Epic Family Roadtrip

So here's a little recap from the Epic Family Road Trip.

Some crazy numbers from our trip.

Total miles: 4,650

States visited:13

Gas Money: $705.80

Bathroom stops: yeah right, like we could keep count

Days we saw rain: 2

We really did expereince amazing weather and very limited traffic issues.

IHG's favorite experience: The Alamo

GBG's favorite experience: Shootout at Boot Hill 

(she didn't like it, but cannot stop talking about it)

Megan's favorite experience: Bud Jones' Taxidermy (summed up the whole trip)

Brad's favorite experience: Westcliffe Rodeo

Some cool moments: seeing a lightening storm from afar in NW Texas, walking onto the field at Texas Stadium, IHG writing a report of the Alamo on his own, shaved ice in Chattanooga, talking to the sous chef at Franklin's BBQ about Charleston restaurants, campfire at the cabin, driving into Texas and seeing 75mph sign, dinner in Houston at Crawfish and Noodles, visiting Community UMC in Westcliffe, stumbling upon the Black Bison Pub in Syracuse, KS, driving up after my hike on my birthday and being greeted by my wonderful wife and children. They made me a cake:

And then, of course there was this:

What an amazing time. I am so thankful for the time away to be able to spend it with my family. I am truly blessed and loved every part of it, even the tough moments. I don't want to call it a 'once in a lifetime trip' because I hope to have many more like these, but it will be hard to top this one. It will sure be fun trying though.

Last Hurrah

I will admit, I am anxious to be home. In spite of that feeling, we spent the day as if it was our first on on the trip, meaning we did whatever we wanted to do and were not worried about time.

Leaving Nashville, we made our way to Chattanooga, TN, which was just going to be our lunch destination. We found our way to the part of the city called the North Shore and to a restaurant called the Brewhaus, a German place over looking the river. Pretty cool place.

GBG trying to figure out what to order.

Kids were ready for some food.

One of the cool things about this part of Chattanooga is that there are dance steps on the sidewalk. So we had to try it out. 

GBG doing the Mambo

Then we had to walk a little ways across the river.

And then a visit to the splash pad at the river front park.

After our visit, we made our way to Atlanta for a great dinner with Abby at Chateau Siagon, a Vietnamese place, which was amazing. (Thanks Abb!) And then it was on to Augusta for one more night away. 

Tomorrow, we pull back into our normal life in Charleston, SC (whatever that looks like), but I can promise you, this trip has provided us an opportunity to explore and be crazy and has drawn us closer together. People would roll their eyes and mumble something about us being crazy when I told them what we were doing before this trip. "18 days on the road? With two young kids? Sounds like..." Looking back, I can honestly say that our experiences have been far more amazing than I ever could have imagined and I would not want to change one part of it. Ok, so maybe I would check to see if the Big Apple Inn in Jackson, MS was open on Mondays. But other than that, I wouldn't change a thing. It has been a blast. And the bar is set incredible high. We figure four years from now we can look to do it all over again, maybe with a northern route next time.

Four states in one day

Waking up in the mountains of Missouri, we were able to appreciate the beauty of where we were a little more. After breakfast, we briefly played in the Current River which ran next to the park where we stayed. 

We then loaded up and started to make our way back east. The only place we really got out today and enjoyed was our lunch stop. Our travels found us at the spot where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers come together. This has been an extremely important place throughout the history of our country, from the Native Americans, through the explorers, and into the Civil War era. Here the kids are putting their feet in the convergence point. The green on the right is Missouri, the land beyond the two boats on the left side is Kentucky, and we are standing in Illinois. Three states in one spot.

The unfortunate thing about the place is that it is not kept up at all. I suppose the state of Illinois is responsible for it, but chooses to not really do anything with it. As important as it has been throughout our nation's history, you would expect more. It honestly looks like a place you would hide a body or go to make a drug deal. And yet, we saw probably a dozen people come to visit it while we were there (and not for the reasons mentioned).

After lunch, we plowed on through Kentucky and ended our day at Megan's aunt's house in Nashville. Thanks to Auntie M and Uncle Larry for having us and for some great hot dogs and hamburgers. We are so blessed to have a great family to spend a small bit of time with throughout this whole experience.

Slowly but surely we are making our way eastward. And a few days from now home.

Catching up a bit

It's been a little while, so just a quick update in case you were worried about us. The Stone Family Reunion was amazing as always. Great to see Megan's extended family from all over the midwestern states. Golf on Friday was fun even playing as poorly as I did. Both of us fared fairly well in the Ten Point Pitch tournament (midwest card game). In an interesting twist, I was paired with Megan's mom Kathy, and Megan was paired with her sister Abby. And we had to play each other in the first round of the double elimination tournament. Like I said, both teams made a decent run overall. :)

What was fun this year was to see IHG connect with his fourth and fifth cousins. Those boys played hard, a lot. Here they are eating a meal together:

Of course, GBG couldn't get enough of the babies. Here she is with her fourth cousin and her Grannie Great:

At the conclusion of the reunion, we drove up to Manhattan, KS to visit Megan's uncle Steve and his wife Whitney. They are always happy hosts and it was amazing to catch up with them and hear about all the wonderful things going on in and around Manhattan. We even got to see some local wildlife walk right up in the backyard. 

Monday morning marked the beginning of our journey back to SC.  Leaving Manhattan, we drove through Overland Park, KS, where the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead is located. Having been there four years ago, we remembered how great of a place it was for the kids to see some really neat things as it relates to farm life. So for a few hours we spent time looking around, eating lunch, and playing.

It was fun even if the goats got a little mouthy, literally.

From there we drove down deep into Missouri where we spent the night at Big Spring National Park in a cabin. It was a beautiful drive through some of the Ozarks and imagine our surprise to find a herd of deer in a field right below our cabin.

I think it is fairly official that all of us are ready to be home. A few more nights with family and this Epic Family Road Trip will be in the history books. Even now, it feels a lot like this picture:

Like the setting sun in our rearview mirror, we are coming to a close on a trip that none of us will soon forget. Thanks for going along with us.

"Let's get the heck out of Dodge"

No, literally. The above words were uttered today. Our morning got off to a bit of slow start, simply because we didn't really have to be anywhere super early and the kids actually slept in a bit. We stay in the Dodge House, reportedly one of the oldest homes in Dodge City.  Inside had all sorts of interesting stuff related to the Wild West, including some animals that had been stuffed.

Our day was really centered around a visit to Boot Hill Museum, the replica town that was built like it was back in the mid-1800's. It was named Boot Hill because that is where they buried the bodies of the victims of the violence back then. We lament about how violent things are today. The reality is that it has always been that way. But I digress.

IHG got to experience drinking a sarsaparilla at a bar that was built in the 1880's. 

And GBG learned a quick can can dance. She wasn't too into it.

And of course, this had to happen:

But the highlight of course was the gunfight that happened at high noon.

And so one minute is was all:

And the next it was:

Before we literally 'got the heck out of Dodge', I had to get a quick picture with my boy Wyatt.

After Dodge City, we made one pit stop in Greensburg, KS. This town is famous because it was completely destroyed by a tornado in 2007. It has since rebuilt itself, making nearly the entire town 'green' and energy effficient. It is quite a pretty place.

We then made our way into Wichita where we joined with family for dinner. Of course they had a special plate for me since my birthday was yesterday.

All in all, another great day.  So tomorrow marks the beginning of the Stone Family Reunion in Heston, KS. Not sure we'll be on here much. We may check back in as the travelling adventures continue on Sunday.

"Take A Hike"

Seeing how yesterday was my 35th birthday, my wife thought it was a good idea to tell me to 'take a hike'...literally. For my birthday, Megan and Abby volunteered to take care of cleaning up the cabin so we could leave and take care of the kids while I went and attempted to scale a mountain...again literally.  The peak that is most prominantly visible from the cabin is Horn Peak, with an elevation of 13,500 ft. I had asked earlier why no one talked about hiking that one. I kind of had hoped that I could one day do it, never thinking that my 35 birthday would be the day.

So a little after 6:00am, I loaded up a bag, took a picture of the trail with my phone, hand wrote some instructions, and hoped on the ATV to drive over to the trailhead. 

To the peak was 4.5 miles, but like several mountains out here, there is also a false peak, which was a 4.2 mile hike. Considering I haven't run in a few months and am still nursing a sore ankle from an accident less than a month ago, I was pretty happy to make it 4 miles in and only a thousand feet or so from the false peak, especailly considering the hike was categorized 'strenuous'. That was no joke. 

It kicked by 35 year-old butt. I also took too little water and was thinking the whole time about needing to get back to help pack up and leave.

Pulling out, our destination for the evening was Dodge City, to do a little Wild West learning. Of course, along the way we had to do a little exploring.

(Junkrassic Park, Cheraw, CO. Guy designed stuff using old farm equipment.)

We found dinner in Syracuse, KS, at an amazing restaurant called:

It uses all local ingredients and serves amazing food. My Bison Burger was great and GBG loved her chili.

Back on the road again.

We had to stop at the Gray County Fair, that we passed on the road.

In spite of having to move the clock forward an hour as we moved back into Central time, it was an amazing day and a birthday I will not soon forget.

At the Cabin

Another blessing of having Abby, Megan's sister, with us is that she is a good photographer. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our time at the cabin. It sums up what it has been like over the last few days. We are so thankful for time away to experience this amazing place that the Short's (Megan's mom's side of the family) have called 'home away from home' for 60 years or so.

(IHG & GBG holding hands melts my heart)

We leave in the morning to begin heading back east and will miss this place until we return.