Day Three (640 miles)

We left the campsite around 630 A.M. We have 636 miles to go today. It is 1:00 P.M. right now and we are half way there; 311 miles to go. Colleen finally got the courage up to drive, so I am updating the site as we drive. The cell receptions at Pomme de Terre was horrible, hopefully it will be better in Texas. It is nice to enjoy the ride for a bit.

I will try to get some pictures when we stop tonight, so check back tomorrow.

Day Two

We spent most of the day in the camper because of the rain. We watched a couple of movies took naps and played UNO. As the storm was clearing we went for a drive and ended up at the swimming beach. It was awesome. We were able to stand in the water and watch the storm pass overhead. Everyone got their shorts wet, and August finally dove in with his clothes on. After the beach we found the showers and cleaned up. For dinner we made campers stew (ground beef and vegetable soup). Colleen and I loved it the kids did ok. We packed up and went to bed around 9:30 P.M., because we wanted to get on the road early to get to Texas.

The First Day (500 miles)

We left today right after the kids got out of school (well almost right away 12:30 P.M.) Right off the bat we were driving into a 25 MPH head wind and it felt like we were barely moving. Our gas mileage was only 13 MPG. The wind did not let up until we got past St. Louis. Then we drove and drove and drove. It looked like we would arrive at 10:30 P.M., but we were so wrong. Pomme de Terre Lake is about 50 miles off the main highway. We took highway 64, and after driving 10 hours the last thing you want to do is to go up the hill down the hill around this tight corner then around then next tight corner. The speed limit was 55, but we never went over 40. At one point a deer popped up and almost jumped in front of the car. Colleen said she could count the hairs in its nose. We saw some signs for Pomme de Terre Lake state park and thought we were almost there. Well as it turns out there are 7 camping grounds at the lake and we picked the wrong one. I used my trusty GPS to route us to the next campground (wrong one again). The bad thing about GPS’s are they like to pick the most direct route not the easiest. We had to go back down the road we just traveled, and on the way we saw something on the other side of the road. On the way back it was still there. I did not have much time to react I tried to swerve around it, but I knew it was not going to work. So I tried to center it between the tires. Apparently it did not like that and it ran to the nearest wheel. Crunch, crunch, splat that’s when we figured out it was a Armadillo. August (who had been sleeping) woke up and asked what it was. I told him it was a stick named Armadillo. YUCK! Now that we were back on track we were driving up steep gravel roads (the tires on the van were actually spinning at one point) through trailer parks, and finally it told me to turn into someone’s back yard, and I did! The gravel road ended and it looked like if I continued on the grass I could get back onto the road. That did not work! So I had to backup the van and camper around a corner back onto the gravel road. At one point Colleen had to get out and direct me, so we didn’t go over the edge. This was sometime around midnight. We finally made it to the next campground, and I told Colleen “if this isn’t the right place I am stopping at the first open site”. As I stated earlier it wasn’t and we stopped at the first open site.

We got the camper setup and the kids to bed just before 1:00 A.M. Shortly after that the rain started. It did not stop until 4:00 P.M. the next day. It was a crazy night the rain wasn’t so bad but then the wind picked up and we had a severe thunder storm. The camper was rocking so badly from the winds no one was going to get any sleep. The storms were awful and (Colleen) was concerned we were going to be in a tornado. I kept waking up and hoping it was morning.

Car Trouble

Colleen called me at work today and informed me that the van was leaking antifreeze. I called the repair shop and told them I was planning a 4,000 mile road trip (leaving tomorrow)! They thought the could get it fixed by 7:00 P.M. My cell phone rang a 6:48 P.M. and they said it was ready to go. A couple of hours, new water pump and peace of mind (that it wont be overheating in the Arizona desert). You can't put a price on that. :)

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