The day to leave has finally arrived! We woke up and finished packing all of the last minute things which turned out to be a lot more than I had thought. We planned on getting breakfast and eating on the road so it kept the kids busy for a little while. We left the house around 8:00 and went to Einstein's. Tracy got the kids settled in to eat and for the long drive and about 300 feet down the road we both realized SHE (she'll say me) forgot Tucker's extra dog food from the freezer. Ironically, we headed right back to the house from Einstein's. I jumped out and quickly realized we didn't have any more dog food in the Freezer. Ugggghh - we're leaving for real this time.
Driving North through Denver traffic wasn't bad but I hadn't really driven an RV on the highway in a while. I was quickly reminded it drives like a boat. You can turn the wheel an inch or two and nothing happens. I bounced back and forth in my lane through Denver and we finally made it North out of the Denver city traffic and started to recognize Northern CO and Loveland, Fort Collins, etc. Once we got that far North traffic really died down and into Wyoming traffic was really light. It was really windy in Wyoming. The size of the RV acted like a sail as wind gusts pushed us around. Every time a semi would pass us I had to hold the wheel to the right to stay far enough right in the lane and then the wind from the semi would come by in a big gust and almost push us out of our lane. We saw some interesting things on the drive like a group of Corvettes with about 20 corvettes. Most had vanity plates "off task", "gr888v8", etc. Once we got up to Cheyenne near Andrews Air Force Base we saw five big planes flying low to the ground and they tracked with us just to our left for 15 or so miles and turned right back around and went back. They looked crazy flying so low to the ground like that with the clouds and mountains in the background.
Tracy is such a great mom. For a few hours on the drive she did "Mommy school" for the kids. She had all kinds of books on Wyoming and South Dakota. I'd be listening to music trying to pay attention to the road and every now and then I''d hear a kid say "Mrs. Mommy, is my art project the best in the class"? Mrs. Mommy this, Mrs. Mommy that. Too funny.
Once we got near the Eastern Wyoming the rain started. It was pretty heavy after Lusk, WY which is where we stopped for lunch. Lunch was great. If you're ever in the area the Chuckwagon Truckstop serves breakfast all day and 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 strips of bacon, 2 sausage patties is $6! The cheap breakfast made up for filling up half of a tank of gas for $129! After our delicious lunch we fought through huge rain and wind storms for an hour or so. We were getting pretty anxious to get the Black Hills area and as we came over a hill the whole scene changed from prairies to evergreen trees but the whole hill side looked black. The trunks of the trees are dark black so from a distance it makes the whole hillside look black. Pretty interesting to see. Once we got into the Black Hills we knew we weren't far from our destination. A few more turns and maybe an hour later we pulled into the KOA which you can't miss. The area reminds me of a very minor version of the Disney land area or other tourist areas. Signs on all the buildings "welcome tourists" and "Rushmore's best campground".
Once we got into the Rushmore KOA everything seemed to slow down. The rain was stopping and within a half hour the sun would be out. It was pretty brisk, probably low 50's, and the campground is very nice. It's kind of like a mini resort with restaurants, multiple bath/locker rooms, pools, water slides, basketball, bike trails, kayaks, and on and on. We'll have plenty to do for 3 days. The ride went surprisingly fast and while the kids were exhausted and acting crabby it really wasn't that bad given the circumstances of being holed up in an RV for 7 hours.
We quickly got the RV checked in while the kids went for a bike ride. We decided to eat at the restaurant here and go into town tomorrow to get food. Dinner was decent but things move slow here that's for sure. We showered up for bed around 7:00 and came back and the kids rested in their bunk beds while we cleaned up the RV. The sleeping arrangements are nice there are bunk beds in the back and a queen bed in the bedroom. It's perfect for our family of four. The front has a loft, the couch turns into a bed and the table/benches turns into a bed but we don't need it. After we fought to get the kids to sleep Tracy read while I plugged my Ipad into the flat screen, laid on the couch and watched National Lampoon's Vacation. How ironic is this!? Life is good.
Every night at dinner we go around the table and discuss our favorite part of the day. It's a great way to know how the children's days were and pay attention to each other as a family. Here's todays:
Davis - getting a cap gun (I told them last week what a cap gun was they were so excited to get them. They immediately shot through a few hundred caps.)
Arden - getting to ride shotgun with Daddy for a half hour once we got into South Dakota
Dad - getting here safe
Mom - scrap booking with the kids during "Mommy school"
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