Stella (the Airstream) parked outside our house, waiting to hit the road.
Six months ago, when we starting put this dream into action we picked TODAY, June 14, 2015 as our launch day. We are so close! School is out for the year (check!), house is nearly empty (check!), the trailer is almost packed (check!), the first month of camp site reservations are made (check!) . . . but we need a couple more days for our house to close before we hit the road.
Our house went under contract insanely fast with a tentative closing date of June 8 – but a paperwork delay on the seller’s side has pushed things out a week. We are tentatively signing papers tomorrow, June 15 and it should close with the county on Tuesday!
If all goes as planned with house closing, we hit the road officially on Tuesday mid-morning.
If I’m being entirely honest, the delay has been a blessing. It means we didn’t have to finish the last week of school living in an RV park. It means we’ve had extra time to get ready and some time to decompress after school ended. It means we’re not hitting the road in a hurry – but with plenty of time to check and double-check things. The key to safe RV travel is never be in a hurry – to take things slow and that will be our mantra on the road.
We could sign papers tomorrow morning and hit the road tomorrow night – but even then, it would encourage us to be a bit more rushed than we’d prefer. So we’ll get one extra night in our house and leave Tuesday. Although we’re anxious and excited to get started – we’ll have plenty of time to sleep in that trailer – so let’s just soak in the last couple days in our house and leave well-rested and ready.
Over the next couple days we’ll do safety checks on the trailer, pack the truck and pick up any last minute purchases at the store.
Our first stop is Lake Wenatchee State Park. We’ve never explored this area before – especially Leavenworth – so we’re looking forward to it.
We’d love to hear from you – what are your favorite things to do in the Lake Wenatchee State Park area? Do you have favorite restaurants or attractions in Leavenworth that we should check out? Leave a comment and let us know!
p.s. The response from the newspaper articles has been amazing! Thank you to everyone who signed up for our newsletter, who shared tips and destination ideas and for all the virtual high-fives and encouragement. We appreciate it all!
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Go visit the fish hatchery in Leavenworth and if you get to Winthrop there is a fish hatchery there too. (my husband and I volunteer at the Winthrop National hatchery) a great educational visit and its free 🙂
We’re on day 4 of our RV adventure. In fact, I’m writing this as my husband is driving us down the road here in South Dakota from our home in Texas. Wishing you the best with your adventure!
The Rocky Reach Dam and visitor center is fantastic and FREE! There is a fish ladder where you can view salmon. There is also the Museum of the Columbia on the premises with lots of cool artifacts. There is a cool scavenger hunt booklet that when kids complete they earn an explorer seal. Outside on the grounds is a fantastic play ground and green space area. http://www.chelanpud.org/visitor-center.html
Schocolat is NOT to be missed in Leavenworth if you love chocolate and free samples. 🙂 http://www.schocolat.com/
I wish you safe travels as you unfold all that life on the open road has to offer. Thank you for keeping us in the loop.
I am excited for you and your family as you begin your adventure. I don’t know if you are familiar with “geo-caching?” If you check out geocaching.com, you will see that there are little “treasures” hidden in public places all over the world. Using your gps, entering the coordinates and hints from others, you can find these hidden “treasures”. They can be as big as an ammo box or as small as a screw. Always put them back where you found them, but sign the little paper inside and keep track of how many you find, on the website, if you want. Kids like to take a trinket and leave something for the next person, if it is a large enough cache to hold things. This is a totally family friendly activity. Geocaches can be found in as easy as a place as a rest stop, or as difficult as the top of a mountain or on an island in a river. The most important part is to leave them there for the next person. There are many levels of this activity, as well. There are some caches that are multi-step, where you need to fine numbers (ie. on a gravestone, etc.) to complete the coordinates to begin your search. Our family has had a great time with this outdoor, free activity that you can do most anywhere! Looking forward to following you on your journey!
Happy travels!
I just took my grandchildren to Slidewaters water park last week and it was great. The park is small with a variety of slides and the views are awesome. Inexpensive gate fees and a great day of fun
Thank you for the tip Janet – we’ll have to check out Slidewaters!
Have you gotten your kids the passport books for the National Parks yet? It’s a fun little way they can check off which NPS sights they have seen, also look into the Jr Ranger Program available at the NPS parks. They are a quick informative session hosted by a park ranger.
We plan to pick them up at our first National Park! The Junior Park Ranger programs will be an important part of our homeschooling!
in the Plain area – Just past the Lake Wenatchee Airport is Midway Grocery. It has the best ice cream. its worthy of at least one stop.
If your up to a little dirt road adventuring. Goose Creek campground. Locate it before on the road you’l lose GPS and internet. its a motorcycle campground. If you drive down to the river (not goose creek) park by the bathrooms. the river access is very kid friendly. Climbing on trees over water. take a camp chair and sit with your feet in the river. The road actually loops around to the thousand trails property. Aslo, 1000 trails maintains the campground.
if your plans have you stopping in the Mt. Rushmore area. We stumbled upon Mammoth Site / mammothsite.com its about a 30 minute drive, its an active archaeology-paleontology site (enclosed) If you register in advance (weeks) your kids can dig up bones and learn how to identify them. Our kids had a blast.