So Many Miles...

We're almost 3 weeks in, and the fun continues! When we were preparing for this trip, we joked with some friends about the possibility of selling the camper and flying home if we just couldn't take it. However, the longer we're on the road, the more happy we become. And not just Chris and me, but the kids, too. The other night, as I was putting the girls to sleep, Kinley said to me, "Mom, I love camping with my family. Tell dad thank you for the camper."

My heart melted! To see the joy they have in this quality time together makes all the difficulties of this trip worth it. And yes, there are plenty of difficulties, which I have yet to write about. But we are truly living a dream, and it's even better than we imagined.

TRAVEL UPDATE

Since we left Prescott on June 4th we have...

~driven 3,833 miles

~filled our gas tank 17.5 times

~visited 14 states

~stayed in 5 campsites and 3 houses

~traveled for 71.5 hours

Upon leaving South Dakota, we drove through North Dakota into Minnesota, where we stayed at Savanna Portage State Park for 2 nights. We camped in a heavily wooded area, that reminded Chris and myself so much of places we camped as kids. We had to battle thick amounts of mosquitoes

while trying to keep the ticks at bay. But the scenery was gorgeous and the fishing was fun, and our kids became a filthy, happy mess. We even found a turtle laying eggs on the side of the road, which was pretty incredible to see! The last night there was a rough one, as a huge storm rolled through with crazy amounts of lightning flashing about every 3 seconds. The girls ended up in my arms on the couch as the boys slept straight through, completely unperturbed by the weather.

From Minnesota we drove further east to the Upper Peninsula. We stayed in a great little town called Marquette that we fell in love with. We had such a great time there that I'm saving that stop for a post of its own. On Father's Day we drove down through Wisconsin, stopping at Lambeau Field and the Harley Davidson Museum. When we were leaving the Packers stadium, a guy comes running up to us at a stop light with a piece of our camper...never a good thing to see! We pulled back in, recognized the plastic square as the roof to our bathroom, and got out what tools we had. I climbed onto the spare tire at the back, then onto Chris' shoulders, and on up to the top of the roof where I was able to make the repair, thankfully!

We got to Chris' dad's house in Illinois that evening, and it felt so good to be with family! More on that trip coming soon!