Just Let It Ride

After leaving my parents' house in Wisconsin, we enjoyed living the Airstream life as we camped our way back home. In a week's time we stayed at 4 different campgrounds, enjoying the freedom to do a whole lot of nothing as well as explore the parks. I had my doubts as to how comfortable it would be for 4 of us (plus Garcia!) to sleep/eat/live in such tight quarters, but it wasn't an issue at all. We spent most of our awake time outside, coming in only to find something to eat or wait out a late afternoon downpour. (The kids looked forward to the rain because that meant there would be puddles for them to play in afterwards!) All of the fresh air and running around outside put the kids in great moods, and there was very little bickering or whining. They could pretty much do whatever they wanted during the day, and bedtime schedules were nonexistent since we were outside until dark. That's what summertime is all about, right?

Red Hills State Park (near Sumner, Illinois)
This park was by far the quietest and seemingly forgotten about of the four we visited. Our site was a pull-through on the very end, and there was no one across from or on either side of us, so we had plenty of privacy. The downside was the longer walk to the bathhouse, and since the sites didn't have direct water hookups, we made lots of trips back and forth. We loved all of the huge established trees; they were beautiful and provided lots of shade!

We stopped for lunch in a truck stop parking lot and made sandwiches in the Airstream.

I hadn't even had my coffee yet, and the kids had me outside helping them catch bugs.

I love that she had her penlight clipped to her nightgown. :)

All of these pictures are stressing me out! Ha!

Seriously?
I had to include this picture because that has been Harper's word this summer, and my expression said it loud and clear.

Doesn't she look so carefree as she searches for bugs?

I think this sign at one of the park's shelters summed up how we approached our week on the road--a blank slate!

Harper was truly in her element! She spent much of the week dirty and barefoot. :)

our sea of hammocks

The kids were so excited to wash dishes outside! Andrew set them up with a "wash" bucket and a "rinse" bucket, and they had the best time!

It was fun to do some cooking inside instead of only eating grilled foods for every meal.

Persimmon Creek Campground (Murphy, NC)
It was our first time at this campground, but it felt very familiar to us since the land we bought last year is only about 5 miles down the road. We loved the "backyard" feeling of this campground. All of the sites are scattered around the catch & release pond, and there is also a creek that the kids had fun playing in. Even though we had full hookups, the "outhouse" was super close and had amazingly clean bathrooms and showers--it felt like staying in someone's house. We also did 3 loads of laundry before we left so we wouldn't be dragging a bunch of dirty clothes with us to our next destination. We will definitely go back!

The kids LOVED fishing in the pond! They caught and released countless sunfish during our 3-day stay.

According to the campground host, this is Knot-head, the resident duck.

Ryder's first catch!

We went up to our land for a couple of hours one afternoon and couldn't believe all of the growth since the neighbor had removed some trees and let the sun shine through.

walking through the creek

Andrew asked Ryder to help him carry some firewood, and Ryder complained how heavy it was. He literally had to walk from the little building you see behind him to where he is standing by our fire pit. 🤣

Harper's catch! (I love how she is posing with her fishing pole).

Ryder looks so serious...

...and so do I!

Harper developed quite the cast!

more creek time!

We gave each of the kids a camera to kick off their month of travels, and Harper had the best time taking pictures of everything. Pops, could she be following in your footsteps?

It POURED our last night in Murphy, so the kids enjoyed playing in the mud puddles the next day.

Suwannee River State Park (Live Oak, FL)
This park was about 10 miles away from the park where Andrew and I stayed in April for the Wanee music festival. We were going to go back to that park, but this one was half the price. :) That way we could stay two nights instead of only one! It monsooned both nights we were there, but luckily the weather cooperated for us during the day on Monday so that we could explore a couple of the trails and take lots of pictures!

There were crazy looking spiders everywhere! Anywhere there were two trees close together, you could find a huge web with an even bigger spider hanging out in it. I wouldn't recommend watching the movie Arachnophobia before staying here. 😉

Andrew and I were amazed at the intricate patterns in some of the webs.

This pole showed some of the flood levels of the Suwannee River in certain years. I can't fathom the river being up that high!

Look closely at my face. I was running under one of those creepy spiders, and I was afraid it would drop onto my head. Little did I know, Andrew was snapping pictures of me!

I made it!

We walked down the boat ramp, and the kids thought it was cool that the water slowly got darker.

Visiting this cemetery was by far the most serious part of our camping experience. Ryder noticed that most of the people died really young, based on the dates on the tombstones. Many of the small tombstones were for babies and young children--so sad. It allowed Andrew and I to talk about how fortunate we are that we are all healthy and have access to doctors and medicine. The kids decided that getting shots when they visit the doctor doesn't seem so bad!

On our walk back from the cemetery, this gopher turtle was just sitting in the middle of the path. It sat patiently as we all took pictures, and then it slowly meandered off into the grass.

Another playground with a bar!!

It was so hot and humid that Ryder opted to take a water break after a couple of minutes instead of play on the playground.

the flooded road after a dinnertime storm

Where did our feet go???

Harper took her puddle-running very seriously. She even tucked her dress into her underwear, as if that would keep her dry. 🤣

Harper had the giggles one night as I was snuggling with her before bed, and Andrew captured her cuteness. :)

Oscar Scherer State Park (practically in our own backyard!)
This was a completely impromptu stay! We were going to drive home on Tuesday, but we got into town after the RV storage lot had closed for the day. Since we can't park the Airstream in our neighborhood and we didn't feel comfortable leaving it in a random parking lot for the night, we decided to call Oscar Scherer to see if they had any available sites. The kids were thrilled to spend one more night in the Airstream! We had never seen the campground so quiet, but we realized it's because we usually only camp in the winter when it's comfortable to be outside. It was so hot and sticky that we hung out in our air-conditioned camper, went to bed, and then headed home the next day.