Seckers Go West 2016 – Part 1

Recently, our family of four took a trip across our great nation visiting 17 states in 17 days. We left North Carolina on July 1st and then proceeded through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and then back through Tennessee and finally home to North Carolina.

I give you our route in case anyone is inspired by our story and would ever like to take a similar trip. I would also be remised if I didn’t tell you that we did NOT go on this trip alone – as in our family of four –  by ourselves. Years ago, we became close friends and began camping with a family (of five) from our church – The Sands. One night, years ago, we dreamt of taking this trip together. We dreamt of traveling across the country together in our campers and being able to see many of the beautiful places that God created. This summer, we were blessed enough to experience it. Dream BIG people. If you never set your sights high, there will never be any sights to see.

It was a HUGE blessing to have our friends as our guides on this trip. They had traveled on a similar trip years ago and were able to guide us, help us, encourage us, and motivate us to be road warriors. They also provided me personally with a sense of adventure that I never knew I was capable of. It might have helped too that all three of males in the Sand family are Boy Scouts. Here is a travel tip – taking a Boy Scout with you when you cross the country pulling a 36 foot long 5th wheel camper, that you have to set up and break down just about every single day for 17 days, is now a MUST in my book. Plus, the fact that our families are such good friends is truly a blessing from God. We are lucky to have each other and after this trip of a lifetime, we are also friends for life.

Here is a breakdown of our trip day by day – the highs and the lows:

Day 1 – Drove to TN and camped for the night. Our friends (The Sands) had dinner waiting on us and everyone was pumped about the trip finally starting.

Day 2 – We drove. We drove in the car for a very long time.We made videos on the musically app as a family to entertain ourselves. I finished reading a book – because this is what I do. I am not really sure what Mike was doing as he drove, ALL DAY LONG, because I was a bad wife and read my book. We finally stopped after about 12-13 hours of driving from TN to MO. It was Saturday before the 4th of July so there were no campsites available. The sweet owners of the campground let us stay side by side with The Sands on a gravel road in the campground. About 100 yards from our campers they shot off the biggest fireworks display in all of Missouri. No joke. I felt like I had PTSD and was possibly deaf after the fireworks – but it was amazing and patriotic. It was literally a blast. Then it rained. The thunder and lightening kind of rain that shakes your entire camper. Not a lot of sleep that night – but in the words of Willie Nelson, we had to get “on the road again”.

Day 3 – More driving. Driving like it is your job. Our kids were connected to our hot spots. Thank you God for iPads, iPhones, and hot spots. We used the mad libs app to entertain us and the words butt and poop were used more than have ever been used in one day in the existence of those words. I read an entire book – just in this one day. That is how long we were in the car. One highlight of driving west is that we finally started gaining time as we went through the central time zone and then into the mountain time zone. That was a helpful mind trick that made you feel as though you weren’t really in the car for what felt like a lifetime. We made it to Sioux Falls, SD. Did some laundry, kids swam in the pool, and we enjoyed another night of setting up and morning of breaking down our camper to get in the truck again by 8:00 am.

Day 4 – July 4th – Happy Birthday America! We drove through the Badlands to the KOA at Mt. Rushmore. We had another long day of driving but not as long as days 2-3, only about 8 or 9 hours. We finally started to feel like we were “out west.” Long straight roads and big sky that looked almost white in SD. The campground was energized with the celebration of July 4th. By the time we got there it was evening, so we cooked a nice meal and just hung out at our camper. There was a sweet lady that worked at the KOA who told us there was a two hour wait at Mt. Rushmore just to get in the park – no thanks. We’ve been in the car for a lifetime – we are not getting back in a car (until tomorrow).

Day 5 – Thank you God for that sweet lady’s advice and for my husband who woke us all up at 5 am (it felt like 7 am our time) and got us out the camper door before 6 am to head to Mt. Rushmore. He was ready to see something – finally. So we get to Mt. Rushmore at sunrise, the gates are open, there is no one there to even let us pay, we park in an empty parking lot and this is what we see.

Then we ate the most amazing breakfast at Peggy’s Place in Keystone, SD. We got back in the car and drove through SD, WY and into Montana. It was a breathtaking drive and we were filled with patriotism and God’s blessings as we began to experience Big Sky Country and the mountains of MT. We got to our campsites outside of Red Lodge, MT in the Custer National Forest there called Parkside. Which is the best place I have ever camped in my lifetime. You should go there. Parkside, MT

Days 6-7 – Waking up at Parkside was simply amazing. My words and my photos will not do justice here to explain how amazing it was. I am sad (and have tears in my eyes) to actually not be in this place as I give you my words from journal. This is what I wrote on day 6 – “Donna, Nate, Chloe and I hiked the Rock River and then up into the mountains. It was the most spectacular view of my life. I know only God himself could create such beauty. I LOVE Montana. I can’t stop saying it.”  Ya’ll – we had not even hiked up the 10,000 feet yet to Glacier Lake and I was already saying this – so that is what we did on Day 7. Mike and I started the day by hiking up the mountain from our camper at sunrise. Then at lunch time, we used the 4wd like it was made for our trucks and drove 8 miles into the gorge, stopping for fishing and a picnic lunch. Then we hiked up to 10,000 feet over the snowy ridge and saw the most breathtaking, sparkling lake that exists. Glacier Lake. It looked like heaven. The kids played in the snow. That night we watched the stars and Mike and I both said we had one of the best days of our lives (like as good as our wedding day or when our kids were born). Unforgettable.

Parkside, MT and Hike to Glacier Lake in Custer National Forest

Above is a picture of the first page of my journal from our trip. As I pause on our trip here (ending part 1) – I want to express my gratitude. Thank you Lord, for the opportunity to collect moments with you and your beauty during these 17 days. The moments that I spent in these parts of your amazing world will be forever in my mind and heart. The moments that I spent with my husband and my children, creating these memories and experiencing the magnitude of your creation, have given me a greater appreciation for your love and your power. Only God himself could create such beauty. Collecting moments and not things is a blessing I have truly experienced this summer.