Cove Fort and my Mormon Cousin!

Visiting Cove fort in Utah was an accident. The only reason we wanted to visit was to stop somewhere between destinations. Luck had it, we visited on the last day of the Cove Fort Days celebration. Every year on August 3^rd and 4^th the LDS put on a two day festival with music and re-enactments, people get all dressed up and teach people about Cove Fort, Early settler life, and the book of Mormon.

Honestly I thought it was going to be a drive by and take some pictures sort of thing. We got there and there was a horse drawn mail buggy showing people around, music in the air, people EVERYWHERE and reenactors practicing or teaching their crafts. WHAT?!?!? NEATO!!!!!!

The first stop was the fort itself, built by hand it took seven months to complete. This was not a military base, it was built as a rest stop for travelers protecting them from Native American attacks and the weather. It cost 50 cents a day for a spot on a bed and 35 cents for a hot meal. People didn't usually have a lot of money so they traded goods and services instead.

While we were looking at the rooms some of the volunteers would tell us a little about life here.

The first thing I noticed was the bed, the mattress was made of grain hulls and fiber but it was hanging on a lattice of rope. The rope was used like modern box springs, but it would loosen up over time and you would need to tighten it back up to sleep comfortably. This is where the phrase “good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite” came from. When I heard that a smile shot across my face and the stop was instantly worth it.

In the next room we saw a “Weasel” which is used to sort and measure yarn. 30 revolutions is one measure and the weasel had a mechanism that would pop out telling you when you were at 30 revolutions. This is where “pop goes the weasel” came from. Do you want to know something cooler? The nursury rhyme that spawned from this phrase has 30 beats in it.

[REMIND ME TO PUT THE WORDS IN WHEN I GET INTERNET AGAIN]

the beat pattern is:

12=2

12=4

12345=9

12=11

12=13

123=16

12=18

12=20

12345=25

1=26

1234=30

The first numbers are the beat number in the line, the number after the = is the total number of beats so far.

I know my fair share of random facts but that completely blew my mind. So I am passing it on!

We saw a musket demonstration which was super nifty. Did you know that the flint used by American Soldiers in the American Revolution was imported from Engand? The ships would break through the blockades to get it here to us because English flint formed so well and could be split so evenly.

We also watched a man take a fire, some iron, and a few tools that he made out of old truck parts and make/mounted four shoes for his horse. This was quite possibly the coolest thing I have seen someone make from scratch. This stop was worth it's weight in gold.

If you are anywhere near Cove Fort, Utah August 3^rd or 4^th I would HIGHLY suggest you go check it out. Cove fort is owned and maintained by the Church of Latter Day Saints but there is NO PRESSURE whatsoever to become a member of the church. I wasn't asked once if I was a member, nor was I asked what my religion was, which gave me A LOT of respect for these folks.

After cove fort we headed up to Yellowstone WAY ahead of schedule [we were going to get there after they shut down for the night but before they opened back up for the morning.] We were driving through Salt Lake City and I remembered I had a cousin that lives here [who happens to be a member of the church], 20 minutes later we are at her front door! We had some spaghetti in our car that we got because we couldn't find pita bread to make pizzas on [we had spaghetti sauce already, but nothing to put it on, so we got spaghetti to go with it.] So we commandeered their range and shower, made dinner for everyone and got clean! Yay for family!

Speaking of family, I have some good friends who are stationed in England right now. We watched the Olympics while we were visiting and got to see Ennis take the gold in the women’s heptathlon by BEASTING the 800m. Huge day for Great Britain, congratulations!

“Friends are the family you make for yourself.”

On a side note...I want a musket now...and a horse...

Vegas to Zion

We are leaving Vegas as I write this, We spent three days here with Merian's grandparents Bunny and Mike. We had a BLAST here and we can't wait to come back through on our return voyage.

We found a few air guitars here but none of them fit quite right, We uploaded a bunch of pictures to our Facebook page so you can check them out and see if your lost air guitar ended up here.

Thing we learned:

1: Air Guitaring ROCKS, and it brings a smile to everyone's face, which is awesome in my book.

2: Don't gamble on the strip, you will never win, this is not the vegas of 20 years ago. Ask the locals where the good spots are for your favorite game. Like for blackjack, play at The Longhorn, it's a small slots restaurant with three blackjack tables and the most liberal rules for the game in all of Vegas.

3: There are some awesome dealers, and there are some not-so-awesome dealers,

4: Be prepared to donate all the money you came with to the local economy, The locals say thank you in advance :)

5:Check the floor, I found a $25 chip! (SCORE! We only lost $15 between the three of us then! )

6: GO SEE THE BELAGIO WATER SHOW (Out of everything we saw, that was my favorite, its FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC)

7: The only thing slots are good for is bottle service, and NONE of them have a functioning pull handle, which takes all the fun out of it, I can play video slots online and NOT lose all my money :)

8: I look good in elvis glasses, dress attire, and flip flops, and I like it that way.

9: It's way easier to be nicer to people than to be rude to them, but some people need a little rudeness every once in a while to keep them in check. Just make sure that you send out enough positive energy to counter act the negative energy put out by being rude. [Mostly its the escort card people that need to be checked, they contribute to most of the litter in this city.]

and 10: Vegas is HOT. We are from Texas and we think this place is hot...which says something.

We are headed up to Zion National Park today to look for air guitars there, we heard from some of the Vegas locals that it's pretty neato. Plus, its only 4 hours from Vegas [WAY better than the 24 hours to Austin!]

We may nix the grand canyon from the trip to make room to fit some smaller stops along the way [ghost towns, olde towns, scenic roads and other cool stuff you never hear about.]

A little side note to traveling folks who use a lot of data, build a mini radio wave concentrator for your computer/phone. I have an instructable on how to make a big one that isn't compact by any sense of the term HERE. I will do one on how to build a portable one when I can, but I don't have any of the tools I need with me, so I will try some things out and see if they will work in the meantime.

ONWARD MY FRIENDS! ADVENTURE AWAITS!

Days 1-2 Home to Vegas Day 1

Alright, we officially made it into Las Vegas at...ok nobody remembers but we are pretty sure it was around 10am [Including a 4 hour layover in the middle of Arizona due to being stuck in traffic waiting for the police to clean up a drunk driving accident.] DONT DRINK AND DRIVE PEOPLE!

Some gas mileage tips:

We drove the first leg of the trip at 80 on cruise control and got 29.9mpg

We drove the second leg of the trip at 60-70 on cruise control drafting semis [use the two second rule and be safe.] and got 37mpg. What does this mean? SLOW DOWN and SAVE GAS, also, follow semis whenever you can.

The air guitar?

Places we stopped today included the hoover dam [super neato, bring a penny if you go and roll it down the face of the dam if you can, I used a gummy bear because that's all I had on me :D ]

We also stopped by the “scenic view” overlooking lake mead, we looked for an air guitar there but didn't find one, we did however sign our names on the bench :) If you are ever headed to [or from] Vegas, stop by and sign the rock, take a picture, and send it to us! It's about 10 miles from Las Vegas

Yesterday we stopped in Steins, New Mexico, to look for an air guitar there. It is a ghost town that was built as a railroad town. About there were 30 registered voters, but more people actually lived there. We couldn't go in which was a bummer (and thus, didn't find any air guitars there...)

once we got to Vegas we met up with Merian's grandmother bunny, had lunch, and went to Nellis AFB NV. And took some cool pictures came out of it...but no air guitars which is weird because it's an AFB so you would think there would be lots of air guitars there to look through.

Tonight we are headed out for a night on Las Vegas. We choose Vegas as the first stop on our trip because it is renowned for the amount of air guitars that get brought here every year. My theory is that if her guitar was found by someone else, it probably ended up here...so it's a good starting point.]

ALSO: Today was the first day where I got to upload pictures, we took 300 pics in 2 days so I am going to bulk upload all the pics to the facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/media/albums/?id=268989539867910


Still no air guitar though...Where should we look in Vegas for the lost air guitar?

Home Cooked Meals on the Road

ALRIGHT FOLKS! THIS IS IT!! Less than eight hours until we leave on our trip! I'M SO EXCITED I'M FREAKING OUT! Anyways, Yesterday we got everything ready, the car packed up, and took care of everything that we needed to, this is happening.

We went to the store and picked up food for this part of the trip, but alot of it is highly processed foods [spaghettios, canned raviolis & the like] it's not all that healthy and its crazy high in sodium but it doesn't need to be refrigerated, and it can be cooked using only a two burner propane stove and a casserole pan since that is all we are taking to conserve space. For the next leg of the trip We want to eat home food while we are on the road. so I am going to scour the internet until it's time to leave or I come up with enough recipes to be happy. Ready set go!

Mashed Potatoes:

Regular, dehydrated, or instant potatoes

Dehydrated or instant milk

Butter flavored spread to taste [you can't keep real butter without refrigeration]

Add ins:

Go to the spice isle and find stuff you like!

Chives, onion, garlic, Parmesan cheese, crumbled bacon

Directions, hydrate the milk, make mashed potatoes, add milk to desired consistency. Add Add-ins to taste.

Protip, add about a half of a tablespoon of vinegar to canned cream and let it sit covered for 30 minutes

TADA! No refrigeration magic sour cream!

From Sailingbreezes.com:  Velveeta brand cheese and other American cheese products need no refrigeration.

Potato pancakes

Mashed potatoes

breadcrumbs

cheese

an egg or two

Mix the above ingredients and make patties with them fry them in a pan until crispy on the outside. serve when delicious.

NOTE: Get your eggs from a local farmer and tell them you want the outer layer intact These eggs can be kept without refrigeration in a cool dry place. They also taste way better, are WAY better for you, buying them helps keep your money local, and you help in a tiny little way against factory egg producers.

Mashed potatoes and gravy...burger: 

Make the potato pancake patties about the size of a hamburger patty, add gravy from recipe below, stick between two pieces of bread and you have yourself portable mashed potatoes and gravy! Aren't sandwiches awesome?

Mini pizzas!

Self rising flour

Dehydrated or instant milk

pizza/spaghetti sauce

traveling cheese of your choice

traveling meat of your choice (holy crap I went off on a tangent there, long story short...the meat's optional.)

onions are also pretty slam.

Now I say traveling cheese and traveling meat I mean one that doesn't need to be refrigerated to stay good. Pepperoni is a good meat option [you could do diced jerky too], and harder cheeses travel better than soft. I'm not talking blocks of cheese, these aren't natural cheese and they spoil easy. Hard cheese that still has the rind on it from when it was made is the best, but those cheeses are usually pretty expensive, so I am saying this recipe is for mini pizzas. These cheeses usually have more flavor than block cheese so you can make more pizzas with less cheese Them being mini pizzas you conserve on your more expensive toppings giving you more full tummies for less money. You know what you could do with all the money you could save with mini pizza? I would build a giant slide, because giant slides are the shiz.

First, hydrate your milk. Add to flour with salt to make a dough. Make them flat and whatever size you want. About the size of the cup/can I was just using is the size I like: flatten your dough and use a cup like a cookie punch to punch out a biscuit, reform the dough and do it again until you are out of dough or have and uncomfortable number of biscuits. Cook the biscuits in the oven until they are almost done 350* for 10-15 minutes should do it, pull them out and add toppings and put them back in until they are done.

Biscuits and Gravy:

Well you just made some pretty awesome biscuits in your head just now with the recipe above Now take some more dehydrated milk and add it to a pan of hot water, add in flour, salt, pepper, and whatever else you like in your gravy, stir it over low heat till it thickens. [add more flour to make it thicker if it's still too thin.]

Add over biscuits and dig in my friends! [Protip: This is also a pretty slam gravy on mashed potatoes...but you probably already know that.]

Grilled cheese:

American cheese slices [dont need to be refrigerated, neither does Velveeta]

Bread

Directions: Add ingredients and grill to taste  

Fried rice:

Rice or instant rice

oil

carrots

cabbage

onions

eggs

canned chicken

prepare your rice, add oil to pan, add everything but the rice until the eggs are done, add rice and fry until delicious.

Bechamel sauce over fancy sounding pasta:

Pasta

flour

egg yolk[s]

butter flavored spread

nutmeg

It's really easy to make but it seems kind of backwards when you first look at it. Add a dollop of butter to a pan, add flour and combine, cook flour until it does not taste raw [10-15 minutes] add milk until desired consistency is reached. Pour it over your pasta and enjoy!

Mornay sauce over vegetables and rice:

Do all of the above steps, but add cheese to your sauce, in our case, that cheese is parmesean or a cheddar...or a mix...hmm...mmmm...

Prepare the rice and veggies, pour sauce over and serve.

Crepes or similar flat pancake, or regular pancakes too

flour

milk

sugar

eggs

Mix ingredients until a pancake-y-delicious thickness, pour onto hot pan while holding the pan at an angle so the batter runs, flip when the top is dry. You can add peanut butter, nutella, fresh fruit, eggs or just eat them plain.

You can add more sugar to this mix and add it to a pot of hot oil, to make funnel cake!

Egg sandwiches [portable eggs and toast]

eggs

bread

cook, combine and eat.

Yogurt!

Dehydrated instant milk

Starter culture [or yogurt with live cultures in it, but that needs to be refrigerated]

*thermos

Quote from sailingbreezes.com

"It's easy to make homemade yogurt using a thermos. Heat one quart of reconstituted nonfat dry milk (add an additional 1/3 cup of dry milk - no extra water - if you like thick, custard style yogurt) over medium heat just until milk comes to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove milk from heat. While the milk is heating, boil a kettle of water and pour the boiling water into the thermos to sterilize and "preheat" the thermos. Cool milk until it reaches a temperature between 100-120 degrees Fahrenheit. Put 2 Tablespoons of "starter" yogurt (either from your last batch of yogurt, store bought plain yogurt that has "live" or "active" cultures, or dry culture mix available from Lehman's Non -Electric Catalog www.lehmans.com or 1-888-438-5346)) in a small bowl and add a small amount of the cooled milk. Stir until yogurt is dissolved. Add the dissolved yogurt to the remaining cooled milk and stir. Empty thermos of hot water (use for washing dishes) and pour yogurt/milk culture into empty thermos and cap. Let incubate for 6-12 hours. The longer the incubation time, the "tarter" the yogurt. Eat warm or wait until it has cooled and flavor with vanilla extract, honey or fresh fruit."

The search!

We have about three weeks to cover this ground, but we are determined to find this thing! Our trip is going to take us around the western United States (that's where we think the air guitar might be) Leaving Austin Texas our first stop is Vegas because why not right?

	From: Austin, TX
	1,293 mi - about 20 hours 40 mins
	To: Vegas, NV
	277 mi - about 4 hours 54 mins
	To: Grand Canyon Village, AZ 290 mi - about 5 hours 42 min
	To: Bryce Canyon, UT
	272 mi - about 4 hours 36 mins
	To: Arches National Park, Moab, UT
	599 mi - about 10 hours 17 mins
	To: Yellowstone National Park, WY
	431 mi - about 7 hours 42 mins
	To: Waterton Glacier International Peace Park, Improvement District No. 4, AB, Canada
	724 mi - about 15 hours 29 mins
	To: Vancouver, BC, Canada
	318 mi - about 5 hours 42 mins
	To: Astoria, OR
	134 mi - about 2 hours 39 mins
	To: Salem, Oregon
	2,292 mi - about 1 day 15 hours
	To: austin tx

If we don't find the air guitar....well...I guess that means that we will have to do this again sometime!

The Lost Air Guitar

Hi, I'm Zinski (left), this is Jackson (center) and Merian (right).

We are three friends back together for the last summer before we all go separate ways. We wanted to start a band so we all brought down our instruments from home. I brought my air guitar, Merian has his air drums, and Jackson has her air guitar, but Jackson couldn't find her air guitar so we are driving around the US looking for it. We are pretty sure it is somewhere in the western United States... Have you seen the lost air guitar? Will you help us find it?

This is "The Lost Air Guitar" poster
If you want to be awesome and print these out, tack them up, and take pictures you can submit them to ahead23later2blog@photos.flickr.com
Put the location where the picture was taken as the subject.
(please stay awesome and not send in anything you wouldn't want a kid seeing)

Tally ho! We hit the road in three days!