Howdy!
At the end of 2018, I made a career change to public education. Prior to this summer, my past eleven summers were anchored around pools, hiring and training hundreds of lifeguards. During that time, I got married, had two sons, Carson (6) and Hayden (3) and got into a rhythm with work. Missing a sense of adventure and the ability to really be present in my kids lives during summer activities and even during the school year, I switched into education. My wife has been a teacher since graduating college, and one of the benefits of the job is a calendar filled with opportunity to travel through the year.
Having the opportunity to leave for a while and not be tied to work was amazing! We made the most of the eight days escaping the heat and hustle of Houston.
On July 2nd, 2019, I woke the family up around 3:10am and pulled out of the driveway by 3:37am. The kids were excited and Hayden's car seat was switched to forward facing a few days prior. He was now able to see the journey in a new light. We oriented north towards Dallas and the kids fell asleep once we reached the high way. Should they wake up, we would tell them they couldn't talk unless the sun was awake. Momma and I had good conversation for a few hours.
Our first major stop was breakfast at Chic Fil A just north of Dallas, Texas. We let the boys stretch their legs in the playscape while we fueled our bellies. Momma had a bright idea to give them prizes at planned stops every few hours on the first day, something to look forward too. Here they are waiting for their Toy Story 4 toys.
We made it to Oklahoma! Living and working in one of the largest urban areas in the country, i'm surrounded by concrete. Even driving one hour in any direction, you're still in the city. So many people and so much traffic. I always notice that outside of the big cities, most of the country is wide open spaces, and this is really felt in Oklahoma. Not that Texas doesn't have open spaces, but knowing that most of Texas is privately owned, it feels nice to see a change of scenery.
Near Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma, we filled up the 2010 Subaru Forester 2.5X. It is stock and has an auto transmission and we have a set of decent Continental tires. A week before the trip, we did a tune up with new plugs, fluids and brakes. So far, we we're getting 29 mpg. I filled up with 89 octane without ethanol and subsequently got 33 mpg. Our other vehicle is a 2003 Toyota 4Runner with a V8, but needing some new tires, we didn't want to be rattled to death. I'm sure the 4.7 would have done fine chugging up some of those hills and mountains.
We hooked a right and headed east on 40 into Fort Smith, Arkansas. The landscape really changed as we headed north on 49 towards Fayetteville. I can see why they call Arkansas, "The Natural State". The kids were holding up just fine, watching DVDs, playing with Legos, coloring and sleeping. No signs of restlessness at eight hours in the car.
About ten hours after we left Houston, we arrived at our first stop. This is my wife's cousins home in Bella Vista, Arkansas on Loch Lomond. They moved from Houston in 2005 and haven't looked back. I can see why!
Here, we were rewarded with a few days on the lake, kayaking, floating and boating. The homes and landscape of these homes were beautiful. I'm guessing a lot of Wal-Mart money in that area!!!
At the end of 2018, I made a career change to public education. Prior to this summer, my past eleven summers were anchored around pools, hiring and training hundreds of lifeguards. During that time, I got married, had two sons, Carson (6) and Hayden (3) and got into a rhythm with work. Missing a sense of adventure and the ability to really be present in my kids lives during summer activities and even during the school year, I switched into education. My wife has been a teacher since graduating college, and one of the benefits of the job is a calendar filled with opportunity to travel through the year.
Having the opportunity to leave for a while and not be tied to work was amazing! We made the most of the eight days escaping the heat and hustle of Houston.
On July 2nd, 2019, I woke the family up around 3:10am and pulled out of the driveway by 3:37am. The kids were excited and Hayden's car seat was switched to forward facing a few days prior. He was now able to see the journey in a new light. We oriented north towards Dallas and the kids fell asleep once we reached the high way. Should they wake up, we would tell them they couldn't talk unless the sun was awake. Momma and I had good conversation for a few hours.
Our first major stop was breakfast at Chic Fil A just north of Dallas, Texas. We let the boys stretch their legs in the playscape while we fueled our bellies. Momma had a bright idea to give them prizes at planned stops every few hours on the first day, something to look forward too. Here they are waiting for their Toy Story 4 toys.
We made it to Oklahoma! Living and working in one of the largest urban areas in the country, i'm surrounded by concrete. Even driving one hour in any direction, you're still in the city. So many people and so much traffic. I always notice that outside of the big cities, most of the country is wide open spaces, and this is really felt in Oklahoma. Not that Texas doesn't have open spaces, but knowing that most of Texas is privately owned, it feels nice to see a change of scenery.
Near Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma, we filled up the 2010 Subaru Forester 2.5X. It is stock and has an auto transmission and we have a set of decent Continental tires. A week before the trip, we did a tune up with new plugs, fluids and brakes. So far, we we're getting 29 mpg. I filled up with 89 octane without ethanol and subsequently got 33 mpg. Our other vehicle is a 2003 Toyota 4Runner with a V8, but needing some new tires, we didn't want to be rattled to death. I'm sure the 4.7 would have done fine chugging up some of those hills and mountains.
We hooked a right and headed east on 40 into Fort Smith, Arkansas. The landscape really changed as we headed north on 49 towards Fayetteville. I can see why they call Arkansas, "The Natural State". The kids were holding up just fine, watching DVDs, playing with Legos, coloring and sleeping. No signs of restlessness at eight hours in the car.
About ten hours after we left Houston, we arrived at our first stop. This is my wife's cousins home in Bella Vista, Arkansas on Loch Lomond. They moved from Houston in 2005 and haven't looked back. I can see why!
Here, we were rewarded with a few days on the lake, kayaking, floating and boating. The homes and landscape of these homes were beautiful. I'm guessing a lot of Wal-Mart money in that area!!!
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The boys slept for almost three hours and momma and I had more great conversation. I tried to convince her to be full time roadies and she said "no way". So, i guess we'll settle for trips over breaks since we're both teachers. Thanksgiving break. Christmas break. Spring break and next summer!
