Camping Trip

This weekend we went on a camping trip with the Justin, Julia, Crystal, Jared and Matt.  Dublin came for his first camping trip as well.  We were nervous about the weather before we left but wanted to brave it.  We arrived at the campground around 12.  We were impressed with how nice it looked.  We were able to camp in the far back corner of the campground by ourselves.  The only downside of the campground was a lack of water.  The water in the bathroom had a brownish tint and there wasn't a spicket at the site so we used a lot of bottle water.

We spent the afternoon at Letchworth State Park.  We hiked around and took lots of pictures.  It was warm but we still had fun.  When we got back to the campsite we were ready to hit the pool.  The water was a bit chillly but everyone got in for about an hour.

After the pool we made dinner.  Just as we were finishing up the thunder and lighting rolled in.  We quickly cleaned up but luckily it never rained.  Dublin was great.  We let him run  loose most of the night and he never wandered away.  We had a campfire and smores.  We were up way later than usual but I think I laughed off all of the calories I injested.

This morning I as the 1st up followed by Matt.  After an hour we decided to start the pancakes because we were sick of waiting.  Everyone else was up shortly.  We were lucky we had made breakfast early because a storm quickly rolled in.  We ate and packed at the same time.  As we finished putting the last of the stuff away the rain started falling and unfortunately that was the end of the trip.  We had a great time and are looking forward to doing it again.


By the way....DUBLIN IS EXHAUSTED!  haha :)

Welcome Bat

Last night we were finally getting into the swing of things being back home.  We had stayed up late doing laundry and went to bed around 12.  At around 2am I woke up to use the bathroom (shocker I know).  All of a sudden I hear Michael yelling for me.  There was a bat in the house!

I called Dublin into the bathroom and locked us in.  Michael shut himself in the bedroom.  I would look out in the hall and it would glide by.  Finally we decided the only thing to do was to shut the cat in the basement and take the dog in the camper with us.  We did have sleeping bags in there but no pillows.  It was also hard to sleep due to our adrenaline running.

This morning we searched high and low for it and were ready to give up.  He finally found it curled under a curtain in the living room.  Michael was able to catch it in a bag and take it outside.  He's such a good husband!  We think it must have gotten in by a crack between the window and air conditioner.  I put a bunch of towels in the cracks so hopefully this won't happen again.  EXHAUSTED TODAY!

Day 30

There was big thunderstorm last night.  It woke us up around 4am and kept us up for over an hour.  I am definitely over the mid-west storms.  We slept in since we were so tired from the storms and didn’t get on the road until around 11am. 

We drove through Chicago around 3pm.  We were amazed and appalled at the amount of tolls we had to pay.  At the Skyway Bridge we had to pay 10.10 to just drive over the bridge.  A car pays 3.50. Our trailer ways way less than another car but we had to pay for more than 2 cars.  We spent nearly $40 on tolls in Indiana and Illinois alone.

As we reached Ohio had a decision to make.  We could either get a campsite and drive 8 more hours tomorrow or keep going.  After a long debate and a look at the forecast, which was calling for more thunderstorms, we decided to push through.

At 4am, after 14 hours and 760 miles we arrived home very tired but happy to be sleeping in our own bed.  We finished the trip at 9060 miles. The trip was amazing and we had a great time but there is nothing like curing up in with your puppy and knowing that the bathroom is just down the hall! :)

Day 29

Today was a long day in the car.  We left the campground around 10 and drove the majority of the day.  On the highway we saw 4 tractor trailers lying on the side of the road about 30 miles outside of Des Moines.  We found out later that they had blown over due to wind during a thunderstorm.

Around 4pm we arrived at the Field of Dreams.  There were a lot of people there.  There is a souvenir shop and that’s about it.  The house is occupied so you cannot enter either the house or barn.  You are welcome to roam the field and corn.  Many people were playing baseball on the field.  We took pictures of everything.  It was almost exactly like the movie still.  The only thing not there is the porch swing that had been borrowed from another home in the area.

We headed through Dubuque and across the Mississippi.  We found a little campground called the Rustic Barn.  It is very nice and surrounded by farm fields.  There is a nice couple in the next site over that we have talked to a bit.  We drove into town for dinner at Olive Garden which was a nice treat.   Tonight they are having a free concert here at the campground.  They are playing acoustic guitar and singing a lot of older country songs.  We plan on trying to get to bed early so we can get around 8 hours of driving in tomorrow.

Day 28

We took our time getting up this morning.  After a nice breakfast we got the oil changed in the car.  It had been almost 5000 miles since the last one and with my car doing all that work on the hills we wanted to play it safe before heading home.

We were really excited to head to Buffalo Bill Cody’s ranch house right after my car was ready.  As we got closer we noticed a lot of the buildings had sandbags around them.  This was of course as a precaution in case the river flooded.  When we got to the ranch we were excited to see that there was only 1 other car there.  Score!  We started walking around taking pictures.  After we had done a complete loop around the house we saw the closed sign.  We continued to walk to the property and finally came to a sign that said closed due to the possibility of flooding.  Mother Nature you did it again!

We headed to the Golden Spike Tower which overlooks that rail yards.  In fact, it is the longest railroad station in the world.  It is over 8 miles long and can house 5,000 cars.  We were able to climb to the top of the tower and look at the entire railroad yard.  Michael really enjoyed it.  I enjoyed reading about the amount of orphans that were sent west on these trains in the 1800’s.  I didn’t realize that many of them essentially became an indentured servant, never being officially adopted, but instead living with a family and then being released when they hit the age of 18.

We next tried to find the Oregon Trail marker but it was to no avail so we hit the road and headed to the pony express station about 45 minutes up the road.  The building was very cool and had some interesting artifacts but unfortunately it was mostly a gift shop.  We did buy a few things to go with the sign we found in Las Vegas.

We planned on camping around Lincoln.  We accidentally turned back on the highway instead of the service road to the campground we planned on trying and had to head 10 miles back.  While doing so I called ahead and of course they were booked.  I tried the KOA too but they were also booked.  We found on the computer program a state park and we figured it was worth a shot.  It is called Eugene Mahoney Park.  We couldn’t believe this place when we pulled in.  It’s about 23 miles outside of Lincoln and is gorgeous.  It is over 700 acres and has campgrounds, a lodge, cabins, etc.  We were shocked that not only did they have sites but they were only 20 bucks! 

There was a nice restaurant inside the lodge.  They had a buffet dinner that we both had and that was very good.  After we ate we headed to the site and set up.  It’s a cute little site.  So far everyone is quiet.  We were able to get the camper up right before it got dark.  Tomorrow….FIELD OF DREAMS!

Day 27

We had a brief conversation with our neighbors this morning before taking off.  They were an older couple from California.  They listed off places then thought we should visit and we did the same.  The woman told us that on our trip today we would want to pull over at the scenic overlooks and take pictures.   We didn’t really think much of it until we reached one of those overlooks.  It was like being in Bryce Canyon still.  There were huge red rocks and deep canyons.  Michael climbed around more than I did but we both got some great pictures.

After that we set our GPS to Sterling, Colorado a town we found on the map.  After Denver it was one of the few places we found that had a campground.  The GPS had us take the wrong exit to get to the campground so after about 45 minutes of driving around lost we found the place.  As we pulled in, Michael saw a bunch of buildings just up the hill.  He jokingly said I wonder if it is a prison. 

When we checked in the guy running it was really nice.  Michael asked about the buildings and it was a prison!  He said not to worry thought because it was surrounded by a high electric fence and they couldn’t get out. (Later on I would Google the prison and just last year someone escaped!)  We decided to go ahead and try it.  The map the man showed us had decedent sized sites on it.  However, as we pulled around they were all right on top of each other.  Before we even got out of the car we could hear what we think were cicada bugs.  When we did get out we were eaten alive by mosquitoes.  It didn’t take long before we were back in the car and asking for our money back.

We jumped back on Route 76 and searched for a subway so we could grab dinner quick.  It was about 9:20 when we pulled up.  Unfortunately, it was closed so we hit the road again.  I found a Perkins that was up the road in North Platte.  The problem was the book my parents had given me with the spot we wanted to see was in the camper and we were a little afraid we would end up driving by it.  As we got closer we saw signs for what were looking for and it ends up North Platte was exactly where we wanted to be!

We rolled into Perkins around midnight.  After a meal that really wasn’t as quick as it should have been, we went and tried to find a hotel.  Everywhere we went was booked up.  Turns out that they Lincoln County fair is this weekend and everything was booked up. Finally, the person at the Super 8 recommended that we headed to the Howard Johnson.  They had a room and we were able to crawl into bed at 2am completely exhausted.  Tomorrow they are under a heat warning, temps should be about the same as home so I hope we can see what we want before it gets too hot.

Day 26

We had set our alarm for 7:30am.  We were on the road before 9 and headed to Bryce Canyon National Park.  It was a hot drive, but finally as we reached the park.  It was beautiful but I’m afraid we would have appreciated it more if we had seen it before we had been in the desert for as long as we had been.  We did get some great photos and Michael was able to videotape the park.  We went all the way to the top which was at about 9000 ft.  We are in the park for about an hour.

After the park we set the GPS for Denver.  We found the town of Richfield on the map and figured that was a good place to stop for the night.  We found a campground using the computer program.  When we go here though it wasn’t exactly what we had planned.  However, it will definitely work for the night.  Our neighbors are right on top of us on both sides and there is no picnic table.  We took the camper table outside to use to cook dinner.  However, there are showers and laundry.  It has been 10 days since we did laundry so we had no choice about doing it tonight.  We are both pretty tired and hope to get to bed pretty early.  Driving through Denver tomorrow!