We're home!  Finally!  We were away from home for 26 days and drove a total of 4,322 miles! 

Yesterday, we drove nearly 500 miles (8 hours!)  from Amarillo, TX to Joplin, MO.  Driving across Oklahoma wasn't bad, the highway is a toll road so there was less traffic and the highway was pretty smooth.... but cost $20 in tolls!  Don't know what it costs if you live there, but I can't imagine having to pay every time you need to get on the highway.  We spent last nite at a KOA in Joplin, right across the state line in MO.  The wifi connection was very bad.... don't know how they could even advertise having it!  It was so hot when we pulled in there, the thermometer in the camper said the outside temp was 112... I doubt it was that high, but it was HOT and took forever to cool down in there!

Today the drive went pretty quick, just about 300 miles and we were home by about 1pm.  The girls were very happy to be able to run in their yard again!  It's taken a few hours to get things unloaded from the camper... so much stuff!  Seems like we came home with twice what we took with us lol

Will spend the next few days getting laundry caught up, going through mail, and cleaning the camper.  It's going to be hot here, they're saying record breaking temps... possibly up to 108 tomorrow and Friday.  Will be nice to plop myself on the couch tonite and watch cable where I know what channels are what!

Will share some things we figured out/learned on this trip -

#1 - Take a cooler of ice water/drinks wherever you go.  There are actually places in this huge country where there are  no gas stations or McDonalds or Walmarts lol  Seriously, living in a city you just are used to being able to stop wherever you want and get whatever you want whenever you want, and if not just go a mile down the road to the next exit and it'll be there.  Not so everywhere.  There are miles and miles and miles of nothing but roadway.  No houses, no people....nothing.

#2 - Next time we'll take as much clothes as we can pack in.  It's easy to say "we can always do laundry".  Ha!  It's true you can always do laundry... but do you really want to after sight seeing all day??  And doing laundry at a campground isn't like walking into a laundrymat with 2 dozen machines.  You normally have 4 or 5 washers and dryers.... and a whole campground full of people trying to get in there first!  Didn't realize how expensive it is either.

#3 - Just because a campground advertises Wifi, or cable... and even when they assure you at check in that both are in working order.... that means nothing.  Just assume you won't get more than a few snowy stations on the tv, and that you won't be able to get an internet connection ... then when you DO get good results from either one you will be pleasantly surprised!  

#4 - As nice as it is to get away and see parts of the country you have never seen before, and as amazing as some of those things can be.... it's always nice to come home!  We saw some incredibly high mountains, deep gorges, beautiful waterfalls, desert, sand dunes, snow in June (!), ancient indian ruins, the Grand Canyon and so many other things.  But, it's nice to be home.  Was nice to drive through Missouri and see the rolling hills, the green grass and trees, and rivers and creeks with water in them!  I even missed the humidity lol Although my hair is already catching up on lost frizz time!

Already thinking about where we will be going on our next trip!  Would love to take the camper and camp out on the beach in Florida.  Or North Carolina maybe.  Or maybe even up through Niagra Falls and on to Maine.  Will have to get working on this soon :)