Demmlers West!

Two years ago I received a grant from the Lily Foundation's Clergy Renewal Program that afforded our family the ability to travel for five weeks across the country. We stayed in hotels and vacation rentals and either ate at unique restaurants or cooked with friends, all of which was the start of this Prayerful Kitchen project. This time, we're on our own financially and have taken on the challenge of pulling our hotel room with us. This Christmas our big (BIG) family gift to one another was a used camper. Blessedly, the people who owned it before us had it for years but only used it once or twice. It's in great shape and has needed few updates and a new set of tires. My amazing seamstress of a mother-in-law turned $100 in fabric into an aesthetic overhaul of the interior of the camper. Now, we are putting the camper and our ability to withstand living in close quarters to the test!

In November of 2016, the good people of the Diocese of Atlanta elected me to be among their deputies to this year's General Convention in Austin, TX. General Convention is the triennial legislative gathering of the Episcopal Church. We will be meeting during the first two weeks of July. My parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in Las Vegas at the end of July. It seemed only reasonable that we would connect the dots and take another massive road trip. I'll post reflections and recipes along the way to share some of what we're seeing and learning as we go along.

For example, my reflection from the first night on the road is this: be careful what thoughts pass through your mind because they may just come true. The camper has a short queen bed, two bunk beds, and a dinette that turns into a modified twin bed. When I bought sheets for the bunks and dinette I looked at the mattress pads and thought, "Do I need to buy these or do I save myself a good $30+?" Being the intelligent sort, I opted to keep my money and forgo the covers. After all, none of my children have wet the bed since they were a year old. Surely we would be okay for this trip, right? Right?!

Friends, spend the $30. This morning at 4:30 I heard our son mumbling and looked to see him shuffling towards our bed. I thought he was coming to crawl into bed with us like he often does in the early morning hours. But his tone was different and he was kind of swaying back and forth with his head cocked and down. Something was wrong.

"Mommy, I pee-peed in my pants."

"What?"

"I pee-peed in my pants."

Oh. No.

Sure enough, he had let loose. Not just a little, but his whole bladder had happily rid itself of its uncomfortable contents while he slept, blissfully unaware. Good news is, the camper really is that cozy and comfy. In fact, up until the 4:30 wake up call by our son, I too had been in a grand, deep sleep. Bad news is, urine now soaked his clothes, the sheets, and the cushion covers underneath him. Oh, AND it had made its way to the top of the dinette table underneath the cushions. He went big time.

After stripping him down, finding a new shirt and undies for him, and sending him into bed with his daddy, I stripped and cleaned the bed. Blessedly, and I mean blessedly, someone had wrapped the foam cushions in plastic before putting them in their covers. I was able to pull the cushion covers off and wash them with some Dr. Bronner's (LOVE this stuff!) peppermint soap in our little bathtub and hang them outside to dry.

Now, our son is happily snoozing inside next to his daddy and I'm awake writing to you find folks. Before you wonder why Derek didn't clean up the mess, he's the designated driver for this trip. I was happy to plan the trip and do all of the arranging but don't have much of a mind to learn to tow our 24 foot camper, thank you very much. I'll get to nap in the car while he carries the stress load of having to maneuver our Expedition and camper on I-20.

For those of you interested, here's where we're headed this summer. We'll stay most places 1-3 nights, with Austin being the exception.

Birmingham-Vicksburg-Dallas-Austin-Ft. Stockton, TX-Ruidoso, NM-Tucson-Joshua Tree National Park-San Dimas, CA (outside of LA)-Las Vegas-Flagstaff-Amarillo-Albuquerque-Oklahoma City-Lonoke, AR-Nashville-HOME!

Now for the first recipe from the road, and it's a cheater. I was tired last night and it was hot, so I opted for a one-bowl supper that required little work.

Chicken Caesar Salad

1 rotisserie chicken from the grocery store
1 1/2 head of romaine lettuce
6-8 Tbsp Caesar dressing
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (I buy the pre-shredded in the plastic tub)

Pull all of the meat off the bone from the chicken and pull it apart into bite-sized pieces. Place in a big bowl. Wash lettuce and cut it into 1/2-3/4 inch strips and add to bowl (don't forget to spin the lettuce in your salad spinner after you wash it to get most of the moisture off, unless you like a runny salad). Throw in your dressing and cheese and toss. My kids love this salad and I didn't have to get hotter standing over a camp stove.
Note: I often will cut up some fresh baby spinach, maybe two handfuls, and throw it in there as well. My kids don't know their eating raw spinach and I do an internal victory dance that some vitamins have made their way into my kids' bodies. You can also add croutons, which my kids love but we couldn't find in the grocery store last night.

Stay posted! You know they'll be more to come.