There aren't any more holes in the middle!

So we left off in Illinois while staying at Scott Air Force Base.  While there, we got in some fishing, had to have some work done on the RV, and took the truck in to have some minor things done.  Well, we met a fine feller' who loved our story and family and did a massive once over on the truck...and...did we ever appreciate that!  While we thought we were just going to be getting some fluids changed, we found out that we had a leaking axle seal and leaking water pump.  Both of which are no good by themselves.  They're even worse when pulling an RV full time.  We left the truck for a few days and got an SUV.  All I will say is that we missed our truck.  Don't get me wrong, the vehicle was a 2018 Chevy and was great...but it wasn't our truck.  Anyway, we ended up with the truck back, everything covered by warranty, and a new friend to call on.  While there, we not only get to spend a great amount of time with parents but David Lee (our 20 year old) also drove in for a few days and stayed with us.  We had a blast!

This was our chariot for a few days.  Couldn't pull our house but got us around while the truck got worked on. 

David's favorite meal that his daddy makes...chicken and dumplin's. He's in on it this time.  I told him this is about the time that I start teaching him the tricks of the trade.

David and Kamryn doing a little fishing.

I had heard of albino catfish but hadn't seen one.  Zachary pulled this one in

There was something special on base for the kids and they got to experience a "deployment line"

On top of seeing our parents while in Illinois, we got to see many other members of our family.  Cousins of ours have something called "Redneck Days" every year and it involves cool/funny games, shooting, eating, shooting, bows, shooting, and more!  So, a simple idea of us putting on a few t-shirts turned into a full blown outfit for us to wear that day.  We introduce Bub, Bubba, Bubber, Bubby, Bubble, and Mrs B.  We had a blast (no pun intended).

Getting ready to go. 

Grandma, grandpa, and their grandkids. 

This led to some sore arms the next day!

David told me later that night, "...I didn't know you could do that...".  This was right after I got to fix his finger with some Super Glue when he cut it open. 

 So we left Illinois and headed to Iowa.  We stayed at an Army Corps of Engineer campground and loved it.  We were right on the water and had a great time and met a ton of people here.  We even got to watch someone's boat for them while they took care of some family business.  They knocked on our door and said we looked like "trustworthy people" (little did they know...just kidding!) and we kept an eye on it.  We actually ended up getting to get to know him and his family a bit, spending some time on his boat, and he pulled the kids on the tube.  We also met a family that we spend a bunch of time with that was from the same area that I used to visit in California when I was a kid all the time.  They lived very close!  We laughed with them, their kids, and their grandkids and have an invite back for a BBQ next time through.  We also had the pleasure of meeting a family from Chicago that were there on vacation.  They were great to talk with and let us know of a little ice cream joint that I decided to go on a date with my wife to.  Yup, we had a date.  We don't get too many anymore, but we had some good ice cream that night...and then we took the kids back two days later! Kamryn also had a friend right next door to us that was a granddaughter of some great folks that lent me a ton of stuff, he had everything and I was thankful!  We even got to dog sit (Kelly and the kids were ecstatic at the offer) and they fell in love with another neighbor's pugh puppy.  Personally, I enjoyed the adult company and thought the pugh was funny/cute but I was happy for my family! Then, Zachary saw a guy with a tshirt that we received from a YWAM base and asked him where he got it.  That led to a night full of chatting about what we have been doing for 2 years and how they have talked about doing the same thing and would love to do so.  We met so many people at this park it was amazing!  It was like we were making us for lost time while were enjoying time with family in Illinois and Missouri.  We also had the chance to use our new sandwich makers.  Our friends Mike and Holly showed these to us years ago and we made some pies but I have never bought any even though I have wanted them.  We found some cast iron ones at a store (and they had a rebate) and we got them cheap!  I seasoned them for about 60 minutes.  In the fire, oil, cool, fire, oil, cool, etc and they were ready.  We used those things for about three days straight for every meal and loved them; yo name it and we made it! 

Getting closer to filling in the holes.  We just filled in Iowa!  Nebraska is the only one left besides the East Coast!

Caleb is becoming quite the breakfast chef.  Here is cooking on the lake in Iowa. 

This is how Kamryn naps.  If you have been reading for any time at all, you have noticed that she loves puppies and taking naps ANYWHERE!

Just hanging.

Playing on the Iowa River.

Zachary reached down and caught a fish with his hands (this is not the first time he has done this by the way) and Kamryn wanted to kiss it before it went on its way. 

We had the slackline up and some neighbors came home.  Yup, we all had a shindig, everyone ended up on it and we all had s'mores and some great conversation that night.  This is why we love this journey so much. 

These were the kids that played on the slackline and we had s'mores with. 

She was so happy when they were going to get to puppy sit. 

I think they wore each other out. 

I "schooled" the kids on the ins and outs of catching lightning bugs and told them that they could stay up late.  They poked holes in a mason jar lid, I lit them up with some glow sticks, and they had a blast!  They said, "This is the best night ever!"

We came inside and there was a hitchhiker on Kamryn's forehead!

Doing some laundry. 

Out on the tube with new friends. 

 While in Iowa, we visited another National Park (duuuh).  This time we visited the home of Herbert Hoover, our 31st President.  He had quite a nominal upbringing.  Father had a blacksmith shop but died.  "Bert's" (Herbert Hoover) mother did all she could to continue to support her three children by earning income but died and he ("Bert) was orphaned at nine years old and the story continues from there.  He was raised in a Quaker community and this greatly influenced his "Peaceful" philosophies.  We learned that he started many organizations that still exist today.   

This was "Bert's" home as a boy.  his family of five lived in this two room house. 

We thought this was neat.  This is a statue of "The goddess of life" that the people of Belgium presented to Herbert Hoover for his actions during WWI.  They wanted to show their appreciation for his humanitarian actions.  It was placed looking directly at his boyhood home about 50 yards away. 

They are getting their workbooks checks by the ranger. 

 We left Iowa and headed to Nebraska.  When we went through Kansas, it was windy.  When we drove through Nebraska, it was very windy.  I was quite thankful for the diesel instead of our old gas engine.  We made it to Offut Air Force Base and got checked in on a beautiful lake.  The wind continues to blow but we were able to hook up with a very special someone here.  It is Kelly's youth leader from when she was about 13.  We are hanging out and sharing stories and being blessed by him and his house and his mission/calling; he's great.  He invited us to hang out with a few Airman a few nights ago during a get together in the dorm which was quite neat.  Something else interesting happened also...while at church on Sunday, I asked Kelly to take me to the Emergency Room (it had little to nothing to do with the preaching :)   )  I have had some issues with my heart over the last few years with extra beats but it was BAD this day.  She took me and dropped me off and I got to stay in the ER for a few hours.  Everything ended okay though and had great conversation!  I have some follow up to do and we will see how things end up. 

The hole is gone!  We now have to move to the East.

Tons of fun! 

This is Ivory.  He was in out wedding and we haven't seen him since.  We sure are enjoying his company though. 

  

I don't know if you can tell or not but Kamryn is holding a turtle.  It is the largest box turtle I have ever seen!  It was in the road and we stopped to move it (in a straight line for you turtle lovers). I thought it was a snapping turtle because it was so large.  But of course they wanted to show it a little love before we told it, "Bye."

We just wanted to show that we have routine house maintenance also. 

 While here in Nebraska, we have completed our 78th National Park.  We visited the first homestead site of the Homestead Act of 1862 and learned all about it.  I continue to be amazed at the amount of history there is to learn about this country!  We had to drive about 1hr 45min to get here and I wondered what there would be to see at a "homestead monument" but I was floored at the education that we received today.  How many people succeeded, how many didn't, who and how people came to claim their homesteads, how they survived, the negative of what this Act caused...the education just kept going on and on...again. The kids also said it was worth the drive and they enjoyed earning another Jr Ranger badge so that made it all worth it. 

A part of today's school day was learning all about the Homestead Act of 1862.

Getting their Jr Ranger badge

12 people lived in this 14 ft x 16 ft house for 15 years.  Amazing, isn't it?

#78

Well, a typical few weeks, huh.  Many miles covered, many stories to tell.  I didn't know which ones to tell so I rambled for a bit.  I didn't even share all of the ones of all of the people that we have met.  The Lord has put so many people in our path over these last few weeks, it has been amazing.  As we go into this third year of travel, we wonder many things.  Some of those things are where will we go next (we don't really plan too far ahead), how long will it last (this was supposed to be a 12 month trip and we're on our third year), and how will the Lord use us?

Until next time...

Monster trucks, baseball, an anniversary, and so much more!

The last time we left you, (yes, a little while back...I know) I mentioned that there would be a bazillion pictures of the Monster Truck World Finals in Las Vegas, NV.  Well, the time has come...I don't know if there will be a bazillion pictures of the monster trucks but there does seem to be a bazillion pictures this time.  It has been a while and it has been anything but quiet!

If you remember, we have wanted to go to the Monster Truck World finals for years but the timing and the budget just never came together until this year.  We were in Las Vegs and saved for a while and we got to go!  We had a blast and can now mark that off of our family bucket list.  We stayed at a resort right near the stadium and got to walk to the event.  That was great!  We walked and saw many of the drivers and their trucks.  We met many of our favorites and talked with many others.  We even chatted with the Canadian truck and had quite a lengthy conversation about full-time RV'ing and the life that goes along with it.  we also exchanged some Canadian stories and moved along (the people behind us wanted to go away!)  We saw the racing the first night and saw the freestyle the second night.  We are very thankful that we got to go and we even met some amazing people in the RV park and swam the days away. 

Entering some long awaited fun!

One of the Max-D drivers

One of Kamryn's favorites.  She is 19 years old with her own truck.  Kamryn loved the pink!

This is the 25th anniversary of Monster Jam and they had a new truck for this year and some awesome things planned. 

The family favorite...Grave Digger

Tom Meentz and his son.  Another favorite...we traded a story of when we saw him years ago in OFallon, Il and climbed up into his truck.  We had a good laugh on that memory. 

Monster truck racing

The 25th anniversary truck broke a world record that night and another truck did the first front flip ever. 

Now that's allot of trucks!

This is the Canadian driver that we chatted with.  Notice the hockey stick sticking out of the back as a flag pole?!?! 

We even got in some homeschooling with an experiment there. 

Now that's high!

Nearly every truck did back flips off of the wall...anyone remember when monster trucks just ran over cars?!

It's like they have wings!

Avenger literally drive the wheel off!

This was Kamryn's favorite.  She attempted a corkscrew flip and almost landed it.  Someone else did though.

This year is the 35th anniversary of Grave Digger (our fave).  they got all of their trucks out and drove every one of them into the ground...and a few on fire. 

Monster Truck World Finals...check it off our list!

We left Las Vegas and headed to Capitol Reef.  For the first time in nearly two years, the campground was full.  We don't make reservations because we don't do a whole lot of planning...we may have a general direction most of the time but plans don't work out to well for us!  Anyway, we completed another National Park where the kids got their badges and we moved along to Canyonlands.  Again, with no planning and more praying, we become quite blessed.  We again, found that the campground was full; second time in nearly two years and this was within a few days!  Anyway, we drove around and found some open camping land and pulled in.  Funny and amazing thing happened...a guy was driving  around and looked a bit perplexed as to what he would also be doing for camping.  Knowing that we got the last spot for miles, I waved him down and told him and his son to enjoy a night in our spot.  We found out that he was from Canada and we talked the night away...until...a young lady walked over where I met her in the street.  This is where we met our next camping guest.  We invited her to also camp in our spot as we had already paid, and her and her puppy pulled right in.  Now we had a few extra folks to share stories with and we all had a blast.  In the morning, we took a picture and each headed or own way.  We headed to the visitor's center to complete another National Park and gain another badge for the kids. 

A free spot in Capitol Reef. 

Welcoming some neighbors for the night to our spot. 

These were our toilets.  No roof, walls only a few feet high, and a sign that you hang across to say that it is occupied.  Look at the backdrop you have?  What...is this not normal for you? 

We started our own neighborhood!

This was our neighborhood people before we headed out in the morning. 

Our yard at Canyonlands.

We left there and headed to Colorado National Monument and another badge.  This was interesting as we drove up a steep windy mountain with the RV in tow and loved every second of being up there.  We were supposed to stay a few days and kept adding on.   This was for two reasons.  We loved it and we had to avoid a bunch of snow where we were headed.  This is about the time that we definitely decided to head back to the Midwest.  We had strongly considered heading North and then to Alaska this summer but we needed to come back to the Midwest to help with family and also had the chance to get some things done on the RV.  Now, we also had to make plans to meet up with another full-time family that we had met in Tucson and spent some great time with.  While camping in Colorado National Monument, we earned another other badge, met some great folks, had some great conversations, helped fix an RV issue, and took some amazing hikes.  We also added another city to our "might live here someday" list.  Fruita, Colorado and the area is now on that list. 

A family that we met at Colorado National Monument.  Time for dirty play!

Completing another Jr Ranger book. 

 We left there after a few days and headed into the most treacherous weather that we have been in since we have started this trip.  I will just say that the truck and fifth wheel slid but I was able to keep it under control as we drove through a couple of the passes through the Rockies.  Much prayer and slow driving (even a little yelling) got us through it and we ended up at Air Force base...where we had a bunch of snow dumped on us again and also got to see how the RV did in about 18 degree weather. 

The beginning of the storm.  We knew what needed to be done but this was first for us on this trip.  We ended up getting a good amount of snow. 

Crossing the Rockies...again.  This is our 8th time across the Continental Divide. 

 We thawed out there and headed to meet our friends in Kansas and we had a blast on the lake for several days.  The driving across that part of the country is always less than exciting but a necessary trip to see our friends and meet a few more folks in that campground.  We got some fishing in, lots of fun game time, and a whole lot of laughs.  We are thankful that they wanted to see us again (or we might have forced them.  I still don't know for sure.) and really loved hugging their necks and can't wait to see them again. 

From there we headed to my mom's house in Missouri to get some work done on the house and have some wonderful family time.  We also headed to Kelly's mom and dad's and invaded their space in Illinois.  This has ended up being the longest that we have been out of the fifth wheel since we left San Antonio with Mike and Holly.  That was supposed to be a three day stay and ended being nearly two weeks of laughter!  We also needed to do some work on the RV.  I have been told that I needed axles and this is the reason that I have gone through three sets of tires in nearly two years.  But, thanks to the experience of the place that we bought our RV, we now have some better bracing and a few other fixed parts.  We are so thankful that we have family here and a place to stay but our month at "home" is really making us miss our house on wheels and the travelling.   We also got to go to a Cardinals game and see many friends and family.  We had an Easter get together with family and have gotten to go to our old church and see many friends from yesteryear. 

While on our way to visit our home in the midwest, we stopped at University of Missouri (Mizzou) and saw their art collection.  We have seen allot of art on this trip but they have a top notch collection of everything and as old at 6,000+ year old paintings, sculptures, and other art. 

****(The next few pictures are a little out of order but since computers are smarter than me, the computer apologizes that they are indeed out of order.  That's what captions are for though.)****

We look like we are having a family reunion!  These are our fellow full timers we got to know in Arizona.  We met them in Kansas. 

Mizzou art gallery.  A must see!

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Out for a walk. 

Eating out in Fruita, Colorado at the bike park. 

This was a bike park there that the city built in Fruita.  It was amazing. 

Awesome must see place.  We camped up on top of that mountain in the background.  Quite a haul with an RV...no problem!  Our 76th National Park.

Our yard up top the mountain at Colorado National Monument. 

One of his catches in Kansas. 

Putting on number 40.

His other big catch when we went fishing with our friends in Kansas. 

Getting ready for dinner. 

See you later...

After sending out an SOS message to friends in the area, we finally got it in the driveway.  Quite tight!

Time with family and friends like daddy used to do in the same house. 

That's my momma.

That's the other side of my momma (and Kamryn)...and people wonder why I turned out like I did!

On a walk with some of the grandkids. 

We got to cut out some floor and replace subfloors, replace toilets, tile and more!  Zachary loved it!

A skate park on base in Illinois.  And, yes, the table that they are on was made to be skated on...not eaten on!

St Louis past time...making a Cards game.  We won in 11 innings.

Giving Grandma an early present...new plants!

Midwest flooding in my neighborhood but thankfully, we live on a large, steep hill.  If you look in the background, you can see about half of a telephone pole.  It ended up over the sign. 

A night of bowling (and quite a bit of goofing off) with cousins. 

This is Sam.  He was born at the same time as Caleb and we used to "oooooh and aaaaah" at them together all the time.  We went to say "Happy Easter" to him  with his brothers, mom and dad after our Easter shin dig.  Some of you may remember us talking about him. He went to be with the Lord in 2015.

Loving on the Budweiser Clydesdales. 

Doing some farm work with family. 

Of course we need to goof off after the work is done!

What...I thought someone had called my name!

So, here we are with May 12th being the day that we embarked on this "one year" journey...two years ago.  It doesn't seem like two years at all.  It seems like months have gone by and we are on an extended trip.  We have seen so many "firsts","smallest", "largest", "last", etc.  We have followed many of the Nations trails to include the Lewis and Clarke trail, the Oregon Trail, the Sante Fe Trail, and others.  We have been to most of the US and British Columbia in our RV.  We have visited 76 National Parks,  have checked off 40 states, and clocked about 43,000 miles on our RV. We have had the chance to serve  the local community and other causes and loved it all.  We have learned so much about others, each other, sharing the Gospel, about ourselves and about the grace and mercy that God shows us daily.  It blows my mind that He allows us to do this, to bless others, and to love so many people including my wife and kids.  I wouldn't change a thing and this is why we don't have an end date in sight. 

Until next time...