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Lake Mead Boondocking Disaster!

Jonathan Longnecker / May 09, 2016

It’s funny the lessons you keep telling yourself you’ve learned only to totally ignore them a few days later. For example: Don’t go more than 4 hours on travel days. Or: Don’t show up to a boondocking spot when it’s dark. Ever.

We had already nearly gotten stuck in someone’s driveway when we got to Whitewater Draw after dark. Thankfully they didn’t shoot us and had an area we could get turned around in.

Like Ashley said in the last post, we decided to break our 4 hour rule and try to make it all the way to Lake Mead which was 6 hours away. Due to some unplanned grocery stops the sun was going down when we got to the boondocking spot that night. Sigh, how did we do this again.

I had said several times I was really worried about getting stuck in the mud - mostly because it was scheduled to rain the next couple of days. What we didn’t know was that it must have absolutely dumped a few days before we got there.

So picture this - us with our 23,000lbs of RV headed down a primitive road to an area surrounding a lake bed at dusk.  Unaware that there were areas of complete mud/sand mush waiting for us.

I’m already freaking out because the sun is going down, it’s raining and on the main road there were several huge washout areas. And Ashley was convinced we needed to make it up to the ridge overlooking the lake. I have to say we learned a lot about communication that night. First that I need to voice my concerns and stick by them and second that Ashley needs to realize I’m not crazy. Most of the time :)

Needless to say, I saw a nice spot when the ground was still solid, but let her talk me into continuing up to the ridge. We turned the corner, headed up the road and started sliding everywhere. This wasn’t good. But we couldn’t really turn around. So we tried to make it up the hill and got completely stuck. 

Christmas Granola

Ashley Longnecker / May 05, 2016

I’ll be the first to admit it. I love cereal. Like, sometimes I would buy a box of Reeses Puffs and hide them so that I could eat it in the evening after the kids have gone to bed and maybe wait until Jonathan was in the shower…. I know, I’m a horrible person. But if I let the kids eat it, we’d be done with the box in one sitting. So, really I was just trying to stretch a dollar…right?

Anyways, I haven’t done that for a while now. In fact, I’ve been trying to find something my kids would like to eat in the morning that is quick, doesn’t involve me cooking, and is they can do on their own. But, it has to be healthy. Then I found this recipe by Two Raspberries. I’ve modified it to fit what our family likes and I'm telling you, it's so tasty. 

So, if you’re ready for your house to smell like Christmas morning, make sure you have these ingredients on hand!

• 5 Cups Rolled Oats
• 1 Cup Dried Cranberries
• 1 Cup Dried Cherries
• 2/3 Cup Coconut Oil
• 1 Cup Walnuts
• 1/2 Cup Pecans
• 3-6 ounces Dark Chocolate (chopped)
• 1 teaspoon Real Pink Sea Salt
• 1.5 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/2 Cup Real Maple Syrup
• 2/3 Cup Unsweetened Coconut Flakes
• 2 teaspoons Real Vanilla

Ok, got it? Let’s get baking!

First, dump your oats in a bowl. Then add your cinnamon, salt and chopped up nuts. Mix all that together.

Alamo Lake to Lake Mead

Ashley Longnecker / May 01, 2016

When we left our friends in Phoenix, we headed to Alamo Lake State Park. We only stayed a couple days as we were wanting to get up to Lake Mead and spend some time in Nevada.

We ended up with one of the best sites in the park. We enjoyed watching the birds and the kids enjoyed picking up seed pods from the ground and opening them up.

Hiking the Dog Canyon Trail in Alamogordo, NM at Oliver Lee State Park

Jonathan Longnecker / April 26, 2016

We've hiked a decent amount of trails since we started traveling. Most of the time they're fairly easy - we do still have a 4 year old after all! We've done a few difficult ones, too. All of those trails we've just kind of mentioned in posts about the area or threw up a couple of pictures on Instagram. But this trail gets it's own post. Because it was hands down the most beautiful, spectacular and difficult trail I've ever been on. Seriously.

It all started when Ashley found Oliver Lee Memorial State Park - a first come first serve park and campground at the base of the Sacramento Mountains. She showed me one picture and the only thing that came out of my mouth was, "yes."

Our 'Tru' Friends and Lost Dutchman State Park

Jonathan Longnecker / April 24, 2016

After we met the Trujillo's and realized they weren’t crazy axe murderers, we made plans for Jonathan and the kids to stay at their house for a few nights. The RV was headed to the shop to get some repairs that should just take a few days...they said.

We drove to the RV shop and actually spent the night there so that Jonathan wouldn’t have to drop it off without me. I had a crazy early flight to Knoxville the next morning which meant leaving the house at 5am! 

I got to the airport with time to spare so I grabbed some breakfast and caught my first flight...and my second flight and then I had 15 minutes to get off my second plane, run to the next gate and board my next flight. Shew! Bad day to wear flip flops! I made it just in time for them to say, “your flight has been delayed”. Fifteen minutes later we boarded the plane! Great! Let’s get to Knoxville! We sat on the run way for an hour and a half waiting on a storm that was in the area -  by then we had sat in the plane too long with the engine running that we had to go back to the gate and refuel. Ok, 30 minutes to wait on them to refuel and we were back on the runway! Sweet! Let’s get to Knoxville! AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER...”THE FLIGHT HAS BEEN CANCELED...You’ll need to talk with the agents at the gate and get another flight to Knoxville.” Seriously??? Thanks a lot American Airlines.

After trying to find flights out that night, the only option was that I get the next flight at 5am in the morning to Charlotte, then get another flight from Charlotte to Knoxville. Fine! I’ll take it. They did let me know they would pay HALF of my hotel bill if I wanted to get a room for the night. And how much did it cost? $400 a night! Say what? No thank you! I ended up staying up all night in the airport with 2 other people who were on the same plane. A very long night. And to make matters worse, my parents drove all the way from Indiana to Knoxville that night (because I was supposed to be there by 9pm) to help me go through my storage. They ended up picking me up at the airport at 10:30 the next morning. We had a few hours to get through some of our storage unit and let my dad help me get the heavy stuff out of the way before they needed to head back to Indiana. Why did we keep all of this??