Lessons

We'll we've been home for a more than two weeks and we're honestly still adjusting.  While it's so very nice to be in the air conditioning and under a roof, we all miss the woods immensely.  There's something to be said about just being in the woods and experiencing nature with all your senses.

First up are my apologies and thank yous:

• Thank you to everyone for reading and following along with us on our journey.  You have no idea how comforting it is to have people reading and commenting about a trip that took so long to plan and pull off!

• I apologize first to my dear friend Lydia who I'm sure cringed on many occasions as she tried her best to overlook my spelling and grammar mistakes.  I think I'm not supposed to be double-spacing after sentences anymore too?  That's going to be a hard habit to break beaten into me by my high school typing teacher!  

• I also apologize to those of you who don't know my kids and could care less about all the pictures I post of them!  They are really for grandparents and friends so feel free to just scroll past their goofy faces.

• Thank you to Dave for working so hard so we can take these fun trips!  We all miss him dearly when we're gone and we know it's eerily quiet at home without us no matter how many movies he watches!  

• Thank you to my mom for taking the time to travel with us and treating us to so many things while with us.  The kids enjoy their time with her so much they fight over who gets to be next and who had more fun!

• Thank you to the Cadenas and Clarke families for opening their homes to us, especially with how stinky we were!

• Thank you to the National Park Service and State Park Services of the 17 states we visited. Our stays in the parks were made memorable with friendly staff, fun activities, and beautifully maintained parks and campgrounds.

• Thank you to the complete strangers in West Virginia that pulled us out of the mud and wished us safe travels.  And thank you to the kids laundromat owner who went out of her way to make sure my kids were happy during the hour we were there.

• Thank you to Rand McNally for making a giant atlas that I could use to plan and navigate us through the country.

• Thank you to the many authors of 39 Clues to entertain us along the quiet roads.

I've always told the kids I learn something every day.  This is definitely more apparent when we are traveling!  Lessons:

• In Tennessee and Virginia the interstate drive is almost as pretty as the mountain backroads.
• In Pennsylvania the mountains never end!  Each time we made it through a beautiful mountain pass, there appeared another wall of mountains!
• Mountain roads are exponentially slower than flat, Florida roads.
• You have no choice but to practice patience with a flaky gps signal!
• Charge electronics whenever there is an opportunity.
• The corn mother native american story is fascinating.
• Teenage bears act about as goofy as teenage kids.
• People can surprise you with their kindness and compassion.
• If you have the opportunity to take a shower at a nice place - take it, especially if it's free and hot!  
• Before you go to Quebec, learn French!
• Make more time to explore the small towns of our country.
• It never fails if there is a wonky spoon in your supplies, that is the first one you always grab.
• New Hampshire has some wonderful local beer!
• Ryan must be touching a person or holding something to eat effectively.
• You can take the boy away from the sports, but not the sports away from the boy.
• Time permitting, take a drive around a large park to get the lay of the land before planning anything.
• Sunsets and sunrises make the worst days so much better.
• It's easy to find happiness when you have lived without for awhile.  We were jumping for joy when we had free showers, electricity, and coveted wifi!
• I'll never get used to seeing a sign for "Moose Crossing"!

• When deciding the more enjoyable driving route, always follow the packs of motorcycles.
• If you need to stop for food, don't pass up a store thinking there will probably be one within 45 miles of your campsite!
• In northern states like Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, tents are the majority of campers while in the southern states of Florida, Alabama, and Georgia, RVs are our noisy neighbors.
• If you leave a few car lengths between you and the car in front in New Jersey, drivers in other lanes think you're inviting them to cut in front of you!
• Some of the car games we play to combat boredom are so fun for the kids, they want to keep playing well after we're out of the car and home.
• While it is refreshing to disconnect and sink into the woods, it's shocking to reconnect and read about things like Robin Williams two days after everyone else.
• Driving into a big city is a completely different experience than flying into one.
• There were so many moments where I had to start laughing as I imagined how funny my dad or Dave's mom would have thought some of our adventures were.  
• The beaches of North Carolina are markedly more rough than our protected little Gulf of Mexico.
• Evacuation for hurricanes for the people who live in the Outer Banks of North Carolina must be exceptionally painful.
• You aren't allowed to pump your own gas in New Jersey.
• There are Mt. Pleasants in a lot of different states!
• While most highways named "1" are a must drive route, I can't really say that for the Rt 1 of Deleware.
• It's easy being vegetarian in Vermont and New Hampshire!
• In Ontario, what makes an island is 3 square feet of land and 2 trees.
• Flexiblity is key when camping with kids and rain!
• If you plant a garden and leave for a 5 week trip, have someone take care of it!
• After camping, make a list and shop to restock bins so you're ready to go next time.

After our trip last year, I noted my take on the rules to live by.  I'd like to add one more from this trip - "this one goes to eleven" said in my best Nigel voice.

11.  Be graceful.  While I am quite the clutz, this is more about having grace in dealing with people. You haven't lived their life or walked in their shoes.  Respond with grace.  Apologize and forgive with grace.  Look for need in others with grace.  If everyone could do this on a daily basis, the world would absolutely be a much better place.

And so it goes to end another year of travel with The Clarkes.  We hope you will join us next time!

Day 36

Today started quite early at 1:20am.  Not like past trip awakenings from other campers or animals, nope this one was the 80+ degree weather we were trying to sleep in.  Expecting a warm night, Dave and I had taken the rain fly off the tent for more ventilation, but it didn't seem to help as there was zero breeze.  I got up and headed to the bins to find the kids' Frog Togg towels and walked to soak them in the bathroom.  I should have taken a cold shower at this point, but after splashing water on my face and arms, I just went back to the tent.

I slept for maybe another 10 minutes with a towel over me, but gave up once the bugs started biting since they were so attracted to my sweaty self..  I covered the kids and Dave with the damp towels and decided to check my email to see if reading would make sleep come back sooner.

We were supposed to be packing up in the morning to head to our last stop in Florida so I checked the weather to see how hot the next night would be.  Apparently we picked the hottest weekend of the entire year with 100+-degree days and 80+ degree nights.  Now we had braved the 115+ degree days of Utah and 100+ degree days of Texas with no problem, but even there we still had 60s and 70s at night so I could keep my sanity.  Not in Georgia and Florida, so we made the executive decision to pack it up and head home.  At 3:30 in the morning.

Instead of waking the kids though, we decided to let them decide how we spend our last day, so I headed to take my cold shower and start the packing process.  After we had everything possible packed and snacks and breakfast prepared, we woke the kids and told them the news.  We had a couple possibilities and after a little deliberation, they decided to head to a museum in Jacksonville, Garnet and Gold in Tallahassee, then home.

We were on the road at my new record earliest time (not counting a bug out minutes before a Kansas thunderstorm)  of 6:30am.  As we drove toward Jacksonville, my eyes were getting heavy so I was already dreading the day full of driving ahead of us.  After a stop at a rest area, we made it to the museum in one piece and the kids had a blast.  They had been looking for a grocery store in a museum most of the trip.  There was a Winn Dixie set up at a museum in Lousiana a few years ago that had ACTUAL cash register receipt tape they could tear off and hand the customer.  You would have thought they were holding the golden ticket to Willy Wonka.

Unfortunately, this museum did not have receipt tape, but it did have a bunch of great areas for the kids to play in including a bank, post office, theater, tv station, cafe, animal hospital, wheelchair basketball court, tree house, and a bunch more.

Dave even got in on the grocery store action!




We spent a couple hours there then Dave and I started to fade so we knew it was time to go.  We shook our heads as we left both wondering just how long this trip was going to take if we had to stop at every rest area to keep awake!  We fueled up the cars and bought my one soda of the year and plenty of sugar to keep us going for a little while then jumped on the road.

I blasted Brayden's dance music and the kids read and danced along with me down the road.  We only had to stop once on the way to Tallahassee and rolled into the FSU store right before a good time for lunch.  Brayden checked the store out about 4 times around then we grabbed a quick pizza lunch before getting back on the road for the last stretch.

I was most concerned at this point before our final hours of driving with our full bellies and warm sun shining through the windows.  I had a bunch of cold water that helped me make it through though and we only needed one rest stop again. The kids pointed and screamed when they saw the Blue Angel banking at the rest stop in Milton as they knew we were just 20 minutes or so from home.

We rolled into the driveway with plenty of time to unpack the cars and begin laundry before we all collapsed from the long day.  Tonight was a night for a 12-hour sleep.

Thanks so much everyone for riding along with us on our journey through a bunch of states again! The comments, emails, and texts always left us smiling and encouraged to keep going and having fun.  The miles were long but we enjoyed most of them together with each other, family, and friends. Next time you'll have to drive along with us too!

I'll be posting our lessons learned soon after I climb off this pile of laundry and figure out when trash day is again. It's gonna take awhile for us to get back into the swing of things!

Day 35

As I was getting things together for breakfast I heard a bunch of giggling in the tent.  They had finally discovered Dad was with them! The kids voted for my famous extra cheesy grits for breakfast and we were off to go explore Savannah with the kids.

Our first stop was the Riverwalk.  The kids enjoyed walking into all the shops with the very cold a/c and throwing coins in all the fountains.  This girl hasn't let go of Dad since she first saw him! She's usually a momma's girl, but not today!

 I'm not sure why we're trusting this one with a map after drinking 1/2 a beer.

Next we strolled through City Market and happened upon a fountain for the kids to get soaked.  I told them they weren't allowed to get wet, but they didn't listen very well!  At least we have a bunch of extra clothes in the car already!

Next we ventured out to Tybee Island as I'd read you could walk up the lighthouse to the top - the girls had been begging to do that!  After 178 the steps up we were all puffing, but the view was worth it!

It was blistering hot so we headed to all the inside buildings to learn more about the history of the lighthouse and the fort across the street. By the time we finished we were more than ready for a swim so we parked at the beach and raced into the water.  Everyone was so relieved to just float and be in the waves for awhile.

The pile of wet clothes was getting quite big in my car by this point!  Everyone was pretty hungry so we headed to a place Dave had found for us - The Pirate House.  Apparently this is a historic Savannah house built in the late 1700s with all kinds of seafaring visitors.   It reminded us of McGuire's with all the different small rooms - I got lost twice!

The kids most enjoyed the costumes on their menu they could wear while they waited for their meals and visiting pirates.




While most restaurants have easy things for the kids, Dave and I often have difficulty finding food beyond a salad.  I have to say this place had THE best fried green tomatoes I've ever had in my life.  With every bite I was trying to figure out what all came on them so I could try to recreate at home.  I'd heard they had the best key lime pie too, so of course we had to get that as well!


We ended the night with a walk through Forsyth park and some time on the playground there.  This is my favorite park in Savannah with all the heritage oak trees with piles of spanish moss hanging from them!

We were all wiped out from the long, sizzling day so after a quick chapter from our book all you could hear was snoring in our tent!

Day 34

The first thing Brayden said to me when we left the beach last night was to ask if we could come back in the
morning so after a quick cereal breakfast we did just that!  It was already getting hot so we all jumped in for
more waves.  The beach had completely changed overnight with shallow waters out 50 yards or more.  The waves weren't quite as strong today either, but they were enjoyed by the kids immensely!

The breaking news of the day was a bird who'd met an untimely demise.  We dug a hole on the beach and buried him,  but with these shifting sands and tides I'm not sure he'll stay that way.

After about an hour, we decided to get on the road to our next spot so we could set up and be ready for Dave to finally arrive!  Ever since we'd left New Jersey, his arrival was on top of the daily countdown question list.  Second to Milo the cat and Austin the dog of course.

After quite a long drive all the way through a new state, we made it back to Georgia and Skidaway State Park.  You'll notice the kids are still in their swimsuits - we'd actually slept in them, swam in them, and were now traveling in them!  It's an optimistic attempt in assuming we'd be able to swim again after we're set up today.

We'd been looking forward to staying on the Georgia coast since our travels around the state last year. After a ultra fast set up, we headed to the river to get soaked before dinner. We were treated to a display of (river?) dolphins playing while we cooled off!

I think the kids were starting to get hungry as they started diving to catch some fish for dinner.  While that's on my list to learn to do soon, I wasn't up for it today!  There were no-see-ums something fierce here, so before I was carried away we drove back to the campground.

I started our last loads of laundry on the road in an attempt to lower the ultimate piles of laundry once we
returned home and the kids graduated to taking showers solo.  It was either that or no dinner and I supervise, so my hungry little people worked up the courage to shower with the critters.  They reported back there were millipeeds, spiders, and roly polys getting clean too.

While we were eating I received a text from Dave that he would be a little early so I shuffled the kids to bed and read a chapter hoping they would be able to fall asleep before he arrived.  I knew if they saw him before bed they would never go to sleep!  That and I could have him all to myself for a few hours.

He arrived just in time after I finished the first load of laundry and dishes.  I'd iced down some beer from Maine earlier so we shared a few and caught up before crashing ourselves.  I was betting the kids were going to be up around 4am checking to see if he was in the tent!

Quote of the Day: "Why can't we just always wear our bathing suits?" asks Laney.  That's a great way to always prepared for any opportunity for swimming!

Day 34 - Driving and Diving

Day 33

I peeked out the window in the morning and it still appeared to be pretty dark even though it was 5:30am. At least it wasn't raining!  I grabbed my camera and headed for the beach.  The streets were really flooded now so it took some unique steps to get around it all.

The beach sand was still soaked from all the rain, but it was beautiful - stretching for miles.  I could see why it still seemed so dark as there were some very low, thick clouds hovering down by the horizon.  This sunrise should be interesting and I couldn't believe I had it all to myself here!

Well, I did share it a little with these guys but they were more interested in their breakfast.

We had 10:00am ferry reservations to head back to the mainland so the kids didn't really get to see a thing except for the game room at the lodge and a gift shop.  I'll definitely have this place on my "need a few days here" list for the future.

Our Trader Joe's breakfast!

The morning was clear and beautiful as we loaded onto the ferry so we headed to the sun deck to watch the island disappear.  The kids were enjoying this ferry ride even more as we got to explore and watch the water as I'd imagined they would.  We grabbed some snacks and travel games from the car and headed to the inside passenger area to play the 2 hours away.

For those "Cards Against Humanity" or "Things" players out there with kids, there is kids version mine had a blast with - "Loaded Questions".  Once they got the hang of not really making their answers obviously theirs, the guessing became very tricky!  Grandpa Scott comes through again with a couple other travel games as well.  We are definitely a game-addicted family!

We said goodbye to the ferry guys (me not so gracefully by mistaking the mens bathroom door for the stairs - ack!) and found our campground within a few hours.  The kids were excited to swim and get some relief from the heat (how long does it take to acclimate back to southern temps??) so we headed to the beach. The waves were brutal knocking us all down in knee deep water.  The kids loved every minute of it!

After a little while I headed back up to the beach and hung out with this guy.  I do realize he wasn't really wanting to hang out with me - more like wanting a hand out.  He did pose well though.

We headed back to the campsite and just as I was getting food out for dinner we heard the familiar sound of thunder in the distance.  Brayden helped me load everything back into the car and we ate in the tent.  I'm not sure if what we'd escaped in Ocracoke had followed us here or we were just lucky.

It was nice to read a whole bunch of chapters tonight though and we were put to sleep once again with the sounds of rain on our ultrathin roof.

Day 32

My internal clock has definitely shifted to EST.  Dave is going to be thrilled with me getting up at 4:30am again.  Of course this morning, I grabbed my camera and headlamp in search of the sunrise on the beach trail.  It turns out the campground is not where I was hoping as the sunrise was over the dunes, but it was still pretty.

We had a leisurely morning of pancakes, showers, and packing up.  We had a fire with breakfast as the kids had been collecting materials they'd found to see how they would burn.  Is every child fascinated by fire? The kids had been inching away as soon as they saw me start to pack up so I left them to play while I packed the car.  We stopped by the playground on the way out of the park which gave me just enough time to make some snacks for our drive before I hopped on the ship to go to London.  And England.  With a furry shark on board.

Now this is putting your whole body into it!  Something tells me that's not the way you want to steer a ship though.

This is something we've never seen before - camping in style!

After a quick stop at Trader Joes we jumped on the road for another long drive.  I was excited about this one as we were heading to the Outer Banks for a night.  As with most of our big stops, I'd wished now we had booked for a few more days, but I don't think Dave would have allowed for me to take a 60-day summer trip!

Brayden was excited about this day as we were planning on stopping in Kitty Hawk at the Wright Museum and National Monument.  We'd read so many things about these brothers and seen so many replicas at various museums, we were excited to see the full history here.  After walking around the displays for awhile, we headed into the auditorium to see the replicas of the planes flown here.

Afterward we stepped outside to see the camp houses like they'd lived in during their time there as well as
monuments to their first day of flight.  As we were walking out, Brayden had the fun idea to race the plane to see if they could run as fast as the Wright's flew.  The first 3 flights were pretty easy, but that last one of 852
feet in one minute made them collapse at the end!  For the record, they beat each time by a matter of a few
seconds.

Next we did the park loop around the monument and climbed around a plane for fun.  I think the kids liked this part the best!

They were all acting like they were gunners on the plane shooting down all the tourists....even Laney!

I heard distant thunder approaching so we ran back to the car in an attempt to get to the campground and set up before our daily rain shower.  The rain began to fall within 10 minutes and was coming at us sideways by the time we reached the ferry to Ocracoke Island.

I'd had visions of us hanging out watching the water slide by from the ferry steps enjoying the ride, not sitting
in my car fogging up my windows playing games!  The kids had fits of giggles and a bunch of fun, so it was still relatively enjoyable.  Except for escorting girls to the bathroom - that was crazy!

All this time I was texting Dave to see how long this weather would last.  His first response was "you might want to get a hotel room".  Ugh.  I'd been looking forward to this beach ever since we'd left Cape Cod and now we weren't even going to get to swim!  When I told the kids there were ecstatic we might stay in a hotel but still resolved to stay in the tent if we had to.  I was quite relieved to think we might be able to have a dry tent. And dry everything else.

As we rolled off the ferry I had visions of being on the Amazing Race show as the line of cars headed toward the town 13 miles away on the island.  What if everyone needed to get a hotel room like us? There was crazy rain and lightning striking all around us.  Not a storm I'm thrilled about riding out in a tent!

I randomly picked a place on my gps that was past the first few and we headed straight for it.  The streets were already flooding so we had to go slower than normal.  The cars in front of me peeled off like a banana to the first few hotels.  Once I found ours, I left the kids in the car to continue listening to the 39 Clues book and went in to attempt to sweet talk my way into a room for the night.  Luckily, we snatched up the last room available with enough beds and it even had a kitchen!  The kids helped me grab our groceries from the morning and backpacks and we left the soaking rain outside.

I felt like we'd returned to the beach hotels of the 1960s in this place, but it was quaint and perfectly accommodating for us.  We had a snack dinner of whatever was in the bag - pesto & baguette, grapes, cheese, tomatoes, and cookies. Not bad at all!  The kids worked on their travel journals all the while chattering about the days in their pictures so long ago.  We read a few chapters before crashing in the cool, dry room.  Although I'd been looking forward to staying there, I wasn't quite ready for the lack of shade, bugs, sandspurs, cactus, and heat so that would just have to wait until tomorrow.

Quote of the Day: "Yeeeessssss!  A hotel!" said by all kids as we were getting drenched already.

Day 32 - Wrights and Water