SWC trip #3

Monday May 22^nd

Left mom and dad's house, and moved the RV down to Doheny state beach in Dana Point. Mom rode with Jen, Violet, and Jamie.

Pretty bummed to see that they didn't have any hookups on the site. We made sure to dump the tanks and fill up on fresh water before we set up camp. It's annoying not to have electricity because we don't like to bother the neighbors by running the generator all the time.

We do have a great camp site though-- #52 Just one spot away from the sand. We will be here until Thursday morning.

Tuesday May 23^rd

Lori had a dream that she took a pregnancy test and that it was positive. Well, she took one this morning and it was positive... It looks like we will be having another baby sometime next year if all goes well. Yikes!!

Other than that it was a pretty busy day. Kyle and Alissa Circle came over for dinner and we had ribs and tri-tip. It's interesting trying to entertain people in the RV. Especially having Jen & Scott stay with us. There is just stuff everywhere, and we are all so crowded in. We love having them, but it just gets crazy sometimes. I guess it's like having a small glimpse into what it will be like to have multiple kids running around, and it's sort of appropriate considering the news we received today.

Tomorrow we will hopefully have some downtime and get to relax a little bit before we move to Del Mar for SWC (Spirit West Coast).

Wednesday May 24th

The Wills fam left today at around 10am. We dumped the tanks and prepared for a day of relaxing. We discovered that "Grandma Smith" wouldn't be coming down, so we set up camp on the beach and prepared to be burned to a crisp... which only took about an hour.

The rest of the day we cleaned up the RV which was sorely needed after a hectic few days hosting 4 extra people.

At around 7pm, we walked down to Denny's and had a nice quiet dinner and discussed the implications of having a newborn with a one year old running around.

Thursday May 25th

Finally time to head down to Del Mar! We got to the grounds at around 2pm and checked into the exhibit hall. We discovered to our suprise that our location was amazing! Right at the entrance to the front door.

We were also pleasantly suprised to find full hookups and a site that was only a short walk to the exibit hall. We were pretty excited!

After getting the booth set up, Lori and I cleaned up and went out for a very late mother's day dinner. It was delicious...

Friday May 26th

The big day... After doing a couple last minute errands in the morning, we made final preparations with the booth, and people started flowing at around 1:30pm.

It was very encouraging to see the response. Because of our location, we got a ton of traffic from the front doors, and probably got 7-10 solid leads.

The day was a whirlwind. We really didn't get to see any bands except Hawk Nelson. Mom & Dad went to see David Crowder & Jeremy Camp while I manned the booth. I have a feeling it is going to be a long weekend. Luckily, all the computers are working well and I'm getting the chance to get some actual work done.

SWC trip #2

Thurs. May 18th
Woke up around 6 today (7 Colorado time). Packed up and headed out. We could tell it was going to be hot!

We ended up running the generator for most of the trip so we could have the overhead A/C on. It was 100 degrees in Bullhead on the AZ/CA border. The radio said that Vegas (only 80 miles away) was getting record highs.

I looked on mapquest last night and realized that we had much farther to go than I had anticipated. We still had 550 miles to go! That made the total mileage come out to 1200!! a full 200 miles longer than the northern route through Utah. So, we didn't get in until around 5 pm.

It was great to see the family. It was the first time they had seen the RV, so it was fun to give them the tour.

We will be staying here for the next couple of days...

SWC trip #1

Wed. May 17th:
We ended up getting out the door 3 days earlier than we had planned. We found ourselves just itching to get out of the house even though we had just returned from a trip a few days earlier.

Decided to take the southern route through NM, and AZ. After looking closer on the map, it looks like this route is about 150 miles longer than the normal route. I've decided that we won't go this way again unless the mountains are unpassable.

Had the generator running all day today. It was around 90 degrees in Albuquerque, and we just really needed the big air conditioner.

Ended up driving 650 miles total today. I'm still unsure about the size of the gas tank, I think it is probably 80 gallons total, maybe 82. Under ideal conditions, I still believe that 12-13 mpg is possible. We were getting around 9 today as far as I can tell.

We stopped in Hollbrook, AZ; and found a KOA campground. First one I've ever stayed at. Super expensive at: $28/night for full hookups, but I'm very impressed with the facilities.

Lori and I are still really embarassed that we even own the RV, since 99% of the people that own them and come to campgrounds like these are 60 and older. The only people we've seen that are younger are in their mid thirties with kids. These people usually have gear haulers with boats or dirtbikes. We should start a young RV'ers club....

Can't wait to see the family tomorrow. They haven't seen Caley since she was 4 weeks old. She is now 4.5 months old!!!

Trip to Arkansas

Wed. May 10th:
Got up at 5am to pick up Grandma and Grandpa to head for Arkansas. This officially marks our first long trip. We pick them up by 6:00, and are on the road at 6:30.

We decide to take it easy on the way out there as we were unsure what the long trip would be like. We were a little nervous about travelling with a couple other people as space is limited, and grandpa was having a hard time getting around after his hip surgery.

We stopped in Witchita at a Wal-Mart. Bright lights... loud train... we won't be staying at that Wal-Mart again.

Thurs. May 11th:
Didn't get up until 7am, only to find that G&G were already awake and dressed, just sitting in the small bedroom together looking out the window. They didn't want to come in and wake us up I guess. Grandma said that they had been people watching out the window towards the Wal-Mart parking lot... Lori noted that they had a pair of binoculars on the bed next to them... We both had a good laugh about that later in the day.

Continued on a slow pace through Kansas, then Oklahoma, and finally into Arkansas. Once we got off the freeway, we assumed that our journey was almost complete. But we found that we still had 1.5 hours to go on the small country roads. This portion of the trip ended up being one of the worst.

As a note, I had never bee in KS,OK, or AR before that day.

Finally arrived in Searcy around 4pm
---rehearsal dinner---

great hook up spot on a concrete pad with full hookups!! Much better than I had expected.

Friday May 12th:
Finally got some time to relax. Discovered that we were staying at a Christian camp, got a chance to explore and play guitar by the lake.

--wedding-- it was a nice wedding, Themed: Semper Fi. Still unsure about the Church of Christ... but the people seem to have a genuine love for Jesus, which was nice to see.




Saturday May 13th:
We decided to leave early to see if we would be able to drive straight through. Ended up getting on the road at: 5:30am (4:30am Denver time)
We were in Witchita by 1:00pm, and decided that we would go for it. It was a grueling drive, but worth the effort. We dropped G&G off around 1am.

This trip taught me many things about the RV itself. I decided that I really don't mind the long trips since the setting in the RV is so comfortable. You can stop and really take some refreshing rest if you need to. I prefer not to drive more than 500 miles in a day, but other than that, it is really enjoyable.

Other things I learned:

-The Grey water tank isn't very large. After 2 days of full use (including 4 showers) it is ready to be dumped, often way before the fresh water runs out.

-We only got 8-9 miles per gallon on this trip because we ran the generator almost the entire time, and the winds were terrible. Also, I average around 72 mph, and I probably would have gotten better milege if I kept it around 60-65.

All in all it was a great trip, albeit quick. We really enjoyed having G&G come with us. We are considering another trip with them next year to California to see aunt Andrea.

Altogether, we drove around 2,200 miles.