Another Spring Break can only mean one thing these days: Campervan Spring Break. Well scratch the campervan this time around. Get in the RV we're driving to Florida.
You know we love our road trips. Last summer, a few months after our first Campervan Spring Break, Theo said he wanted to go on another campervan trip. I asked where and he said to Florida. Never thought we'd be a spring break in Florida family, but here we are.
But first we had to get to Elkhart, Indiana to pick up our RV. Instead of driving or flying we took the Amtrak Borealis service down to Chicago for the first leg of our journey.
We were a little nervous that our train would be cancelled. Just three days earlier all the Borealis trains were found to have corrosion. They had moved routes via the bus. Thankfully they had replacement trains by the time of our departure.
As you can tell Meadow is super excited to be cooped up in an RV with us for a week or so.
There's no assigned seats so you wait in line. Scott didn't think it was worth waiting in line. I was worried about not getting seats together. Right before boarding they had groups of 5 or more go to the front, but they let us go too.
Brooke was actually very excited for the train ride.
I was. Honestly I was picturing that the four of us would sit together facing each other with a table in the center.
The seats were a lot roomier than an airplane and I enjoyed looking out the window most of the time.
I got some work done from my recent work trip to LA.
For some reason I really wanted to try out the food. Without a proper dinning car you're stuck with microwave fare.
7 Hours and 24 minutes later we were in Chicago.
At about 6 hours in I was kind of over sitting so long but train > flying. I asked Meadow if this was what it was like sitting in the backseat when we drive places. It was so nice to not have to drive this route and get to relax the whole time. I would take the train everywhere if it was more widespread.
Every time I'm in in Chicago, I think, "Wow, this is a real city!"
After checking in at the Freehand we got dinner at Taco Maya just down the block.
These kids love their tacos.
I'd decided on Freehand because A. It was cheap and B. We each got our own bed. Except the lights didn't work except in the bathroom when we arrived. While we were out having dinner someone had come in and fixed it, sort of.
The bunk beds were really cool. I'm not too picky when it comes to hotels. Mostly because I hate the idea of spending so much money just to sleep.
A snug little space for a couple of nights.
When looking for restaurants near us I saw there was a bagel shop and knew we had to take our bagel loving boy.
After breakfast at Corey's NYC Bagels we decided to take a walk to Navy Pier since that's what tourists do.
Along the way we picked a couple of postcards and stickers.
Theo talked us into riding the Ferris Wheel. I had never done it before and thought why not.
Nice views but was not worth $80 for us to go around twice.
I don't know what I was thinking, but I was in full, "We're on vacation!" mode and we splurged. Was the Navy Pier ferris wheel worth it? Probably not, but yolo, you know.
Theo loved it at least.
We decided what the heck let's just walk to the Field Museum.
After spending a million dollars on the Ferris Wheel we didn't want to pay for an Uber.
It was hot today in the sun, we did not dress appropriately.
We got a Minnesota Science Museum membership about a year back. It was still good through our trip, so we had to take advantage of our free entry to the Field Museum.
This museum was pretty cool. We looked at every bird.
Loved all the old school displays. Simple, informative and not a screen in sight.
I liked the plant area.
Also my favorite.
Theo eventually found the screens in the dinosaur exhibit.
At some point Uncle Colin and Aunt Jen met up with us.
Colin had a lot of ideas for lunch and most of them included pizza. We wanted Chicago-style Beef sandwiches. So we ended up at Pizano's in River North.
The bar when you come in was pretty cool.
But they sat us on the boring side which was clearly the family side.
If you are going out with my brother and sister-in-law you know you're gonna get a table full of food. Came to the conclusion that Chicago-style beef was the star of the show. Better deep dish elsewhere.
We stopped at Eataly for gelato, but that counter was closed for the day. Instead we got ice cream at the Cafe Cremerie just around the corner.
At that point we were pooped. We said our goodbyes to Colin and Jen and got ready for our longest day of the trip.
We got up early the next morning. Scott picked up the rental car while me and the kids picked up more bagels.
2 hours later we were at Thor Motor Coach's factory in Elkhart, IN to pick up our RV for the journey.
We had rushed to get there to make it for our pickup appointment. Only to have to wait over an hour. Due to the recent tariffs, Indie Campers needed to get vehicles up to Canada before April 1. The guy we picked up the RV from said they had sent 50 vehicles in the last week. You could tell he was a little overwhelmed.
Eventually we were handed over the keys. We got the same basic deal as last year. We had to pick up the vehicle from the factory and relocate it to Miami. Basically free except for insurance and gas.
And $8 a day.
I did say basically free...
We had to backtrack a wee bit to drop off our rental car in Mishawaka. This year I came up with idea to do grocery pickup. While on the train to Chicago we made a list for pick up at a Target which was right near the car rental place.
After getting the car returned and groceries picked up, I wanted to try out an Indiana Pork Tenderloin Sandwich. So we stopped at Chubbie's Pub and Grub in nearby Syracuse, Indiana.
Apparently there were two entrances to the restaurant, bar side and dining room side. We accidentally went through the bar side because that's what you do . We were told we had to do the family dining room and of course we both made the comment, "You know you're not in Wisconsin anymore."
The kids got to sit across from each other this time. We had also bought a travel booster seat for Theo after learning last year you can't use a standard one on the plane. I totally missed that there's only lap belts in the RV so we didn't really need to bring that either.
The goal for the night was to make it to the Cincinnati area by bedtime. We didn't stop after eating, driving through dark half the drive, but we made it.
Theo and I took the over cab bunk.
The nice thing about the RV was that there was no chilly roof top tent to sleep in. We could all enjoy the heat.
We stayed at Miami Whitewater Forest Campground just outside of Cincinnati. I had a heck of a time backing this baby up the first few days.
In the middle of the night it smelled like burning from the furnace and our smoke alarm went off. I panicked and made us turn it off. I guess the first time you use the heater you should run it for 20 minutes on high with all the windows open to burn off any manufacturing oils and dust.
Would've loved to have gotten some Cincinnati Chili, but we had to get to Great Smoky Mountain National Park!
We once again were cruising right through Kentucky. Seriously would like to spend more time exploring this state and not just passing through. But we did stop at our first Buc-ee's about halfway down the state.
I keep hearing about this Kwik Trip of the south so we had to stop. You can't really compare the two as it's a Kwik Trip x50.
Do we need Texas-sized gas stations? No. Will you enjoy a stop? Sure.
This place is crazy.
We each picked out a sandwich. I do love having the dining table and no seats to turn around.
The pulled pork sammies were dang good. Definitely a step up or three from a Kwik Trip. Pure 21st century Americana.
We had to get their famous Beaver Nuggets too.
Here's a quick tour of our home for the week.
We've really upgraded from having a drawer fridge to an almost full size fridge and freezer. And extra bonus with the RV: a combo microwave and oven.
Also loving the roomier bathroom.
The kids took a break from their screens for some card games.
We finally made it to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and Tennessee. Our campsite at the Elkmount Campground was dreamy.
You can get a really good campsite if you only book a night. Pretty much a good rule of thumb almost anywhere.
It must be Junior Ranger badge time.
You know it. Since there is no entry fee at Great Smokey Mountains you have to buy your Junior Ranger booklet, but they let you do one book per family and each kid still gets a badge.
Apparently Elkmont used to be a town. We went on a little tour of the long gone mountain village.
When I started researching this park I had no idea it was full of waterfalls and abandoned towns. Wish we had planned to stay more than 1 night.
The cabins here were originally from the lumber days and later became a resort. Now they are owned by the National Park and you are free to roam through each cabin. One of the Junior Ranger challenges was a scavenger hunt. We had fun finding all the hidden items in each cabin.
The little cabin, sandwiched between the cottages, was the oldest building of the bunch.
Each cabin was as quirky as the next.
I just followed along and took photos of cool details. Would've been a dream to stay here.
The next morning we planned on hiking before heading onto the Carolinas.
We only had time for one hike and the one I really wanted to do was Alum Caves Bluff Trail. We got there about 9am and the parking lot was already full and most of the road parked up.
It was cool seeing Hemlocks this far south along the trail. (They're also commonplace up by our cottage.)
We made it to Arch Rock and decided to turn around at this point. If we had had more time we could have made it to Inspiration Point.
On our way out we stopped at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center so the kids could collect their badges. Shortly after this Theo lost his orange water bottle. He seems to lose a water bottle on every trip we take.
We drove and drove including right through Columbia, South Carolina before we reached Congaree National Park. It was a bit surreal that this was just on the outskirts of a decent sized metro.
We had also reached the summer portion of our trip.
We made it after the visitor center had closed which I predicted. This time I was more prepared and printed the kids junior ranger books ahead of time.
Congaree is "the largest intact expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the southeastern United States."
The "knuckles' that pop out of the ground around the Bald Cypress sure are something.
Thankfully we were here during a low mosquito time.
The convection microwave did the job. Frozen pizza for dinner to save some scratch.
We originally thought we'd camp out in a Walmart or Cracker Barrel parking lot for the night. Once we got into South Carolina I realized that wasn't going to work out. No way was I keeping the windows open all night in a brightly lit, loud parking lot.
We ended up staying at a South Carolina State Park since there are no drive in campgrounds at Congaree. Santee State Park is your best bet if you're heading towards the coast. Despite having a minimum 2 night stay policy, you can get a site if available just for the night. First come first served.
If I had the time I would've stopped to shoot a million rural South Carolina homes. But this one, this one, I had to stop for.
We were also close to a lot of the locations from Forrest Gump. Next time.
Soon we'd be in Georgia, but not quite yet.
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