Tag: Family

Day 6 – Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas

We weren’t sure if we’d split the trip between Kansas and Arkansas into two shorter days or just take the plunge and go for it but on Saturday night while in Hays, Kansas, we talked with the boys and decided to get up early and make a day of it and then we’d have extra time with Xani. We had plans to leave by 8am but when I woke up at 8 and everyone was still in bed, I figured that plan had gone out the window.

We did managed to get up and on the road by 9:30am. That 9 hour drive is deceiving because when you add in slower driving because of the Trailer, gas stops, bathroom breaks and food, it’s easy a 12 hour journey and in our case it was actually a 13 hour journey. (insert eye roll here)

Hays, Kansas

Hays was pretty and warm when we left but oh so windy and we wondered how that would translate into driving conditions. Our trailer is not exactly the most aerodynamic shape and a good gust of wind will shove you into the next lane or onto the roadside. It can be quite exciting!

These flowers were smaller than my pinky fingernail but so pretty.

Everyone was pretty eager to get going. Who wouldn’t be looking forward to a whole day of sitting around?

As we started our day, the weather looked a bit ominous up ahead of us; even thought the weather condition app didn’t show even any rain let alone a storm.

As we neared Oklahoma, this friendly guy welcomed us! There has been a few of these metal characters that we’ve passed along the way; a bear, a camel and one other animal that I forget at the moment but this is the first guy we’ve seen!

There was a whole lot of flat land as we drove through Kansas and Oklahoma. Not terribly exciting; but still beautiful in its own open way.

We stopped at this truck stop to let one of the boys use the toilet and I’ve got the say that this is the funniest and most wildly inappropriate gas station names we’ve come across yet!

I started crocheting a dishcloth to pass some of the time.

We hit a toll station that accepted credit cards and then we hit one that only took cash – which we didn’t have, of course. So they gave us and envelope and a ticket and told us to pick up some cash and pay both at the next one. We stopped in Muskogee and used Google Maps to find an ATM. It took us into town and to a bank headquarters that did NOT have an ATM nor was it open on Easter Sunday BUT, fortunately for us, one block up and one street over there was a bank with an ATM.

Not cool, Google! Not cool.

We had parked in an empty insurance place lot that was next to a Sonic so we thought we’d grab something quick to eat. It was not quick’ THEN, we desperately needed gas so we followed Google Maps again to a gas station that was unmanned AND we couldn’t pay with our card because we don’t have an American Zip code. So we had to find another one. Eventually we did, gassed up and were on our way to Arkansas.

We crossed into Arkansas about 7:30 and had a couple more hours to go. If you’re looking to pass some time just get Jon and Jude and Siah started on a conversation about protons and neutrons and electrons and atoms and energy and black holes and white holes and I don’t even know what else. The last hour or so was a riveting conversation that I didn’t understand even though they all tried to explain it, so well.

We pulled in around 10:30pm. Got our trailer set up, said our hellos and then went to bed. All in all, it was a pretty good day.

Day 5 – Kansas

We pulled into the Fort Collins KOA super late BUT….we specifically choose to stay at an RV park with SHOWERS. It was necessary, needed and just plain wanted.

We woke up and all ran through the showers and it was like we had a new lease on life.

My “Hi, I’m still alive!” photo that I sent my sisters on Saturday morning.

We definitely started the day later than normal and we are not typically a 6am family.

We hit the road around 11am and the plan was to have a short driving day because the previous day was so long.

Jon has done all the driving and I have been navigating; finding the best route, and where to stop for gas or food, and booking sites to stay at.

I’d say that have the better end of the deal as it seems exhausting to be carrying the weight of the trailer – ha ha ha! But seriously, ensuring the safety of the truck and trailer – and us – seems like a big thing to be shouldering.

Colorado into Kansas was a lot of flat, rolling land. We’ve had a lot of cloud coverage with moments of sunny breaks; but it was incredible when the temps jumped and it was all of the sudden warm.

It was windy; but hot and windy and felt incredible. It’s amazing that we could go from hot and sunny to cloudy so fast.

I had initially thought that we’d stay at one campground but it was only 3 hours away and I figured we could easy do 4 hours. As I tried to find a campground that wasn’t outrageously priced, it became apparent that our options were 3 or 5 hours. I chose the 5 hour option and as a bonus we went through a time zone.

So our short day ended up feeling like a sort of long day as we pulled into the campground in Kansas around 7:30pm. We set up the trailer and quickly made dinner.

After dinner, Jon and I played a quick game of crib while the boys zoned on their devices.

He won but didn’t skunk me. Phew!

The air was warm and breezy and it was a welcome change after how cold it had been. We had the windows open on both sides of the trailer and didn’t even need to turn on the heater.

My boys are weird and sleep with a bottom sheet and a comforter. I am glad that we brought our feather duvet. Our bed – aside from the “spectacular” mattress is like a fluffy cloud. Climbing into it at night is heavenly. It’s surprising how exhausting long travel is. It’s not like we are doing anything physical. Just sitting on our butts all day but we pull into a campground and just want to go to bed. I wish I had the energy to draw or read or something but I don’t.

For Day 6 – Easter Sunday – we plan to get up early and book it the remainder of the way to Arkansas. It will be another big day of driving but then we will stay for a couple of days and that will be lovely.

Day 4 – Utah, Wyoming and Colorado

When we woke up in Twin Falls it was -3 degrees. It didn’t actually feel that cold but that’s what the weather app said.

The boys burnt off a bit of energy while Jon and I readied the trailer.

Rock Creek RV Park

And then we hit the road around 11am.

Our goal was a BIG day of driving. We were aiming for Fort Collins, Colorado which was 9 hours and 45 mins not counting fuel stops, bathroom breaks, lunch and dinner.

The weather hovered around 0 degrees for most of the trip…..it did get as low as -7 through Wyoming and it was as high as 7 in Utah.

The scenery alternated between completely white out as far as the eye could see; to snow on the hills in the background to snow dusted mesa.

We stopped for gas once we made it into Wyoming and it was surprising how much snow and how cold it was.

Compared to the white knuckled windy driving of the day before; this leg of the journey seemed easy. The roads were dry and clear which was nice.

We saw lots of tiny deer while driving through Wyoming and even a couple of elk along side of the hwy.

I love seeing the wind turbines. They are SO huge and seem to move so majestically which feels weird to say about a metal structure but I just love the look of them. Like guardians watching over the land.

Because it was a huge day of driving, we ate fast food garbage for lunch and dinner but it was the boys first time trying Arby’s (lunch but no photo) and Sonic. Sonic was a bigger hit than Arby’s. We still have to hit a Jack in the Box at some point. Any other suggestions for these Canadian Boys to try?

Some time after the sun went down, the moon started to rise over the horizon. It was HUGE and so stunningly bright and orange. Pictures don’t even remotely do it justice. It was amazing.

It was interesting how late the sun stayed up but then how quickly night fell. It felt like you could actually see the darkness taking over and growing in depth.

We pulled into the KOA in Fort Collins around 11:15pm; were set up by 11:30pm and in bed by midnight.

We are planning for a much shorter day for Day 5!

Day 3 – Idaho

We woke up in Pendleton, OR; had breakfast, packed away the beds and Jon washed a few dishes before we hit the road.

We are getting pretty efficient at packing up and hitching up the trailer. We got on the road around 10:30am and headed towards Idaho.

Day 3

There has definitely been a learning curve to this whole RVing adventure. We encountered massive headwinds which drastically reduced our fuel economy. As we passed Baker City, we looked at our fuel and thought, we can totally make it to the next gas stop. Ha ha ha

Jon was white knuckling it as we swerved all over the highway. The wind was brutal and had massive gusts of crosswinds. We watched the gas gauge drop faster than the Hellevator on a summer day at the PNE. We cheered as we saw a huge GAS sign off the highway. We took the exit, pulled under the overpass and searched for the gas station.

Nothing! There was no gas station in sight. We saw a road crew truck and asked where the nearest gas was and he said it was either back at Baker City or possibly at Huntington.

We got back on the highway and Jude pulled out his phone and said there was a gas station at Huntington. Siah reached over and hugged Jude for finding the gas station. It was an epic moment of family bonding and panic.

Based on the info from Jon’s truck we might make it or we might need to park on the side of the road and unhook and just drive the truck in to get gas…..or the third option was to just drive as far as we could and hoof it maybe 2 kms to the gas station.

We had options. It was a glorious stomach clenching, breath holding 15 minutes. And the worst was when the truck stopped counting the kilometres left and just said low gas.

As we rounded the final corner into Huntington and saw the little old gas station with its one pump – but 4 Tesla charging stations? – we cheered, breathed a sign of relief and then all three of the guys hoped that it had enough for us to fill up.

We filled up, used the restroom, grabbed some food from the trailer and started the final leg into Idaho.

As an FYI, Jons truck holds 25 gallons and he filled it with 24.2 gallons. That’s closer than we’d ever like to get again.

Note to self, make sure you know where the gas stations are on the trip. And fill up earlier than necessary.

We made it into Idaho and hit 1000kms travelled. Pretty exciting, eh?

I am LOVING the scenery. The rolling hills, the blue skies , the open spaces. It’s so beautiful.

We made it to Twin Falls and had reserved a spot at Rock Creek RV Park. The boys said this was their favorite spot so far. It was less RV park and more parking lot with power but there was grass and trees and pathways and a tiny river and it was in a little canyon in the middle of town surrounded by rocky hills that Siah climbed. We got unhitched and plugged into power but there was no running water or Sani dump to connect to.

After dinner we went for a walk. That’s a weird aspect of travelling. I’m used to getting in 10,000 steps or more per day and I’d be surprised if I hit 4000, even with our walk.

We’ve seen a few tumbleweeds as we drove and Jude was excited to find one in the campsite. It was big and prickly and SO light.

It started to get cold so we headed back to the trailer, played a few games, made oven s’mores and got ready for bed.

The boys have always surprised me with how well they travel, given how much they seem to crave routine and familiarity. Jon has been a rock star of dependability and strength and it’s been a great couple of days. I’m looking forward to the rest of our adventure. We are aiming for Utah tomorrow. Woot!

Road Trip

Well, when adventure calls…….you answer?

We have talked about doing a road trip for a while and in the last week, we managed to pull it all together and we are on the road.

We bought a trailer on Monday, packed like coked out squirrels on Tuesday and actually managed to get on the road around 5pm. We had booked a space in Birch Bay for our first night and wonder of all wonders, we managed to arrive around 7pm which is when I had guesstimated that we’d show up. We unhooked, set up and settled in for the night.

The boys were in bed and down for the count before 9pm. Which, if I’m being honest, freaked me out a little because they are both night owls

Jude drew a mushroom – which was the daily prompt. I started and gave up because I was also too tired. Jon and I read for a bit before turning the light out.

Our mattress is spectacular and by spectacular, I mean that even with 2 fluffy blankets under the fitted sheet you can still feel the springs. I’m thinking we will probably need a mattress topper of some sort. It was an experience, that’s for sure!

Jude was awake for the day at 5am. The rest of us started the day around 7:30am.

Jon made our first pot of percolator coffee and it was amazing! There was a quick game of Spot it! to start the day and then we packed up and headed into Bellingham.

We stopped at T-Mobile and grabbed new SIM cards for the month and now we are headed to Oregon.