Day 30

It was between 2:30am and I suddenly realized why the guy was screaming the night before. A screech owl was having a conversation with its prey or a predator for about 10 minutes. It was a cross between a cat screaming, a hawk's cry, and fingernails on a chalkboard. I'd never heard it in the wild and it was definitely an experience. At least this time I wasn't angry and could go back to sleep after a few minutes. Definitely not something to scream about.

Today was the day to go pick up Dave so I got up and updated the blog. It started sprinkling so I checked the weather and noticed there was a pretty big storm on the way. I woke the kids up and we got on the road for Asheville. It was early but I knew I wouldn't have a problem finding something fun to do there.

We were on the road so early the fog hadn't quite lifted so we all were excited to see the view at the first overlook  we passed. We'd decided to name these mountain islands while back and finally had an opportunity to capture a fitting picture of them!

The fog on the road was pretty thick as well and Brayden decided the best was at the end of the Twin Tunnels so we went through them a few times for some pictures.

I used the rest stop app on my phone to find the nearest rest stop and headed that way. Being from Pensacola with only one interstate I misread which interstate I should be driving on and ended up going about 10 miles out of the way. Once I got back to the correct interstate I ended up going the wrong direction and another five miles out of the way. We finally made it to the rest stop and lugged our clothes and bags into the bathroom. We tried out best to transform our stinky camp bodies into something we could walk into an airport with.

With our rush to leave the campground I left all our bowls and spoons at the campground in the bear box. My planned breakfast of yogurt and granols turned into a family tub of yogurt with granola poured on your bite. The kids thought it was hilarious!

We had a little time after all my detours so we headed to Vortex Doughnuts. We ended up about one minute from the second u-turn I'd made earlier. Always an adventure! One of my favorite things about Asheville is all the art surrounding us. The kids loved this mural on a building next to the cafe.

We hopped back in the car and shoved some delicious sugar in our mouths. I knew he wouldn't be hungry but we grabbed one for Dave too. I knew we'd get in trouble if we hadn't!  We headed toward the airport and everyone was all smiles. We'd been counting down the days for awhile and the kids were really missing him.

I chuckled and shook my head as we passed the rest stop where we'd changed earlier and got off at the next exit for the airport. Nothing like zig zagging all over the city! As we were heading toward the stairs in the parking garage I got a text from Dave that he'd landed - perfect timing! In about 10 minutes we were all giving him hugs and talking over each other in our excitement to have him with us. I'm sure he was a little overwhelmed!

Since Dave had already eaten we headed straight for Trader Joe's for all our regular snacks. The kids were sad when they realized their favorite Vanana yogurt wasn't in the cooler and there wasn't an empty spot for it. Seems I'm going to have to make it at home from how on. Hopefully mine will measure up!

Our next stop was one of our favorite restaurants there - Asheville Brewery. We'd eaten there four or five times but my GPS took us to the original location we'd never visited. We'd definiely have to make this one a stop next time as it had a movie theater inside as well - fun!
Dave sent to the kids with a couple dollars to the arcade while we relaxed and had our favorite Asheville beers. After four of us were full the 13 year old finished what was left on everyone's plates. He's a bottomless pit!

We made it back to the campground in the late afternoon with just enough time to set up the second tent before the daily rainstorm came. Evey ducked into the tent with the kids and Dave and I ducked into ours. It was our chance to catch up on all that's happening at home as well as those 97 things I needed to tell him since we'd left.

The rain finished just in time for dinner so while Brayden and Dave through the football Laney and I made a pile of quesadillas. Ryan was the photographer assigned to capture the football toss - she took more than 150!!






We'd been sitting most of the day so once dinner dishes were put away we walked around the campground and played.  The kids wanted to go back to the amphitheater to do some crazy kid improv so we watched them play a few rounds until we couldn't stand the gnats anymore.







It started raining again just before our regular bedtime so we quickly brushed our teeth and slipped back into tents. Dave and I played a few rounds of Nertz before he practically passed out on the cards. Seems he was excited to see us this morning too as he'd been awake since 3:45am!

Day 2

We all had a pretty tough night of sleep with all the rain and our lovely neighbors returning with plans to now put a rain fly on their tent. There wasn't much teamwork happening as flashlights were moving around like searchlights through the woods. At one point after angrily asking for help for the 4th time, one of the guys gave up and suggested they just go home. Shortly thereafter 4 doors closed. I assumed they were going to somehow sleep in the car until I was jolted awake about an hour later with tires spinning in the muddy gravel campsite driveway. Gladly, they figured out how to get out so we could have some peace for at least this night!

The rain was pretty constant with rushes from the water held in the trees every once in a while. Around midnight it stopped and we all were still and sound asleep. The rain started again a few hours later but we were all pretty successful with putting sleeping bags over our heads to keep the noise low and the light out. My suction-cup-cuddling child (Ryan) slept more attached to me than next to me all night. She woke up shortly after I did wanting to play games since it was still raining.

The rain had slowed to a drizzle so we took the opportunity to race to the bathrooms and grab a breakfast snack. We brought fruit and bars back to the tent and tried to decide what to do.

Laney and Brayden opted to read while Ryan and I played a few games of teeny tiny Connect Four.

I noticed I had a signal on my phone so I quickly tried to check the weather. In our area it wasn't supposed to rain again until the afternoon so we wiggled out of the tent, hopped in the car, and headed to the small town of Ellijay. We'd been through this town several times and Brayden was happy to finally get the opportunity to stop.

Our first mission was to find some local breakfast and that we did! We stopped at Mr. P's with the promise of the best homemade biscuits. The kids opted instead for giant cinnamon rolls slathered with the richest icing I'd ever tasted. I had to try a famous biscuit though!

Many of the shops weren't quite open so we browsed through the ones that were pointing out all the cute and funny treasures. There was so much stuff crammed in some of these stores I was overwhelmed and couldn't even focus to see it all!  

Next we headed to the library for some wifi and discovery of new graphic novels for everyone. The kids checked their email but with this being only day 2 they didn't have much to check!  The kids were very excited to find new graphic novels and others our library doesn't have so I didn't hear a peep from them for more than an hour. It was drizzling pretty good once we left the library so we decided to take the movie back and figure out something for lunch.

Brayden spotted a pizza buffet and I just couldn't talk them out of it. I'm not necessarily a pizza snob but I am completely grossed out by buffet germs. So I just made sure to get the first pieces of pizza fresh from the oven. I've definitely had better but I've also had worse. The kids were thrilled to try all kinds of different pizza,  especially the dessert pizza!

Waiting for fresh pizza afforded us a little down time so Ryan asked if she could try the Saltine Challenge with crackers from the salad bar. All three joined in and the results were hilarious. They did finish the crackers but it was in a little over 2 minutes. The only saltine sprayer was Laney when Brayden started laughing but luckily she kept it contained to her plate.



I checked the weather during lunch and the forecast didn't look good. It was oddly sunny outside but the prediction was for rain for at least the next 18 hours with possibly a break at 8am the next morning. We decided to head back to the campsite and see how it looked to decide what to do next. We drove by the ice cream place we'd talked about stopping earlier in the day and I laughed as the kids claimed they still had a small amount of room. They even tried to pull the but-we-always-get-ice-cream-on-our-trips trick but there was no way I was going to have sick kids today too.

Once we got back Ryan suggested we try to play campball as it wasn't raining at all. I'd remembered from the forecast the heaviest rain was to be at 5pm and it was 4:45. We decided to go to the field to take a better look and see how slippery a game would be. By the time we got there the rain already started. We raced back to the tent for 3Up 3Down - our latest favorite card game.

After playing a couple rounds of cards, tempers flaring, and rain stopping we decided to get back outside. We took a walk the other direction on the lake loop trail to discover a few more spots for Pooh Sticks. Soon after, Brayden wanted to head back so Laney and I headed to the showers. I knew I was going to get messy and muddy packing the tent up the next day but I've learned over the years to take showers when you can!






Once we got back it was still clear weather so we grabbed the football and soccer balls to play on the beach. Ryan marked off the field and we decided to play football first since there were some kids nearby that probably wouldn't appreciate being hit by a soccer ball. Ryan and I took on Laney and Brayden easily beating them 21-7.



The whole time we were playing the temperature would drop and the wind would pick up. Ryan would notice me look toward our campsite which was a good 10 minute walk back from the beach. She would tell me the all the dark clouds are moving fast and to not worry about it.  She said she would take the blame if we got soaked. There were so many dark clouds and the wind picked up so many times that I finally took a picture for proof.





Next up was soccer. After some hilarious battles in the sand, Ryan and I once again beat them 5-2. Against my advice, we then switched teams for soccer with Laney and me against Brayden and Ryan. I thought we would be destroyed but Laney ended up showing up and muscling her way to the goal a few times for a 5-3 win.

Once we got back to the site the weather still looked okay so I started a quick fire for the kids to roast a few marshmallows. We would be leaving the state the next day so we needed to have a fire now if we were going to use the wood we'd bought. The kindling around us was soaked so the fire didn't last terribly long but it was good enough for a quick dessert!

After a little prepping to leave in the morning we all got tucked in for the last chapter of our book. I was getting pretty sleepy during this everlasting chapter so I convinced the kids that even though it was 8:30 our time when we finished, we all didn't sleep well the night before so it would be smart for us to sleep now. We were all snoring within 2 minutes!

Day 41

I do believe once we made it into Missouri, we also made it past the invisible line of humidity. We were all pretty warm all night and I have moved all the cold weather clothes back up into the roof cargo carrier and exchanged them for tank tops and short pjs.

I woke up this morning and immediately got on my phone to check out the riot situation. There were a couple dozen arrests and there wasn't any news of anything happening this morning, so I chatted with the other adults and we decided to go into the city.  Ever since our first trip in 2012 I wanted to go to this museum but I knew there was no way I would be able to do it by myself with 3 kids. Now each kid had an adult and I was just hoping we could keep up!

We arrived at City Museum a few minutes after they opened and were in awe of everything we saw. We decided to go outside first in the cooler part of the day to climb and explore.  Our first stop was a giant ball pit!

Ryan was my partner for the first few hours and she must of lost me about 43 times.

I found Laney climbing toward me and Grammie and Brayden climbing above me!

We found a bunch of slides and things to climb through. After all the adults started complaining of painful tunnels Dave found easier ways around just about all the fun stuff.  We were all sweating within about 45 minutes so we headed inside to explore.

The girls were the most adventurous taking Grammie on underground tunnels and exploring above us in the ceiling.  Brayden found Laney, Ryan, and Grammie in the tunnel underneath him!

We decided to head to the roof next for more slides, the ferris wheel, and the bus hanging off the side of the roof!

All three kids even opened the door of the bus to look out! Although I'm not sure Brayden actually looked out.

 

This was by far my favorite slide!

Next we went to what looked like an indoor skate park where the kids tried a 9-foot version of a warp wall. All of them made it up after quite a bit of frustration and practice!

By this point the kids all needed a break so Dave found a fascinating little room where people were cutting extremely intricate snowflakes. Every year the kids decorate our house with at least 100 snowflakes so this was right up their alley. 

By the time they were finished we were all starving. Fortunately on the way into the museum we noticed a pizza and beer place just across the street so we headed there to refuel and catch some college football. Dave and I added a few beers in hopes it would numb our already throbbing knees! The vegetarian pizza there was outstanding and one more thing to add to our list to make once we got back home. 

We had about 45 minutes until the next project from the snowflake lady - this time native american dolls with real bows, arrows, and birchbark quivers - so we all switched partners and explored a bit more. Brayden and I headed back outside for my other favorite slide and what became his favorite slide once he actually tried it. My slide was the long one, his was the deceptively short but crazy fast one!

We spent about an hour crafting then we switched partners once again for the last 45 minutes. I had planned 3-4 hours here and already we'd been there 6!  My partner this time was Laney and we headed back up to the roof! We found a new slide that was super fast and rode the ferris wheel again. I may have also made her go down favorite slide one more time!  Here are her feet on the ferris wheel and a fun selfie to see the city behing us!

We met everyone in the gift shop for post cards and t-shirts. The kids were exhausted so you know the adults were about to pass out! I was incredibly impressed with Grammie's perseverance to hang with each of her partners all day! I do believe the kids would have stayed until closing, but there was no way these adults would make it to midnight!

We made it known we would be attending the nocturnal animals program at the campground that evening. Once we made it back to the campground, we had a quick dinner and joined everyone for the program. The naturalist speaking appeared very young so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was seriously impressed with her animal knowledge. All the kids at the program enjoyed it and we all learned at least a few things!

We watched a little bit more football they retired for the night. I wouldn't recommend sleeping on the ground after a day at City Museum. It was going to be a long night of flipping and flopping with all our emerging bruises! Ouch.

Day 34

I woke up this morning a little early and was surprised to find out the wifi could reach to our campsite! I wrote for a little while and started the long process of going through emails since we've been gone. I must check my email ten times a day when I'm at home, but on the road it just doesn't matter. Everyone who is important to me knows I'm not reachable so the rest just can wait!

We decided to make a quick breakfast of bagels and fruit and get on the road. We had a very long drive today with a grocery stop and a border crossing. Dave has become quite adept at packing up by now so I can just handle things as I have time in between wrangling kids and cooking breakfast. The kids definitely appreciate having the extra help instead of being the extra help!

We stopped for gas right around the corder as in these parts of Canada and Montana you might not see a town for 100 miles or more. The older Canadian versions of Jay & Silent Bob were standing outside smoking and noticed we are from Florida so they chatted with us for awhile about the hurricane. A guy on a motorcycle pulled up and starting chatting with us about where we'd been and where we're headed. It must be Dave because noone ever talks to me on the road. Or maybe they think I'm some crazy lady from Florida carting my three kids around the country!

Our next stop just down the road was none other than the World's Largest Teepee. I had a little help from Dave in planning this trip so this was one of his additions. We hadn't made it to many of his stops simply because our day was already long or they were just too weird. This stop was just down the road and I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer amount of information there was here!

Once we got on the road, Dave finally got a taste of my Montana and Oklahoma drives this leg of the trip with us not seeing any city for most of the three hours he drove. I don't think we saw more than 6 cars in the 2 hours to the border. He also did much better crossing the border back into the U.S. as our border guard was not having any funny business. I think Dave was a little concerned he was going to confiscate the beer he'd bought but the guard let us go on.  And we finally found a real welcome sign for Montana!!

After about another hour we found a Walmart for a stock up. It was the smallest Walmart I'd even been in and by the time we got to the check out lanes I was ready to be back in the woods. Perhaps I'm not quite ready to get back to civilization yet.

We pulled into our next stop - a real RV park - and after a little confusion were setting up as was our normal routine. Ryan and Brayden had watched The Lord of the Rings movie in the car so all the kids ducked into the tent to play the Lego version. After I threw a couple loads on laundry in the washing machines, we adults prepped dinner and snacked a little as we watched some football. Hooray for DirectTV in the RV!!

We had a delicious dinner of salad with grilled shrimp while we watched and looked for hurricane updates. We were becoming spoiled with wifi at the last two places! The building with laundry also had a few bathrooms - real home kind of bathrooms eek! - so I took a shower once all the laundry was finished and everyone was in bed. I took a little while to edit pictures but got to bed by 11 as Grammie and I had already decided to get out of town by 8 with another long drive ahead of us.