Road Trip: OK to WA

This was it. Because of God, we were able to sell our house, both our cars, 90% finish renovating Silvia and find wonderful homes for our two dogs. Now the day Travis and I had been looking forward to for over a year was here. We were leaving Oklahoma with our family, our truck Bruno and our trailer Silvia for good. Jack Johnson was going to be playing on the radio as we finally pulled out to start our new adventure. It was going to be one of those big smile, oh yes kind of moments…but that’s not what happened.

This trip was off to a bad start before we even left Oklahoma City. We were a week behind our planned day to leave and to make things worse, we were trying to beat a huge storm coming through Texas and Oklahoma. We left on a Saturday afternoon and as soon as we made it into Texas – we hit a new storm that produced a number of tornadoes. We had to make a decision to keep going, wait it out, or turn around. After watching the weather radar on our phones, we decided to turn around and drive back 30 miles. We pulled in between two semi-trucks at a rest area and waited. By God’s grace we were okay and by that morning everything cleared up and we were back on the road again.

Now, let me just say, if you have toddlers and are planning a 2,200+ mile trip…good luck;) Although the scenery was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, the kiddos got bored. And if you don’t know, boredom for little ones = attitude + fussing + crying + flailing + screaming + more attitude + defiance + destroying car seats. Thank goodness for snacks and sleep. However, it was nice having Silvia with us. We were able to run in and get a change of clothes – if there was a potty emergency, we simply pulled over – and every night we already had a place to lay our heads. Hauling your home does have its advantages!

So much of our trip had weather that made us worried. Utah was pretty bad. Sure it’s nice when you’re pulling everything you own – but on the other hand, you’re pulling everything you own! And when weather decides to act up, there is nothing you can do about it. There are only a few photos of any rough weather that we encountered along the way. I’ll just say that when we finally made it to our destination in Washington, I wanted to kiss the ground!

Babe, you did an incredible job driving Bruno and Silvia. I will always feel safe with you:)