Baby Gators

I drove the whole way from San Antonio to New Orleans today.  It was an easy yet looooong drive.  Towards the end I was starting to get leg cramps from pressing on the gas.  I tried to use cruise control but the hills and traffic made it nearly impossible; it was the strangest thing.

Just before Lafiette, LA we stopped at the Gator Chateau.  We saw a billboard advertising holding a baby alligator; how could we pass that up?!  It's a city funded alligator rescue where anyone can stop by to hold baby alligators for free!  We held one that was about 6 months old and 12 inches long.  Their whole mission is to rescue them, educate people about them and then grown alligators go to a protected refuge; since they have been fed by humans they cannot be released into the wild.  I'm so glad we stopped!

 

Destination: San Antonio

We arrived in San Antonio, Texas yesterday.

First stop: check into our pet friendly hotel.  Whoa!  What kind of cleaners are they using to cover up the smell of animals?!  It was so overwhelming when we walked in we had to open up the window to air it out.

I started using natural products to clean my home since it's better for my family's health and the environment.  If your interested in which ones I use let me know.

Second stop:  BBQ dinner.  We are recently acclaimed pescatarian's, but we can't come to Texas and not eat BBQ!  We went to a Two Bros BBQ Market and can you believe they were out of brisket!!!!  Such a disgrace; it must have been good!  We settled for some pulled pork and some other meat that was comparable to brisket with potato salad,  baked beans with peaches in it (I personally wasn't a fan of the peaches), and of course mac-n-cheese and sweet tea.  I was definitely hoping for some brisket but overall it was a tasty and heavy filling meal.

Third stop:  The Esquire Tavern on River Walk, downtown San Antonio.  Its the oldest tavern in that area and they boast about their longest/oldest wooden bar top; it's 100 feet long!  Might I add...their cocktails are of superior quality; it's a mixologist's haven.  I had a gin based cocktail with lemongrass and cilantro bitters, garnished with fresh lime peel.  Jacob enjoyed a tequila old-fashion.  Both were impressively prepared.  I find so much enjoyment in watching a great bartender/mixologist create a cocktail.  It's truly an art.

Today,  we went to Six Flags Fiesta, a roller-coaster theme park and water-park in one!  And....we already had acceptable season passes so we didn't have to pay for admission!  Needless to say we vetoed Schlitterbahn; free was much more appealing than spending $240.

Final Stop:  The Cove, a restaurant suggested and visited by Food Network star Guy Fieri on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. As soon as I saw they had a lamb burger I knew we had to go.  Jacob loves lamb!  I ordered the Bella burger, portobello mushroom with sautéed spinach and onions on a gluten free bun, the kids spilt a bison burger. All the food was very tasty and to make the meal more enjoyable, they are a dog friendly establishment so Jeeno didn't have to stay in the car!

6 am tomorrow: Head to New Orleans

God Has a Plan

Hey Y'all!    

I feel like I am playing catch up trying to get this blog up-to-date so I can write in real time instead of the past.  

Our initial travel plans were to leave Las Vegas on September 3, drive to Albuquerque, stay there one night then drive all the way to Texas where we could stay with family for a few days.  After that we were planning to hit Schlitterbahn Water park since we would be relatively close and its been on our bucket list.  Straight from the water park we would drive 3 hours to break up the drive to New Orleans.  Jeeno, our dog and 5th 'J', would stay in New Orleans with a dog sitter while we finished out the drive to Florida to drop off our truck so it could be shipped to St Thomas.   We would then fly back to New Orleans to jump on our boat and motor it from N.O.L.A. to Cape Coral, Florida.  Near there is a channel we would follow through Florida to Lake Okeechobee, continuing on until we made it to the Atlantic Ocean.  

After much deliberation, we decided we would take the boat down to St. Thomas ourselves.  It would save us some money AND....it would be an experience of a lifetime!   We would hire a captain who has made this trek before to ensure a bit more safety and another knowledgeable deckhand since we have NEVER traveled this way before.  I am fully confident in my husband's ability to get us there, but not so confident in my ability to help at this time.  I mean come on- I was born and raised in Vegas, I'm a desert rat!  

From Florida we would stop in the Bahamas, Turks, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and then finally arrive in St Thomas roughly September 23.

Those were our plans until hurricane Irma came in this week wreaking havoc on the Caribbean.  Needless to say, we have pushed back our travels a week as of right now waiting for more progress of where Irma will hit in the states and what will become of hurricane Jose as it continues to strengthen.  

Irma has hit every island that we will stop at on our journey.  I am thankful we didn't caught in the middle of it, but saddened by the devastation it has caused.  Tragedy is more afflicting when it hits close to home.  Sadly, I have never been affected by a hurricane and therefore unsympathetic to its destruction.  God always has a way of showing me  just how imperfect I really am.

At this point I don't know how our travels will pan out, but  l will document it.  Jacob just commented today," God is really showing me to only focus on today." 

Matthew 6:34 New King James Version

...Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble

 I am confident that God has a plan and that He has our back.  We took a leap of faith, following our hearts, and dropping everything that was comfortable and "normal".  We could have lived a "good" life in Vegas, but honestly, we weren't happy.   So here we are!  It's crazy to think how our lives have changed in the past month.  I feel like anything can happen!!  We are still heading in the same direction- to St. Thomas- just on a different time frame and arriving to a mess. Who knows what God has in store for us on the way and once we get there! Whatever it is...it's gonna be GREAT! 

#Adventuresofthe5js

Jeeno is the 5th "J" in our family.  Yes, we are one of those weird families that have all our names starting with the same letter, including our pets!

This pup is coming along for the thrill ride of traveling to St.Thomas.  The first part of our journey is a cross country drive. 

Jeeno likes car rides, but it seems he may not like them as much as I thought.  A couple hours outside of Vegas and we were all sick of his whining so we pulled over to a gas station looking for some Benedryl.  All we found we Dramamine.  We checked the internet since the internet knows all, haha. We happily found it is safe for dogs.  It's typically used for motion sickness.  I don't think Jeeno was car sick but who knows.

Our Jeeno normally eats anything and everything, but he wouldn't freely eat these yummy orange flavored pills.  We forced him to swallow 2, 50 mg pills = 100 mg of Dramamine.  It took 45 minutes for him to finally stop whining.  After about 1.5 hours he finally laid down.  With relief I jokingly said to Jacob, "What if he's dead!  Oh well, it'll make our travels much easier." 

I love My Jeeno and would be devastated if he died, but honestly traveling with a large anxious dog is challenging!  Every move we make has to be made with consideration of Jeeno.  Driving across the states seems to be fairly easy, find pet-friendly hotels and dope him up, haha.  I am currently researching what we will need to do as we island hop our boat to St.Thomas, that process is going to need another post.

Shortly, after my comment Jacob opened the window and Jeeno's head popped up.  I was relieved that he wasn't dead, but hesitant that the Dramamine worked.  To my surprise Jeeno didn't whine the rest of the 6 hour drive so I guess it did!

I bought some Benedryl for the rest of our trip.  Apparently, Benedryl's active ingredient is also good for motion sickness so we'll see if it works the same as Dramamine or better.

Leaving Las Vegas

Today September 3, 2017 We are leaving Las Vegas.  Yesterday we our final friends and family BBQ. Our house has been sold,our belongings shipped, and now we begin our trek across the southern states of the USA.

So long Vegas, So long Big and Beautiful mountains...I'm gonna miss you!

Losing Lyme Finding Freedom

I have a friend who was diagnosed with Lyme disease 3 years ago.  She has been sick since she was a young girl, bit it wasn't until after she moved to Las Vegas that she was properly diagnosed.  Lyme disease affects your whole body and can conceal itself as many other illnesses.  I barely knew anything about the disease when Braedy was diagnosed.  As our friendship has grown so has my knowledge of the disease and how it affects her.  Most times people would never know that she is sick because she doesn't complain about anything.  She does what she can on days that she feels alright and doesn't commit herself to many things.

She has been doing okay for the last couple months.  I hesitate to use the word okay because her scale of "ok" is quite different than the average person.  In The last month, however, we are all noticing her health decline. She struggles to sit upright for over 3-4 hours, her brain is getting foggy making talking exhausting, and she has constant body aches and pains.  It's to the point where daily activities like showering, grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, cleaning are difficult.  They MUST be split up, with rest in-between.  If she does too much she'll have to stay in bed to recover.  It's sad to think this is what life is for her.  She wants to do so many things but physically it's just not possible.

Last week, she was given a glimmer of hope.  She was offered a grant for a new hyperthermia treatment that has an 84% recovery rate!  Lyme Disease will never go away but it could go into remission which would mean better days for Braedy.  Unfortunately, even with the grant the treatment costs $10,000.  So we are raising money for her. Asking for help and sharing her story is extremely uncomfortable for her and her husband and right now it seems like the only way she has hope for better days.  She just started a blog so anyone can follow her story Here

If you would like to contribute financially or know someone who may Click Here

Minimalism

Moving overseas requires one to rethink their belongings. Is "it", whatever the item may be, worth the shipping or packing for the trip? Is "it" loved, easily replaced, where does it stand on the scale of necessity?

We purged and purged and will purge some more before we actually start packing what we will bring with us to St Thomas. We sold a bunch of stuff and gave away even more and even though it feels good to let go of consumerism and responsibility there is a piece of me that is sad. We worked hard to attain what we did and now we will go back to nearly nothing, starting over again. I wouldn't consider myself materialistic; I rarely shop purchasing items only with purpose. Is that why I'm sad? Every item I owned had meaning so even though I may not need "it" anymore I value "it". It feels like a piece of me is missing. Oh well. Out with the old in with the new, hahaha

With this cleansing... I release everything of the past; may new journeys and experiences help us to live a more peaceful, joyful, fruitful, and fulfilling life!