Day 3 - The Badlands

Day 3 - We headed out of Waterloo, IA and got back on the road. Today, we were traveling 582 miles - approximately 8 hours and 31 minutes to Interior, South Dakota. It did take us a little longer than that, but nothing like yesterday! I was very particular about the campgrounds we staying in. The Good Sam book I ordered was huge and quite daunting but any one who knows me, knows I lived by the ratings. Anyway, at most National Parks, there is camping but it is dry camping - meaning no water and no hook up - sewer or electricity. As much as I love a good rating, I am totally sold out to having water and power. In some places, finding those "full hook up" sites were a challenge. The first two nights, we camped at KOA's, so everything was neat and orderly. Let's just say camp number 3 was quite a wake up. The people were very friendly, it was just a bit run down and there were no smoking rules. We came out of the shower smelling worse than when we went in. But, like every other site up until now, we just barely passed through. The Badlands were amazing. So far, it has been some of my kids very favorite. It was rough, rugged, beautiful, raw and untamed. As soon as we pulled in, the kids hopped in the van and headed over. They ran and explored until night fall. It was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen.

Day 2 - Destination: Waterloo, Iowa, 8 hours 2 minutes, 544 miles. The first couple days of our trip, we were just trying to majorly cover ground. Time wise, we were closer to our designated time, much closer than day one. Unlike the first day, we had time to get to the campground and unwind a bit - play on the playground, throw the football around and cook on our grill. All in all, it was a great day. Since the only time we stopped was to get gas, the kids started using those breaks to their advantage to get up and stretch. As the miles turned to hours, people found creative ways to catch a few zzzz's. Little man soon learned that dad was the candy source. When we would stop, Ryan would go into the store and little man would scream "bring 'us' back some candy!" This particular trip, Ryan brought some crazy sour candy. This is the face he made every single time - kept us entertained for at least 20 miles or so. Our campsite for the day. We were so glad to finally arrive!

Launch Day

So, after list-making, packing, cooking and freezing food for a solid week, Sunday finally arrived! I had spent all of Saturday loading and reloading, trying to figure out my method to my madness. I "thought" I was in pretty good shape on Saturday night. Sunday morning came and (as usual) there were a few more loose ends to tie up and we ended up leaving two hours later that I had hoped. Let me tell you, traveling on Sunday (especially for the first day) is the way to go! We encountered absolutely no traffic, which was great - we were slow enough as it was. We were trucking along pretty well until we hit the mountains of West Virginia. I felt like we were in the "Little Engine that Could". It made it easily, it just was slow moving. Our scheduled 537 miles ended up taking 10 and a half hours! That was a rough first day. By the time we got to our campsite in Dayton, OH, we had an improvised supper of sandwiches and crashed. On day one we covered - NC, VA, WV, OH. Here are a few pictures from day one:

Starting out, it was all fun and games - then the miles and miles and miles set in!

The first thing I "cooked" while traveling down the road was Ryan a cup of coffee. He was a rock star and drove all 537 miles.

Have you ever seen such cuteness? He is loving hanging out with the big kids as we roll down the road.

And away we go....

After months of light planning and a full week of nothing but planning, we are off. I was going to start with the update of our trial run we did in March. The kids and I took "Betty White" (our RV's name - no, we are not Betty White fans - it's just that she's old and a little ruff around the edges, and white, obviously.) for a weekend trip to Asheboro. It went pretty well - our first camping experience in an RV, my first time driving and setting up. I was going to start that way but then moving my son home from college happened, my daughter's college graduation happened, prom happened and next thing I knew - it was time to go. The week before last was complete insanity for us. Last week, I spent listing and listing and more listing. I had already mapped out our trip but I was fine tuning it - planning our food and listing what we would need in each spot. Here are a few pictures of our "getting ready" process:(sorry there are no picture descriptions. Our wi-fi has been spotty - at best!)