We just passed the three month mark on our trip.  It seems like it has flown by, but at the same time we all agree that Wisconsin feels like ages ago.  Overall it has been fantastic — we’ve already seen so many amazing sights.  Geysers, volcanoes, glaciers and their crazy blue lakes, beautiful mountains, alpine valleys, hot springs, rain forests, tide pools full of colorful life, more waterfalls than we can count, pine forests covered in fog, giant old growth redwood forests covered in moss, pacific beaches with violent waves crashing against rugged rocks and piled deep with driftwood, dark skies and the Milky Way.  Plus the wildlife!  Grizzly and black bears, bison, mountain goats, moose, elk, deer, otters, seals, sea lions, marmots, fox, prairie dogs, bald eagles and hawks, banana slugs, gray whales and humpback whales.  And to think…all of this has just been in the top west portion of our country.  And I haven’t even included any of what we’ve seen in the cities.   We couldn’t have hoped for more.

As for day to day living in a camper, we’ve definitely figured out a lot and have gotten somewhat into a groove.  Our setup time when we get to a campground is down to about 30 minutes.  We’ve gotten much better at conserving water and can go several weeks without hookups (visiting the water/dump station occasionally).  Dennis and I had to adjust our sleeping setup a few times before we found what would take the least work every day and also cause the least pain in my back.  Wyatt is getting great at building a fire, and Maya is jumping in on it too.  

We’ve gotten a bit more flexible about making adjustments to our travel plans on the fly too…we just left Portland because it was wet and cold and the next several days looked equally yucky, while just 2 hours away there were clear skies.  So we left and went to the coast, stopping at a winery on the way and spending the night at a french cheese farm.   We could have stayed in Portland and put all our rain gear on and had a fine time.  But why?  There is SO much to see on this trip and even though it probably seems like we are going EVERYWHERE, the list of places we are skipping by is far, far longer.  You could spend a year in any one state and not run out of cool things to see.  The most painful decision/realization we had in planning the trip is that we just have to choose a select number of places to see and enjoy and be okay with missing some of the places others call “must sees” because if we try to see too much, we will not get to really enjoy and soak in anywhere.  

We’ve also figured out good spots to store most of our things that are inside the trailer.  The kitchen stuff, pantry, our clothes and toiletries, the kids school books, and our computer and camera gear.  Surprisingly, we did a pretty good job stocking just what we would need before we left…we’ve only added a couple of kitchen items, a few pairs of shoes we decided we needed, an electric pump for the standup paddle boards, and more books.  Basically, we have everything we NEED, even if we don’t have everything we want.   What we DO wish for is more storage space for large items.  Airstreams just don’t have a lot of underbody storage, like the other trailers do.  We really, really would love to have somewhere to put the SUPs (we put them inside when we go from place to place), the cooler, the leveling wedges, and a small grill for the campsites that don’t allow fires.  We’ve made do without it, but it sure would make life easy to have at least one good outside compartment.   

So, what would each of us say is the top, bottom and most surprising elements so far?

The Best, so far:

Dennis:

The coast of the Pacific Northwest. I had high hopes for the Pacific Northwest. I’ve always imagined big pines and lush forests, but the beaches have been unexpected and outstanding. The rocky shores and borders of pine-filled hills are stunning. Maybe it’s because they are so different from the beaches in the Gulf, but I absolutely love them.

Fellow campers and locals. If you ever doubt the goodness of humanity, visit a campground. Everyone you meet is so willing to offer a hand or give you tips on places to visit. Whenever people find out we are from out of town, they can’t wait to tell us about their favorite things to do in their town. Civic pride is strong and alive across the US. 

How amazing our national parks are.  Can’t say enough about all of the parks we’ve visited so far. They’ve been incredible. From stunning vistas to most beautiful lakes I’ve ever seen. At times it almost doesn’t seem real. And don’t get me started about the Park Rangers, they’ve been friendly, helpful and simply awesome. 

Nikki:

Our time in the national parks, and especially some of the tougher hikes we have done.  That’s where we have seen some of the best sights and animals, but I’m also impressed with my kids and how well they have done on hikes that are longer than 4 hours. 

Reading.  I used to be an avid reader (as in 2-3 books a week!), but the past 10-15 years I’ve had to scale WAY back for all that happens with kids and work.  I’m reading again!  And I love it. 

Staying on BLM land out in the fields all by ourselves.  That night was so good — the kids loved shooting the bb gun, we got to see dark skies, and it felt like we had the whole giant open space to ourselves.  Which we did, except for a few cows.

Wyatt:

Mountain biking in Jackson.  I didn’t know I would like it as much as I did.  

The beaches.  Some of them are rocky and I like that, but I also like playing with my sister.  

The amusement parks and how many we’ve gone too.  I only expected to go to two or three for the whole trip, but we’ve already gone to three!  And we went to King’s Island and Holiday World right before we left for the trip.

Maya:

So much time to hang out with my family.  More than I get to at home.  Because we aren’t at school or work it fits in more time to hang out. 

St. Louis City Museum.  Amazing!  So many things to climb on!  Must do if you have kids or are a kid!

Earning all my Jr. Ranger badges at the national parks.  

The not so good:

Dennis: 

Solar/trailer issues and visiting three different Airstream service departments.  I think we started to unravel a sweater when we started messing with our solar. The most shocking thing is, no one (and by “no one”, I mean every Airstream service department we’ve dealt with) really, truly, understands solar – but they all claim to be “completely confident” in what they know.  

Wyatt’s bike getting stolen.  All of that earlier stuff about the goodness of humanity is still true, with the exception of whoever  stole Wyatt’s bike at Pacific State Campground. For shame!

Crowds at the National Parks. Everyone in America should take advantage of our National Park system, just not at the same time.  At a few of our earlier stops the crowds have been crushing. And rude.

Nikki:

Public bathrooms.  Dirty, stinky bathrooms; dirty, stinky, cramped showers.  So many places smelling like urine or worse.  Vault/pit toilets, even when they are as clean as can be are still just not good places to be.  I’m just really over all the bathrooms.  There’s not much good to say about them except that they meet a need.

Homeschooling.  I just don’t feel really good at it.  Maybe it will get better.

Conversations with family and friends.  I used to call my sister 4 or 5 times a week during my work commute.  I talked to friends and work friends on a regular basis.  But not with an audience…I’m almost never alone now, and it feels weird to pick up the phone and call someone and have a long conversation when you have three people sitting with you.  And they have to stay quiet and so it’s kind of rude to them too.  

Wyatt:

So much driving and car time.  Feels like we are in there for days. 

Don’t get to see our friends and family.  

Miss my home and the town of Louisville.  I wish we could stay in our house for Christmas.

Maya:

Car time.  Just sitting in the car looking out the window can get boring after 4 hours.  

How hard it was to clean those crabs we caught! Not worth it!  Fun to catch the crabs but not to clean them.  Gross and very messy.

That we don’t have a big, fluffy cat along with us. Missing Lola so much!  Love her….

The things that have surprised us:

Dennis:

People confusing our accents for foreign countries.  So far I’ve had people guess we’re from Australia (2), England and a whole lot of “not from around heres.” In all fairness, one person admitted, “I’ve never met anyone from the South before.” So maybe it’s just about exposure?

How many miles we have put on the truck.  (9030.4 so far, to be exact!) I had a discussion with a friend before we left town about how many miles I thought we’d cover on the whole trip. I thought about it, and gave a padded answer of “maybe 25,000 miles.” Clearly I underestimated.

The lengths of hikes we’ve (but especially the kids) have accomplished. Never would have guessed we would have taken multiple 5+ mile hikes so far, let alone a 13 miler. We’ve had plenty of tears along the way, but the kids have been absolute beasts. I couldn’t be prouder of what they’ve accomplished. Not to brag, but Nikki and I have been champs too 😉

Nikki:

How big our country is.  I should be ashamed of this one, because of course I know how big it is.  But the reality of choosing a campground that is “really close” to a national park on the map…and it turning out to be 90 mins from your destination is an eye-opener. 

I can’t get anything done!  When I was home and stressed and so busy, I would start the day with a list of 37 things to get done, and I’d get 32 of them done.  Now, I start a day with three things to accomplish and about half the time I go to bed and haven’t gotten any of them done.  How is this possible??  Apparently I need pressure to be productive and my self perception of being self-motivated is flawed.  😮

I’m not cooking much. With all the amazing regional food that we want to sample it’s hard to get motivated to cook in the camper.  We drive into a town and see cute restaurants, fancy restaurants, local hideouts, and brewpubs….game over.

Wyatt: 

How big the US is.  Everything takes two times longer to get to than it looks like it will.

How many people are from KY or have relatives in KY.  Almost everyone we meet has some connection to Kentucky.  

How much we eat out.  I didn’t expect to eat out as much as we do.  We eat out twice as much as we do at home. 

Maya:

How much I liked BLM camping and shooting the BB gun.  Didn’t think it would be that fun, but you are out in the middle of nowhere having peace and quiet and it smells great if you are camping where we were.  

That I was able to hike 13+ miles.  But the glacier overlook was not worth it!  The hiking would be easier if we didn’t do the glacier overlook.  So hard and not worth it.

The Harvest Host sites are cool.  No matter where you are, lavender farm or regular farm, so fun.  You get to see all the farming stuff.  They also usually have animals to pet and play with.

Bonus: 

Everyone is surprised at how hilarious Maya is.  We knew she was funny, but she has us in stitches on a regular basis.  She has 3 recurring characters she does, with voices and backstories and all, and she is FUNNY.  If we start you-tubing her, maybe we won’t ever have to come home!