Hoover Dam and Aunt Celia's

We headed on to Hoover dam where we spent a couple hours exploring. Even though we missed the last tour for the day, we enjoyed walking across the dam, exploring the spillways, and reading all the posted information about the construction and use of the dam. 

We left Hoover dam, and headed to my aunts house in North Las Vegas. I have not seen her in many years, and was glad that she was available when I called her on our way to the dam. On such short notice, she decided to take us to the local casino about five minutes from her house for a birthday dinner. The older boys were super excited about all you can eat. Unfortunately, on our drive over, so I was getting sick and we actually had to pullover for him a couple times. Consequently, he was not excited or even interested in the buffet dinner. ): It was great connecting with my Aunt Celia for a couple hours. It was short but sweet as she was leaving for California in the morning. She still sent us off with some parting sweets, fruits and whatnot, for breakfast the next morning. Thank you Aunt Celia!

Leaving California

We left the Grieco's and Bigbear at about 10 AM. Thank you Grieco family! We were headed for Hoover dam. Our first stop was in Barstow to refuel the excursion and find a park to eat lunch since a couple of the kids were carsick after the drive down the hill. 

In Barstow, we found a little park and while I was making sandwiches the kids were running around on the large skate park. Silas tripped and hit his two front teeth on the spine of a ramp. He had already chipped one Front tooth. Now, the other was chipped in a mirrored match. ): Poor Sy was crying, asking, "do we have to go back home?" After consoling him and making sure that it didn't seem like the nerve was exposed, we moved on. 

Across the street, it was the Mojave River Valley Museum. It was a small building with lots of stuff that looked like it had been collected out in the desert representing many years of travelers. 

humble beginnings

The adventure has begun. Slowly but surely, we left Brea.

We planned to leave "first thing" in the morning, but we were waiting for a phone call from the Utah dealer. If he had the travel trailer we wanted, we would head east. If not, we would head north. If we started before he called and headed north, we would have to cross the Sierra Nevadas or come back home to go around, so we waited to know which way to go.

Mid-morning, the deal was settled. We are heading east to do the loop we'd planned, only backward.

We changed up some of what we had packed- now that we were only planning to tent camp for a week. We were almost on our way.

 I realized that the excursion's registration would expire soon and we needed to renew. I tried online, but alas, the DMV said I could not pass go and must go straight to the DMV. ): Thankfully, AAA was able to help, so I got the car registered and we were almost on our way.

Scott realized our plan to take the new mirrors along and install them when we got the trailer would not work because then we would have to store the old mirrors for the rest of the trip. So he installed the new giganto mirrors and we were almost on our way.

The car had been loaded the night before with everything but clothes and food. We loaded those last items and realized it was way past dinner time. We threw a quick meal together, ate, and got out of the house. We gave our neighbors hugs, and got buckled up. We were almost on our way.

Scott turned the key to find that all the loading we had been doing with the interior lights on had drained the battery! Arg... just when we were finally ready!

 

30 minutes later WE WERE ON OUR WAY! Yay!

 

We were so exhausted, we had to switch drivers part way up the hill! But we arrived at our friends', the Grieco's home in Big Bear and were revived with excitement, so we chatted for a bit before falling asleep.

 

It has begun.

 

We are in Big Bear and will continue heading north east toward Utah and our new home on wheels.

 

New mirrors to go with the trailer

What trailer, you ask?! The one we're picking up in Utah next Wednesday. We are sooo excited to finally be done trailer shopping!

Virtual celebration

Sy finished his grade level on khan academy. This celebration is not quite as good as when you finish a math book in our house and get to take the family to ice cream.

Goodbye explorer

Sold our last car today. Craigslist has provided an enjoyable car buying and selling experience for 4 cars for us in the last month!

Bon voyage