Day 1 -- The Adventure Begins

After months of anticipation, prayer, and preparation -- we are finally on the road headed towards the East Coast. It has been a dream of Joe's for years to make a cross country trip, seeing interesting and historical sights along the way. Leaving our home and animals in the capable hands of friends and neighbors, we are embarking on our cross-country adventure.

As I got ready this morning, I prayed that if anything were to go wrong, that it would occur this morning prior to our departure. God is faithful and we did discover a leak in the chicken waterer which had semi-flooded the barn over the past 48 hours. After a quick trip to D&B (where the workers know us by name), and some elbow grease on my husband's part, the leak has (hopefully!) been repaired.

This leak was caused by a tiny rubber gasket found with a hole in it. Isn't it surprising how one little part can do so much potential damage??

As I was preparing the RV yesterday, I decided to take some pictures of our "home away from home" -- knowing that this would be the last time it would look this clean for many weeks :-)

This is where "the Man of the Place" (as Laura Ingalls Wilder fondly referred to her husband) will be spending his time. Bless his heart -- Joe is happy to do nearly all of the driving. We just keep supplying him with listening material, snacks, diet cokes, and an occasional conversation and kiss, and he is good to go for several hours.

The "schoolroom" has been transformed into two baskets filled with some review learning, reading, computer learning, colored pencils, atlases, and books. Isaac and Isabelle have a list of things to complete each day as we finish out our homeschool year. Josiah will be continuing his online college classes thanks so our MyFi wireless connection.

There's really only two things I'm concerned about as we travel -- 1. Tornados (please pray), and 2. laundry. We only brought a week's worth of clothes so I will have to get creative in terms of finding laundry facilities. Below is our family closet packed to the brim.

As our housesitter commented, our "kitchen" is a bit lacking in counter space. We generally eat one meal out a day while traveling. I will be searching out the "Whole Foods" stores across the country to replenish our supply of fresh and prepared foods as we go.

This RV has sleeping for 8 which includes 2 bunks. We usually just sleep with sleeping bags, but for this journey everyone was outfitted with sheets, comforters, and memory foam mattress covers.

View from the driver's seat. These pictures are with the slide-outs pushed out. It is a narrow ship while driving.

We are so blessed to have this traveling vehicle! We love traveling in an RV and are excited to share the ride with you as we go. Today we will head towards Utah --- destination unknown. We generally don't plan much on our vacations but instead plan as we go. I know this sounds crazy, but our lives at home are so planned and scheduled that we like to take a break and fly "by the seat of our pants" on occasion! :-)

Check in whenever you can -- we'll keep you posted!