Back Home Again

Well, we made it back home, and the bed will feel soooo good tonight. There's nothing like your own bed. I'll leave you with a little humor, and no, these aren't my kids.

Melatonin works very well too.

Keep Right On Prepping - K

My Favorite Part of Vacation

Okay, not really. The family photo night is a necessary evil, as far as I'm concerned, and it keeps the wife happy.  We have five family units staying at the same condo complex. Row & Red Ant's great grandmother had a total of seven children, and the family has stayed closer than most through the years. The annual beach trip to Orange Beach, AL has been a tradition for quite some time.

In addition to my broken toe (?), I've also developed a case of acute sinusitis. For the non-medical, it's a sinus infection that feels like a hangover every morning, but without the alcohol. I brought a twelve pack of beer, and it looks like I'll be bringing all of it back too. Allegra, and aspirin have been my friend, as well as an afternoon nap.

We started taking photos almost at sunset, the lighting was perfect!

Row and Princess

Row chasing an egret while flapping his arms. He got really close a few times.

It's K!

My favorite time of sunset, after the sun slips below the horizon.

A favorite moment during the photo shoot.

K and Red Ant going to the car for some Dairy Queen.

Wish you were here.

Keep Right On Prepping - K

This little piggy...

Okay, the little piggy that had none, got stubbed really hard at the hotel pool in North of Jackson. I could've sworn that the toe was broken, but after a few days of swelling, bruising, and tenderness, it has started to feel better.

This is how I start my vacation! The bruising on the medial side of the toe actually looks 100% better in this picture.

Well, I gotta hobble down to the pool with the kids. Take Care - K

Spotty

The WiFi signal at the condo is spotty, and likes to play hide-n-seek between the various routers around the buildings. So, I'll be posting a whole lot less this week.

I'll try to post tomorrow if possible with an "awesome" photo.

-K

Murfreesboro, AR Crater of Diamonds Field Report

We arrived a little after 6:00pm to find that the visitor center had already closed for the day, and we were unable to officially check into our campsite. Luckily they had tagged our campsite as reserved, and we only had to come back the next morning between 8-10am to sign the paperwork. This was about the time we had planned on entering the diamond fields, so it was a non-issue. We drove around a little bit and found our campsite. It was W5, and it is a walk-in campsite. The rate was $12 per night and had all the features of the  $35/night campsites except for an electrical outlet. The higher dollar campsites are designed more for RVs than campers.

The water spout and trash cans are located at the center of all five of the walk-in campsites. Each campsite includes a picnic table, firepit, and a level area for a large tent.  The best map of the area is here. 

This sign is located right beside the visitor center, and has a pedestal to place cameras for timed photographs.

We bought a new family tent called the Magellan SwiftRise 4 person tent. This is one of the easiest, and quickest tents that I had put up in a long time. The main tent poles are permanently attached to the tent so you don't have to fight with them. You can also get an idea of how large the campsite is at W1-W5.

 

The picnic table has seen better days, and I would recommend a plastic tablecloth since the 3 wooden slats that make up the top of the table are very hard to clean. The local crows did a great job of cleaning up the campsites when people left for the day. They routinely pay a visit to the careless to collect tribute. We keep our food in the trunk of the car most of the time, and brought what we needed down for the meal. We also brought a small trash bag for every meal, so that cleanup was more convenient. I would also recommend a small bucket to do your pots and pans. Paper plates are also nice to use as kindling when dinner is done, plus no clean up!

 

Diamond diggers enter on the left side of the above photo, the wash station is located almost mid-center of the photo. 

Continuing from the right of the first photo, you can barely see the main path that divides the two main digging fields. The main path leads to a panning station that is very muddy, but shaded. There are two panning stations for diamond hunters. The further one was never busy.

This picture also continues from the right of the last photo, but does skip a little bit of the diamond fields. It is about 180 degrees from the first photo. All of these pictures of the diamond fields were taken from under a pavilion that we claimed early in the day. The pavilion had a picnic table in the middle with benches on opposite sides. The old mining building can be seen on the left side, and on the right is some old diamond mining equipment.

 

My boys were just excited to be playing in the dirt and mud, looking for pretty rocks. Generally, we didn't care if we found anything except happy memories.

 

My brother and his three kids joined us to dig in the dirt, and it's good to have the cousins playing with one another. Here is the great hunter-gatherer community fighting the local ants. Red Ant with Pincers, the stick holder, eventually came running back to Sweetheart after the ants decided to attack. Due to injuries, the tribe settled down for some peanut butter sandwiches, chips, and Kool-aid.

We wondered what some people were thinking when they showed up in white tennis shoes and nice clothes. Really? Wear mud boats and some yard work clothes.

The admission is for all day at $8.00/adult and $4.00/child, and children under 4 are free. They also rent screens and pans for the wash stations at reasonable prices---Save the receipt with the deposit!!! We didn't have a problem, but could see how losing it would put you out the $20 deposit fee.

We were probably about a month too late to be tent camping, because it was hot and humid in the afternoons. We had to do tick checks on the boys, and found a total of five over the course of the weekend. The bath house was nice to have, but wasn't designed very well. It was hard to get dry and clothed after your shower, and the bathhouse got very sticky afterwords. We'll do it again, but maybe in the cooler months between the first and last frost dates of the year.

Keep Right On Prepping - K

Jumping into the Rut

Unpacking the car, picking up the dog, grocery store, heating the home, stowing gear, and feeding the kids. I wonder if I'll get to bed early?

Nothing like one's own bed!

MRE Monday will be Tuesday this week...just saying'

Keep Right On Prepping - K

Wegmans : Side Trip

Today's side trip was lunch at Wegmans grocery store and grocery shopping. It may not sound exciting, but my wife and I are foodies.

This picture was taken in the upstairs dining area, which can be partially seen on the upper left of the photo,and the area below the seating area is a multicultural buffet. Chinese, Indian, Pizza, Salad & Veggie bar are all available to go or dine in. The food was good, but a bit on the pricey side since we were paying per ounce.

 

The bakery was amazing! Fresh bread, desserts, and all sorts of wonderful baked goods.

This is one of the better deli's that I have seen. They had a pretty good collection of shelf stable meats, but we didn't buy any today. Couldn't find any canned bacon though ;-(

Another one of my favorite stops---Cheese!

 

For the coffee drinkers, Monsoon Matriarch I especially thought of you, this coffee was is available in whole beans & ground varieties. The packaging is a sturdy all  metal can  which is next to impossible to find. I've added it onto my Amazon Store for those interested in checking it out. I'll be ordering a double pack soon, to do a full review for everyone. I've seen a 3kg can on the web, but no prices yet. I'm thinking that the packaging alone would account for may be a good dollar or two. SHTF type of stuff.

We also bought a 10 pound bag of short grain rice that we haven't seen in any of our local stores. We'll use about half of it, then mylar bag the rest of it for long-term storage. The prepper in us never really go on vacation. Sweetheart and I have had the same thoughts on the local area in a collapse scenario...they're screwed.

 

The adult kid-in-candy-store in me was very happy to see this side of the store.

 

Also, a huge selection of beer that is not available in our home state. I blew my beer budget allowance for the next two months here. I have a very small budget, by the way. It has become a weekly tradition for Josh, Scott, and myself to take turns bringing a cooler of beer for testing Friday. I hope that I have picked two beers that are locally unavailable, good, and will blow their minds. Good friends deserve good beer.  

With these two beers, Piraat Belgian Ale & Leffe Blonde Belgian Ale, I should be good for about 9 weeks worth of tests. Josh and Scott - You two have a real treat ahead of you.

Tomorrow, we head back towards Knoxville and stay at the same hotel with the inside waterpark and pool.

Keep Right On Prepping - K

Harper's Ferry: Side Trip

A much easier day today...

A very small section of the AT was hiked today, up from downtown Harper's Ferry past St. Peter's Catholic church (seen in the picture) to Jefferson's Rock. The Potomac River is also seen in this photo with Row and myself. The stairs were from the 1800's, which means not very uniform and could be treacherous in wet weather.

 

We  also made a trip to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy HQ. The staff was very friendly, and helpful, but what else would you expect?

A relief map of the entire AT was at the back end of the room. I showed the boys where we were in relation to the map and our trip to DC yesterday to help put things in perspective.The underside of the map, was a model of the trail shelters along the AT.

The weather was cold and windy, so it made our time short at Harper's Ferry. The downtown has a lot of restored buildings that can be entered, and some displays are set up behind glass for visitors to see.

Before the two hour parking was done, the boys got some real hot chocolate made with milk, and Sweetheart and I had some hot coffee. It was real nice to wrap our hands around the cups!!!

It's been nice to get away from the routine of things at home, and to visit family. It seems like time is always too short...

Tomorrow we are headed to Wegmans Grocery Store. The store is the Holy Grail for foodies according to my wife. I'm interested and happy to spend a few hours there for lunch and some shopping for items that aren't local for us. The evening includes making our bags small, and collecting our stuff for the trip back home. I also have to spend a few hours on schoolwork, which I have totally neglected this week. 

Keep Prepping Everyone. Things are getting interesting in the world. - K

 

 

Washington DC: Side Trip (PIC HEAVY)

We drove into Shady Grove to hop onto the Metro, the station is at the end of the line.

After playing Fallout 3, I now have a new respect for the game. I've spent quite a few hours playing Fallout 3,  then having the chance to actually go to Washington DC and seeing the sites, it  brought back some fun memories. I tried to image when the bad guys were, and how they had modified the terrain. Just a few random thoughts that I had during our trip.

 

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History was our first stop of the day. "The Night at the Museum" was commonly quoted.

 

The dinosaur has been replace by the elephant, and the Easter Island "Dum Dum want Gum Gum" is just outside the doors to the left of the elephant.

 

The natural environment photograph winners was awesome. 

 

My favorite of the exhibited photos. This is an actual photograph, which blows my mind.

 

A girl's best friend very best friend - The Hope Diamond.

 

 We exited the museum, onto the National Mall, and headed towards the Washington Monument. It is still closed to the public and being restored after the earthquake.

 

The WWII Memorial was next. My Grandfather served in the European Theater and was stationed in Occupied Japan. He signed up for the Army and showed up and the Drill Sargent was going down the line saying, "Army, Navy, Army, Navy....". He got to my Granddad and he was designated as Navy, and my Grandfather began to tell the Sargent that the recruiter told him he would be Army. Well, after a few minutes of back and forth, Granddad headed off to the Army.

I got to tell a few more stories for the boys about our family.

 

They have these small bronze sculptures along the wall, and we had to take a picture of the D-Day landing. Sweetheart's Grandfather died around this time. The mission  and location of his death are still secret.

 

 The Vietnam Memorial was our next sight to visit. This is one of the sights that I really wanted to visit, since a majority of my patients at the VA are veterans of this war. There is a solemn silence along the wall. It was hard not to get choked up, explaining to the boys that each name was a father, son, or husband that died during this war.

Row was excited about the Lincoln Memorial because he had just studied Old Abe in school recently. He is 19 feet tall. There was a small gift shop, where I was able to purchase 2 copies of the Constitution.

The Jefferson Memorial across the tidal basin. The peak of the cherry blossoms was pushed back two weeks the day before our trip to Washington DC. By this point, we had walked about 5-6 miles and the boys were starting to drag just a bit.

We did find a few, and I mean a few, cherry trees that had some blossoms on them around the Washington Monument. Quest completed.

Today's adventure, we will head out on a small day hike along the Appalachian Trail. The Harper's Ferry point is considered the halfway point of the AT. We will visit the AT center and put our feet on the trail and have lunch at the local Dairy Queen. Row and Red Ant thinks that DQ is the best place ever.

Keep Right On Prepping - K