The Roaming Allwines

So now that we are home and things are starting to settle down, it is time for another update. The reason you haven’t heard anything from us was either lack of wifi access or the fact that Double Tree Inn in charges $9.99/day for wifi! Shoulda’ stayed at a Hampton, it’s free!! Anyway, I digress. I’ll pick up where we left off in Myrtle Beach. After we said our goodbye’s to my cousin and her family we headed south on Rt. 17 towards Charleston, SC. It was a nice drive as the road was not very busy on a Monday morning. We stopped a Cooter’s gas station along the way to fill up just because I thought it was funny. Once we got into Charleston, we immediate changed direction to due west to find the closest Best Buy. The night before, we decided that it would be a prudent investment for my driving sanity to purchase a head rest mounted DVD player for Lexi. So we picked that up with a few Disney DVDs and headed on our way after Eileen made sandwiches for us. Well, let’s just say that th...

So our first week of our epic adventure has passed.  The last two days have been filled with great adventure and a "few" miles of driving.  On our last evening of camping in OBX, we filled our bellies with generous amounts of seafood at Captain George's buffet in Kill Devil Hills.  After we got board of stuffing our faces, we began our last drive down route 12 back to Rodanthe and KOA.  As we were getting closer to Oregon Inlet, the sky spelled certain doom for us tent campers.  We pulled off before we reached the bridge to take some pictures of the storm and to catch some shots of the lightning. We ventured  forward over the bridge and were greeted with torrential down pours and driving winds.  The waves and the blowing rain looked like a scene out of " The Perfect Storm".   Driving the bridge that evening was a two handed drive.  The wind was so strong that I was fighting just to keep it in the lane!  After the bridge, we pulled of...

Greetings friends! Today is Friday and our last day in the Outer Banks.  The past two days have been filled with very hot, very humid weather!  Wednesday afternoon we were able to make it up to Duck and Corolla to check things out.  It is a beautiful area.  Very different from Rodanthe.  Here it is just dunes and water.  Up at the north end of OBX, there are more trees and different architecture. We kept venturing north on following Rt. 12, where, unexpectedly, the road ended.  I didn't realize that rt. 12 actually continues north but on the beach!  So we aired down to 18 psi and started out onto the sand.  Lexi enjoyed the bumping and bobbing that the Jeep did as we followed existing tire paths and make our own.  We went up the beach about 7-8 miles.  To our surprise, there are homes up that far on the beach.  Being the inquisitive type that I am, I wondered how stuff was delivered and the infrastructure was serviced.  ...

It has been an enjoyable past 4 days since we have last posted anything. Sunday we spent the day at the beach in Cape May and then another evening at Sunset Beach looking for Cape May diamonds and watching the sun set.  While we were watching the sun set on a beautiful evening, One of the guys doing some surf fishing reeled in a sand shark.  That was pretty cool to see.  It was abo1ut 13 inches long.  Of course being the good sportsman, they released it back into the water to live another day. The next morning, we broke camp at 6:30am so we could get to the 8:30am Cape May - Lewes Ferry.  Being the first time on a ferry for any of us, it was an exciting adventure.  We had a great parking spot for the Jeep on the Ferry (2 cars back from the front).  We enjoyed a soft pretzel and some water while we started our journey across the Deleware Bay.  It was a fairly rough ride as there 2-3 foot swells.  The ferry pitched back and forth for a while ...

Greetings for a damp Cape May.  We were greeted this morning by a light rain shower that kept to keep temp down. So, we have covered our first 240 miles of our 3,000+ road trip.  It was a very nice drive except for two pee stops, construction in Philly, multiple dead stops on the Atlantic City Expressway and a wrong turn in Ventnor City We spend a very nice evening at Sunset beach in Cape May.   Sunset beach is said to be the only location on the east coast where you can watch the sun set over the water.  With some clouds that decided to move in at the last minute, we didn't get to see the sun set on the water however, the clouds made for a nice show of colors.  We had a simple dinner at "the grill" right at sunset beach.  We enjoyed a great burger while sitting beach front. The night time routine however, was less than ideal.  Our daughter had to go "pee pee really badly daddy" as soon as we settled down for the night.  So like the good dad...

Ah... in a mere 24hrs, the crazy Allwine family will trek out of good 'ol central PA and head for the coast!  Only 8 work hours separates me from the open road, camp fires, the smell of ocean air and the sound of....."are we there yet?". But of course, there are a few more things to handle with the family Jeepster.  What's a road trip without last minute work on the car right?  I'm just glad the list is short!  Just need to make a simple modification the the parking lights and finish wiring the DC/AC inverter, and check the fluids.  Maybe I'll even give it a quick wash... The only major preparation to be done now is to pack the clothes and load the food.  The fridge this morning was a cool 37°.  Ready for food and some cool drinks for the beach! And of course our little one is overflowing with excitement!  She is MORE than ready to hit the road to the beach and to Disney!  "Can I give Donald Duck a hug daddy"?  That's ...

We are very quickly coming to the departure date of July 31st! There is a great deal of excitement building in the Allwine house right now. Alexis can't wait to dig here little toes into the cool sands of the Atlantic coast! In fact, every time I tell her we are going to the beach soon in the Jeep, she screams in excitement to the point I can't hear anymore! The Jeep itself it getting very close to completion. All the custom built (by me) storage system is ready and installed. The slider mechanism for the refridgerator is done and installed. I also just finished installed my custom built switch panel in the dash and the propane storage for the roof rack. Check out the pictures below! I'll be posting more pictures of our progress soon!

Wow! How time flies! The Allwine clan has been busy the past few weeks and have completely forgotten to update the 'ol blog! We are now within 3 weeks of venturing out into the world in the Jeep. Preparations on the Wrangler with quite a few projects done. One of the most important things was getting the Jeep inspected. It turns out I had a leaky rear shock and had to make a quick swap to pass PA inspection. So with the help of my handy father, we replaced both rear shocks and the rear brake pads (for good measure) in about an hour! I think that may be a personal record for both of us! I have also changed the oil, rotated the tires and checked all the mechanical systems. So now I just need to get the cargo portion of the preparation ready. Since the last post on here, I have made some headway on a few projects: - Wiring for the fridge - Installation and wiring of the air compressor - Wiring for the roof rack lights - Added some additional LEDs inside for night visio...

Well, the planning and preparation continues. As I write this, we are just shy of 8 weeks from leaving for the big summer trip. Work on the Wrangler slowly moves forward (I love waiting for paint to dry…). Currently I am working on getting all of the electrical work done. This involves wiring up all the new switches, relays, air compressor, refrigerator, extra 12Vdc outlets (mobile tv/dvd player for Lex) and a few other odds and ends. I also just finished the fabrication work for the navigation computer (netbook pc). Everything is coming along quite well. I don’t feel the rush of getting it done quite yet. 8 weeks is plenty of time…right? It is time for us to start booking our stays at some of the campgrounds. Especially for the Outer Banks! We need to start looking a ferry schedules to so we can get around smoothly. I am curious for anyone that may be reading this to hear of some of your favorite spots or things to see on the east coast. We are always looking for ideas!...

Hi everyone!  Another entry into the 'ol blog.  This time we come to you with some changes in our itinerary.  In the spirit of having some fun stuff for our daughter to experience, we will be adding a 'slight' detour to our route.  Once we make it to Myrtle beach, SC, we are going to make an ever so slight detour South to Disney World!  Well it is an 8 hour 30minute detour south to be exact... I was concerned about our stay in sunny Orlando.  We were anticipating a 4 day stay at Fort Wilderness camp ground at only $42.00 a night (very reasonable).  However, given that it is central Florida in the middle of August, and we don't exactly have air conditioning for the tent.... I decided to see what options we have.  We could have stayed in one of the resorts for $200.00+ per night or stay outside the resort at a local hotel for $120+ per night.  That is when there was divine inspiration to try and use my Hilton Honors points and see what I can ...

Well, here is our first post on what will be a place to record our family's travels and adventures. We will post pictures of where we have been, talk about what we have seen and done, as well as the mistakes we have made (we all know that our family doesn't make any). The big trip that we are planning for is a three week traveling adventure in August. The preliminary plan to to travel South along the Atlantic coast starting in New Jersey and stopping in Myrtle Beach, SC. The route home will take us through the winding roads of the Appalachian mountains on the famed Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive. We will be doing all of this in our trusty Jeep 4-door Wrangler. We will be tent camping most of the time except for the occasional stay at a hotel on a rainy night. We will also share our accounts of smaller camping trips as well as weekend get aways at Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland. We will share our tips and secrets about some great places to stay and eat at Deep ...