Pete here – I’ve completely forgotten how to work this website! Its late April 2019, a full 9 months since our summer RV trip “ended” and I have no clue how to begin this post. I would classify myself as a completionist in most regards, so it never felt quite right leaving this blog about our trip incomplete.

On the trip from Tennessee to western North Carolina, I made the biggest mistake of the summer. Even 9 months later, I still feel the anxiety. The drive was about 1 hour, a very short and easy interstate journey from Elizabethton, TN south into Asheville. The journey started easily and we hooked up the RV and made the initial climb out of the low river campground without problem. We didn’t have sewer hookups down by the river so we stopped at the campground dump station and Kristen and I seamlessly executed all the chores. We were so in sync that we joked about being professional RVers for a bit. We barely spoke a word, but we had all our tasks completed with ease. Our fifth wheel has two dump lines and they’re about 15 feet apart (one up front for the shower/toilet and one behind the axles for the kitchen sink), so we’ve learned that the dump station port should be centered between the two so that our 20 foot hose reaches from each tank. I briefly stopped the truck before pulling up to the dump station so she could hop out the truck and give the hand signals for when I was in position. I pulled up and stopped the truck right as she have the “hold up!” signal and we had it all done in a few minutes.

The drive from TN to NC was estimated to be an hour. The checkout time in TN was 11 am and check in was 1 pm. Normally, we wouldn’t worry about this because we go a little slower than the google map estimates and can always find a scenic spot to stop off at to kill time. It worked out great for us in Colorado and we just parked and went for a nice hike. After about 20 minutes of driving, we reached the ridge of the mountain range and started the downward slope into North Carolina. We had passed a few scenic overlooks where could have stopped and decided to stop at the next one. We quickly learned that there was no “next one”, and I asked Kristen to find an alternate scenic route to make up the time difference. At the next upcoming exit, we saw the grey google maps route that said +50 minutes. Perfect! Without hesitation, we got off the interstate and selected this as our new route. The drive took us on a stretch of the Blueridge Parkway, which sounded amazing and definitely started off that way. The road climbed scenic mountains and we shared OOOs and AHHHs until the weather started to turn dark green, then grey, then rainy. About the same time, as if everything had turned against us, the parkway turned from two wide lanes to one wider shared lane. Signs on the side of the road said “No Trucks”, but that means the big 18 wheelers right? Not that we had any choice at this point, and I wondered if that was the first sign I’d seen or the last. The parkway turned up some steep mountains and we started encountering 180 degree switchbacks with steep slopes uphill. At this point, it was impossible to turn around. The switchbacks required taking the entire width of the road (which is still technically both directions) to pull the fifth wheel around the curves. Essentially, I’d have to drive into the far left side of the road and slow down to about 15 MPH, in the rain and under the dark forest canopy to make the curve uphill. I watched the rear wheels of the trailer clear the guard rails with a short margin. This repeated for what seemed like forever, up and down, left and right, while Kristen and I counted our blessings and tried to stay positive. For a few of the worst curves, we just had to pray nobody was coming the other direction at the time. We thankfully didn’t encounter any oncoming traffic during the switchbacks and eventually came out on a main road off the parkway. A good indication of how nervous we were during this drive is that there are zero pictures of it. Sorry but not sorry, go see it for yourself!

The KOA outside Asheville was pretty nice, but we didn’t spend too much time in the RV there. The weather had an inspiring cool breeze to it and Asheville is one of the places that was non-negotiable for this trip. Neither of us had been here before, but we had heard and seen all we needed from friends and family on their visits. Also, we’ve hiked and camped about an hour to the west near Franklin, NC and spent an awesome vacation in nearby Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, TN.

Our stay in Asheville had a deeper importance for us as well. Throughout this entire summer, we’ve sort of been shopping for a place to eventually retire. Obviously, being in our mid-30s, retirement is not something in our near future but being the long-term planning sort of people that we are, why not go dream shopping? Asheville appeared to have most of the qualities we were seeking: mild climate (not too hot in summer and not too cold in winter), available wooded properties with privacy and freedom, centrally located to a massive assortment of hiking and camping opportunities, a like-minded community where people value self sufficiency and the farm-to-table lifestyle. Also, the very nice children’s hospital (potential employment for Kristen) and the gorgeous mountain views didn’t hurt one bit!

The first morning in Asheville, we headed straight for the visitor center and were not disappointed. It was a rainy morning, and the visitor center walls were full of pamphlets on everything from real estate to gourmet chocolate, BBQ, and breweries. A bit overwhelmed, we grabbed a bunch of pamphlets and walked around the gift shop for a while before heading out. The weather was starting to clear so we decided to head out to Chimney Rock for a sightseeing stair climbing work out!

I had climbed Chimney Rock a few years back with a coworker while working on site 2 hours away near Charlotte. From our KOA, it was about a 45 minute trip on a beautiful scenic drive. Kristen tried to keep up on Zillow and looked up as many “For Sale” signs I could find as we drove past some historic homesteads and old farms. The area just felt like the most peaceful place ever. We arrived into the town of Chimney Rock and drove up the curvy, rock-lines walls of the park entrance. It was mostly how I remembered it, except we were not going to run/climb the whole way up the rock like before. We waited for the bus tour that takes visitors from the parking area to the base of the massive staircases to the top of Chimney Rock. While waiting, we saw a tent where a ranger was giving a presentation on local wildlife and peeked in.

We took the bus ride up the switchbacks to the base of the rock. There’s a small gift shop at the bottom and a tunnel and an elevator drilled into the mountain. Even a few hundred feet up from the parking area, the weather was much cooler.

We didn’t want to take the elevator to the top, so we turned down the path towards the stair climbs. There are multiple paths around different sides of the mountains and cliffs that you can take, but its inevitably climbing stairs since the start is almost directly below the top of the mountain. At the top is an iconic American flag pole and a rock clearing that marks the summit. After many twists and turns and a ton of stairs, the summit was finally in sight!

We caught our breath before the last set of stairs so we didn’t wheeze on everyone up top, then we finally we achieved victory.

From the summit, they have some pipes mounted to the hand rails that you can look through. Its like a telescope with no lenses. They directly point to another one at the bottom looking up, which is cool to see the perspective if you do both.

After hiking Chimney Rock, we made the climb back down to the buses and rode back down to the truck. We were pretty hungry after the workout so we drove a bit further to the east to Lake Lure. There are a few restaurants on the water and the idea of sitting and relaxing sounded great. Lake Lure is where the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed (don’t tell Kristen but I’ve never actually seen it).

After Asheville, we headed down to sea level in Savannah, GA for our last stop before home. Once we hopped out the truck we were plastered with heat and humidity! We had been avoiding the familiar summer heat since Albuquerque, so this was a reminder of how nice the weather really was at higher elevations.

Once the sun set, things cooled down a little, but not enough for our liking. We walked around the campground and saw some really cool campers. Check this out!

The next day, we went into Savannah to explore. There’s some pretty nice history to the city that I should have expected, but never really appreciated. Being on the Atlantic coast and relatively close to St. Augustine, it was a haven for pirates through the years.

It was super hot that day, but we walked to the historic district down by the water and ate lunch at an old tavern.

On the way out, we were surprised by a bunch of fighter jets flying over the water. I guess it was for an air show, because there was an F-22, an F-35, and a pair of F-18s.

The bus stop scene in Forrest Gump was filmed at a nearby park so we headed over to check it out. The bench itself was a movie prop and is kept somewhere else, but the church next to it is the building that the floating feather wisps around at the beginning of the movie. Pretty cool!

After the park, we took the long way back to the truck to pass through an old cemetery. It had some shady oaks and a good bit of history to check out.

After walking around the town, we headed to the beach so Evelyn could meet the Atlantic ocean.

It was still pretty hot and the beach was very crowded so we didn’t stay long. We headed back to the RV and spent the last night walking around the campground. We were heading home in the morning at the summer had flown by. It felt like we just left and we joked about making one more lap around the country.

The next morning, we made the drive back to Florida and back to the Lazydays campground where we started from 10 weeks before. It was a little surreal being right back at the start and our mood was definitely different. We had arranged long term storage for the RV on a monthly basis, but that wouldn’t start for a few days until the first of the month so we had pay for three days at the $30/night camping rate. We grabbed some essentials from the RV and drove back to our house. The drive into the neighborhood felt really weird, as if we were visiting the scene of a dream from long ago. We got to our house and let ourselves in. I remember feeling pretty overwhelmed by the size of the house and by all of the things in it. It didn’t feel like home anymore. The three of us looked at each other inside the front door for a second wondering if we all felt this. A few minutes later we were back in the truck heading to Lazydays! We hadn’t planned on staying in the RV for those few camping days but now we realized what a blessing it was!

We spent the next few days at the pool, grilling, and moving our RV stuff back into the house over a few trips. School and work resumed a week later.

We’ve been pretty busy in the months since we got back! Evelyn started second grade at her same school. I returned to my job, and Kristen got a new job working night shift. We put our house on the market and sold it in 4 days, along with most of the things inside.

We moved full time into our RV the end of September and have been renting a campground spot near the old house to stay close to work and school. We also are renting a small storage shed to keep the things we plan to keep (tools, kayak, clothes, etc.)

At the beginning of this year, we decided to permanently relocate to an area near the smoky mountains. We wanted to stay close to children’s hospital for work purposes, so we focused on Johnson City, TN and Winston-Salem, the Chapel Hill area, and of course Asheville.

In February, Kristen was offered a great job at the hospital in Asheville! Deciding to take the leap of faith, she accepted and began her job up there just last week! Evelyn and I are still in town in the RV until the end of her school year when we will head up to reunite the family in beautiful Asheville!

Thanks for reading!

Pete here, this is the second to last blog post of the trip! We’ve planned the rest of the journey and will be back home the last weekend of July. I’m writing this from a KOA just outside beautiful Asheville, North Carolina. KOAs are a bit on the pricier side ($45-$55/night), but they have full hookups, strong wifi (currently using), pull through sites (pulled through), online booking through their app (did it), laundry (which we just did), usually a pool (bathing suits drying now), and its always been full of nice people so you definitely get what you pay for (not a paid spokesman). State parks have been in the $18-$36/night range and come in all varieties from only 30A electric to 30A, water, and sewer hookups. I don’t think we’ve ever had full hookups at a state park and wifi, but I’ll verify that for the last post in the summary.

Since we have just one stop after this before home, we booked them both at KOAs for the wifi and ease of setting up the rig. We’re like a NASCAR pit crew now, from the time the wheels stop rolling until the TV channels are scanned and the ice tray is filled and sitting in the freezer (the last steps if you’re fancy like us) was about 7 minutes this time. I think we were impressed by our earlier attempts when it only took 20 minutes. Maybe there will be a day when we laugh at 7 minutes and how slow we used to be.

Anyway, since Kristen’s last post, we’ve been through a few more states. We left the state park in Kentucky and spent a few nights at a KOA in West Virginia between Huntington and Charleston. We intended to stay at a different RV park further outside of town with nearby hiking trails and some nice Hatfield-McCoy history but they never answered our 15 phone calls to make the reservation and the other nearby RV park was booked solid. We’ve been alternating between state parks and KOAs or other RV parks with wifi so we don’t go too crazy hanging out with all of our new imaginary friends.

The KOA in West Virginia was pretty nice. It had a small lake that they turned into a small water park! We spent a lot of time climbing and jumping off the inflatable obstacles. As a side note, as a kid I don’t remember water hurting so much when flopping my experimental aerial maneuvers, but I rang my own bell a few times and woke up more sore than I care to admit.

We spent our West Virginia days exploring the mountains and river areas that run through the two cities. We drove about an hour northeast of Charleston to a small town called Elkview and intentionally got lost. I don’t know why, but I find it fun to pick a destination that looks interesting from Google maps satellite view and pick the middle of that town as our destination. At a time of my own choosing I blatantly defy the guidance directions and do my own thing while technology scrambles to save me. Its probably the years I’ve spent trying to debug software and figure out what its doing that makes me enjoy watching it scramble to figure out what I’m doing!

After exploring by truck for a while, we headed back to the RV and relaxed for a while. We drove to a Texas Roadhouse of all places. Nothing to do with West Virginia, but we were hungry and we love Texas Roadhouse. It was everything we wanted! Next we hit the Walmart for groceries and spent the rest of the stay swimming or watching homesteader YouTube channels and Netflix.

After Charleston, we turned south and headed down to Roanoke, Virginia. Kristen and I have had Roanoke on our hit list for a while since the Appalachian Trail runs right by it and it has one of the most iconic highlights: McAfee Knob. Its a section of mountain side at the peak that has rock overhangs and amazing views. We booked two nights at a cool RV park called Dixie Caverns. It had strong wifi and was close to town for a decent rate. We took some walks around the campground and drove into Roanoke for dinner at a cool diner by the local college.

The next day, Kristen and I decided to do the roughly 8 mile round trip day hike up to McAfee Knob. Evelyn wasn’t interested in this at all and since we had wifi and were at a safe spot, agreed that she could stay in the RV and relax (she was practically begging us to stay behind and have some alone time, which we definitely understand).

Getting back on the AT is always a special experience for Kristen and I. We plan to through-hike the trail from Georgia to Maine sometime after Evelyn leaves the nest. We’ve been following AT through-hikers on YouTube for a few years and we’ve done our own very small 3 day 25 mile section hike which really got us passionate about it. Also, we’ve been up to the southern terminus at Springer Mountain and stayed at the Hike Inn in the woods a few miles away this past new years eve. Great experience, but not for this blog!

Anyway, we parked at the day hike trail head area and saw an ambulance and an abundance of Roanoke fire rescue crews with off road vehicles and the works. I tried to overhear on their radios what was happening but only heard “Attention all Roanoke fire rescue personnel, the team as made it to the summit.” I was curious, but I didn’t feel like being that guy who asks what happened. I imagined a few scenarios or sprained ankles or minor cardiac events, but quickly gave up imagining as we started the climb.

The trail was a good mix of everything, smooth flat wide sections, narrow deep woods curvy, sections that are just stairs made of timbers, and narrow sections of boulders that only vaguely resemble a trail at all. The climb wasn’t bad at all, especially since we weren’t carrying our hiking packs and overnight supplies. The trail was mostly very shady as well and the occasional breeze cooled things down nicely.

After an hour or so on the way up, we passed an AT shelter and had to stop and look. We spent a night in an AT shelter on our previous 25 mile hike and they’re always very interesting to us. Lots of interesting graffiti from previous through-hikers and some are even dedicated to remember hikers. This shelter was no exception. We passed the Johns Spring shelter and took a few minutes to read the memorial.

The rest of the hike to the top was very enjoyable, we passed some friendly people and got passed by friendlier people. As a matter of fact, on two occasions we passed male hikers by themselves. This will make more sense later in the blog, but bear with me for now. The first man we passed was stopped on the side of the trail and seemed to be around 60 years old and wore a red t-shirt. I smelled the cigarette smoke before I actually saw him, but he politely attempted to clear the smoke and put his almost finished cigarette out on the other side of the tree that he was heavily relying on for support. We said our polite “hello” and “good morning” as we passed and he muttered an attempt at a polite response but he seemed to be too gassed from the climb to put any words together. Later in the climb, we passed another man in a green shirt with a small day hike pack on. He heard us coming a while back and had stopped off to the side to let us pass. He was covered in sweat and seemed to be struggling as well, but that’s nothing weird on hiking trails. Everyone goes at their own pace for their own purposes. Some almost run like they’re climbing stairs in a stadium and some take peaceful strolls and stop to look at every flowed and tree. Kristen and I were on the peaceful stroll side of the spectrum so the rest of the trip was nice and peaceful. There were a few views through trees towards the top and then finally we reached McAfee Knob! There were groups of hikers lossely scattered at the top eating lunches, snacks, or otherwise relaxing.

We knew the rocks cantilevered over the cliffs, but honestly this picture makes it look a lot scarier than it is. Either that, or being on the top makes it seem way safer than it really is. It really is just that piece of rock hanging over a seemingly endless fall, but somehow sitting down makes everything ok? Sorry Mom!

While on the top, we heard this annoying loud buzzing sound. We could tell other people were slightly annoyed by it as well and we heard someone way it was a drone. While exploring the top of the peak, Kristen and I walked around some of the edge and we realized that it would be very easy to fall off this rock. I wouldn’t say it was dangerous, but it required paying attention to what you were doing. We rounded a corner and we heard this weird group of people poorly singing some song with no music. Around one more edge and we came up right behind a line of firefighters singing and dancing on the edge, facing a camera drone off the edge. They must be doing some music video for some firefighter competition or commercial or some sorts because the only lyrics I heard were “We’re saving lives everyday” or something along those lines repeated over and over. I’m pretty sure Kristen and I were in the drone shot, so they probably had to do another take after we crashed the music video. We’ll check later and see if the Roanoke fire rescue goes viral, maybe we’ll be extras!

The climb down was much easier and faster than the way up. We passed both the green shirt and red shirt man on our way down and their appearance was as expected. A bit more exhausted than the last time we saw them, but that’s all to be expected since they had been continuing to climb the trail.

Shortly after we got back to the RV, Kristen was stunned by something she saw on her phone. The news said a man about 60 years old had fallen off the knob and fell about 100 feet. He was alive but in really critical condition. Since nobody could have made it to the summit by the time we got off the trail and we didn’t pass any other candidates, it had to be one of those two. I’m guessing the smoker in the red shirt, but I don’t know if we’ll ever know. Creepy. Also quite ironic since half the Roanoke county fire rescue team was on the summit an hour before that and we saw them all ride their off road vehicles down the fire road to the parking lot and leave about the same time we drove away. Kristen and I were laughing how we thought someone was in trouble on the trail or at the knob, but the rescue workers had just been shooting a music video.

After Roanoke, we wanted to loosely follow the AT back down south. I found a cool state park in Tennessee just outside Johnson City that was walking distance to the AT. The only problem was the reservation would leave us with a one day gap between Roanoke and Tennessee. A blessing in disquise, I found a one night spot in Damascas, Virginia! The AT goes right through this small town, and passed just on the other side of the creek from us.

We spend the day walking along the AT while Evelyn rode her bike. This was hiking luxury and was quite weird to be on the AT and on a sidewalk at the same time, but a very cool experience. We followed the AT sidewalk outside Damascus a while until it turned across the street and started up a mountain! So long, AT.

After our one peaceful day in Damascus, we drove south into Tennessee to our next spot at the Watauga Dam Campground. This campground has zero cell service, but we traded that for the beauty and peacefulness. I think this was my favorite campground yet. A few widely spaced back-in spots along a river with a huge steep mountain wall on both sides.

We stayed a few nights here and had a great time. Every night people lit campfires in their spots and it reminded me of Christmas Eve bonfires along the Mississippi river in Louisiana to light the way for Papa Noel (Santa).

The place was also pretty interesting because the dam would open and close and the river would go from very calm to rushing and back in a matter of minutes.

The visibility also fluctuated rapidly and we were hit with sporadic changes of pouring rain and clear skies. Fog came and went like smoke drifting across a stage. Evelyn referred to the fog as “dead clouds” and Kristen and I laughed until our sides hurt when Evelyn wasn’t in earshot. Its so funny the way kids see things and I hope we never forget this time together and all the little detail memories that mean the most.

A foursome of ducks swam up the river one day. We had two extra hot dog buns that we’ve been carrying around for a few states so Evelyn fed the ducks. for the rest of our stay, if these ducks saw her they would fly down and land at her feet. I enjoyed watching these ducks fly down the river on their approach. They’d do a full 90 degree turn on final in formation and glide down until they flared and hit the water. Such grace, skill, and beauty. Not to corrupt these ducks, we didn’t feed them any more, although they seem to have the campground figured out as we saw them do a similar aerial display for other campers.

Between the lack of cell connection, sporadic rain, and our campfires we spent the time reading books and visiting the nearby AT crossing. One night Kristen and Evelyn decided to have a makeup party and surprised me with this:

We left the Watauga Dam campground this morning and here we are in Asheville, thanks for reading! Later!

We have been through a few more states and had more adventures!  We left mountainous Colorado for the open roads and plains of Kansas.  It was a nice change to have less traffic and straight, smooth roads.  One of the first things we noticed as soon as we crossed the state border: most drivers wave at you as they pass by!  So of course, Pete took this as his new way of life, and waved to everyone we passed.  It quickly became a combination of annoying and hilarious, and sometimes we waved as a whole family to the cars passing by.  They probably thought we were a weird family, but it was fun to see if they would wave back or imagine that we at least gave them a bit of happiness they could take with them that day.

We knew we needed to make a stop in Kansas, but we weren’t sure where, since neither of us has been there before.  We looked online at campgrounds all over the state, when we saw the “Gunsmoke” campground in Dodge City.  The famous Dodge City: the home of cowboys and shoot outs!  It was perfect for a quick two night stopover on our way through the mid west.  This was one of my favorite campgrounds.  It was designed like an old western town with store fronts, had nice big RV spots, and a pool.  Our first night we were tired and hungry from the drive, and we ordered a pizza to the RV.  I wasn’t sure if it would be possible, but it worked!  I was nervous he wouldn’t find us (I also REALLY wanted that pizza), so I stood outside to flag the delivery guy down.  I am sure everyone in Kansas thinks we are crazy at this point, but, hey, we are just passing through.

On our full day in Dodge City, we drove down the road to visit the Boot Hill Museum.  It was a really nice place with a general store and saloon, and old buildings from the 1800s that were neat to walk through.

After the museum we cooled off at the pool!

After our quick stay in Kansas, we drove to the Knob Noster State Park in Missouri.  It is a little east of Kansas City, so we would be able to easily drive into the city for barbecue and other things.  We stayed there for four nights, and took day trips to visit Osage Fort, try some barbecue, and see Incredibles 2.

The fort was really interesting.  It was a “living history” museum, so there were people dressed up in authentic clothes and walked around like it was the 1800s.

We took a detour one afternoon to see Incredibles 2.  Great movie!  It was also extra fun because one of the main characters name is “Evelyn”.

One of my goals for the summer is to do some hiking.  The Knob Noster park has several hiking trails, so I decided I would be ambitious and try the 6.5 mile McAdoo Trail.  I loaded up a little pack with waters and a granola bar, and Pete drove me to the trail head at about 1:30 in the afternoon.  I learned some things on this trail: NEVER forget bug spray, and probably don’t go on equestrian hiking trails if possible.  I was definitely the only person who went on the trail that day…Holy spider webs!!  And since it was also an equestrian trail, it was pretty torn up in parts from the hooves, and extra muddy where the creeks crossed the trail.  I was at least a mile and a half in when I stepped across a creek, misjudged the firmness of the ground on the other side, and stepped up to my ankle in soft mud.  It pulled my shoe right off my right foot.  I just stood there, frozen, considering my options.  I quickly realized I didn’t have any options, and the feelings of regret weren’t going to do me any good at this point.  I had been hiking for a while and I was alone, so all I could do was pull out my muddy shoe.  It was FULL of mud.  And my sock and lower leg were covered in mud.  I managed to get down to the very shallow creek and did my best to dump the mud out of my shoe and rinse off what I could.  I squished my soaking wet sock into the muddy shoe, and moved forward.

The trail was mostly wooded and didn’t have much elevation change.  There was a grassy area and wild flowers, and I saw animal tracks and a couple deer.  Overall, I don’t regret the hike because it definitely was an experience (but I hiked pretty fast and completed the 6.5 miles in a little over 2 hours).

After Knob Noster, we drove a couple hours to the Lake Of the Ozarks State Park.  We decided to stay there for a week so we could get a bit of a break from travelling and explore the area.

Evelyn really enjoyed riding her bike every day to the playground.

We saw lightning bugs in the evenings.

We went to a couple different restaurants on the lake.  Overall it was a relaxing time.  We decided a whole week without internet and spotty cell service was a bit too much, though, and we were definitely ready to move on to the KOA in St. Louis.

But first, laundry!

We had a great time in St. Louis.  We did the required trip to the Gateway Arch.  Apparently the new museum under the arch had opened just a week prior, so we were lucky we got to see it.  It was a really interesting museum and had some really neat special effects, including a touch-screen Oregon trail game that of course we had to play!

We bought tickets to ride to the top of the arch.  It was quite the experience.  Five people in a tiny little barrel up a four-minute ride to the top of the arch.  “Stay at the top as long as you want!” said the tour guides.  Well, there’s a reason why they say that.  There’s no way you can stay up there long.

Four minutes up, three minutes down!  The views were amazing, but I was glad to be back down.

After the arch, we walked across the block for a quick lunch.  I got a St. Louis traditional food: toasted ravioli!

That evening we visited our good friend, Mike, his beautiful wife, Lindsey, and their super cute baby girl twins.  It was a great time reminiscing and eating St. Louis-style pizza from Imo’s!

7/11 is our anniversary (easy to remember), and this year was our 10 year anniversary.  The KOA campground we stayed at was 1.5 miles from Six Flags, so we decided it would be fun to spend our anniversary at the theme park!  This Six Flags also had a water park.  We aren’t water park aficionados, so figuring out the logistics of changing and lockers was a little challenging.  Once we figured it out and got on the tubes, we had a great time!

Our next journey took us on a drive through Illinois, Indiana, and into Kentucky!  Pete found a state park between Louisville and Lexington for a couple nights.

Nice spot with lots of room

He spent several years growing up in Lexington, and we took Pete’s childhood tour to his old house and school.

To be continued….

Its been a while since the last update and we’ve had quite a few ups and downs. We’ve dodged a forest fire, camped at both high and low elevation campgrounds in Colorado,  and endured the loss of our cat Lucy. We’ve had very limited access to an internet connection, which has been both good and bad. Where to begin?

The drive from Roswell to Albuquerque was exciting. We finally started to drive up some large hills and we almost called them mountains. I haven’t been to Albuquerque for almost 10 years. It was the first site I traveled to for work, and I have looked back on my time working here with a lot of pride. I was new to my career and to the flight simulation industry and I was very lucky to travel and be on a team with so many experienced, genuine people. I’ve always continued to learn throughout my career, but its almost as if those series of trips to Albuquerque was where I was “born and raised” in a professional sense.

We arrived at a crowded KOA just north of Albuquerque in the shadow on Sandia peak. I looked up to the summit and remembered a decade ago driving to the top and hiking down and then back up the 5,000 ft mountain with three coworkers. I think its safe to say we underestimated the challenge at the time and I laughed to myself. I also did not appreciate what hiking at altitude meant. Albuquerque sits around 5,000 ft above sea level, and the overshadowing Sandia peak is over 10,000 ft.

Kristen, Evelyn, and I hopped in the truck and drove up the mountain to see the views. We considered riding the sky tram that takes visitors from the base, but the prices were just a bit higher than we’d like and we had plenty of time. The drive was beautiful and it was exciting to put the windows down and feel the temperature drop as we ascended. It was over 100 degrees down at the campground and the summit was in the mid 60s with a cool breeze blowing. We found some hiking trails along the ridge at the top and spent a few hours hiking the 3 mile round trip from the summit to the sky tram station. It was a great hike, all over 10,000 ft altitude so our legs and lungs burned going up otherwise simple climbs.

During our two night stay in Albuquerque, with laundry and grocery shopping done, it was time to head north to Colorado. This was the part of the trip we were most excited about. The temperatures had been in the 90s and low 100s throughout our trip so far and the drive up to Sandia peak was only a taste of the cooler weather at higher altitudes. We looked online for a place to stay and after a quick Google for “Colorado high altitude camping” we found our town: Silverton, CO. The altitude is about 9,300 feet and the weather forecast showed 50s-60s, SOLD! A bonus was that is was in southwest Colorado and showed only about a 4 hour drive.

We loaded up early the next morning to head out. After hitching and doing our customary blinker/brake light checks on the rig, I entered the destination in Google maps and was hit with an 8 hour estimate! Where did I go wrong? I checked the route and it went about 4 hours around the entire region we were headed. Google maps reported the road (550 N) was closed north of Durango to Silverton. This 45 minute leg was replaced with the 4 hour detour loop. We researched a little and found that the forest fire in the area was right along the road and it was closed. A little dejected but still excited to enter Colorado, Kristen called the campground to ensure our later arrival would still be OK. The campground manager informed us that we could still go up 550 N, but would have to get a police escort to pass through and that his wife had just come up that way. A little hesitant about how that would work, we proceeded against the Google maps advice.

We stopped at an Apache reservation for gas at a casino in northern New Mexico and excitedly entered Colorado! Almost instantly we were impressed with the green hills and snow capped mountains in the view. It reminded me of Switzerland and the Sound of Music. I later learned that area is nicknamed “America’s Switzerland”, I still claim credit for this observation.

A short while later, we could see the smoke in the distance from the fire. There were plenty of cars and RVs on the road, so we at least had company along the drive as we approached. We passed through Durango and the smoke intensified. Eventually the traffic got less and less dense until we were along a one lane road and passed the flashing signs about the road closure. I could see a chain of helicopters on the peak to my left fighting the fires and the traffic ahead of us was at a complete stop with the flashing lights of police and fire crews. There were two lines of traffic, one for those passing through the towns north of Durango and the other for people trying to get back to their houses after evacuating. The fire has burned and passed the area as it spread west, so the police escort was really to prevent looters from entering the area following the evacuation. We were 4th in line for the thru traffic and after a short smoky wait, our convoy moved north (in style!)

After about an hour, we descended the mountain into the picturesque town of Silverton, Colorado. It reminded me of a small Alaskan town from TV. One main street and a few dirty off roads busy with ATVs and Jeeps. Parked snowmobiles and sleds decorated the front yards.

We were excited about our 4 night stay and were instantly greeted with a chilly rain shower. I climb the ladder to the roof of our RV every time we park to run the ethernet cable up to our Wifi extender and the view has never been this breathtaking, what a place! All directions were surrounded by 14,000 mountains and long range views.

We opened all the windows and let the fresh crisp breeze in. We have one set of blinds on the kitchen window and hearing the rattle as they blew against the window frame brought back memories of Lexington, Kentucky as a kid when we could open the windows for a cool breeze.

We caught a handful of over-the-air channels, including FNX (First Nation Experience). I’ve come to really like this channel. Its a channel by and for Native Americans and has some really fascinating and intriguing shows. Evelyn felt more like relaxing in the RV, so Kristen and I took the short walk into town to scout it out. With wifi, Evelyn can call and text us so from her Ipad so its easy to check in and make sure everything is OK. Kristen and I walked around town and eventually agreed to split a pizza and sample a local beer at a cool Colorado diner.

The next day, the three of us made the drive up an old abandoned mining road into some rough country. We did about 7 miles an hour due to the rough ride, but after about 45 minutes we past some abandoned mines and found a cool trail to climb. Like most things, pictures just don’t do it justice. The chilly weather made hiking really enjoyable. We climbed the mountain side of the road and found a old mine shaft, which was gated.

We found a larger abandoned gold mine along a river and walked along a side stream until we found a rocky cove!

Back in Silverton, we used the heater for the first time in the RV as the overnight temperatures dropped to the 40s! Evelyn loves collecting rocks, and she found a lump of old coal along the railroad tracks.

After our stay in beautiful Silverton, we looked for a State Park. We found there is a three day lockout on making reservations at state parks online, so we decided to spend one night in the ski town of Ouray, about 45 minutes north, and we also reserved a 5 night stay in Ridgeway State Park, only 20 minutes north of Ouray.

Our night in Ouray was nice. Its more densely packed and paved than Silverton. Its nestled very tightly in the mountains and feels like being an ant in the bottom of a tall drinking glass made of rock. we stayed at the only campground in the town, right on the edge of the stream the flows through. We walked around town and ate a delicious lunch with a view.

After Ouray, we made the short 20 minute drive to our new campground in Ridgeway State Park. Its situated on a large reservoir and the drive was so short we had to wait about an hour and a half before we could check in. Luckily there was a hiking trail around the welcome center so we had plenty to do after our picnic.

We had most of the park to ourselves the first day, since it was a Tuesday. After setting up the RV, we went into town for groceries for the next 5 nights.

When we got back, we noticed our cat Lucy was sleeping in her litter box. She had done this every now and then and we had thought she did it when she was cold or not feeling well. We kept an eye on her behavior for the next day and she seemed to not be eating. She came out of her box to drink water a few times, but other than that she wasn’t very responsive. The next morning, after seeing she was still sleeping in her litter box, we tried to get her out and moving. Kristen picked her up and took her outside to play. Lucy collapsed wherever she was put and let out a few long groans when moved. We knew something was wrong and headed to the nearest veterinarian in town. Lucy has always been pretty runty and underweight. She’s only had the use of one eye since Kristen got her as a kitten back in college 12 years ago. Knowing she was getting older and that this could be pretty bad, we braced ourselves emotionally as we drove to the vet. After a quick inspection, the doctor said her kidneys had failed and the kindest thing we could do for her was to put her down. Kristen and Evelyn said their emotional goodbyes and Kristen took Evelyn for a walk outside. I stayed with Lucy while the vet put her down. I’m not sure why I wanted to do it, but for some reason I felt the need to be there. Lucy never moved from the time the vet lifted her from her carrier, inspected her, and laid her back on the table. the only movement was the tip her her tail wagging happily back and forth when I would pet her and whisper that we loved her and it would be over soon. I knew she was hurting, and her wagging of the tail was her way of telling me it was OK. That she was ready and not to be sad. As the vet put her down, it was like time froze. Her tail wagged one final time as she exhaled and in an instant, I could see she was gone. The vet nodded to me and gave me a minute to say goodbye. I could see how peaceful Lucy was. We’ll miss her and her absence is very noticeable, as she and her large double-decker crate took up about half of our RV living room/kitchen.

Back at the RV, we spend the rest of our time hiking and grilling. Evelyn practiced riding her bike without training wheels, tying my shoes, and bravely swam in the snow-melt fed reservoir.

Leaving Ridgeway State Park was a weird feeling. We somehow felt we were leaving Lucy behind, but knew she was in a better place. We headed towards Denver for a quick stay before planning the next leg of our journey. All of the state parks and RV campgrounds in the Denver area appeared to be booked solid (and very expensive). We eventually called around the morning of and Kristen found a spot in the city where someone had left early. The drive seemed to take forever going up and down the mountains. We stopped on a side road pull off for lunch at 11,400 feet, and after 7 hours we made it into Denver and set up at the campground. The campground was one of the most expensive and worst ones yet, but we were happy to have a place. We made plans the next day to meet some old coworkers of mine who had moved to the Denver areas a few years ago, so we went and met them at a German style beer garden. On the drive there, we hit some rain, followed by heavy heavy rain, followed by greenish skies and hail! It was so weird to go from 60s and sunny to 40s and snow/hail everywhere. Supposedly this is the Denver weather as the mountains nearby make weather predictions very unreliable.

After a brief stay in Denver, and a trip to Casa Bonita, we packed up and headed east!

To be continued…

Pete here:  Sorry all for the lack of an update. We plan to make future updates more frequent and definitely shorter. Anyway, we’ve had our hands full for sure! I’m writing this from the lovely KOA in excessively hot Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Saturday morning (6/2). Where to begin?!?!

Our journey officially began last Saturday morning at the Lazydays campground in Seffner, FL. The original plan was to stay Saturday and Sunday night there while we completed some house preparations and ran some last errands in Tampa. Sub-tropical storm Alberto had other ideas for us! The storm moved up north from the Gulf of Mexico and headed straight towards our first reservations at St. Andrews state park in Panama City, FL, where we planned to stay Monday and Tuesday nights before heading to Baton Rouge, LA from Wednesday until Monday morning. St. Andrews state park is very close to the beach, and Alberto caused enough surge and flooding to force the park to close and unfortunately cancel our reservations. A little discouraged, we extended our stay at Lazydays for Monday night, and then also for Tuesday night as we learned of the park’s status. We filled the time by swimming in the campground pool and I completed the first of my RV upgrades (replacing the original “batwing” TV antenna with a better digital HDTV one).

Old batwing antenna

New HDTV antenna

Wednesday was to be the start of our Baton Rouge reservation, so we had decided Tuesday night to make the whole drive from Tampa in one shot and resume our planned itinerary. Tuesday night, Kristen and I talked about all our concerns for the first day’s travel. It would be my first time hitching to the truck, without expert supervision. The biggest concern, it would be my first time pulling this rig, or any other rig for that matter. Also, we knew remnants of the storm still littered Florida and we had a 12-13 hour drive ahead of us, including through the tunnel in Mobile. Also, fuel mileage while towing was unknown so had some uncertainty in our range before fill-ups. Our reservation in Baton Rouge was a pull-through site, so I secretly hoped I would not have to back the rig up in a tight space. Spirits were high and we were very excited to finally be hitting the road, we slept like kids on Christmas Eve.

We woke up Wednesday morning to our cat Lucy’s hungry alarm clock around 5:30, which was about the time we planned to get started. Outside the RV was the sound of heavy heavy rainfall. It looked torrential outside and the weather forecast didn’t show any signs of stopping within our time frame. We got ready and decided to just get wet, because we needed to start the drive to avoid arriving in the dark. Since purchasing the RV and performing the hitching demonstration with the dealer, I added a large truck box in the bed of my truck. It completely blocks my view of the hitch, which I gladly traded for the extra locking secure storage. I figured I would get used to it and can always take my time and walk around to verify I’m lined up correctly, etc. In pouring rain, I half regretted this decision. I lined up, lowered the tailgate (which also removes access to the rear view camera) and backed up towards the rig slowly trying to keep the entire RV centered with the bed until I thought I was close. I put it in park and ran around to see and was surprisingly almost perfectly set! I adjusted the RV’s leveling system for the correct height, hopped back in the truck and continued moving back until I heard the loud metallic ka-chunk of success! Kristen and Evelyn were in the truck avoiding the rain and I remember Kristen and I looking over at each other with half surprised looks. I can’t remember if I said it out loud, but my first reaction was “EASY!”

I put it in drive, took a slow breath, and we were off! It felt smooth pulling the RV, the truck almost moves it from idle, and I knew the truck was plenty capable of pulling the 12,000 lb rig. We pulled through a few turns at the campground, onto the road, and then straight onto I-4 in the pouring rain. We hit a bunch of traffic because the rain delays had pushed us into morning rush-hour, but we eventually got through Tampa and headed up I-75 towards I-10. Most of this journey required the windshield wipers on the highest setting, and we were moving with the slowed traffic anywhere from 50-60 mph. Visibility was reduced, so I was very conservative with speed and following distance, not wanting to test the stopping power from interstate speeds in pouring rain for the first time.

There was a break in the weather, and we made our first stop at a rest area near the land of champions, Gainesville, FL! The rest areas all have pull through parking on one side, so no challenges here. We stretched our legs and checked over the inside of the RV for any storage shifting and everything was looking good.

Here’s where things got really stressful – The on ramp to the interstate had a slight slope upwards, but traffic was clear. Accelerating to merging speeds went fine, pulling into the right lane the slope increased slightly. After slightly pressing the accelerator to maintain speed around 65-70, there was suddenly a violent knock from the engine and the truck stopped responding to the accelerator! Unsure of what was happening, I hit the blinker and started pulling onto the shoulder as we continued to decelerate. I realized the engine had died and was able to get everything onto the shoulder right as the power steering died and the gauges lit up. Needless to say we were a little startled by the event, but we stayed calm to begin diagnosing what had happened. After a few minutes of thinking, I attempted to restart the truck and it started successfully. Once traffic was clear, I slowly accelerated to speed and we got back on the road. At least we weren’t stuck somewhere, but we knew something was not right and we brainstormed for the next hour. Engine problem? Bad fuel? Driver error? Something we don’t know about entirely? We payed close attention to the truck’s performance, and I did a few mild tests when traffic was clear to see if this condition could be repeated. I knew we were headed towards the steep tunnel in Mobile, Alabama and obviously did not want a repeat of this during a critical portion of the trip. We stopped to top off the fuel at a truck stop to hopefully confirm our best-case scenario: bad fuel. Back in Tampa, I had driven down the road to a smaller Shell station because the price was about 35 cents cheaper than the truck stop. The sign at the pump said, “may contain between 5% and 20% bio fuel”, I thought at the time that might be why it is cheaper but didn’t know for sure. After our engine stalling, I had hoped that this was why and that I should not have used this fuel for towing.

After topping off with “trucker priced” fuel, we resumed our trip. A week before leaving Tampa, I had taken my truck to a diesel mechanic shop to have it thoroughly looked over. The truck had 118,000 miles when I bought it, but is known for being very long lasting and has all the power and space we need. The last thing I wanted was to have this exact thing happen during our trip. They found issues with the diesel exhaust system and fuel pumps. To the tune of nearly $5,000, we were ready to go and I had the piece of mind knowing that very experienced people had checked it over and given their blessing. I had inquired about a suspected suspension issue, and they said everything looks great down there, even the tires (which prior to that I had planned to replace). After hearing this, I decided to delay replacing the tires to save a little money.

Back on the interstate, things went smoothly for the rest of Florida and we excitedly entered our next state: Alabama! My mind kept going back to the engine stall and thinking of the Mobile tunnel ahead. Some quick math determined we would enter the tunnel about 5:30 PM on a Wednesday and doubts entered my mind. On a slightly uphill portion of the interstate in early Alabama, I decided to do a real test of the pulling power. If I was going through that tunnel, I needed this truck to prove it to me. I tried to accelerate up this hill from 65 to 75, at about 1 mph every 2-3 seconds. Nothing extreme, but something well within this trucks capability and probably a lower demand than the upcoming tunnel. At around 72 mph, BAM. Engine stalled again with a large knock and I coasted us onto the shoulder. We were pretty disheartened and took a few minutes to discuss a plan. The truck restarted, just as before with no warnings or cautions, but there was no way I was going into that tunnel. We had pretty well defined the truck’s envelope by this point, the power demands for both stalls were very similar and we had spent hours going up and down slight hills at constant speeds. We found a route around the Mobile tunnel and got back on I-10, feeling confident that we could easily make the rest of the journey to Baton Rouge and get the truck checked out there.

The rain delays, engine stalls, and reducing the speed to 60-70 range had extended our arrival time to 8:30 PM, right after it would be dark and right at the check-in deadline for the KOA. We called ahead and the very nice people said they would leave a printed campground map for us with our name on it and trace the route to our spot. We could come into the office in the morning to settle up and get officially checked in. We counted the miles and minutes remaining until our exit, and shared some laughs about how this was not how we planned, but we knew we would get through it. Most importantly, we knew we would get through it together as a family and that no matter what happened along our journey, we would be together. I briefly pondered whether issues like this could even be better for us, since this is an adventure after all and what’s an adventure without a little unforeseen challenges?

The KOA is right off the interstate, and we were getting close! With 14 miles to go, the rear of the truck started to vibrate. The vibration quickly increased as I began to pull onto the shoulder once again. About a second later, a loud POW was heard from my back left and we came to a stop safely on the shoulder, suspecting a tire had blown. There was not much a shoulder on the side of I-12, but the steep grass drop off left us no choice. The driver’s side rear tire had blown out the sidewall, and we were really stuck this time and the last light of dusk had faded into night.

We couldn’t believe the luck we were having, especially being so close to our destination right just as night started on the narrow shoulder of a very busy interstate. There are several scattered construction areas both before and after our spot, and being only two lanes of traffic, most big rigs and vehicles just can’t move out of the right lane for stopped trucks like us, and we were just a few feet from them. The RV was still plugged into the truck, so the rear RV caution lights were flashing brightly. Needing to tackle this tire change, we put Evelyn in the warm RV on the couch while Kristen and I got to work. The winds and buffets from these passing trucks was shaking our RV pretty severely, the blinds in the kitchen window were slamming back and forth while we sat.

Both the blown tire and the RV panel to access the leveling system are on the traffic side of the RV, just feet from passing vehicles so we knew this was a dangerous situation while we assessed our options. I knew either way, we needed to unhitch the RV from the truck and that I could access the leveling panel by crawling through the pass-through storage compartment, so I crawled through and lowered the front jacks blind. During a normal unhitching, the goal is to lower the jacks to take the entire load off the truck, but not lower so much that the RV is lifting the truck. Ideally, we want no vertical load on the hitch. Without being able to see outside, Kristen and I screamed back and forth over the loud interstate noise and got the level close. The truck was leaning left a bit due to the blown tire, and that was obviously not helping either. I climbed in the bed and pulled the release lever and we successfully unhitched. Climbing through the passenger door, I pulled the truck forward a few feet so we had some space behind the truck to work, but not so far that we would have to disconnect the RV power cable from the truck. Changing the tire meant I would have to kneel directly on the shoulder rumble strips, those grooves that alert drivers that they are departing the road. In the dark, with 70 mph 18-wheelers screaming by, we decided to call roadside assistance thinking they would set up flares or have a big truck with flashing lights and make this a safer situation. Kristen called our roadside number and we waited for about an hour for someone to show up. Meanwhile, we huddled in the very warm RV while Evelyn had fallen asleep on the couch. Kristen and I looked at each other and I half jokingly asked, “No regrets?”. Neither of us responded or showed any hint of leaning in either direction.

I passed back and forth from checking on the family in the RV and walking around outside looking for the roadside service to arrive. An old Cadillac pulled off the road ahead of us and backed towards my truck. I figured this was a well meaning good Samaritan, and in the dark I struggled to see two men hop out, get some things from their truck, and start walking towards me. I forget their names, but they politely introduced themselves and shook my hand. I saw they had tire changing tools in their hands and had a strong smell of marijuana. They were both wearing dark colored clothing, so I maintained my position between them and the RV door, just in case. They were very polite and began to inspect the tire. We talked about how there was not much room to work but they bravely (or foolishly) peeked around the tire using their phones as a flashlight. I thought to myself that you’d have to be crazy to do this job, maybe that’s why they are high. They asked about my spare and I got my tools to lower it.

Flashback: When I bought the truck, it had nothing inside. No floor mats, no manuals, no jack, tire iron, nothing. I had replaced all the missing components and had put everything I could ever need in the big locking truck toolbox. I had a bottle jack, jack stands, a 2 foot socket wrench with a 21 mm socket so I could ensure I can pry the lugs off the 8-lug super duty wheels. I had read stories online of these lugs being frozen on or the wheel stuck to the hub, so I had taken a front tire off in my driveway prior to our trip to ensure I was up to these tasks. I checked all the wheel lugs as well to ensure they didn’t have wheel locks on them, as my previous truck did.

Back on I-12, I got the spare tire kit out and went to lower the spare. For trucks, the spare tire is suspended below the bed of the truck and you connect some long rods together and stick the rod along a tube to turn a knob and cable system that lowers the spare to the ground. After turning a few times with no results, we peered into the opening my heart sank. At the end of the tube we could see a unique pattern wheel lock and I was certain I did not have the key to this lock. In my head, I was kicking myself for never lowering the spare. I had checked its pressure, but never actually lowered it. It was locked to the truck and none of our efforts to free it worked. After trying everything we could, the two guys said our best bet was to get back on the horn and call someone who had an F350 spare, since they had brought a 6 lug F150 spare with them and it was all they had for Ford trucks.

At this point, it was around 11 PM and we were exhausted and defeated. We called my Mom (Granny) who lives about 30 minutes away, and Granny and Pa-Pa were coming to pick us up. We would deal with this issue tomorrow. I debated staying with the RV for the night, but we decided that was just too risky and not worth it. If the RV was hit by a truck or broken into, at least I would be safe. We packed up some valuables and some clothes and Granny and Pa-Pa thankfully came to the rescue.

The next morning, Kristen and I borrowed Granny’s car and went to get our truck and RV off the road. The daylight made things so much easier to see and work. I had left the hazard lights running on the truck and RV. We also turned a few of the lights on inside the RV to make it appear someone was inside. We had to pass by the RV on the opposite side of the interstate and turn around at the next exit, but we thankfully saw everything appeared to be as we left it, hazard lights off. I figured the battery might die, but considered the risk worth it. After all, I had a generator, jumper cables, and a battery charger with me so we could always charge it back. We got to the truck and RV, everything was fine. We jumped my truck from Granny’s car and started it up to get the hazard lights back on. The area to work on the tire was just not safe and I decided to pull further off the road with the truck and corner the back tire further from the traffic. We got the tire off easily and brought the entire wheel to a tire shop a few miles away.

Kristen and I walked into the shop and the two guys behind the counter just stared at us. I don’t know what we looked like, but it was something that shocked them, haha. I explained the situation and the guy behind the counter, John, was very happy to help. They put a loaner tire on my rim so I could go put that on the truck and drive to the shop for 4 new tires. John said, “I’m taking a little risk here that you never come back and take my loaner, but its only $30 tire.” I told him, “You have no idea how badly I want to be back here!” and we both laughed. He said, “Yeah, I do believe you’ll be back.”

A few trips from the truck and the tire place and a few hours later, we had our truck with 4 new tires. The ride was a lot smoother and quieter than the mud tires that were on it previously. Kristen and I headed back once more to hook up the RV and complete the first leg of the trip. We hooked up, got back on the interstate, and got to the KOA without further incident at about 3 PM on Thursday, whew! We checked in and set up the RV, and spent most of Friday calling the Tampa diesel mechanic and looking for a local spot to have the truck issue investigated and fixed.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I figure that this blog is really more of our journal than for quick updates to our friends and family. Since it isn’t a Facebook post, I don’t feel constrained or worried about boring people. Hopefully it can be our blog and also something we can share with others at the same time! Thanks for reading and post any comments or questions! Also, this was my first ever blog post, so I’d love any feedback on things I can improve on. Thanks!

– Pete