Our First Big Road Trip - Summer 2000

"Really?..are you kidding?... You're braver than I am".   This was often the reaction we got when family and friends heard about our plans for Summer 2000.  I guess that spending 50 days in a 38 foot RV with two teenagers (16 and 14), a 12 1/2 year old, a 9 year old, a 5 year old, and a 1 year old, even if they are your beloved children, isn't everyone's idea of a good time.  We set out with high hopes, always aware of the back-up plan.  We could send one, or a few, of the little darlings home to Granny and Grandpa if it was just too much.  God is good, and that day never came.  In fact, as I look back, that Summer will always stand out as one of the best times in my life.  Sonicflood was our theme CD, and it was played for many, many hours across the U.S.A.  Our oldest kids became such close friends, really for the first time.  The younger ones looked up to them, and they all still have a deep love for eachother, that came out of the time they spent together on that trip.

Fast forward 10 years, and 2 more long RV trips later ( 2004 and 2008, more about them at another time), and we want to hit the road with our younger kids again.  We still have four kids at home, from 19 to 7 years old, and we want to make some more RV memories before they grow up.

I'm asking friends, family and strangers to tell us their "favorite stops along the way".  We'll share the local places we love to visit, here in Northern California, and our favorite stops across the country.  I'll try to get each of the States listed in the next week or so, in individual posts of our favorites, and hope that everyone will add their own local, or faraway, favorites in the comments.  Thank you so very much for helping us out.