Day 6: Elk City, OK

Photo dump from our time in Elk City!

Also, I found these giant fire ants. 0/10, would not recommend. 

Day 5: Welcome to Oklahoma, Here’s Your Complimentary Tornado Bunker

The drive was going well, mostly uneventful, Mason was happily coloring in the back and the dogs were relaxed. It was quiet. Too quiet. I should have known. 

Welp.

 

We wrapped up the day of driving in Sallisaw, Oklahoma! 

This site also had “waterfront views”. 

Mason got a bath in his pool, I made spaghetti for dinner, and then he was off to bed! 

I took Athena for a walk in the woods while Tim made a campfire. 

Also, I found these tadpoles in some tire tracks

 

Day 4: Finding Our Groove?

Our campsite for the night had a waterfront view. Well actually the whole spot was flooded but Tim is an optimist. 

The drive to Memphis was (thankfully) uneventful. We have found that driving roughly 350 miles a day with one potty break halfway through is best for the mental health of the adults and keeps the attitude level for the 3 year old low. 

Low, but never none. 

We got more wind and rain that night but nothing crazy. 

Here’s Ava beat-bopping around the campsite 

Day 3: May the (Tornado) Force (Not) Be With You

We were by Crossville

Calm before the storm. 

  We went to bed Monday night and were woken up around 1:30am by large raindrops hitting the top of the camper and strong wind rocking us. I’m someone who genuinely loves storms. The more severe, the better. I swear I should have been a storm chaser. However, I don’t particularly love them when I’m currently living in a tissue box. The storm escalated pretty quickly and all of a sudden we were listening to quarter size hail hitting the camper. In turn, Mason woke up absolutely terrified and we all hunkered down in his room. The hail stopped after about 15 minutes and gave way to more heavy rain and wind. 

This was the first system just after it passed over us so we were directly in the red. 

We all fell asleep in Mason’s room and woke up to cloudy skies but no more rain. That didn’t last long as we looked at the radar and saw another strong line of storms headed our way. And then we got the alert on our phones:

👀 

Let’s do this. 

Behind our camper, there was a cinder block building that had a laundry room and a few bathrooms. We started seeing people driving their vehicles to the building and parking there. The weather was really starting to get bad so we made the decision to bring the slide in, jump in the truck, and park by the building as well. It was go time. Tim grabbed Mason, put him in his seat, came back, and I handed him Ava because there was no way in hell that I was leaving the pups behind. The wind was so bad that it almost ripped the door out of my hand as I ran out with Athena. Her and I ran to the building while Tim drove around and parked. Tim got out and picked Athena’s 90lb self up and put her in the crate in the back seat of the truck. And there we waited. 

Hunkered down! 

This is where we were going to go in if we had to. 

Eventually the wind died down and the rain slowly subsided. We drove back to the camper and packed everything up to head towards Memphis. 

Also, I found a worm 🪱 

A Bridge, 7 Hours On The Road, and a Trip To The ER Vet: A Saga

  On our way out, we stopped and saw the Natural Bridge. I definitely use the word “awesome” for things that aren’t truly awesome, but Natural Bridge really was awesome!!!! Such a beautiful area and so cool to walk through! 

Next, we hopped in the truck to head towards Knoxville, TN. What was supposed to be a 5 hour drive turned into 7 due to bad weather, traffic, and emergency potty stops for Ava. She started to make me nervous for her health again during that trip, so I began researching vets in the area we were stopping for the night. I found one and called to make sure they could get us in. They were so nice and while there wasn’t much they could do, I did get piece of mind that she no longer has pancreatitis. We got her a supplement to help her liver, more anti-nausea meds, and some food.

Photo of the stinker waiting outside. 

Back again... 

♥️🐾

Back at camp, we ate leftovers and went to bed.

At least for a little bit.......

(To be continued) 

Day 1: Can You Move Your Flowerpot, Please?

      Sunday, May 2nd 

 We made it on the road in the correct direction on Sunday and headed to Natural Bridge!! 

  We stayed at a JellystonePark again because they’re just too much fun and there’s so many things there to tire out a 3 year old before hitting the road. 

  Tim got out to check us in to our site and we were escorted by golf cart by a lovely man named Danny. He told me that there was a guy that hadn’t been driving a trailer very long, take a turn (the one we were about to make) too short and took out the side of his trailer and part of JellystonePark’s roof. 😳 So we’re like “Okay, we’re gonna NOT do that.” 

Tim swings it way the other way and we almost took out a large pot of flowers..... 

  Once we moved the flowerpot, we got to our site and set up to make dinner! 

After dinner, I took Mason to the jumping pillows to get out some energy before bed and honestly, we both had a blast running and jumping! 

After Mason was in bed, it was time to relax by the campfire! 

Day 0: Which way is West?

  

This post is labeled day zero because not only have we not made progress towards Cali, we have actually managed to travel more east! I’ll explain: 

We stayed the night on Friday at the Newport News Campground and really enjoyed the spot! We were greeted with pizza by our dear friends and had a great night chatting by the fire while the kids ran around in the leaves. The next morning, we realized we hadn’t had enough time to really do any of the things for the camper that we would have liked (organizing, grocery shopping, etc.) because we were so busy cleaning the house, doing the final walkthrough, and about a million other things. To really round out this day, the auto transport company we originally hired to get my car to California, totally fell through and left us scrambling to find a new company the same day we were set to start our journey west. Eventually, we found a great company but that meant leaving my car behind. Thankfully, we have the best neighbors in the world and they’re going to help us out with getting it to the auto transport company! (Shout out to the Price Fam!) 

So later that morning while we were at Walmart grocery shopping, we decided that we wanted to stay another night to really get the camper prepared. Tim calls the campground and we find out that they are completely booked up! It was a quarter past 1pm at this point (mind you, check out was at 12 but check in for the next people starts at 2) so we start panicking. We thought for sure we’d have a fine taped to the camper waiting for us. We finish checking out at Walmart after waiting in line for about a half hour and sprint to the truck with our groceries, get to the camp site and go full Formula 1 pit crew mode. I’m running around throwing the groceries into the camper, Tim is lifting the stabilizer jacks, putting the sway bar on the truck, Mason is yelling “I pooped!” from the window- just absolute mayhem. We pulled out of our spot at 2:05. Crushed it. Well, almost. 

  Tim asks me to look for another campground nearby that we can stay at for the night and I hop on Google maps. Now, I feel like it’s important to know that I have ZERO directional abilities. If I ask where I’m supposed to go, I don’t need phrases like “head south and then turn right to go west.” I’m looking for an address or name that I can put into my GPS. Or “turn right at the Chick-fil-A. Things that I know. I’m not Lewis and freaking Clark, okay? Moving forward: I see that there’s a JellystonePark Campground nearby!! If you don’t know what that is, it’s basically a campground resort and they’re all amazing! They have tons of activities for kids, jumping pillows, water slides, etc. I got so pumped about it that I had NO idea where it actually was located. I thought it was 20 minutes away in Williamsburg. Nope. Here’s the route we took: 

Here’s what we could have done if I knew what I was doing and we paid a mere $4 toll: 

Needless to say, I lost my job as navigator. 😅

When we eventually got to JellystonePark, we quickly set up camp and Tim took Mason to the pool while I started dinner. 

Two of our closest friends visited us at this campground too and we had a blast drinking by the campfire and posed the age old question: What sound does a turtle make? 

Here are some pics of our time at JellystonePark!