Here we go!! Day 1

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"

How do you have the time?

I get this question from almost everyone I talk to about the trip.  The reality is I don't have the time, and probably never will, but in many ways this is the perfect time.  I'll never "have the time".   Neither will you by the way so now seems pretty perfect to me to do that trip, experience, etc. you've been thinking about.  Arden is 8.5 and Davis is 6.  They think Tracy and I, especially I, are the coolest people in the world.  I'm not 100% sure but I hear through the grapevine that fades as the kids get into their early teens.

Timing for the trip ended up being challenging as it is right as a number of deals are coming together and you know what?  I'm sure everything will work out just fine.  It seems all the work I'm dealing with is coming to a head right about now which is a tough time to be distanced from work.  I'll have to be less detached than I originally planned but it will be fine.  It has been great that every client I've talked with is so supportive and my business partner emailed me after I left the office yesterday advising me to work as little as possible, he and the team will pick up the slack.  How cool is that!?  It's been interesting how many people have told me about their RV trip or road trip as a kid and how it is one of the best childhood experiences they remember.  

Tracy's birthday is today.  Picking up the RV at 7:30 am from David McLain and packing all day.  We decided to leave one day early and are leaving tomorrow morning.  We should be staring at President's heads on a mountain by dinner time Sunday.

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In an effort to try and create a list of old fashioned to do's for the summer RV trip with the kids I created the list below (with the help of the link at bottom).  If you have any ideas to share please post in comments section.

build a camp fire
smores with sticks we sharpen ourselves (don't worry moms we were able to use a pocket knife to sharpen sticks when we were kids and actually lived through it)
catch lightning bugs in a jar
jump off a large rock into water
hula hoop contest
backyard olympics
treasure hunt
magic show (thank God for Aunt Colleen)
teach kids to water ski (this is the year)
breakfast in pajamas (at a restaurant)
go fishing
run through the sprinklers
play kick the can
play flashlight tag
ride bikes
watermelon seed spitting contest
swim
have a bbq
canoeing
make ice cream (I remember doing this at Erwin's house as kid)
wiffle ball
movie and popcorn

Thanks in advance for your ideas.  Here's a link to 100 things to do with kids this summer:

http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/05/100-things-to-do-with-kids-this-summer.html

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Welcome to our world! (starting June 9)

We picked the RV up from our friend David McLain on Sunday.  Dave owns the RV and took his family of four around the US last year over the summer.  He's a better man than I as he was gone twice and long with twice as many kids.  He also drove this RV through NYC which I have no interest in doing.  I'm very thankful Dave agreed to rent us his RV for this trip.  It saves us a lot of money.  He clearly had fun with his family and wants more people to experience the same fun.

By my estimation the RV is 270 square feet before the slides are out.  Not sure how much the two slides add but I'm sure it doesn't increase it that much.  The RV is 32.5 feet long, has a 55 gallon gas tank and weighs between 14,500 to 22,000 lbs depending on what the difference between GVWR and GCWR means.  Either way it's heavy.  Average cost of a gallon of gas is $3.56/gallon.  At 55 gallons it will cost just under $200 to fill up and gets about 8 miles to the gallon. 

There is one bedroom with a queen bed where I assume the queen will sleep.  I hope she lets me sleep in there with her but Mommy's sleep is one of the top priorities of the family so we'll see.  There are bunks outside the bedroom for the kids.  The couch and table turns into beds also and there is a sleeping cabin above the driver's seats.

Over the last few days we've driven most of the neighbor kids and their parents around the block and have requests from others daily.   On Sunday our family went to the local Red Robin, got takeout, and ate in the Justice/Ace Hardware parking lot.  So adventurous.

The third picture above is of the kids walking up to the RV for the first time.  The smiles on their faces were awesome. 

Video of the RV:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZaDPepewLI&list=UUrxznzdu425tRAGe7O1sN_w&feature=share 

Video of me pulling up to house/check out last few seconds kids are so excited:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfVCmRs7o94&feature=share&list=UUrxznzdu425tRAGe7O1sN_w&index=1

Website for RV if you want to read about it:

http://www.coachmenrv.com/products/freelander.aspx?page=floorplandetailsmh&floorplanid=220


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I think you're all ****** in the head. We're ten hours from the ***** fun park and you want to bail out. Well I'll tell you something. This is no longer a vacation. It's a quest. It's a quest for fun. You're gonna have fun, and I'm gonna have fun... We're all gonna have so much ****** fun we're gonna need plastic surgery to remove our goddamn smiles! You'll be whistling 'Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah' out of your ******! I must be crazy!