Trading Keels for Wheels

Andy was quite the superhero during our couple of weeks in Fajardo. He worked on the boat by day, planned everything by night and still managed to squeeze in nerf gun fights and pool time with the kiddos. I helped with the boat projects, cooked, gave pep talks, and built massive forts in the apartment. Massive. He arranged for us to rent a (f&cking awesome) truck in Texas and we found the perfect little trailer in Wabash, IN. Why couldn't we just get a trailer in Texas? Because, well, we're REALLY picky.

At the eleventh hour, Andy booked us on Spirit Airlines from San Juan to Dallas, TX via Ft. Lauderdale. This is us not catching the spirit in a stupidly long check-in line minutes before boarding was scheduled to start. We had to RUN to the gate and were the last to board. But it was really exciting and scary to sit down on a plane and realize everything was out of our hands. The boat was left behind and we were hurtling toward a random place where we hoped to rent a truck in order to drive to a place where we hoped to buy a trailer. So we celebrated by sharing a Spirit Airlines combo meal: two bottles of Jack Daniels and one can of coke. 

With two flights the kids each got a turn in the window seat. Teds and Flour enjoyed the trip, too.

After a late arrival we collapsed at the lovely Red Roof Inn. Bonus - we found two cans of Mountain Dew on the dresser! In the morning we got a ride from the truck rental place to pick up our gigantic truck, Fred.

Back to the hotel to pack up, run a ton of errands around Dallas and hit the road! Here we are dwarfed by Fred. Yes, we are wearing the same clothes we traveled in. Typical. 

Our first full day in the US involved breakfast at Denny's and lunch at Chik-fil-A. Someone who shall remain nameless had one of those "buy something so I can use the bathroom!" emergencies at Starbucks. It's always good to have kids and dogs around to blame things on. We got as far as Yukon, OK that afternoon and learned how to use Hotwire to get great hotel deals. It really works! We ended up in Yukon to buy a Honda generator someone listed on craigslist. I feel like we're always just winging it. Every single day. The next day we wised up and stopped someplace more civilized for lunch. It's so chic and popular it doesn't even need a name.  

One of our favorite movies is National Lampoon's Vacation. And one of our favorite scenes is when they drive past the St. Louis Arch and then get lost in downtown St. Louis. Watch it again. Hilarious. 

Outside of Indianapolis we went to Target and stocked up on a bunch of essentials. Then this sky developed and we had to shove everything into the backseat with the kids. We could hear them but couldn't see them.  

Three long days of driving and bad road food brought us finally to Zoomer's RV in Wabash, IN! Here's Andy learning the ropes on Ginger, our "new" temporary home! 

These guys loved setting up their cozy bunks. The bottom one has been set aside for the stuffed animals because we never go anywhere without 400 of them.

Fred and Ginger hooking up for the first time.

It wouldn't be a USA road trip without picking up a gun from Walmart. And some groceries. And using the loo.

Our first campsite! We were so excited. This was the first time in months that the kids were more than 5 feet away from us. 

Breakfast outside on a nice summer day is always made extra special by the presence of delightful short people.

We liked the campground so decided to stay another night and see the local amateur circus. 

The performers are all younger than 18 and it's a big deal in this small town.

It was hard to get pictures but some of the performers were really little and some were really daring. A few go on to perform in the big traveling circuses.

Saying goodbye to Boots at Honey Bear Hollow. We really miss having a kitty! 

Day 2 and we already got pulled over! The temporary registration wasn't properly displayed. We got away with a warning. 

Indiana has some really nice rest stops! We were driving as far as possible every day to get West and to the sites we wanted to see. It's really helpful dragging your house everywhere you go. You can take food, bathroom and leg stretching breaks whenever you need to.

Andy was still getting used to driving and towing and these huge truck bays made it easier. 

If you look back at our post from Salinas you'll see the wind farm we visited. It was so cool to see the parts of the same exact turbines we had visited trucking along the highway. Look at the size of that blade!

How can one go from hating to loving Walmart in the course of a week?? Pushing your grocery cart from the store right to your house is AWESOME. Unless you live under a bridge and then it's terrible.

Andy likes taking these vanity shots of Fred and Ginger. 

Another great midwest Rest Stop to take a break and have a picnic. This one in Iowa overlooks Nebraska and South Dakota. These little things were helping us get through endless fields of corn, soybeans and cows. 

Cubby and her bunnies went all the way to the top.