – Edge of the Cedars SP and Needles Overlooks
26 – 27 Jul – Maintenance, Rest day, Birthday!
28 Jul – Canyonlands NP
29 Jul – Return to Arches NP
30 Jul – Depart to SLC, UT and Costco
31 Jul – Costco Pt 2 & Timpanogos Cave
August
1 Aug – Birthday & Rest day!
2 Aug – Golden Spike Part 1 and Part 2
3 Aug – Bike theft, rest day, departing SLC
5 Aug – Hagerman Fossil Beds NM
6 – 7 Aug – Hanging out with the Grandparents
8 Aug – Craters of the Moon NM
9 Aug – City of Rocks NR
10 Aug – Minidoka NHS
11 Aug – Travel to North Fork, ID
12 Aug – Rest Day
13 Aug – Big Hole NB
14 Aug – Rest Day / Float Day
15 Aug – Travel to Coeur D’Alene
16 Aug – Visit Friends
17 Aug – Travel to West Glacier, MT
18 Aug – West Glacier NP
19 Aug – Rest Day
20 Aug – Rest Day
21 Aug – Travel to Great Falls, MT
22 Aug – Travel to Deer Lodge, MT
23 Aug – Grant-Khors Ranch NHS
24 Aug – Old Montana State Prison
25 Aug – Travel to Greycliff, MT
26 Aug – Rest Day / Homeschool Eval
27 Aug – Travel to Cody, WY
28 Aug – 4 Sep Yellowstone NP
September
5 Sep – Travel to Jackson, WY
6 – 8 Sep – Grand Tetons
9 Sep – Travel to Cody, WY
10 Sep – Rest Day
11 Sep – Travel to Hardin, MT
12 Sep – Little Big Horn Battlefield
13 Sep – Rest Day
14 Sep – Rest Day
15 Sep – Pompeys Pillar
16 Sep – Travel to Terry, MT
17 Sep – Travel to Dickinson, ND
18 Sep – Fort Union Trading Post NHS & Theodore Roosevelt NP
19 Sep – Knife River NHS
20 Sep – Travel to Spearfish, SD
21 Sep – Rest Day
22 Sep – Devils Tower NM
23 Sep – Travel to Custer, SD
24 Sep – Jewel Cave NM
25 Sep – New Truck and Center of the US
26 Sep – Window Replacement, Park, Mt. Rushmore NP
27 Sep – Shipping Fenrir back to Florida
28 Sep – Wind Cave NP, Rest Day
29 Sep – Rest Day
30 Sep – Propane Repair, Rest Day
October
01 Oct – Rest Day, Set up ‘Muninn’ trailer hitch
02 Oct – Wonderland Cave
03 Oct – Travel to Lincoln, MT
04 Oct – Minuteman Missile Site NHS, Badlands NP
05 Oct – Rest Day
06 Oct – Wall Drug
07 Oct – Travel to Scottsbluff, NE; National Grasslands Visitor Center
08 Oct – Agate Fossil Beds NM
09 Oct – Fort Laramie NHS, Oregon Trail Wagon Ruts
10 Oct – Scott’s Bluff NM
11 Oct – Trailer repair, Chimney Rock NM, Rest Day
12 Oct – Travel to North Platte, NE
13 Oct – Travel to Omaha, NE; visit friends
14 Oct – Shopping Day/Rest Day
15 Oct – Homestead NHP
16 Oct – Travel to Topeka, KS
17 Oct – Brown v. Board of Education NHS
18 Oct – Travel to Hutchinson, KS
19 Oct – Visit friends
20 Oct – Strataca Salt Mine
21 Oct – Fort Larned NHS, Tallgrass Prairie NP
22 Oct – Travel to Redfield, KS; Comet photography
23 Oct – Fort Scott NHS
24 Oct – Travel to Bella Vista, AR
25 Oct – Pea Ridge NMP
26 Oct – Travel to Alma, AR
27 Oct – Fort Smith NHS
28 Oct – Travel to Little Rock, AR
29 Oct – Central High School NHS
30 Oct – Travel to Saltillo, MS
31 Oct – 03 Nov Travel to Athens, AL; Halloween; Visit family
November
04 Nov – Travel to Chattanooga, TN
05 Nov – Chickamauga NMP
06 Nov – Russel Cave NM
07 Nov – Little River NP
08 Nov – Rest Day
09 Nov – Travel to Sevierville, TN
10 Nov – 11 Nov – Visit Friends
12 Nov – Travel to Greenville, SC
13 – 14 Nov – Visit Friends
15 Nov – Travel to Swansea, SC
16 – 17 Nov – Visit Friends
18 Nov – Travel to Walterboro, SC
19 – 20 Nov – Visit Friends
21 Nov – Travel to Valdosta, GA
22 – 23 Nov – Visit Friends
24 Nov – Return to Florida
Back Home, Thanksgiving, and more!
December
Tree cutting
Camping!
Anniversary!
Turkeys!
Yule
Rocketry!
Happy New Year!