What a treat it is to title a trip with that name! We are thrilled to take this summer’s adventure with Nick’s parents and my mom joining us!
When Nick was going into the eight grade, his grandparents, Ma and Pa, took his entire family on a trip that centered around Yellowstone National Park. Although we are not taking the exact route, our family is doing a similar trip this summer!
As we began planning for it, I researched RV parks for us (and my mom) and nearby hotels or cabins for Nick’s parents. The cost difference and difficulty of locating lodging for them near us began to make an impression on me. Nick decided to talk his parents into renting a bumper pull trailer (for the first time!) and traveling with us that way. After a few conversations and some time to consider, they said yes! Nick found a trailer on RVshare and we booked it!
This idea brought back sweet memories of my childhood traveling in our truck and trailer alongside my own grandparents, also in their truck and trailer. Since all four pieces were white, my Daddy named them White Train 1 and we were White Train 2. We used walkie talkies between the two rigs and it contains some of my favorite memories of my grandparents. Although we didn’t travel to Yellowstone, we also took these white trains when I was going into 9th grade to one of the same stops we have planned this year.
Before I jump into our adventures, I always begin a trip series the same way. I’m not naturally inclined to tackle these journeys. With four kids, it’s certainly not easy. But Nick has taught me through the years not to ask whether or not something is easy, or whether or not the timing is perfect, but instead whether or not it’s worth it. And it always is. My encouragement to others is never to wait for the perfect time or perfect age for your kids- it does not exist. Just go. Just do. Some things will go according to plan and a lot won’t, but, as we recently discussed in our Lewis/Tolkien book club, true adventures, the “nasty, uncomfortable things,” leads to transformation in our hearts and souls that we likely wouldn’t have chosen in the first place, but that is incredibly valuable. So jump in, friends.
A bit about us- we purchased our 2003 Discovery Fleetwood motorhome in 2019 and immediately took it to Colorado with our 6 and 4 year old boys and 6 month old girl. We’ve since added another daughter and this year our crew consists of our parents, 12 year old son, 10 year old son, 6 year old daughter and 2 year old daughter. Although we sometimes bring a German Shepherd along with us, none came this trip. Our rig tows our 2018 Cadillac Escalade and four bikes behind it. We’ve renovated it a little through the years and it’s held up to some crazy adventures and brought us a few along the way.
One of the reasons I blog our trips is for our own memories- I usually put these into a photo book. Also, I’ve found other peoples’ blogs incredibly helpful as I research and plan our trips, so my hope is to return the favor to others by sharing what all we learn and do along the way.
As I research and compile, I drop everything into a google doc. I am unable to share this because this year our itinerary in the national parks includes trip guides from Dirt in my Shoes (travel itineraries from a former park ranger), a resource I am hopeful proves to be quite helpful. I’ll give my honest reviews as we try it along the way!
Prep days
We are pretty used to preparing for a trip by this point. I have several lists on my phone, organized by category, that allow me to check off items as they enter the RV. We usually load clothes 24-48 hours before the trip. We turn on the fridge and freezer 36 hours before the trip, and groceries are ordered/delivered 24 hours ahead of time. We start the generator on the RV the morning we plan to leave as not to tax the AC system too much in Texas summer heat before we leave.
This time, our day before involved Nick and our eldest traveling with his dad to Arlington to pick up the rental trailer. The rest of us then grabbed Rosa’s for dinner and met them at his parents’ house to eat and help them load their trailer. It built excitement for sure!
They are pulling a 22 foot 2022 Bullet crossfire 1850RB.
Sunday July 27 – Moving day to Wellington, Kansas
Our plan was to depart around 1:30 on Sunday afternoon, once Nick finished all of our church’s worship services. Shockingly we were on the road by 1:55 (those who know us know we are usually several hours later than we want, ha!). However, we got about ten minutes away and realized we didn’t have the truck keys, which contain the key to our motor home’s gas tank. As we turned around to retrieve them, I made a mental note to switch that key to the car keys (we used to tow the truck before having our fourth child, ha). As I write this, I still need to switch it. 😂
Usually Nick likes to drive until he gets tired and then boondock, but we decided not to boondock any since it was his parents’ first trip and since they are not in a motorhome. This required some extra planning and reserving on our part, but we had it all mapped out a few months in advance.
We made it to Buccee’s in Denton for our first stop and then all the way through Oklahoma and to our first stop barely before dark, which was our goal!
Monday July 28 – Moving Day to Ogallala, Nebraska
Our eldest started the day pretty early with me so he could fish in the pond at our RV park, where he stayed until we pulled out before 8am. Mom and I were able to get our morning routines and reading done, and I am going to try to be consistent with a body weight strength training workout while we travel. The concrete pad outside our RV was super handy for it this morning!
For our breakfasts, we filled our freezers with prepped foods- breakfast burritos, breakfast sandwiches, biscuits, yogurt, and fruit. Everyone can choose which item they want and it makes for quick and easy meals and cleanup.
Once we were on the road, the kids and I started school. Our goal is to complete one week’s worth of school on this two week trip, only doing school on the moving days when we are in the RV for hours. I’ve learned that this helps give everyone something to do and overall helps with behavior. During school time, Mom and my youngest sit in the front and the other three kids and I sit at the dining room table. We enjoyed morning time together and then I helped each kid with their various subjects as needed.
The plan was that their reward for completing school each day would be that we would turn on a movie. However, by the time we tried this, we learned the dvd player wasn’t working and we didn’t want to waste more time trying to fix it. We may tackle that again later but I honestly wasn’t mad about it. 😉
Nick found a place for lunch and we pulled over right at noon into Strang, Nebraska- established in 1886 with some of its original buildings- a tavern, post office and school! We ate at Bubba’s Anytime, which had good reviews, good food and just a fun atmosphere decorated on literally every surface with Coca Cola products.
After lunch we continued our trek through fields of corn, wheat and sorghum, post silos and farmhouses old and new, and some paired together from each. We arrived in Ogallala right around 5pm with the time change of gaining an hour. I found out yesterday that my great grandmother Burns actually lived in Ogallala for a season. How neat to visit a place where she used to live!
The kids explored the playground and we began prepping one of our favorite camping meals- Hobo dinners! Although skeptical of it at first, Nick now loves these quick and yummy meals. I simply chop veggies and throw a handful onto a sheet of foil with a handful of ground beef, a few pats of butter and some seasoning of choice. It doesn’t take long to cook over a grill and has the yummiest flavor! It’s never not been satisfying, and makes for an easy cleanup.
I pulled frozen previously baked chocolate chip cookies out for everyone to enjoy, and we sat outside and visited until it grew dark.
It’s already been so fun to have all the grandparents along with us! And I admire Nick’s dad’s willingness to learn to do something totally new that he’s never done before. I guess that’s where Nick gets it. ☺️
jami lee gainey 