June 2, 2013 - Day 1, the adventure begins

And off we go! 
Our journey began today around 12:20 pm when we departed Cincinnati for our 6 weeks on the road.
Pictured below is the whole gang - my mom and dad (Mary Ann and John), Arnie, Ben (10), Claire (9) and Sarah (7) and of course Henry our dog, who is the newest member of our clan (we have had him bout 9 months) and a bit camera shy apparently.

Getting the RV packed and out the door was not nearly as stressful as Arnie thought it woudl be.  I guess our P&G type A personalities worked out, we had our list of every thing we needed to bring, and I had the three kids and me packed in laundry baskets and ready to go.  It is AMAZING how much storage there is, not sure how empty nesters fill these things.  There are literally drawers EVERYWHERE.  We still have a few extra.  We were within 15 minutes of leaving and Arnie found an entire underneath bin empty, so of course we filled it!

Many of you have asked "where are you going?"  And many of you have heard my play by play.  But for those of you who have not heard, here it is broken down

Jun 2-3  St. Louis (the arch, city museum, Cardinals Game)

June 4 - overnight around Colorado Springs

June 5 & 6th  Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

June 7 & 8th  Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

stop at Four Corners National Park

June 9th, 10th, 11th - Moab - Canyonlands and Arches National Parks

June 12th - Goblin Valley State Park (a favorite of Arnie's from his youth, so the only state park we are hitting), Utah

June 13th & 14th - Grand Canyon S. Rim, Arizona

June 15th, 16th, 17th - Los Angeles visiting Andrea Theodore (one of my bridesmaids) & Bob Gray and hitting the cities highlights (and real beds for some of us)

June 18th - Sequoia National Park, California

June 19th, 20th & 21st - Yosemite National Park, California

June 22nd and 23rd - Tahoe National Forest at our friends Tom & Louisa Shield's place (yeah, a real bed!!!!) and seeing my bridesmaid Marcia and her family

this is when my parents head home, flying out of San Fran on 23rd to head back to NY

June 24th & 25th Redwoods National Forest, California

June 26th & 27th Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

June 28th & 29th Oregon Coast and visit friends in Portland

June 30th & July 1st Olympic National Park, Washingtong

July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th C'oeur D'Alene, Idaho to see our friend Dan Jones and hang out on the lake

July 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th  Yellowstone National Park, Montana and Wyoming

our last 5 days are unplanned, we know we will go to Mt. Rushmore and Badlands but are playing it by ear in case we want to stay in Yellowstone longer...imagine that, free wheeling it a bit :)

Our first day of driving went fine today.  Arnie drove about 5 of the hours, and managed to get us into a BP station and Kroger parking lot no problem.  My dad drove that last hour and a bit to get us into St. Louis.  We are staying at the St. Louis RV park, which is essentially a parking lot with electric and water hookups, but it works and we can walk downtown. 

Here are some pics from our first day, including our first meal in the RV - dinner, including Pringles duck lips on Ben.  It is manageable to eat in the RV while moving, though a balancing act for sure.  And we have quickly learned to open every drawer, storage area, fridge, etc very slowly as everything shifts.  Sort of like that announcement on the airplane but on STEROIDS!

And views of our arrival into St. Louis.  The kids and my parents have never been here, so we were very excited to see the Arch and the baseball stadium.  Arnie and I have both been here during our Homecare days at P&G due to the plant.  It makes Mr. Clean, Comet and Cascade for those with curious minds. 

We look forward to seeing more of the city tomorrow and truly feel blessed to begin such an amazing summer for us all.