live. work. dream.

I know what you’re thinking … This long on the road and you haven’t reviewed any ice cream joints! So that may not actually be what’s on your mind, but for the record, no parlour has yet been worthy. OK, the real truth is, we haven’t gone out for ice cream since we’ve been keeping some on hand in our RV fridge. After long days on the road the soft serve treatment is delicious!

There was that pretty good milk shake in Bridgeport at the roadside burger joint of which I can’t remember the name. And then there was the fast food “milkshake” we just had to get at a drive thru in Spearfish, ND because we were starving and it was nearly 100 degrees out. Then there was the cone we shared like two teenagers in love as we watched the drunks stumble around downtown Deadwood. But none can compare to the real thing directly from the source.

During our visit to the Crow Wing County Fair in Brainerd, MN we enjoyed one of the best chocolate milkshakes ever – sold by actual local farmers outside the cattle barn. But the farmers must have been busy milking because their kids were doing the serving. And yes they had a variety of flavors to choose from, but for the purpose of this review we chose the favorite old standby.

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Finally, I have our budget numbers for our first month out. But keep in mind, there’s no such thing as a “budget” when you’re on the road; it’s in reality, a “spending plan.” As the super frugal CFO of this family, these circumstances are difficult for me at times. Maybe this is why many people who want to do this kind of trip never do, because spending money while not working is terrifying.

When we decided to take the gamble and go on this trip, we put the following passage from the Sterling Hayden book Voyage: A Novel of 1896 in our bathroom medicine cabinet, for daily inspiration;

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