Day 2: The Great American Road Trip

On the road again, I just can't wait to climb in the back of the van again, I'm squished between two seats with my family and my friends, I just can't wait to get on the road again! 

So today was a LOOOONG day in the car, about 9 hours to be exact when you account for bathrooms breaks, food, and sites.  It is safe to say that I do NOT have a future hidden career as a trucker.  We saw some cool stuff today as we traveled from Rockford, IL to Worthington, MN.  We decided not to stop into Madison, WI (one of my favorite cities in the country- because it was only 1.5 hours from our starting point.  ALL through Wisconsin I kept reminding my hubby of how much I love the state and what a great place it would be to live.  I told him I would probably be saying the same line at our 60th anniversary!  He didn't laugh... 


So in the travels today we crossed the Mighty Mississippi.  J and I decided we should rent a house boat on it one day!  Who wants to join us?

 

Next on our list was the SPAM museum.  People you will not believe this place.  It is an entire museum devoted to SPAM- you know the canned ham product.  By the way it was free and crazy nice.  I had NO idea that SPAM was such a popular food.  They produce 44,000 cans an hour and cannot keep up with the demand.  So what I want to know is who of you is eating all that SPAM???

I forgot to tell you I got all my Christmas shopping done with the SPAM gift sets!!

I would call this place a must see- just for the fun of it!

 As you can imagine Minnesota is pretty much farm land and wind farms for as far as the eye can see. Little did I know though we would meet HO, HO, HO Green Giant along our journey.  Check it out my five guys with the BIG guy.

So another safe day on the road with some once in a lifetime fun spots on the way.  Tomorrow we gonna meet the presidents.  Who can guess where we will stop tomorrow?

Day 1: The Great American Road Trip

We are all smiling, happy people minus the dancing!  J and his dad hit the road in VA at 7am this morning and made it to my folks house a little before 6.  The managed to dodge an awful storm that swept through Indiana and headed onto to knock out power to Virginia.  Go Team R!  After a few mishaps in my dad's packing "I can't find my glasses."  "Where did I put my cell phone?"  We repacked the mini-van, although I am not sure you can call it mini with 5 adults and 2 children, 6 carry-ons, 2 sleeping bags, two laptops, one big camera, snacks, and tons of toys for the boys!  I am happy to report that it ALL fit!!  That was a proud moment for me, and a HUGE sigh of relief! 

 We piled in and made it all the way to Rockford, IL. (about 1.5 hours from Madison, WI)  But wait, the story does not end there- I found a room that sleeps all of us on beds for $80 and includes breakfast!!  Don't worry I did a thorough bedbug check before letting anyone enter the room and sprayed down the pull-out with Lysol!  Good night!

Road Map

I cannot sing the praised of the AAA TripTik planner enough.  It allowed me to map out our whole trip using different tools for lodging, national parks, and activities!  I have used this program on and off all year planning and am excited to say I JUST PRINTED the final!  I have tons of extra sites to see on the way in case we are tired of driving and need fun stuff to do in between stops.  Here is a basic outline of our trip.

Packed Up and Ready for FUN!!

Well after a year of planning in 5 days we will hit the road for our cross country road trip!  I have been packing for this trip for months and am totally excited to see if all our things wll actually fit into the mini-van. 

 Each of my boys will have a bag hanging in front of them full of fun activities.  Items include:  Water color paint, travel connect four, travel bingo, notebooks, small toys, white boards, etc. 

 We have 20 bags full of toys.  I am going to put these underneath the back seat in small boxes so we can pull them out. 

 Grandpa and Papa also have their own bags with earplugs, Tylenol, eye masks, crosswords, and hand santitizer. 

Snack Box fits RIGHT in between captains chairs

Travel Journals!!  Watercolor sketch books.

Cereal box = Trash container

Household bin