And I Would Drive 11,000 kms To You...

The star of the show was Maje!

During the excitement of leaving one month ago, I didn't set the trip counter on my odometer. I know before we left, Maje was at about 210,000. Tonight she is reading 221,482. So I'm going to say my kids and I have travelled 11,000 kms in the last month.

We are home!  I have 2 very excited children. They are amazed with all the space in our house!

The last day of travel was spent on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I wish I wasn't so tired and anxious to get home. I think out of the whole drive, that stretch was my favourite. The UP (that's what the 'Yoopers' call it) is my kind of place.  As my dad said when we got home, it's Muskoka before Muskoka got over populated. The UP is full of lovely small towns where time has stood still. The views of Lake Superior are amazing. The size of this lake is overwhelming. I plan to return to this area someday and spend more time. Definitely a hidden treasure!

Michigan's Upper Peninsula - Lake Superior's Vastness!

Yoopers call these Pasty's - I didn't love them but maybe it's a local thing

I appreciate all the kind comments and support for this blog. It started out as a way to record all the fun that we experienced along the way and has turned into a 'thing'. Keith was blown away when he returned home and was told by friends of friends how much they enjoy reading about our adventures.

As this is a personal blog, please forgive the following. This was a big adventure for us and I would like to acknowledge those who made it very special and memorable.

First and foremost I want to give a shout out to our amazing kids. I'm biased, yes, but I know that these 2 have been anxious to get home for close to a week now. There was very little complaining and they never said they regretted the trip. This was all for them and their willingness to follow me on a dream is something I will never forget. Parker and Abby: you are the best travel companions - open to spontaneity and adventure! I hope you look back on this month and know that I wanted you to have an experience. It came from a place of love and a love of travel. I hope you look forward to many travel adventures of your own and remember me.

I want to thank my super supportive husband, Keith. He knows me well enough to ask if I'm planning my next adventure. I'm taking the night off from travel planning! You are always supportive of my hair brained adventures. For this, I will love you to the end of my days. I know you love being home or being on the boat, but meeting us for the 2 weeks was a great family vacation and the highlight for the kids. They love you so much and missed you everyday. Thanks for being the backbone to the family and the best partner a girl could ask for!

Thanks to my brother, Stephen for coming on the first few days of our trip to make sure I was going to be ok. We were SO glad to have you aboard for those first few exciting days! You got us when we were brimming with excitement! 

Thanks to Nana Jojo for meeting us in Calgary and driving home with us. You got us on the tail end of the adventure when we were tired and sometimes grumpy. Your excitement got us excited to share Maje with you. We hope you had fun! I know the kids will always remember you being with us with fond memories and a few laughs.

I want to thank coffee for fuelling my mornings and wine for easing the stress of the day. I looked forward to you both on a daily basis. Keep up the great work.

Hats of to the truck drivers of the world. I don't know how you spend your days on the highways. It takes a special kind of person to drive for a living. I felt akin to you all these past few weeks. I tried to be respectful and give you space. Sometimes I even gave a little wave because I now know what it's like to do a long haul. It's ok that you didn't wave back, I'm not part of the club, I get it.

Here's a special shout out to the guys out there who did a double take when they saw me slide out of the RV (because I'm too short to step out). I know you were wondering where my husband was when I was filling up with gas or emptying out the sewage. My sundresses were meant to emphasize the fact that this was a walk in the park. Driving big things isn't just for dudes. Oh, if you want, I'll tell you how to keep your sewer hose smelling like fruit, just ask.

The other star, my amazing GPS welcomed us home with a heart!

Take Me Home, Country Roads

I actually didn't buy these...

We have travelled through 3 states in the last 2 days. Not too sure where we are or where we are going. I'm hoping that I'm getting closer to home each day but I'm not too sure. Jojo and I have had words about our destination tomorrow. I say book it to Sault St Marie and spend the night. She thinks that’s too long. I think I’ll give her a drink at lunch, wait til she falls asleep and just keep driving. She won’t know where she is when she wakes up. We’ll see.

Tonight we are at Hayward KOA in Wisconsin. It is literally in the middle of nowhere but it has EVERYTHING. I’m amazed at how much there is to do here. We tried to do it all in the few hours we have before bed. It got me thinking about how much I’ve changed my outlook on the trip. There’s beginning of July Allyson and end of July Allyson. She differs greatly.

wahoo! look at us! paying to use a bike!

Whee! This is so fun!

Worth every penny!

Americans think of everything!

At the beginning of July I was up every morning about 5:30am. I had my coffee, cleaned up and sat outside watching the sunrise and waiting for the kids to get up. It was blissful.

End of July me is rolling over at 6:30 for 2 more hours of sleep, then rushing to clean up from the night before, get something for breakfast and get on the road around 10am.

I bought these lovely candles at Canadian Tire at the beginning of June. They sat on my table for most of the month and I would sit at night with only them on, enjoying the evening. In contrast, tonight, those candles are shoved in a cupboard because they don’t fit on the table with all the electronics, cords, movies, food, wrappers…

At the beginning of July we would stop at truck stops and take advantage of fresh fruit and vegetables that were offered. We stopped at fruit stands and farmers markets. I even bought a hard-boiled egg at a truck stop and made sandwiches! I rocked the beginning of July.

Today this is what I bought to nourish my children: popsicles, milk, fruit roll ups, gum, chocolate bars (yes, plural), tostitos, instant oatmeal and queso (for you healthy people, queso is cheese in a jar and it isn’t refrigerated) Who buys queso? End of July me, that’s who. Jojo bought marshmallows and root beer. She knows how to woo her grandkids.

I was on a severely limited pop agenda at the beginning of July. The kids had very little pop for about 3 weeks. As mentioned above, we now have root beer (their fav) and yesterday I barely noticed when they had refills at Subway and then a large mason jar of pop at a truck stop. Yes, we had dinner at a truck stop.

Along with the pop, I decided that we were not going to snack on chips all July. Every morning I cut up veggies and put out dip for the long days in the RV. The kids actually didn’t complain and ate the vegetables and fruit no problem.  This morning, yes morning as in before noon, we stopped for gas and Abby followed Nana out of the store with her arms FILLED with Pringles. Apparently, there was a sale -  buy one get one free. Awesome.

Early July Allyson told the kids, ‘we don’t need to do all the tourist things that cost money. We are going to see awesome things and take pictures that we can look back at and remember.’ In the last 24hrs I’ve paid for bike rentals (while their bikes are still sitting on the back of the RV) firewood that didn’t even burn, water slide day passes at 4pm, jumping pillow day passes, ice cream, movies at Target…It goes on and on. Part of it is mother-guilt for making them sit in a hot RV for 9000kms in the past month.

We have taken lots of pictures and we do have lots of memories. Really, our spending and eating only just went off the rails in the past few days. I’m going to forgive myself and move on next week when we are home and life gets back to normal. I think if I’m totally honest it’s usually the end of July in a regular summer when I start sleeping in til 9am and the kids finally break me down and eat popsicles for breakfast. Is there anyone out there who will admit that the beginning of the summer we all have grandiose plans for how the summer will go and they differ to what reality brings us? Let’s all just crack open some queso and enjoy ourselves. It’s all going to be OK.

You know those cute pics of kids jumping in water? Here's our version!

Parker heard there was a s'more party!

God Bless Hawaii

This was our scenery for 3 days - cool for the first 6 hours...

I think I can now add KOA critic to my list of jobs of the future. Another night in another KOA. This one is really great, Bismarck ND. I’m sitting outside in the setting sun, drinking some Target wine and enjoying my time completely. Funny enough after years of twist cap wines, I bought the cheapest wine imaginable and it had a cork! After purchasing probably my 10^th corkscrew of my lifetime, I invited the owner of the KOA to join me as I was the last customer and must’ve looked a little panicked as I scoured the little store. Kudos Bismarck KOA, for looking out for the lonely mothers who need a little pick me up at the end of a long day on the road.

Oh let me be home, where the buffalo don't roam...

As mentioned previously, my mother has joined the crew of Maje for the trip home to Ontario. Let’s discuss the grown-daughter-now a mother herself/mother-grandmother dynamic. Again, as I mentioned before there is no one on this planet who thinks more of her daughter than Jojo. Add to that, she lives for her grandkids. Like, lives for them. However, we are SO similar, it makes for some interesting days when you are cohabitating in 30 ft of luxurious RV splendor. We are 2 of the best grudge holders you’ll meet. We are stubborn and think we know everything. Spend a few days with us and get ready for some serious entertainment.

my.poor.kids

Last night we all went to bed after a lovely night of board games and jovial fellowship. Read: everyone was mad at everyone. We started the morning a little quiet but we all came around when we continued on with our fiercely intensive game of license plate ‘bingo’. Now I never really knew how fun this could be until I started driving on the interstates for days on end. We are convinced that we are going to get them ALL. There’s more than a little pleasure that courses through my body as I scream out ‘OAKLAHOMA’ and wake Jojo from a little nap next to me in the passenger seat. Parker or Abby scurry to write it down on our growing list. So this afternoon, long after the revelry of last night was forgotten a non-distinct red truck passed me

‘Bloody HAWAII !!!!!!!!!!!’I yell out and the kids are excited and hooting and hollering. I tell them Hawaii’s plate has a rainbow! Isn’t that cool? Ya, so cool, mommy.

Jojo – No way, I don’t believe it. You must’ve read it wrong.

Now the truck wasn’t going superfast. What do you think I did?

Conceded?

Never!

Maje hasn’t gone over 105 while I’ve been driving her but she instantly started to rattle and hum as I had her up over 125km/hr. I was catching that truck and I was going to prove that I SAW HAWAII.

Jojo kept it up. ‘How fast are you going? What if there’s a state trooper waiting for you? I still don’t believe it. You need glasses to read and you saw that? I bet you anything it wasn’t Hawaii.

All the while the pedal is going down harder and harder and Maje keeps shaking and rumbling. The bikes are swinging, the dishes are rattling and we might’ve lost a window.

Just as I was going to lose Hawaii and/or get pulled over, Hawaii truck decided to make a rest stop.  It was like he knew I needed him to pull over. Divine intervention. I swung her into the rest stop and screeched to a park behind the red truck.

Hawaii

Maje is back in D and we are off again.  I’m sure red Hawaii truck was wondering what rattletrap Maje was doing stopped behind him, so we just left. Nuff said. The kids rubbed it in real good so I didn’t pursue it. I’m sure Jojo will have the last laugh before the day is done. That’s how we roll. Love it, hate it, don’t understand it – sorry for your luck.

More of the same-ish scenery

Cool steel sculpture. I think it's the biggest, bestest, ever in the history of steel sculptures