At the start of our epic Route 66 adventure today proved to be one of those days that just make you smile. Now let’s be very honest here, the start of any adventure like this can translate into a long and stressful day. But we tried something - pre-camping.

Essentially we went camping before we went camping. What do I mean by that? We spent the Memorial Day weekend in Fort Bragg with friends and we made sure that we had everything we needed and that everything was in good shape for our adventure.

Because of that everything was in good shape for our adventure so leaving was just leaving, rather than hoping that we didn’t forget to pack the mayonnaise or whatever it was.

Special surprises

By mid-morning I had caught up on all the RV reviews for RVTravel such that I was ready to go when our mailbox place called and told us we had a heavy package waiting for us. That means our new batteries have arrived - and I had given up hope that they would be here before we left.

Our five year old lead acid batteries

Our new Odyssey AGM battery

So I jetted over to the mailbox place but not before I had to clear leaving my property with the crew who was installing a new telephone pole in front of my driveway. That done, it was off to the mailbox place and they weren’t kidding about the weight of this package. But using some clever leverage techniques they were in the truck and we were back home to install them.

Except they both don’t both fit.

They were sent to us after our podcast interview with Odyssey Batteries and they were just too big to fit in the well where our trailer holds batteries so we went with just one and it’s rather jury rigged how it’s held in place.

Speaking of creative leverage Peggy and I really had to use some to get the two old lead acid batteries out and this one new AGM battery in. Essentially we hung the outgoing batteries and the incoming one on a 2X4 and then dangled the battery by a cargo strap and both of us used our muscle to lift and place. I was thrilled when Peggy found the handle on the new AGM battery!

Cookies

After the battery was installed and secured Peggy found the energy to work on her corn cookie recipe. This will be posted on Monday and the best part is that we get to eat the cookies in all stages of perfection.

The idea came from a cookie mix we found at Trader Joes that might have become my favorite cookies of all time. Peggy being scientist figured out the recipe and even made it better than the box cookies and also something that can easily be made in the camper.

We used to be quite the social folk when we were RVing until some weird pandemic caused us to cool our jets but it might be time to bring being a camp flirt back again. We wrote an article about the whole camp flirt thing when we also shared a recipe for Peggy’s grandmother’s persimmon cookies.

Landmark

Tomorrow we’ll be closer to getting on actual Route 66 but tonight I’m writing this from Pea Soup Andersen’s restaurant in Santa Nella, or Salmonella as my dad used to call it. They’re very gracious in letting polite RVers stay the night in their parking lot despite having a hotel. But that means pea soup for breakfast - oh yeah!

Speaking of landmarks we stopped at one on the way down before enduring California’s Interstate 5 and they had a very political program playing on their house TVs, including a TV right above my head. Why does a business owner permit this in a restaurant?

I don’t see any place for “news” in a place where you go to enjoy a meal and get away from life for a few moments. So, I just will never ever go back there.

Discoveries

As I had hours of windshield time today I discovered that my 2015 Ram 1500 keeps track of how many miles it tows with which trailer. After modifying the truck so it includes the trailer brake control and sway system (buy me a beer and I’ll tell you about the expensive hospital stay) there are a bunch of features added and one of those is keeping track of the mileage you accrue with each trailer.

You can set-up multiple trailers and each time you tell the truck that a specific trailer is attached, apparently it logs the miles you’ve towed with that trailer.

So, thus far, almost 2,800 miles with our Rockwood Mini Lite just since I added the factory trailer brake controller in November.

Great night

I have been composing this article all day and here I sit excited to tell you all about our departure on a two month road trip along Route 66 and beyond. As I tap this out on my confuser I’m enjoying a North Coast Brewing Company Old Stock Ale, which is a creamy and smooth ale with a very rich flavor but also an 11.2% alcohol content. Yahoo!

There is a rich malty caramel taste to this and I wish I had bought more of these, but I’ll have plenty of chances to try plenty of beers along the journey and I’ll share my favorites, and least favorites, with all of you. I would absolutely buy this again.

And on the subject of the beer, this one has been in our Dometic fridge since we left the house at about 3pm. That means on a ridiculously hot day where most of the time we were in 105° F temperatures the Dometic fridge maintained food-safe temperatures until now, about 9pm, when I’m enjoying this nice cold beer.

This further reinforces my article about driving with the RV refrigerator running.

Well that’s what I have for you today. Barring internet stupidity I am hoping to add to the Route 66 blog every day. We have some fun stuff planned along the way but also some fun stuff after this adventure in Indiana where we have factory tours galore.

And maybe a nice surprise. Stay tuned.