Arkansas

When we finally got to Arkansas, we were pretty excited.  We were looking forward to seeing Dale, checking out his cabin, and starting our journey home. Dale and his friend, Scott, met us at a local gas station and then escorted us through the little town to his farm, where we would be parking the Bounder while we were in Wisconsin.  We quickly parked, unhooked the car, and headed up to the mountains to get a tour of his land and cabin.  It was beautiful!  There were acres and acres of woods, a river, a waterfall, and a pond.  We got bundled up and took a walk to take it all in. 

Dale showed us his bathhouse, outdoor den, garage area, natural gas reservoir, and tons of great views. 

Then we got a tour of his cabin. He made it himself and it is super cool.  It is only about 400 square feet, yet it is bright, roomy, and perfect.  

After admiring the cabin we headed back down the mountain for some mexican food.  We were having such a nice time visiting, that I forgot to take pictures!

After dinner, we said good bye to Dale and Scott and headed back to the Bounder.  We got the car all packed and everything ready to go.  Then we went to sleep for a bit, set the alarm for 5:00 am, and mentally prepared ourselves for a long long drive in a tiny Suzuki with two adults, two babies, two dogs, a trunk full of Christmas presents, and everything we would need for the next three weeks.  (But, so you don't worry yourselves on our behalf, with my amazing packing abilities it turned out just fine)    

Texas--the last leg

Since we were having so much fun playing at Hill Shade, we left kind of late.  And we had a lot of driving to do to get to our next spot.  As we drove we decided that we were going to get there so late and leave so early, that it would be dumb to pay for an RV park. So we found a nice Wal Mart just past Dallas and set up camp.  We were starving, so we immediately headed out to get dinner.  We found a pizza and salad buffet and filled our bellies and pretended to drive race cars.

Then we headed home.

The parking lot was so bright, that we didn't even need to use lights.  The boys spent the rest of the evening being monkeys in the dark.

The next morning we hit up the Wal Mart for some last minute supplies and then hit the road.  After another long day of driving, we arrived at our RV park in Texarkana.  It was wooded and quiet (until we got there) and really pretty.  The kids did their thing.   

While I graded.  I hadn't gotten much work done at Hill Shade, so I had some catching up to do. I sat here and graded even as we unhooked and drove away.

I finished my last paper while driving through Arkansas.  Then we stopped outside of a McDonald's so that I could hand back papers and post grades.  Then I was done and ready to enjoy my two week break!

Hill Shade

Our next stop was an RV park that we had heard good things about.  It was in a beautiful park of Texas, just outside of Austin, owned by a young couple with five kids.  We were pretty bummed when we got there and found out that they didn't have any spaces available.  But Michael invited us inside to chat and meet Christine and they ended up offering to let us just fill up with water and hook into someone else's power!  Then they refused to take any money for the spot.  After getting to know the Moers for awhile, Judah and I headed back home to bake them some cookies.  

Then we went back to their house to hang out some more.  Christine and I had a lot in common and it was great getting to know her.  And the kids were amazing with Judah and Sawyer--sweet and patient and fun.  It was hard to pull Judah away, but I promised him we would play with them again in the morning.

So we went home, Sawyer tried out the potty...

and then fell asleep in the middle of the living room floor.

The next morning, the kids headed outside to play.

There were fallen leaves there and Judah was really excited to be in fall.  He kept throwing the leave up in the air and shouting "it's fall!"

But he quickly forgot about the leaves when the kids started filing out.  Precious showed us her hoop and J and S took turns trying it out. She was a great teacher!

It turned out that not only was the park run by a young family, there was also a family of full timers staying there!  And they were from Wisconsin!  Alicia and Dan came over and introduced themselves and we spent a long time chatting about RV living, Wisconsin, and parenting.  It was so much fun getting to know another RVing family.

While I chatted, Judah played his little heart out.  He loved the trampoline!

We were so sad to leave.  We had such an amazing time and made some great new friends.  We can't wait to go back and do it again!    

Retracing our steps in West Texas

After we left Bowie, we left Arizona, drove through New Mexico, and trucked on into Texas. We were staying at the same places we had on the way to California, so it was a familiar--albeit dusty and pricky--journey.  The first stop was Junction.  The kids picked up right where they left off.  

Mark worked on fixing the dog leashes.

Judah braved the prickers to pick me some flowers.

He felt bad because I was stuck inside grading.  Just like our last time through this part of Texas, I had 50 10 page papers to grade in a very short period of time.  So, just like last time we stayed at these RV parks, I spent most of the time in the RV working.
 

 We left early the next morning to drive some more.  We got to Fort Stockton a bit before sunset.  They were cool about washing RVs there, so we ran to get some brushes and soap and the boys scrubbed three months of dirt off the Bounder as the sun set. 

Beans and I went to work using up the food in the fridge.  We would have to empty everything out when we left for Christmas, so we had some eating to do.  We made banana cake, guacamole, and nachos.

The next morning, we worked on eating it.

Then everyone played outside while I got some more grading done.

While doing a once over, Mark noticed that one of the tires had lost a bunch of air.  He thinks that maybe when they were washing the wheels, the cap came lose and the air leaked out overnight. 
 

Once again, AAA came to the rescue.  They sent out a repair guy with a giant air compressor.

Judah loved it.

Before long, we were all filled up and ready to hit the road again!

A few miles into the drive, Mark stopped to check the pressure.  Everything looked great, so we continued on.

Our final stop was the econo lodge parking lot.  Once again,the boys played while I graded. 

That night, Beans got an early Christmas present--a guitar!

And all three boys jammed together.

Then the kids painted while I worked some more.

The next morning, Judah doctored his pillow pet to prepare him for another long day for driving, and we were on our way.

Bowie, AZ

We were excited to be on our way.  Because we had lost so much time being broken down in various places, we had a lot of driving ahead of us if we wanted to be in Wisconsin for Christmas.  So we got in the Bounder and drove, drove drove.  We stopped here to get a blizzard at DQ...

And then drove some more.  When we got to an RV park in Bowie, it was almost 7:00.  The owner opened up the laundry room for us so we could wash the hotel filth off of our blankets, so we did some laundry and got the Bounder back in to living shape.  Then we took a break so Judah could put on his filthy John Deere work gloves, sit in a basket, and comb my hair with a broken hanger.  We sure know how to have fun!

The next morning the kids played outside for a bit while we finished getting things cleaned up inside.

The park is in the middle of nowhere, but it was really beautiful!

After breakfast and some silliness, we hit the road again for another big day of driving.