The Winds Of Change Are Blowing
Today is totally gonna be a “feelings” post. The house is sold – the closing is set for July 24, at which point we will be “homeless”. Its scary. Every day I waffle between being excited and being scared to death. Jim is busy clearing out the house – maybe a little too fast! I kinda like having furniture while I still live here! Yesterday he cleared out his closet, and we still have 6 weeks left! I think he’s a little bit excited!?
So now the big question, where shall we go? We need to be in Kentucky for Brian’s Boy Scout camp the first week of August, but after that the world is ours! We keep asking each other “where do you want to go”? And then saying “I don’t know”! How do you all decide which way to head next??? Throw a dart at a map? We wanna see it all!!! But where do we begin??? Do we drive east toward the Atlantic? Or west toward the majestic mountains? Do we just flip a coin?
And then there’s the whole weirdness of leaving our family and friends behind. I will be leaving 2 sons behind and the youngest will be with us for the next year while he finishes high school. I’m not sure how to handle not being near my other babies. And what do we do about Christmas? I sure don’t want to come back here to freezing cold Illinois for Christmas!!!
Bless their hearts, I’ve had friends offer to store my stuff for me. I’ve even had one ask if we need to live at her house after we close on our house. No silly, I have an RV! But I love you anyways for offering!! Actually, I just love you anyways. You know who you are <3
So many questions, and not many answers right now. I guess the wind will tell us which way we will blow when the time comes…
The Best Damn BBQ Ribs You’ll Ever Eat
I’m not gonna lie – EVERY person I have served these ribs to has asked for this recipe. For the longest time I wouldn’t give anyone the recipe – it was my little secret. People would ask, and I would tell them, “I’d tell ya, but then I’d have to kill ya.” and laugh it off. You see, this recipe was given to me by a very special person – my husband’s uncle. Uncle John worked for years trying different ingredients and testing the sauce and changing things, and trying new things, to come up with what he thought was just the perfect BBQ sauce recipe. Sadly, Uncle John is no longer with us, and we miss him terribly. But his awesome BBQ sauce recipe lives on in infamy!
There’s nothing at all difficult about this sauce. In fact, its base is a bottle of BBQ sauce, with plenty of other yummy ingredients added to it to make it awesome!
To begin, unwrap your ribs and cut them into serving-size pieces. I usually cut them into 4 pieces per rack of ribs.
Next, wrap them in foil.
And place on the grill. Low and slow is the name of the game here. We want them to cook through, but not burn on the outside. I usually cook them for about an hour over a low flame, flipping them a couple of times along the way.
Unwrap them, and here’s where the good part begins. Trust me, the whole campground will be jealous when they smell this!
For the sauce:
1 bottle of Kraft Honey BBQ Sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup Catalina Dressing
1 TBSP dried onion flakes
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup Kikoman soy sauce
A couple forks full of sweet relish
Put all the ingredients in a pot and let it simmer very gently on the stove for about 15 minutes.
Now brush this goodness on your ribs and close the grill cover and cook them a few minutes.
Now flip them and sauce the other side. Let them cook a few more minutes. Flip, sauce, cook. Flip, sauce, cook, until you feel perfection has been achieved. The brown sugar in the sauce caramelizes every so awesomely on the ribs, and finger-lickin’ sticky deliciousness happens.
Enjoy! Share them with friends and family, and be prepared to share the recipe too!!
~Carol & Jim
[print_link]
Tulip Time!
What a spectacular weekend! We put our house on the market, left the kids at home, and took off for a long weekend to go to The Tulip Time Festival in Holland, Michigan. The Tulip Time Festival was first started in 1927 by Miss Lida Rogers, a Biology teacher at Holland High School. She suggested that Holland adopt the tulip as its flower, because of its close ties to the Netherlands, and she set aside one day for the festival. All these years later, the festival features 4.5 million tulips planted throughout the city, and is held the 2nd week of May for 8 days annually. There are parades, carnivals, arts & crafts shows, Dutch dance, and many more fun activities!
We booked our weekend camping spot at Dutch Treat Campground about a month in advance, with no problem getting the reservation. When Jim called, he gave them our last name (Mellema) and for the first time ever was not even asked how to spell that!!! I guess they know a good Dutchman’s name when they hear one! The campground itself is a very nice, quiet, woodsy place with a fishing pond and a nice playground for the kids. The owners are super nice and the accommodations were very nice. We would highly recommend them!
We spent most of our time at Windmill Island Gardens, where we went on the windmill tour (very cool!) and walked around the whole park taking pictures of all the tulips. 
This photograph is the big field of tulips shot from on top of the windmill at the end of the tour. We also enjoyed an authentic Dutch lunch of vegetable soup with meatballs, cole slaw, and (Jim’s favorite) currant bread. Delicious!
All in all it was a very nice weekend, and I look forward to going back to the Holland area to check it out more!
We did go down to Lake Michigan, but it was super chilly and foggy that day so we didn’t stay long, but I would love to go back on a warm July day!! I got a bit of work done too, as many of these photographs (and many more!) will be uploaded to the stock photography sites that I work for, so I can make a little money off of the photographs that I took.
Until next time!
Jim and Carol
Kwikee Step Rebuild
Jim’s turn, and I like to do the techie stuff.
At 6 years old, our front entry steps are looking kinda beat. After dragging them thru a ditch outside of Silverton, Colorado a few years ago, followed by a roadside repair, they don’t work as smoothly as they once did either.
Here’s what we are starting with:
Taking them apart was pretty easy, other than laying under the coach to get it done. Don’t forget to kill the power, these things can eat fingers! Ours had a connector right up under there that I disconnected to be sure the steps wouldn’t try to move while my fingers were up in there.
There is 1 pair of main brackets, with 3 bolts, and 2 pairs of “followers” with 2 bolts each. I soaked it all down with PB blaster a few days before D-Day, and it all came apart fairly easily.
I applied a “ford tool” to straighten some bent pieces, pealed the nasty old anti-skid off the steps, and took the 2 steps and 6 brackets to my local power coater.
The hardware was 12 shouldered bolts, wave washers, bronze bushings, and nuts.
The bolts and nuts were saveable, and I sourced stainless steel triple wave washers and 3/8 x 1/4 iolite bronze bushings (they didn’t have 3/8 x 3/8) from McMaster-Carr.
Sandblasting and powder coating cost was $150.
I found genuine kwikee replacement antiskids (21″ x 6″) for roughly $30 with shipping.
The hardware was about another $30.
.
I still haven’t completely figured this out, but I attached LED truck marker lights to the underside of the steps, and have a third to install to the main bracket above them. They should light everything up really good, much better than that “hockey puck light” they come with. In an ideal world, I would run the extra wire from my starlight motion sensor porch light down to the door handle light and the step lights, but I’ve yet to figure out how to do that…
I drilled and countersunk holes through the steps to attach the lights (with stainless screws and nuts) before I stuck down the new anti-skid, it completely covers the screw heads.
I put everything back together today, it took about an hour and a half, and involved a bit of cursing, mostly due to not having all the tools I needed with me at the storage lot, and also having to crawl under the RV to get it done.
I gotta say I am very happy with the finished product, here’s some pictures.
The Every Kid In A Park Initiative
Did you know that according to a 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation study, kids now devote an average of more than seven hours a day to electronic media use, which equates to about 53 hours a week. That’s more than a full-time job!! Did you also know that today, more than 80% of Americans live in urban areas, and many of these people lack easy access to outdoor spaces.
In honor of the National Park Service’s 100th birthday in 2016, the Obama Administraion, in February launched the Every Kid In A Park Initiative. This initiative will provide all 4th grade students and their families FREE admission to all National Parks, National Forests, National Wildlife Refuges, and other federal lands and waters for a full year, beginning with the 2015-2016 school year. How cool is that?!?
So how does this affect you as a roadschooler? Hard to tell. I’ve searched for any information on this and I’m coming up empty handed. The best I can do is to tell you to sign the pledge at the National Park Service website and then they will send you news and updates on Every Kid In A Park, so perhaps you could request a free pass that way? The passes will be available beginning in September, 2015.
You guys will have to keep me posted on this one. My roadshooler is too old for this program, but I sure hope anyone with a roadschooled 4th grader can get the pass!! I think this is a really neat program!
What We Do To Earn Money
“How do I travel around in my RV and still earn an income?” is probably one of the most frequently asked questions that we see on forums and Facebook. It can be a real challenge, unless you got a kick-ass retirement fund from your company, to travel and earn an income. We have always been business-owners, so there is ZERO company-funded retirement income for us (other than what we have planned and saved for over the years! – another post for another day!) We’re still young-ish (in our early/mid-fifties) so we’re not ready to retire quite yet! So what do we do to earn money? And, since we are not full time quite yet (soon – very soon!!!) how can we plan to take our careers on the road?
Jim has run his own company, Best Prepress, since 1990. Its a company that services and sells equipment for the prepress (printing) industry. He travels around the Midwest (usually day trips, but sometimes overnight) and services client’s equipment in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa. Oh, and Kentucky. He also sells supplies (film and chemistry and printing plates) for the client’s machines.
Since we have ZERO desire to remain in the Midwest once we are able to hit the road full time (in just a few more months!), we are preparing to take this business on the road. How? We are building a website, with a shopping cart, that will enable us to still sell the supplies via the internet, and then have them drop shipped from our supplier. As far as the service end goes, Jim is hoping to be able to continue to service our best clients by scheduling preventative maintenance calls for them for when we are in the area. However, these machines don’t always break down on OUR schedule, so we know we are going to lose a lot of our service base, since much of the time we won’t be in the area when they need service and they will be forced to look elsewhere. Service is a large chunk of our income, so we are getting prepared to lose that large chunk when we hit the road.
Which brings us to what Carol does for a living! I am a professional photographer, who used to shoot mostly portrait work for private clients. Since I know that will not translate to taking off on the road very well (although I will keep a few steady, long-time clients that I will photograph when I am here for visits), I have been shifting my focus more to stock photography, as well as landscape photography. My landscape photography is for sale on Fine Art America, or you can view my gallery right here just by clicking the Image Gallery tab on the menu up above.
I sell my stock photography on four stock websites: Shutterstock, IStock, 123RF, and Dreamstime. Stock photography is definitely a slow growth field, but it is steady, and the income produced by selling stock photos can last a lifetime! It takes hard work, patience, and diligence to build up a good stock portfolio, but I’m working on it – slow but sure!!! I favor shooting food photographs, and they are very popular sellers on stock photography sites (think of all the food bloggers out there – most of them use stock photos!) I prefer to shoot with only natural light for two reasons: because I love the look of natural light so much more, and because I know I’m not going to have room to carry all of my lights and stands with me in the RV when we hit the road.
I am also working closely with my friend Teri on our site Taking Stock Images. Teri lives in the Denver area, makes her living by selling stock photography, and teaches classes and workshops on stock photography. We work together on the marketing/blogging and maintenance of the website, and I’m hoping to start teaching classes very soon here in the Chicago area too. Once we do hit the road, I can teach classes wherever we choose to be at any given time! We are also looking into writing e-books and doing online webinars. There are lots of awesome things coming down the line for us, and for anyone who wants to learn the business of stock photography, so stay tuned!!
So there you have it – our plans to make money and travel in a nutshell. With the advent of the internet, there are many many ways to translate your business to on-the-road. All it takes is a bit of forethought, planning, and hard work!
Welcome To Our First “Awkward & Awesome!”
Hello fellow RVer’s! Welcome to our first “Awkward & Awesome”! Let’s have a little fun! Did you have something awkward happen to you last week while traveling or camping? PLEASE share it with us in the comment section below!! How about something awesome?? Again, please share! I think this will be a great way to connect, and to read some hilarious or proud moments that we humans have experienced this past week! I believe this is going to be a regular part of my blog now, so stay tuned for even more weekly “Awkward & Awesome” stories!
Slow-Cooker Pepper Steak Over Rice
These tender and tasty strips of beef are seasoned with garlic powder, then cooked in the crock pot with tasty peppers, onions and tomatoes, and then served over rice. This is a super simple meal to throw together and then ignore in your crock pot in your camper all day long while you have fun!! What could be better?
Ingredients:
2 pounds beef sirloin, cut into 2 inch strips
garlic powder to taste
3 TBSP vegetable oil
1 cube beef bouillon
1/4 cup hot water
1 TBSP cornstarch
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 large bell pepper, roughly chopped (I like to use 1 green and 1 yellow)
1 (14.5 ox) can stewed tomatoes, with liquid
3 TBSP soy sauce
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp salt
Directions:
1. Sprinkle strips of sirloin with garlic powder to taste. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the vegetable oil and brown the seasoned beef strips. Transfer to a slow cooker.
2. Mix bouillon cube with hot water until dissolved, then mix in cornstarch until dissolved. Pour into the slow cooker with meat. Stir in onion, bell peppers, stewed tomatoes, soy sauce, sugar, and salt.
3. Cover and cook on High for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low for 6 to 8 hours.
Serve over cooked white rice.
[print_link]
Swedish Meatballs
Yum! Home-made Swedish meatballs smothered in a creamy gravy sauce! Today I served them with mashed potatoes, but I’ve also served them over egg noodles, which was equally delicious.
Ingredients:
2 TBSP olive oil, divided
1 onion, diced fine
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1/2 cup Panko*
2 large egg yolks
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the gravy:
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups beef broth
3/4 cup sour cream
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 TBSP chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions:
1. Heat 1 TBSP olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine ground beef, ground pork, Panko, egg yolks, allspice, nutmeg and onion; season with salt and pepper to taste. Using a wooden spoon or clean hands, stir until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inch meatballs, forming about 24 meatballs.
3. Add remaining 1 TBSP olive oil to the skillet. Add meatballs, in batches, and cook until all sides are browned and inside is cooked through. Transfer to a paper towel-line plate.
4. To make the gravy, melt butter in the skillet. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in beef froth and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in sour cream, season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in meatballs and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through and thickened, about 8-10 minutes.
5. Serve immediately, garnished with parley if desired.
Notes
*Panko is a Japanese-style breadcrumb and can be found in the Asian section of your local grocery store.
[print_link]
Beef And Broccoli Stir Fry
This delicious and easy version of Chinese take-out features tender marinated beef served over white rice, with an egg roll to complete the meal. It comes together super quickly and easily, and can be cooked very easily on your RV’s stovetop. A real family favorite in our RV!!
Ingredients for Marinade:
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar
1TBSP cornstarch
1 TBSP low-sodium soy sauce
1 TBSP water
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1-1/2 pounds flank steak, sliced into thin strips
Whisk together the baking soda, sugar, cornstarch, soy sauce, water, and vegetable oil in a large bowl. Toss the steak with the marinade to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour, then proceed below.
Ingredients for sauce:
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce (Do NOT use regular soy sauce – too salty!)
2 TBSP brown sugar
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 TBSP flour
1 TBSP sherry
3 TBSP vegetable oil
2 head broccoli, crowns only
1. In a small bowl, stir together they soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, flour and sherry until smooth. Set aside.
2. In a large wok or sauté pan (I LOVE my cast iron skillet!), heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil over high heat until shimmering, Add broccoli and sauté 3 minutes, stirring often, Transfer broccoli to a plate.
3. Reduce heat to medium-high. Carefully add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the hot pan. Add the marinated meat and half of the sauce mixture and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often, until the meat is cooked through and no longer pink. Stir in the broccoli and remaining sauce. Saute 1 minute more. Serve.
Enjoy!
[print_link]