The Nutcracker

Christmas Tree Hunting

TWG :: vol 39 :: Big Timber KOA

Big Timber KOA :: Big Timber, MT :: KS -> WA Trip

Jayden ran a high fever all night, which means he hardly slept all night, which means I didn't hardly sleep all night.  I was wondering if we were going to have to stick around and put off driving for a day for him to recover.  But I got him up and got him some breakfast and ibuprofen and his temp went down and we piled in the car to see how far we could get today.  We wanted to at least make it to Billings to make the last two days easier, but just weren't sure how well Jayden was going to feel.

I got relegated to the backseat to be a pillow.

It was a pretty uneventful day driving, thank goodness.  Jayden perked up for most of the ride, and we made it about 8 hours down the road to Big Timber, MT and pulled into an awesome RV Park.  They have a pool, a lazy river, a jumping pillow, playground, and lots of trees and shade!  I love rolling into a campground that has lots of things to burn off unused kid energy.

We are only about 12 hours away from our new home!

TWG :: vol 38 :: Kemps Kampground

Kemps Kampground Rv Park :: Keystone, SD :: KS -> WA Trip

We let everybody sleep in today, the trailer was all nice and cool from the windows being left open.  It felt so good!   So, we didn't get on the road until after 8:30, without much of a destination other than to head NW!  My mom and I had looked over atlases and maps the night before, and we talked about stopping at Custer's Last Stand because June 25th was the anniversary of the battle, and they were doing reenactments and had Custer Days going on.  Could have been totally fun, but with last minute plans most of the RV Parks were filled up.  So, we hit the road and quickly crossed over from Nebraska into South Dakota!

We get to Rapid City and 1 mile from the exit to Mt Rushmore, my mom says, "I've always wanted to go to Mt Rushmore!"  So I say, "Well, we could go if you want.  We loved it there."  And she says, "Well, it seems a shame to be this close..."  So, I tell Papa to take a quick exit!  And I call the same RV Park we stayed a couple summers ago!   We only traveled about 200 miles today, which is pretty short, but we figured we stopped early enough that we could go see the National Monument in the afternoon and be back on the road again tomorrow.  We got a great campsite, right next to a stream, which we were told to look for bears on in the morning!  Awesome-sauce!

They've been getting a ton of rain here and the stream is super flooded and running hard!

But Jayden said he wanted to try fishing anyway, so we pull out all the fishing gear and then we see a huge bolt of lightning and about a second later and huge crack of thunder.  Papa and I send the kids back inside while we put it all away.  And as soon as we got inside the trailer, it started pouring down rain and blowing wind so hard we had to shut the windows because all the rain was blowing inside!

While I might be the black cloud of mechanical issues, my mom has always been the rain cloud.  We go someplace with my mom that's suppose to be sunny on vacation and it rains.  We go someplace that is suppose to be cold and snowy and it rains.  So, why I am surprised that we drive in lovely weather all day long and then make an early, impromptu, stop for the day to see some sights, and instead we are stuck inside because of a rain storm.  It's alright though, we just listened to an audio book and took naps until the storm was over.  :)

I kept checking the hourly report and found an opening in the weather and then we were out of there.  We decided to check out Bear Country first, since it was a drive thru park and if it rained we could still see all the animals.  :)  Even if I had to take pictures through a closed, rain splattered window....

We did get to get out of the truck for a section that had baby bears and smaller animals.  How else would they be able to get us into their gift shop????

Angry Badgers!

Willow wrote down the name of every animal she saw in her notebook.  I did a lot of spelling.  :)

After buying a bunch of souvenirs, we ventured onto Mt Rushmore.  The sun had come out and we had to take advantage!!!  One nice thing to traveling with your own personal rain cloud is that they clear out all the crowds.  There was hardly anyone walking around the monument.  :)

It is still one of my favorite things to see.  It is so great to be driving along and then all of the sudden there are 4 huge heads poking out of the side of a mountain!

I wanted to stay for the light show they do around 9, but Jayden was starting to not feel well (turns out he's spiking a big ole fever and coughing....the flu while on the road...we shall see who it hits next...). And if we have a long day in the car tomorrow, it would be better for everyone to get to bed early.  Farther west tomorrow, Light show next time, if I ever make it back here again!

TWG :: vol 37 :: Fishberry Rv Park

Fishberry RV Park :: Valentine, NE :: KS -> WA Trip

We pulled out of Wichita by 8am with a plan to head north and camp in Nebraska, because I don't have a camping star on that state!  We said goodbye to Royal (for about a week) and loaded the truck with 3 adults, 2 kids, a dog, a cat, and a hamster!

Fido, the hamster, got tied up in a sling for the ride.

Angry kitty!  

She stopped meowing about 2 hours down the road and took a nap until we stopped for lunch.

Then we let her out of her prison and she did pretty good sitting on people's laps.

Into Nebraska, where we drove until almost the border!

We didn't have any troubles on this trip at all, other than at this gas station, where this nimrod was standing outside his car smoking a cigarette and his girl was talking on a cell phone, like they wanted to blow us up or something.  And they sat there, while not pumping fuel for almost 5 minutes, while we waiting in front of them to use the one and only diesel pump at the gas station.  I took their picture and then got out of the truck to ask them if they were done filling up and would they please move so we could get fuel.

The girl looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "Um, yes, we are done.  And of course we will move."  And then they sat in their car for another couple minutes before finally starting it up and driving away.  I was tempted to tell dad to just push them out of the way with the truck.

We got to our RV Park in Valentine, Nebraska!  It's a pretty nice one, right off the highway, but I totally forgot to take a picture of our site!  (oops)  The thing I think I loved the most was that the weather had cooled off enough, we didn't need A/C and we were able to sit outside for a little bit, and sleep with the windows open!  We even let Scooter out on a leash for a little bit.  :)

TWG :: vol 36 :: USI RV Park

USI RV Park :: Wichita, KS :: FL -> KS Trip

We left Missouri in some awesome thick fog!

And before we knew it, we had once again entered the land of sunshine and long, straight, flat stretches of road, otherwise known as Kansas!

It felt really weird to drive into Wichita and not go to our house.  We had to drive right on by the roads we've always taken for the past 7 years.  Sam, totally recognizing where we were, sat his rear end on Jayden's lap in the back and watched out the front window for the rest of the drive. 

Most people don't even know there is an RV park on the east side of town, but right off of K-96 and Hillside, there is a little campground that my parents stayed at the first few times they visited, when they would drive into town in their motorhome, and that's where we are parked now!

The kids rode their bikes and played on the little playground equipment they have set up here.  The only thing they are missing here is a pool!

Wichita was suppose to be a pretty easy and relaxing stop.  Sending Wayne home, picking up my parents at the airport, doing laundry, restocking food, sleeping in, visiting a couple friends, and maybe finding a pool to cool off in.  Well, thanks to our tire debacle in Georgia, that just didn't happen.  

Monday, was my birthday, and it was suppose to be the most laid back day of them all.  Well, we had to get the trailer to the RV dealership first thing in the morning because when we lost the tread on our tire, before the tread flew off down the road, it ripped a big ole hole in the bottom of the trailer.  So I went into the dealership begging them to please get it fixed that day, because if they didn't I would seriously be homeless for the night, and did they really to be responsible for all of us and a dog having to sleep in a truck for the night??? (just kidding, we would have gotten a hotel room, but still).  We left, dropped the dog off to be boarded for the day, got the truck an oil change, and then dropped Royal off at work.

The kids and I then went to hang out at some friends, stayed for a couple hours, and then we all went out to lunch together and the kids shoved balloons up their shirts.  :)

We stuffed ourselves with french fries and lemonades and then were sung an obnoxious Happy Birthday song - mostly because Willow thought it would be awesome, and Jayden wanted to eat my free birthday sundae.  We said a last goodbye to some really good friends, and the kids and I went off to see a movie to kill a couple more hours and sit in an air conditioned building!

By the time the movie was over, we had heard that the trailer was ready, but we only had about 30 minutes to get it before they locked the gate.  It's now about 4:30, and there's no time to get Royal from work, so the kids and I head over to the dealership, hook up to the trailer, and pull it back to our temporary home.  Thankfully, Royal got a ride home from work.  :) 

I then left to pick up Sam AND Scooter from boarding.  Scooter had been boarded the entire time we were traveling to and from Florida, but it was time to introduce her to her new temporary home in the trailer, and hope that she didn't hate me for leaving her for so long.  Also, since we will be traveling with her in the truck and I know how much she loves to be outside, we got her a hot pink harness and a leash to hopefully keep her from running away from us!  

Everybody was so glad to get her back and I don't think she'd every been petted so much.  And so far, she doesn't hate the harness too much (or me!).  We shall see how she behaves riding in the truck for hours tomorrow...somehow I don't think she is going to be too happy.....

Once I had the animals back in the trailer and scarfed down some Happy Birthday dinner Royal picked me up from Bella Luna, I got back in the truck to collect our last animal, Fido, the hamster. Sadly, Marshmallow the fish didn't make it.  While totally sad, it makes my animal care taking just that much easier on the road.  Willow cried for about 30 seconds and then she said, "Hey!  Now that Marshmallow's dead, that means I can get a guinea pig!!!!!"  Oy......  But it wasn't only the rest of our pets I was collecting, it was the rest of our passengers!

Nana and Papa are in the house!

Today, was a much more relaxed day.  We got up and didn't have too much to do.  I went and got a massage and then visited with a friend and said goodbye one more time.  Then the kids and I loaded up to go hang out with two of their best friends (and mine!) and cool off in their uncle's pool.  

We are going to miss you Boggesses!!!!

It was then time to eat dinner, do one last grocery store run, get Sam a bath, and now we are loading up the trailer and locking everything down because we start our journey west tomorrow morning!  

Here's hoping for easy travels!  But this time, not only is there me - the black cloud of mechanical issues, we now have my mother - the notorious rain cloud, who brings rain and stormy skies with her where every she goes....so it could be an interesting trip!  2000 miles to go and we shall be at our destination!