Quack Pack 2

December was another cheaper month. It was kind of a mixed bag as far as expenses since we spent 10 days staying with family. Even though we rushed from Southern Florida to Austin, we didn't drive too much. Our biggest expenses were a little bit of maintenance and some sightseeing in a national park. Maintenance: After a lot of searching, we finally found a spare wheel online at hubcaphaven.com. We had the tire mounted at Discount Tire, and bought a fuel filter and some o-rings at AutoZone. New wheel + mounting: $193.95 AutoZone: $31.37 RV running total: $19,637.86 Fuel: As always, if you're interested, go check out our  Fuel log . December was a pretty light driving month since we decided to rush to Texas, but then hung out there and didn't drive the RV at all for 10 days. Gas: $502.59 Propane: $19 - This took us from all the way empty to all the way full Food: $544 - Again, we did a good job not eating out. We did go to quite a few restaurants in Austin, but we also did a...

The fun in Austin didn't stop after the holiday was over! Aunt Julie still had plenty of great activity for us. December 26th we used an App called Let's Roam to do a scavenger hunt around Austin. The app designs fun scavenger hunts in cities all around the world that they send to your phone. You then walk around the city looking for landmarks and answering questions. It was a great way to learn about a city and give your wandering some purpose. We also discovered that they have fun little quests in app that you can use to win a free scavenger hunt. We did a few and won a free hunt so we're looking forward to doing another one soon! (We're not sponsored by this company, but if they feel the need to hire us, we'd be happy to be!) For dinner we went to the a local BBQ place near the house, Salt Lick. It was absolutely incredible! Luckily we won some of their rub in the Christmas Eve Texas Hold 'Em tournament . We can't wait to try it. On the 27th John flew ba...

For Christmas this year we were lucky enough to have welcoming family that had recently moved to Austin, Texas. In a little bit of a last minute decision we ended up figuring out a way to change our schedule and go hang out with them. It was a great decision! On the morning of December 19th we pulled into Buda, Texas to the house of Kathleen's Aunt Julie and Uncle Chuck, as well as her cousin, Aubrie, and her husband, Ben P, who live in another house on the property. Half the family was still at work, but we got to take showers and hang out for a little while. That evening Kathleen's parents, John and Leslie, also flew down. Aubrie and Ben were so welcoming that they actually moved out of their house and into the big house, giving their space to us and Kathleen's parents. They even let our kids hang out inside, which made them very happy! Aunt Julie is a super host! She had everything ready for us, including a drafted out schedule for a week of festivities.   The first two ...

This week we spent a lot of time in Louisiana. We started out by driving through Baton Rouge In Breaux Bridge, we took a swamp tour on recommendation of our friends. We saw a few more alligators, a bunch of turtles and a few more birds similar to the ones in southern Florida.       After our tour, we really wanted to get some good Cajun Food. Kathleen's foodie friend, Julie, highly recommended Crazy 'Bought Crawfish, which was just down the road from our tour. The crawfish themselves were a bit small because they weren't in season, but we still got plenty and they were so good!   We spent the next few nights at Rutherford Beach, a popular boon-docking place for RVers and we could see why. One of the nights there we had a thunderstorm. It's the only time Aiden chooses to come up onto the upper bed of the RV. We calm her down by playing music through our bluetooth speaker. After a few nights a Rutherford beach, we continued on to Texas. We met up with the same Julie th...

After wrapping up in Biscayne  and the northern entrance of Everglades , we started on our road towards Austin for Christmas. We drove up the gulf coast of Florida all the way through Alabama, Mississippi and into Louisiana. We mostly had driving days with a few library stops here and there, trying to keep up with blogging. The most interesting bit of driving was going through the Florida panhandle, especially near Panama City, where Hurricane Andrew made landfall in October 2018 as a category 5 hurricane. It seemed like nothing escaped without some form of damages. Many of the buildings seemed like a complete loss. Still, the city is slowly rebuilding, as construction crews were on many sites, replacing what had once been there. On a much lighter note, on Thursday, December 12th, shortly after crossing into Alabama, we were looking for a place use the restrooms when we turned the corner to find .. a Buc-ee's. As we haven't driven in Texas yet, we were not prepared for what we ...

On our way south we stopped briefly at the Shark Valley visitor center in Everglades national park. However the main attraction from this visitor center is a 15 mile paved trail. There are trams that operate on this trail, but it is perfect for a relaxed bike ride. When we stopped on the way south it was getting late in the day so we didn't have time to complete the loop before it got dark. So instead we decided to skip it and make sure to stop on the way back north. The trail was well worth the bike ride, and it was nice to be able to stop and take pictures of all of the wildlife as we went along. There were a ton of animals a long the way. Baby Alligators! Wood Stork In the middle of the loop there is a 45 foot tall observation tower. From the top there are amazing panoramic views of the "river of grass" as well as many of the birds and other wildlife that the park has to offer.  It was beautiful and a great way to end our time in southern Florida before rushing to Texa...