Traveling In An RV For A MONTH!

Jase and I bought an RV about a month ago, and although we have taken the family on one small trip we thought it was time to take it on a slightly longer one. And by slightly larger I mean thousands of miles longer. We went to Mirror Lake in Kamas, Utah for a few days. Now we are traveling across the country for a month! We took our RV all the way to the East coast and ran into some hiccups on the way. I would almost be more surprised if everything went exactly according to plan, the obstacles are what make everything an adventure!

And We’re Off

We left our home and decided to make BIG BEASTY (the name our followers liked most for the RV) our temporary home for the next month. The first few days of traveling were filled with late nights and early mornings. The kids played a lot of games, did crafts, and did a lot of napping. Jase powered through and was driving for over ten hours for most of the days. We also made sure to bring all of the kid’s school supplies and curriculums. The RV has a nice table and plenty of space for the kids to do school work, this way we can travel, and they won’t get behind.

The motorhome would get extremely hot, the couple tiny vents of AC from the front of the car portion of the home was not enough to keep the entire space cool. Eventually, we turned on the inverter and I thought we had air conditioning throughout the whole RV, unfortunately, it did not work, so we had to sweat it out. The kids were able to get the TV working and played some Minecraft, which kept them somewhat distracted from the heat. We made it through Iowa, and while driving through Missouri, we all took turns sitting in the passenger seat to soak up as much cool air as possible. Luckily (and unluckily) the heat would not have to be a worry for much longer. 

First (And Last?) Destination

Our first stop was at Smithville Lake in Missouri. It was such a nice break from being cooped up in the RV. We got a chance to cool off and jump in the lake and spend some time outdoors. We were even able to meet up with our friends from Kids Fun TV. The next morning it was back on the road for us. We made a couple more stops along the way at monumental historical sights. We documented all of our experiences while we were there, and posted them on our travel channel, The Ohana AdventureS! 

THE STORM

On day 3 we made it past Illinois, and by day 4 we were driving through Indiana. This is where things got interesting. This is where we began to encounter extremely dark clouds, tons of lightning, and a huge rainstorm. Suddenly the heat from just a few days ago did not seem like our biggest weather problem. The darkness and rain made it difficult to see the lines on the road, which definitely made me uneasy while driving in a 40-foot motorhome. 

Gas Station Sanctuary

We decided to pull off of the highway and hunker down at a gas station hoping that the storm would clear up a bit. I played a few gas station games with the kids to help pass the time and keep them entertained, but the ominous and relentlessly dark sky wasn’t easy to ignore. Jase talked with some of the truck drivers to get their input on the storm. Apparently, we were in a part of the U.S. that has earned the name Tornado Alley. Luckily the tornado warning was lifted for the direction we were headed, if we were to turn around and go home, we would have been going straight through super dangerous tornado weather. The gas station was so packed, that by the time we decided to get back on the road, we definitely hit some traffic. Although the warning was lifted we were driving through a major rainstorm and the lightning continued. The weather got everyone a little freaked out and I was super stressed, and we thought that we were going to have to cut our month-long road trip very short.

Go Big? Or Go Home?

Right when it seemed like the weather was not going to clear up, the sky began to slightly clear up. We made it through the storm! But we are nowhere close to being done with our travels in the RV. We have games such as Last To Leave the RV Bathroom and Blindfold Hide n’ Seek coming up, so don’t miss the crazy adventures we have left to explore while traveling in the RV.

-Rach