For kids, the problem with not having a specific destination is that, well, you are never 'there' yet. 'There' implies that the grown-ups have determined a place that is WORTH having to drive a gazillion miles to get to. A place so amazing that it is WORTH pretending to be nice to your sister for hour after hour after hour. On our trip so far, 'there' is just not known.
On Thursday we ended up driving very late into the night and stayed at a rest stop near Sandusky, OH. Michelle and I woke up around 5:30 and drove several hours before the rest of the crew started to stir. We drove through OH to Indiana to Illinois to Wisconsin and finally in to Minnesota. Other than a good bit of congestion in the Chicago area, we were on wide open highways the whole way. All in all we drove about 700 miles on Friday (about 1150 overall). At one point we stopped to take in the Mississippi River (weird huh) and just blew off steam for a while. It turned out that we liked Minnesota so much that we decided to find a campground that would take us in for the night (no small feat considering this is July 4th weekend and most places were either booked or required a 3-night stay). Fortunately, with the aid of the internet and GPS, we found a Jellystone Campground (just like our favorite one in Luray, VA) that offered to give us a spot for the night. So around 6p.m. (7p.m. Virginia time) we pulled into a beautiful campground and within minutes the kids and Veronica were off on the waterslides, Cooper and Michelle were at the petting zoo and I was making dinner (with a big cigar and a good drink in hand!). We had a great night making smores (Veronica said that in Paraguay all of the kids know that Americans make smores when they camp and she had dreamed of someday having the chance) and telling campfire stories before bed. Veronica and Riley opted to sleep in a tent since it was about 65 degrees and gorgeous out. Everyone passed out in minutes!
Today we are thinking to drive about 300 miles to Sioux Falls, SD. Our original goal was to drive all the way to Mt. Rushmore (Custer, SD) but we've realized that we'd rather drive five or six hours and then have all afternoon to explore and camp. Right now we are eating pancakes and bacon out on the picnic table and life is good. Can't wait to see what the day brings, what a neat adventure!
P.S. Along the way we were discussing at what age kids begin to have memories that will last a lifetime. During the conversation Brock came up and said, "Wait, what are we doing again? Oh yeah, driving around in the RV. So what's for dinner?" Apparently the answer is 'some time after age 6'.
No comments:
Post a Comment