Plans Change

DAY 1: SATURDAY, JUNE 7TH

So i really, really, really planned this trip. From everything organized in a 3 ring binder to several typed lists, to shopping weeks in advance. I even had a typed itinerary with mileage and time travel for each leg of the trip. Everything lay organized on our garage floor. i was soooo prepared..... the laundry was even 90% complete which was a small miracle. kyle and i picked up the RV at 1:00 and planned to leave around 5:00pm. No problem, right? WRONG! At 11:3opm we were still running back and forth from the house carrying a variety of necessary items. Thank goodness our friends marc & julie were at the house keeping us sane and helping out or we may still have been packing the motor home. i'm not sure were i went wrong in the planning for packing, but we didn't roll outta there till 12:30am..... and i forgot stuff! HA!

Destination #1: Las Vegas

We wanted to be there by 11:00pm Saturday. But hey, plans change... i'm flexible. My dear, determined husband decided to drive all night. Of course, the visions of poker tables and roulette tables danced in his head. i really tried to stay awake with him, but i had stayed up late the two previous nights downloading an awesome playlist for this roadtrip. i conked out in the back bedroom at some point but awoke every hour worried he was falling asleep at the wheel. He did great. We arrived around 6:30am and he went a played his hand of poker. And no he didn't win or i would not be sitting here in this RENTAL.

DAY 2: SUNDAY, JUNE 8TH

We were on our way. The kids were so excited to be in the motor home as they slept the whole way the night before. Josh has his own private loft above the cab. Give a kid space and he will fill it. 2 guitars, a longboard skateboard, 2 sleeping bags, his duffle bag, and a pillow. That's only the stuff i witnessed him hauling up there.

Destination #2" Bryce Canyon National Park

We had to stop at a Wal-Mart before we headed out of Vegas for those few things i forgot. As we were about to leave Kyle noticed the tires were not looking 4000 mile roadtrip safe. So we called our Travel Road Side Assistance to get the tires replaced. We then sat at Goodyear Tire for 6 hours. Yes, 6 of us sitting for 6 hours. That was fun. All the tires needed replacing and the spare was a blown tire. SOOOOOOOOO, we headed out of Vegas around 2:00pm. But hey, i'm flexible... plans change. I drove as Kyle was in desperate need of sleep. I had a blast the first 20 minutes singing and driving. i love being on the road! But then my eyes got super heavy as i was working off of 3 nights of minimal sleep. i ended up making it 71 miles and then i had to wake him up. Poor guy. But he was a trooper. i fell asleep for about an hour and awoke to another change of plans. We were on our way to Zion National Park instead of Bryce and for no specific reason it was just the route kyle chose. Hey, plans change, i'm flexible. ????

Zion National Park was beautiful. We all enjoyed the scenery and the mile long tunnel. Of course we had no reservations as this was not the plan. After calling half a dozen places with no vacancy we came across a small RV campground which ended up working out just fine :) The kids got to roast marshmallows that evening. We all slept very well. Here is where my first "ism" comes in. Kyle asked Josh if we should turn the heater on for the night. "Oh NO! I'll be super sweaty and hot! No heater." I think we all thought we woke up in Alaska this morning! Kienan had abandoned his sleeping bag sometime in the night and joined kyle, kiera, and i. So there went my covers. i then found josh wrapped up and hidden under kienan's abandoned sleeping back. FREEZING! FRIGID! on went the heater.

DAY 3: MONDAY, JUNE 9TH

We quickly unhooked and packed up the motor home. We wanted to get on the road as early as possible as we were headed for Yellowstone National Park. 14 hours of driving!

Destination #2: Yellowstone National Park

We were all loving the AMAZING drive! Rolling, green hills. Red Barns. Exquisite rock formations. Breathtaking, Relaxing. And then there was this river we were driving parallel to. Picture perfect river and kyle assumed full of fish. So we stopped, bought fishing licenses and fished. You would have thought he won the Utah lottery (does Utah even have a lottery?) when that boy caught an 18 inch trout. He was on cloud nine and decided we were staying. But hey, plans change.... i'm flexible ???????? Well we fished some more and the decided that since Bryce Canyon was so close we should go.

We went. We arrived at Sunset Point which we were told was a MUST. Of course we decided that the spontaneous 1.3 mile into the gorge and back out again with 3 little kids was a super idea! Josh came up with another good one. He claimed we wouldn't be needing any water as the air was breezy and cool. "No one will even be sweating." HAHA!! But, i never even imagined that something so beautiful existed. i don't think any of us did. It was the most magnificent hike i have ever experienced. Even better was the fact that the whole family LOVED IT! Kienan and Mackenzie hiked the whole thing. Kienan climbed on rocks and Kenzie fell a few times. Kyle carried kiera in a backpack (he gets some extra brownie points there). i did have to bribe them (that's including kyle) with Otterpops during the last half mile :) That last half sweaty mile UPHILL. Along the way we met some great people. i always love that!

We came back to our fishing spot and caught some more fish. Kyle really wanted the kids to catch their own as they each have their own fishing pole. They fished for over an hour. Rode bikes and just hung out in the motor home. Kyle, josh, and kienan built us a fire pit. Hamburgers, beans, and roasted marshmallows were on the menu tonight. I told kyle this was exactly how i pictured it. The scenery, the smells, the chaos that comes with camping. kiera has even been enjoying herself for the most part. She's not super fond of the actual driving part, but loves to roam the motor home when we stop. We sat down tonight to figure out our destination for tomorrow. AND... it's predicted to snow in Yellowstone for the next 2 days. hey, plans change... so i'm throwing the itinerary in the fire pit. We will reconvene with a map and a night's sleep tomorrow morning over a camp breakfast of eggs and pancakes. i guess i'll let you know where we end up!