Last December, Robert's brother Cyrus called to tell us he was getting married in Nauvoo, IL. One of Robert's other brothers, Daniel, and his family was visiting us then. We were commiserating about driving halfway across the country with three little kids each (potty breaks!?!) when someone mentioned, "Hey, wouldn't it be fun to go in an RV together?" And so it began . . .
After lots of research (mainly on Dan's part--THANKS!), this became our vehicle of choice for the journey:
Well, not the whole journey. We met up with Dan's family in Denver and picked it up there, so we still had 2000+ miles in our van, but we did put 2300 miles on the RV. It had plenty of space for the four adults and six kids (ages 6, 4, 3, 3, 22 months and 15 months) and was equipped with a kitchen, four beds, shower, TV, and most importantly, a toilet. We tried to obey the law and kept everyone buckled up, but after a few days, we got pretty lax on that:
Our first day, Wednesday, took us to Topeka, KS. We didn't visit anything along the way--just gas stations (I think we averaged 8 mpg). The next day we stopped at a lot of church history sites. The first was Independence, MO where we toured the
visitor's center. Then we went to
Liberty Jail:
And then it was off to
Nauvoo. We got there Thursday night and quickly got the kids to bed because Friday was the big day.
We did a little sightseeing that morning, headed back to the luncheon, and got ready for the wedding. Danielle had been SO looking forward to wearing the flower girl dress. Once she got it on she wouldn't stop twirling:
It was a beautiful wedding, and we're so happy to have Kendra in the family now:
After the wedding, we did a little more sightseeing, and then tucked back into our house on wheels. The next day we toured
Carthage Jail and then drove to Champaign, IL, for the reception at Kendra's house. It was very lovely, and for the kids (of all ages) they had bouncy houses!
Super cool idea. Liesl was wary of the craziness there, but liked the bubbles:
We stayed overnight in Champaign to attend church with everyone Sunday morning, and then turned the RV west. It was time to come home. We visited
Winter Quarters that night:
Personally, this was my favorite stop. We got there a little before sunset. The weather was perfect and it was so peaceful at the temple and cemetery. The visitor's center had a lot of hands-on stuff for the kids, too. Maybe it was because now I had a better idea of all the pioneers had to go through to get to there. It wasn't planned this way, but our sightseeing took us on the same path as the pioneers: Independence to Nauvoo to Winter Quarters. I have a new appreciation for their journey and will try to (need to) remember that whenever they found themselves in terrible conditions, they would work and make it into a beautiful existence.
We stayed in Omaha that night, and then made the trek through Nebraska to Colorado Monday. By then we had our routine all figured out: Danielle and Holly playing cards or coloring in the back room, Jarrett sitting at the table and playing games on the iPhone, and Liesl sitting in her car seat, which she was happy to do as long as we let her run around whenever we stopped. I got hooked on Sudoku this trip, and Robert and Dan were pilot and co-pilot the whole time.
We had a great time visiting with family all along the way and Danielle can't wait to get an RV again. It was definitely a relaxing way to travel, and hopefully we can do it soon!
