Armadillo… I mean Amarillo, TX and the last leg of the drive

We left Dallas Wednesday morning to go to Amarillo, affectionately referred to as Armadillo by Tracy. This would cut our drive back to Denver in half from Ft. Worth and allow us to get home Thursday night.  We weren't sure where we'd stay in Amarillo so on the way Tracy looked up campgrounds and hotels.  It started raining pretty heavily and there were tornadoes spotted in the area so we decided to stay in a hotel.  The storms were really bad that night so that was a very good move.  On the ride Arden took her position on the couch under a blanket watching the same shows over and over, Tracy took her position up front trying to ignore Davis, and Davis blabbed in our ear the whole time.  We got to Amarillo in the late afternoon and stayed at the Staybridge Suites.  They are dog friendly, had a two bedroom suite for us and had a place to park the RV.  When we arrived we were glad to find out they had free dinner and breakfast which made our lives a little easier.  It appeared that half of the guests were travelers like us and the other half were oil field workers that stayed all week long.

When we got there we swam with the kids for a while.  We had the pool to ourselves which was nice.  I swam with them while Tracy hung out on the deck chairs and caught up on words with friends and instagram.  There was a little basketball hoop so we shot hoops and went back and forth from the hot tub to the pool.  Dinner started at 5:30 so we got out and went inside to feast on bratwurst, fresh fruit, salad and a little beer for Mom and Dad.

Favorite part of the day:
Tracy - Arden keeps finding pennies everywhere we go
Arden - when we got to hotel and we were all safe
Davis - swimming and when Arden kissed me on the cheek (earlier they were having problems so I made them hug each other and kiss each other on the cheek)
Me - cuddling with all the kids in the RV this morning one last time and throwing change on the ground for the kids to find

After dinner the we all got cleaned up and put the kids to bed.  They watched TV in their room for a while and it took them a while to fall asleep.  I talked to my team at work today and it was good to reconnect having been very disconnected the last 6 weeks.  A little bit of anxiety of getting back to our normal lives has creeped in but I've done a good job of ignoring it and being present.  It's been a magical trip.  I'm very thankful we went.

Thursday morning we woke up and I was pretty anxious to get going.  We went down to eat the free breakfast and they had a self serve waffle station with a waffle iron that was in the shape of the state of Texas.  Tracy got the kids ready to go and I took Tucker for a walk and got the RV gassed up.  I mat them in front of the hotel and threw some change out of the RV for them to pick up.  It's hilarious they had no clue I had put it there.  I didn't put all the change they picked up on the ground for them, Arden really did find pennies a bunch of places, but it is funny they think there's dollars worth of change everywhere we stop.

We hit the road around 10 am.  Driving North from AMarillo to Trinidad, CO was very boring.  It started to look like CO again as you got further Northwest in Texas.  We ate in Des Moines, NM at a place called Sierra Grande Cafe which was awesome.  We started to get hungry and Tracy checked Trip Advisor and this restaurant got rave reviews.  It was connected to the only gas station and was the only restaurant in town.  It was surprising they had such good food.  Once we got past Des Moines and into Raton, NM it started looking a lot like Colorado.  Coming over Raton Pass there is a great view of the mountains that reminded me of how beautiful Colorado is.  The rest of the ride was uneventful.  Once we got through Colorado Springs I couldn't beleive how close were were to home.  30 miles became 20, 20 became 10 and before we knew it we were getting off I25 on Orchard Rd.

Once we got home before we left the RV we all sat around the couch and I tried to make a moment with the family discussing how lucky we were to be able to take this trip and how much I love them all.  I'm sure when the kids are older they'll laugh at Dad trying to make a moment with them while all they wanted to do was get out of the RV and go in the house and watch their iPads but it was important to me.  We had a family hug and started unpacking.

Favorite part of the day:
Davis - when he said "don't feed me like a baby, let Mom do it" (Arden tried to feed him like a baby and he scoffed at the thought of her doing but of course being the Mama's boy that he is instantly instructed her to let Mom feed him like a baby.  We all laughed)
Mom- when she gets to take a bath and go to sleep (1st time I remember favorite part of the day being in the future)
Arden - getting here safely and seeing Ruby (neighbor Sinclair's puppy), her fish and her friends
Dad - lunch at Sierra Grande in New Mexico

Dallas/Ft. Worth

Dallas/Ft. Worth 

 

M 7/14 night

T 7/15

W 7/16 morning

We left New Orleans Monday morning, and decided to skip Austin, TX and drive straight to Dallas/Ft. Worth.  This was another long ride, and we expected it to take between 7-8 hours.  Heading Northwest out of New Orleans was pretty uneventful.  Once you get 10 or so miles out of New Orleans it feels like you're back in the Midwest, with tall green trees.  On the way out of New Orleans, I called my friend Trent who grew up in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, to ask him for ideas of things to do in Dallas/Ft. Worth.  Trent, being Trent, said he'd send me an email in 15 minutes and follow up with a call.  In that 15 minutes, he made a google map of what we should do, called his parents who then offered to let us stay with them, and sent back an itinerary for what to do while there.  We declined the gracious invite to his parent's house, as we were really in our own little world and having a good time there.  We really appreciated Trent's southern hospitality, and his parents gracious offer to park our RV at their hose and stay there.  

We did our usual hands and legs up scream crossing over the Texas state line.  It began to get really hot once we made our way further into Texas.  It was 100 degrees and the car air conditioner could barely keep us cool enough.  The kids have become accustomed to the drive now.  Arden lays there under a blanket and watches shows and palys games on her Ipad or reads, Tracy sits up front with me, and Davis bugs Tracy and I.  I swear he spoke for a few hours straight.  

We planned to stay at the Arlington KOA which is between Dallas and Ft. Worth.  We've had good luck with KOAs.  As we got 20 miles from Dallas it started storming really bad.  Staying in the RV while it's raining is a bad idea, as it's really loud and the vents leak in a few spots, one right onto our bed.  We audibled and decided to go to the Hyatt Place which is dog friendly.  As we were audibling I said "good audible babe" to Tracy and she said, "what's an audible?"  I explained to her how Payton Manning says "Omaha" at the line and then a bunch of other words that are usually audibles changing the play at the line of scrimmage, and she ignored me.  We got to the Hyatt Place pretty late, and checked in and got our two adjoining rooms.  I wrote the blog post for New Orleans, while Tracy watched TV.  The kids went to sleep right away.  

7/14 favorite part of the day

Arden - when we got to eat dinner because she's starving

Daddy - when Davis lied about winning old maid 

Davis - when we left New Orleans and drove a lot of hours 

Mom - everyone slept in really well at hotel 

In the morning we woke up and had the free breakfast downstiars.  Living the way we've been leaving the last 5 weeks, makes a free breakfast downstairs taste really good.  After breakfast we checked the weather, which looked ok, so we decided to go the KOA for tonight.  We drove the RV over there and got settled.  This KOA was pretty nice.  It had a pool and a decent playground for the kids.  While Tracy played with the kids, I got the rental car set up, and we decided to go to Six Flags theme park in Arlington.   

On the way to Six Flags we stopped at the gas station to buy a coke product to get $15 off our admission.  They did this when I was a kid at the Six Flags in Gurnee, IL and it makes no sense to me.  If you buy a $1 pop you get $15 off your admission?  When we got to the park, I parked in the last parking spot.  You could not have parked farther from the entrance than I did.  The kids and Tracy all asked why we parked so far away and I responded "because at the end of the day when everyone's fighting to get out of here we'll be the first ones out right!?"  They didn't get it and started walking.  For those of you that don't get it watch National Lampoon's Vacation.  

Let me start by sharing I hate roller coasters, tea cups, and other than carnival games theme parks in general.  Oh, except for water rides.  I get sick on all of the rides and refuse to not go, because I think it's important to go with the kids.  As soon as we walked in we went on the ride that is a spaceship or sometimes a pirate ship, AKA the vomit comit, that goes back and forth swinging like a pendulum until it finally reaches the point where it tips over and makes a complete cirlce.  After this ride I felt sick the rest of the day.  Then we went on the swings where you go around in a circle.  I felt even sicker.  The next ride was a mini roller coaster that didn't make me that sick but was really lame.  At this point I was done with all the rides, and Tracy could tell. We stopped for a snack and a fresh squeezeed lemonade to try and make me feel better.  The kids and her went on a few other rides while I relaxed.  It was getting pretty hot out so, the kids wanted to go on a water ride.  I was happy to switch with Tracy and go with them while she watched.  Ironically, she hates water rides.  This water ride was a big boat that went down a big drop, splashed water on everyone and that was it.  Arden hates getting wet like Tracy, and asked in line if we'd get wet.  I told her probably a little, but not much, even though everyone leaving the ride was clearly soaked.  Arden was fine once we got to the end, and after the ride when we were completely soaked, she wanted to do it again.  

After the water ride we came back to a basketball carnival game Davis and Arden played earlier.  Davis really wanted me to play and try to win him a toy.  I had played earlier and didn't make 4 baskets from behind the three point line.  I'm not much of a basketball guy, but when your son wants you to win him a crappy basketball in a carnival, you mortgage the house to do it.  I went and only got three baskets.  There was no way I was missing out on a $2 prize from China by one point.  I went again and on the last ball made my 4th point and Davis got his basketball.  It cost me $40.  I was a proud Dad.  

This is a $40 basketball 

We still had time for one more activity so we took Trent's advice and took the kids to the Ft. Worth Stockyards.  Decades, maybe a century ago, this was the trading post for cattle and farmers, but now it's a tourist trap.  We went to Billy Bob's Texas which is the world's largest honkey tonk.  They had recent concert and had 6,000 guests to show how huge this place is.  At 3pm on a Tuesday there are about 20 people there, including the employees.  We ate some BBQ, took some pictures with the bull, and played some video games.  The kids and we were hitting a wall, so we hopped in the car to go back to the RV park, swim and hangout.  It was nice to hang out and take it easy for a few hours in the pool.  Eventually we forced the kids to shower up, and we all went to bed.  

7/15 Fave part of day 

Arden - going to six flags and the water ride and sitting on the bull at billy bobs Texas 

Mom - free breakfast at hotel

Davis - when daddy won bball for me and when they stood on bridge and got soaked 

Dad - winning the $40 bball for d 

Wednesday morning we woke up and drove to get breakfast down the street. After breakfast the kids insisted on playing baseball, so I pitched to them while Tracy showered.  We planned to drive to Amarillo, which Tracy kept calling Armadillo, which is about a 6 hour drive.  We left around 10 am.  

N'awlins

N'awlins 

7/13 and 7/14

New Orleans is a relatively short drive for us at this point, but it was a tough one.  4.5 hours seemed to take forever.  The kids were antsy and whiny the whole way.  We got to New Orleans around 3.  We planned on staying at the Ritz, as Tracy was concerned for safety at the RV park, which is a few blocks off Bourbon Street.  I gladly agreed as I looked forward to sleeping in a nice hotel.  I dropped Tracy and the kids off at the Ritz to check us in.  Driving the RV in downtown New Orleans wasn't easy, as the streets are super narrow.  I took the RV to the RV park to park overnight.  I walked Tucker a few hundred yards, and then a cabbie drove by and picked me up.  He took us to the Ritz, and when I got into the room everyone had calmed down quite a bit.  FYI The Ritz is pet friendly for a fee, which they didn't charge us.  It was Tucker's first time in a Ritz, and he was pretty comfortable.  We showered up and planned to walk around New Orleans.  

The Ritz is only 2 blocks off Bourbon Street so we walked over.  As soon as we made the turn onto Bourbon Street we encountered a young kid, probably 10 years old, walking onto Bourbon Street with two 5 gallon buckets and drumsticks.  I asked him where he was going to play and he said he'd do a special show for us right there.  He sat down and started to play.  The kids were nervous, and I was impressed by his skills.  He played for a little bit, we tipped him $5, took a few pictures and left.  As soon as we started walking I noticed a stripper walking around in front of the Penthouse Club.  I was worried Arden and Davis would see and we'd have to field those questions, but Tracy said they didn't say anything to her and they didn't ask me so I guess we can explain that another day.  

We planned on eating at Oceana, which was recommended to us by three different people at the Ritz.  They all told us to turn left off Bourbon Street, and it would be right there.  We couldn't find it so I google mapped it.  It was actually a right turn off Bourbon so we doubled back and made our way there.  Oceana is a tourist trap restaurant, and the people were super friendly.  We all commented on how friendly the hostess and waiter was.  By far the most friendly people on our trip.  We ordered, and ate some Alligator.  Well, all except Arden she wasn't having it.  The waiter recommended we walk around on Royal Street, which is one block over from Bourbon Street, but because it was Sunday most of it was closed.  Royal Street is clearly more family appropriate, so we were bummed it was all closed.  We decided to walk to the famous Cafe Du Monde for beignets.  On the way we saw a violinist and guitar players perched on a street corner and walked up to listen.  They noticed Arden's Taylor Swift guitar pick earrings that she picked up in Nashville, and played a Taylor Swift song for her.  We walked down to Cafe Du Monde, and sat on the patio and ordered some beignets.  The kids destroyed them.  Something about a donut with powdered sugar.  Right as we finished up we heard the crack of loud thunder right above our head.  We decided to leave, and caught a pedi cab back to the Ritz.  

Dinner at Oceana

Fried alligator

Beignets are good 

We put the kids to bed, and they fell asleep quickly.  Tracy and I watched TV and went to bed early too.  

In the morning I woke up and walked Tucker, while Tracy and the kids got ready.    The kids slept pretty late not coming to wake us until after 7:30.  While I was walking, we went past a restaurant called Ruby's that was one block away.  We walked down there for breakfast, and it was awesome.  I'm not much of a foody, considering Chili's pretty good food, but eggs benedict with pulled pork instead of ham was amazing.  On homemade biscuits too.  After breakfast we walked back, checked out, and got a cab to the RV park to  retrieve the RV.  You should have seen the cabbies face when we opened the door and Tucker got in, walked to the back and sat on the chair. He said this was his first ride with a golden retriever.  He drove us the mile or so back to the RV, and we left for Dallas.  We decided to skip Austin as it would save us some drive time, and allow us to be in Dallas/Ft. Worth longer.  It proved to be a great decision.  

Destin, FL Day 2

Destin Day 2

7/12

We slept great in the RV last night.  We woke up at 8 am Central which is like 9 am Eastern.  We've been on Eastern time for a week, so I think the kids have become acclimated.  It got surprisingly cold last night.  When we got here and it was 95 degrees and very humid, I was worried the air conditioner wouldn't ever cool the RV down enough.  I'm not sure what the temperature got down to, but when I woke up I was definitely grasping for blankets.  When I woke up early in the morning to go to the bathroom, I saw Arden's blanket fell of her top bunk, and she was only using a little blanket she sleeps with.  I grabbed her big blanket off of the floor and covered her up.  

I walked down to the main office to arrange the golf cart.  They had one to rent, but it was still charging, so we had to wait to pick it up until 9:30.  There was a pancake breakfast at 8:30 at the main office, so I went back to get the kids and Tracy to go to eat some pancakes.  Tracy brought her own healthy food, which she has done all trip.  It's been so a challenge to eat well on this trip.  We both discussed yesterday how that's part of the fun, eating the local cuisines, but I fear stepping on the scale when I get back.  We walked down to the pancake breakfast, and it was nothing like the pancake breakfast at Mt. Rushmore.  They had pancakes, coffee, and orange juice.  This one was also $2 like the Mt. Rushmore pancake breakfast, but no guys throwing pancakes around.  We ate quickly and walked to get the golf cart after breakfast.  While there we bought the kids body boards.  We drove the golf cart back to our site and got ready for the beach.  Destin, FL is spread out and we definitely needed a car, so Tracy was handling getting us a car for the day.  The rental car guy showed up to drive me back to their office to do the paperwork.  Most campgrounds have their own cars to rent or a service that does it.  It's pretty efficient and we opted for doing this versus towing a car the whole time.  

After I got back from getting the rental car, we went to the beach.  It was only a few hundred feet to the beach from the RV.  The beaches here are beautiful and have light white sand.  The beach was really busy.  Most of the people in our area were from the campground.  We recognized some of the kids and parents.  We brought our beach toys and body boards.  The kids had a blast.  I went out in the water and helped them catch some waves body boarding.  I dug a huge hole and buried them in the sand.  Davis saw some boys the day before doing what I think is called skimboarding.  That's where you run along the edge of the water on the beach and throw a small, thin wooden surfboard on the water and ride it into the waves.  He wanted to try so we all sat there watching him standing on his board waiting for a wave to take him.  It was so cute.  We both discussed how we could find the next vacation spot where he could learn to surf.  We had talked about parasailing for a number of days before we left and showed the kids what it is on YouTube.   I thought they'd wimp out, but they wanted to do it.  I had called earlier in the day, but never made a reservation.  The skies started to get dark and it was clear a storm was coming.  We headed back to the RV to wait out the storm.  It rained really hard for an hour or so.  We decided to go out for lunch, and go get Tucker his dog food.  We went to PF Changs for lunch, and laughed because my sister would cringe we were eating PF Changs on an RV trip.  We gladly had our spicy chicken and fried rice.  

After lunch I called a few parasailing companies, and none of them were flying yet.  They said to call back later when they got approval on the weather.  I called back later in the afternoon once the skies were much clearer and we got connected with a local company.  We left for our parasailing adventure.  

I've got to admit when we pulled in to the marina to go parasailing I wasn't feeling too confident.  The marina entrance was the front of a trailer park.  At the back of the park it became a marina where trucks and boat trailers were parked.  I figured if someone would insure people to parasail out of this dump we'd be relatively safe.  On the way into the boat Davis told Arden, "Arden, if you puke, puke on Mom" and Arden replied "actually, since you brought it up if I puke I'm going to puke on you."  If that's not sibling love I don't know what is.  

We ended up on a nice, clean boat with two young guys that knew what they were doing.  Another Dad, his daughter and her friend were on the boat and they went first.  Tracy and I parasailed for the first time a few years ago in Miami.  There have been a bunch of firsts on this trip for the kids that we experienced in the last 10 years that they'll experience before they were 10.  At every adventure we tell them they need to be thankful for these opportunities, that we didn't get to do these things when we were kids, and if they wanted to do things like this when they were older, they would need to work hard and save their money.  I'm hopeful the message sinks in, because it's one of the most important things in my life that my kids become self sufficient, and good people.  There were only us and the other group on the boat, which I was excited about because it would speed up the process.  When it was our turn they said all 4 of us could go together which was cool.  Usually Davis and I will go first on adventures like this, and when we live through it, Tracy and Arden go next.  This means I rarely get the opportunity to go with Arden.  We went up a few hundred feet in the air and hung out for a bit looking around the bay.  It was peaceful and fun to be up there with the kids.  On the way back onto the boat the guy dipped us into the water which was fun.  

After parasailing we went to Riverwalk Gardens which is a lakefront tourist trap with restaurants and shops.  We ate at a sushi place on the water and had fun. The real fun was after dinner.  

Favorite part of the day:

Mom - playing at beach watching kids body surf

Dad - when Davis told Arden to puke on Mom if she had to puke 

Arden - body surfing 

Davis - saw the guys cutting up fish after parasailing and parasailing and surfing and bodysurfing (Davis always has favorite PARTS of the day)

After dinner Tracy went and shopped around, while I took the kids to do some of the activities.  As soon as we walked out of the restaurant we saw the zip line.  The kids were excited to do it.  When we paid for zip line they also offered an experience called Free Fall which is a modified 100' bungee jump.  The only modification is, there is a brake on the rope so when you get to the bottom it slows you down versus letting you bounce.  You still have to walk off a 100' tower, which is super scary.  I showed the kids a video of Free Fall and asked if they also wanted to do it.  To my surprise they both said yes.  I gave them a 50/50 chance of doing the zip line, and even less on the Free Fall.  The people running the zip line said I couldn't walk up with them, which made me feel like they'd have a higher probability of doing it.  

Of course when they got up to the zip line, Arden got Davis to go first.  He went with no problems and she went next.  They enjoyed it and weren't even scared.  They came running down asking to do it again.  I told them we had to walk down to the Free Fall.  We walked down to the other zip line tower, and they walked up the stairs to the top.  I have to admit I was nervous for them.  The people running these rides were probably 20 years old.  I'm sure they're trained thoroughly, but at 20 how attentive could these kids be?  A few of the workers came down and sat at the base of the jump.  After a few minutes a crowd of about 25 people started to congregate waiting for someone to do the jump.  When they saw it was two little kids they were all excited.  I saw Arden get into the harness and put on the helmet first.  She was yelling down to me that she was scared.  I told her she'd be fine, but she didn't have to do it.  The workers at the bottom said most kids wimp out.  She yelled back down that she wasn't going to do it, and Davis was going to go.  He put the helmet and harness on, and walked to the edge of the platform. He stood there for a few seconds, and just walked right off.  Everyone gathered around clapped, as he fell 100' to the bottom.  I was so proud of him.  I was proud he had the heart to just walk up and jump off at 6 years old.  The guys running the deal said he was the youngest kid they've seen do it.  Of course 10 seconds later Arden yelled down that she was going to go.  She put the helmet and harness back on, and came to the edge of the platform.  I saw her discussing it with the guy up top and eventually she walked off the platform.  I was proud of her too.  I'm sure it would be scary for anyone to walk off a 100' platform much less a 6 or 8 year old.  Tracy was not by us, because she wasn't willing to watch the kids zip line or free fall, so she finally came walking up, and said I had now put the kids lives at risk three times today.  

Video of D jumping 

http://youtu.be/84xON6UBe3M

Video of A jumping http://youtu.be/ldY27m_q5F4

I told the kids since they were so brave, I would get them ice cream.  We went and got our ice cream, did a few more activities, and hopped in the car to head back to the RV.  We were exhausted.  We planned to drive to New Orleans the next day, so we wanted to get the kids to bed early.   What a great day.  

This is the free fall tower

Destin, FL Day 1

Day 1

7/11 Friday

I woke up early in anticipation of driving to Destin, FL.  I took it so easy Thursday, I think I was anxious to get going.  I snuck out of the room Davis and I were sharing so I didn't wake him and went upstairs to get some breakfast.  Eventually Arden, Davis and Tracy came up.  We packed up, and brought everything out to the RV.  I had backed it into the driveway and opened the slides so we were closer to the house.  I tried to put the slides back, in and they wouldn't budge.  I was parked on a little bit of an incline, but I didn't think it would impact the slides going in or out.  I spent 5 minutes trying to figure it out.    I even googled "coachmen 32 bh can't get slides in".  The first few posts were about needing to be on level ground.  The third post is when I realized I was having a total dumbass moment.  It said the slides won't work with the car running, which I had running, so I could have the a/c on.  Duh!  I turned the car off and closed the slides up.  Tracy came out and said, "wow how did you get the slides in?"  I let her know I had to pull out the wrenches and do some hardcore guy stuff to get them to work.  

Davis and Arden helped pack the RV up.  There was one moment where I was packing stuff into one of the outside storage compartments where the door doesn't stay open.  I had it resting on my head as I was pushing stuff in there.  Davis ran over and said, "let me hold that for ya Dad".  They've been very helpful since we've been on the trip.  I think raising the bar of expectation for them, coupled with being around their older cousins, and seeing their higher levels of expectations to help motivated them to step up.  It's been a big positive, and I'm proud of them for growing up.  

We pulled out of Reynolds and stopped to get gas, and conveniently our favorite Southern breakfast spot, Huddle House, is connected to the gas station.   We went in for breakfast, and Kathy from the Lake Club cafe was eating breakfast at the breakfast bar.  She recognized us as we walked in, and we both said hi.  I texted my sister that she was there, and she responded "oh, I love Karen she's so sweet".  I walked by to go to the bathroom and thanked Karen for letting us take over her little cafe a few days this week, and to tell her my sister said she was sweet and we love us some Karen.  She said thanks and gave me a hug.  A little southern hospitality at it's finest.  I thought it was cute that a complete stranger would give me a hug in the Huddle House.  

The drive to Destin was pretty easy relatively speaking.  4-4.5 hours is nothing for us at this point.  Even the kids say no problem to that driving time.  Whenever we get 100 miles from our destination, we always comment how we'll be there in no time.  Perspective is everything.  I think we've driven about 3500 miles at this point.  Another 100 or so really doesn't matter. 

Once you get South of Atlanta, an hour or so, the roads change to 4 lane county roads.  It's pretty annoying to speed up to 75, and then 10 miles later decelerate down to a stop sign.  It rained a little, and one time the stop light changed abruptly, and I slammed on the brakes and we skidded a little.  I was pretty nervous but we were fine.  It was interesting to us that Northern Florida is basically like Georgia, not like the usual thought of Florida that comes to mind, in say Miami, etc.  Big green trees everywhere.  It's not until you get really near the beaches that it starts to turn to bridges and seeing the ocean.  Even pulling into the RV park, unless you look straight down the street to the beach, is surrounded by trees and could be anywhere in GA.  

We pulled in around 4pm, and the kids were pretty antsy.  Tracy took them to the beach while I got the RV set up.  We noticed people were driving rented golf carts, and Davis really wanted to rent one.  They rented for $40 for a 24 hour period so we put our names on the list and would pick one up Saturday morning.  We didn't have a car, and Camp Gulf wasn't located in walking distance to much, except for an italian pizza restaurant across the 6 lane road.  We carefully made our way across the busy road to eat.  The restaurant was basically a pizza place with 5 tables.  It looked like most of the patrons were Camp Gulfers, that also didn't have a car to drive somewhere.  The food was average but we had fun talking about our adventures.  The quality time with the kids just talking has been great.  We've discussed how many kids they both want to have - Davis 20, Arden 4.  I overheard them talking about when Tucker (10.5 year old Golden) dies, they were going to keep him and let him sleep in their beds.  They'd take turns.  Ewwwwww and Awwwww at the same time.  

Everytime you drive into a nice bigger RV park there is a guy in a golf cart that drives in front of you and takes you to your spot.  I saw this guy driving around after we got back to the RV, and asked him about the cable.  We have connected the cable at each campground, but it has always come in fuzzy.  Tracy hasn't seen her serving of Bravo in quite some time, so I figured I'd do a little research on what was wrong.  Ironically he said "oh your antenna booster must be on".  I went in the RV and clicked this little tiny button by the power supply to the TV, and BAM Tracy had Bravo.  She was excited and pointed out my second dumb RV moment of the day.  I laughed inside that we haven't hd TV in the RV the whole trip because of that stupid little button.  I enjoyed no TV as it made Tracy, the kids and me have more good quality time.  After a little TV we went to bed.  

Favorite part of the day

Davis - when we went to beach and he saw guys surfing

Mom - going to the beach

Arden - when they went to the beach 

Dad - seeing Davis' smile 1st thing in morning and cuddling with him 

Atlanta

We left the Nashville KOA Thursday morning around 10 am.  Nashville to Atlanta is an easy drive, only about 4 hours.  We stopped halfway there, at a restaurant called Wally's.  We chose Wally's because my grandfather was named Wally.  We all called him Wally ever since we were kids.  Wally and Granny.   When we were pulling off the highway, we saw the sign for Wally's, and given the family trip we were on, we thought it would be good karma to stop and remember Wally.  There were 10 of us.  My family, Sis and her 2 boys, Debbie and her daughter Ashley, and my Aunt Di.  The whole Nashville crew.

We pulled in, and I dropped my riders off at the door, and then drove way into the back of the parking lot to park the RV.  They had a lunch buffet filled with midwestern comfort food.  Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, blueberry cobbler, and much more.  During lunch, I got a text from my partner Jeff that he needed to chat about something really quick.  I was nervous, as Jeff isn't the guy to call for no important reason.  It ended up there was a challenge on some deal we were working on.  Normally, I would get worked up about work issues pretty fast, but in this moment being away from work for so long I was proud and happy to share with Jeff I trusted whatever result he created, and went back to my meal.  He's such a great partner.  I clearly couldn't do this without his support.  

My brother Steve lives North of Atlanta, in a suburb named Alpharetta.  After a few more hors of driving, we were in Alpharetta.  The last 10 miles or so were on very skinny country roads that were very windy.  I was pretty nervous driving the huge RV on these roads, but we made it sucessfully, and the kids were super amped to see the other cousins. 

When we pulled in, we all had a laugh because Steve lives in a very nice gated neighborhood, and anyone we saw outside we honked and waved.  I'm sure they were wondering who the hell was driving a 33' RV in White Columns Country Club.  When we got to the house we parked the RV, and Aunt Liz and the  kids all came running out to greet us. 

We traded the RV for a Ferrari for a little while

My brother Steve married his high school sweetheart, Liz, who I've known since they were 16 or 17 (I was 12!).  He has 4 kids Jack (12), Will (10), Alec (8) and Annie(8). We all quickly put our swimsuits on, and jumped into the pool to join the kids.  Steve has a Golden Retreiver puppy thats less than two years old named Molly that was swimming in the pool also.  Tucker quickly jumped in and joined the fun.  We swam for an hour or so and then ditched the kids with cousin Ashley (17) and the adults went out for dinner.  

My sister's husband Greg was still driving down from IL, and would join us later in the night.  We went to a local restaurant a few miles away and we were all happy to eat normal food in a clean restaurant after living the RV life for a handful of days.  The RV gets dirty and dusty really fast, especially with the kids coming in and out.  We sat down at dinner and chuckled because directly behind us was a painting of a camper.  

Another funny part of dinner was when my brother revealed to us that he has cameras throughout his house, and one is in the kitchen.  So, of course we spied the kids via his Iphone.  It was funny to see them wrestling and messing around.  He told a story about one time at dinner he was doing the same  spying, and he called his oldest son, who was 12.  Steve called his son, watched him pick up his cell phone, and ignore his call.  Of course Steve called the house phone, and got his eldest on the phone and explained what he just witnessed, and let him know he wouldn't have a phone to do that with if it ever happened again.   After dinner, we went home and uncle Greg had just pulled up.  We brought him dinner from the restaurant, which he desperately needed after a 13 hour drive.  

We were assigned LIz's mom's room, which was great.  It's way bigger than our master bedroom at home, and we appreciated the space.  The kids slept on air mattresses on the floor.  This room is tucked back into the corner of the basement, which is darker and quieter than the rest of the house.  This is great for us Mountain Time guests who generally sleep later than everyone else.  The two hour time swing is a lot! That night we got the kids to bed early, as everyone was tired from traveling. 

Friday 7/4

I woke up and went upstairs to start making breakfast.  One of my all time favorite things to do is make a big breakfast with all of the kids and adults.  It's amazing how much food 18-20 people can go through.  Dozens of eggs, loaves of bread, gallons of milk can be consumed in 15 minutes.  I always try to be a part of making breakfast for all of the kids when we're all together.  Over the next half hour, the kids and adults would all trickle in grab a plate of food and devour it before the day's activities.  There is a pond in the backyard, so the bigger boys went fishing, while some of the other kids played video games in the game room. 

We mainly swam and relaxed during the day.  Tucker swam with Molly and we all had a blast.  It was nice to just hang out after a few very busy days.  We planned on taking it easy before the night's 4th of July festivities.  That party started at 7.  In the late afternoon, Steve and I went over to check out the parking situation at the country club where the party was going to be.  The club was very fancy and southern.  Lots of wood trim and white pillars.  I felt concerned it would be too stuffy, but it proved to be a great group of people. This area of Atlanta is beautiful.  Alpharetta/Milton area was basically a sleepy town of nothing until the late 90's. All these beautiful forests were turned into houses and golf courses. Some of the old farms are still around.  The area has a lot of charm, and the houses here are gorgeous. We asked the manager on duty if they minded if we drove the RV and where we should park it.  After a few moments, she politely informed us she thought it would be best we not drive the RV.  I laughed and figured it would be better to take 3 cars anyway.  With that many people you never know what will happen, so having three potential exit strategies made more sense.  

On the way back from visiting Atlanta national, we stopped by a friend from my hometown, Woodstock's' house. Jamie Macdonald and his wife Carrie (formerly Goad) moved down to Alpharetta a few years ago. Jamie's sister Ellie was one of my closest friends growing up, and although we rarely talk, I still consider her the same. I was glad, and proud to hear Jamie's been reading the blog. Lots of people have told me that during the trip. It feels good to know people are actually reading it.  I'm mainly doing it to be able to print it all into a book for my kids, but deep down, I hope it inspires some families to do an amazing trip themselves. It was great to see Jamie and his family. I'm really happy they are comfortable down here. I know how hard it is to move away from friends and family, having done it after college.   I always looked up to Jamie, and enjoyed seeing how nice of a life he has created for his family down here.  

I should say another thing about blog. I'm the brainstormer. Tracy probably writes half of it. Her and my sister have spent countless minutes, possibly hours, making fun of how poor my writing/grammar is. Funny because my partner Jeff pointed out how well it was written even saying "who knew" after he read the first post.  I told him Tracy proofreads it all, and he said he should have figured so.  It's hard to keep up when we're all together and connected to technology. I found it way easier to write when we were in Mt. Rushmore and had nothing to do at night. Throughout the day, I make an effort to take notes, to remind me of what happened that day. 

We left for the 4th of July party around 630 and beat the rush.  There was one road into the club, and they were checking in manually, so I figured there would be quite the traffic jam eventually trying to get 800 people into the party through one security gaurd.  As soon as we arrived we took our chairs down to set up, to ensure a good view of the fireworks.  We took the last row nearest the exit so we could leave as soon as they ended.  There was a huge circle drive in the front where all of the kid's activities were set up.  They had jumpy castles, cake walks, golf games, egg toss, and more.  

The highlight for me was when my cousin Debbie ran up to me, with a burlap sack in her hand, and exclaimed, "Matt, let's go,  we have to win the three legged race."  Of course I immediately went with her, and we got our game faces on.  Debbie is probably 50, or so and I think the world of her.  She is a great older cousin.  When we were in Nashville, her daughter was saying how I am her "cool" cousin, that took her to the Honky Tonk bar, and got her up on stage.  I let her know her mom, and my Aunt, who was there also, were the "cool cousin," and "Cool Aunt" when I was a kid.  I remember Debbie had a red Geo Tracker convertible with the license plate DEBRINN (Rinn is her Maiden name) on it.  My aunt Di had a yellow Mustang.    I remember getting into it and she had a Bob Marley tape in her stereo.  She also had the Thriller Beta tape!  For anyone reading under 25 feel free to google "cassette tape" and "beta".  Back to the three legged race.  Debbie weighs about 90-100 pounds.  We put our two legs in the sack, I picked her up and basically carried her through the three legged race.  We won, and were ecstatic!!  After a buffet dinner and some great fireworks, we hustled out of there around 10 pm.  The kids were exhausted and all fell asleep quickly.  

Favorite part of the day:

Debbie -  3 legged race

Di - telling Alec a secret and him immediately turning to the kids next to them and telling them the secret 

Davis - when he got ice cream and the jump house 

Greg - taking a 2 hour nap

Matt - when Alec, who is a man of very few words, answered him with a one word answer at breakfast... after telling him for 4 minutes why he should have 4 pancakes at breakfast so he grows big and has big muscles,  his response was "one".   

Colleen - when Arden said Aunt Colleen was tanner than Tracy

Ashley - fireworks 

Tracy - getting back to a bed, a house and a bathtub.  And getting People, US Weekly and every other smutty magazine at the grocery store.

7/5 

Saturday morning Tracy and I both woke up early, and she looked over at me and shushed me very quickly.  She always yells at me for waking up early and waking everyone up.  We broth looked over at Davis bed and didn't

 see him and it looked like the bed was empty.  There was a small bunch of blankets in the middle of his bed but it didn't look like enough for a kid to be laying under it.  We both laid back down for 30 seconds and looked up again.  He was peaking his head out from under the covers.  The bed must have been slightly deflated, and he's so skinny you couldn't see him under the blankets.  We both laughed and he had a big smile on his face. Davis always has a big smile on his face in the morning.  It's always a great part of the day.  

We didn't have much planned for Saturday.  My old college roommate Todd Rittmueller, who lives in Alpharetta, planned on coming  over with his family.  He married a girl we knew in college, that lived on my floor freshmen year named Carolyn.  They have 4 children from 1-10 years old.  Todd and Carolyn are both great people, and I was really happy to hear they moved down to Atlanta 10 or so years ago.  Todd and my brother talk occasionally.  Todd has had great success becoming a homebuilder himself, after the company he worked for basically shut down after the housing crisis of 2008.  I've had a lot of fun times with Todd.  He and I took a trip to Colorado in the summer of '97 to see The Alman Brothers Band play at Red Rocks.  That trip is a large reason of why I live in Colorado.  A handful of us guys went and while on the trip we all talked about moving to Colorado after we graduated.  Todd's parents, in a roundabout way, actually gave me the idea for this trip we're on.  When he graduated college within a few months his parents sold everything back home and hopped in a 5th wheel, and traveled around the US for probably 10 yeras.  They finally settled in Oklahoma over the last few years.  I remember being 21 and thinking how much fun it would be to RV around the country. 

After we swam for a while with the kids, Todd, Carolyn and their family had to go home because their neighbor was having a birthday party.  I followed them home because I wanted to see Todd's house and the subdivision he lives in, as he built all of the houses.  There were probably 20 or so houses built, and maybe 50-60 lots.  The hosues were beautiful, and Todd being the builder, had his house decked out with all the upgrades.  I wrote previously about how friendship is all about time and distance.  Todd and I have one of those friendships.  I can see him every other year, but we pick up right where we left off.  He and his family are great people, and I am very thankful we were able to spend some time together.  

When I got back the kids were fishing and swimming some more.  We planned on watching the movie Frozen in Steve's movie room at 7 pm.  The only kid that came by at 7 was Ashley our 16 year old cousin.  The other kids were too busy playing.  A handful of us adults watched the beginning of the movie, probably lasting an average of 10 minutes.   We were all exhausted.  

We finally wrestled the kids to bed around 830 or 9:00.  After we got the kids to bed, my sister Colleen and I played Kings in the Corner, while my sister in law Liz set up for Sunday's festivities.  My sister won the first 2 games handily.  I won the next 2.  She won the 5th and the best of 5 series.  I heard about it for days.  I'm confident she cheated.  

I'm so thankful to be able to have a great family and extended family.  We have spent a week in Georgia the last 5 summers, and it is the highlight of the year for the kids.  It's special they have such close relationships with their cousins, even though they are all so far apart geographically.  

Sunday 7/6 

We all slept in Sunday.  We've been running pretty hard and the rest was well deserved.  Sunday was my nephew Austin's 13th birthday.  It was destined to be his best yet by the end of the day.  

We all ate breakfast at the house, and afterwards watched Austin open presents.  All of my nieces and nephews are truly wonderful kids.  Austin and Caden, my sister's kids have a great sense of gratitude for anything they have.  I always tell people they are the two best behaved kids I know, and she's the best parent I know.  When they were little if they did something wrong there was no counting to 3, no "if you do this again you'll get in trouble", if they thought about doing something wrong she would punish them.  I don't mean turn off the Ipad or go in your room for 5-10 minutes.  She would make them sit in their rooms for an hour or miss an important birthday party.  She also makes the boys do all their own laundry and cook for themselves when they can.  As a result the boys are super thankful for any gift they receive or anything people do for them.  Austin got pretty lucky on his 13th.  Having everyone there, meant he got a present from 17 people.  As he opened his gifts he was smiling from ear to ear.  Kind of like his brother Caden, when he was standing on 2nd base after hitting a double a few weeks ago at his baseball game.  Afterwards we tried to make him go through the spanking machine, but he was too embarrassed.  It got me thinking is the spanking machine a Midwestern thing?  I remember being a kid and having the kids line up and having to crawl underneath them as the birthday boy got his special birthday spankings.  

We planned to leave around noon to all go get lunch for Austin's birthday.  Ironically as we were packing up the RV I found Arden and Annie in there watching DVD's in the bunks.  It was really cute.  They're the only two girl cousins and it's great to see them get along.  They spent a few hours in the RV that weekend watching movies.  My brother and I planned on taking the RV with all the kids in it to drive to Greensboro, GA where his lake house is.  As we were leaving I came out to the RV to see Tucker sitting in the front seat wearing a pair of aviator glasses.  Arden had got him all ready for our drive. 

We drove to Chili's for Austin's birthday lunch in a caravan of four cars.  After lunch, we sang to Austin and embarrassed him.  He was smiling really big again which was cute.  My sister and her family then left with my Aunt and cousins Debbie and Ashley to go to the Atlanta Braves game. My brother and I left in the RV with most of the kids.  Liz and Tracy and drove behind us in the two other cars. We were on our way to the lake house, which is a less than two hour drive. 

We are very happy together/Nashville

We are very happy together (my fortune from Chinese food night at the Nasvhville RV park)

Nashville 7/1 and 7/2

Tuesday morning my sister, nephews and family left Louisville for Nashville.  We woke up at our leisure, and left around 10 am.  It's only a two and a half or three hour drive.  We arrived in Nashville around 1pm, and drove straight downtown.  We planned to go check out the downtown area before heading to the campground via RV since we don't have a car and renting a car in Louisville proved to be a pain.   

Downtown Nashville is very small, probably half the size of Denver.  The main touristy area is 3 or 4 blocks of mainly bars they refer to as the "honky tonks" and shops.   A few blocks away at the end of the street is the river.  They were setting up for a huge street concert for the 4th of july weekend.    Almost every bar has a big neon sign and it's a really cool sight.  

Our 1st order of business, was figuring out how and where to park the RV.  We googled "rv parking Nashville" and came up with nothing that helped, so we decided to drive around and wing it.  After driving around for 10 minutes in circles, we realized unless we found 2 parking meters on a corner, it was going to be impossible to park this rig.  We drove by an old hotel called the Hermitage hotel, and 5 valet guys were standing outside like they were all looking for the challenge of parking a 33' long vehicle.  I pulled over and asked them if they had any advice for a spot to park.  After questioning if we were staying at the hotel, or eating at the hotel (both "no's"), they looked around for a minute. One of the guys offered to run across the street to the office building, and ask if we could leave it in their loading zone, and the valet guys would watch it for us.  A few minutes later he came back and said that would be work, so we backed up and took our spot in the office building loading zone.  I flipped the keys and $20 to the valet, and we started walking the few blocks to Broadway. 

As you're walking the streets of downtown Nashville, each door of the different bars has music from live bands spilling out of the doorway into the street.  We tried to go into a sports bar to eat lunch but they quickly told us it as a 21 and older establishment only.  The US national team was playing and we were hoping to catch some of the game.  We ended up at a place called Rippy's which was BBQ.  They had a band playing on the stage that was decent.  We ordered the kids food quickly and people watched.  The food was pretty bad but it was a cool experience since there was live music, cold beer, and a photo booth. After lunch we walked around a bit more, and got some ice cream at an old fashioned candy store.  It was 96 degrees and very humid.  After our ice cream treat we walked back to the RV to head to the campground. 

Random car in bar people stand on?

Listening to a little music 

We drove about 20 minutes to the Nashville KOA to check in.  The Nashville KOA was way nicer than Lousiville.  It wasn't as nice as the Mt. Rushmore KOA, but a big upgrade from Sunday and Monday nights. 

After checking in and getting the RV set up, we went to the pool and the kids swam while Tracy, Colleen and I sat on the edge of the pool and talked.  We were all pretty tired.  After a few hours of swimming there we decided we were going to order Chinese food delivery to the pool for dinner.  My sister got a kick out of the fact that half the time in the RV we would order delivery, and sit at a picnic table eating, while the neighbors in the RV park slaved away at a grill.  

After doing favorite part of the day we went back to shower and get ready for bed.  Nashville was clearly a better city than Louisville, and we looked forward to the next day.  At night my sister would put her kids to bed in their bunks and lock her cabin and come over and hang out with Tracy and I.  We would have a blast telling old storeis and teaming up on each other.   We were a little delirious later in the night, and my sister had a little flash light on her key chain.  Tracy said something silly,  and Colleen flashed it about an inch from her eye exclaiming "you stupid"!   We all laughed so loud we almost woke up the kids.  Getting "flashlighted" is now the penalty for saying something stupid on this trip.  It happened about 30 other times that night and every other night thereafter.  

Favorite part of the day:

Davis - when Caden drank bottle of water in 1 sip 

Daddy - when the hotel valet let us park there 

Tracy - when tucker ran into office.  Oh yeah I forgot when I went in to the office to register at the campground Tucker came running in and Tracy running in after him.  He snuck out of the RV when I got out.  

Arden - playing with two new girls in the pool 

Austin - going to downtown Nashville and listening to the music

Caden - ??  somehow didn't write his down  

Nashville day 2 

We woke up and let the kids play around the campground for a few hours while we got ready to go downtown for the day.  My aunt Di, cousin Debbie, and her daughter, cousin Ashley, left at 6am to catch up with us in Nashville.  We were going to play it by ear whether we'd drive to Atlanta tonight, or Thursday morning.  Later in the day after confirming they had a cabin for my aunt and cousins, we quickly decided it would be fun to stay an extra night in Nashville. 

One of the cool parts of doing a trip like this is we can decide at any point to change the trip plan.  Even if we ditch an RV spot for the night we've already paid for it's only $50-100.  We took the 11 am shuttle down to the Country Music Hall of Fame.  The Hall of Fame is a few blocks from Broadway where all the honky tonks are.  We planned on going to the Hall, and then walking a few blocks away to a restaurant that was recommended to us for lunch. The first few floors of the Hall of Fame are what you'd expect.  Elvis' outfits, and guitars next to a few pictures of him wearing them.  Same for Dolly Parton. It was clear the boys were not going to be into this.  Their spirits lifted briefly when we saw Tex Ritter.  (no relation/John Ritter's Dad for those of you under 50.  Jason Ritter's (Parenthood) grandfather for you under 30)  A few exhibits later there was the Smokey and the bandit II car which peaked my interest, but they didn't care about that either.  The highlight of the Hall of Fame was the Taylor Swift wing, where there was an interactive exhibit which allowed you to design a video set, wardrobe, and other things, in addition to steping into a recording studio in a life sized Taylor Swift tour bus, and record your karaoke of one of the songs.  Arden was very excited.  She loves this kind of stuff.  The kids played in there for a while.  Tracy, Arden and I sang Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together".  It was a really fun experience, and we all thought we sounded great until we got the recording e-mailed to us.  We left to walk the few blocks to Demos' restaurant which the woman at the campgroud had told us was a good spot for the kids.

The kids barely made the walk to Demos', they were so hungry and tired.  The restaurant was perfect.  We learned it was family owned, and it felt like it.  The kids were starving, and ate a bunch of garlic bread and pasta.  They offered cheesecake, but we planned on walking to get ice cream at Mike's, which we heard about yesterday.  This would be my first of two trips to Mike's that day.  

On the way walking the two blocks to mike's, we stopped in a cool tourist "junk' store and bought a bunch of junk.  I bought a few shirts for friends, and my nephews got little pocket knives made out of a bullet.  At Mike's there was a line out the door.  It was like an old fashioned soda fountain and appeared to have homemade ice cream.  We got our ice cream and walked outside to eat it.  Nashville was so warm and humid the ice cream was very soft and tasted great.  We walked back to the country music hall of Fame to catch the shuttle at 3:30 to go back to the campground.  Davis had bought a little guitar at one of the shops, and when we got back to the Country Music Hall of Fame to wait for the shuttle he and the kids were "panhandling" while Davis played guitar.  Each of us adults gave them a buck or two, and they were hilarious at splitting up the money.  The shuttle was a little late but we got on safely.   My aunt and cousins were about a half hour away from the campground and would end up beating us there.  

When we got back we made our kids rest after eating a snack. "Resting" is a daily practice of making the kids lay in their beds and watch movies for 30-60 minutes.  It's amazing how well it recharges their energy.  After resting we did the tour of the RV with my aunt and cousins and went to the pool.  My Aunt, sister and Tracy went to the Boot Barn to find boots for Tracy.  She had looked downtown for boots and couldn't come up with anything she liked.  One of the stores had a 3 for 1 sale but the 1 pair cost $300.  They wouldn't sell her one pair for $100 so she didn't buy anything yet.  I thought it was ironic she ended up at Boot Barn because they have those in Denver 15 minutes from our house.  While they went to Boot Barn, I swam and hung out at the pool with my cousin Debbie.  Debbie is one of my favorite people in the world.  She has such a great attitude and is a special person to everyone she meets.  She's the kind of person who puts a smile on your face just hanging out with her.  She'd do just that to me a few days later at the 4th of July party.  It was nice catching up with Debbie because we only see each other every other year or so.  Aunt Di, Sis, and Tracy got back with Kentucky Fried Chicken for everyone and we ate at the pool.  When we were kids we used to eat Kentucky Friend Chicken all the time having picnics in the parks.  I remember the mashed potates and gravy.  As an adult KFC is disgusting.  I reluctantly ate what I could.  

Aunt Di, Debbie and Ashley talked about going downtown, and I offered to take them using my Aunt's car.  She had driven the whole way from Chicago, so she was teetering on whether she wanted to go or not.  I pushed her to go because it was cool and I thought if you're going to drive all the way to Nashville for a night, you should at least experience the downtown area and some music.   Debbie, Ashley, Aunt Di and I left, and the kids went to bed.  We arrived in the downtown area and parked at the Ryman Auditorium which was where the Grand Ole Opry was from the 1940's to the 1970's.  It is half a block off of the main strip of bars and tourist area which is on Broadway.  We walked up and down Broadwaay for a bit.  Stopping in a few stores to look in gift shops. We went to Mike's Ice Cream (see above) for my second trip of the day. We walked closer down by the river where they were setting up the stage for the 4h of July concerts they have.  They had already blocked off most of the streets down there.  While we were walking I brought up Johnny Cash, and my 16 year old cousin exclaimed she didn't know who Johnny Cash was.  I explained to her and even pointed to a picture of him on a t-shirt.  You know, the one where he's flipping off the camera?   One block later while we were walking a street performer Johnny Cash look a like was playing his guitar on the street, and Ashley turned around and said "is that Johnny Cash"?  We laughed and I explained Johnny Cash was unfortaunately no  longer alive. 

Debbie, Di and Ashley

I wanted to make sure we all got the experience of listening to some live music but most of the bars only allow guests in that are over 21.  Tracy ironically offered to let Ashley take her license as a potential fake ID before we left.  I think Tracy was bummed when the group reminded her Ashley was less than half her age.  We made it back to Rippy's which is where we ate lunch earlier in the day.  They had a great band playing and only a few people in there.  We sat down and the lead singer immediately asked us what we wanted to hear.  I told him my cousin had never heard Johnny Cash, and they said they'd gladly play her first Cash song for her.  We sat there and had a few drinks, and listened to music for the next hour or two.  It was really fun to be able to experience downtown Nashville at night, and to be there listening to live music with my Aunt and Cousins.  On the way out the band was in between songs and we said thank you.  I asked if Ashely could get up on stage and take a pic with the band and they said yes.  She was reluctant at first, but I coaxed her up on stage and she took the picture.  The band leader asked us to tag him on facebook which was funny.  We left and got home around 10:00 pm.  I called my sister on the walk back to the RV to see if she was up but got no answer.  I was hoping to hang out with her and when she surely said something stupid to shine the flashlight in her face.  When I got to the RV the kids were fast asleep and Tracy was laying in bed relaxing.  We were both tired and went to bed.  

The next morning we woke up around 8 and all trickled over to the main KOA office.  They had a little cafe there that served breakfast sandwiches and pancakes.  Those were the only two menu items.  If you wanted extra bacon with your pancakes you could get it.  They had a small coffee bar with lousy coffee too.  I drank coffee there every morning, and was bummed it wasn't better coffee every time.  I gave the kids a few bucks to go rent banana bikes again and we started packing up.  We all agreed on a 10 am exit time.  I went back and got the RV slides in, cleaned out all the holding tanks (gross!) and disconnected the electrical and water. We left around 10 am and my aunt followed us in her car.  We planned to stop in an hour or two for lunch and then get to my brothers house in Atlanta after lunch.