Day 16 - Sunday 7/29 last day :(

It was a little sad last night knowing it was our last night in “our home on wheels.” We are discussing whether or not this is how we would like to travel for the next several years with the kids. We had such a great time we are going to look at purchasing one. We will keep you posted on that and if our blog will continue across several more states!

Today we are still in Dutch Springs with the Boy Scouts and Andrew was supposed to do his other two dives but the weather did not cooperate. We will have to come back in August if he wants to be certified by our Jamaica trip in December.

We loaded up the RV, helped the troop load up their stuff and headed home. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel in New Jersey…it is one of Alex’s favorite spots and we have passed about 50 of them on the trip. I believe this has made the trip complete for him.

We arrived home and now the true work had to start…the unloading! This is where Shari wishes she did not HAVE to bring all the stuff she did. This is also where we wonder why did we stop at SO many gift shops!!

It took us about an hour and half just to get everything out of the "house on wheels" and into the "the house on ground" and then another several hours to find a home for everything. Below is the photo of the boys and all the "crap!" I decided to use this as the after shot because I really couldn't believe what we had in there!!

Thank you for reading and commenting on our blog. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. We traveled across 12 states and a small section of Canada together. It was great to know that you all were with us without having to be with us!!

Day 15 - Saturday 7/28

We are still in Dutch Springs and Andrew is very excited about his first open water scuba dive. We all went down to watch these Boy Scouts do their first dive (a couple boys are here to get their advanced certification). This is an old quarry that they have sunk a lot of structures in t0 make it a great controlled environment to learn how to scuba dive. The water is very clear for a “fresh water lake.” Andrew went down with the first group…they were down for 22 minutes. He had a great time. Steven and Christopher played around in the water and did some snorkeling. They were trying to see as many fish as they could find. Alex was bummed after spotting some rather large bass that there is no fishing here! The same group went down for their second dive and this time they stayed down for 25 minutes and were able to check out one of the structures which is a fire truck…some actually sat in the drivers seat!



After the second dive, they were done with diving for the day so we were off to The Adventure Park. It is over on the other side of the lake…and it is a roped off area that has inflatable slides, mountains to climb, an air pillow and trampolines. Everyone has to be wearing a life vest or wetsuit because the depth goes from 0 ft to 50 ft within 10 feet of the shore. We all went and had a great time swimming around, climbing structures and getting flung around on the air pillow and trampolines. Alex and Christopher did the air pillow and Christopher flew up so high in the air!! He loved it the first time but the second time not so much.












If you would like to view the video of Christopher's flight please click below http://www.youtube.com/v/fIC9s7tfWqo














Later in the afternoon we went over to the Sky Challenge, which is a 3 story structure that has a variety of high obstacles and ropes for the kids to navigate and explore. All three of the kids did it and loved it.






Alex was one of the cooks with the Troop so he was back at the site making dinner while the kids rode their bikes around and had fun playing with all the other scouts and siblings. Dinner was great, guitar playing was ever better and having familiar faces around again, was the best!!

After dinner the advanced divers went in for a night dive. While they were down, the other boys snorkeled and played around in the water.

After all of the playing, we rounded everyone up and got them to bed…we have another early day in the morning.

Day 14 - Friday 7/27

Our day started with thunderstorms. As we lay in our beds nice and dry, all I could think about was being in a tent and being all wet. I really feel bad for them! Alex is pretty certain he does not want to tent camp ever again. We went to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this morning. The boys had a lot of fun finding players that they liked and reading stats. Our family is divided with Andrew now being a Seattle Seahawks fan and Alex, Steven and Christopher being Cowboy fans!! I enjoyed seeing how football has progressed. The pads that they used to wear are incredible. Justin – the Dolphin’s shot is for you!!


We are off to Dutch Springs, PA which is our final destination. We will be there for two nights. We have a six hour drive and are worried about making it there in time. We were told they lock the gates at 8:30 and our GPS says arrival at 8:45. At around 8:00 I called them and they said “no worries” so we proceeded. This destination is a Boy Scout trip so Andrew can do his open water dives for his scuba certification. There are probably 10 families here. Unfortunately they have the tent people on one side of the park and the RV’s on the other. So we are not with the whole group. We will be able to hang with them during the day but for tonight…we ate dinner, watched a movie with the kids and tried to have everyone asleep before midnight…Andrew’s first dive is at 8:30 am.

Day 13 - Thursday 7/26

So I must start this day by saying, we really wanted Alex’s brother Andrew and his partner Deryl to join us at this stop. It was not something they could put together...I believe the Tahoe was more important! They are really the reason that we are here. Other than Tommy Boy, we knew nothing about Sandusky, Ohio until they told us about Cedar Point and the roller coasters capital of the world. Since we only saw half of the park, we are discussing with them a long weekend trip here in October. It is only 4 inches on the map...kidding, I looked on mapquest and it is an eight hour drive...we can do it!!!

Our plan was to be here at the gates whe they opened at 10:00 but we arrived a little later than we wanted. Sleeping until 9:00 am really throws things off. This amusement park is out on a peninsula in Lake Eerie. So when you are on big rides you see water everywhere…it's way cool. Andrew scored big today (he is really our coaster kid) because we did this parent swap thing that allowed him to go with both Alex and me on all the coasters. There are 17 roller coasters and we made it to 5 of them. We went on the Corkscrew, Magnum, Mean Streak, Gemini, and Millennium. Some of the waits were up to 1 and half hours. The Millennium was absolutely the best! It had a 300 foot drop and top speed of 90 mph…it was AWESOME!! We really didn't feel like we made a dent in the park...I am not certain that you could ever finish this park in a day or maybe even in two. While Alex and Andrew where waiting in the big lines, I took Christopher and Steven on all of the smaller rides. I want you to look at what the bumper boat says in the photo with Christopher...I do not know why we are naturally drawn to these things!! Steven really wants to go on the "big ones" but is still too nervous...he did make it on Mean Streak which is a huge wooden roller coaster. To me those are worse because they are so bumpy, the new ones are so smooth. But he is not there yet. We stayed until 8:00 at the park and then decided to drive and stay over in Canton, Ohio. We were worried our day on Friday was going to be too long. We arrived at the KOA around 10:30, the boys watched a movie, Alex did some work and I did laundry. We had too much wet stuff that I was worried would get stinky…we all know our home on wheels doesn’t need anymore stinky smells!!

Just a side note on the photos...the one of Andrew and Steven hanging is NOT AT ALL how I feel at this point on the trip!!!

Day 12 - Wednesday 7/25

Today was a very low key day. We woke up and got out of “our least favorite” campsite…before breakfast!! We decided Denny’s would be a good call for today. Nothing wrong with a Grand Slam Breakfast!! After breakfast Alex went to Bass Pro...just because there’s one here! Just as an FYI, we stopped at this same Bass Pro on the way out…but whatever! We started out for Sandusky, Ohio and spotted a fireworks store, and you know it had some claim to fame…largest store in the world, or something like that and we, the Besterman’s, just have to stop!! The boys have seen so many fireworks stands and really wanted to “go in” and check it out. We walked out with a bag full. Not really sure when we can ever set them off without getting arrested but we’ll figure it out! Now we are really on our way to Ohio. Our drive is “only’ 3 hours today. We are in hog heaven. We arrived at the campsite around 4:00. The usual occurred…swimming, biking and getting settled. We had to run to the store…this is when a car would be really nice inside of drivin’ the family home around! Alex wanted to go to the farmers market…for more corn. (Hope – I am getting a little worried! I may have to google a few things!) We took the kids up to a go kart place on our way back because there was a need for speed. Let’s be honest, I am sure something attracted us…like fastest track in Ohio. There were three races with a few spin outs, just a little competition and I really couldn’t tell you who won…everyone has a different story. While cooking dinner Mr. Christopher came to us and asked for his training wheels to come off…he is ready to be a two wheeler rider! I have to tell you, he rode so much on this trip that he is now a successful bike rider. Yeah!!! He also still really wants the dirt bike!! We ended our evening with a campfire and smores.

Day 11 - Tuesday 7/24

The day started with some fishing…a few nibbles but no bites!! We are not having the best of luck lately with our fishing…hopefully that will change. After breakfast we hit the road and headed for the John Deere capital of the world, which is in Moline, Illinois. Christopher has been trying to pretend he is done with John Deere but he just couldn’t help but be excited when we arrived and he started climbing all over the tractors. We rode our bikes around Moline and had lunch. Hope - I do not know if you remember or not but I wanted to come here for Christopher two years ago when me and Loree took the road trip with the kids but it was too many inches away!! So happy I was able to make it here now!! We then had to get back on the road for our final destination of the day, which is Portage, Indiana. We stayed at a Jellystone Campground. It really was the strangest place. Almost all the sites were permanent residences. I felt like we rented a daily open spot in a mobile home park. (Not that there's anything wrong with that) Needless to say this was our least favorite spot of the trip. The campground did have a lake and a pool. So we went fishing and caught a bass or two. (Nothing to write home about though) The boys swam in the lake and tried to catch fish in buckets. We swam in the pool and took a site seeing golf cart trip around the grounds. That might have been when we became way too familiar as to what was around us!! We had dinner (Alex ate just corn again…he may addicted) and watched Where the Red Fern Grows…one of my favorites. We decided to have a campfire, even though the scenery was not the best because it may be our last one of the trip based on our upcoming schedule.

Day 10 - Monday 7/23

We needed to start the day today with some house keeping. For those of you who know Alex...for him to be on his hands and knees cleaning...you know it must of have been "sticky." After being in the RV all day yesterday the kids needed out…they are biking and swimming. I need to do tons of laundry and Alex needs to do some work.

Now that our duties are done, we are on our way to Omaha, to meet Hollye Hempel for lunch. She was my dad’s second wife…I spent most of my childhood with her. It was nice to have a quick catch up with her. We stopped by a market stand on the side of the road and bought some fresh cucumbers, tomatoes and Nebraska corn. (that we have seen so much of driving through for hundreds of miles!!) We also had to pick up Andrew’s wetsuit, which he needs for Saturday. We ordered it before we left and had it sent to her.

Back on the road…today we are overnighting in Oxford, Iowa. It is on the eastern part of Iowa. We arrived at 9:00 pm and Alex got dinner going and I took the kids to the pool. It is hard to believe that I think it is perfectly fine that we are eating dinner at 10:00 pm…all the miles on road must have done something to my brain!! Dinner tonight is burgers, corn and salad. I am telling you this because Alex passed on the burgers and ate 4 ears of corn for dinner…he was in love! I know we all think Jersey corn is good but that is because you have never had an ear from the corn capital of the world!! Alex has been changed for good!! I do not believe that he will ever call me a corn cobber again!!

Our night ended with a little campfire and falling asleep to National Treasure on the TV. Tomorrow we are headed to John Deere country!!

By the way….for those of you worried about our friend Max…the Gordy’s were fine on the way home…no air pollution!! When they arrived home Max jumped out when to the backyard and let loose. I guess dogs can be like some people and just not want to go when they are not at home!!

Below are some shots of what the boys do while we are truckin'!!

Day 9 - Sunday 7/22

Everything good must come to an end….we have to load up and continue our journey. Today we need to say goodbye to the Gordy crew. We are not saying goodbye for long to the girls (Caitlyn, Carlie and Olivia) because in just 9 days….they are flying to New York for a ten day visit….we are so excited!!! As you can see from the photo above Max, Olivia's dog, came with the Gordy's. He is a great dog and we have enjoyed having him here but we have all become concerned that he had not let any trains come out since he left Colorado on Thursday...we are betting the 8 hour ride home could become disastrous...will keep you posted on how THAT turns out!! The forecast today calls for 107 degrees…..good thing we are moving on, I am not sure the air conditioner could keep up with that!! We started our day at Crazy Horse. It is a work in progress and ultimately will be a three dimensional, in the round stone sculpture (carved out of a mountain) of Crazy Horse on his horse. It will not be completed for at least another 30 years. It is an amazing structure with an equally amazing story. After that we went to Rapid City, so Andrew could pick up a copy of the new Harry Potter. While we were there Alex spotted a Sonic…we decided we could break our no fast food rule and had lunch. Now we are going to my land…..Nebraska. (Aksarben as Alex calls it) After looking over the map I realized we had not seen the “Badlands”, how can we be here without driving through? So we take the scenic route through South Dakota instead of the Interstate. I seriously do not think it was more than ½ of an inch…unfortunately there are no hills on maps…they should make them more 3-D for people like me. Due to the scenic route we are not going to arrive in North Platte to see one of my childhood homes until 8:30 pm and we will still have another 2 hours before we reach our destination for the night. Seeing the Badlands was really amazing. In some areas it really looked like the moon. The rest of our drive through South Dakota and Nebraska was pretty much non-eventful except...

(Jane you might want to stop reading here…this information is only for the turtle and bear crowd)

We are started to sense there may be something going terribly wrong with the sewage system....the smell of methane has permeated the living space and our eyes are tearing. Shari set off a minor explosion while trying to reheat mac and cheese. Thank goodness for fire extinguishers...All is well except that Shari no longer has eyebrows or eyelashes…

JUST KIDDING (thanks Steve)

I did not recognize much in North Platte, other than when we pulled onto my old street, I recognized my house. They have added on to it and taken down the cherry tree I hung out in and the walnut tree from the back that I hated picking up all the nuts from. We also had an empty lot next to us that we played baseball in and there is now a house there. I also showed the boys my elementary school. That sums up our stop in North Platte…woo–hoo! Back on the road to our overnight in Grand Island, NE…that I can tell you is either grand or an island for that matter!! Andrew has not put his Harry Potter book down and is now on page 533…he will finish by tomorrow. All in all it was well worth the 13 hour travel day.

On a side note, we would love to throw a big Happy Birthday out to our friend, Andrew D, in Yorktown - Hope you had a great day!

Day 8 - Saturday 7/21

Up-and-at-‘em for another fun filled day in South Dakota. Today we are going to Bear Country USA. I went here as a child and have never forgot about it. I am thrilled to be bringing my kids to a place that I have such fond memories of. Alex and I took all 6 of the kids. Lance and Amy stayed back to hold the fort down and enjoy a little R and R. We drove through the wildlife park and saw a lot of animals. There were elk, antelope, grey wolves, dall sheep, black bears, brown bears, and mountain goats. The twins have been here before during mating season so they were thrilled to see it at a quieter time. The best part is at the end where you walk through a little zoo area and they have the bear cubs. There must have been about 15 bear cubs, they were running, wrestling, swimming, and chasing each other up and down the trees. We could have stayed there all day and watched them. It is about 11:00 am and the temp is reading 103….it’s a real hot one today!! We picked up Lance and Amy and headed down to Custer, South Dakota to have lunch (Alex had Buffalo ribs as an appetizer and a buffalo burger for lunch…when in South Dakota!!) and do a drive through of Custer State Park, which is part of the Black Hills National Forest. We stopped at Central Lake and went for a swim. The water was pretty cold but it was so hot out it didn’t matter. This lake had so many fish in it, as you stood in the water they would come over and starting sucking and/or biting your legs….it was a tad creepy. Surprisingly Steven went in the lake and didn’t seem to have any trouble with the chomping at the ankles fish!! After our swim we took a drive on the Wilderness Loop and found a herd of a couple hundred buffalo. You should of seen us in the car (10 of us) all trying to get there attention and also examining why these creatures are doing what they are doing. We headed back to camp so the kids could bike, fish and swim while we made dinner. There was a passing storm along with a rainbow and not a second rainbow but a reflection….I tell ya, you can learn something new everyday! Alex made a great mix o’meat sauce (with chicken, pork and steak) over pasta with salad. The kids headed back to the pool for their night dip and the adults hung by the fire with drinks in hand telling fun family stories and enjoying our last night together. The kids ended their night in the RV with a movie and another slumber party. It is really hard to believe we are half way through our trip already.

Day 7 - Friday 7/20

It was nice to wake up with a camper full of kids….with everyone sleepy eyed we got them up and out. While we were cooking breakfast the kids were all over the place. Steven and Olivia were bike riding, Caitlyn and Carlie making themselves pretty, Andrew and Christopher scoping out the lake for fish. Sadly Justin, no fish stories for this lake. Except the kids left the rods in the dock poles last night and when Alex went to get them before bed, he reeled in and there was a 10 in trout on one of the lines. Can we actually say that is truly catching a fish? After breakfast we packed everyone in the car and headed out to the Alpine Slide. The chairlift up was nice and very scenic. Christopher went down with me the first time because he was too nervous….after that, he had the need for speed, so he went with Alex. They raced Andrew and beat him by a bumper. Olivia beat Carlie and I believe Caitlyn beat Lance. After the big competition we went over to Mount Rushmore to learn a little something. Seeing how this was our furthest west point there was a slight feeling of accomplishment….we made it here, now we need to make it back!! The temperature is now only 98 degrees and we are thinking we need to find some water to cool off. We went to Horse Thief Lake for some fishing and swimming. Lance, Alex and Christopher caught a small mouth bass, sunfish, yellow perch and a blue gill. They were all on the small side but fun none the less. Andrew swam with the other kids and then came over to try his hand. This time when he caught one we told him he had to touch the fish and take the hook out (how is he ever going to make money fishing unless he can do this!!) He did a great job holding the fish but Uncle Lance had to help him remove the hook…it was in there good. The older kids wanted to then try cliff jumping in the lake (we were watching other people do it) Caitlyn, Eddie (a young man from Omaha, NE that came with us from the campground) and Andrew climbed up this rock about 40 feet. Eddie had already done it with his family so he went first. Andrew went second…he landed slightly on his side. He said it knocked the wind out of him but he was fine. Caitlyn went last and had a perfect jump. In the photo to the left is Andrew jumping...he blends in with the rock, so you can't see him that well. You can see Lance to the right in the white shirt...they were jumping above that!! They all got out and wanted to go again! This time Carlie joined them. Steven wanted to as well but there was a section climbing up that he could not reach so he stayed with us as a spectator. Second round…Caitlyn was first up…she was leaning forward this time and we thought she was going to do a belly flop but somehow she straightened and landed fine. Eddie went second, Andrew had a great second jump (no breathing issues) and Carlie, going from a slighly lower position, went last with an outstanding jump. For the two mothers there (Shari and Amy) we were done with all of the excitement and wanted to go straight back to the campsite for an adult drink. We wrapped up the day with a great dinner, campfire and let’s not forget the smores. The girls slept over in the RV again for another slumber party…watching the cousins be together is really what it is all about!!