Sunday, June 20, 2010

And We're Off!

And you thought I'd never do it... I've had to set this up on my phone so it probably looks horrible. Not to mention it takes forever so my posts are delayed a bit!
As you know, we were planning on leaving Wednesday afternoon for our first big RV road trip. What is it they say about the best laid plans?

Wednesday morning, our house was nearly buzzing with activity. Jarrett went off to work while the kids and I ran around in circles trying to get everything loaded and organized. The plan was for Jarrett to come home at noon and load his things. We would take off at 1:00, pick up the Jeep (it was at the shop, getting set up to be towed) and leave town at 2:00- arriving in Sante Fe around 8:00, just in time for bed.

Except that things were busy at work, so Jarrett didn't get home until 3:00. The kids and I weren't totally packed (and Kelly was napping) so Jarrett left with the RV to get the Jeep and then come back to the house, load up and leave. We'd be about four hours behind but we're both night owls and the kids sleep really well in the car. It was do-able.

Except that the RV place, which is 30 minutes away, forgot we were coming and told Jarrett to come back in two hours. So he arrived home an hour later, with no jeep, seriously stressed out. I risked certain death by sneaking out of the house during critical packing time and bribing the lawn guys to hook up the sprinklers for my strawberry plants. Then I snuck into the garden and frantically planted peas and rhubarb. I know my priorities! So we left the house at 6:00, planning now to grab the Jeep, drive four hours to Pueblo and make up the extra time on Thursday.

Except that the RV shop owner seemed a bit overwhelmed with the whole idea of hooking the Jeep to the RV. We waited two hours then the kids and I left- walking around town in the dark- to get something for dinner. When we got back, the RV shop owner had caught a bullsnake for the kids...and almost hooked the Jeep up. We finally left at 10:30, planning on driving as long as we possibly could.

Except that the Jeep is black, making it virtually invisible at night, and Jarrett had never driven the RV with a tow. We drove for a while, with me hanging out the back windows of the RV on every turn (to make sure the Jeep didn't run into anything). By this point, the kids were too exausted to fall asleep, Jarrett was seriously stressed out and I was sick of running between Jarrett, the kids and the rear windows.

So we set up camp...at Walmart...in Larkspur. Yep, that's right, we camped 30 minutes away from our house.

5 comments:

  1. I love it... and I can't wait for the next installment! :)

    I can't believe you ended up camping in Larkspur! Did you stop at the Renaissance Festival?

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  2. You guys are certifiably nutty!! i think what you're doing is terrific! What memories the kids are making! i willl enjoy keeping up with your travels.

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  3. Wow! You can't know how jealous I am of your trip...I so want to do this when I grow up.

    I sure hope that yesterday went better for you.

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  4. It's always like that, but you'll make up the time. Glad you decided to pull over, a nice sleep and a fresh start makes everything better.

    It could be worse, you could have been camping with a tent!

    Check out our crazy adventure this weekend, flying standby to Orlando and 1 day at Disneyworld, now that's crazy!

    highlandshomeschool.homeschooljournal.net/

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  5. Jackie, I hope the kids will have good memories of it, I was amazed that they remembered so much from our last cross-country trip.

    Renee, thanks! You should do it sometime! We love road trips.

    Liese, we did two days in Orlando on out last trip. There's so much to do there! Flying standby?! You are brave, give me a car any day!

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