Heading out WEST! Summer Vacation 2008!
Going to Yellowstone Park, Wyoming… (via Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming). Travel days / times (planned) – planned on leaving 1st day 6 hours to Kentucky then the next 2 travel days would be 8 hours each and 1 last travel day of about 4 hours to our destination – Cheryl and Chads… then to Yellowstone National Park (Yogi Bear here we come!)... Knowing things will not run as planned - we will be ready to make adjustments! Here we go – “Team Schroer”
1st Stop!
Kentucky, Prizer Point KOA
Time Of Year – Summer 7/10/08
Address – KOA 1777 Prizer Point Road, Cadiz KY, 42211
Contact Information – 1-800-548-2048
Distance – 385 Miles
Time – 6 Hours 15 Minutes
Weather – 90’s During The Days / 75 At Night
Facility – Awesome… very kid friendly.
Kid Friendly – Yes
Kids Activities - 2 Pools (shallow with kids slide, 0-3 ½ feet / other pool 3 ½ -8 feet), putt-putt golf, arcade, pool table, golf carts and a kids playground…
Kid / Family Rating – 10!
Madison – Good, I liked the swimming pool and mini putt-putt.
Julia – Great, I liked the pool, and the putt-putt, we left at night!
Blakely – I liked the swimming pool, lake looking for seashells...
Other – Kids traveled great! Linda (being awesome like she is) had them all packed and ready along with our “general store” (she bought a bunch of toys and such at the dollar store – being practical like she is – if the kids are good they earn cash – which is just as good as money – and after a certain amount of time they can go to the store and purchase toys / items for the drive). 1st leg of the travel they just accumulated their cash (fake money – it is really bribery). 6 hour trip just as planned – way to go Linda!
Arrived about 2:00p.m. pulled into site 26… hooked everything up (power, sewer, water, etc…) tried to turn on the A.C. and it didn’t work (GIANT PANIC!), called R.V. Center in Oakwood they tried to walk us through several possibilities (we had already explored), got intouch with the people who rent the sites he came over tested the power outlet (said it was fine)… I asked for directions / number to the local R.V. mechanic (20 miles away – he said the earliest he could see us would be tomorrow morning at 8:00a.m. – not a giant deal although we were planning on leaving around 5:30a.m. or so to the next campsite! The local man came back and said let’s try and hook your camper up to the next site (we did and the A.C. worked! ). It was the power outlet! I unhooked everything and moved the R.V. to the next space (#25) and hooked everything back up! Great site / level lot / overlooks the lake (very pretty)! Took the kids to the pool / played for an hour or so, ate hamburgers, hotdogs and baked beans for dinner! Went and played putt-putt (kind of a weak course)… but the kids had a great time! Back at the R.V. and everyone is playing dominos… Going out to play on the playset then hit the sack and ready to roll tomorrow morning!7/11/08 – Stayed 1 day (planning on leaving around 5:30 tomorrow morning)… as painful as it might have been we woke up around 5:30a.m. and hit the road (thanks to Linda for getting us up). Should be an 8 hour journey today and we are stopping in Missouri – Rock Port KOA (yeah right). Kids are still sleeping (I think Julia and Madison were faking it so they could ride up on the top bunk and look out the front window as we drove – they are smart). Either way was cool – we got about 3 hours of driving in before they woke up – as always Linda had to go and lay down with Blakely because she needed to hold Lindas hair! So this left me to drive (a lot)… we went through St. Louis and saw the “Arch” (pretty cool – we took a picture of it – if I can figure out how to load the pictures I will do so). Again on day 2 the kids traveled really well! Awesome in fact! We asked them if they wanted to continue and they said yes so we turned an 8 hour travel day into a 16 hour travel day! Skipped Rock Port and went to a KOA in Goethenburg Nebraska (see the specs below).
Missouri, Rock Port KOA (SKIPPED ON THE WAY OUT)…
Time Of Year – Summer 7/11/08
Address – KOA 1409 US Hwy 136 West, Rock Port, MO 64482
Contact Information – 1-800-562-5415
Distance – Miles
Time – Hours Minutes
Weather – 90’s During The Days / 75 At Night
Facility –
Kid Friendly –
Kids Activities -
Kid / Family Rating –
Madison –
Julia –
Blakely –
Other – (Provides spaces for the Cooper Nuclear Station – How About That!)
Nebraska, Goethenburg KOA
Time Of Year – Summer 7/11/08
Address – KOA - Wyoming
Contact Information –
Distance – Miles
Time – Hours Minutes
Weather – 90’s During The Days / 75 At Night
Facility – O.K. – got there pretty late – it served its purpose to sleep that night… had a pool / playset / showers and restrooms were not bad…
Kid Friendly – O.K.
Kids Activities – Pool / Playset
Kid / Family Rating – 7 of 10
Madison – I liked the swingset but nothing else. Not very fun there.
Julia – Swingset good... I am going to play in the basement ask me again, later...
Blakely – I liked going down the slide...
Other – Got to Geothenburg late about 11:00 (Eastern Standard Time)… long day – finally got a shower (everyone did – and we needed it). I got the campsite all set up (connected power, water and sewer), Linda took the kids to the campsite and let them play on the swings and slides – they got eaten up by mosquitos… went to sleep it rained extremely hard last night (cats and dogs) – Linda and I woke up around 5:30 and hit the road today we plugged the “GPS” in and thought it would say 7 ½ hours (like Linda planned) 10 HOURS!!! So off we went – contrary to what Linda will say I don’t drive like a grandpa I kept it right at 65 the entire time (yes, the speedlimit was 75). Kids traveled awesome again today – they slept for about the first 3 hours getting up around 9:00 or so… the quote of the day by Linda – she is driving and looked at the fuel gauge and said “hey I think there is something else wrong with this R.V. I just looked at the gas tank and it read 1/2 a tank - it seems we are gaining gas!" (this is after she read the guage backwards! It read 1/4 tank instead of 3/4 tank! Tired and dillerious).
We got to Lander about 3:30p.m. The drive between Cheyenne and Lander isn’t the most thrilling – no wait in fact it looks pretty deserted! I don't even think there was a gas station after we left Cheyenne! Lander is a neat little town once you get into it. Cool downtown – hope we can take the kids into downtown to walk around tomorrow. The kids were thrilled to see their cousins! They have been playing for the last 3-4 hours non-stop – pretty cool. Linda and Cheryl have been hanging out. Chad and I went and rode the mountain bikes – great course – huge climbs, pretty technical (don’t like the technical parts as much – 1 downhill with some switchbacks and drops – I can do without them – the rest of the course was really pretty), rode on parts like “slick rock”, had some deep sandy spots as well. Overall one of the toughest courses I have ridden (hills - only 1 or 2 places I have ridden that compare - Fort Mountain, Ga. - 1 hill was about 1.1 miles up - steep).
Going to Yellowstone Park, Wyoming… (via Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming). Travel days / times (planned) – planned on leaving 1st day 6 hours to Kentucky then the next 2 travel days would be 8 hours each and 1 last travel day of about 4 hours to our destination – Cheryl and Chads… then to Yellowstone National Park (Yogi Bear here we come!)... Knowing things will not run as planned - we will be ready to make adjustments! Here we go – “Team Schroer”
1st Stop!
Kentucky, Prizer Point KOA
Time Of Year – Summer 7/10/08
Address – KOA 1777 Prizer Point Road, Cadiz KY, 42211
Contact Information – 1-800-548-2048
Distance – 385 Miles
Time – 6 Hours 15 Minutes
Weather – 90’s During The Days / 75 At Night
Facility – Awesome… very kid friendly.
Kid Friendly – Yes
Kids Activities - 2 Pools (shallow with kids slide, 0-3 ½ feet / other pool 3 ½ -8 feet), putt-putt golf, arcade, pool table, golf carts and a kids playground…
Kid / Family Rating – 10!
Madison – Good, I liked the swimming pool and mini putt-putt.
Julia – Great, I liked the pool, and the putt-putt, we left at night!
Blakely – I liked the swimming pool, lake looking for seashells...
Other – Kids traveled great! Linda (being awesome like she is) had them all packed and ready along with our “general store” (she bought a bunch of toys and such at the dollar store – being practical like she is – if the kids are good they earn cash – which is just as good as money – and after a certain amount of time they can go to the store and purchase toys / items for the drive). 1st leg of the travel they just accumulated their cash (fake money – it is really bribery). 6 hour trip just as planned – way to go Linda!
Arrived about 2:00p.m. pulled into site 26… hooked everything up (power, sewer, water, etc…) tried to turn on the A.C. and it didn’t work (GIANT PANIC!), called R.V. Center in Oakwood they tried to walk us through several possibilities (we had already explored), got intouch with the people who rent the sites he came over tested the power outlet (said it was fine)… I asked for directions / number to the local R.V. mechanic (20 miles away – he said the earliest he could see us would be tomorrow morning at 8:00a.m. – not a giant deal although we were planning on leaving around 5:30a.m. or so to the next campsite! The local man came back and said let’s try and hook your camper up to the next site (we did and the A.C. worked! ). It was the power outlet! I unhooked everything and moved the R.V. to the next space (#25) and hooked everything back up! Great site / level lot / overlooks the lake (very pretty)! Took the kids to the pool / played for an hour or so, ate hamburgers, hotdogs and baked beans for dinner! Went and played putt-putt (kind of a weak course)… but the kids had a great time! Back at the R.V. and everyone is playing dominos… Going out to play on the playset then hit the sack and ready to roll tomorrow morning!7/11/08 – Stayed 1 day (planning on leaving around 5:30 tomorrow morning)… as painful as it might have been we woke up around 5:30a.m. and hit the road (thanks to Linda for getting us up). Should be an 8 hour journey today and we are stopping in Missouri – Rock Port KOA (yeah right). Kids are still sleeping (I think Julia and Madison were faking it so they could ride up on the top bunk and look out the front window as we drove – they are smart). Either way was cool – we got about 3 hours of driving in before they woke up – as always Linda had to go and lay down with Blakely because she needed to hold Lindas hair! So this left me to drive (a lot)… we went through St. Louis and saw the “Arch” (pretty cool – we took a picture of it – if I can figure out how to load the pictures I will do so). Again on day 2 the kids traveled really well! Awesome in fact! We asked them if they wanted to continue and they said yes so we turned an 8 hour travel day into a 16 hour travel day! Skipped Rock Port and went to a KOA in Goethenburg Nebraska (see the specs below).
Missouri, Rock Port KOA (SKIPPED ON THE WAY OUT)…
Time Of Year – Summer 7/11/08
Address – KOA 1409 US Hwy 136 West, Rock Port, MO 64482
Contact Information – 1-800-562-5415
Distance – Miles
Time – Hours Minutes
Weather – 90’s During The Days / 75 At Night
Facility –
Kid Friendly –
Kids Activities -
Kid / Family Rating –
Madison –
Julia –
Blakely –
Other – (Provides spaces for the Cooper Nuclear Station – How About That!)
Nebraska, Goethenburg KOA
Time Of Year – Summer 7/11/08
Address – KOA - Wyoming
Contact Information –
Distance – Miles
Time – Hours Minutes
Weather – 90’s During The Days / 75 At Night
Facility – O.K. – got there pretty late – it served its purpose to sleep that night… had a pool / playset / showers and restrooms were not bad…
Kid Friendly – O.K.
Kids Activities – Pool / Playset
Kid / Family Rating – 7 of 10
Madison – I liked the swingset but nothing else. Not very fun there.
Julia – Swingset good... I am going to play in the basement ask me again, later...
Blakely – I liked going down the slide...
Other – Got to Geothenburg late about 11:00 (Eastern Standard Time)… long day – finally got a shower (everyone did – and we needed it). I got the campsite all set up (connected power, water and sewer), Linda took the kids to the campsite and let them play on the swings and slides – they got eaten up by mosquitos… went to sleep it rained extremely hard last night (cats and dogs) – Linda and I woke up around 5:30 and hit the road today we plugged the “GPS” in and thought it would say 7 ½ hours (like Linda planned) 10 HOURS!!! So off we went – contrary to what Linda will say I don’t drive like a grandpa I kept it right at 65 the entire time (yes, the speedlimit was 75). Kids traveled awesome again today – they slept for about the first 3 hours getting up around 9:00 or so… the quote of the day by Linda – she is driving and looked at the fuel gauge and said “hey I think there is something else wrong with this R.V. I just looked at the gas tank and it read 1/2 a tank - it seems we are gaining gas!" (this is after she read the guage backwards! It read 1/4 tank instead of 3/4 tank! Tired and dillerious).
We got to Lander about 3:30p.m. The drive between Cheyenne and Lander isn’t the most thrilling – no wait in fact it looks pretty deserted! I don't even think there was a gas station after we left Cheyenne! Lander is a neat little town once you get into it. Cool downtown – hope we can take the kids into downtown to walk around tomorrow. The kids were thrilled to see their cousins! They have been playing for the last 3-4 hours non-stop – pretty cool. Linda and Cheryl have been hanging out. Chad and I went and rode the mountain bikes – great course – huge climbs, pretty technical (don’t like the technical parts as much – 1 downhill with some switchbacks and drops – I can do without them – the rest of the course was really pretty), rode on parts like “slick rock”, had some deep sandy spots as well. Overall one of the toughest courses I have ridden (hills - only 1 or 2 places I have ridden that compare - Fort Mountain, Ga. - 1 hill was about 1.1 miles up - steep).
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