Day 51

I'm a planner. I don't know if it is my nature or my mom molded me but my brain is always on, always thinking, always planning. The majority of my plans work out at least mostly how I plan them to. Some just don't.

Brayden had an especially tough time going to sleep and at 1:30am he was up again. Seems his sleep mat died at some point since we set up. What are the odds that 3 sleep mats die within weeks after having them for 4 years?! I guess we do inflate and deflate more than the average camper. Anyway, he was flat on the ground and angry.

The night before I'd checked the weather and knew there was a storm coming in the early morning so I checked again only to see it was about 90 minutes away.  I checked to see if it was going to bring or follow any kind of cool front but it wasn't. So not only were we going to have to put on the rainfly and listen to a loud storm but we were going to be miserably hot in the process. I asked Brayden if he was up for just packing up and driving home now and all three kids answered, "Yes!"

So that's what we did. We packed up by moonlight and were driving out of the park at 2:20am. We filled up with gas and I told the kids to try to sleep now that we were in air conditioning. It was me and truckers on the road this morning.

I told the kids we would need to stop quite a bit because I was going to get tired and need to walk around and wake up. The adrenaline of  packing up and escaping the storm had me wide awake until about 5am and a few miles into Louisiana. We stopped then to take a break and eat some breakfast. Cereal to the rescue again!  I was feeling okay but I could tell my patience was thin already. This was going to be a long day.

We got back in the car and watched the sunrise as we moved across the state. I was relying on the cold air conditioning to keep me awake at this point so I knew it was time for me to stop and sleep. We weren't in any rush and it was simply unsafe to keep driving.  Once we pulled into the rest stop I told the kids to be quiet and let me sleep for just a short time. A nice rain shower started and I was out within seconds. I woke up an hour later not even realizing I slept when Brayden opened the door for cool air. We all climbed out of the car to stretch a little and before we knew it we were back on the road again.

After we were well into Mississippi I needed gas and the kids found a Redbox nearby with movies they would watch so we were set for a few hours.  We were all getting a little loopy by this point! I was tired of all of my music so every 40 minutes or so I would have to find a new radio station in the next town. We listened to all the decades of music from the 70s to today and sometimes I could even find an NPR station for a little while.

Once we made it into Alabama everyone perked up. They were excited about surprising Dave getting home a day early and they decided to send him a text with a picture of them at the Welcome to Florida sign. That last 45 minutes from Mobile seemed to take 2 hours but we finally made it!

In just a few more minutes we were home seeing animals, unpacking the car, and starting on the mountain of laundry. We all showered and I realized I must have scared a few people because my eyes were both so red I looked like I had pink eye in both!  

Once Dave got home we had a quick dinner and walked over to the house for the grand tour. I hadn't seen it in person since they started the floors so I was blown away by how much they had accomplished. The kids begged Dave to sleep there so we all grabbed pillows and blankets and enjoyed our first night in the new house. Just don't tell the county!

We are thrilled to be back home and jumping back into life as usual. We have a long list of lessons learned that I will be posting in the next few days!!

Day 41

We slept in a little this morning with a different plan than normal. Since Grammie had power she was making homemade biscuits for all of us! I was up with the sun to write but the kids slept in until 8:30. They were much happier this morning when they woke up!

We didn't have a tight schedule today so we were able to linger at breakfast and really enjoy the morning.  Grammie cooked enough biscuits for an army so we were all stuffed by the time we got up from the table. I took the kids to the game room with plans to play 2 games of ping pong, 2 games of foosball, and 1 game of pool. The kids were so awful at ping pong I shortened the games to 10 points and it still took us almost an hour to finish! There was lots of doubled-over laughter throughout the games as they got used to the rules, the paddles, and the bounce of the ball.

Next up was foosball which we'd played many times before so the games were pretty quick. Ryan and I blew away Laney and Brayden so Brayden and I joined forces. We were beating them so horribly we played facing backwards with our arms crossed. Talk about some serious brain coordination happening! Once they made it within 2 points of us we played facing forward
but still with our arms crossed. My brain was so slow to react as goalie that we almost lost it. We played a third game with Laney and I teamed up and it was definitely more even than any other matchup with a final score of 9-10.

On our drive to Yosemite we'd gone through the tiny town of Groveland. Brayden noticed a couple pizza places and I noticed a general store so we decided to drive back and explore for the morning. I was assuming there were a few gifts stores we could walk through or maybe a small museum. Unfortunately it was already pretty hot and the stores were a flop. There were more taverns than anything! We just dropped post cards at the post office and headed for pizza.


Once we walked into the pizza place I didn't have very high expectations but it actually was very good. The crust and sauce were delicious and ours was piled high with veggies. I asked the owner if there was a laudromat close and this was a good day to do it but it was more than 20 more minutes away. I noticed on my plans we were to have laundry at our next stop and Grammie already had laundry at hers. Our to-do-laundry or not-to-do-laundry quandry solved itself.

The kids were interested in swimming and I'd noticed a spot called Rainbow Pool on my map in between our sites so we headed that way next. With it being so warm and a Sunday the place was absolutely packed! We drove through anyway just to see the swimming hole then continued on to drop Grammie at her laundromat. We still had a few days of clothes left so the kids went to swim at the river and I relaxed and read with Lola.

I was rudely taken away from my book about 45 minutes later and close to napping with wet hugs from Brayden and Dave. They wanted me to come down to the river so we put Lola back in the RV and walked down. The girls were wrapped up in towels by the time I got down there but I talked them into going back in to jump off the rock. It was a nice little spot with colorful rocks but the water was COLD. There was no way I was getting in any higher than my ankles.

Once the kids got in dry clothes we headed back down to the game room for a few last games. It was a little more crowded now so the kids settled on playing pool. The kids are getting better but I don't think we'll have pool sharks any time soon.

After dinner we made the not-to-miss drive up to Glacier Point. This was supposed to be the best view of the valley and mountains in the park and I was hoping we would be able to time it to make the ranger program and the sunset. It looked like we were going to just make the program until the traffic came to a complete stop about 100 yards from the parking lot. We inched and inched closer and finally were at a point where everyone could hop out and I could find a parking spot. The parking lot wasn't too small, everyone had just been waiting for people to leave and holding up the rest of us.

I joined up with everyone after a few minutes and we walked the trail to the point. This was a spot Lola could join us so she was thrilled. It's been almost like everywhere we went we were missing someone until we are allowed to bring her too. Brayden not be as thrilled as she sat in his lap during the more than hour drive up!


We caught the last few minutes of the ranger program about fire then explored the point while the sun dipped behind the trees. There wasn't much color to the sky but it was still beautiful to see Half Dome from this perspective. On a rock by the edge I spotted a survey marker for our spot. We were at 7,214 feet.











The Santa Cruz Astronomy Club was all set up in the Amphitheater with a bunch of giant telescopes all aimed in one of two directions. There was still enough light to be able to easily see so I didn't
expect much until it got dark. Boy was I wrong! We saw Jupiter in all it's color with 4 moons in two of the telescopes. Then we saw Saturn as clear as if we were looking at our moon in the others.  It appeared so close it seemed fake!

There was a night sky program scheduled next but once we did the calculations of when we would actually arrive back at our campsite we decided to skip it. I could only imagine how brilliant the stars and planets were at this perfect spot. Ryan had been eyeing a rock ever since we got here and it was finally empty for her to climb. I promise this picture wasn't taken at JC Penney - it just got dark on us!

About halfway back to our spots I was so very glad we had opted out of the sky program. There wasn't any traffic but I was so tired I was yawning those big, noisy yawns that meant it was time for me to be horizontal. With the help of the cold wind on my face we made it back and all sunk into our sleeping bags for the night.

Day 36

This was my view at 8:00am this morning so I decided to leave the kids in the tent to sleep. They didn't even move with all my noise! Everyone woke up happy this morning either because I let them all sleep in or because we were picking up Dave today! I'm assuming it was mostly the latter.

I make a huge pile of pancakes and the we gobbled them all up. Dave wasn't flying in until just after noon so it was nice to not have to rush through our packing up. I was even able to take a shower - what a luxury! 

We mailed a ginormous pile of post cards then we were off! It was time for an oil change again so that was our first stop once we got on the road. The guy informed me that I got a free vaccuum and car wash with my oil change. He realized the car wash probably wouldn't work with our cargo carriers and I told him I wouldn't torture him vaccuming out the mess that is the car we've been living in for a month. He was very appreciative and wished us, "Safe travels to the south, ya'll" as we drove off. 

We were going to try to fit in a Trader Joe's stop before the airport but I didn't want to be stressed out with Dave's flight arriving a little early so we got gas and arrived a little early to the airport. It was nice to have the kids practice navigating us to where we needed to go from the parking garage. Every airport is different!

After about 20 minutes The Clarkes were all back together! Dave was loaded down with books for Brayden, activities for the girls, and a new sleep mat for me! It's a wonder he could fit any clothes in his bag!

The kids were talking 90 miles a minute trying to tell himi what we'd been doing the last few days. We stopped briefly for a resupply at Trader Joe's then headed to a Portland ice cream shop to celebrate. I'd found Cloud City ice cream earlier that morning and it definitely did not disappoint! I'd found and had recommendations of another Portland favorite I just didn't think my kids would be up for the quirky flavors. This ice cream shop had some delicious stand bys as well as a few quirky ones. Their dark chocolate ice cream is definitely the best I've ever tasted! Unforunately for me it wasn't what I ordered and I didn't even being to ask Dave to trade me! 

We dangerously took our ice cream in the car, anxious to reach our next destination, Crater Lake National Park. We drove through miles and miles of wilderness which seemed to aclimate Dave to the woods just a bit. We kept seeing a glacier-covered peak in the distance and finally stopped at an overlook. We learned it is Diamond Peak, park of the Pacific Coast Trail and thought to be an extinct volcano.

We kept onward and before we knew it we reached the sign for Crater Lake. We had about 30 minutes left in our drive so I just assumed as we climbed up that we would simply be climbing to our campsite. Our jaws dropped as we reached the first lookout point of Crater Lake.  I pulled across the road to stop so we could enjoy the view for a few minutes and take it all in. It was breathtaking and I don't think I have enough amazing adjectives to describe it. 

The pictures can't even begin to do it justice. The water is a shade of blue that I've never seen before. I couldn't wait to see more!

But the kids could wait. They spotted snow and about 100 yards later we pulled over again to let them play in the snow. In August. Yep, it was obvious we were from Florida then! 

Dave challenged them to hit him with a snowball. They tried and tried and as you can see Laney hit me instead!

I believe Ryan finally got him before we left with this throw.

It was very chilly so I grabbed my sweatshirt and hopped in the car while the kids made some kind of snow monster guy. I believe it was supposed to be a snowman but yeah, we're from Florida.

We finally made it to our site and met back up with Grammie. There were backpackers off the Pacific Coast Trail everywhere as this was a good stop for them for food, showers, and laundry. 

We checked in and got set up in record time. Dave got in the groove with helping setup and cooking dinner at the same time. It sure is so nice to have another adult! We had a delicious dinner of grilled mahi mahi sandwiches and salad before we walked over to plan our next day with Grammie. We would be seeing the lake up close tomorrow!

Day 36

We were on the road shortly after 9 to head to Alabama. I had no idea the route we were taking I just hopped into the driver's seat and set the GPS. I did know that I wanted to go back to the visitor's center for a sticker for our cargo carrier since we didn't have one from The Smoky Mountains. The kids were excited to watch the rest of the first Lord of the Rings movie and had their fingers crossed they'd be able to fit the second one in as well.  I was just glad I hadn't been driving 5 hours a day like many previous years!

We ended up skirting around Chattanooga after a lot of sleepy interstate miles then even more into Alabama. Dave fell asleep reading in the passenger's seat a few times so I knew he wouldn't be much better!

We finally arrived at the highest point of Alabama and got set up. I picked a spot near the top of the campground near the lookout tower but within walking distance of the pool this time. It was a terrible campsite for tents - we have definitely been spoiled by our perfect little tent pads this summer! I struggled to find a good spot for either of our tents that was even close to level but we settled on a dirt sorta level spot for the adult tent and a grassy tree-covered spot for the kid tent. Within 10 seconds of setting up we were walking down the road to the pool.

The weather was nice and the pool felt great. Unfortunately I'd forgotten my swimsuit so I was the penny thrower and referee once the chicken fighting and wrestling began. 

After about an hour a dark cloud started to make it's presence known in the distance so I went back to the campsite to get dinner going. I laughed most of the way back thinking about the whining from Dave as it was a straight up hike back up the hill to our site.

They were about 15 minutes behind me so dinner was in full cooking mode when Dave walked up. I asked him to turn the heat down on the boiling pot and I was met with silence. Both burners were on full blast and neither would turn down or off. We couldn't have asked for a better time for our trusty stove to die than the last meal of the last day of the trip! To add to the chaos it started pouring at that moment so I grabbed all the food and the pot of boiling noodles and headed to the picnic shelter across the street. We made do with watery macaroni and cheese and cold pizza quesadillas. The kid thought it was a great dinner however it left a lot to be desired for me for sure.

Lucky for us I had one of the kids grab the game box so we had some entertainment. We ended up playing card games while the storm passed and chatted about our fun memories of the trip.

Once the weather seemed to have cleared we headed back down to the pool again. I wasn't sure Dave would want to go with that big hill to climb but he didn't complain! Brayden brought his football this time so the kids had a good time jumping in to catch it.

This one-handed catch was my favorite of the night!

The kids eyes started hurting after too much longer from the chlorine so we decided to call it a night and head back to the tents. Dave did catch a tiny piece of the sunset before we left though!

Day 29

It was a good thing I had gone to bed early with the kids the night before because I was jolted awake by the guy in the tent next door to us screaming. I'm not sure what he said that woke me up but next he screamed, "THERE ARE PEOPLE TRYING TO SLEEP!" then "HEY!" and I was instantly angry as I was one of them. I listened for what or who he may be yelling at but heard nothing but quiet. It didn't matter though, I was awake for the next hour at least. One couple packed up and left and I wasn't sure if it was because of him or what/who he was trying to quiet.

Once there was a hint of daylight I got up to get things ready for our drive to the stables. The kids weren't thrilled when I first woke them up but once they remembered our plans for the morning they jumped out of the tent ready for the day. We all ate a quick bowl of cereal and were on the road by 7.

We were heading to a small town so I knew the roads that come off the mountain were going to be tricky. We left a little early to allow for extra driving time should we get lost too. There was no way we were going to miss this one! Laney wanted to ride a white and brown horse, Ryan a redish-brown horse, Emily a purple horse, and Brayden a tiger.

We arrived about 30 minutes early with plenty of time for the kids to play with the dogs and Emily and I to sit in the rocking chairs and enjoy the morning. The kids tried to be patient but they didn't do a great job!

Before we knew it we were in the saddles and heading down the trail. I was riding Roper - a sweet horse that loved to be all up in the business of the horse in front of him. Evey was on Montana - a horse that was instatiably hungry for the leaves on the trees. Brayden was on Tiger (he got his wish!) - also a very hungry and stubborn walker. Ryan was on Sally who walked right behind the leader like a teacher's pet. Laney was on Buster - a white and brown horse just like she wanted that really liked to analyze the trail and let some monster gas go. Emily was on Bandit who took tiny steps everywhere he went. We were definitely a gang of misfits.



The kids loved walking and talking to their horses while they tromped through the mud along the trail. I think the big favorite for all of us was definitely walking them through the creek. It was just high enough to get our feet wet and the horses definitely enjoyed it at the end of the trail when they were hot and tired.

Our big nuisance on the trail was horse flies but it was more for the horses. We were given full authority to smack them if we saw them. These were wild North Caroline horse flies - bigger than bumblebees! I smacked one that was bugging Roper's ears. Brayden was using a branch he pulled off a tree to discourage his. Emily's horse Bandit learned to stop and show her the flies on his neck so she would smack them. She ended up getting 6 - the record for the day!

We decided to get snacks and make a grocery store stop. I was dangerously low on propane and could us a few groceries so we reluctantly set foot in a Walmart. After being in the woods for 30 days the people, the noise, and all the stuff was overwhelming. We were in and out in 15 minutes - definitely a record for walking through a Super Walmart!

Then we of course had to search for ice cream. We found a tiny little town with a coffee shop boasting 31 flavors of ice cream.  The kids got all their normal flavors and I got my favorite of the trip so far - oatmeal cookie and peanut butter - YUM!

Laney was bummed because she went to grab a napkin and her top scoop fell off. Luckily it fell right into the garbage can!

Once the groceries were put away I gave the kids another snack and told them to play nicely while I napped in the hammock. They knew I was serious when I said violators wouldn't go pick up Dave the next day. I changed into shorts, climbed in the hammock and was out within minutes.

I was also awake within minutes as a cloud had rolled in and the skies were dark. I was about to grab my sleeping bag but it started pouring as I put my foot on the ground. I wrapped up like a cocoon to try to keep warm and wait out the storm. The lightning and thunder was close and I was only hoping it was a quick afternoon soaking!

After about 45 minutes the rain slowed so I made a quick bathroom run, checked on the kids and grabbed my sleeping bag, then hopped back into the hammock. Evey was playing in the tent with the kids so they were having a blast. I tried to go back to sleep but it just wasn't in the cards for the afternoon so I grabbed my laptop and added notes to our days for the blog.

It was chilly once the rain finished so Ryan slipped into my sleeping bag with me and we rocked back and forth for a little while. She was so warm I didn't want to get up! We decided on dinner plans and she decided to play Mary Poppins with my umbrella. Brayden made sure to capture the shenanigans while I cooked.

The gnats were out in full force with swarms of 30 or more around each of our heads as we ate. I ended up walking around the campsite while I ate as it was easier than swatting around my head constantly. We were all so annoyed by the time we had the dishes cleaned that we retired to our tents to play games, read, and sleep. This was definitely not our favorite campground!

Day 35

My plan was to wake up at 6:30 to be leaving the campsite by 8am. Our fellow campers talked to us quite a bit about where we'd been but they didn't warn us about the dog. The dog that was directly behind our campsite in a private residence yard. This RV park was smack in the middle of a little town so there were people in regular houses next door. But at 4:30am I was plotting some way, any way to quiet this little dog. By 5:30 I was too frustrated at the owners, at the dog, at anyone that I just got up and started writing. My post may have been a little angry that day.




Ryan was all about helping Grammie at our gas stop today! She may be short, but she can figure out how to climb anywhere link a monkey! I don't even want to talk to you about the condition of the front of our car. All kinds of bugs from all over the country have made their mark for sure. Gross.

We left perfectly on time at 8am in hopes that with our gas and rest stops we would be into our next stop by early afternoon. At each of those stops people started conversations with us about our journey. Today's drive took us out of the plains and into the mountains and back again. I wasn't sure what the landscape was going to look like once we got there. I can tell you we were ecstatic to finally be seeing blue sky and real clouds after weeks of gray and smoke.


Our campground was first come, first serve so as we pulled into the park we decided to stake our claim for a site first. Grammie drove right by the campground and headed straight to the Visitor's Center as we usually do. We picked a site we thought would be good for us and close to what she would chose, left a chair, a few sleeping bags, and a tent on by the driveway and paid for it. By this point Grammie and Ryan were really wondering where we were!  We met them at the Visitor's Center, grabbed junior ranger books, post cards and explored. We were at Devil's Tower today.

There were no programs this afternoon or evening as it's now past Labor Day so the park service changes their schedule. We decided to get Grammie a site, set up, and have dinner. While everyone set up I made caprese sandwiches so we'd all be set up, fed, and ready to go hike around the tower.

Our first stop was a very interesting sculpture near the entrance of our campground. It is a peace "smoke signal" sculpture created b a Japanese artist who was drawn to the native american culture in our country. I'm not sure if there are more now, but it was the third of it's kind in the world with the first being at the Vatican and the second where Buddha grew up. Ryan had the camera for these shots.

The placement of the sculpture was just perfect to have it framed around Devil's Tower.

Just beyond the sculpture were the prairie dogs. I believe the kids could have stayed here the rest of the day. There were signs all around asking people not to feed them, but they all were begging and watching us to see if we still would. Ryan took about 75 pictures of these little guys.

We made it to the Tower trail with about an hour until sunset so I thought this would be the perfect time to hike. I noticed Laney frowning and found out she wasn't feeling very well. The adults took turns throughout the hike checking on her and encouraging her to continue. We were enjoying the trail and glancing up at the tower every few hundred feet to see how the view changed.

Just before halfway around Dave was hearing voices and looked up to find a climber about 2/3 up the tower. Once we all spotted him we found his partner just above him too. We headed down a side trail to the scopes to find them and figure out if they were climbing up or rappelling down. Our eagle eye Ryan set the scope so we could all watch them as they appeared to be climbing up.

It started getting dark so we continued along the trail trying to read the interpretive signs along the way. We were poorly equipped without flashlights and we made just as it was really getting dark. Laney was not happy at all so we headed back to the campsite to all go to bed. On the way home Ryan spotted the climbers headlamps still on the tower which created a bunch of questions for me. Could you camp up there? How late do they allow you to start climbing? We would have to find out in the morning.

Once we got back to the campsite, we all retired in our respective areas to read and snooze. We would be moving on to South Dakota in the morning on our shift south.