Activities

Leaving Knoxville late at night, we stopped at a Walmart to rest for the night. At this particular Walmart, we were chancing our luck not to be towed away. Even with "No Overnight RV Parking"  signs posted, we figured it would be okay since others were more than obviously parked for the night. Safety in numbers, right!? The restless night went by and eventually I fell fast asleep.  Early in the morning, Josh woke to make our way to The Great Smokey Mountains.  Beyond exhausted, we stopped at an outdoor store to stock up on cooking fuel.  The store yet to open, Josh climbed back into bed for a couple hours to wait it out.  When we woke, the parking lot was full and Josh headed in.   He was lucky to come out with fuel as he mentioned the store was mainly for tourists with money burning in their pockets. Still bring a bit early, we made our way to a visitors center just outside the park. This feeling like yet another tourist trap, we found ourselves back in bed again.

Our excessive morning sleep caused us to head into the Smokies later than expected, but we pushed forward. Upon entering the park's main Visitor's Center, we were faced with the worst part of the only free (and most visited) National Park on the country- traffic. It's like Christmas-time traffic where everyone is busy getting somewhere, distracted and in some kind of dumb-founded bubble. Drivers aren't kind here for the most part. It took us a few circles to find parking and due to traffic chaos mixed with growling bellies and petty arguing follows suit. We finally made into the visitor center which was littered with aimlessly wandering tourists showing souvenir hunger in their eyes.   Read more

While staying with The Spiels in Ohio, we all decided to have a camping adventure together.  With that, we loaded up their little Nissan Versa with our gear and hit the road.  A combination of Google searching and local inquiries somehow lead us in search of Wildcat Hollow in the Wayne National Forest.  The drive up to our campsite was both entertaining and beautiful.  We passed through the dilapidated old town of Chauncey (Pronounced "CHAN-see" by the locals for some weird reason).  Run-down houses and barns floated by on either side as we made our way through town.  The brick buildings of Chauncey's downtown were mere empty shells of what it must have been in years past.  An old farmer sat on cracked steps next to his John Deere push mower, his cigarette hanging from his lip as if permanently affixed.  He watched as we passed by which made me contemplate... "I wonder what he thinks of us?"   Read more

Coming into Columbus started out on a positive note as we had just skydived that day, but quickly turned into shambles. Everything was STUPID!! The only things people could suggest for us to do were parks, walking, museums, and biking. Which just couldn’t live up to the thrill of jumping from 13,000 ft out of a plane. We spent a few days bickering with a final blow up that drove us to leave and never had an intent to return!

After spending time in The Plains and winging our way to Cleveland, we found ourselves giving Columbus a second chance. This time around we weren’t hyped up on adrenaline and seeking our next fix. And this time we had a challenge: no van and no plans past somewhere to sleep that for the first night. At first glance Columbus appears to be a small town with small neighborhoods surrounding it, but we came to find out it has the 15th largest population of any city in the U.S. with diverse people and LOTS and LOTS of food.

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Ok, ok we know.  Chicago happened in July and August.  It’s now November.  Wait, what!?  November!?  Time definitely flies when you are not required to monitor it.  Either way, we spent 12 days hanging in and around Chicago and managed to accumulate a few pictures and memories while we were there.  Interested?  Cool.  We knew you would be.  With that... a few of our cherished memories from our time spent in the Windy City:   Read more