Author: Emily

Chimney Tops Trail—this hike united our family like no other hike has. We had no idea we were going to do this hike, it was just something we saw on the side of the road and thought we’d pull over and check out, maybe go a little ways then turn around…no we did the whole thing on a whim. This was by far the hardest hike we had ever done. It was a 1.75 out and back trail for a total of 3.5 miles. And there were well over 600 steps of climbing, not all together but just steps and steps and climbing and climbing and Mac did it ALL. Not one moment of being carried. The confidence boost of mastering this was so sweet. The talks we got to have about endurance, family sticking together, cheering each other on, and using your voice tell us when you need a break, water, a snack etc.. because we can’t see in your brain…..ahh it was a great hike. The views at the top were neat. We had brought snacks had a nice rest at the top. A crew in front of us on way down saw a black bear, we never saw it but were keenly aware that they were around! The game most know as “20 questions” took form in our family as “the animal game” we played for hours on this hike. This game how now transformed into “person, place or thing”….still very much “20 questions” but now broader than just our original animal version.

Greenbrier area—This was the closest part of the National Park to our campground. There are several pull off areas to go down to the Pigeon river or to go hiking in the woods. At the very back there is a parking lot with multiple trails, one leading to the massive Application trail itself! That is where we found an old barn. We stopped there for awhile and our old fashion farm boys played pretend! They had animals and fields and made homemade pancakes with the flour they crushed from the wheat field, the eggs they gathered from the chickens and the milk they got from the cow….all invisible to everyone else 😉 . We went to another spot one day in between showers and walked through the puddles.

Cades Cove—This is an iconic drivable loop of the Smoky Mountains. We did it last year and enjoyed it so much we did it again on this visit. We hiked a little further on a trail and saw another homestead. We stopped at an old church. Its amazing seeing how they built things back then. We now have a metal picture of Jesus being the cornerstone, and what a cornerstone actually is!

Grotto Falls—This hike takes you back to a waterfall….that you can walk BEHIND! Definitely a fun hike, 2.8 total miles. Parking was a bit tricky for us in the ole pick-up but we were able to park on the side of the road down a bit from the parking lot. On the way to the falls it is mostly up hill and then a fast down hill on the way back. We saw all sorts of little crawling critters on this hike. We ate on a rock in the river watching the waterfall, crazy how loud moving water can be!

Quiet walkway— There are a few signs off the main road through the park that just say “quiet walkway.” We parked at one and got out and went adventuring. We called this place the “Secret Schneider Spot.” We went back a few times to see how the water had rose after a rainfall, had a picnic, etc. Just a beautiful green, moss covered rock, gentle water rolling kind of spot! The sign about the quiet walkway reads “A short walk on this easy trail offers close-up views, subtle aromas, and the serene quiet of a protected woodland. You will be walking in on the the last great wildland areas in the East, but you won’t need a backpack or hiking boots. Take your time. Have a seat on a rock or a log bench. The trail has no particular destination, so walk as was far as you like and then return.” ….and so we did!

I’m sure you’re like yeah who cares about that…. now now now before you throw the baby out with the bath water let me just say I would have thought the exact same thing! Never did I think oh we should go spend some quality time in south East Kansas I’ve heard it’s a happening place. But let me tell you, you should! We loved our visit! 🤩

Big Brutus….we had NEVER heard of this. I’d encourage anyone in the KC area to go see this monster. It’s a 16 story tall old mining excavator! It is HUGE! And it just so happens that it has a tiny little RV park in the parking lot and so we stayed at ole Brutus for two nights, getting to enjoy some Kansas sunrises and sunsets!

We did the museum they have on site and with that you get to climb INSIDE Brutus-we had no idea this would even be an option so it was a very exciting surprise! (that green arrow in the picture below points to the look out deck from inside!) We all learned something, Chase and I were more impressed than we thought we would be and the boys LOVED it. A lot of the old mining strips in the area have been turned into wildlife areas. These are stocked with fish and a good area for hunting. We had no idea that was a thing! We definitely could have spent more time exploring the area! 

Little House on the Prairie….I’ve eluded to the fact that we have listened to hours and hours of these audio books. They have really been a treasure to our family. Merrick listens, he can tell you stories about them. He knows everyones name. I’ll be cooking or doing something and wish I could talk to Laura or Ma and just keep learning and asking questions. When ever we find our selves in a pickle in this current world Chase and I just share a look and then one of says something to the effect of “what would Pa do?” 🤣 

And then Mac, golly the kid is a sponge and asks questions about anything he doesn’t understand so he has learned so much from all the stories as we’ve listened. We’ve caught on that Mac has a knack for learning about historical things. Last year when he wanted “an old fashion wagon” cake for his birthday I thought it was just a phase that would pass. But the kid has continued for the past year to want to stop and see any “old fashion” thing from “back in the day” along our travels. (He also references the 90s like it was the 1700s 🤣  we have a bit of time comprehension to grasp!) When we saw that there was a Little House on the Prairie site a little over an hour from Big Brutus….this boy lit up! Once we got there he would run from one building to the other just hyperventilating-style breathing trying to soak it all up! We read every sign and enjoyed every second we spent there. 

Mer and I just might have arrived in costume 😉 …..I couldn’t think of a better place to wear a prairie dress than to the Little House on the Prairie!! 

I’d highly encourage spending a day or two or a long weekend seeing an area know one ever talks about, South Eastern Kansas!

(And if you’re wondering why we were there…it was because we were in route to our next gig and it happened to be on the way! Stay tuned! 😜 So thankful we aren’t traveling in a covered wagon to get there!)

What exactly does a travel day look like???

If we are on top of our game the bed of the pick up is all packed up and the outside stuff is pretty much done the day before we are actually pulling out. All the chairs, the outdoor rug, the toys, bikes… all of it in the bed of the pick-up all packed up.

We truly do not have to move much in the camper. There’s a little bit in each area that we have to secure or put away for travel. All my plants go in the shower, it turns into a little green house 😊 (My Grandma taught me that trick!) We pull the slides in and we are set for hooking up to the pick-up.

The last thing we do on the outside is disconnecting all the hoses. The sewer hose and it’s holder, the water hose with the filter system and the electric cable all go into a giant tub. This tub goes right inside our door. It’s the last thing we put away and the first thing we get out so it’s just easy for it to be right there. 

When the camper gets hooked up to the pick-up Chase guides me as I (and Merrick) back the pick-up up….he’s better at the guiding part 😉 and then Chase (and Mac) hook it all up. The last thing we put away after hooking up are the wheel chocks (things you put beside the tires so it doesn’t roll). There’s been 3 or so times we have forgotten this minor detail and they have gotten run over…easily replaced but hopefully we’ve learned our lesson enough on that one! 

As we travel we use three apps to really help us out: Trucker Map, All Stays and Google/ Apple maps. We use the trucker map app to show us the route semis would go from point A to B. We compare this to regular ole google maps and figure out our route. The “All Stays” app has so much info on it. It’s a map based app and it tells you about low clearance bridges, big down hill road grades, and most importantly to us…. where gas stations are that we can easily fit. Not just a Casey’s in a tiny town with one pump but the huge trucker travel center type gas stations. It’s gives details on these. Some big one even have RV gas lanes. An RV lane has no cover and are easily accessed by larger rigs. With our pick up and camper we are 3 ft shy of being as long as a semi….but we don’t have a diesel pick-up so we need huge regular gas lanes and they are not everywhere. Chase has become a pro at maneuvering through normal gas station when needed. 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

When we get to where ever we are going and it is hopefully a pull through spot (exactly like it sounds you pull through to park) but if it’s not I get out and guide through the backing up and then we reverse everything we did on the packing up process. 

I’ve made a lasagna in the morning put it in the fridge during travel and then put it in the oven while we set up. We usually try to do something easy like that or leftovers etc for our dinner meal upon arriving. We pack lunches and snacks for the actual travel time. Our stops are for gas and that is when everyone has to try to go to the bathroom. The boys are sooooo good with this, I honestly can think of one time these past 15 months that we stopped because one of them asked to go to the bathroom. 

When we take off we say a family prayer and we play On the Road again by Willie Nelson and I usually take a selfie of all of us. Sometimes on longer travel days we listen to a story telling pod cast called “Circle Round”….20-30 minute story with a moral or audio books. It’s amazing how much we have all grown fond of Ingalls family after listening to 7 of the Little House on the Prairie books. (So fond we had to travel to a homestead of theirs, I’ll try to write about that one of these days!) We didn’t know what we were doing when we first started this traveling thing but we’ve really gotten the hang of it and travel days are an enjoyable part of the adventure!

We had never heard of boondocking until we got into the camper world, and we had never done it ourselves until July. The way we typically have our camper set up is the extreme opposite of boondocking. It has full “hook-ups.” We have unlimited amounts of water, we have electricity and can use any amount of it at a time, and we can flush our toilet without wondering if the black tank is at capacity. Not to mention WiFi and cable all included in our stay. 

Boondocking is when a camper has no hook ups…no electricity, no water or sewer. Typically you go find a random spot, park it and your done. It’s simple, it’s easy. No campsites, no reservations, typically free. It is also a super flexible way to travel, just pull over when you’re tired and go to sleep. 

When we were in Montana we told ourselves we were going to practice this sort of thing. We did have a site that we had reserved and it did have a water hose we could fill our fresh water tank with before getting to our spot…but that was it. So we had fresh water, we knew we didn’t need full hook ups because we weren’t truly going to be in the camper much. Just to sleep and it was going to get down into 50-60s at night so we’d be fine without electricity and air conditioning. Our fridge can keep cool via propane so we’d be just fine. 

Well all of those preconceived notions were true except the fridge part…our camper battery actually has to be used to keep the propane going to the fridge… our battery lasted about 6 hours and then went dead and the fridge stopped cooling. With no way to keep the battery charged (via solar or a generator) we just put everything in the cooler and skipped the fridge. 

This was a great learning moment. So we know we can handle one night of boondocking not a full week of it. 

We did do real boondocking for one night on the east side of the Tetons. We have friends that are pros at this they held our hands and showed us how to do it. Chase and the husband went and scouted out a spot right by a river. Just our two families right there. It was a pretty neat experience. They do have a generator and did let us charge our battery so we could have some lights on for awhile. We still have a lot learn but we did survive and actually enjoyed it!

After leaving the Tetons, we had a camp ground we wanted to stay at with full hookups (water, electric, and sewer) in south east Wyoming. After talking on the way there about going through Denver traffic in the morning we decided to keep trekking and get to the east side of Denver that night. Once there, we decided we were still awake enough to make it all the way to Limon, Colorado. Once there, we circled through 3 different gas stations to boondock for the night, the first two being completely full of other campers doing the same thing! We found our spot at the third gas station. We stopped pulled out the slides and rested for the night. (Fun fact….the boys LOVE “cleaning” the windows and are always excited when there is a long handled squeegee…it’s the little things in life!)

I honestly don’t know how much boondocking there will be in our future but we are so happy to know how to do it and what our camper is capable of, two things we knew zero about before trying it out ourselves!