Moving West

On the 25th we packed up camp in Baraboo, WI and headed West.  We knew that we were going to break it up into two days and boon dock, but it took us longer than we expected.   When we started off on Tuesday we were driving down the road and a box flew out of the truck.  I didn't see it in time before I ran over it with the Yukon.  I looked in my rear view mirror to see our Y hose and elbow hook up for our sewer line spew across the highway.  We found a Camping World along the way and replaced our broken items.  Later that day we stopped to make a quick dinner in the oven.  We opened the oven after the brats had been cooking to rotate them and the glass pan exploded.  It caused scare and the fire alarm to go off.  We cleaned up and headed to Dairy Queen for dinner.  That night we boon docked for the first time in a Walmart parking lot in Wentworth South Dakota.  I got some groceries and wheeled my shopping cart right up to the door of my house.

 On Wednesday we headed out after breakfast to hit up the corn palace in Mitchell.  The boys were minimally impressed, but we had some good laughs about all the corny t-shirts that they had in the gift shop.

 Next stop was Wall Drug.  We grabbed some dinner and let the boys play a couple rounds of video games in the shooting arcade.  We left with 2 bumper stickers and 3 bouncy balls.  We considered this success.  While we were eating dinner one of the boys pointed out that they were the only kids in the whole place.    It has been kind of fun to be out and about with less people because of the time of year.  We got to our campsite in Hill City late on  the 26th.  The drive up to the campground was windy with lots of deer and we were in the dark.  It wasn't my favorite.

 Today we woke up to some cold weather, but that didn't stop us from going to explore.  We took a field trip day and headed to Rushmore first thing.  We stopped along the way so the boys could climb some rocks and explore.  This was one of their favorite things from the day.  

 Mount Rushmore had very little people there today.  We parked right in the front lot and walked right in.  The boys learned a lot while we were here and they all said that it was different than what they expected.

 After Rushmore we went to an old gold mine for a tour.  All the boys were interested, but the two oldest really loved to learn about gold mining.

They were also able to pan for gold.  They actually found some.  Tomorrow we are going to try and pan for some in the creek that is right outside Sheila.  The campground has pans and the boys are going to give it a try.  The only thing that may stop us is the weather.  Tonight it started to snow a bit and it is in the high 30's.

Random Thoughts from Day 5

My parents were camping next to us since Saturday.  Today they left.  I was holding onto this "visit" from them.  It was easier for me to leave Holland because I knew they would be with us the day after we got to WI.  I want to be traveling as a family and I am living my dream, but today was hard for me to have my parents leave.  It was also rainy and Brad had to stay out of town tonight.  All that combined made it kind of a dreary day.

There are a couple of things that I am adjusting to living in a RV full time.  I never knew how much Rosie pooped in one day.  Now that I have to bag it up and put it in the trash I know EVERY SINGLE TIME she goes...EVERY TIME!  Also, it is hard to not feel like we are on vacation.  We could go broke with all the tourist traps and wanting to do ALL the things.

I am seeing the benefits of this adventure as a family already. Tonight I took the kids to the pool and because I have less to do and to keep up with I was able to fully be with them.  I feel like my thoughts are not as full and that I have more space for my kids if that makes sense.

Here we go!

You guys!  We planned to leave Michigan on September 8.  We had the closing of our home all lined up for the 7th and wanted to hit the road the following day.  On Thursday September 7 we found out that the financing  for the buyer was not going to go through.  It was a hard day for us.  We were also experiencing some problems with our rig.  Sitting on the couch and crying sounded pretty good on September 7.  We couldn't let it get us down.  We had to keep working towards leaving. 

On Wednesday the following week we finally felt like we were at a spot where we could leave.  Thursday we took one last trip to the storage unit with my Dad's little utility trailer and got the last of the things out of our house.  The 7 of us stood in our little house that has been our comfort for many years.  We shed a few tears and talked about how the house was when we bought it and how much work went into getting it to look nice.

In the afternoon on Thursday we headed for Baraboo, WI.  We didn't get to camp until late that night.  We set up the trailer and got kids to bed.  Friday was a great day.  Brad set up "office" outside.  I homeschooled the boys and then we set off to explore the town a bit.    I can already tell that the life we are living is at a slower pace.  It feels so good to be done with the packing, the organizing, and the thought that went into this.  The boys are loving being able to ride their bikes around the campground and swim in the pool.  It feels so good to be here and for this to be real.  Adventure awaits.