The Tetons

I've had zero internet other than my drives through town, so this will be brief. But DEAR GAWD this place is lovely.

And like, no one wears masks.

Bathrooms were an issue right off the bat. I had planned much of the first few days of driving around Starbucks stops, but quickly realized that nearly all had closed their restrooms. McDonalds, on the other hand, had not. While you can't eat in, most McD's you can saunter in and use their restrooms fairly easily. The odd teenager working there certainly isn't keeping tabs on you, and prolly doesn't give AF even if they were.

So those became our regular stops, and as a result, my kids have consumed an extraordinary amount of chicken nuggets. My kids are SoCal kids. They don't eat a ton of fast food. We are damn snooty with our diets, usually, but that goes out the window when you are on the road for 8 hours with cranky small humans.

The girls asked me how to make a perfect marshmallow. I was so happy to show them (Eric is the light-her-on-fire type and I'm happy to see the girls coming to their sense early in life, that quality is better than quantity). We ate s'mores, melting the chocolate next to the flame first, as is the perfect method.

We never found a moose, which was our ultimate goal, but saw some amazing sights in the Tetons. GORGEOUS area. Perfect weather. Amazing mountains and wildflowers. It was hard at first, taking them on hikes by myself. Scary, because if an animal came at us then "I" was the protector. I had my bear spray but still, I certainly don't want to have to use it (especially on a moose! Who knows what that would do). Anyhow, we picked a few low-impact hikes and survived. Took lots of lovely pictures, saw crazy antelope and barns and deer and bison.

On the Road

It turns out I am extraordinarily busy getting ready for a 4-week roadtrip, so blogging has been pretty sparse. BUT! But. We are on the road. Today is day 3, Wednesday, and we left on Monday very early in the morning to head to Grand Canyon.

I imagine I won't have too much to say, as being an only parent on a roadtrip is very mentally, emotionally, and physically consuming. I am very much missing having my partner on this trip. For so many reasons! The ability to tap out is big, along with him missing the fun of course. He would have loved some of the sights we have seen.

I had a moment, on the drive within the first few hours, where I felt anxiety and panic swirling. I was alone, what if some creeper decided to follow us, really what could I do? I mean, pepper spray and bear spray will only get you so far. I felt, for a moment, like a stray animal that was caged and looking for a way out. Poking and prodding at the edges, holding it together but just barely, while sheer terror lingered below the surface.

Eventually, about halfway to the Grand Canyon, it quieted a bit. I knew I just had to get past the hump of making a possibly huge, dangerous, irrational vacation plan on a whim... but since then, I've been perhaps too tired to concern myself too much with my anxiety.

We made it to Grand Canyon in great time, about 7 hours and were able to drive straight to Mather's Point. I did a reveal with the girls, closing their eyes and filming their reaction. Impressed, perhaps, but also rather Meh. Aaaahhhh kids.

I mean, I did only plan one night here as really, it is Summer and I sure as heck am not going to drag them below the rim on a hike. We checked into our hotel, did a quick dip in the pool that angered my oldest and soured her mood for the rest of the evening (pool was too crowded, so I pulled them away to their dismay) and I did a little less than stellar parenting in the forest near sunset. Got some pics, watched the sunset Yaki Point, and headed back to the hotel. There were a bunch of elk on the drive in which we got some pictures of, and thankfully the park was not collecting fees. I did have a National Park 4th graders pass that should have worked, if needed, but I had yet to try it out.

We left early the next morning. As we pulled out of the hotel, we saw a huge elk stag 20 feet away in the parking lot. We watched him pee, and then lick it. Nature at its finest.

We drove much of yesterday but made it to Moab early enough. Sunset in Arches at the Windows.

Windows!

I have so much more to write, but for now, I will leave you with the window progress! I bought some heavy duty spray adhesive and made the inside much more fancy for sleeping. Huzzah!

Itinerary

Eeeeeeek! We leave in 6 days!!

Devil cat!

Monday, June 22
Drive to Grand Canyon 8 hours
STAY Grand Canyon Plaza Hotel

Tues June 23
Explore GC in morning

Drive to Arches 6-7 hours

STAY Moab Valley RV Resort & Camp

Wed June 24
Explore Arches
Explore Canyonlands?

STAY Moab Valley RV...

Thur June 25
Drive to Jackson Hole WY 8 hours

STAY Snake River KOA

Fri June 26
Explore Grand Teton

STAY Snake River KOA

Sat June 27
Explore Grand Teton
Pickup Eric Airport

STAY Lexington in Jackson Hole

Sun June 28
Explore Yellowstone

Drive to West Yellowstone 1-2 hours

STAY in Hibernation Station

Mon June 29
Explore Yellowstone

STAY in Lake Cottages

Tues June 30
Explore Yellowstone

STAY in Lake Cottages

Wed July 1
Explore Yellowstone in morning

Drive to Bozeman MT Airport 2 hours

Drive to Alder MT Ranch 2.5 hours

STAY at Broken Arrow Ranch

July 1-July 5
STAY at Broken Arrow Ranch

Sun July 5
Drive to East Glacier 6 hours

STAY East Glacier /St Mary KOA

Mon July 6
Explore Many Glacier

Drive GTSR

STAY West Glacier KOA

Tues July 7
Explore Going to the Sun Road

STAY West Glacier KOA

Wed July 8
Drive to Coeur d’Alene (Crotty Family?) 3 hours???

Drive to Wenatchee/Leavenworth 6.5 hours???

STAY ???

Thurs July 9
Drive to Snohomish, WA

July 9-13/14
Hang at Grandpa’s (4 nights)

July 14
Drive to Uncle Andy or Aunt Nelda 

July 15-17
Stay at Aunt Nelda (2-3 nights)

Fri July 17
Drive to Crescent City 5.5 hours

Stay Westward Inn Crescent City

Sat July 18
Explore Lady Bird Johnson

Drive Redding+ 4 hours

Stay _____________

Sunday July 19
Drive to .... HOME???

Space Mobile

It's been a tiring couple of days! Work, run, build, kids, cook, move. Why did we decide to move all of our bedrooms at this time?! It is exhausting. I remember when we bought our house, thinking, "I will never have to move again." Well, switching bedrooms (us to the master, girls each their own room, office to our old room) was just like moving. We still have the "dump" room as the office where anything weird is residing. But I have to admit, I love how it feels. Very airy and open.

But, back to the CoVan20. I realized that the curved boards for under the mattress were just not going to cut it. A bummer, since they were free. I found some more on marketplace, which fit much better and gave a good solid overlap in the middle to help stabilize it all. I stapled some straps on the boards, and even overlapped the ties which helps really keep the boards in place.

2 sets of overlapping bunkie boards

The sleeping platform & storage bins

My new mattress arrived, and it is so comfy. I am pretty excited that it seems my back won't be entirely ruined after this trip. Also, I was most excited to get my bins, actually. They fit perfectly and make my heart happy. Something about the crisp new plastic smell of potential organization really gets my heart pumping. I think, honestly, we won't have any suitcases or bags. When we do stay in a hotel, we'll be lugging up tupperware bins. That won't look weird, right?

Cozy mattress

The mattress flips back easily to put the seats up

I started the window covers. I used painters plastic to line the windows perfectly, and trace and outline. Then I cut it out about a centimeter bigger onto Reflectix, labeling each window as I went (haha! She thinks ahead). It was a pain for sure, and required bending and twisting to get these big pieces of paper to trace the windows. But thankfully cutting through the Reflectix was easy enough, it is basically bubble wrap with shiny stuff on the outside.

Tediousness

Space mobile

Overall, though, I think it came out pretty amazing. I ran out and need to buy another roll for the front windshield. The plan was to fancy up the shiny sides. I'm going to cover the interior sides with fabric, and the exterior I was thinking of spray painting black. Someone mentioned the lingering smell of spray paint fumes though, and as awesome as that would be while I'm trying to sleep I think I'd rather suffer the ugliness of a 70's antenna vibe. We shall see. The tinted window section doesn't look too bad though?

Layin' Pipe

Next, the frame. Bottom line, measure, cut, size, remeasure, rebuild, and eventually it all came together pretty nicely. I found some free bed slats on marketplace, and tossed an old camp mat on top to give it a whirl. Overall I'm pretty pleased, and there's LOTS of head space when laying down. The seats can be folded up for driving, and we are getting there. A few more tweaks, perhaps some longer bed slats, and waiting for my new mattress in the mail. 17 days until departure.

So here's the thing about PVC pipe. It's some weird shit. And it's strong as hell, pretty easily accessible, and slight bendy. I knew that hardware stores carried in, in basically any thickness. My main tutorial I am following used 1.5" pipe but I figured we could get away with 1.25" pipe. I mean, they are basically legos, with all sorts of different sizes and pieces. But I soon found that corner "fittings" were not easily found past basic T or L shape. A trip to DIY, Lowes and Home Depot definitely left me wanting.

Enter the Internet.

I had to get fittings from Amazon, Ebay, Lowes and Home Depot. The center 5-end piece was the most expensive, at $13 each! I mean, what do people make with these other than bitchin' minivans? I could definitely picture some incredible cosplay creations, and I love a good complicated Halloween set-up (actually, I already have a PVC pipe creation who lives on my house during October. His name is Ichabod, and my dad helped me build him. He's a giant black spider with a yoga-ball butt). He's actually in my yard for our Covid-season advising mask-wearing and hating on narcissists.

My PVC fittings sprinkled in through the mail, and finally I got my last piece this week. I needed to measure INSIDE each pipe to determine what the appropriate measurement should be for the pipes. Most fittings mostly allowed a pipe in 1.25"-1.5", so I wanted to be accurate before I started cutting.

My first test run was the hammock. At this point, I don't think I will suspend it from the doors as there is a lovely armrest that is level on each side of the front of the van. I can snug a frame in there, and no need to have a dangling kid. This was great news, since I wasn't sure that I wanted to mess with the door lining by jamming something into it.

Adapted hammock design

First order of business, what cuts PVC? A quick google search brought up that any ordinary wood blade would do the trick. We have a little jigsaw, and then the bone-cutting miter saw. I figured it would be more dangerous to use the flimsy blade on a jigsaw, wobbling and holding a huge PVC pipe steady, so I brought out the big boy.

In our early days of home-ownership, having watched enough home demo shows and pinned enough DIY projects, we bought a miter saw. In the 5 years since then, its only been taken out of its dusty home in the shed a handful of times. We put in on a glass patio table (limited options, here) and I did the first cut. That sucker is powerful, but I made it through alive. I made my cuts and assembled by rectangle-shape of PVC, then brought it to the van for testing. Definitely off by a couple inches. I shaved some little rounds off the pipes and eventually, got to the right dimensions.

All the fingers

I grabbed the tiny 7 year old and held the frame around her. Plenty of room! On to the next projects.

I had doodled, calculated, and tried to account for all the measurements I would have to make my perfect sleeping platform, but honestly I just had to cut, bring to van, then recut to get the correct size. It wasn't too bad, once I got the initial pieces remeasured, but my favorite part of course was assembly. It is coming along nicely!

Need longer slats, methinks

For a rough draft? Not too shabby

PVC pipes and things

The first order of business is building the campervan, right? I mean, its a minivan, so things are pretty much already built for space and comfort. I started to measure and pin different designs. I found I had 2 options for travel for my 2006 Toyota Sienna.

1) I could simply lay the mattress on the floor of the minivan, and remove the inner row. The back row folds flat into the van, leaving a perfectly level surface to throw a mat on. The pros? This was super easy, and the seats would be a snap every night. The cons? This would essentially mean most of our things would have to be stored in the middle area of the van. They would need netted-down or something to be safe in case of a sudden break check. Plus, the kids would be sitting WAY BACK away from me, and possibly miss much of the scenery.

2) I could leave in the middle row, and lay the back seats flat into the floor. Then, I would have to build a sleeping platform so our bed could extend across the platform, and the middle row folded flat. The platform has to be 18" high to match the height of the folded middle row. Pros: the under area of the sleeping platform meant glorious storage space, and the kids would be close to me to see the action. Cons? I have to build the damn thing. But that's less of a con, then a very fun challenge.

BEHOLD:



So, the first sketches of The Daisy Dodger came to light. I started measuring, calculating, shopping for weird shaped PVC pipes, mattresses, and curtain options. Stay tuned!

GOALS: