The saga continues

Soooo, in our continuing saga, we found ourselves in Pigeon Forge, with jacks  that were jacked up and slightly fixed, but not completely. We did manage to get the oil changed. We found another RV park that we could afford to stay in, thanks to the Passport America program, and stayed two nights, only to prepare to leave, and have the jacks get stuck in the down position. We were unable to raise them for about two hours, before we found the solution, and found a way to lock them in the up position, so we could at least drive.

While we stayed in Pigeon Forge we did our best to get the kids their twenty first junior ranger badge at the Great Smoky Mountains. Their badge was very different from the others we've done, in that every activity had to be a Ranger led program. They had a vast schedule of activities, but they were each on an opposite side of the HUGE park, meaning hours to get from one side to another. We had a very hard time collecting all of the requirements, one time we drove to the location, and missed the turn, on an eleven mile loop and therefore missed the activity. The next day, we drove all the way over the mountains to the other side (a full day), only to find that the program we tried to attend didn't start until the following week. It was very frustrating, but we managed to make it work. Eventually.

We drove to the other side of the mountain, in the RV and it was a nerve-wracking drive up and then down the mountain, but we made it, and found a place to spend the night, not too far from the end of the national park. It was a Jellystone Park (Yogi in the Smokies), but to be honest, I don't know that I'd stay there again, it was expensive and tight and not very comforting, but maybe that is just me (plus, not being able to drop the jacks, or extend the slide).

I was glad to hit the road again, and we drove toward the only military base we could get into, Shaw AFB with an eye toward setting up and finding repair shops and a little down time, only while we were there, the AC went out on the car. And we got bounced from our spot at the RV park and ended up in overflow, running electric off of a splitter from someone else's site and generally being disappointed and frustrated by everything. We tried to go to a national park in the area, but it was closed on Sundays, which I knew but had forgotten, and it was over 100* outside, so we couldn't really do a ton, no hikes or whatnot. Generally just frustration everywhere, but I did finally find a place to get the jacks worked on, in Myrtle Beach, SC.

So, we traveled to Myrtle Beach, found a place to stay that was WAY out of our price range, but near the repair shop, so we made it work. While awaiting repairs, I noticed that the walls around the girls' beds were literally falling away from the walls of the RV, with a gap of over an inch at the top. I called Thor, again, and they said they'd ask our repair techs to take a look at it. Unfortunately, there wasn't much that they could do as they didn't have a ton of workers there, and the jacks were already taking more time than they should have.  But they did get the jack motor replaced, so that was a plus.

We left Myrtle Beach at about 5:00 on a Friday afternoon, jacks working, bunks out of commission, but Thor had found another shop to work on them Monday morning, in Statesville, NC. So all we had to do was get there. Night one we made it to Lumberton, NC, and a newly-acquired KOA campground where they were very nice, and took good care of us. We considered staying a second night, but there were tornado warnings in the area, scheduled for the afternoon, so we headed out, only to hit the rain storm, and have the windshield wipers stop working. Again.

Lightning, with thunder less than a one count away, and we ended up making it only about an hour away to Fort Bragg, where we got into the RV park for one night only, again with no bunks, and girls sleeping in my bed and the couch and whatever else. But we were able to hit a commissary and grocery shop, a much needed trip. Sunday night we parked in one of the worst RV parks I've been too - very close, with trees in the way of driving, so they hit the top of the RV as you drove through, very nearly scraped the side of the RV and/or car a few times on trees, but we made it to our spot, only to find that we couldn't find a level spot, so was went to the office and tried again, and in our second spot, got into level. We went to the pool for a while, and relaxed a little and cleaned a little. I was happy to be able to extend the slide and have some space.

The upside was that this park was less than 20 minutes from the repair shop, so we dropped the RV first thing this morning.  Hoping they reset the zero on the jacks (make it easier to level), fix the windshield wipers, and get the bunks put solidly back into place so the girls can sleep comfortably in them again.

In the meantime, we are in a hotel for tonight, next to the airport in Charlotte, as my mom is flying in tomorrow. RV parks in this area are very expensive, and it was actually cheaper to stay here, with free breakfast in the morning, than to get back up to Statesville and into the RV, and frankly it is nice to not worry about things for one day. Plus, the hotel has a shuttle to pick mom up from the airport! Score!!! Tomorrow night... well, we'll see.

Epic weekend

Sitting in the house in an RV park in Pigeon Forge, TN, a park that I really appreciate being able to enjoy thanks to a new discovery, Tents for Troops, I suddenly hear banging and feel the house shaking. Since the kids are in the front room watching Wild Kratts, I don't suppose it is them, but I get up to investigate, find them sitting quietly, and decide to open the door. This is when I remember that the camp host had mentioned that we'd have a lovely view of the fireworks from Dollywood out our window, and sure enough, we pile outside to enjoy the show. A great ending to a fabulous stay that, while not free was certainly a very good deal for us.

Over the last week, we traveled first to Fort Campbell, KY, which was a horrible place for me, no internet, no television, no cell service, difficult to find, and although technically on base, not behind the gated part of the base, which made for an interesting crowd. We stayed the bare minimum amount of time there, although I will say, the kids wanted to stick around for another day because they had an amazing pool with a bunch of slides and such, but I couldn't be budged. ;)

From Fort Campbell, we traveled up to Mammoth Cave National Park, and celebrated H's birthday. We stayed at a nice park, Singing Hills RV Park, with kind hosts (Beth and Eldon - nice to hear that name!) that was just about right for us other than the fact that we didn't have access to a sewer set-up, and we were parked under a tree that dripped sap onto the RV, and it is now desperately in need of a good washing. We enjoyed having WiFi, and it was about as close as you can get to Mammoth Cave without staying in the park itself.

We took the introductory tour, which was my only opportunity to go into the caves, and B & I had a chance to at least see the Rotunda and a few other short passages. The kids earned their twentieth Junior Ranger badge, and H celebrated his tenth birthday with the cave exploration, followed by Birthday milkshakes at Zaxby's and a trip to the theater to see Avengers:Age of Ultron.  A quick store-bought strawberry shortcake and a free ice cream treat from Beth and Eldon rounded out our gluttony for the afternoon.  We finished the night trying to fish at the RV park, which was disastrous, likely due to my ineptitude getting his fishing pole set up and re-lined and re-lined and so on, plus the banks of the pond were so muddy that we all slipped at least once into the muck, and we had no access to laundry, which was a little bit of an issue when C took a tumble into the mud.

Homemade biscuits and gravy and sausage, breakfast of birthday boys everywhere

A rare photo of the five of us at Mammoth Cave entrance

Entering the cave

Don't look back - you can't chicken out now!

Ceiling in the Rotunda

The wall behind us in the Rotunda

Cool cove on the outside

Our post-tour hike

Crazy monkeys

Birthday cake

As the second part of H's big birthday weekend blowout, the three oldest took a Trog Tour, for 8-12 year olds (okay, we fudged a bit on C's age, but H really wanted him along for this, so C & K played twins for this episode of our adventure). I think the kiddos really had a great time, they came up from the cool caves sweaty, dusty and smiling.

Preparing for the Trog Tour

Helmets on

My blue eyes, Frank's everything else

Feeling pretty froggy impersonating an eight year old

Whew, they made it out alive

Taking off all of that gear

But, he did say that we lived up to his expectations set last year that his "big" tenth birthday should be "epic." Where does he get this stuff? Following all of this excitement, I think coming here to Pigeon Forge was a good idea, a chance to get a little down time, and I found a place to get the oil changed in the RV.

Except...

We arrived with an eye toward relaxing for the afternoon, doing a basic set-up and hitting the pool. The host set us up just in front of the pool, which was lovely, and since it was in the high 90's, and terribly humid, we took quick advantage of that cool water. I tried to set up and set the jacks, and someone turned on the air conditioning, which popped a breaker on the house batteries, which interrupted the jacks going down, which left the back jacks down, front jacks half way down and an error on the control panel which would not allow me to move any of them. I called the place that was going to do the oil change, and find they are the best known mobile service provider in town, so it was fairly convenient to reschedule the oil change for AFTER the jacks got fixed.

The mobile tech ran the jacks through a few sequences, and finally cleared the error from the control panel. He was then able to run the jacks through their paces, and they still weren't budging so he tapped the side of the motor, and low and behold, the motor worked again and the jacks operated smoothly three more times before I let the guy leave. The representative from the company who makes the jacks, Lippert, says that they'll cover the costs of getting them fixed. I'll hold my breath. It only took about four months to get a check from Ford, but at least this was a smaller wallet hit.

By the numbers (warning, there is a video embedded)

Nearly five months in, we have been through fourteen states, twenty-one National Parks (Monuments, Memorials, etc included), and thirty RV parks. I feel a little like we're running out of time on our adventure for the year and trying to decide where to go next, and what we have to keep on our must-see list. A year seems like so long, and in some ways it is, but in other ways, it goes by in a blink. I do know that the kids need another place, soon, that we can stay in one place for a week or so and not worry about moving or having to be anywhere, so I'll be looking forward to see what and where and when.

Since I last posted, we did finally make it to the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, and the kids LOVED it. We had a few issues when we first got there that soured me a bit on the experience, but I love that it has rekindled in K her desire to be an astronaut and to do the things it takes to work for it. I think that if we do end up back in public school, we really need to get her into a school that focuses on the sciences, and I know there is a Science Magnet school in our old district, so perhaps she'll have to leave the language programs and hit those science books a little harder. She is committed again to the concept and I certainly want to nurture that. H and C loved the robotics lab and could have spent the entire day there if I let them, but then we would have missed the rides out back. Who knew they had rides? I certainly didn't. Just three, but it was enough to cap off our afternoon, before we rode on down the road again.

Welcome to Huntsville!

See? They did send monkeys to space

The robotic platypus

K was the clear winner on this, hanging well over 90 seconds

C flying a jet pack

Astro-B

Don't distract me, mom, I'm landing the shuttle

Running through the missle and rocket park (to get to rides)

This has always been one of C's favorite rides

On the back of the lunar rover

Hanging with B as the other kids experienced G-force (she was too short)

Checking out a helicopter

B wanted to take a ride, but alas, it wasn't an active helo

The exhibits were impressive

No, seriously, this is all about monkeys in space

We left Alabama and headed west again, staying on base at Millington, TN (in the outskirts of  Memphis) along the way. West, you say? Well, on the way east, we had considered going to the Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas, but as we debated the issue, minor tornados had begun in the state and we had no desire to be a part of the evening news, standing in front of where our RV used to be, talking about how quickly the storm swept our home away, so we continued on east at the time. But, K was persistent that she really wanted to mine for diamonds, so we eventually turned back and camped out in Little Rock for a few days, during which we did eventually go mine for diamonds. For those who haven't been mining at Crater of Diamonds, it is a whole lot less Snow White's dwarves, and a great deal more Field of Dreams. You don't mine in caves, rather you mine a big empty field, basically an excuse to play in the dirt for the most part. Of course we hit the beginning of a heat wave in Arkansas, and the bank thermometer read 91 degrees at 10:00, so going out in a hot field for more than about two hours was not in the cards. It was hot, sticky and a little muddy, and we didn't find the diamond of our dreams, but it was long enough. Plus, we had big plans to check out Hot Springs National Monument the next day, so it was enough.

While in Memphis, don't miss the Bass Pro Shop Pyramid

There is an elevator to an observation deck that allows a pretty amazing view

Downtown Memphis and the Mississippi River

It is a pretty long way down!

And, of course, there are the fishies inside

Holy Moly, were we all the way up there?

Also not to be missed, The Peabody Hotel

The duck house at The Peabody Hotel, a penthouse suite 

Where the ducks spend their days

They line up on the fountain when not swimming

B loved seeing the ducks up close

The Duck Master

Waiting for the duck walk

Hot, sweaty work mining for diamonds

maybe if I lift this up, one will fall at my feet

Nope, definitely under this one, though

A rare shot of the five of us 

Hot Springs was pretty cool, with a chance to look at the bath houses of the 1920's. A few of them have been restored for tours, and one is still active. I would have about traded away the kids for the chance to partake of one of the baths they offer, but for some reason I'm kind of attached to them, so I didn't. We also took the curvy road up to the top of the mountain and took the elevator to the top. to enjoy the view.

One of the few remaining exposed springs

The grand staircase to the Grand Promenade

An open pool of HOT water

C tried to tell the girls that it was hot, but they didn't want to believe him

Yep, even the fountains are naturally hot

Inside the museum at Fordyce Bath house - mens bathing area

Gratuitous shot of the stained glass above the kids 

Mandatory sign picture

I guess they didn't realize how slimy things get, and then we drink it? Eww!

View from the top of the observation tower at Hot Springs

The final sightseeing adventure was a trip to Little Rock Central High School to learn about the end of segregation, and I was amazed to see how young the children who fought to enter that school were. The youngest was only fourteen, and we talked a bit about how amazing they must have been and how determined they were not to let anything stop them from attaining their dream. I know I wouldn't have been able to walk up that sidewalk at fourteen.

 Working on Junior Ranger badge #19 at Little Rock Central

Answering questions about why LRCHS is so important to our history

Little Rock Central High School - five floors of importance

The highlight of our time in Arkansas, was definitely meeting up with a friend I've known for over ten years, after we met in a due date club online when we were both pregnant with our first born kiddos. Her daughter and my H are both June bugs, who are turning ten this month. Not sure why ten is such a magical number, but we were blessed to be able to join my friend and her daughters for some little celebrations of this big milestone. Our kids really clicked, and we felt so blessed to spend so much time with them, and share such a great time, The kids loved playing on the trampoline in the back yard, ziplining (also in the back yard) and swimming at the birthday celebration pool party our last night in Arkansas.

H heading down the zipline

C takes a turn - he must have gone 15x if he went once

Wheeeeeee

Crazy man

Mini Birthday celebration with homemade ice cream

Even H gets a candle in his ice cream

H bouncing B on the trampoline

My good friend lighting the crazy candle on her daughter's cake

Blowing out the candles, including the candle of death

We are now back in Millington (Memphis area), and the kids were excited to go back to the cool splash pad here on base, which is free and open whenever anyone wants to go. They always connect with at least one new friend when we go to the base facilities and this was no exception, which always warms my heart. Even B is getting better about not being shy, and opening up to talk to new people which is HUGE for her.

Splash pad!

Tomorrow we head east again, to the big birthday celebration that the five of us have planned for his tenth birthday. The kids are so excited and I think it will be my first trip to Kentucky, if I'm not mistaken. I think it is the only state that I have not been to, or at least the only state I cannot definitively remember going to. Therefore the five of us spend H's tenth birthday in my fiftieth state and the kids will likely get their twentieth Junior Ranger badge of this adventure. The numbers just add up.