Roadschooling – Camping!

Our trip is divided into two sections. The first half was filled with visiting family and friends across several states. We are now on the second portion, which includes more touristy stops.

Yesterday, we left Missouri and drove to Kansas where we stopped for coffee with some friends. We drove through Kansas to Oklahoma and stopped in Oklahoma City. Our first stop was at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. It was somber and so touching. Where the building once stood now stands chairs to represent those who lost their lives. The hardest part was thinking about the kids–we walked past what had been the playground for the kids who were in daycare in the building. No words.

Our next stop was east of OK City and was lighthearted and historic. We drove on a bit of the old Route 66 to get to Pop’s.

It’s a gas station/diner/purveyor of hundreds of various odd flavors of soda. You know you’ve arrived by the ginormous neon soda bottle out front. It is lighted at night, which we didn’t stick around to see.

We all chose different flavors of soda to try. Cream Soda, Root Beer, raspberry flavored water (for the girl who doesn’t like carbonation), and Candied Bacon Cream Soda. All delicious! Nobody was brave enough to try Martian Poop. . . or these flavors . . .

We left and headed to Texas to spend the night. After an early morning stop at Target to pick up some things we have been desperately needing (pencil sharpeners –the first ones were lost; batteries; dental floss; fiber and probiotic gummies. . . ahem) we headed west to Carlsbad Caverns.

We arrived too late to tour the caverns today so we set up camp and then went over for the bat viewing. Each night from maybe March to October, the bats exit the cavern at sunset for their nightly feeding. The talk given by the ranger was fascinating (bats are sorely misunderstood), and she quit as we signaled that the bats were beginning to surface.

We stayed there for over an hour; it was too dark to see anything when we left, but the bats were still flying out. The ranger said some nights there are tens of thousands and other nights there are hundreds of thousands!

CAMPING — A great way to save money on long travels! If the weather is nice. This is our first night camping on this trip and we have several more nights scheduled peppered throughout. We’ll be in desert climates the whole time, BUT that doesn’t always mean warm nights! I hope we’re prepared.

We packed the bare minimum that we would need for spending the night outside–not being backpackers. We have a tent, two air mattresses, sleeping bags, and camping chairs. That’s it. Usually when we camp we bring practically our whole house with us. Usually we’re in more remote places as well.

Tomorrow includes visiting Carlsbad Caverns again, then driving over some mountains and farther into the desert landscape. Hopefully it means more stars as well. I’m sitting outside under the stars, typing this post on my phone. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of lights from the campground.

More later!
Vicki.
Not So SAHM