If you follow our other Social Media accounts, such as our Instagram, you know that we've wrapped Calypso up and left her floating safely on the dock in Florida. You also know that we've moved into our RV and have taken a trip of a lifetime across the United States on our way to San Diego where we will welcome the new baby into the family.
See ya soon, Calypso!
San Diego was our base when starting this whole sailing thing. I (Jeremiah) spent a lot of my time there while serving in the USMC and our older children live there. So it was fitting to head home so that everyone can be together as we bring the next child into our lives. Along the way to California, we planned on taking a sightseeing journey instead of heading straight to San Diego. Our trip was amazing! I thought it would be cool to recap it here. We'll be doing a few episodes on our YouTube series about this trip where you will get much more detail so I'll make this short and sweet!
First, an update! I'm typing this while sitting in San Diego in a RV park. We plan to move from park to park here for the next couple of months while we visit with family, friends, Brittany gets the medical stuff she needs for the pregnancy, etc. Calypso is great! Our friend and previous owner, John, is checking on her often. We have some canvass work happening as well as monthly washing and bottom cleanings happening. Other than that, it's all on auto-pilot. Rhys is attending all sorts of activities to stay busy and play with friends and I'm on an editing spree to get our video series caught up some.
Ok, let's go through this trip across the country! First stop....Nashville, TN.
Our family loves racing...Such as Motocross, we've always wanted to try out a NASCAR race. So we booked a weekend at the Ally 400 Cup car race, drove the RV into a field with a million fans and enjoyed the weekend! There was live music, movies in the park for kids and so much more fun here. We had a great time. When it was time for the race we sat in the stands in amazement as those crazy cars powered up and raced around the track.
Unfortunately we only got to see about 15 minutes of the race live as there was a thunderstorm about 8 miles way that shut the race down. They told everyone to shelter in their cars even though the storm was so far away....Guess some new insurance thing. We ended up going back to the RV. At about 9:30pm, while laying in bed, we heard the cars fire up and start racing again. So we watched on TV from the RV.
Our next stop was Gatlinburg, TN.
The Smokey Mountains! We visited Gatliinburg and stayed in the Margaritaville RV resort which was very nice. We only had one day to explore here so we took the Jeep and drove into the Smokeys and enjoyed the lovely scenic views!
Then we were headed north to Michigan! Buchanan, Michigan to be exact.
This little town hosts the Pro Motocross National race at Red Bud. This is a race that we've always wanted to attend. Being held over the July 4th weekend, it's the biggest party race of the year. Brittany's father made the 8 hour drive down from Canada and hung out with us all weekend. It was epic! Campfires, fireworks and great racing.
The weekend came to an end and we said goodbye to Brittany's Dad, he left for Canada and off we went...
Our next stop was the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. This sweet vacation destination didn't disappoint at all! It's HUGE and there are tons of things to see and do.
This lake is massive! We ended up renting a pontoon boat (no matter where we go, we always end up on or around water somehow) and we went lake bar hopping. Brittany had waters, I had beers. I know, it's not fair.
We visited the dam, shot fireworks off, watched people perform their own fireworks displays from their lake homes, went hiking and so much more. This was a great few days!
We stayed in the Ozarks for about 4 days I believe, then we started our journey West. Next stop? The Monument Rocks in west Kansas.
There are these chalk formations in the middle of miles and miles of fields in Kansas, You can drive all around them and explore the area. They're rich in fossils, it was a really cool thing to see.
That took about an hour to do. So we drove back to the RV, packed it up and off we went! Next stop? The Scotts Bluff National Monument in Nebraska.
With wikipedia and all that, I don't need to give you a history lesson but this place was neat to see. This is a spot that many settlers passed through back in the day. It was good to see and good for Rhys to experience as well.
Next up...Mount Rushmore.
I personally expected Mount Rushmore to be touristy and silly. Cool stone carving and all but nah....And I was wrong. Mount Rushmore is awesome. Not only is the monument well done with lovely views, a path where you can walk down under the monument and an awesome lighting ceremony at night, the area surrounding it is breathtaking.
There are a ton of RV and camping places around here, we stayed at a KOA resort. Kids activities (like Rhys' marshmallow gun build) and so much more. We ended up renting a UTV and explored the back country for hours all alone. It was really great, I would not miss this spot if you want to travel the country.
Next? Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
Beautiful mountains that you can hike up. Waterfalls and so much more! We also took a trip to Jackson Hole which is a ski town. Some famous people live here such as Harrison Ford, Nikki Sixx and more. We had a great lunch followed by some ice cream before driving back to the RV for the night.
We were stationary for the next few days so we could make the 1 hour drive into Yellowstone National Park to explore each day.
You can type a million things about Yellowstone but I'll just post some of the photos we took.
I'm not too sure you can beat Yellowstone...But we continued on! Next Stop, Cody, Wyoming.
Cody is a country town, a lot of people vacation here. We loved the vibe! Great food, patriotic people and more. We took a night and went to the local rodeo, Rhys got to sit on a bull and we watched the fun until a massive storm came in from Yellowstone and shut it down.
Oh well, we're off for Glacier National Park next!
Along our way to the Canadian border (where Glacier National Park is), we stopped overnight next to an Air Force base in the middle of nowhere. Malmstrom AFB in Montana. After looking into it, we found that the area around us was completely filled with under ground ICBM nuclear missile silos.
A lot of power is buried in the ground here...Let's hope it stays that way.
On to Glacier!
Glacier National Park is way up there! Right along the Canada line in Montana. We saw Glaciers but there was so much more to see and do as well. Hiking, biking, bear watching and more! The main road through the park is right along crazy cliffs, waterfalls pour off the mountain right on your vehicle as you pass under them and more. Rhys got to experience his first hail storm while here too! (See photo of jeep roof)
Next stop....Washougal, Washington.
Another stop along the Pro Motocross circuit, we decided to attend this beautiful race! Beautiful race? Yes, this is the most scenic track on the circuit, full of huge trees and more. This was a lot of fun!
Along our way south, Brittany found a spot that we haven't heard of. The Oregon Dunes. Apparently there was a place right along the coast that was full of sand dunes, you can ride off road vehicles there. So off we went!
We only stayed 2 nights which allowed us to rent some quads for a day on the dunes. This was Rhys' first time driving his own off road vehicle, he loved it!
Moving further south towards San Diego, we stopped for a few nights to explore the Redwoods in northern California.
These trees are MASSIVE We hiked the park and found some sweet spots to enjoy. We even drove through a tree. The family loved every minute of it.
Now our trip is over, we're just patiently waiting for this baby girl to arrive. Then we will head back to Calypso and start the next adventure! Stay tuned!
