Now that I've finally created this blog, I'll throw in a little catch-up post for the sake of completeness.

We left NC the last week of April, on an open-ended adventure in our motorhome, to see the American West especially but hoping to see a lot of small-town USA on the way. We had only one reserved destination week, at the Kentucky Horse Park (KHP) in Lexington. The intention was to be near the Kentucky Derby in Louisville but not embedded in the madness of the Derby.

The KHP is 1200 acres of rolling Kentucky fields, photogenically green and sectioned by classic board fence--mostly black fence nowadays. Thoroughbred horses were everywhere, long-legged foals guarded by their moms. On the weekend there were a variety of horse activities, from cross-country & steeplechase schooling, to sulky driving, to children's gypsy drum shows. The terrain is rolling and green, and absolutely irresistible for running in the early spring mornings.

Reluctantly we left on a Tuesday morning, heading west through southern Indiana--including one night camped in the overflow parking lot of Casino Aztar, on the bank of the Ohio River. It was our first boondocking experience--not in an RV campground--and cracks me up just to think of it. The casino is a pretend riverboat, though apparently real enough to require boxes of lifejackets on the top deck. The lower decks are bursting with slot and video poker machines, the atmosphere smoky and clanging. We happened to be there on primary day, so it was relatively deserted (no alcohol sold in Indiana that day till the polls closed). We were too tired to stay up with the big kids. We pulled the shades by 9 pm and tried to sleep. That was when we discovered just how close we were to the railroad tracks!

On to Missouri before full daybreak the next morning (we weren't sleeping anyway). It rained almost nonstop, through 11 hours of road time. We stopped every couple of hours hoping to wait out the storm, but no such luck. Finally stopped in Springfield, MO for a couple of nights at a campground, with the intention of poking around historic Route 66. Mostly we saw shot glasses, coffee mugs and reproduction highway signs! And once again, each night we discovered how close we were to the railroad tracks.

Along the way, we've been enjoying just living in our motorhome, in wet weather and dry. It's been very different traveling this way, compared to our occasional beach or mountain trips. After a hard day's drive or long day of touring, it's a cocoon of home. Most nights we cook at home--in fact almost all meals are in the motor home. The weather has rarely cooperated yet for us to cook outdoors or even just lounge around outdoors, except at the Kentucky Horse Park.

We're better at staying out of each other's way than I expected. There have been moments of panic (what are we doing!!?!), especially as diesel fuel prices creep toward $5/gallon. In those moments we have to remind ourselves that this is our chance to see the country, and it's pretty unlikely that fuel prices will drop. I just lobby for staying in good places longer, to spread out the pain of each fuel stop! Spencer is a good sport, sleeps on his couch most of the travel days, and begs to go with us whenever we go to play tourist. Otherwise his needs are pretty easy to handle.

Running is suffering mostly because of campground locations--either too close to a major highway, too scary to venture into the neighborhood nearby, or too far to find a good running place. As the cities get smaller, further West, I'm hoping to find better running!

All in all, it's a cool life and I think it will be even more fun as more outdoors weather comes along, and as we arrive in more vacation destination-type places, where other campers are outdoors to meet & socialize with.