Final Day – 6964 miles … The last push home, happy and sad

We all wake up a little late today, everyone knows this is the last day before we are home, and I think we are all trying to extend the trip as much as we can. Michelle leaves early with Jack for a walk, and I revel in the extra few minutes of silence in bed, until the girls get up.

Upon her return, which has all the girls up and about, we learn that the Florida State Parks also have a junior Ranger program. This gets the girls excited and they go through the workbook. They complete their tasks as I pack up the motorhome for its last day on the highway.

We head for the park exit around 11A, and we stop for the girls to turn in their ranger workbooks and receive their badge. The FL State Parks have these wonderful “passports”, that show all the different parks, have information about them, pictures and key facts. We buy 4 … as Jack will also start collecting :) … and vow to make it through the entire book with the kids.

On our drive back, we take a detour into Tallahassee for a kids diversion. The plan is to spend some time on the diversion, then head to see the college that Michelle attended. The diversion we chose was an indoor (read air conditioned) “Jumpy Castle” place. You pay $7 a child, adults are free and they can play in there for as long as they want. There are nice sofa’s for the parents and about 10 different “castles” for the kids to play on. They have a couple that are more toddler size and 1 that is for babies … everyone has a great time … although we did come across a couple of bully kids that terrorized Jaci.

I went in all the “rides” with Genna and found the little “terror”… had a chat, which did no good … but I did manage to block him from pushing past us … what is wrong with parenting these days, that kids have no respect for others, let alone elders … oh well … fun was had, and we headed out of there around 5P. We realized that we’d be getting home late, so we skipped the school tour, planning to come back on another weekend.

The drive from Tallahassee was uneventful, simple and sad. No one, kids, or adults wanted to go home and have this trip end. We all agreed that we could keep this up easily for a couple of more weeks … which was a great testament to the fun we had.

For me, the last 3 hours involved going through in my head what we would do differently, what I wished we had had, what we could have prepared for and what we would learn for the next trip. I “built” my dream RV in my head … to be fair, the RV didn’t matter … the only thing, I wish we had was a better working generator, and this was more of a repair thing. The RV was large enough, had enough space and no real issues … it was; by everyone's account, perfect.

In the end, the RV was just a vehicle (no pun intended) for our family adventure. It was a great trip, it let me watch Zach get close to his sisters and little brother. I got to see a deeper bond develop between Zach and his shadow Jaci. I only wish that he could have spent more of the trip with us, as I know he would have loved the entire trip … and I would have spent more time building fires, fixing the RV and sharing stories with him.

I got to watch Kate grow up in these last 3 weeks. She is so mature, so confident. She loved going off on her own in the parks with Jaci, exploring not just the park, but her new found freedom. I watched Kate develop her “shopping skills”, using the money she had saved to buy gifts for everyone in the family first, before buying something for herself. She is so considerate, so confident, so bright … she was always dancing, no matter where we were. I’m sure she danced in every state, in every park and in every city.

I got to spend some great one on one time with Jaci as my helper, when Zach wasn’t around, she’d be the one holding my tools, turning on the water, going with me to buy parts. I got to see her and Kate be the dynamic duo. I also got to see Jaci the big sister, playing with Genna, laughing and having a good time. She continues to live up to her moniker of “cheeky monkey”, she’s always exploring the boundaries :) … she is also so sensitive, I loved snuggling with her in the mornings … or just the 2 of us falling asleep.

This trip let me enjoy Genna in many ways and experience her intellect and humor. She is so funny and so clever … nothing gets past her, in a way, I’m glad the generator wasn’t working 100% … as it allowed for one of my favorite moments … it had cut out for the 4th time that day… Genna comes up to where I am driving and says, “Daddy, we lost the generator!”, she did so with the most confident and “matter of fact” voice you’d ever heard. I forget that she is 2, she can keep up with her sisters at just about anything. She knows she is funny and I think, she knows she is clever … she has no fear and is much less shy than her sisters ever were. She would proudly state … “I’m from Florida”, or “I just went to California”, or she’d look out the window at some vista and proclaim “beautiful”.

This trip had many first, and many of them for Jack. He is such a happy guy, always smiling, always flirting. He, without failing, always smiles at the girls. He is great to walk around with :) … He’s standing on his own and crawling, two first on this trip … and he is no longer content just sitting and watching things happen … he wants to be involved and makes his way over to the action. I will miss my morning walks with him probably the most …

I know that visiting Tennessee, was very important for Michelle, it was great to be able to connect back with family and visit places from her childhood. I know that it meant a great deal to her and was a wonderful experience for all of us. This is a trip that we both have talked about for a long time, it is something that we wanted to do, to connect our kids with the sort of trips that we did as kids. The many hours that Michelle spent in the family Suburban with her parents and siblings … the great memories it holds for her and the ability that this trip gave us to share some of those with ours.

I think this trip showed Kelly America, at least a much greater swath than she has gotten from living in Florida. It was great for me to be able to see America through the eyes of someone not from here, to experience the things we take for granted and to hear some of the stereotypes that are built about America. I am pleased to be able to get Kelly to believe that Texas, is not just like “Walker, Texas Ranger” … although she was disappointed that we didn’t see cowboys just driving around :)

This was a great trip, one that rewarded us with great memories, wonderful experiences and awesome adventures … it made us all closer … it is now over. But it won’t be our last.

I’ve been told that Grandpa wants to see Alaska, so maybe I will have a driving partner :) …

Day 24 – 6540 miles … The Beaches of Florida’s Panhandle

The rumbling of our neighboring trucks woke me around 7A, as I had forgotten to set an alarm. Everyone was still sleeping and I tried to be as quiet as I could be in making my coffee and getting the RV going. Our generator had surprisingly lasted through the night, which was great, as the temperature and humidity here is very high.

I get out of Mississippi and within a couple of miles “lose” the generator … oh well … we are used to it now, and have figured that if you run the cabin AC at max and close the partition to the back of the RV, the main salon area stays cool enough. We stop for fuel in Alabama, and the needed souvenir that Kate has been collecting from every state that we visit … we transition to road mode and continue on into Florida. I notice in my mirror, something “odd” … with so more careful looking, I realize that one of the doors on the outside is flying open … then I figure out it is the one with the generator … then I remember that I had left it open, and removed the access panel to the generator the night before. One look at the odometer puts me 86 miles from the door. Going back for it … would be 200 miles … oh well … 1 lost door, about $100 to replace it :(

I10 in Florida is surprisingly a great road, we easily tick miles away and start looking for a place to stop for lunch … in a lapse of focus, I take the exit for the Pensacola Beaches and take the detour.We push a little further and decide to stop in Destin. We’ve seen some beautiful sites on this trip, some outstanding vistas and some very unique things … yet the ocean and beaches for us is a huge thing. Our first view of the water, was as rewarding as any we’ve seen before. We find Henderson State Park and pull in. We get a great parking spot with a view of the dunes and ocean beyond it.

The sand on this beach is outstanding … I can only describe it as sugar. It is really white, soft and crystalline in look at texture. The water is in the 80s and the clarity is excellent … we play on the beach for almost 3 hrs. Jack, loves the beach, he is very comfortable sitting in the sand … and eating it :) … not sure what to make of that. We get back in the RV with some extra souvenirs … about 2 lbs of sand in baggies and about .5 lb in Jack’s belly.

Kate announces to the RV that she has a plan … she suggests that we find a campground nearby, then drive home early tomorrow morning. We all agree that this is a great plan and start looking for options. We find a state park in Grayton Beach and make our way there. The ranger was very helpful and we found a nice site. Our site was about .5 mile from the beach, and was nicely “wooded”, this for me, was probably the second best park we have camped at (from a site perspective) … nice lot, we couldn’t see the others and we had a clothes line to hang towels and a private path to the central showers … excellent.

We headed to the beach to watch the sun set and for another swim. Jack continued to fill up on sand and the girls wandered an almost empty beach looking at sea life. We saw a bunch of jellies, some really cool looking small ones, a puffer fish, which seemed to be lost and a small shark (about 18”) that was feeding on a dead fish about 6 ft from the sand. We brought some “bubble” toys and the girls played with those. I was asked to capture the shark using the bubble toys … which was going to be a difficult task, even for MacGyver … oh well, just looking at the shark will have to suffice.

We walked back to our site in the dark, and tried to figure out dinner options … our plan was to have been home, so our pantry was starting to get bare. We all decided on breakfast for dinner, as we had eggs, bacon and pancake mix … while I made pancakes, no where near as good as grandpa’s (according to Jaci and Kate), everyone had showers. We ate dinner and collapse for the night … this would be our last night aboard our RV.

Day 23 – 6275 miles … Bayou’s, French and The Big Easy

We must all have been tired, and knowing that we didn’t have to leave early no one set an alarm. It was about 930A when our RV starting stirring … this is incredible in a way, as the Jack and Genna are almost always awake before 7 … sort of natural alarm clocks. We take our time this morning, making breakfast and getting things packed up.

This kampground (as the KOA people like to write) is very close to Lafayette and apparently is invaded by locals using the facilities … so we must all have wristbands (like a theme park) to use the playground and swimming pools. The other interesting thing is the language … this is Creole / Cajun country and although I think they are speaking English, much of what is said is difficult to understand. Jaci came up and asked what language they were speaking :) … English we said … she looked confused.

We headed out to explore southern Louisiana around 1130A, our goal was to make it to New Orleans, but we wanted to stay off the main highway, so we opted for the lesser roads. Now, I can attest that Louisiana has the worst maintained interstates that we have yet to experience. They are truly painful on us an the RV. The drive from Shreveport was so bumpy that the lens for one of our outdoor lights was shaken off. We also shook off the grills of the speakers and a couple of screws. I put back the things that fell off inside … but we are one lens cover short :(. The secondary roads make the highways look great … but since we are driving an average of 35mph, it isn’t al that awful.

Southern Louisiana was a surprise to both Michelle and I … we  have both been to New Orleans, but never to this part. It is, in a way, like going to a different country. We turn on the radio, and French (although Kelly claims it isn’t her French) music is playing. We look at the signs and they are also in French … the large oaks, the old stately homes, the little shacks … the sugar plantations … all contribute to a great drive. We will definitely come back to this area of the country and explore in more detail and with more time.

We stop at a State park (the oldest in Louisiana) and while I stay with the sleeping little ones, Michelle, Kelly and the older 2 head in to explore … they are gone a good hour and come back very excitement and happy. The park/museum offers a view of plantation life and of what living in that timeframe would have been like. The staff is extra attentive and really engaged. The girls get to dress-up in traditional clothes and get shown around. They loved it … although they found it hot in the clothes. All agreed that they wouldn’t have wanted to live back then without AC.

We continue on our way stopping to take pictures and admire the Antebellum homes … beautiful. We drive past acres and acres of sugar cane … which the girls become interested in. So, we pull over and I cut a stalk to try to explain how they convert this “grass” into sugar … they each take a turn licking it :) … on another trip, we will need to arrange to tour one of the many sugar mills that we passed.

It was a Sunday, so it probably was quieter than normal, but still … this area is very sleepy. We find a city park in Morgan City to spend some time in and burn off energy … then we push the rest of the way into New Orleans. We make it into the city by 7P and it takes us another 40 minutes to find parking within walking distance of the French Quarter. The tough part was making sure that we didn’t get down some street which narrowed … also, once outside the “quarter”, you got a definitive sense of “danger” … “roll, em up”, as Clark Griswald would say.

Jaci quickly spots a horse drawn carriage … which we MUST ride. To be fair, it was a great idea … we took a 1 hr stroll through the French Quarter … the guide provided great stories, interesting bits of information and kept us entertained. While the French Quarter looked like what we remembered, you could still see lots of signs of Katrina, with m any buildings boarded up. Our guide told us that tourism is at 20-30% of what it was before Katrina. The upside, no waiting! As it turns out our carriage, just the week prior had hosted Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (who have a house here) … so we felt like “stars” … we also got to see Nicolas Cage’s house … highlights for the star struck for sure.

The quarter isn’t really kid friendly, and we passed by a couple of bars that where a little risqué. Luckily the kids didn’t understand what they saw … and the tour guide never pointed that stuff out … my favorite was a second story window, that had 4 TV’s clearly visible, all showing porn … yikes!

Our guide dropped us at a restaurant for dinner, which had a live Jazz band. Meal was Ok, a little expensive and very slow, considering the few people around. We stay and listened to Jazz and all the kids danced for the people there … was very nice. We bought a “keepsake” CD and walked back to our RV.

We left New Orleans around 1030P and headed onto I10 for Florida.  I made it as far as Mississippi and stopped at a rest area for the evening. Our generator continues to be plagued with problems, and rarely runs for more than 1 hr. At night, to help it … I open the enclosure it is in to let it cool and breath easier. By 1A we are all buttoned for sleep.

Day 22 – 6082 miles … Heading to the Gulf

The rest area on I20 near mile marker 386 was still full when I woke up and got moving. When we are trying to make up miles, I find that I drive until 1230a or 1a then stop. I could probably press on for another hour or so, but I want to make sure that I am always alert … I will tell you, that driving the RV needs a great deal more concentration than driving a car. It takes its toll. I set my alarm for about 545A and am usually back on the highway by 615A. This morning was no different.

I was on the other side of Dallas by 830A, and everyone was will sleeping. I stopped for fuel around 930A and we converted back to road mode … everyone awake, and in not a bad mood. As we got into Shreveport I passed a large RV store, I needed some parts (the hinge for the awning that the drum broke in TN) and decided to make a diversion. On the way to the RV place, we pass by a water park … ok … not a bad idea … so we stop.

We spend about 2.5 hrs at Watertown in Shreveport, LA. Not a huge complex, more of a large swimming pool than a water park. The wave pool was open, but the wave machine was broken … wouldn’t this just make it a pool? Of the 4 big slides, only 2 were working … but they had 2 large pools, with smaller slides and 6ft platforms to jump from. The kiddie pool that was perfect for Genna, it has tunnels, mini slides, fountains … she loved it. We had as much fun here as in any of the Orlando water parks.

We get back in the RV and while we stop at the RV dealer, we make and have lunch. The RV dealer had none of the parts we needed, but they did have some new RV’s  that we went to see. The salesman was great, knowledgeable, friendly, not pushy and genuinely wanted to help. I went first with Kate. Then we wanted to show Michelle and the girls, so he turned the AC on the unit and cooled it down. After we saw it, we went back on got Kelly and Jack … we must have spent over and hour at this place looking at our possible future adventure mobile :) … Our motor home is 29ft no slides. We spent time on a 34ft, 3 slide, bunk beds, class A machine. List price $113k, on sale $75k … :) … the economy isn’t doing that well for RV sales. The 34ft machine with slides open has almost 3x the internal space of ours … it made our machine look tiny by comparison.

The girls have been discussing that our next adventure should be to Alaska … Florida to Seattle then up the coast to Alaska. While this RV would work, they would like one a little larger, so they would have more room :) … Alaska in summer 2011, any takers … we could convoy and get really cool CB names … dibs on “bandit”.

We push to make our campground in Lafayette, LA by 730P. This is another KOA, more of a parking lot then a campground. The humidity is very high, and most of the campers here have large industrial fans on their site, so they can get a breeze. I fall asleep with Jaci around 930P, and I am told that the laundry is done that evening.

Day 21 – 5607 miles … Through New Mexico into the Great State of Texas

We opted for an early start, as we needed to make miles. We bid adieu to our campground and headed southeast towards Dallas and home. We new that this was going to be a long driving day without a “real” destination, so Michelle researched our route the night before and we picked some things to do along the way.

Our first stop was for breakfast, we saw a marker that read “Fort Sumner” and followed it … it lead us to the “real” grave of Billy the Kid, I assume many others are claiming to have his grave as well … anyways … we stopped by to get a couple of picture. Only Jack and Jaci were awake, so we strolled the little cemetery, spent a few minutes and continued on our way. We stopped at a little park about 5 minutes further to have breakfast and convert the beds for travel … didn’t feel right having breakfast at a grave site.

We continued on our way to Clovis, NM … nothing much of a town, except that it is near to Cannon AFB, which I think is a Special Ops Wing. From what we read, Clovis had a city zoo … and it did. We stopped at the park, and spent a very pleasant hour and a half walking around and looking at their animals. The Clovis zoo is no San Diego, ok, it’s no Sanford, FL … but it was very casual, had some interesting animals and lots, and I mean lots of peacocks … you could keep any of the feathers you collected, so we gather a few as souvenirs. We made lunch in the RV and continued on our drive.

What we have figured out, is that as long as we have some sort of stop, doesn’t matter what … every 3-4 hrs, the kids don’t go crazy and neither do we … not sure why the timeframe, maybe it has to do with a span of time that they deem too long … we’ll be there in 3 hrs is so much more acceptable to them than, we’ll be there in 8 hrs … weird … but important to know. This isn’t the fastest way to travel, but it is definitely the most enjoyable.

We crossed into Texas and were immediately greeted by the Texas flag, proudly flying everywhere … the “Lone Star”, was on the side of every building and emblazoned on the back window of most trucks … the road signs changed from “Please don’t litter” … to, “Don’t mess with Texas” … our first port of call in Texas was the town of Lubbock. This was a “play” stop at a local park … which had a great and very large play area … temperature was around 100F in the sun, but it was a dry heat :).

The kids dehydrated out in about 45 minutes and wanted back in the RV. We headed to the nearby Target for some quick provisioning and off we set again. Our drive, as with most we have had, was very picturesque … what struck me the most was the number of windmills and wind farms that we passed. I easily drove a 150 mile stretch on Highway 84 from Lubbock to Sweetwater that had a continuous (no kidding here) string of wind mills. There are thousands of these out here … very weird to see at first, then very nice … as they are in constant movement.

Most of the windmills sat on the same land as oil jacks … and most had soy cultivated there … triple win … oil, wind energy and biodiesel … impressive and forward thinking.

Our plan was to make it past Dallas on our way to Shreveport, we would stop near Abilene for dinner, play a little and continue on. On a lark, we checked to see if they had a movie that we could see … wouldn’t you know it, a drive-in, just off the interstate … opened at 730P, first movie at 915P, a kids one … G-Force. I’ve never been to a drive-in, the kids hadn’t and Kelly had  only seen them in movies.

We made our stop and pulled in around 8P. It was buy 1 burger and get 1 free at the snack bar, so dinner was all set. The owner came by to say hello and ask where we were from. Nice guy, told us that at 9P they do a raffle drawing and have the kids pick tickets … would our girls want to do it? He has a camera and they would be projected onto the big screen …

We settled into our patio chairs outside the RV, waiting for our movie, while Kate and Jaci headed to the ticket drawing :) For about 10 minutes before the drawing, both Kate and Jaci danced in front of the camera, projected on 2 drive-in movie theatre screens … they had a great time … when they did the drawing, they introduced themselves, said they where from Florida and got a bunch of horns from the crowd … we even won a box of candy :)

We all watched the movie, Jack on me, Jaci on Michelle, Genna on Kelly and Kate on her own … Genna “loved” it, Jack slept through it, Kate “really liked it”, Jaci “liked the movie, but would have preferred Air Conditioning” :) … We left after the first movie, got on the road and pushed to about 80 miles west of Dallas and stopped for the night.