2014XC: Highlights, Lowlights, Totals, and “Remember That”
Last Entry for the trip…
25 – campgrounds we stayed at: (x=number of nights)
Indiana
Shelbyville, Shelbyville Koa (1)
Iowa
Waterloo, Bamboo Ridge KOA (2)
South Dakota
Badlands, Circle Ten Campground (2)
Wyoming
Devils Tower, Devils Tower KOA (2)
Yellowstone, Madison Campground (3)
Grand Teton, Colter Bay Campground (2)
Idaho
Bear Lake, Bear Lake State Park Campground (1)
Utah
Provo, Springville KOA (1)
Moab, Moab Campground (2)
Capital Reef, Thousand Lakes RV Park (1)
Glendale, Bauer Canyon RV Park (1)
Arizona
Grand Canyon, Mather Campground (3)
Seligman KOA (1)
Meteor Crater, Meteor Crater Campground (1)
Nevada
Lake Mead, Callville Bay Campground & Trailer Village (2)
Las Vegas, Sam’s Town (2)
New Mexico
Grants, Bar “S” RV Park (1)
Albuquerque, Balloon View RV Park (1)
Texas
Amarillo, Overnite RV Park (1)
Oklahoma
El Reno, El Reno KOA (1)
Arkansas
Spadra Lake, Spadra Lake Campground (1)
West Memphis, Tom Sawyers RV Park (2)
Kentucky
Mammoth Cave, JellyStone Park (1)
Kentucky Horse Park/Campground (1)
West Virginia
Mountwood, Mountwood Park Campground (1)
Favorite Places/Not So Favorite Places: I don’t know that any one of us could pick a favorite place. I know that we’ve tried to do that when we’ve been asked, but it always seems like you say one place, then someone says another, and you realize that you hadn’t thought about that place and the fun time it was there. However, I know that the least favorite for most of us was the night in the Lake Mead desert with no AC!
Anyway, here’s a list of memorables…
-Morgan harassing Christian with his animals – in the morning. Every morning, Christian and Gabriel would make their stuffed animals “talk”, which would wake Morgan up. He would retaliate by trying to take an animal and toss it out his window, which would make Christian continue with a shrill roll of “stop!”, “no!”, and “Mooorgan!”.
-Morgan harrassing Christian with his animals – in the truck. We would be driving in the truck, and Morgan would get bored. So he would quickly turn around and grab one of Christians stuffed animals. If it were “snakey”, he would tie him in knots. Any others he would just tease with being tossed out the window. Again, Christian would respond with a shrill roll of “stop!”, “no!”, and “Mooorgan!”.
-Every time Tyler was “missing”, we would always find him on his Kindle. We kept threatening him with an intervention.
-Christian and his future restaurants (when Christian makes his animals talk, they refer to him as “Gweejee” in leiu of Christian): “Gweejee’s House of Steak and Pancakes”, “Gweejees Top-Steak” restaurant at the top of a ski slope for snowboarding, and Gabriels breakfast shop, also at the top, serving Cinnamon Toast Crunch in every way possible.
-Steve whistling and singing bits of “On the Road Again” just about every time we were driving anywhere (which meant just about every day!), and the last day the song changed to “Home Sweet Home” (the Motley Crue version).
-The whistling noise from the back window of the Suburbans’ window.
-Marie cutting herself four different times when trying to use or clean Morgan’s switchblade knife (note: we forgot to pack sharp knives for the trip and never bought any so it was a good thing that Steve bought the knife for Morgan just as we started the trip).
-Marie tripping off a curb on the way into the “Cherokee Trading Post” in Oklahoma – Christian said it looked like an old lady tripping, and it was pretty funny to he and Gabriel.
-Morgan forgetting his iPod in his shorts pockets at Jackson Lake….the iPod spent the rest of our trip on the dashboard of the truck, and then glimmered to life on our way home for a little while but then back off. We’re thinking God might have had a plan here.
-Steve often forgetting to lock the small storage door on the camper and having to pull over to lock it. Most of the time, that would turn into a pit- and food-stop on the side of the road.
-the heat in Arizona and Nevada
-the squeaking voices from backseat of the Suburban (Christian and Gabriel and their stuffed animal friends) – sometimes funny, sometimes annoying.
-rock shops in just about every state.
-Gabriel at Route 66 dinner, “Westside Lilo’s”, being the first to notice the “Cinnamon Toast Crunch” cereal box among many other cereal boxes.
-after peeing in the woods at the top of “Inspiration Point” in Grand Teton, Marie emerges from the woods and Gabriel says, “Mom, did you find a toilet?”
-Marie being able to scratch each boy’s back at bedtime, pretty much every night, in their bunks.
-Christians’ resistance to making friends with a hairbrush.
-Tyler being persistent enough to get Steve to buy KFC for dinner the second night we were in Kentucky.
-The boys laundry basket that was oddly NEVER empty, even after a laundry day.
-Having lots of movie nights, more than one that we regretted.
-Christian peeing off a boat and off a mountain and off a trail – Christian peeing around the world!
-Tyler saying something and then going “oooh” really loud.
-Daddy arguing with the GPS/phone.
-The weird night at Callville Bay campground…Gabriel taking a walk with Steve at 2:30am…musical beds…bright moon…Marie up at 4:30am…Steve trying to rig the AC to work by tapping into the restroom power….
-Being amazed that campsites used the honor system (to some extent) to charge for campsites after hours.
-Spraypainting cars in Texas.
-The greasy owners and the gunshot in the distance at the Albuquerque RV place (Balloon View).
-The sound of a rattlesnake shaking it’s tail on the Jenny Lake hike.
-Stopping at a scenic stop in Yellowstone to check out a waterfall, only to realize after looking at it that we had stopped and took pictures of it earlier that same day!