After such a long Monday of travel, after tire trouble and the heat and an extra day used to rest (Tuesday), we had decided that we were all ready to go ahead and start our travels back home. It has been a great trip, despite being unplanned. It has given the three of us quality time together, if doing nothing more than relaxing outside or watching a movie together in the camper. I'm glad that we took this trip. We decided to wake up before dawn on Wednesday morning and try to drive as far as we could while it was cool in the morning. We made it through St. Louis and into Illinois before having our third camper tire blowout. By this time, Daniel had become a pro at changing out the tire and we were back on the road within 15 minutes. And thankfully once again, the next exit we stopped at had a tire center, right off the interstate. We were able to continue driving soon after getting the bad tire fixed. We came into some construction traffic near Metropolis, Illinois which was just a few minutes before our exit. We had to wait about 25 minutes in that traffic and it was so very hot! We stopped once again in Paducah and stayed at the same RV resort we had stayed in on the front end of our trip. We knew that we would have full hookups and they had a good laundry room where we could wash our clothes.
I saw this sticker in the gas station after the tire blow out. I felt it was kinda fitting.
Outside of the tire center. I guess new camper tires were becoming the souvenirs for this trip.
While driving during the hottest part of the day, the sun was coming in on my side of the truck. I have a passenger's sunburn.
We were so happy to pass over the Mississippi River and into Kentucky! Once we got set up in the camper and cooled off, we doordashed some Chinese food to the camper. Best decision of the day!
We did not get up as early to leave out on Thursday. We knew we had about 4 hours to go until we would make it home. But we also know that it would take us longer than that in our truck, pulling the camper. But the plan was to get home and hopefully with no blow outs!
Crossing into Tennessee was another welcomed sight! That just means we were that much closer to being home. We stopped at McKay's in Nashville and enjoyed perusing the store in the AC. Afterwards, we made some sandwiches from the camper and then got back on the road.
Pulling into our driveway at around 5PM on Thursday, July 17! Home Sweet Home! And we made it with the one OG camper tire still intact.
Daniel bought this puzzle at one of the thrift stores we visited. He worked on it several nights in the camper. When we traveled, I would wrap it up with saran wrap so it stayed in place. He finished it the last night before we arrived home.
We enjoyed stopping at several thrift stores and antique stores in the various places we visited. Here are some of my finds. The casserole dish is a large deep dish by Paula Deen that I paid 3.00 for. We also got a few utensils and things for the camper as we discovered we needed them. I found a Pampered Chef slotted spoon in great condition for .50. The little precious moments figurine was at a shop in Yankton. It has the year we got married on it.
And before I end writing about this trip, I really need to brag on Amelia. There's not many 17 year olds that would tag along with Mom and Dad, in a hot truck pulling a camper and especially do it without complaining. She did not complain once. It was so very good to spend the two weeks with her. She is about to begin a busy senior year of high school and who knows what after that.
Until next time......
