Home Again

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Interesting statistics from our summer:

Number of nights on the trip: 61 (9 weeks)
* Cost of gas: $2,789.33
* Cost of RV sites: $2,072.64
* Number of visits by the tooth fairy: 1 (although we ended the summer with a really loose one)
* Number of states traveled through: 20 (NC, TN, AK, OK, TX, NM, CO, UT, ID, WY, MT, SD, MN, WI, IL, IN, OH, PA, WV, VA)
* Number of states that we stopped in: 14 (NC, TN, AK, OK, TX, NM, CO, UT, WY, SD, WI, IN, OH, PA,)
* Number of stops: 20
* Number of cars that got in our way: Too many to count
* Number of cars that were unhappy to be behind us: Double the number of cars that got in our way
* Number of days we had ice cream: Take the number of nights on the trip and subtract 4 from it

Things we learned on this trip:

* People should learn not to pull out in front of a 16,500 lb RV trailing a car and then decide to drive under the speed limit.
* Respect truck drivers, driving these rigs is not an easy task.
* It is very very very windy in the middle of this country.
* Wind is bad when driving an RV.
* Lunch is easy as long as you have a toaster and frozen pizza but be careful that the driver is not turning when you try to take it out of the toaster.
* Mountain lakes and rivers are COLD!
* Campgrounds have lots and lots of rules (and they like their rules a lot).
* It is not hard to back in a 27ft RV into a campsite
* Towed cars get very dirty on the outside (not to mention what we did to the inside).


Things we would do differently:

* Less stops for longer times
* Drive through the Midwest quicker (less stops and longer drives - it just takes tooooooo long and there is not enough to really see)
* Visit more places that are known to have children visiting
* Visit more places where the camping is good (opposed to New Mexico which is definitely a hotel/B&B state)
* Try and get an RV that has a table and a couch available all the time (not just when stopped)
* Try and make it to California
* Stay in places where kids camps or babysitting is an option



It took us awhile at the beginning of the summer to get used to the traveling, to each other, to the small spaces, to the lifestyle; but once we did it the trip went from good to fantastic. There are beautiful parts of our country that are fun to explore as a family and we had our share of fun and exciting days.

I never did get that chance to meditate on the mountain or read all those books I brought. I didn’t expect the days to be so long where we all wake at the same time and all go to sleep between 10:30 - 11:00. However, all of that is perfectly balanced by the times when everything clicked and we all just got to experience a bunch of really neat things together as a family.

I know the kids will remember the summer but I am not sure in what detail. I doubt it matters because what they will remember is they had a great summer. It is pretty cool when your 10 year old approaches you unprompted and thanks you for an awesome summer.

As for Ed and I, we’d love to do this again. We can’t decide if it will be next summer or the one after but in essence, we know that we will journey again at some point. There are still many more experiences to have and many more lakes and rivers to get wet in.

Thanks for sharing our summer with us. We knew you were with us and that made it even more fun when we shared knowing you would be reading on the other end.

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