Vietnam is so much more than we expected. Like the U.S. it differes greately from the North to the South, but that's where the similarities end. During these first three days we were in Hanoi getting used to the traffic, learing how to cross the street, and generally getting our street smarts. We focused on learning what to eat and what not to eat as we give our bodies time to acclimate to the food. We are told to slowly ease into eating the street food as our stomachs will not be able to handle it at first.

Our trusty Hanoi guide also teaches us how to cross the road. Close your eyes he said and just walk. Don't open them or look right or left or you will lose nerve and begin darting in traffic. This would surely get you run over because all the scooters, cars, bikes, etc automatically sense where you are going and just move around you. Therefore maintaining the same direction and speed when in the street in critical. the sights, sounds and smells are nearly more than our senses can take in. The constant horn sounds which are used differently than in the U.S., mean "look out, here I come, make way".

The 3rd day of the trip we drove to an ancient area called Hua Lu which was the capital of Vietnam centuries ago. We went to the temple complex of Dinh and Le which also housed the Palace of the original capital. Tam Coc was our next stop where we paddled our way thru Three Grottoes. Named because the river actually passes thru mountains three times and you just paddle your boat right thru the darkness and out the other side. We had help paddling, well actually she paddled and I helped. I was amazed how she paddled the oars with her feet. It looked impossible but somehow it worked.

See the PHOTOS and the VIDEO

Stay tuned for the next part of the trip when we go to Sapa and hike thru miles and miles of mountains and jungle to visit villages and schools to deliver our supplies.

We spent 9 days "camping" in the barn over the July 4th holiday. I rented a mini excavator for the week and spent a lot of time cleaning removing brush and creating a new road through the woods to connect the two main fields. Well, road may be an overstatement. It's really for 4 wheelers and tractors since its a bit narrow for full size vehicles. Its future use will be to give us a way to move cattle from one field to the other easily. We started the week at Floyd Fandango and it was a great way to unwind, relax and begin a vacation from work. The bands were great and so was the wine and beer tasting. As I look back at this week it is hard to believe all we did while still getting a lot of work done and relaxing done. After taking the excavator to grandma's house to clean out the brush and re-make the trail to her pond, dad and I went fishing. Although there were huge bass to be seen in the pond, we ended up fishing for bluegills since we couldn't get them to bite. We cleaned all the bluegill and Kimberly and I fried them up for breakfast at the barn the next morning. We also spent time at Foggy Ridge Cidery, The Country Store, Dino's Hillbilly Greek Restaurant, Floyd Community Market, Grandma's house and a cookout with family. Each time we have to leave the farm it gets harder and harder. We spent 9 days without tv and many normal creature comforts, like a couch and loved every minute as always. This is the simple type of living that we enjoy and it reminds us of all the things in life that really matter.

We just got back from a 10 day Alaskan Expedition a couple of weeks ago and wanted to post some of the photos here since Facebook can only hold so many. You can check out the videos on our Youtube site (be sure to set it to 720 HD) as well as some of the photos here..

Checkout the pictures from the whitewater rafting trip down the Pigeon River.  It was a great time.  Click here

It's been a long time since an update, but we've gotten a lot of work and relaxing done since Christmas at the property. A lot of people have been asking about our power and water systems at the barn since finding out we are completely "off grid" at the property, so I thought I'd explain a bit about how we have done it.

We have always had power at the barn thru a very simple system of two 12 volt marine batteries, a solar panel to keep them charged, and a 10,000 watt power inverter to make standard 110v power. This has always worked great for us, although I did recently upgrade from a 1700 watt inverter. The upgrade was due to the fact that the 1700 watt inverter didn't have enough power to allow us to use the electric skillet or coffee maker. These two marine batteries easily keep us in power for a 3 day weekend. The solar panel then recharges the batteries so they are ready when we return. I have also wired in lights using compact florescent bulbs which use very little electricity.

The next issue to overcome was the lack of running water. Although there is very clean stream on the property as well as springs, etc; we really didn't want to dig a well or have large expensive pumps (especially with our limited power source). So, after installing a septic tank, toilet, sink and shower I moved on to a system to capture rainwater from the roof of the barn. I used two rain barrells and black corrugated pipe to capture the rain from the gutters. I cut holes in the top of the barrells to allow the overflow to run off into the drainage pipes and be carried away from the barn. See some pictures here... A simple 12 volt water pump designed for a camper was installed to pump the water from the barrells into the fixtures. The best part is a small propane powered hot water heater that comes on instantly when you turn on the hot water at the sink or in the shower and heats the water to very high temperatures nearly instantly. This was also an expensive system designed for RV's and mobile hot water uses. It connects to a standard 20lb propane tank and will lasts for many months as little as we use it.

The next trip is this coming weekend. It's bee a great 4 day weekend for us with friends and family as we grill out and enjoy what we have worked so hard to build. I am definintly prepared to start sitting back and enjoying as opposed to working the whole we visit as in the past. Although, I'll always enjoy a simple project every now and then. Besides, I still have a bench swing and a chair swing to hang somewhere.

We had a real old fashioned country Christmas on the farm this year. We cut down a small pine tree to decorate. We made our own decorations from cotton and paper. We had hot food and hot drinks, opened presents, and went sledding. It was really great and I hope will be a new tradition for us. The snow made it especially nice I think.

The sled was really a piece of 4x8 roof tin and I don't think you could ever want a faster sled! I put two holes in it and tied a string to make it easier to steer and pull up the hill. It was so fast that you had to just jump off at the bottom or you would wind up in the creek! Check out all our pictures here... or under the photo galleries link.