tomorrow

some pictures but not many.

We made it!

after spending a few hours in a few different rest areas, napping we made it from Madison Wisconsin to Rochester NY.  Checked into the motel at 2pm and pretty much slept until 7am Sat.morning. After showers and much needed coffee we got under way. The rain (all the way from Rochester NY to Lebanon NH) was a welcome relief after this weeks heat.
So we made it here safe and now to rest a bit and get things moved into the new place and then raise some much needed funds.
Overall it was a good trip, with the stressful parts of it and all. All I can say is thank God he made Dodge. Oh! a big UPS to GMC, today I locked the keys to the moving van, inside. Fortunately the lockout was covered by the GMC Roadside Assistance program. They had someone out within an hour, gave us just enough time to eat and take the dog for a walk. :)

It's all Jelly Beans, Puppies and Rainbows...HA

Wow, so much has occurred since 4 days ago, where to begin.

Well we left Gillette Wyoming at twelve thirty am on the 24th (driving at night to stay cool, us and the dog) and got to within two miles of the Michigan border and boom bam bang it all started. Just two hours into our trip and our Ford Windstar blew a head gasket. I was able to make an illegal u-turn (twice) and get back to Kris, Mocha and the van and we managed to push it to the rest area two miles up the road. Now what?  Well we waited until eight am when people opened for business and began making calls. Two hundred for a tow.....no I don't think so. Finally got in contact with a U-haul agent, twenty miles back the way we just came and went and rented a truck. Now we have a truck trailer and two vans. Drove the rental with the trailer behind and Kris drove the van back to the rest area. Two hours of furious work in ninety plus degree weather and we had both vans and the trailer loaded into the rental truck and were almost back on the road. We still had to decide what to do with the broken down van. It was going to be expensive to fix and take a weeks time at some shop. Fortunately an employee at the rest area asked if we were having a yard sale (ha ha). Actually I told him yes we explained the situation and then he asked what we were going to do with the broken down van. I calmly replied " Oh were giving it to you" so he says " no really what are you going to do with it". We ended up giving it to him as we had the title handy and saved us another three hours waiting for someone to come and get it.

That was a long day, we ended up driving to Madison Wisconsin spending the night where our other van got vandalized and then spent the day and most of the night driving to within fifty miles of Erie Pennsylvania. Today well we are exhausted but will see how far we make it. For now were just tired, broke and hungry. Anyone up for a road trip? 

Monday July 23rd

We spent the night in a nice cool hotel yesterday. With temps nearing or over one-hundred we are driving nights. We left Belgrade Montana at twelve thirty this am and arrived in Gillette Wyoming at around nine a.m. today. Luckily they let us check in early and got another three hours sleep had some lunch and pretty soon back to bed so we can drive the night shift again, to Mitchell South Dakota. 2000 - 2200 more miles and praying for traveling mercies.

Trip update....

We left Saturday am early and drove to Spokane WA.  We saw a nice Buck crossing the Cascades. The day went well.
Day two got an early start today (Sun) and ended up in Belgrade Montana, a few miles short of our original destination. Had some issues with my van overheating on the pass from Butte and with it being 92 degrees outside had to drive our last 65 miles with the heat on full blast.
We decided to get a room at the Super 8...nice place but kinda pricey for us. At least we get another good night sleep and have some air conditioning to cool us and Mocha down.
Tomorrow our destination is going to be Gillette Wyoming. That means we are getting up at midnight leaving at 1am so we can drive in the coolest part of the day or night depends on how you want to look at it.
Please continue to say your prayers for us to have a safe and uneventful (mechanically and otherwise) trip.
                 Thank you all
           Paul, Kris and Mocha

Modern Day......

Beverly Hillbillies....   Nearly all loaded up, a few hours tomorrow should finish it up. First thing in the a.m. Walmart for a few last minute items and then to the vets to get Mochas' nails clipped. It was a long day today now I just want to get this all over with.

pre-moving

Today....

we will be loading both our vans. Tomorrow we pick up the trailer and load it. Hopefully the weather stays a little cooler  than it has been, it would be nice as it would make it easier to accomplish the task at hand.

Always last minute details to attend to, lots of those in the next few days. We should have everything loaded by tomorrow night then a little light cleaning some visiting on Friday and the an early morning start on Saturday....like 3am is what we are shooting for. I'll try to get some pics up before we head out.

Say your prayers for us for a safe journey without incident.

9 Days

until Mocha, myself and my wife are off on our 6th coast to coast trip. The heat is going to be the one thing against us but I believe we have a good plan in place. Since we are moving this time to the east coast we will be driving two vans and towing a trailer. To help keep us all cool we are planning on driving very early am and check into the "hotel of the day" so we can enjoy the air conditioning and maybe a swim. We have an ice cooler to load with ice and water and various snacks.
As for now all our jobs are done here, now just to collect, load up and start our next adventure. We will be posting photos and blogging as we go. No more baking for awhile. :(

Party update....

Well we got a lot of good feedback from people at the party, young and old alike. Most said the mini tarts were amazing and the Petit Fours were delicious. Plus that what my observation was as people went back to the dessert table two and some three times. Made it easy, nothing to bring home. :) Overall it was a very nice gathering with good food and good people. I personally poured eight to ten bottles of champagne. No not just for myself. So it was a good exchange, sugar cookies for tarts, and the tarts took only about thirty minutes. I'm happy.

slight change of plans..

Well it never hurts to be flexible. I don't have time to bake and decorate one-hundred sugar cookies so the change is...I'm doing one-hundred mini tarts instead. Ten minutes to bake the shells and while the shells are baking mix up the mascarpone with Strawberry, Blackberry, Raspberry, Blueberry, sugar.  Fill four pastry bags and fill the tart shells and decorate each with the appropriate fruit piece. Sounds like a lot of work but the whole process  should only take about thirty to forty minutes. While my special recipe cookies are delicious, (if I say so myself) the tarts are amazing and should be the hit of the party. So tomorrow I will know for sure what the results are.

Two weeks before our trip (driving) cross country again and still a lot to do. Things should calm down after this weekend and we should be able to get the rest of our items packed up and ready for the trailer and vans. I will still have some last minute jobs to complete and that sugar cookie dough that is sitting in the refrigerator I'll use up by making cookies for the R.V. park dinner and "free cookie" treats.

half done

One-hundred Petit Fours done. Haven't even started the sugar cookies yet, well the dough is done. Two days to complete one-hundred sugar cookies, you'd think it would be easy but I have a four day project that ( not cookies or baking) needs to be done in two days so the cookies is an extra. Everything has to be delivered Sunday. So anyways I did cupcakes and some Petit Fours for a small dinner tonight. Dark Forest cupcakes with chocolate pudding in the middle with orange flavored icing and orange peel shavings across the top.

Next event..

Sunday....one-hundred Petit Fours and one hundred decorated cream cheese sugar cookies. Wow that's a lot of work! I'll only have 6 hours to do them all :\..........good luck to me.

Fourth of July Goodies

Well I worked today and then got home and started baking. At one point I said I have to do this this and this and have only three hours to do it. The wife says "sounds like cupcake wars" in there. Well got the mini tarts done and 48 cupcakes done. Today actually had success with the tri- colored frosting, third times a charm I guess. So here is what tonight's guests will be munching on....

Big week ahead

Well we repainted the apartment, okay it's almost done, one more room. The rest of the week finish painting, do desserts for forty people on forth of July and then on the eighth some work for a party of one-hundred. Let's see if I can fit it all in between the other stuff i have left to do before we move. It's gonna be busy but I'm sure I can fit everything in.