Abma/Cox Wild West Summer Vacation

Wrote Saturday, May 29

Thursday, May 27

What an exciting day!  Sherry and Loren had traveled to Lexington, KY, the night before to pick-up our RV that we would be living in for the next 2 weeks.  But getting to know your RV is not as easy as it seems.  They ended up having to move the RV to our house in order to get the RV level enough to get the refrigerator working. Thank goodness we live in the same neighborhood.  I taught all day, and was stressed trying to get end of the year grades wrapped plus prepare for a sub.  The boys were in school all day, and Shawn was tired after just coming off of midnight work. Kelley brought Oliver and Miller to join the crew in the late afternoon--the kiddos wouldbe traveling the first 3 days with us and Jamie and Kelley are to join us in Albuquerque.  Sherry and Loren took on the hard job of packing everything you could possibly need.  By the time we got in the RV, all of the cupboards were filled with food, the fridge was stocked, and the coolers were iced down with drinks.  I can't even imagine all of the planning that went into this endeavor!! We ended up pulling out of the driveway at 6:30pm.  That's the great think about an RV. You got all the necessities and food with you (although we joked about going through a drive thru).  Just as we pulled out of the driveway the sky turned dark and the rain started.  The kids didn't care, though;  they were so excited. Parker and Miller both love Scooby Doo, and they are calling the RV our Mystery Machine.  Isn't that cool?  We occasionally have to sing the Scooby Doo Theme song.  The kids set-up camp at the table, bakugans, action figures, cards, dolls, and books were all mixed in a pile.  Finally, the rain stopped, the traffic cleared and we were on our way to our first destination, New Harmonie State Park in New Harmonie, Indiana.  We traveled the interstate along where I grew up, seeing the signs for Tell City, Lake Rudolph and Holiday World.  It brought back memories of my years camping and working at Holiday World.  We stopped at a rest stop for a reprieve/driver change and picked up brochures.  Miller and Parker loved looking at the Holiday World pictures and you know who is at Holiday World---Santa Claus.  We talked about him for a while.  Loren and Shawn are doing the driving, and they "occasionally" ask for the address to New Harmonie State Park.  This becomes a running joke between Sherry and I after I provide the address for the 3rd and 4th time; ( I google the address each time on my phone)  We take the exit toward New Harmonie, and somehow we get lost.  We end up at a beautiful cemetary and pull off because Loren sees someone to ask for directions.  Parkers begins to tell us about being on a "scary adventure" in the Mystery Machine and about goblins and ghosts.  It was so funny and appropriatel.  We get the correct directions and off we go again. As we get ready to pull in, we decide to hide a few of us because of the campground rules - they only allowed 6 people per campsite.  So Trevor, Spencer and I went to the back bedroom and hung out.  How to explain to your children that we need to hide for just a little bit........  The park is beautiful, we easily set-up camp, everyone is starving so we whip out food then all the beds made and everyone nestled in.  Our first night of traveling is complete!!  We are off to St Louis, The Arch and Joplin Missouri the next day and we will be starting off early!!