It’s a far cry from our family trips as a kid when we were on the road by 7am at the latest and had miles behind us by noon.
We continued west and made it to Nebraska. Campsites were full, but the Ogallala State Recreation Area had half of its sites that were first-come-first-serve and there was no one there. (Evidently RV drivers make reservations only. They also probably get going by 7am.)
It’s 1:10pm and we are finally rolling out onto I80. It still feels wrong to be leaving so late, but I can’t pin my nose on why. We’re not utilizing any services, so don’t need business hours, the traffic isn’t bad at any time, and morning is when the kids are most energetic, so it seems like a good time for them to run around.
It also allows randal and I to do a few hours of work in the morning and to show up for zoom meetings as necessary. While I wouldn’t say that this has been the most productive period, I am increasingly efficient.
Yesterday, we woke up in our remote boondock site and headed East. Everyone was a little cranky, so I found a surprise lunch spot to visit. (I didn’t know that it was 2 miles off of a gravel road, which is a real pain in an RV.)
But, we found the Ames Monument. It is a monument commissioned in the 1860s to commemorate the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. It was located in a town called Sherman where the trains would stop and people would switch connections and visit the monument. Three years later, the tracks were moved three miles south and the town died and the brothers immortalized on the monument were accused of fraud and became much less popular.
Nevertheless, the monument is still there and pretty cool. We picnicked next to it and ran around and everyone was cheered up.
We continued west and made it to Nebraska. Campsites were full, but the Ogallala State Recreation Area had half of its sites that were first-come-first-serve and there was no one there. (Evidently RV drivers make reservations only. They also probably get going by 7am.)
It was a beautiful campground with giant trees and next to the lake.
We finished the evening by watching the delegates nominate Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee and tried to teach Marian to say, “Go Joe!” I miss democracy and got a little choked up seeing it in action.
This morning we headed to the neighboring lake: Lake McConaughy, which is surrounded by beautiful white sand. The kids loved playing and digging in it. It is gorgeous, though there was a lot of litter, which made both randal and I sad.
I had work to do and we needed some supplies. (Having a broken fridge has put a kink in my cooking plans.) So, we parked in the Safeway parking lot while I attended a staff meeting and then made lunch while Randal caught up on his tasks.
We finished the evening by watching the delegates nominate Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee and tried to teach Marian to say, “Go Joe!” I miss democracy and got a little choked up seeing it in action.
This morning we headed to the neighboring lake: Lake McConaughy, which is surrounded by beautiful white sand. The kids loved playing and digging in it. It is gorgeous, though there was a lot of litter, which made both randal and I sad.
I had work to do and we needed some supplies. (Having a broken fridge has put a kink in my cooking plans.) So, we parked in the Safeway parking lot while I attended a staff meeting and then made lunch while Randal caught up on his tasks.
We had intended to arrive home today, but we won’t until tomorrow (probably). Milo is ready to get home and play with his toys. Randal is ready to get home to appreciate better plumbing and figure out what our next construction project might be. I am ready to get home and straighten my brain out and cook in my kitchen. And maybe order delivery instead.
At the same time, I think that we could all keep doing this for a long time too. I am lucky to have a family that I enjoy so much. And even more lucky to have a husband who still kisses me good morning when I haven’t showered in days.
As Marian likes to say... “Stinky feet.”
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