Life after vacation.

Unpacking is such a bore. Most of it stays in the camper, but I still had several bags to address. Some weren't looked at until today.

The whole house needed to be cleaned. Tell me this . . . how does a house get so dirty when no one is living in it for 3 weeks? It looked like we were home the whole time. Dust bunnies skirting around chair legs. Toilet water growing stuff. Crumbs and other grit scattering the kitchen floor. The yard was a mess as well. The fellow who was suppose to mow never showed. Gary did a fine job with it Sunday.

Half of our mail went right into the recycle bin.

Independence

Josh has found his independence streak while eating. It is no longer acceptable for me to feed him. He had apple sauce today for lunch and insisted on feeding himself. He didn't care if he made a mess, he didn't have to clean it up. Currently he is flippin ghis plate around. Since it is entertaining him while I type, I am letting him. He can't any more of a mess, could he?

Ellie currently is licking her apple sauce off the table. It apparently landed there on it's trip from the container to her mouth.

I am abstaining from lunch until the kids go down for their naps. I'd like to eat in peace and quiet. I also plan to watch Dr. Who and/or post photos to my posts.

Bright but not early. That's when we left on our finally journey home. We weren't shooting for early, though. We have had enough of "early."

I was hoping to leave by 9:00, but we didn't leave until 9:45 or so. We also tole ourselves we wouldn't get home until 9:00. This way if we did get home earlier, it would seem like we made great time. We did in fact make great time, because even with our two stops totaling under 3 hours, (yes, somehow we managed to only stop twice) we were home by 6:45 PM. We were so glad to get out of the car for the last time.


Here are the Totals and a Recap.
Miles driven: over 4000 (just for actually traveling)
Hours on the road: way too many
State lines crossed: 14
Photos taken: 511
State license plates seen: 40
States traveled through in order: PA, WV, OH, IN, IL, MO, KS, CO, NE, IA, IL, IN, MI, OH, PA


There's no place like home, there's no place like home!

David took off today and our gaggle headed to the Akron Zoo. Four adults, five children, a double stroller, and a wagon.

We saw a passel of different animals. The kids all loved it. And guess what. At the farm animal section, I found a sign that explained the difference between straw and hay. Gary and I had been curious.

I have mixed feelings about zoos. It just doesn't seem right. The animals have hardly any room compared to their natural habitat. I wonder how animal rights people don't shut them down. Or is it OK as long as they are being treated well?

Speaking of animal rights people, and total off subject, why do they get all up in arms about animals not being treated humanely? Last time I checked they are not human.

Back on subject, at the end of our visit to the zoo, we were coming down a hill. David decided to be a boy. Here's the video.

And to end our night, we watched "The Incredibles." Last night we watched "The Astronaut Farmer." I liked them both, but I think I would only like to see "The Incredibles" again.

We had a nice visit with Mike, Karen, Daniel, Abby and Sophie. They treated us to local pizza for dinner. Gary and I like to try local pizza. The girls let us invade their bedroom. And Ellie tried to sleep beside Sophie. It didn't work out so well. By 11:00 I had to move her. And by the morning both of our kids were in bed with us. It was a little crowded. I am not an advocate of a family bed with my family.

Karen made us pancakes and sausage. Very yummy. It was nice to not have to make meals.

Happy Birthday Mike! Karen gave Mike his presents - a grill, a grill tool, and some beer. What more could a man want?

Daniel had a football scrimmage so we didn't get to see him this morning. He was gone before we woke up.

The rest of us went for a walk. It was suppose to be a nice, relaxing walk to the elementary school playground. It turned into a big headache full of time outs and a screaming child. Josh was the culprit this time, though Ellie wasn't completely innocent. We even elicited neighborhood stares. One women actually stood, shielded her eyes (the sun was behind us) and stared at us. Twice. I waved to her the second time.

If it was just Gary and me, we would have turned around and gone back. But we plodded on. After a fun forty minutes, we reached our destination. The play time was much less than travel time. The way home went slightly faster, for we agreed to carry Josh and Ellie.

We got on the road after lunch. Sweet sensitive Sophie didn't want to see us go.

As we've entered each state, I've taken a picture of the state sign. I miss calculated the distance to the Ohio State line and missed the sign. Gary's warning was not in enough time. He graciously got off at the next exit, turned around, got back on going into MI. Used the next exit, got back on going towards OH. I had my camera ready this time and got my photo.

The Harkleroads welcomed us at 6:30 PM.

Nathan, Elizabeth, Timothy, Ellie and Josh all had fun playing in the back yard after dinner.

At bedtime, Ellie tried again to sleep with another person in the room. She ended up falling asleep in our room. We moved her when the two girls had fallen asleep. At least they could wake up together.

We did it again! We were ready in an hour and a half! But even better, we were up an hour earlier, so we were on the road an hour earlier. You'd think we would have made better time, too. But not so. Traveling with children hinders quick progress. Especially when they are uncooperative and require many a time out. I think today was the worst travel day, yet. Or maybe we just didn't tolerate as much poor behavior.

Our destination changed. We veered off our I - 80 course and went north to my cousin's house near Lansing, MI. We where going to see them on our way out, but it didn't work out. So, we made a change and stopped now. It's only for one night, but it's good to see them and their "new" house. New to them two years ago and old in age. We got here around 5:00 PM. I had thought it was 4:00 but forgot to account for the time change.

Tomorrow will be our shortest drive, about 4 hours. And we get to stay a day without driving. Ellie and Josh are surely tired of being in the car. We are too.

Wouldn't you know that it just kept on raining this past weekend. Matt and Claire decided to reschedule their party. It was too wet and cold and soggy. So now we unfortunately will miss it. I am glad that we got to see them for a week, anyway. They have a great little farm and beautiful flowers. We were sad to leave on Monday morning. Colorado was sad to see us go too, or maybe it just didn't want to see us leave, for it was so foggy Monday morning that we couldn't see very far ahead, causing us to drive slower.

Saturday we decided to get out of the house, because it was still raining and we didn't want the kids to watch another day of TV or videos. We headed into Greeley. They have a mall with a little play area. And conveniently located next to the mall is a Chucky Cheese's. Guess where we had lunch. Note to parents: young children should not attempt to play skeeball. We got pizza and 50 tokens. The kids had a blast and so did the grown ups. Well, my dad looked a little bored. One game is a precursor to slot machines and the object is to stop the moving lights on a particular spot. You can win 1, 2, 3, 5, 100 or 200 tickets, or some prizes. I tried it several times, my brother did, Gary did, my mom did. None of us won anything higher than 5 points. Ellie walks up to the thing, puts her token in, pulls the arm down and stops the light on 100 tickets. Just like that. And with the tickets the kids won, they picked out candy.

Sunday was spent at Matt and Claire's church, then Claire's parents' house. Mary Ann cooked us a yummy breakfast for lunch. Josh finally realized that eggs are good to eat! It was a nice relaxing afternoon. Our stuff was waiting to be packed when we got back to my brother's. We put the camper down and Gary even hooked it up to be ready in the morning.

Yesterday we camped in Henderson, NE. And on the way there we stopped in Gothenburg to see a pony express station. It was moved from it's original location somewhere else in town and now sits in a park. We lunched there and did a bit of sightseeing. The kids got to swing, too. They do enjoy swinging. It's a cute little town.

We are in Geneseo, IL tonight. I find it interesting that although we are not staying at a KOA (Kampgrounds of America,) we are staying at a KOA. I think this campground and the one from last night were previously KOAs. They have the telltale triangle building. We have been trying to avoid KOAs. No huge reason, they just seem too commercial. But ironically we found them anyway, sort of.

We were on the road this morning by 8:30 AM! Amazing, I know. We did forgo breakfast at the campground and went through the McDonald's drive through. But still, we got up at 7:15 and were on the road at 8:30! I think some 'good jobs' and 'well dones' are in order. We are planning for the same procedure tomorrow morning.

Ellie likes to do dishes. Who Knew? She asks to help, and I, of course, do not say no, though she does have a tendency to play a little too much while doing them.

We finally had a fire tonight. We ate S'mores. Josh likes his a la carte. Gary just had coffee. I think our driving east camping is far better organized than our driving west camping. I didn't load us down with all this extra food. What food we do have fits in the camper and in one bag in the car. Our refrigerator is not packed full. And we still have enough food.

Our next destination is my friend Laura's. We are trying to make it there by dinner tomorrow. We don't have to cook dinner, so we have a little more driving time. The kids are getting tired of being stuck in their seats all day. I am too. We have two more days of driving, but it's split by time at Laura's. I do want to try to see my cousin Karen tomorrow, but I forgot to call her today. I hope they are available.

Although this has been a trying vacation with uncooperative children at times, I am glad we did it.

Tuesday morning we did some weeding in the vegetable garden. It is so overgrown that you really can't see the vegetables for all the weeds. Notice the before and after photos.

After lunch we went into Fort Collins. We were going to tour the New Belgium Brewery but forgot we needed to make reservations. The beer tasting didn't work out either - it was too crowded. Not that Mom or I would have tasted. Gary, Dad and Matt would have partaken, though. All we ended up doing is buying new beer glasses. Then we walked through old town, looking through some shops.

In one of them, I found a very cute shirt made from bamboo and cotton. It is very soft. Gary got one, too. Oh, I forgot to mention that our trip to Fort Collins was childless. Claire watched the kiddos for us. Once we had children with us again, we ate dinner at an authentic Mexican restaurant. Josh had no less than 5 time outs. Most before our food came. Nor did he want his burrito, just Ellie's quesadilla.

Wednesday was spent on the road to Estes Park. It took us forever to leave (of course.) So when we got there (after some stops for time outs for Josh), after visiting the potties, we went right to lunch - at the Estes Park Brewery. This time Dad and Gary got to taste with no wait. We didn't bother with a tour because we could see the whole operation from our seats. Then we walked the main street and took in some shops. Dad looked in vain for a bamboo shirt. He and mom headed back to the bamboo shirt store, before going home, to get him one but got there when it closed. On Thursday Claire was going into Fort Collins. He finally got his shirt.

The drive to and from Estes Park is very beautiful. There is a pass through the mountains following the Big Thompson River, called, conveniently, the Big Thompson Gorge. Gary was most awed by the sheer rock faces with trees growing from them. I liked the river. I also scanned the rock faces for big horned sheep but saw none.

Thursday was spent in the field again weeding. Did I mention it is hard work? The kids had weed patrol. We'd pulled them out, the kids would drag them to the end of the rows and make piles of them. Biggie, the puppy, would help by dragging one back and gnawing on it. The kids also helped by picking some vegetables. Josh got bored easily and wandered about, which is not safe because of the ditches and pond. So, I took him back in the wagon and he sat and ate fruit leather and a granola bar, while I vacuumed out the back seat of the car. It was seriously in need of vacuum attention.

Last evening a storm blew through. Much rain fell. At two in the morning, rain came again with heavy winds. Gary and I couldn't decide if we should move inside in case the camper blew away. OK, the wind wasn't that bad, but it was a bit scary, knowing it's open range and tornadoes like open range.

Now with all the rain, it's been raining since 2:00 AM, and the forecast of rain all day today and tomorrow, Matt and Claire decided to reschedule their party. So we will not be here for it. Maybe we can still do our acts for the variety show.

NOTE: A day of rain and four kids stuck inside is a super fun day. Actually the kids did great for being stuck inside.

Monday - A day of rest. Our first one. Gary and Josh got long naps. Ellie fussed and carried on about a nap, not actually taking one. I am sitting watching "National Treasure" and typing this post. I also took care of laundry and reorganizing our clothes. Don't know what this evening holds.

We have reached our farthest west destination today - my brother's house. It was our shortest drive, about 2 hours. Ellie and Josh slept for most of it. We pulled in in time for a late lunch. We are so glad to see family and to be in one place for a while. A place that's not a camper.
My brother has two children, Madeleine and Simon. All the kids all got along right from the start. They were excited to see each other and got right to playing. Later that afternoon a large storm came through bringing lots of wind and rain. Couldn't see very far at all. I am glad we waited to set up the camper, because the wind was very blowy. We did get it set up before dark, though, since we are sleeping there.

Matt took us around the barn and told us about their little farm and some fun stories. They have a great place and big dreams I hope come true.

Today we graced Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve with our presence. It was a 3 hour drive one way. A little far, but I wanted to go.








We found their picnic area and enjoyed another picnic lunch.



The kids had fun in the shallow creek that runs near the dunes. Apparently it is quite the hotspot. People were everywhere playing and enjoying themselves. Several volleyball nets were set up, people had beach chairs, canopies, and the like.




They had fun on the dunes, and you can see I did too. Then the kids got tired. The whining and carrying on began. We also had two gross incidents that involved a nose with a cold and no tissues. We also had sand everywhere.

Dinner was at the one restaurant near the park. We decided to drive home through some mountain passes. It turned into night and we had more . . . you guessed it, rain. Both kids slept on and off. Josh missed having his blankie, which we all suffered through.

It was a long, long day.

Today we visited Garden of the Gods. It was very interesting. Gary remembered it from when he lived in Colorado Springs as a boy for a short time and wanted to see it again.

Ellie took our photo. She did a good job. I think we are sitting in front of South Gateway Rock.

This one is called Steamboat Rock.

This is Balanced Rock.

The kids didn't find it all as interesting as we did.

We packed our lunch and planned to stop at the picnic area. The was a great plan, the rain foiled us again. So we ate in the car.

We rested some at the site and readied ourselves for a Colorado Sky Sox baseball game. The kids did fairly well for a while, but it got to be too late for them. We ended up leaving early, missing the fireworks. They were losing when we left, but they pulled off a win in the 9th. We found it on the radio.

Up by 6:30 again. Josh and Ellie need to work on sleeping in later. We were up, so I figured I give Ellie her bath. She does not care for showers (and that's all that you find at campgrounds.) And I don't care for all the crying that goes with one. By the time we were all ready, and our stuff all gathered and in the car, we missed our free continental breakfast. But since the lady wasn't completely finished putting food away, we got some cold cereal and oatmeal. Just one more thing on our list of things that have gone wrong.


We made our way back to our campsite. We moved the camper to a better position in the site and realized we couldn't level the camper right. Gary cut off the other lock, and I wedged my arm inside the camper to unlock the door. We then discovered the metal bracket for the propane tank was broken. So, we all got back in the car and set off for the local RV store. They couldn't fix the bracket, nor did they have any to buy, but they did give Gary the name and directions for a place that could weld it back together.





Here is our old lock.










So, we mostly spent our day doing errands, shopping and not seeing much of the sights. We did have our first (and so far our only) campfire. We have been toting wood across the country but haven't gotten to burn it.

Up and at 'em by 8:00 AM, thanks to our two little alarm clocks. And since we didn't have to make breakfast or pack up anything. But of course we can't have an outing without some sort of drama. It seemed that Josh and Ellie woke up on the we-are-going-to-give-our-parents-grief-about-everything side of the bed. If my memory serves me correctly (and I am trying to forget,) we literally dragged two kids back to the car kicking and screaming, cutting short our day at Dodge City. Now mind you, not every moment was a battle, but probably 80% was unfortunate. Ellie did get deputized and learned the Can-Can. We had Sarsaparillas and popcorn. We took a stagecoach ride. We looked at an old steam engine. We watched a little video about Dodge City. We walked up and down the recreated Front Street. We walked through Boot Hill Museum. And we tried to watch a gunfight, but that was were the children thought it meant kidfight.










A great place to stick the misbehavin'!










We got the heck out of Dodge around 1:00 PM. Made the kids wait to eat lunch (they actually fell asleep, so we kept driving.)

NOTICE TO ALL BEEF EATERS:

THIS IS WHERE IT COMES FROM, AND WE'VE SEEN AND SMELLED WORSE.


Pulled into Colorado Springs in time for the skies to pour down the rain all night, throwing in a little thunder and lightening. We headed to the campground with intentions of setting up. As it continued to pour, we thought maybe not. We could not decide on setting up or dry hotel. The main issue was already having paid for our campsite. We ended up getting soaked getting the camper situated, then driving to the hotel. Even in their parking lot, we thought maybe we should go tough it out and set up. We opted for the hotel. Unfortunately, we paid double that night. Our soggy camp site and our dry hotel room.

We decided to go to Dodge City instead of the Pony Express Station and ghost town.









But on the way, if it could go wrong, it did.

First, we were again late leaving Tuesday morning (nearly afternoon.)

Second, at our stop for lunch, two hours into the drive (doesn't that say something that only two hours into the drive we had to stop for lunch,) we discovered that I lost the camper keys at the KOA in Lawerence.

Third, the nice rest stop workers' hack saw did nothing to cut the lock on the camper.

Fourth, we packed up to head to Wal-Mart to buy bolt cutters. Once there we realized we left Josh's seat at the rest area.

Fifth, although the seat was still there, some other things stuffed in it were not.

Sixth, Wal-Mart was out of bolt cutters.

Seventh, went to True Value to buy bolt cutters. (They did have them, and they did cut off the locks.)

Eighth, forgot to buy new locks, had to go back in to True Value. Couldn't actually get into the camper at this point. Just cut the padlocks off.)

Ninth, back on the road to Dodge City. We decided to drive there anyway, even though our trek put us into Dodge after 9:00 PM. Since it was so late we stayed at Super 8 Motel. Once there we remembered we needed to plug in our refrigerator. Well the motel staff hooked us up with an extension cord, since we couldn't get into the camper, and an outlet. We happened to park next to the pool, which happened to have an outlet. Some good news.

We arrived in Lawrence, Kansas today around 5:15 PM. We are enjoying our trek across our great land. But it is so stinking hot and humid. I don't know for sure what the temperature was today, but I venture over 100 with the heat index. There has been no reprieve from the humidity, just the heat, as the sun goes down. We thought we'd relax and cool off in the pool. The water was warmer than the air. So much for cooler. It did help to have a breeze to blow on my wet skin. And then when we got to take our showers, the bathrooms, though they claimed to be air conditioned, were more like saunas. Finally leaving the bathroom brought some coolness. It is raining now. Perhaps the humidity will go down.

I did get to do some laundry.

We definitely need to work on our tear down routine, because it stinks. It takes us about 4 hours from when we get up to when we leave. We really need to shave many minutes from that time. It would help if we didn't have to chase the kids around.

And lastly, Ellie and Josh have colds. Josh is worse, at least right now. He's woken up twice coughing and sputtering from not being able to breath. He desperately wants to shove his blankie in his mouth, but then he has the not being able to breath issue. Poor thing.

We made to St. Louis!! Yeah!!














We pulled into the campground, though a industrial setting (which not very encouraging,)










and found a green "oasis" of a place. It isn't perfect, but it is better than the tankers and other industry around it.











Yesterday we got on the road by 6:00 AM. Slightly later than we hoped, but not too bad. We did have some errands to take care of before we left. We made several stops and pulled into our site at Buck Creek State Park near Springfield, OH around 4:30 PM. We were pleased with our progress. We decided to go past Columbus, OH to make today''s drive shorter. (Good thing.)

We set up and had dinner on the table all in good time. I had prepared beef-a-roni ahead of time and only had to warm it up. Josh and Ellie weren't hungry enough to eat. More for Gary and me.

We even had time to take a dip in the lake to cool down. The swimming area had a sandy beach, but the moment you stepped in the water, your feet got an unwanted massage. Little stones line the lake bottom and felt not so nice to walk on. Ellie wanted to go in the water but didn't want to let go of my hand. There was much crying and not much swimming on her part.

Today is Ellie’s birthday! She is 4 years old. She opened her first presents from us at 4:51 this morning. Today is also the day we start our drive west on our way to my brother’s house.