Six months and a little break

While we have been on a little break from travel, first at Grandma and Grandpa's house, then up on our family's annual trip to Hampton Beach, NH, we passed a major milestone of six months on the road. We have traveled a vast distance, and been blessed to see things that most people never see in their lives.

We traveled from CA to NV to AZ then UT (back to NV and AZ), CO,NM, TX, LA, MS, AL, FL, GA, (back to AL, MS), TN, AR, (back to TN), KY, (back to TN), NC, SC, (back to NC), VA, DC, MD (back to VA, DC, MD) DE, NJ, NY, CT, MA, NH and now, back to MA for a total of 25 states (and DC) in half of a year which is a very nice even number, half of the states in half of one year.

Over the course if the next few months, we'll tack a few more states onto our list as we venture back to the Thor factory for rehabilitation of the RV. I'm torn as to what I am looking for from this rehab. On the one hand, I am grateful that they are going to fix the things that are broken and whatnot, but on the other hand, I am not confident that it will be enough, and that the issues we've had will continue, particularly with systems that have never worked properly such as the windshield wipers and the jacks.

The windshield wipers were not initially a huge issue, however the fact that they've been tended to six times and still malfunction does not make me confident that they'll be repaired completely and properly. The jacks have had repairs to the electrical system, hydraulics and the motor and they are still not properly set to auto-level.

I almost hope that they'll offer to take the darn thing back and just let us start over, but at the same time, our six month journey has been in this RV and despite it's flaws, we have come to love the Bratmobile and call it home. Hopefully something can be done to rectify the issues, but I am not feeling confident right now.

Beaches of NH are lovely

An amazing sunset

Sunrise with the flags at half mast, in front of the monument to those lost at sea and to war

End of the line for now

Today we drive what is one of the most harrowing parts of the trip for me - through New York and up to Grandma and Grandpa's house. If I were smart, I would have planned to go around, but I'm not that smart sometimes, so we proceed leaving the Naval Weapons Station at Earle, NJ and heading up the Jersery Turnpike and through the city on 95. If anyone has a few prayers to spare, well, I'm sure I can use them!

The last week was a nice, relaxing time in DC, if that is possible. Dancing Grandma was still with us, and we explored the city a little. It was hot, it was humid, and it was a lot of fun. We took an afternoon walk through the National Mall, and our first trip to the WWII memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam Wall. It was interesting to be there the fifth of July and I was impressed at how well the Parks Department was able to clean up the grounds overnight, as I'm sure my fellow countrymen did a fine job of leaving trash everywhere, although I like to hope it was just a tidy crowd.

It was nice to go back to the Museum of Natural History, which has always been the kiddos' fave. We tried to do the Museum of Air and Space, but it was so crowded that all of the hands on stuff was nearly hands off, which was a little hard to handle. We also took an evening drive up to the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, and walked the waterfront for a while.

We stayed at Andrews AFB for a few nights and the kids were a little sad that we couldn't stay until Saturday or Sunday as the lady in the office said that the President comes to golf there regularly and Secret Service allows guests to say hello and shake hands on occasion,  Um, no thanks, not sticking around in the hopes of shaking the hands of a man that may not even be there. Besides, he was at my graduation when I got my Masters, as the Guest Speaker and I was unimpressed then and probably less so now.

And today, well, today will likely be hell, but as always we will make it through, and hopefully, the people waiting at the other end of the bridges and tunnels of NYC will make it all worth while, much better than shaking hands with the silly president!

Possible light at the end...

We were sitting at the Hotel, waiting for my mom's shuttle to arrive from the airport and eating breakfast, when my phone rang. It was a representative from Thor, who offered to pay for us to drive to Indiana, and put us in a hotel, while the reconstruct the entire coach and fix all of the things and make better all of the stuff and make it like new again. They wanted us to come beach week, but I told them we'd roll out there the first week in August.  Sooooo, perhaps we'll be back on the road and rolling smoothly on the last few months of our adventure.

We picked up the RV and things seemed to be all better, optimism abounded. Mom joined us and we headed to Seymour Johnson AFB, where we stayed for two nights. We headed to Cape Lookout and junior ranger badge #22. We took the ferry to the lighthouse and beach, and a beautiful view of a lovely part of NC. The recent shark attacks off the coast have ensured that the kids were smart, and stayed in the shallows for the most part, but we all had a really lovely time.

We also found a place to stay in greater Virginia Beach for the rest of the week, at a brand new park in Chesapeake, VA at the Naval Support Annex, and booked five nights for the holiday weekend.

Only, when we went to leave the Air Force Base, the mega slide that runs the length of the driver's side of the car, would not close. I cycled it off and on over and over to no avail. Ended up calling Thor, and then calling a mobile tech, who, in conjunction with a group of Air Force guys and civilians, disconnected the motor and manually pushed the slide in. )sigh( So much for being able to travel in peace and comfort. Once the slide was in, we cannot open it back open until after we return from Indiana, which means we all scrunch in and deal until after beach week.

We finally hit the road, late, in time to drive up to Chesapeake, VA just in time for the evening rains. Which were hard rains, which of course meant that the windshield wipers stopped working. Which of course meant missed turns, and long, slow windy roads to get to our destination. In the rain. With the wipers working only sporadically.  It was a blast. Again. And, of course upon arrival, we cannot open the slide and the kids, who would normally be able to run and splash in the puddles, cannot because there is no where to dry off and spread out and have any space to breathe in the house. So they were cranky and we were cranky and it was generally a bad day. Early to bed because the next day has got to be better, right?

I mean, after all, my most favorite girly had a fifth birthday to celebrate!

Cake, balloons, presents and her favorite foods, pancakes and sausage for breakfast, steak and green beans for supper, ice cream and junk food in between, made for a pretty perfect day. We ended the evening driving around looking for fireworks, but again, the rains took over and we ended up missing them, because they held them early due to the rains.

On the fourth, we headed to Maryland to visit our cousin Tracey before she moves to Florida. We're hoping the rain holds off and that we are able to watch fireworks tonight, perhaps from our hotel room. The window looks to be in the right direction. Who knows?