- It was really a fairly uneventful morning. We did our school work, and I tried to get a few things done around the house. The most eventful time was working on Campbell's math which we only did half of.
- The girls finished school before Whitman did, but we all still left the house around 1 to go to Nonna and Pops' house. I brought 2 watermelons for them to slice for Friday. Pops wasn't sure my watermelon was enough, but we shall see.
- When we came back home, I was exhausted and laid down for about 30 minutes. Then I had to hurry for the rest of the afternoon to get everything done. I managed most things, and then it was time for church.
- Campbell and Keaton spent forever getting ready for church tonight. You would have thought that we were going to a wedding or some fancy event-not Wednesday night church. They really were super happy to be back.
- After church, Robby and I went to Shannon's house so she could help me make a few dozen cookies-I think it was around 17 or so. We will have plenty of cookies at least on Friday. We were there a bit late because making that many cookies isn't quick.
- When we came home, there were a few more things to do, and now I'm headed to bed!
September 9, 2026
September 8, 2026
- It is strange how after being gone a bit, you can so easily get back in the swing of things. There are still some things that I need to tweak since we are down quite a few kiddos from this summer. I need the littles to do their chores earlier and to take a bit more responsibility.
- Don't get me wrong, they do help quite a bit, but no one ever does much without being asked and when I do ask, they eventually do it but usually I have to remind them.
- Campbell left early this morning to go to work at church. While she was gone, Keaton and Whitman worked on their school work. It was a little bit of a long day, but we managed to get all of school finished, plus a few extra school things done.
- When Campbell came home, she started on her school. She had to make a schedule for her college classes about when she needed to complete things. Things will continue to get busier for her as work starts very soon.
- This afternoon I ran some errands with Robby. Then we came home-he worked in the camper while I played a game with Whitman. Robby and I just reloaded the camper, and now I'm going to finish my game with Whitman and then hopefully read some of my book.
September 7, 2026
- This was not yet a normal day-we haven't had a regular day at home since dropping Anderson off at school. Even if we had been home, this wouldn't have been too regular of a day because it is a holiday.
- We didn't really celebrate any because Robby, Campbell, and I headed to Ouachita for Tiger Preview Day for Campbell. This was her first official college visit, and I think that she really enjoyed it even though she thought it was too early for a college visit.
- We went to the education department. Right now Campbell is thinking about Occupational Therapy which falls under education. The dean was excellent and she made teaching and all the other things sound so good.
- Campbell won the trivia game which included a bag of Ouachita swag. While she was at that meeting, we made the rounds and saw Anderson and Graham. Robby had already seen Reagan during a meeting before.
- We then went to the lunch where Graham and Reagan snuck in and ate with us. It was fine, and then we went on a campus tour. The tour was great-it so helps to have a good guide. Then we were about to leave when Campbell remembered that we hadn't stopped at the bookstore.
- She quickly found herself a shirt in te bookstore. Then we headed to Sonic for a pre-drive home drink. The drive home was quick, but I was sleepy. When we made it home, I laid down for a few minutes.
- Then Jason came over to drop off a shirt. When he left, I went to town trying to do a few things from my list. We had just sat down on the couch when the Wilsons wrote mentioning that they had cookies so we ran over there for a few minutes!
Ultimate Utah Adventure By the Numbers
Here is a rundown of some important and non-important numbers from our trip:
Days: 16
Nights: 15
Miles Driven: 3,433
Miles Biked: 28
Miles Hiked: 40.4
Longest Hiking Day: 7 miles (Capitol Reef)
Time Zones: 3
States Visited (counting Arkansas): 8
National Parks Sites Visited: 10
Tire Change: 1
Time to Change Tire: 24
Pictures Taken: 2,372
Favorites:
Star Ranger Program, Narrows Hike (Whitman)
Ebikes at Zion, Bryce Sunrise Hike (Keaton)
Bryce Sunrise Hike, Rustler's Restaurant (Campbell)
Bryce Sunrise Hike, Zion Narrows, Hot Chocolate at Rustler's Restaurant (Tara)
Narrows Hike, Ebikes at Zion, Bryce Sunrise Hike (Robby)
September 6, 2026-Ultimate Utah Adventure Day 16
We woke to our alarms at 6 this morning. I don't like hearing alarms ringing in the morning. Robby stirred first, while I tried to decide if I could just lay in the back while he drove us on towards home. I didn't do that though and instead got ready and took the dogs out.
We then started on our way. The day went incredibly smoothly. Actually, all of our travel days have gone smoothly. We never once said anything to each other about tires this whole trip because we did not want to jinx anything. Robby's tire pressure monitoring system never went off, and I wanted to ask him the whole time if he had just turned it off (I could see that it was on!)
Even though we had no tire problems at all this trip, we still changed a tire today. Robby had to stop to potty at a rest stop when we were already in Arkansas (we had stopped before too). When he was walking to the camper, he noticed that the trailer tire was a little bare and was showing some of the cords. We pressed on though towards home.
After a while though, he said that maybe he would change the tire to be on the safe side. Changing a tire in a gas station parking lot under a tree is a lot easier than changing it on the side of the interstate. He took a exit in a few miles, and I started the timer (I didn't tell him about my timer.)
I got the jack, and Robby had to remember how to put the jack together which seemed to take the longest of all the parts. Then he unscrewed the thing a ma bobs and picked a tire from the trunk (yes, we carry two spare tires for the trailer.) In no time, he had the new tire on, and I put the jack up while he aired up the tire. We were back on the interstate within 24 minutes which I think is pretty impressive.
Soon we were rolling onto Jacqueline. We had the kids help unload the camper, and with their help we were finished with in an hour for sure. They did a lot of bringing it in the house so when I came in, I had a lot of things to put up. That was fine though because I just steadily worked on that all afternoon.
I am also steadily working on the laundry! Usually, we use both washing machines, but the second one is up the stairs so I'm not sure it is really worth all of that! It will all get done when it gets done! Campbell headed out to play volleyball and to Sonic tonight while Robby and I went to the Wilson's house for supper. Keaton and Whitman stayed here and vegged out for a bit.
I will try to do a trip by the numbers post tomorrow. However, I will tell you now that we hiked almost 40.5 miles on our little trip!
September 5, 2026-Ultimate Utah Adventure Day 15
Robby went to the bathroom around 2 this morning. I woke up and thought about going to the bathroom too. I knew that if I didn't go then, I would wake up another time during the night. I did wake up to go to the bathroom, but it was at 6! Ugh, that was the worst time ever since we were going to get out of bed at 6:30. Of course, me going to the bathroom woke up Robby and Marley so no one got anymore sleep this morning.
It is always surprising when you can sleep so well in a gas station parking lot. We had about a 10 minute drive until we would need the kids to be up for a visitor's center. Robby knew exactly what to do-he ran in the gas station before leaving and came out with drinks for everyone.
This definitely helped make our morning a little easier and happier. We were soon pulling into the Petrified Forest National Park. I'm sure that I knew that the Petrified Forest was a national park since I have been there before, but I sure did forget it. We have been to 7 of the 63 national parks on this trip. We have been to over 11 percent of the National Parks on this trip which isn't too bad at all. (Plus we also stopped at a few other National Park sites including Colorado National Monument which is still super high on my list.)
We stopped at a few places on the drive through the Petrified Forest. All I could think about when we were there was the Brady Bunch when they took a shell (or something) from Hawaii and had bad luck until they sent it back. I was careful to make sure that no one took any petrified wood home!
After the forest, we didn't really stop much again until this evening. The roads were horrible-they were crazy bumpy or the wind was again bad. Plus since we have been on 40 there have been plenty of trucks for Robby to deal with. I can tell that today's drive hasn't been as bumpy as yesterday because the yogurt lid only came over twice today.
We have stopped at a few times to get gas, once for Robby to potty, and once to adjust the generator (the altitude can mess with it.) Our big stop tonight we were afraid that we might not be able to do it. You can't drive through Amarillo without stopping at the Big Texan. (I probably can next time though.)
I jumped out and put our name on the list. They said that it would be an hour, and since Robby couldn't find a parking spot we went to get gas. While we were getting gas, we got the text saying it was ready. We hurried back to the restaurant and still no parking spots.
I went in with the kids, and Robby stayed in the camper looking for a spot. It took us about 10 minutes to get to our table, and then within 10 more minutes Robby had arrived. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait too long for a spot to clear.
We were right near a man trying to finish his 72 ounce steak so that gave us plenty to watch. Plus the guitar man came around and snd to us. Campbell loved that part (kidding, she really did not love that part at all.)
Robby read on the blog that we had chicken fingers last time, and we weren't impressed. This time I ordered him a burger and me cheese dip. I was going to just share his burger, but I will not pay 5 dollars for an extra plate-so I ordered 12 dollar cheese dip instead. That math works, don't worry.
After eating, we took some pictures and looked through the gift shop. Then we hurried back to the camper so we could hit the road! We still have about 2 hours to drive tonight. I had Whitman bring me my computer so I could get a head start on the blog!
September 4, 2026-Ultimate Utah Adventure Day 14
I think that I wrote last night that we were leaving Zion a day early because we had seen all there was to see and had done all there was to do. We still don't plan on getting home any earlier, but this will give us a little bit of breathing room when we do get home.
Coming home from trips early isn't new to us. 26 plus years ago I walked out of the bathroom on our honeymoon, and Robby was trying to book an earlier flight home for us. Then we had done all there was to do, just like we did in Zion.
However, since we got an early start on the drive home, there are a few side trips that we took today. Our first stop this morning was at the North Rim at the Grand Canyon. The kids were pretty confused when we woke them this morning saying that we were at the Grand Canyon.
There isn't a whole lot happening at the North Rim since their lodge burned a year ago. We walked around the sad lodge area remembering when we were last there. We stayed in the lodge, and it was Reagan's birthday possibly in 2013. Our cabin was so close to the rim of the Grand Canyon that Robby put set of drawers in front of the door just in case. We had never had anyone get out of bed and sleepwalk or wander in the middle of the night, but we were close enough to the edge that it did kind of bother us.
Most of those cabins are gone now plus the lodge with it's beautiful back porch overlooking the canyon is gone. Because the blocked off lodge set where the view was best, we had to park in that parking lot and unhook the car. Then we had to drive about 15 miles to really get a good look at the canyon.
We then stopped at a very small camper store at the Grand Canyon campground. I needed a sticker for this camper, a post card, and a pin (that's a new collection for my bulletin board by my bed in the camper because I got tired of looking at what I had on there this trip.) Anyway, the only 2 choices of postcards they had were of the burnt down lodge. Seriously, I had to buy a 5 dollar postcard book so I could send one postcard.
We had a great view of the Grand Canyon on our drive and even on the way back to the main road. However, we have seen so many beautiful things on this trip, that the Grand Canyon is really not that impressive. There, I said it. It is grand, and it is beautiful, but wow, there is just beautiful scenery everywhere. Bryce and Capitol Reef are my current favorite National Parks but Zion is at least third on the list. Maybe the Petrified Forest will move up closer to the top tomorrow (It won't!)
Our next stop was a Navajo Bridge which was part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We walked across it, but it was warm so we didn't stay too long. The kids have grown up traveling plus now they have every modern convenience with them-phones, ipads, gaming systems, tvs along with a full kitchen and bathroom. We rarely here anything from them.
However, today, I did hear a crash in the back. I turned to see Campbell standing by the fridge. She asked if I could help, so I jumped up and headed back there. I was expecting things to be splattered everywhere, but things had just fallen to the floor and not spilled. This was a miracle, because the roads today were either curving going up or down a mountain or incredibly bumpy. Nothing is where it started in this camper. For example, there is a container of yogurt in the fridge, that I have put the lid on 3 different times today because it keeps bouncing off.
We have always heard of Horseshoe Bend but have never stopped there. Today we changed that and took the long cut to get there. There were a lot of people walking the trail down the see the river. It was a completely different experience to something very similar at Dead Horse Point State Park. However, Horseshoe Bend was prettier, and we could have enjoyed it more without all of the people and without all of the heat.
Then we were back on the road until we got to Winslow, Arizona. We also don't think that we had ever stood on the corner there like the song says. I looked on the blog, and we have stopped in Winslow and done some grocery shopping, but I didn't mention the corner. Tonight we fixed that too by taking a few pictures on the corner of that famous spot on Route 66.
Then it was a quick run into McDonalds as we drove our last 30 or so minutes. Robby had two spots picked to spend the night. This first one didn't really have any parking for us plus a sign said "no parking" where we wanted to park. We drove on to the next spot, and they had the perfect spot to park, but that sign said "no overnight parking." Robby went in and asked and was given the green light so we are all bedded down in a gas station parking lot.
Tomorrow we have to drive quite a few miles so we will be getting an early stop because we have a few stops too.
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