Trip Report: The Perfect Family Trip!
EDIT: I wanted to add this link here at the beginning. Ragusa's Summer 2014 Trailer Hello friends! We have been home for two months, but I am just now feeling like getting to the trip repo...
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The Final Chapter: The long road home...
Here we are, at the end of the journey. About 1500 miles separating us from our own beds again!
We took I40 east from Kansas and stopped in St. Luis to see the arch.
It certainly is amazing, but fighting with St. Luis to get to it was not fun. Road construction, lack of parking... It's definitely one of those "been there done that" type of stops. We were there a total of 2 hours, and that was plenty. Personally, I could have done the drive by from the interstate.
My sister in law from Wichita hitched a ride back to SC with us. We were 5 in the truck for that final stretch. This was the only part of the trip that I felt the drone of the highway...nothing left to look at, exhausted and ready for a real house!
We picnicked at rest stops and stayed at a Walmart one night and got home in 2 days.
A few thoughts on home: As we crossed through the Appalachians and in to SC, we had a new pair of glasses, a new perspective. As envious as we've always been of the beauty out west (and it certainly is), we all said at about the same time, what a beautiful place we live in! The mountains, the thick, thick forests, the mist and low clouds...it was more beautiful to us now than it had ever been. The mountains aren't as tall, and the views aren't as long, but it has something about it that trumps everything else. It is home.
This shot is just 15 minutes north of our house. As we came down this grade and could see our home town in the distance, we were greeted with a double rainbow! My wife says it was our welcome back from God. I tend to agree.
Lastly, as the truck sat in the drive, I noted the data from the trip. Maybe I should have made a trip around the block for that last tenth of a mile?
I was about to say, "in closing", but I don't think I will. It would be too hard to type it. And besides, I hope that this thread doesn't close. I hope it remains and pops up once in awhile to be used as a tool for anyone that might do similar. I know I'll be glad to add more stories to it!
Thanks to everyone for participating. Not only your own stories here, but all of the help from this forum in the year prior to the trip. As mentioned earlier, sharing a passion is important, and sharing it with all of you has been lots of fun.
Here we are, at the end of the journey. About 1500 miles separating us from our own beds again!
We took I40 east from Kansas and stopped in St. Luis to see the arch.
It certainly is amazing, but fighting with St. Luis to get to it was not fun. Road construction, lack of parking... It's definitely one of those "been there done that" type of stops. We were there a total of 2 hours, and that was plenty. Personally, I could have done the drive by from the interstate.
My sister in law from Wichita hitched a ride back to SC with us. We were 5 in the truck for that final stretch. This was the only part of the trip that I felt the drone of the highway...nothing left to look at, exhausted and ready for a real house!
We picnicked at rest stops and stayed at a Walmart one night and got home in 2 days.
A few thoughts on home: As we crossed through the Appalachians and in to SC, we had a new pair of glasses, a new perspective. As envious as we've always been of the beauty out west (and it certainly is), we all said at about the same time, what a beautiful place we live in! The mountains, the thick, thick forests, the mist and low clouds...it was more beautiful to us now than it had ever been. The mountains aren't as tall, and the views aren't as long, but it has something about it that trumps everything else. It is home.
This shot is just 15 minutes north of our house. As we came down this grade and could see our home town in the distance, we were greeted with a double rainbow! My wife says it was our welcome back from God. I tend to agree.
Lastly, as the truck sat in the drive, I noted the data from the trip. Maybe I should have made a trip around the block for that last tenth of a mile?
I was about to say, "in closing", but I don't think I will. It would be too hard to type it. And besides, I hope that this thread doesn't close. I hope it remains and pops up once in awhile to be used as a tool for anyone that might do similar. I know I'll be glad to add more stories to it!
Thanks to everyone for participating. Not only your own stories here, but all of the help from this forum in the year prior to the trip. As mentioned earlier, sharing a passion is important, and sharing it with all of you has been lots of fun.
