The year 2021 was much more normal for most families with their kids heading back to in person school in September. After much debate we decided to go the other way and pull the kids out of our local public school. We liked our elementary school well enough but we all really loved our road trip last year and the freedom we had not being tied to a strict school schedule.
We decided that this winter we would take 8 weeks and head down south for some warmer weather, check off some national park sites and find some adventure. And boy, did we ever!
Elleny joined the St. Croix Composite Mountain Bike team in 2021 and suddenly we were a family of mountain bikers so this time we brought bikes along.‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the rig not a creature was stirring, not even the dog; the stockings were hung wherever there was an open hook in hopes St. Nicholas would soon be there; the children were nestled all snug in their RV bunk beds, while visions of Texas adventures danced in their heads.Riggs had joined us for short camping trips but this was his first time on a long road trip and he was, of course, the best little traveler.Made it to warmer weather and the ability to use water again in record time – two days!Getting back into the swing of road schooling again was relatively painless.We were happy that we brought bikes along and had lots of opportunities to ride them on some sweet mountain bike trails in Texas.Longhorn Caverns State Park was breathtaking! We had to walk directly underneath a tri-colored bat that was hibernating only a few inches from us.
Next it was time to visit some national park sites. Everything is bigger in Texas so there are a lot of them!
Of course Texas would have Columbian mammoths which are much bigger than regular ol’ woolly mammoths. We loved learning about LBJ’s Texas White House and checking out the Air Force “One-Half.”“Fresh brisket on the board!”Discovered Buc-ee’s and found out what all the hype was about.More national park sites and lots of learning about the five mission communities that formed along the San Antonio River beginning in 1718.The Rose Window The church at Mission San Antonio de Valero aka the AlamoToured the largest ranch in the United States which is appropriately named King Ranch. Riggs seems to be adjusted to RV life juuuust fine!South Padre Island was as warm as it was going to get for us Winter Texans.The “Beware of Sand on Road” sign wasn’t a joke.Biking on the beach each day turned out to be just the ticket to tire Riggs out.The war that began right here in 1846 changed the map of North America.We went from learning about the past to dreaming about the future at Starbase in Boca Chica.It was turtle-y cool to learn about and interact with sea turtles at Sea Turtle, Inc. in South Padre Island.We thought that Padre Island National Seashore was amazing. The 70 miles of undeveloped seashore and coastal plains are home to half of the birds in North America.The San Jacinto Monument measures an impressive 567 feet tall. That’s 12 feet taller than the Washington Monument because, well…Texas.Space Center Houston was out of this world!The mission control center for the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing was restored to how it looked in 1969.The fully assembled Saturn V rocket, measuring 363 feet long, certainly was hard to fit into one picture.In 1972, Apollo 17 (this very one!) was the last manned spacecraft to travel to the moon.The 1900 Galveston hurricane is the deadliest natural disaster in United States history.Met a nice family at the campground one day. Early the next morning the dad ran up to Matt, handed him the keys to his RV and asked if we could watch their dogs for them while their daughter had emergency surgery. We’re still friends today. We think that the way people look out for each other in the RV community is pretty neat.Sad day – it’s time to head north again.This was not the forecast we wanted to see and outrunning it wasn’t an option.So we drove as far as we could, found a campground and waited out the storm.While we were stranded in a 20 foot camper together we caught up on schoolwork, dog cuddles and generally tried not to kill each other.Our water line froze on day three and then morale really hit an all time low.We tried everything to thaw the frozen water line so we could get keep moving towards home.The kids wore raincoats to play outside in the snow and were miffed that we hadn’t packed snow pants for Texas. I guess they were right after all!After being stuck for five days we were back in business and beelined it straight home.Checked off five more national park sites, survived being trapped in an ice storm and decided we might need a bigger RV!
This road trip was certainly one to remember for our family. We really dialed in RVing in a travel trailer, had worked out all the kinks, and modified everything on the Lance to exactly how we wanted it. However after being together for eight weeks, trying to do schoolwork and work in a tight space, (you can see where this is going) we had an itch to upgrade to a bigger RV.
One of the first things we did when we got home was get haircuts and this turned out to be a very interesting appointment…
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