Time Zones: 4
Eastern,
Central, Mountain and Pacific (Nevada and Arizona are both on the Pacific time
zone, at least right now)
States Traveled Through: 21
MD, WV, PA, KY, OH, IN, IL, IA,
SD, MT, WY, ID, NV, UT, AZ, NM, TX, OK, MO, TN, VA
National Parks Visited:11
Badlands, Yellowstone, Grand
Teton, Craters of the Moon, Arches,
Canyonlands, Zion, Grand Canyon, Glen Canyon Recreation Area, Walnut Canyon,
Petrified Forest & Painted Desert
Teeth Lost: Just one
Leah’s front tooth (but it left quite a
gap combined with the other one that was already gone!)
Wild Animals Viewed: 17
Bison, Black Bear (Dennis only saw),
Moose, Mountain Rams, Mountain Goats, Mountain Lion (Dennis only saw), coyote,
pronghorn antelope, bat, chipmunks, red squirrels, mule deer, Kaibab Squirrel
(Eric only saw), banded lizards, prairie dogs, elk, pine marten
Elevation Changes: 8,672 feet
131 ft. (home) to 8,803 ft. at Cape
Royale (North Rim of Grand Canyon)
Miles Traveled in RV: 7000 miles
Miles Traveled in Subaru: 2150 miles
Hours on the Road in the RV: 149 hours
Rolls of toilet paper: 9
Keurig coffee maker K-cups: 87
Average Price of Gasoline: $3.75
lowest price: $3.44, highest price $4.00
Average Miles Per Gallon in RV: 7 mpg
Hikes: 18
distance ranging from 0.5 miles to 9 miles
Playgrounds: 9
Campgrounds : 10
Big Bone Lick State Park, Kentucky; Laura
Ingalls Homestead, DeSmet, South Dakota; Big Pines Campground, Custer, South Dakota;
Rocky Mountain RV Park, Gardiner, Montana; Fireside Resort & Campground, Jackson,
Wyoming; Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah; Zion Ponderosa Ranch, Utah; Woody
Mountain RV, Flagstaff, Arizona; Enchanted Trails Campground, Albuquerque, New
Mexico; Hungry Mother State Park, Marion, Virginia
Overnight Rest Areas:4
Missouri Valley, Iowa (Rest Stop);
Springville, UT (Best Western); Erick, Oklahoma (Rest Stop); Hopkinsville,
Kentucky (Cracker Barrell)
Friends/Familiy Visited: 8
Aunt Jeanne, Colleen & Bill
Shipp and family, Russ Reed, Chris and Jennifer Chow and family, Mike and Emily
Chipman and family, Mark & Julie Steimer and family, Marchelo & Shannon
Maynor, Sarah Painter and family
Lessons learned
Bathroom:
Sharing only one bathroom in the RV was probably the single most difficult
thing to deal with in the small space. We quickly learned who takes longer and
who doesn’t (I won’t share the personal details) but we figured it out pretty
fast. Most of the time, if we were in a campground with facilities, we tried to
use their facilities, which made everything easier, but sometimes we all had to
share the one bathroom. First thing in the morning was the most difficult,
especially when we were trying to get up and get going quickly to go do
something.
Space:
The second most difficult thing to deal with in the small space was
clothes-changing area. Pretty much, our bedroom in the back was the best place
to get dressed in the morning and at night. We learned very quickly not to try
to get everyone up and moving at the same time. At home, I might say-ok, it’s
time for everyone to go get dressed and do their morning chores. I couldn’t do
that in the RV-well, I tried a couple of times and it caused major problems, so
we changed our ways! Basically, we would
send one person to the bathroom to do their bathroom duties (teeth, hair, etc.)
and one person to the bedroom to change. We cycled through in that way and it
worked mostly; it took a little longer, but was much more peaceful than hearing
the kids argue and whine.
Getting
along: Already, the kids get along with each other pretty well. You might
expect that after 5 weeks of nothing but togetherness someone might get tired
of someone else. Of course, there were times where someone would get on someone
else’s nerves, but it was always quickly resolved. We had a couple of partial
days of bad attitude by one of the kids, but it didn’t last long, and was
nothing out of the ordinary from being at home. What was interesting was to see
how the kids paired off or played together at different times in different ways.
Bay and Leah were two peas in a pod, especially on travel mornings. They would
roll out of bed and snuggle up on the couch together in the early hours. At
other times, Eric and Bay really got along-I would say more than they have in
the past at home. Eric allowed Bay to stick close to him while hiking in the
Narrows, and he would even help Bay or Leah out by giving them a hand if they
needed it. Eric and Bay also teamed up to play games together while
traveling-Bay seemed to learn some moderation in being annoying, and for the
most part, Eric was very tolerant of some of his childish behavior.
The
other thing that I think we managed effectively (at least I learned some
things) were the inevitable conflicts that arise in a family. I noticed in
comparison that when there is a conflict at home, oftentimes it will go
unaddressed completely for some time, as each person is able to go his/her
separate ways and not always deal with it completely. In a shared small space
and time we were not able to let things sit unaddressed for any period of time.
At the same time, we were forced to talk things out lovingly because we did not have time or
space for long, drawn out resolutions. Repentance and forgiveness had to come
quickly and genuinely to make life able to continue together. At the same time,
we were forced to practice lots of patience with each other, and grant grace in
areas that we might otherwise pick apart. Not to say that I did not lose my
patience with everyone at one point because I was sick of all of the clothes on
the floor, because I did! And I know that when we go back to our normal
routine, some things naturally happen differently, but the lessons learned I
hope will carry through and we will remember them.
Additionally,
I can say that we all learned that we genuinely love to be together-that we
know for certain which things we like to do together and which things, as a
family, just do not suit us. We are clear that we love hiking
together-especially in the mountains. Eric and Dennis had a great time
developing their mountain biking relationship and skills-it is good bonding
time for the two of them. We all enjoy bicycling together, but it worked out
really well not bringing all of the bikes-there would not have been enough time
to pursue biking trails suitable for the family in enough places to make it
worth it.
Mistakes and turnarounds: While driving the RV and towing the Subaru, it is important to know where we are going and whether we can pull in and out of a place without having to back up. Towing a car with 4 wheels down means that you cannot back up. If we get into a situation where we have to back up, we must disconnect the car, reposition, and then reconnect the car. It is not impossible to get out of a difficult situation, but it is very inconvenient, and always better to plan and do it right the first time. However, things don’t always work out exactly as we want! We have made several wrong turns-where in a car, you just swing a u-turn or a 3-point turn and fix it right away. Mistakes in the RV are never fast fixes! At one point while driving down the highway in New Mexico, we saw a really cool pumpkin patch/kids farm/playground that we thought we would stop at and surprise the kids with a fun break. We pulled off the highway, turned left toward what looked like the way to get to the farm, only to realize the road took us back onto the highway going the wrong direction! The problem was, the next place to turn around was 7 miles down the road! Then when we got off at the next exit to re-enter the highway going the right way, we found that we could not, and had to find a place to turn around on a back road. Eventually we found someplace, but we had at this point gone about ½ hour out of our way and still were miles in the wrong direction! Well, by the time we got back on the highway heading the correct direction, we skipped the stop at the farm. Those kinds of turnarounds are they type of thing we always try to avoid! I think we made about 3 mistakes like that on this trip. Dennis would say that is 3 too many, but it all worked out and we never did need to detach the car.
God’s
Provision: There is no way that I could ever name all of the ways that God has
provided for us on this trip-first of all because I am sure I do not know all
of the ways in which he did, simply because he goes before us in all we do.
However, his hand in our trip was evident all the way-from the very preparation
for the trip before we even left, to safe travels and no maintenance or towing
issues, to campsites being available (usually always the last one), to the
weather, to protection from all kinds of potentially harmful situations. Of
course, we don’t even begin to think that we earned his favor or provision, but
we do praise and thank him for the way we were continually blessed on our trip. Our reunions with friends and family was sweet and glorifying to him, and the
time together as a family was refreshing to us and our relationships.
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