A week on the road

Wow, what a crazy week!

So the "what we did":

We took off from the Des Moines area Monday morning, thinking we'd just drive as long as we could.  We knew we'd have to stop around 4:00 in order to get the camper all set up before dark, and warmed up before bed.  So, after we drove through Kansas City we started looking for a place to camp.  Which involved me on the "smart" phone, trying to find RV parks that accept kids without an extra charge, and were open at that time of year, and didn't cost too much, and most importantly, were right on the roads were traveling.  This was not too hard, once Nick jumped in to help me figure out what to look for and how to look for it.  I don't think I could do that again, but we did find a decent place.

I wish I'd taken pictures.  It was obviously normally a terrific place to stay.  It was your typical RV park- about 5 feet between RV pads, just rows of places to park.  Which was just what we wanted for a one- night stay.  already level, no- brainer.  There was a pool (closed) and mini golf (closed) and a swingset (under water- not that that stopped us), and laundry facilities... and free internet!  I was very impressed.  But, we were just there for the one night, and then off again as soon as possible in the morning.

We found out that night, the electric heater we brought is PLENTY of heat for this camper.  It was about 17 degrees that night, but we never turned on the gas heat.  in fact, I think it gets too hot in here.  Which is saying a lot!

The next day, we were only a couple hours from Tulsa, so we had to decide- drive to Tulsa as planned, or push through to Oklahoma City?  We decided to jump in the car and drive, and see how it goes.

As you can guess, not as well as the first day.  The kids were REALLY sick of being in the car.  Who can blame them?  So, we took it easy, had fun, and made it to our campground in Tulsa with time to cook dinner and enjoy the sunset.  We were very close to a lake and two playgrounds.  I thought it was great!

However, the next day we spent the entire day picking tiny, sharp burs out of our pants and socks and feet.  The city came in and tore down one of the playgrounds (the one with baby swings and anything Mary could play on).  And it got windy.

We had fun anyway.  We learned quickly to wear mud boots everywhere, and coats with hoods, and layers.  We went on a super super long walk and found an awesome playground to hang out at. We went to the zoo.  We learned how to share this space without killing each other.  It was grand.

This morning (Saturday) we woke up, planning to have some time with daddy, but he decided to check the radar before going on a walk in the morning, and then discovered that tomorrow would be probably too windy to drive.  So within an hour we were on the road again.  That was a hoot!  I can't wait to be better organized so that when we need to take off quick like that, I can find what I need when we get set up again.  I'm finding things in the weirdest places because we had to just shove stuff wherever we could secure it.

So, now we're in OKC, for a week or two- we're not sure yet.  Again, we're next to a lake, this time one that takes much better pictures (which I will post if I ever find a laundry mat with WiFi- in the mean time, I will post pictures to facebook.  If that doesn't suit you, I can mail them to you from the phone if you ask nicely).  Tomorrow, a church we are very excited to visit.

It's the little things..

Last night, Nick arrived with the camper (and the poor cat) to his parent's house to join us there.  He carried in ALL the freezable stuff in the cold.  We decided to play the morning by ear, but thought probably the roads were fine.  We agreed we'd turn back at the first sign of not- fine, though.

In the morning, we worked together to load All The Stuff into the camper and the car, and load up the cat (she does NOT think this trip is a good idea, you guys) and off we went.  Everything was packed totally without plan... so the kids immediately go to watch silent Max and Ruby about a trillion times till lunch.

It went really, really well today.  We stopped to eat when people got whiny, the weather was gorgeous, and sunny.  There was still enough snow on the ground in Kansas City at 3:00 to have us wondering about what campgrounds we'd find that were navigable.  After the adventure in KC (TRAFFIC, holy cow) Nick and I were ready to stop driving and the kids, too.  So I started using the phone's 3G to figure out where to camp, since we had neither maps nor camping guide books handy.  And why stop to pull stuff out of who knows where.. that's why we have a smart phone, right?

an hour later, I finally got a website to work.  There were several somethings that looked promising, so, we stopped driving and hunkered down for the night in a small town.  When nick went to find out where we are, exactly, it turns out we're only a couple hours from our end destination, Tulsa!

So, tomorrow we will (probably) pack up and head out to Tulsa.. or maybe farther.  We both want a short driving day tomorrow, but maybe we should go farther south since we can... we'll see how tonight goes.  It's supposed to rain tonight and be cold tomorrow.  I do really like this RV park, we would stay for sure if there was more to do, and less water.  We'll see how we feel tomorrow.

for now, good night, stay warm!