Slice Traditions!

We have a few little traditions and rituals on our Slice trips.

We have to have a trip flag!  Cathy usually is in charge of making the flag with the kids help.

(I must explain the "Tree Huggers"....I know in some circles "Tree Huggers" conjures up flaming liberal hippies.  In our case, no flaming hippies, but we all love our beautiful California redwoods and have camped there often.  And on our camping trips we have always had a tradition of all of us hugging  a tree when we finally get to camp.  Some of the redwoods are so large it takes all of us holding hands to barely make it around a tree!  So, the kids have no history of "Tree Huggers" other than a big family hug! and they are the ones that came up with our slogan!"

Slice of America 1's flag






All participants sign the flag and along the way we pick up badges we include on the trip.  We display this flag at all our campsites.






Our Slice of America 2 flag!

Gnomes!

We have gnomes that travel with us.......last year the gnomes met undignified ends.  Hopefully this year they will have a stronger sense of committment and stay with us to the end!

This one is Gnome-E, also known as No, ME!

Roses and Thorns

We start off our mornings with "Roses and Thorns":  Thoughts and prayer on what we have enjoyed so far (Roses) and those things that have been rough (Thorns) plus prayer to keep us through the day.  It took Ben a while before he could really get into the Roses thing on Slice 1......He had to warm up to this travel thing.


                                                                            Trip Maps
Maps on the sides of the vehicles and the kids keep them up to date with our progress.  We use a paint called CarArt.  It wipes right off.  The maps stencils are already made and ready to go when we get to the final days before take off.








Trip Ribbon
We add a ribbon or flag to our antenna so we will know each other's vehicles.....don't think we will need it on Lucy though , can't miss her!

 The Dutch Oven
When the celestial beings are aligned, Cathy whips up a wonderful treat in her trusty Dutch Oven!!

Weather Report

Cathy gives the morning weather report as we leave camp in the morning over the WalkieTalkie.  Also a bit of the special events for that day.  Sort of reminds you of the Principal's morning announcements when you were in school.

Remarkable weather events may even hit the charts on the van.  (See, the 70 mile an hour wind at Mount Rushmore was recorded on the back of the van with such events as # of misquito bites!)

Speaking of Weather Reports, Miss Lucy has a special weather radio to get any alerts in the many areas we will be traveling this time.