Thoughts, Adventures, & Daily Life of a Home-Schooled High-Schooler

Martina keeps telling me that I really must write another blog post. I offered all kinds of other ideas, including telling  her write a guest post, but she quickly squashed that idea. "Blog about your car", she then suggested.  So here you have it.  For anyone who wants the specifics, its a 2005 Honda Civic LX.       Learning how to drive a manual transmission has been pretty interesting (terrifying, as one younger sibling remarked).  But I really like the gas mileage. Its currently getting around 32 miles to the gallon. 

Around 6am Saturday morning, Dad pulled out of the truck stop. Most of us were still sleeping. Breakfast was eaten while we drove, so the only stops we made were for fuel.  We entered Pennsylvania at 11:30. The afternoon was spent driving with a short stop for lunch. Pulled into our driveway and 3:32 and Dad turned off the engine. After unloading, it again refused to start, and has taken temporary residence just outside our garage. We are waiting on a repair man to see what the problem really is.

The Wal-Mart didn't open until 7:30am. Mom & I made a list of food items we needed, while dad and the older boys tackled the starter problem. To their dismay, they realized that the wrong size part had been purchased the night before and they needed to bike to O'Reilly's and make the exchange. Meanwhile, Martina & Elissa accompanied me on our grocery shopping expedition. Its a strange feeling to only buy enough food for a few meals. I'm used to buying 3 or 4 gallons of milk at a time - not a half gallon. Yogurt? Only enough for breakfast 'cuz more than that won't fit in the fridge! We finished our shopping and trekked out to the far end of the Wal-Mart parking lot where our motorhome was parked. Dad and the boys were back.  Under the motorhome they were trying to replace the faulty starter. Mom & I got breakfast for the little children and cleaned up all the bedding. Finally the starter was changed, but the problem wasn't fixed. The stubborn beas

Wednesday morning Dad had a hard time getting the Motorhome to start. This was becoming a trademark of our trip - turn off the engine for more than 30min, have lots of fun trying to get it to start! A google search revealed an O'Reilly's in Rapid City, about 45 minutes away. Off to Rapid City we went - hoping to buy something to fix our ailing method of transport. The clerk came out with a nifty little machine, hooked it up to some random places in the engine, and told Dad he thought it would require a new battery. Dad purchased a new battery and he and the boys installed it in the parking lot while mom took several smaller children on a walk. Hoping our RV problems were over we continued to Mount Rushmore. After viewing the monuments and battling the crowds of other tourists, we decided to ride a coaster which was similar to an Alpine Slide. We spent 4 hours at this mini amusement park. That was an enjoyable afternoon.  Hoping to see some buffalo, antelope, and maybe some mule

* All these posts were written from my phone and I've been slowly uploading them now that we are home. I'm sure you will find many grammar and spelling errors. I will edit these posts as I am alerted to errors* Tuesday morning Dad & Mom made breakfast over our little propane range. After breakfast, we walked around and looked at the different displays until the visitors center opened. We decided to take a covered wagon ride around the property. Several of us got to try driving the team that was pulling our wagon. At the school, our tour guide have us a history lesson, and then took us to church. When the wagon ride was over, several wanted to go on the pony-cart ride, while the rest of us went back to the motorhome and packed up a few last-minute items. The motorhome had to be given much encouragement to start. Finally the engine submitted, and we were on our way. Just after leaving the Ingalls Homestead, we stopped at Loftus Store in De Smet. Because of the name, I was kin

Monday morning we were given a delicious breakfast before we hit the road. It wouldn't have been hard for us to stay longer but we had more destinations ahead. Traveling was going well. We made the necessary 200 mile stops for gas of course. Towards afternoon, many of the younger ones took naps and I found a small space on the back bed to read. Cruising along I-29, mile marker 94 our motorhome troubles started with a terrific bang! accompanied by scraping and flapping noises. At the first sound I looked out the back window to see a big piece of our left rear tire taking a much different route - towards the median. I shouted up the hallway to Dad, "Hey, stop! We popped a tire!" Dad was pulling to the shoulder, and several of us hopping out to assess the damage. The tire was completely useless, the outer rubber part shredded and lying several hundred feet behind us. There were some wires hanging down, and although I don't know much about motorhomes, I knew

When I woke up Sunday morning, we were on the road again. Indiana..... Illinois..... And Iowa each welcomed us with their slogan. I think dad was most impressed by Iowa's slogan - Land of the Giants. We arrived at Dad's cousins place around 4:30. We visited with them for awhile, and I had a shocking experience when I tried to enter the motorhome. As I grabbed the doorhandle - ZAP! Startled, I massaged my stinging hand, thinking I must have had some touched some static inducing the shock. Determined not to let my fear of being zapped deny my entrance, I tried again. ZAP! Startled and annoyed by my incapability to open the door oh, I tried one more time with the same results - ZAP! By this time I was thoroughly tired of being zapped so I went and found dad who was hooking up the electric. "Dad, I can't get in the door," I said. "It shocks me everytime I try and open the door." Dad came around the side and to my dismay open the do

After the shop closed Saturday afternoon, we packed a few last minute items and clambered into the motorhome. I was slightly alarmed at first as it was clear that the AC wasn't working, and temps in the Upper Mid-West were projected to climb into the 90°. 15 minutes later dad determined that it wasn't turned on properly. Whew, what a relief. If only this would have been the only automotive problems we had. But more to come on that later. Just inside the Ohio line, we stopped for gas. We noticed a truck pulling a racecar, and several minutes later the racecar lady came over and gave us a bowl of candy leftover from a parade. Little hands eagerly reached into the bowl, quickly determining which was the best kind. It continued to get dark and the scenery changed to trees illuminated by our headlights. One by one various family members fell asleep anywhere they could find room. The last several miles before the truck stop were sponsored by Mtn Dew and trail mix. We finally d