What a ride!

What began on a whim, turned into the best days of our life.  Driving into the sunset watching the landscape change put a smile on our faces everyday.  We had nowhere we needed to be, no one expecting us, no time constraints, not a care in the world.  People would ask for how long we would be gone and my only reasonable answer was anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months...lucky us, we were out for 4 ½ months! 

A huge "Thank You" to our friends for taking in mail, plowing us out (80+ inches of snow) and keeping on eye on things while we were gone! We live in the best neighborhood!

This was a once in a lifetime trip.  We will never be in this exact situation again where we can easily homeschool the kids, have our Scout with us and just like the NH State motto, Live Free or Die!  To experience all these different places with the ones I love the most, making memories that will last a lifetime, has been priceless.  

I never took for granted how lucky I am in the spouse department, and it has become clearer everyday just how lucky me and the boys are.  Scott was our rock.  He was the driver, the shopper, the RV maintenance guy.  He was the chef extraordinaire (homemade bread anyone?), keeping our bellies full, and all of us healthy.  He was the educator; teaching them math, showing them educational videos and discussing science, technology, and history to open their minds.  He was the chief fire builder and teacher, he kept us warm, he kept us safe.  He gets the boys showered, he braids my hair.  

Many of you have asked what we would have done differently.  It's hard to say because we never had a plan.  I think everything worked out well, we experienced so many different things but left plenty of undiscovered gems out there to be lured out again!  

I am so happy that I stuck with this blog, and took lots of photos.  It was a ton of work and along with planning the trip as we went, it took up a lot of my downtime.  Thank you to all my family and friends who told me they were reading it, looking forward to it and loved it. That's what kept me on track and focused.  

Every family has a story, and this is ours.  Thanks for following on our journey.  I truly hope we have inspired others to take their own journeys. When you do, I will be there following right along!

By the numbers...

1 crab dinner

5 cowboy hats

6 lost teeth

23 states 

77 blog posts

135 days on the road

1,150 gallons of gas

6,500 photos

11,000 miles

One Grand Adventure: Priceless!

~Linda, Scott, Jack & Tyler along with Scout

Raleigh, NC

March 15-18

We drove about 200 miles into Raligh, NC and got to squeeze in one last visit with a college friend from Spain, Calleen.  This year is our 25th anniversary of our time in Spain and think a reunion trip, along with a Michelle, is in order!

We arrived on Saturday afternoon to a warm welcome from her new Ewokian puppies, Renzo (Lorenzo) and Iggy (Ignacio).

We went to my Mom’s friend’s friend’s sister’s brother’s Dad’s wife’s brother’s sister’s cousin’s uncle’s brother’s niece’s house the next day.  No, it was just my Mom’s friend.  She had 2 dogs.  They were so cute!  Their names were Iggy and Renzo.  Iggy was smaller and he put his ears up a lot.  He also wants a lot of attention.  Renzo was the biggest of the litter and crawled onto you and played with his toy.  We had a lot of fun with them.  It was already getting late.  

The next day we went to an NHL hockey game.  It was the Hurricanes Vs. the Oilers.  My Mom’s friend, Calleen, let us wear her jerseys.  It was military appreciation day.  Along with the food carts, there were a lot of things were the military showed you like guns, and you could sign up, it wasn’t cool.  Who would encourage people to go out and kill during a hockey game?  I didn’t like it when they showed some little kids their guns meant for killing hoping someday they’d join the Army.  When we got our food, we went in to see the players practice.  Once the game started, people were going insane.  The part I didn’t like was that they kept showing things about the military, and propaganda.  The reason why I am saying this is because I hate war.  Why should people go out and kill to “defend” our country?  I just don’t get that.  The game was pretty cool.  There was even a fight. PENALTY.  We had cheesecake after the first period.  The last two periods went by like a blur, mostly because I was half asleep.  We came home to the whining dogs.  They were so excited!  That night we watched Despicable Me 2.  I wanted to watch more, but we had to go to bed.  That was Sunday.  

The next day we had school.  Colleen also had to go to her work.  We watched the dogs , watched movies, and watched them play.  It was so funny to see what they did without us around.  After that, we went to a bowling alley.  That was where Calleen had her meeting.  It was a cool place.  They served you food.  I went for the heavy balls and I finally paid the price.  My fingers were really hurting and I lost.  The next game I went for the lightest ball.  I let Tyler at least get second to last because I saw how grumpy he was.  That night it was getting late again.  The weather was getting cold.  We needed to get back to our cozy home.  We had half ‘an hour left ‘til we had to go to bed.  We watched a dinosaur show.  The next day we said our goodbyes, and packed up and left.

~Jack

This guy reminds us of Petey back home :) 

We had a nice time catching up with Calleen and her and I stayed up way too late Saturday night!  So much fun reminiscing thru the old photo albums.  Here is one of us from 1995!

Sunday afternoon started off at the local Farmer's Market.  Along with some fresh veggies, I couldn't resist this necklace called the Tree of Life.  I bought it directly form the artist...love supporting the local folks.

Calleen treated us to a NC Hurricanes hockey game. She has been a season ticket holder for years.  The boys got all decked out in Hurricane gear...Tyler was calling them the Tornadoes!  We had never been to a pro hockey game and this was such a fun experience to add to our memories!

We had planned on leaving on Monday, but snow storm Wiley was headed right into Washington, DC and into our travel path.  We are just hanging out here for another day and making sure it is safe to drive.  We figure we are about 3 driving days from home now.

Happy St. Patricks Day!  Calleen had a business meeting at a fancy bowling alley so she left us her car and we joined her over there later in the afternoon.  We had a lot of fun bowling and all of us even got strikes!  It was great catching up and so nice to have a nice home to relax in instead of being stuck in the RV.

I think I am ready to push on home...thanks to Calleen, I have all the essentials!

~Linda

Huntington Beach, South Carolina

March 13-15

Huntington Beach State Park

Seriously, are we at another state park? We can’t keep this whole no-Wi-Fi thing up.  We’re at Huntington Beach State Park.  At least they have a beach.  We got there pretty late, so we didn’t do much.  I did see the sunset with my Mom.  I had to keep my hands in my pockets as we biked over there!  It was a nice wetland kind the whole path!  When they went through an aviary, we were able to escape.  We came up to some otters and they were so cute!  They did flips of the wall, and swim around.  They could play all they wanted of place.  Herons, sand pipers, egrets, and alligators, oh my!  We went to three different places for the sunset.  We went to the first boardwalk, and it was nice.  There were a few sandpipers, and a heron-or was it an egret?  I couldn’t tell.  The second place, it wasn’t as good.  It did have signs that talked about the animals, but we were here for the sunset.  Then, we went to the beach. Out of all, the beach was the best place.  The sky was orange and pink, a perfect mix.  We came back to a nice warm dinner of chili.  The next day, we went to Brookgreen Gardens.  The first thing we did there was see all the animals.  The first animals we saw were the Tunis Sheep.  There was even little lamb, Caesar.  Those were Tyler’s favorite.  The next up was Red Devon Cows.  They were pretty boring.  They wouldn’t even MOOOOOve!  The only thing they really did was lick their snot. There was this tour group that was so big!  It took up because they were taken care of.  We saw some alligators, and at the fox enclosure, one of them started walking.  Tyler said “Look, a fox is moving!”  My Mom started snapping pictures.  I ask “Why don’t you get excited when I walk?”  That even got a few strangers to laugh.  There was another aviary.  This one had owls and vultures.  “I’m not sure I want to be trapped inside a cage with these birds” I said.  We went to the cafe there and had a nice lunch.  It was an avocado, apple, turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, with Dijon honey mustard on berry bread.  After lunch, we went to see the sculptures there.  They were really cool.  I liked the animal one because they didn’t have to wear clothes.  Apparently, the statues of people didn’t either.  Tyler was ready to go early. Like always, Dad took off with him.  We stayed and read poems etched onto stones, and saw more statues.  My feet were killing!  Eventually we left.

~Jack

As you enter the park, you pass over the causeway: on one side is a managed freshwater marsh impoundment known as Mullet Pond, on the other are the tidal salt marshes of Murrells Inlet. Full of biking trails, boardwalks over the salt marshes, one can observe over hundreds of species of birds and their resident american alligator.

First, we’ll survey the freshwater side of the causeway. If you keep your eyes on the skies, it probably won’t be long before you spot our national emblem, the bald eagle. 

Once an endangered species, these majestic birds have made a great comeback. In fact, a pair of these birds are currently nesting right across the street from the park in Brookgreen Gardens, and they spend much of their day feeding over the park’s wetlands. Believe it or not, these birds breed in the middle of winter rather than in the spring. Because they are nesting, this is a great time for watching the eagles pirate fish from ospreys over Mullet Pond. It takes a lot of fish to feed eaglets, and the parents will stop at nothing — even thievery. 

Brookgreen Gardens

Set on a 300-acre parcel in the heart of a 9,100-acre preserve along the South Carolina coast, Brookgreen Gardens is a beautiful sculpture garden with a wildlife sanctuary. Comprised of four former rice plantations, Brookgreen was the first public sculpture garden built in the U.S. The garden was opened to the public in 1931 by its founders Archer and Anna Hyatt Huntington. Mrs. Huntington's works are featured along with other prominent American sculptors.

Although this is not the best time of year at the gardens, it was still a beautiful place to walk thru.

About 1444 works of American figurative sculpture are displayed. Many of the works are creations of sculptress Hyatt Huntington, but other artists are also featured. Walkways and garden paths link the sculptures in their distinctive garden, fountain, or landscape settings, with vistas of the scenery surrounding them.

And the last sunrise on the South Carolina coast. And a big Thank You to my Jack for motivating ME out of bed!

We will be home soon!

~Linda

Edisto Beach State Park, SC

Now we are staying at Edisto State Park for a couple of days.  We had a nice spot, close to the beach and bathrooms.  We went down to the beach and-OUCH!  Dag-nabbit, dem nasty burs got meh again!  I really don’t like burs.  Once we get to a place with them, we go crazy.  At least I do, I don’t know about anyone else.  One time, they found their way into our RV via our shoes and were everywhere!  You couldn’t walk bare foot without being pricked.  So anyway, I took, it out of my foot, got a splinter there, and then got one in my hand.  I could take the one in my hand out though.  

We played around the beach for a while.  There were so many shells!  When we were walking back to our RV through the campground I was looking at a small trailer and thinking: That’s a cute little trailer!  That’s when I walked into a tree.  Tree hugger.  My Mom wanted to check out the area on a bike ride.  She couldn’t get Tyler to go, so it was just my Mom and I.  We peddled along the road, but then we saw a bike trail.  We went down there.  It was going through the woods.  There were a couple of bridges going over the murky, grassy, water too.  There was one sharp turn that when I turned, since the ground was sandy, I slid towards a tree.  I missed it by at most an inch, phew!  We biked all the way to the end, and there was a boat ramp with a little dock.  I biked up it and my Mom got some shots of me on the edge.  She made it look like I was biking on water.  The ride back seemed short, mostly because we were going downhill.  We looked around for ice cream places when we got out of the woods because it would’ve been perfect, but no luck.  

We went to the sunset after a few hours to a small little dock that we saw earlier.  The sunset was too cloudy. The next morning we went looking for more geocaches.  

The first two we had no luck, but when we went on the trail, we found it.  When we got really close, we read it again.  The only part I heard was an ammo box, and a cool tree.  Everyone was looking hard, but they couldn’t find anything.  I was just wandering aimlessly like I always do, and then I saw a pretty cool tree.  I dropped my bike, and walked over to it.  Through the branches I could see a box.  Why would that be there? Then I snapped out of it and realized it was the ammo box.  I yelled for everyone to come over.  My Mom wanted to take a video of my Dad opening it.  When he opened it, Tyler said “Look at all that…..junk.”  That had made us laugh.  It was useless stuff.  My Dad found a signature log, and I wrote The Hadwens.  That would’ve made a good ending, wouldn’t it?  In fact I’ll put that same line on the real ending. Well no, there’s more.  

When we got back, we took a break, and hung out for a while, but since my Mom can’t stand always being in the RV, we went for a beach ride.  The bad thing in ride is that you need to ride something. In this case, that something is our bikes.  The sand was too mushy for my Mom to do, but my Dad, Tyler and I could do it.  Tyler got splashed, so he went back with Dad.  On the other hand, there are more fingers.  I mean, I almost got soaked.  I realized I was slowing down and going nowhere fast.  There was a big wave coming, and I had to make up my mind, and fast.  I chose chicken and jumped off and ran away making clucking sounds.  At least my seat didn’t get wet. There were piles of shells!  Out of all of them, you would think it would be easy to find a good one.  I did find a few nice ones though.  We found a nice place for the sunset.  The beach was weird because there was a wall that made the beach uneven and it helped made big sand cliff.  If you have ever stood on the edge of one, you would know that they collapse.  I didn’t realize what it was when my Mom wanted me to stand on the edge of it so she could take a picture.  She got her picture, but then the ground below me was no more.  A big wave was coming, but I bounced right back up before you say “Uh oh” I just sat down on a pole with my feet dangling over the waves.  It felt nice, with the wind in my face, watching the sunset.  We watched for a while then we finally decided it was time to go.

~Jack

Edisto Beach State Park is located just one island north of Hilton Head and is full of hiking and biking trails that provide a wonderful tour of the park.  These trails were really nicely groomed, lots of boardwalk bridges over the marshland and we found our first geocache in the State Park.

Click here  and you can see and hear the boys reaction to opening up their treasure. #priceless

I have never seen so many shells! It looks like someone came by with front end loaders and just dumped them on the beach. It was like kneeling in glass to get that shot! 

cool shapes in the clouds

If you want to see some video of Scout on the beach, click here and here.

There was a bit of a chill in the air today, then, when we were on the beach we would get a blast of warm wind.  It almost felt like it was a warm fire blowing on us...it was something I had never experienced before today. It was quite windy overnight so maybe it was a warm and cold front coming together.

And, look Dad, among all the things Scott can do, he also braids! 

Time to get this show on the road and move a bit further up the coast for one last beach stop before we head inland.

~Linda