HOME AGAIN

Time certainly DOES fly when you are having fun!  It is hard to believe that we were on the road for 6 weeks and that we put almost 10,000 miles on the truck.  The northeast and westbound part of the trip was much more exciting than simply heading straight home over 6 days without some attractions thrown in.  (It did give me many hours to make to-do lists, meal plans, and schooling plans.)    

As I did last year, I asked everybody what their favorite part of the trip was.

Youngest Child – Niagara Falls

Eagle Scout – Deadwood

College Girl – Seattle

Mechanic Man – Washington state’s scenery, climate, and memories

Mine – Niagara Falls & Yellowstone

It is obvious that Poodle thoroughly enjoyed being a lap dog for the majority of each day:

Then we discussed food!  Here’s everybody’s responses to what they enjoyed eating on the trip:

Youngest Child & Eagle Scout – Cody Cattle Company chuck wagon dinner

College Girl – coffee in Seattle

Mechanic Man – elk burger in Deadwood

Mine – El Cazador Mexican food in Oak Harbor

We thank God for watching over us and blessing us with this trip.  The wonderful opportunity provided us to show our children this majestically diversified geography of our native land and to enjoy history up close will be a memory that our family will share for years to come.   

OOPSIES

Our trip westward was so blessed!  Not only did we have exceptional weather for every planned attraction, but God guided us wholeheartedly throughout.  What we thought was a “mistake” when making a campground reservation turned out to be a huge blessing and timesaver.   Another uncertain decision also turned out to be a lifesaver for our Poodle.  God is so good … all the time!  

So not to boast, it is time to share that there were also bloopers during our trip.  

(No pictures provided.) So, here they are:

1.       Walmart lady gave us incomplete address, and we were lost in a state park on a little trail road with the truck and camper.


2.      Mechanic Man unknowingly stepped in a humungous pile of dog doo-doo outside of a downtown tourist store and tracked it into the establishment, which just replaced the carpet.  It wasn’t until I entered store shortly afterwards, gagging over the smell, and did the investigating that I discovered it was him … after which the “responsible dog owner” returned to pick up the squooshed stuff from outside.


3.      Flush handle on toilet was left stuck open; and when we stopped for lunch, the entire camper smelled like sewer.  P-U !!


4.      Time change at beginning of trip caused College Girl to be awakened an hour earlier than needed since I didn’t change alarm clock.


5.      The tool box on the truck that sits in the bed right behind the window was left opened.  While driving down the road, Mechanic Man didn’t understand why he couldn’t see the camper in the rear view mirror … he was adjusting it left and right with no success.  The kids saw the lid from the back seat and informed him that the view of trailer was blocked.


6.      Poodle rolled down the window by herself by stepping on the automatic button and then stuck her head out.  At least she didn’t fall out!


7.      Eagle Boy tossed a water bottle to Youngest Child, but the water bottle lid wasn’t screwed on properly.  The bottle exploded all over Youngest Child.


8.      Mechanic Man left sunglasses in souvenir store at Little Bighorn, but loving wife walked  back to retrieve them since it was impossible to turn around our truck/trailer combo in the one-way parking lot.


9.      I found a wasp in the camper and was calling incessantly at 7 a.m. in campground for Mechanic Man to return inside to kill it and NOT let it fall onto my pillow when he DID stun it!

Fond memories that were part of the fun!

In addition to our “oopsies,” we had great laughs over some Mad Lib stories!   These will always be part of our road trips!

QUESTION:  How do you know that you have been on the road too long?

ANSWER:  You have been on the road too long when you start pronouncing words like your GPS’s audio!

KENTUCKY & TENNESSEE

The rain continued all night.  In fact, we woke up to thunder and lightning!  Mechanic Man disconnected the travel trailer and packed everything up while wearing his rain gear.  He was prepared!  Another full day of driving eastward in the rain!  In fact, we entered Kentucky, cheering that Dad met his goal and now has been to all 50 states, too; but the weather was so rainy that we trekked on.  Looking for a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant to take a picture of the momentous day proved fruitless; and before we knew it, we were in Tennessee!    

So, the official announcement is that last, but not least, Mechanic Man has accomplished his 50-state-attendance goal as well!!   Hurray!!!

 [He has been to more countries than the rest of us, so he is the seasoned traveler!  ;-)]    

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Once we left Kentucky and hit Nashville, the rain ceased.  The sky was clearing the more we traveled east.  Between Nashville and Knoxville, we gained sunny skies and warm, muggy air.   

(The dreaded day.  Northwest, I miss your weather!)

We did enjoy the city skyline of Nashville … the AT&T building reminded Youngest Child of Batman from afar:

The gold ball in the horizon of Knoxville was intriguing.  Looking it up on the phone, we learned that the Sunsphere has a similar history to the Space Needle:

 

Continuing on beyond Knoxville, we caught sight of the Appalachian Mountains and knew we were practically  home.

However, we didn't want to arrive home in the middle of the night, so we found a campsite for our last night on the road for this trip at the foot of the Smoky Mountains in "moonshine territory."

Notice that "moonshine lady?"

  


Air conditioner was running on high as we rested our heads with thoughts of all that needs to be done once we are home again.