Dinosaurs, Hail, & Cranky… oh my!

Today we left an hour earlier than yesterday, so we had high hopes of making our goal! We didn’t realize we’d be dealing with some crazy weather conditions and cranky a mama!

We drove four hours before arriving at the Museum of the Rockies. We enjoyed lunch in the warm weather before heading into the museum. We enjoyed our time in the museum and thought they had some great sound effects in the T-rex room until we heard a local saying it was golfball-sized hail hitting the roof. We wondered about the RV, but continued our adventure through the museum, because really – what could or would we do anyways?!

Miss Abigail

Miss Chandler

and the Little Man enjoying all there was to learn & see

After a quick stop in the gift shop for a velociraptor claw… here is what we found -

A shattered bathroom window

and small dents & holes in the body

caused by this (picture taken after it had been melting in the sun for over an hour!)

We cleaned up the shards of glass and melted water on the inside while Josh patched up the outside… you gotta love duct tape!

With the weather slowing us down, we did not make our goal for today (so sad!). We stopped early in Big Timber, MT with enough time to relax and get a little laundry in too.

Everyone settled in and finally getting some decent WiFi

Goal for tomorrow: Bismarck, North Dakota

(Cross your fingers for us!)

A Rough Start

The RV went into the shop to get a “shake-down” which we learned means to ‘get ready for a road-trip’. We originally planned to head out on our road trip Sunday. When the RV wasn’t quite ready, we had to adjust our plans… We left Hockinson at 9:00 on Monday evening.We were SO excited to be getting on the road!

- The Road Trip Gang -

Chandler, Abbie, James, Josh, Max, Ruby, & Stacie (the photographer)

We drove late into the night. The kids dropped off one by one. We pulled into a camp spot in the one o’clock hour. We fell into bed and slept in late the next morning! We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning on the Columbia River!

James and Max playing: Max chasing river waves & James digging for fossils

A beautiful place to wake up: Boardman, Oregon

The girls always willing to pose for a photo!

Ruby was chilling out – a true traveling cat!

Our goal for this travel day: Missoula, Montana