Day 26

I was up again early to write this morning to get caught up on a few days of notes. The kids actually slept in so it was a quiet morning until they smelled pancakes! We had company in our bear box again this morning - this time there were 2 tiny mice! They scampered out as soon as I opened the door. I'm sure a giant opening a big metal door could give once of those guys a heart attack! I was just hoping there wouldn't be even more the next day!

I hadn't had service for the jetpack for a few days so I decided today would be a good one to visit the local-ish library. We also took the  opportunity to do a few stops at the overlooks and learn a little bit at the Blue Ridge Parkway Mineral Museum. I wasn't really interested in stopping at the museum but once we got in there it was actually very interesting!

We made it to the library and I scanned the shelves for graphic novels - all the kids' favorite for reading with a short time frame at the library. Ryan was ecstatic to find Munchkin comics and begged me to add them to her list asap - win! After about an hour I was ready to go but the kids made me stay until they were finished with the books they were in the middle of reading - double win!

Next up - ice cream, of course! I'd spotted this tiny place on the way into the tiny town of Spruce Pine so we promptly found our way back to sample the flavors. They had a flavor I'd never heard of before - Spirulino - a mix of chocolate, pistachio, and cherry - very different. We ended up choosing other flavors and enjoying it together. While we were sitting there Emily spotted an otter crossing the road. Of all places!

The wind started picking up quite a bit so we looked around and saw this big guy and knew it was time to get moving. We weren't sure if it was going near our campsite exactly but we definitely knew it was hitting our ice cream spot shortly!

We decided just in case it was headed our way we  would take a detour to let it pass. Our next campsite was a first come, first serve campground so we headed that way. Emily has to be pretty picky about her campsites with her setup so we grabbed a campground map and marked the best spots for her. If there were a bunch of people here once we got her at least she could quickly decide where she wanted to setup.

When we returned to our campground there were dark clouds all around us. I'd hoped we had bypassed the storm but I wasn't so sure now. It wasn't raining so we all went down to the river to explore while Brayden stayed in the hammock to read. Once I was sure the clouds were gone Ryan and I decided to cook dinner. She's one of my best helpers!


The kids were anxious to move after we cleaned up and Evey wanted to play ultimate frisbee so we divided up teams and started to play. Laney and Brayden were to be facing Evey, Ryan and me this time. We scored 3 goals right away so we relaxed. A little too much maybe. Before we knew it the score was 4-4. There wasn't much wind this time but this crazy big frisbee was hard to control! We were close to goals to finish the game so many times!! We finally ended up winning and we all collapsed in the grass to rest.

Next up was a quick game of campball. Evey went to eat dinner so it was just the Clarkes this time. Laney and I were demolished by Brayden and Ryan. They had pinpoint accuracy to get us out just about every inning. I guess it's time to switch up teams again!





The night was clear so I gather things together to make a fire. The kids were excited to try Reese's cups for their s'mores tonight. I was just excited to eat some chocolate and relax by the fire without rain!

Day 15

With the busy day we'd had the day before we all slept really well. Evey wanted to see the calves we talked about yesterday so we got her up and headed to the pasture. We noticed on the walk up that we were quite possibly going to be the only ones in our whole campground for the night.

The cows weren't hanging out in the shade by the time we made it so we just headed back for breakfast. Today was supposed to be the biggest day of guaranteed rain so we decided today would be laundry for sure.

The rain kept shifting to later in the day and into the night so we tried to get things put away at the campsite before we left so they would at least be dry.

By the looks on the kids' faces, laundry is by far the absolute most boring activity in the world. Occasionally my kids check their email but this day there was a tv on and they were introduced to The Price is Right! It was hilarious hearing the price bids my kids came up with. I would definitely buy a living room set, week vacation to New Orleans and a new car for $11,050.

Next on the agenda was finding ice cream. We'd seen a few people near the market with it so we knew it existed. We thought it would be a good idea to hold us over until a late lunch in town. I'm just not a big fan of cooking in the rain! My kids chose floats - all chocolate ice cream - two with local dark cherry soda and one with birch beer soda. I decided on a dark cherry ice cream that was outstanding! We walked around the country store trying not to drip on everything. This was the place our host had mentioned for music the first night we'd been in town and I made note to go on our next time through!

We decided to go put laundry away at the campsite and eek out as much sunshine and dry weather as we could. We taught Evey how to play campball and she, Laney, and I almost beat Ryan and Brayden with a final score of 20-16. That might be our highest score ever! They gave us the opportunity to try and come back and we nailed it but Ryan had to make sure several times for they record that they'd actually won. Oh, my competitive children.

Once we were all starving we headed back into town to have an early dinner and finish errands. Seeing the "best pizza in Floyd" place was closed we opted for another place just outside of town. I noticed a brewery across the street and got to try one of their beers - delicious! The kids stopped when they were almost full so we would have leftovers for breakfast and we all sampled their homemade desserts.

The rain was coming down by the time we left so we stopped at the grocery store and the post office before returning back to our tents. There was a break in the rain for awhile so The Clarkes fit in our night-before-we-leave walk around the campground without getting too wet from dripping trees. After a chapter in the book we all fell asleep to the rain right away. Seems we had missed our rainy lullaby!

Day 1

Even though I didn't start actually packing until 3 days before our for-sure-leave-date, this was quite possibly the most prepared we have been since our very first trip 5 years ago! After going back and forth and back and forth trying to figure out if we should get out of town early before Alberto hit, we finally decided to wait until our planned date. As per our tradition, we met Grandpa at Bagelheads for breakfast to say our goodbyes and so I didn't have to cook!

We were on the road by 7:30am and headed to our next first day tradition - Priesler's Pecans in Ft. Deposit. The kids had been anxiously waiting to read their new books on their Kindles and listen to their newly downloaded music so I had a quiet first few hours of driving.  They weren't too happy when I said they couldn't have the travel candy Dave had bought them until I mentioned we'd be stopping at the jelly bean place.

Unfortunately, the kids have been ruined by Bean Boozled. Ever year we'd driven this route we stopped at this same place to pick up a 1/4 pound scoop of jelly beans for everyone to gorge and share. Just the site of chocolate pudding, juicy pear, and strawberry banana smoothie jelly beans had all three of them holding their stomachs with memories of eating dog food, boogers, and dead fish instead. They decided instead to get candy legos and gummy worms.




Once we hopped back on the interstate I realized I'd forgotten to top off my gas tank with the always-cheaper Alabama fuel so we found a stop with a Redbox machine as well to grab a movie. With this being our first day it was our longest drive so it was a good time to grab The Greatest Showman and sing loud as we logged the miles.

The drive was beautiful most of the day until we made it just north of Atlanta. There were dark clouds everywhere and we were slowed with heavy rain about every 30 minutes. I was just hoping we were driving through what had already past our campground!

After a 45-minute winding drive up and around the mountain we finally made it to our campground and got to work setting up. I'd checked the forecast at the registration desk so I knew there would be rain for about the next 36 hours so we decided to all stay together in one tent. I'm a little gun-shy when I know rain is coming after the windy downpour in the middle of the night last year when we ended up in Grammie's RV!

When we pulled into our site we noticed a group of 4 guys having a little trouble setting up their tent next door. They were giving us quite the stink eye once we were all set up and ready for the night!

We took a walk down to the lake to check out the area then cooked a quick dinner. Our neighbor's companions showed up with what looked like enough supplies for a week of partying. This was going to be a long two nights!

We'd picked up some firewood and the kids requested some marshmallows so we ran back up to the trading post to grab some but they were already closed. On our way back to the campsite I missed the turn and we ended up near the trails I had on our list for the next day. With all the rain coming we decided to hop out and go ahead check them out.

Brayden was happy to see some signs noting some Civilian Conservation Corps done in the area and in this park. We scrambled up the trail first to check out the Cool Springs Overlook with a 180-degree view of the valley below. I couldn't even fit it in a panoramic picture!












Brayden spotted a bird having fun in the wind currents!

Next stop was the once operational fire tower that had recently been restored as a historic building. We talked all about how parks treat fires differently these days and the kids remembered a lot of what they'd learned in Yellowstone and Glacier the year before where fires were active around us. Notice the heart-shaped rock a little above the windows!

On our way back down we visited the stone wall archaeological site. There were a bunch of legends and stories about the purpose of the walls from astronomy to protection. The kids enjoyed thinking about standing in a place where people once built and stood a thousand or more years ago. We often seem to stumble on this wonderful historic places!

Once we got back to our site and finished the dishes I spotted a great spot for some camp ball. We quickly found our supplies and decided on 3 innings of regular play followed by a home run derby if we could finish before dark. Laney and I were teamed up against Brayden and Ryan this go round.

The first inning Ryan and Brayden had a little trouble fielding and we scored 3 runs then struck out Brayden twice keeping them to only 1 run. The next inning I hit one of Brayden's meatballs across the road for another run. The third inning they held us and popped out for a so-far score of 4-1. Brayden finally got in his groove to hit the furthest home run.

Once we got back to our site I noticed the beautiful glow before dusk by the lake so we all took a short walk over to see if we could see anything. We saw some giant snails along the way and hung out by the water for a little while before heading back.

After one long day we all brushed our teeth and retired to the tent for a game of Trouble and reading. We are finally wrapping up our last chapters of Nanny Piggins! By the time we finished the lullaby of rain started on the tent roof.  Our neighbors were full of gusto so we laid there trying to sleep through their arguments and drama around the campfire. Once it started steadily raining their campfire was squashed so they left for a dry spot somewhere. I was only hoping I could get some sleep before they returned!

Day 44

We forget once we're in the south that putting four bodies in one tent might be a little warm. Gone are the extra blankets. Gone are the sleep pants and sleeping bags. We were definitely back in the heat and humidity even at night.

I got up before the sun this morning to edit pictures and write as I knew once we got home I would have zero time for such things (I was right!!). We had no big museums left and no awesome attractions to hurry to get on the road to see. We had one of those rare days where we could be spontaneous and do whatever the kids wanted. Of course after breakfast the kids wanted to play campball. This was quite possibly our last game so we wanted it to be a good one. While we were waiting on Grammie, Dave and Ryan decided to have a campball duel. It didn't end well for either of them!

We picked teams - Brayden, Laney, and me against Dave, Grammie and Ryan. We'd had trouble the entire trip trying to make the teams somewhat even. The adults sometimes ran a little extra slow to help with that, but these darn kids are so competitive sometimes it didn't matter what we did (or didn't!)!

All the players were finally connecting with the ball and the game was heated. Team Grammie was beating us pretty bad so I was trying to relax the rules a little bit for Laney but Ryan called me on it. We had to forge ahead and attempt to win fair and square.

Team Grammie ended up winning in a big way so we practiced being good sports and shook hands when we all really just wanted to go throw them in the lake.  These pictures crack me up today as both of these boys are no longer furry!

On our way out of the park, we stopped by the visitor's center because I'd noticed a discovery center next door. The kids were excited to explore and they ended up learning quite a bit about the Trail of Tears. We also learned about many of the plants and animals native to the area as well as the geology from the past million years or so.










Once the kids got their buttons for finishing their ranger books we got on the road for our last long drive. Our drive was about 6 hours and we only stopped for gas. It wasn't as bad of a drive as Oklahoma or northern Montana, but I was more than thrilled it was the last one of the trip. We arrived at our next spot at dusk to set up one more time and have dinner. We were situated on a lake once more with a nice view of jumping fish!

I spent some time reorganizing a few things in the car we had haphazardly stuffed in unstrategic places. We settled down in our tents with countdowns from the kids. They were down to how many hours it would be until we got home.

Day 43

It's been awhile I know. Rest assured we are not stuck without communications in St Louis. We have been home for a few weeks but I'm just getting a few minutes to breathe and write. Sadly some of what we experienced has slipped my old mind, but thanks to some notes I'll still be able to include most of what we did.

We were up early this day and eating cereal for breakfast to get on the road early once again. We didn't have a terribly long drive, but we had a must-stop museum in Memphis - the Civil Rights Museum. We'd studied the Civil Rights Movement during our modern history year last year so the kids were familiar with it. I'd actually been to this museum about 15 years ago so I knew they would really enjoy and learn a bunch. Dave wouldn't be able to join us this day as he would be working at a coffee shop around the corner.

This museum is actually housed partially in the hotel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was staying when he was shot. Immediately as I walked into the museum I knew things had changed drastically. The tour I remember issued each person an audio player that guided them through the museum but apparently the museum had been updated since then. We first went into a room with photographs taken at the 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in Washington D.C. Sadly, this room of photographs was never allowed to be published into recently.

We began our tour learning about how slaves were brought to the country and who benefited from their labor. We'd spent a lot of time on this subject in our studies and I was glad the kids recognized and remembered much of what we'd learned.  Next we went to a movie about the Jim Crow laws to learn more about life in the 1950s and 1960s.  As we walked out Grammie began to talk to the kids about her experiences growing up in that time frame. The kids couldn't believe some of what they were reading and hearing.

The museum was now set up in a way to provide a full history building up to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. There were many events I'd never even heard of that played big parts in the movement. The kids were especially interested in the integration of the schools and how the children were treated.

We spent the next few hours reading and learning all about the events and what it was like to grow up in this time of prejudice, hate, and violence. There aren't really words to describe the shock and sadness I felt going through this museum. I don't think the kids felt it quite as much as they were skimming the exhibits in the rooms after about halfway. 

The end of the museum details the last day in Martin Luther King, Jr's life and you are led to a display of the actual rooms where he was staying when he was shot. Everyone was silent as they read the timeline of the day hour by hour and looked into the room where they'd been sitting there talking and joking that day.

We exited the museum to another area with exhibits of current day issues and displays of winners of the Civil Rights Museum's Freedom Awards. We didn't spend too much time here as we were already over our time I'd told Dave we would take.  I took a quick picture of the outside of the museum showing the hotel rooms and original cars parked there.

We all grabbed a quick snack and hopped back into the car for our hour drive to our next campsite. We were back in Arkansas for a night before making our way closer to home.  We arrived to a mostly empty campground and set up pretty quickly. There was quite a bit of mud around our spot so we decided to just set up one tent on the gravel so we would be sleeping with two stinky girls.

We were nestled high up off of a lake in our own private little loop. After a quick dinner we played about 4 minutes of camp ball before it just got too dark. We promised the kids we would play in the morning as we didn't have much of a rush to get anywhere for the rest of the trip.

We decided instead to play some cards for a little while on the picnic table. At one point I thought Lola had fallen off the edge of the small cliff until I saw instead she'd treed a raccoon that was now peering at me halfway up the tree. The kids sung their "awwwwws" and we retired to the RV to get away from the bugs. After a few more rounds of cards we retired to the tent with the girls for the night.