Yummy Wakame

Though not out of Pittsburgh… yet. Yesterday we excitedly got into our fully loaded RV after an exhausting 4 days of moving ready to embark on a year-long roadtrip, and just half an hour into the trip we noticed the engine was smoking. So we turned off the A/C and pulled over as soon as we could.

While Nathan got out to look under the hood, I was sitting inside peering at the gauges on the dashboard trying to see if there was a water level indicator or anything else showing up but everything was in normal ranges. Suddenly Nathan started yelling frantically at me to get out. I jumped out panicking — movies taught me when someone yells, “Get out of the car!” it’s about to explode. Luckily some workmen across the road spotted the fire because Nathan couldn’t see it from above.

From a safe distance I could see fluid that had caught on fire pouring out of the engine and licking the belly, right under where my feet were. more…

Wow I love Ohiopyle! If only my phone hadn’t died on me I could have taken some photos of this amazing tiny town. It’s got so many activities for the outdoors. We crossed a pretty high bridge over the beautiful, fat river which was hilariously signposted something along the lines of, “No jumping, fishing or diving from the bridge allowed.” which pretty much spells out how creatively active the people around there are.

It was very laid back too. I hope we get to spend some more time around there in the coming years.

We also bumped into this group of four really interesting women again who we kept bumping into along the trip. They all had 16 year old kids in common, but we couldn’t help noticing they were in way better shape than us, huffing and puffing our way to the end while they zipped around. They were amazing! And so interesting to talk to. I hope I see them again and have a feeling I will.

Oh and by the way for anyone interested in doing a part of the Laurel Highlands Trail - the first 6 miles (in our case the last 6 miles) were by far the most breathtakingly beautiful. The views were jaw dropping!

Backpack blogging:

There have been amazing views, interesting people along the way, greenery, cute animals and long luscious nights of dead tired sleep. Its raining and freezing cold tonight though - a fire would have been amazing if we had some dry wood…

I cant stop thinking about home comforts… snuggling my boys, enjoying a glass of milk, hot running water, a hard beating shower, washing my face! Using a flushing toilet, feeling a mattress give way to my hips instead of being bruised by the hard floor.

6 more miles tomorrow and I’m home free! Well sort of - there’s another camping trip planned this weekend near Ohiopyle. But that will be pretty luxurious in comparison.

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[Sent from my phone]

Backpack blogging:

On day two we figured out Anna’s shoes were a half size too small too late - she’d already lost most of the skin on both her heels. So for the rest of this trip Anna’s been hiking in her flip-flops! In the rain, through mud and sludgy steep downhills, no arch support and a 45lb backpack on. Without her nifty sticks there were a few scary slips that might have ended our dream of finishing. Backpacking in flip flops crazy? Yes. Hardcore - more than a wee bit. I’ve never seen anyone so sure-footed.
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[Sent from my phone]

Backpack blogging:

Filtering water at our lunch break spot as the water will be contaminated at our shelter area.

It’s been fun hiking with Anna for a lot of reasons. She packs awesomely delicious food and snacks which have been life savers on cold rainy days. Anna’s also a great spotter of cute snails, amazing spiders and tiny fat froggies along the way. It’s been raining pretty much constantly this trip. We didn’t have it so bad today though.
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[Sent from my phone]

Backpack blogging:

Finally a site with pumpable water! It was a treat to not have to filter water from a river this morning. Its such a gorgeous old relic and works fast! I have all new clean clothes after hanging them off to dry on the backpack today.
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[Sent from my phone]

Backpack blogging:

… and continued for the whole 10 miles. Clothes soaked, boots and socks soaked, change of clothes also soaked, we arrive at the cabin to find the firewood soaked… Its still pouring outside and getting dark. It will rain all night. We need to find a water source too.

An hour later its still raining but we have full bellies, full water supplies, washed dishes and thanks to Annas sacrificed journal pages we also have a gorgeous warming fahr. At the moment I’m drying one soaked log at a time to keep it going strong.

We hope to wake up to dry clothes and sunny times :@)
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[Sent from my phone]