Finally Virginia!!

We are here! Virginia!! Almost home, but not quite! We are headed to the Natural Bridge in Lexington and then staying one more night in the KOA.

The Natural Bridge was beautiful. We only went as far as the bridge (we wanted to get to the camp site and set up before dark). There is alot more to see, like the Indian reservation and they have a light show around 9pm. Anyway, the bridge was more than enough. It was starting to sprinkle too! The rumor is that George Washington carved his initials in the rocks. So did alot of other people it seems. Caleb tried to climb up the rocks. he only got about as high as me! The kids saw a snake, so that was more interesting to them, than the bridge.
We ended up just hanging out at the campground, they have pizza delivery there! Then off to bed and a major thunderstorm. Third one in the camper! And of course as soon as it starts, everyone needs to go to the bathroom! haha. I have one umbrella and 2 rain ponchos from a past Sea World visit! We are prepared.
Good morning! We take it slow today because we know its our last 4 hour drive. Then I make a mistake and start talking to a fellow camper, ( I know so unlike me, I talk to hardly anyone! hehe) like 45 minutes later, we finally get on the road.
Oh its a good feeling when you can turn off the navigation system because you recognize the roads!
We are staying with my parents in NC, so its a bit farther of a drive, but as soon as we hit the state line, it was like the Nascar speedway, everyone was excited. We turned down their street and I start blasting the horn to let the world know that we are finally here!!! Did ya hear it?

IT'S GOOD TO BE HOME!!!!

Still Tennessee???

We stopped off in Nashville to see the Grande ole Opry. We didn't go in, actually the kids stayed in the car. It is not what I expected, the Opry house is surrounded by a mall!! So we took a few pictures by the door and headed to the end of Tennessee, see I told you it was LONG.

We stayed the night in a hotel. It was a biker Super 8. There is not much parking for a truck and trailer, so Charles decided to take up 2 parking spots for the trailer and just unhitch it for the night, no problem there. We went out to dinner, where Lauren losses her retainer. She tucked it under her shorts, then went to the bathroom. Moment of panic for everyone, including the couple who had stared at us the whole meal. Charles seems to think it was because we talked funny! haha

So the daughter stands up and says "my retainer is gone!" Its one of those clear retainers that looks like a mouth guard so we start looking in the napkins and on the floor, no luck, back track to the bathroom, nothing. Man I do not want to go through the Olive Garden's trash. I'm imagining myself killing this child of mine over a piece of plastic, that not only does she have 1 but 2 retainer boxes for! Then all of a sudden one of the waitress' comes to us with it in a wetnap! She was like a ortho angel! I am super gluing it in Lauren's mouth as soon as I get some glue!! After all that, we go to the hotel to bed, and when we wake up to get ready to leave, guess what is parked right in front of the trailer??

A motorcycle. Yup, what a nut, did they not see that there was no room? He had to park it sideways for goodness sake! So we go to the hotel clerk and let her know and she says that she will look for the person, then she walks out with us to check things out and she asks Charles this: So you unhitched the trailer from the truck? Charles says yes, and then immediately thinks (as she walks away), No the truck is there, its just invisible, HERE'S YOUR SIGN!!

Well the owner could never be found so my husband had to swing the whole trailer around to hitch it up!

I'm so done with Tennessee!!!

My husband, the protector!

While camping in the pop-up, the issue of security has come up, because those things are basically canvas and velcro. If someone wanted you, they could get you. Well Charles has this big knife that he has had since childhood, that he sleeps with just in case.
But I began to notice that I am always on the outside sleeping!! I questioned this observation and this is what my husband had to say:
The reason why I am sleeping on the outside is so that while the robbers are busy beating me up, he can take the knife and cut out an escape hole for him. I asked about the children and he said that he would try to get them from the other side, if the robbers were still occupied with me. I am so happy to be married to such a wonderful man. He always has a plan.

More of Tennessee

To me, Tennessee is the longest state to drive through! It took us forever to get out of there.
Before we left Memphis, we took the locals advice and stopped at the infamous Beale Street. I fell in love with this place. They close off this street to the traffic and just let the people loose! There are bars and restaurants, shops that sell souvenirs and trinkets and the beers are just flowing! You can walk up to a window, get a beer and walk the street. Its just beautiful.
We went over to get something to eat, the kids wanted to go to the Hardrock Cafe, but Charles wanted to taste the local barbecue. We ended up eating at Blues City Cafe. OH MY GOSH!!! We all ordered ribs, and they were the best ribs ever!! yum, yum
I have no pictures to post of Beale Street, because my batteries where being charged in the camper. I did buy a disposable camera for $10, so if I ever get around to taking that in...
(it took me 3 years to develop the kid's cameras from our trip to CA!!)

Part of a crime scene?

Should I have called the local authorities? This is what I saw at a gas station in Arkansas. Charles was pumping our 9th or so tank of gas and I was trying to clean out the truck from all the kids waste. They are some trashy kids! Anyway I go to the trash can and this is what I see:

Do you see what I see??? I had the whole abduction played out in my head! Scary scene! I said to the kids, if you saw a purse, some shoes and a license plate in the trash at a gas station, what would that tell you? Lauren said it tells her that we need to get the hell up outta here! I agree!!

Graceland!!!

Finally we are in Memphis, Tennessee!! Home of Elvis Presley.

We roll into Memphis after a short 2 hour drive and head to our hotel to drop off the doggie and then go to Graceland. Now you know that did not happen, there has to be some sort of drama. So here it is:

As soon as we get to the hotel area, we begin to notice that things are looking a bit shady and that the hotel was not in the best part of town. I think the broken down buildings and the people hanging off the side of the hotel smoking tipped us off. We didn't even go into the office to check in, we just pulled off on the side and started looking for hotels that accepted dogs, we didn't care how much it cost! Long story short, we ended up staying at the Heartbreak Hotel RV park that is directly across the street from Graceland. Lucky us. Charles believes that our lives were spared that night.

On to Graceland... It was really cool, but not what I expected. Elvis (if he were alive today) would be living in the ghetto!! Its a fabulous house, just not a fab location, and you know that's what its really all about...location, location, location!

No really, the house, grounds and tour where something that everyone should go see, even if you are not a die hard Elvis fan. Just learning about his life was amazing. He bought that house and the 13 acres for 100,000! They let you go all throughout the downstairs, but the upstairs is off limits out of respect to him, because he never let anyone go up there. Too bad, I would of loved to see his bedroom.

We toured his house, then his grounds, his racket ball court is now a trophy room and that was a treat to see, it's covered from floor to ceiling with gold records and whatnot. Then we saw his costumes and his cars and got to tour his plane, the "Lisa Marie". Everything was very retro! But I had to remind myself that back in the 70's that stuff was high class!!

Then something happened at near the end that I was not expecting, did anyone else know that Elvis is buried there? I had no idea, until the audio tour guy told me! He was not originally buried there, but after his grave began to get vandalized, his father had him moved. It is a beautiful resting place, where his parents and grandmother are also.

We ended our tour in the gift shop, like every good tour ends! There we bought Caleb his key chain for his ever growing key chain collection, and some Elvis scrapbook stuff! Now I must really scrapbook!

Rest stops or lack there of...

When you are roughing it at campgrounds and what not, you may find yourself without a "rest stop" nearby. This happens to everyone from time to time, and surprisingly enough it happens on the open road too!

This happened to us a few times (like twice) and really only with a certain 2 kids, which will remain nameless for embarrassment reasons!

Then it happened to me. (sigh...) Yes, its true and disturbing.

We are driving along US 40 which replaced Route 66, and the road is long and dull, nothing to see, and nowhere to go but straight. About an hour before this we stopped at a Sonic and I had to order a large cherry limeade because they are my favorite and I hadn't had one in a year, so I'm enjoying it and sipping it in the car and then all of a sudden (well you get the picture).

So I go to my trusty navigation system and type in gas stations, no gas station for 40 some miles, I start to get a little nervous, so I type in convenience stores, nope, none of those for 40 miles either! Ok panic mode had set in, because you know as soon as your brain realizes that there is nowhere to go, you really have to go and you have to go NOW!

So I start to battle with myself, -do I really need to go? -Nobody can see, we are in the middle of nowhere,- Oh, that's just not what proper ladies do... -my momma raised me better than this-if you hold it you will get a bladder infection... See the turmoil I was going through?

Well needless to say, who won. And here is the punch line:

I do what I have to do, FAST!, then hop back in the car, and as soon as I get in that damn truck and drive not even a mile.... we see a sign that says REST AREA 4 MILES!!!!!

Can you believe that mess???? I guess I should of looked that up in the navigation system! duh!!

Here is what I found at one of the rest stops, guess which one Riley went to.

It's a storm!!!

I forgot to say that at the Koa we had a major storm! It was our first in the camper, so we didn't know if this thing was water proof our not! I mean the lady who sold it to us said it was, but she could of been telling us anything to get us to buy it, ya know?
Anyways it was about 1 in the morning and the rain started, then the thunder and lightning and then the wind!! Oh lord, the wind! It was hurricane force winds. (well in a trailer don't they all feel like those?) So the wind is blowing and the trailer is moving, really moving! I was concerned that it was going to just tip right over. What exactly is keeping this thing on the ground anyway? 2 wheels and some metal feet! Not much there. Well needless to say the trailer did not leak and it did not tip over! We are grounded and dry!
Off to Little Rock, Arkansas we go!

3 States in a day

We finished off New Mexico and headed into Texas, where Lauren wanted to fly on through for fear we would end up dead like the Texas chain saw kids. That didn't happen as you can see. She did however, break the door at the local Dairy Queen. We left fast so they could not pin it on us! Texas is the home of Garth Brooks and the beef capital of the WORLD!! Who knew?

We stopped off at the Cadillac Ranch and defaced the property with cans of spray paint. We are just puttin' a hurtin' on Texas with all of our rebelliousness!!

Now off to Oklahoma! This was a just an overnight stop at the KOA. The kids rented a some kind of 2 person pedal bike and raced through the park, you could hear Caleb screaming for Lauren to slow down through the whole park and kept pulling the brakes!! I asked him if he wanted his helmet, he passed. haha

Did you know that there are people living at campgrounds? They receive mail there?? I was a bit disturbed by this, I still am.

Gallup to Roswell

After we left the Grand Canyon we traveled on to Gallup, New Mexico. This was just a stop over night on out way to Roswell. On our way to Gallup, we got caught in a dust devil! For those of you who have no idea what that is, (like I didn't until it happened) its like a small tornado made of dirt and tumbleweeds! I was driving at the time and saw it off in the distance just a spinning around. It really looks like a tornado. So we are driving and looking and all of a sudden this thing picks up speed and heads straight towards us!! I was a bit freaked out, I had flashes of this thing picking up the truck and tossing it! Needless to say that did not happen, it came right over us, we screamed and then it was over and our truck was dirty! Very cool, I must say.

The campground was nice, just smack off the highway. We were the only pop-up there. I felt like we didn't belong! haha who doesn't belong in a campground!

Here is Caleb as a totem pole:

Now off to Roswell, home of the Aliens. Yeah... we went to the UFO International Museum and Research Center. For $5 ($3 for military, $2 for children) you too can experience the Alien Invasion the happened in the middle of nowhere. And for $1 you can actually listen to vintage audio! (vintage because it is an actual cassette player!) Caleb thought the museum was "pretty kick butt". So the extra 140 miles out of the way was worth it! (to some)

Now we are off the end of New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma. All 3 in one day!

Our home!!

This is a picture of our home.

It has a spacious, open floor plan, with 2 bedrooms and an optional third. A quaint kitchen, perfect for on the go meals! A dining room/living room combo, complete with cable. Heating and air conditioning too!

The large backyard is the best with views for miles and miles!

Can you believe its all ours??

The canyon is Grand

We got to the Grand Canyon on Sunday at about 5:30. After setting up the camper and getting a quick dinner, we set out to see this so called canyon! I say that only because the whole ride to the canyon is trees and mountains. Nowhere is there any indication that any canyons are around much less a grand one! So we are quite sceptical that such a place exists!

Getting to the canyon is a bit complicated, most places you have to go by shuttle, so we hopped on and the sun is quickly going down the closer we get there. We arrive and get off the bus and still no canyon! A short walk up a path and BAM there it is! Even, in the now dark, it is the coolest thing we have seen and cant wait for the morning to come so we can actually see it. Charles and I decide to get up early to watch the sunrise above the canyon. The kids wanted no part of that! We got up at 4:30, and it was so worth it! That canyon is huge and it is really breath taking!

Now we have the kids up and take them and they are in awe of it too. Caleb is a bit afraid of heights so we had to coax him into a few pictures, but he soon relaxed, except for when it came to the dog, he would not let me take him anywhere near the edges for fear that Riley would just jump off!! Crazy, I know!

I took a lot of pictures and we walked around the south rim, until the heat caught up to us all. We almost killed the dog with the heat, he would run from the sunny areas to the shade, rest a bit and then repeat the whole process.

I was actually sad to leave, there is a lot to do and tons of stuff to see, so maybe one day we will get back, who knows!

The journey begins!

So we are off! This is a picture of our home for the next 9 days! Everything is soo big that I was across the street and up a drive way just to get this semi decent picture!

Our first stop is Barstow, California. This drive took us 7 hours. It actually didn't even feel like 7 hours! I suppose its because it was our first day! The drive for the most part was uneventful, I drove about 2 hours, went into a semi-truck parking lot and couldn't get out, so Charles had to do it for me and then he ended up driving the rest of the way. I did not plan it, put it seems like a good scheme to get him to drive!

We did come across some interesting characters along the way... at a gas station there was a bride and groom pumping gas! Yeah that would of been cause of divorce for me. Didn't realize that you where low on gas before the ceremony dear?

Then there was the little boy that decided that the deli case at Subway was either too dirty for him or he was trying to taste the goods on the other side because he licked the whole thing over and over again!

Also at Subway, Lauren decide that she wanted to go live with another family and sat down with her new little brother until I asked her what she was doing! The little boy never even turned his head ( I think he was freaked out!) She was shocked she swore it was Caleb!!

Anyways thats about it for our first day, we are now off to the Grand Canyon!!

This is the sunset in Barstow, California.

128 boxes....

128 boxes, that's all it took to pack all of our most worldly goods and prized possession's! I thought for sure we would have at least 150! Now that doesn't include beds, fridges and washers but you get the point. Shouldn't a family that has 4 people and have been together for 15 plus years yield more stuff than 128?? Because most of those boxes (as anyone who has had professionals pack for them) is stuffed with 80% paper. The actual items are tiny compared to all that wrap. Why wrap up a plastic bowl or a shoe I ask? Well I have stopped asking because this is our 3rd major move and I have dealt with this paper issue before.

So the goods are being packed in a truck as I speak and I am sitting on the floor, with the laptop literally in my lap! We are living out of suitcases and washing our one unpacked cup over and over again! And the one thing I can say about all this is this: I miss ice!

Good times and goodbyes...

The last few weeks have been full of good times and goodbyes. There have been weddings, parties, picnics and ceremonies. We have said our goodbyes to the good friends that we have made here in California, through work, school and community.

Lauren has been promoted to the 10th grade and Caleb is now a 6th grader!! Charles has advanced to Chief Petty Officer, and we are very proud of him. I got to put one of his anchors on at the ceremony and Caleb handed him his new hat.

My work party was a blast. They surprised me with a collage of photos of themselves and some of our regular customers. They also went above and beyond and got me a necklace from Tiffany's! I really did work with a bunch of great people, that will truly be missed!

I hope the people that we all have met, are still part of our lives in some way (even if it's just a Christmas card or a "hey" on the myspace!) for many years to come!

Thank you all for being part of us.

Now I promise I will go back to my "real sarcastic" self! haha