Our Cross Country Trip

A couple of months ago, Aunt Julie invited us to Indianapolis for Thanksgiving. We didn't have the RV then, but  after we got it, Dad thought it would be fun to take a cross country trip to Florida for Christmas in the RV and stop by the MacDonald's for Thanksgiving. Grandma was already at their house and Aunt Jill and Uncle Jeff were going to come up, too. We thought it would be fun to surprise Grandma and the cousins when we got there. When we got there, they were SO surprised!! It was a LONG trip across America...we thought Tilly already hated her carseat, but now, it's like seeing a demon!

Waiting for the RV to heat up on November 19th at our house in Montana...

 ...the night before, there was a huge blizzard! We were worried that we wouldn't be able to get out of the driveway with all that snow, but we got out just fine!

Mom made us egg salad sandwiches for our breakfast on the road.

Tilly just woke up...:)

Dad had a blanket, hat, sweatshirt and gloves on the first day on the road! It was 0 degrees when we left.

At about 6pm, we started hearing noises in the RV, right when we were driving into Sheridan, WY. Turns out, it was so cold (minus 8) outside that the radiator was frozen. We had to spend the night in a hotel, since it was way too cold to sleep out in the RV.  So we got a hotel in Sheridan, which was an old flour mill that they turned into a hotel.  That night, we ordered 2 pizzas from Pizza Hut. We were still waiting for them, an hour and a half later!   Mom called Pizza Hut and they said that they didn't get the order.  So she asked to speak to the manager and the manager said that he was so sorry and that he would drop off everything for free....when he did, we got 2 free pizzas, free parmesan, free breadsticks, and 1 free liter of pop!! For free! It was really fun, exciting and yummy!

They had a free continental breakfast the next morning, so we stuffed ourselves for the big day!

Our room number...

Our "Montana thermostat"...Dad put the leftover pizza boxes in the front of the radiator, so it would keep warm  and keep the cold air out. =)

The old mill....they named the hotel, "Mill Inn".

It was really sunny and pretty the next day....Dad's birthday!

Leftover pizza from the previous night...it was frozen, so we heated it up on the dashboard (our "Montana Microwave!) :)

Wyoming had HORRIBLE icy roads. The roads were packed with snow and ice, all the way from Sheridan, to Cheyenne! :O

Dad brought his new pipe that Dan and Becky gave him for his birthday

Dad got outside to do jumping jacks, because it was so cold!! :)

Close to York, Nebraska, the RV did not sound good. So we stopped at York and found out that the fan belt broke. So we called the Car Quest place and asked if they had a fan belt, size XL. They did and they delivered!

We stopped at a rest area in Nebraska and there were HUGE windmills. :)

Dad got tired, so he asked Mom if she could drive for him for a while...by the end of her turn, Mom's knuckles were white and her hands were full of sweat!! =)

We bought a 10 pack of movies at Walmart, so we watched them on the laptop.

Tilly, pretending to drive with Dad's new hat on (we were stopped at a gas station).

We stopped at Cracker Barrel for Dad's belated birthday dinner.

That night, we stayed at a Walmart parking lot in Des Moines, IA. It was the first night that we all stayed out in the RV and we all slept GREAT!!

Driving into Illinois.

One of our favorite shows to watch on TV is, "American Pickers". It is a show where two guys, Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz go out to people's houses and barns and find old junk, rusty tools and old signs and much more and try to make a profit off of the things they buy. Here is what they say at the beginning of their episodes: "I'm Mike Wolfe and I'm Frank Fritz, and we're pickers. We travel the back roads of America looking for rusty gold. We're looking for amazing things buried in people's garages and barns. What most people see as junk, we see as dollar signs. We'll buy anything we think we can make a buck on. Each item we pick has a history all its own and the people we meet are a breed all their own. We make a living telling the history of America...one piece at a time."  Here is there website where you can learn more about them: American Pickers Website.  Their show is on the History channel. :) When we were in Iowa, we remembered that one of their two garages was in LeClaire, IA. When we thought of them, we were only 20 miles away! So we stopped by their garage and looked around inside. It would have been 10 times better if Mike and Frank were there, but we overheard that they were out pickin'! 

I got a T-shirt from their shirt section!

We saw them pick this on one of their episodes! :)

Danielle, their secretary, was upstairs working on the computer trying to find other spots for them to pick. I saw her up in her office!

We saw an episode, where Mike picked this and wore it.

We had sooo much fun!

This is a bridge in Illinois. It was really cool!

After four full days on the road, we finally arrived at Fishers, Indiana!  We started to plan out our surprise....when we got to the MacDonald's house, they were so excited!!

Dakota and Fiona got dressed up in fairy outfits and were "flying" around the house. :)

Macy, Wil, Bennett and Preston played Wii downstairs.

Aunt Jill and Uncle Jeff brought their border collie, Miller up from Tennessee. He is so sweet!

We went rock climbing at Climb Time with everybody and it was so fun! I took turns climbing and helping people with the rope. The different colored tapes judge the difficulty. :)

Macy liked to swing on the rope!

Preston and Wil were like little monkeys climbing up the walls! =)