On the Road Again (Willie Nelson)

When our family traveled to Yellowstone by car, we would get up early, eat breakfast, jump in the car and George would tune his Willie Nelson cassette to  "On the Road Again".  It helped us be a little happier about driving 400 miles!  Our Rodeo was packed to the brim with the 4 of us our luggage, a cooler in the back seat between Stephen and William and a large cloth sack that was once used at William’s birthday party to have sack races in.  You remember that fun outdoor game where two people each step into a big cloth sack that comes up to their waist and they hold onto the rim and when someone yells go the two players start jumping to see who can cross the finish line first?  I love those kinds of games!  I'm getting distracted, but you can imagine how big this sack was.  George called this sack the "Food Bag".  It contained boxes of cereal, chips, bread, cookies, napkins, paper plates, etc.  Instead of stopping at the fast food restaurants, which could be scarce out west, we would make a sandwich and have chips, apples and drinks for lunch.  Sometimes we just made lunch and ate while we drove, and sometimes we would stop at a nice picnic area.   Those were the days.  Why did I title this blog “On the Road Again” you ask?   Because that song reminds me of traveling somewhere with George, and we're back on Viridian about to travel up the east coast of America the beautiful.  Except "On the Boat Again" has been playing in my mind.  AND while we were in Alabama, we got to spend a lot of fun time with Stephen, Sarah and William, and I kind of miss them and it's fun to remember those days when they were young.  We love hearing about Sarah's family vacations, too.  
  

Family night selfie!  William always loves to make a goofy face!  

We left Huntsville yesterday and flew to Atlanta, then onto Fort Myers. George's one weaknesses is Popeye's fried chicken.  And there just happened to be a Popeye's in the Atlanta airport NEAR our gate so you guessed it, we shared a 3-piece chicken dinner for lunch. But you know how all of the fresh chicken you buy at the grocery store is sooo big nowadays?  Well Popeye's gets the little, normal-sized chickens.  That was disappointing.  But I have to say; Popeye's is some of the best fried chicken I've ever eaten.  

George standing in line humming "Oh Happy Day" to himself while I hold a table

We got up this morning and drove to a brand new Wal-Mart to provision the boat.  If you're not a boat person you may wonder, like I did, what provisioning the boat means.  It just means going to the grocery store to get food, paper goods, etc.  We had 2 buggies today, and it took me several hours to put it all away.

Here's the list. 

I made a list on my iPhone before we left the boat to come home for the month and added to it as George and I thought of more things.  Then I made a paper copy of the list and broke it down into categories.  I love using a clipboard to hold my list so I can mark off each item as I put it in the buggy.  

 Our water tanks hold 200 gallons, and while we are in a marina we have access to all the water we need, but it's a little more complicated filling the tanks up than just getting the hose and filling them up.  You have to get out the special hose that is only used for drinking water.  Then you have to get the water filter attachment out and screw it onto the drinking water hose.  Then you have to attach the drinking water hose to the faucet on the dock.  You get the picture.  It's a little time consuming so I want to be as frugal with water usage as I can be.  I am very excited about my new way of washing all my vegetables and fruits when I get home from the grocery with them.  I put a large stainless bowl in my little kitchen sink and fill it about 3/4 ways full of water.  Then I put my romaine lettuce in the water for a little soak, then slosh it around, it them out to drain on a large tea towel, pull all 4 corners of the towel together, hold those corners and go outside and sling the lettuce. The water flies out (thanks Barefoot Contessa for that tip).  This is my salad spinner.  I do not like wet lettuce. I love the convenience of pre-washed lettuce, but I like the taste of home-washed lettuce better.  Romaine is such a hearty leaf lettuce that it works well for us on the boat.  It doesn't bruise easily and it lasts longer than some of the more fragile lettuces.  Then I wash all the apples, oranges, etc. in the water bowl.  It just seems to go so much faster this way.  I confess, when I'm at home, I never wash all my fruits and vegetables until I'm ready to use them, but I may start doing this when we get back.  It makes me feel so happy when I can just reach for an apple and it's already washed and ready to eat.  

Romaine is washed and packed into zip top bags with paper towels to absorb any leftover water remaining 

It was so good to see family and friends in Alabama.  There's no place like home :-)

Happy Easter everyone!