On the Road Day 2 - Revised

Quick on the road update. We just crossed into Wyoming! Looks just like Colorado. More later!

Well we have chosen a place called Twin Pines in Lander, Wyoming to spend the next couple of days. It looked really good on the web and in our campground guide. It said it had a fishing pond and play area. All in all it is a pretty nice place. However, the fishing pond has no fish in it. Apparently I misread and it just said a pond not a fishing pond. The play area is pretty lame too but it's not too bad. Of course no cable or WIFI unless you go into the club house. (Which is just a little room with a desk and a refrigerator. It is all new but pretty sparse. I didn't even go check out the showers here. We always shower in the coach but I always like to go check them out and see how clean they are.

We just relaxed and watched a movie then went to bed.

On Our Way! Wyoming ...Here we come!

Well we are off! Unbelievably we were on the road at 8:00 a.m. I never would have believed that we could get it together that quickly. Kids all chipped in and we were on our way.

We made it to Wichita pretty quickly. Tim pulled over and we switched just north of Wichita. Yes I drove while pulling the van behind us. It really wasn't too bad. It sprinkled on us for a little while. I pulled over just before Salina where Tim took back over. This is where the boring drive began. There is absolutely nothing but flat land and an occasional town off to the side of the road. I drove a couple hours later in the afternoon too. Tim actually took a nap back on the bed. I feel so trusted. Jake was my co-pilot most of the time but Jessi took that seat for a little while.

We wanted to get to Strausberg (I think) which is just about 20 miles outside of Denver but the campground there was full so we decided to pull over in Limon Colorado. It is about 90 miles east of Denver. By the time we got here we were glad that we stopped. We were both tired. It is a nice little KOA campground. Right of the interstate but far enough we don't hear the noise from the highway.

I made bean and wienies for dinner and the kids wanted macaroni and cheese. Pretty easy dinner. I had bought a cute little muffin pan that makes those cute bite size muffins. I mixed up the brownie mix put it in the pan went to put pan in oven and it doesn't fit. I almost cried. So thankfully Tim was thinking and he bent up the handle pieces from the sides and it fit. YEA TIM!!!! Brownies were a little done on the bottom so next time I'll move the shelf up in the oven. They must have tasted OK they were gone in less that 5 minutes!

So we are getting ready to decide where to go tomorrow. We are looking at going north to Casper then over or maybe cutting across on the southern road in Wyoming.

Funny story of the day goes to Jessi. After dinner we were talking and she says... "Oh mom I forgot to tell you, last night I got up to go to bathroom in the middle of the night and there was a little mouse stuck in the waste basket. I went and got the kitty and she killed the mouse. I was so proud of her." So I say "what happened to the mouse?" She looks at me in a funny manner and says "It's still in the waste basket where else would it be." I flipped out. We are going to be gone for 2 weeks and she left a dead mouse in the waste basket. Luckily, Tim was on the phone with his mom at the time and they are going to go by and dispose of it. Silly kids!

Almost packed and definitely ready!

Well today was spent doing those last minute things to get ready to go. I went into town and got most of the groceries we will need.

The kids and I loaded our clothes and all the food I bought. Tomorrow morning we will load all the refrigerated stuff.

I'm sure we will forget something but for now we have it loaded down.

Not sure what time we will take off in the morning. Tim thinks we will be leaving early but by the time we get all the rest of our things in the motorhome I'm sure it will be after 9. We really don't have any idea how far we will get tomorrow. We are just going to play it by ear.

We are going to head up I-35 north to I-70 into Denver. I doubt we get that far tomorrow.

Happy 4th of July

Today was a wonderful 4th of July. You know how I'm a little scaredy cat when it comes to fireworks. It's not the fireworks or the noise they make. I'm always afraid we are going to catch something on fire. So fortunately we awoke to a wonderful rain shower. Someone said we received an inch of rain this morning so that eased my mind considerably!

Dayne came over to spend the day with the boys. They played catch with the baseball for hours. Then they popped the smoke balls and the pop things you throw on the ground and they make the noise. This kept them busy till around two when we decided to jump in the pool. By this time of the day the sun came out and it was very humid so the cool water felt great!

At 5:00 p.m. we headed up to the Garber park for the festivities there. The FFA puts on games and provide hamburgers. There was also a trailer that had drinks and snow cones. The first event was the tractor pull. This was awesome. They had little pedal tractors that pulled weighted sleds just like dad used to do with trucks. Those kids would pedal for all it was worth. Jenni came home with a third place trophy and Josh came home with a second place trophy. It was awesome!

Next they had a wheat dig where they put money in an old stock tank and filled it with wheat. Each age group of kids would climb in for a couple of minutes and try to find the change. All my kids ended up with over a $1.

Then it was off to the sack races. Jenni had a blast. Jessi and I, Stacia her dad, and Jessica Cinnamon and her mom entered the three legged race. We came in second. No pictures of that but I bet it would have been hilarious.

The last event was a tug of war. They had an adult division and Tim got on one end and I got on the other. Each team had about 10 adults and my side won. There again no pictures but they would have been funny.

Then they played an adult softball game. I'm guessing there are some pretty sore men out there this morning. There were a few women that played but mostly men. They had so much fun. Jessi, Stacia, and Jessica C. all played with them. Jessi didn't want to go. She was mad because I made her and she is the one that said when we got in the car to come home how much fun she had.

When we got home we set up the table with our fireworks. The kids each took turn lighting them. They had a big time doing that. We saved the parachutes for tomorrow so they could chase them.

We all had a good day. Tim even made progress on the TV's and cabinets in the motorhome. Only four more days. I made out the packing lists for the kids so tomorrow we will begin loading our clothes.

Just trying this phone to blog thing out.

Shopping Day!

Well today was a trip to OKC to the Sam's superstore. We had to get snacks for our trip.

We got our favorite chips, cookies, gummy chews, and pudding.

Tim is still working on the TV thing.

I also found this really cool pet pen for Roxie on the trip. It is one of those bendable metal things with net that fold up to about 1 1/2 by 3 feet. I'll take picture to show when we get it out.

Seven days till Yellowstone!

Ok well I thought I'd start my travel blog and get used to writing. I'm hoping to have access to wifi the whole time but I guess you never know.



Well preparations are well under way for the big trip. We have been doing laundry and making lists of all the things we want to take with us. So exciting!!!!



On the 15th of June we purchased a used mini van to pull behind the motorhome. White of course and very well kept inside. The kids love it and I really appreciate the saving in the gas department. It gets 23 miles to the gallon. That is almost twice what the excursion gets.

After our spring break trip Tim had the idea of taking out the TVs and replacing them with flat screens. He was going to make doors for each of the places the TVs go and hang the flat screens on the doors. Well he got as far as tearing it all apart. Now he is out there in the heat trying to get the satellite to work so he can see what cables he needs. Needless to say not going well. One night he has reception and tonight can't get it to save our lives. What a mess. He hasn't even started putting the doors up. YIKES!!!!

Tomorrow we are heading to OKC to stock up on goodies at Sam's for the trip. I'm still a little leery because the kids usually eat what we have in the house as soon as it gets there. I'll have to hide the stuff!