Escape Wisconsin Part 2: Launched

Escape Wisconsin Part 2: Launched

Finding a Place to Stay

Wednesday morning Hernando drove to Walmart to get duct tape to seal it up so we could still leave and I opened an insurance claim. Hernando, brave soul that he is pulled away at 2 p.m.  We took a lovely ride with our first destination at Love’s near Portage.  If you don’t know Love’s are gloriously large truck stops/gas stations.  


One challenge we didn’t consider when we planned to leave in September is the fact that the Midwest mostly shuts down all campgrounds at the end of September.  The entire time we were driving, I was searching for places to stay.  Mercifully, we found one near Portage.  


Backing In: Not So Easy

We were able to drive up the “mountain” around 6 p.m.  Of course, it was already dark and impossible to back in properly.  After one hour of trying, Hernando called it and parked parallel between two sites.  Thankfully, I’d told the campground we were first time RVers and they gave us a site with no one around us.  We were a little uneven, but the only real problem with that for one night is that poor Veda kept slipping.  


Wondering If It’s Worth It

If you didn’t see my post How to Take Bold Action with Anxiety, I think it’s worth noting that this experience may have been one of the most anxious moments of my life.  Once I started prepping dinner I was openly crying.



After that I took the kids for a walk to see the stars.  Clark had so many beautiful observations, amongst them my favorite was: “WOW, can you believe that God promised Abraham’s children would outnumber the sand and the stars?”  That moment made everything so worth it.   Later Zoe and I lay on the picnic table and she said “this is the most stars I’ve ever seen.”  Bliss.


Everyone went to bed, exhausted around 8 except me.  I tidied up (you wouldn’t believe how messy it was inside). Newsflash: we still need to downsize more and I did some work.  It might be the ugliest blog post I’ve ever written.  I was exhausted and the formatting was a hot mess.  It was cathartic and I NEEDED it published. 


I thought I’d be doing most of my work on the road when I wasn’t driving.  So far, I’m too occupied by finding campsites, keeping audiobooks running and navigating.  I CRASHED hard around 11.



Happy Birthday Precious Veda!  


Everyone was pretty much awake by 6:50 and we had coffee & French toast strips.  Afterwards we went to the playground for a good long time. The playground was great, the loved it.   I FaceTimed with my cousin, got a little work done.  It was a truly lovely morning.  We were pretty high up, at least for Wisconsin, and the vistas were gorgeous.  


While I did the dishes, the kids did some school work at the table.  I considered giving up presspot coffee, the grounds are just no fun when dry camping.  Ha.  Let’s be real, I’m not giving up coffee anytime soon.


After that we were just gearing up to leave. Hernando checked the torque on the tires & the pressure while I took the kids through our “Melo Day Protocol.”  For all the BIG changes happening our kids are doing well overall.  However, there are still loads of BIG FEELING moments.  The “Melo Day Protocol” is a short routine we do, normally after breakfast, today it was before we got in the van. It makes such a difference!  You wouldn’t believe the difference.

I should probably created a “Melo night protocol”


First Time Dumping

By noon we were headed to the dump station for our first time emptying our black (toilet)  and grey  (sinks, shower) water tanks.  It went pretty easily!  I was genuinely surprised.  We did decide to get a plastic tube to attach to our bumper to hold our sewer hose.  By one we were on the road headed for our next, don’t laugh....Loves.


The drive was really lovely, I’ve never really been in that part of Wisconsin (except the Dells/Lake Delton area) off of the Interstates.  Again, Hernando did a great job and I breathed a little easier than yesterday.  We made it to our second destination without too much fuss: Goose Island Campground


This time we arrived before sunset and Hernando has plenty of space to back in.  It’s still not easy, but having daylight helps quite a bit.  While the kids took off for beach and playground exploration, I met the neighbors who were so kind.  Hernando got us very level.

Ovenless Birthday Cake

We have not been able to get our propane oven working, the pilot won’t light and I am not sure what else to do.  So I mixed up cake batter and Hernando found a way to bake it in the microwave.  It was a little dry, but do kids really even care?  After birthday cake, we started a fire, the kids had collected lots of brush, but we didn’t have a place to buy firewood without unhooking. Neighbors to the rescue, Steve gave us PLENTY of firewood and we enjoyed the color changing fire packets our friends had given us as a farewell gift.  We let them stay up way too late and though Jemma and Quentin were out by 9:30, Zoe and Clark were bleary eyed trying to watch the Lilo and Stitch show.  Hernando and I actually had some alone time by the fire, which was really nice.

Next Stop: Get Tail Light Fixed 

This is kind of hilarious.  While we were still in Elkhorn, we had replaced a broken tail light, but it still wouldn’t blink for right turns.  Super safe right?  Unfortunately none of the RV service centers I called would fix it until January because they were so backed up.  I was referred to Kunes of La Crosse and Al told me to “be a walk in” so Friday morning we did.  We drove away five minutes later, he fixed it in less than one minute for free.  It was such a gift.


Grocery Shopping RV Style

We parked in a Walmart Parking lot and split up, Hernando took the kids in Walmart for distraction and Zoe and I shopped at Aldi.  Afterwards we stuffed our fridge and our pantry and were totally out of secure space for our potatoes, sweet potatoes and apples.  I had to store them under the table and hope for the best.

We had a quick lunch and were on the road to Minnesota!  If you want to see some of our photos from these two days, check out our most recent You Tube video.


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Birth is a very special time in your life, but it's one day out of the entire childbearing year.  

You are meant to have a positive experience.  You can navigate all the challenges and concerns during pregnancy, birth and beyond with grace and ease.  

I support you with personalized coaching, pregnancy health, childbirth education, breastfeeding/formula feeding preparation as well as preparing for postpartum and even returning to work!  


Learn more about Sage Motherhood Mentorship and book your free call with me today! 

Escape Wisconsin: Part 1 “prelaunch”

Escape Wisconsin: Part 1 “prelaunch”

We imagined we would leave on Sunday, we actually left on Wednesday.  


Originally, we were bound for campground that seemed to be open about two hours way.  Sadly, I forgot about the time change moving the sunset earlier.  I suggested we park in our friends yard and dry camp for the night.  Everyone agreed.


A long, cold night.  

It took us about two hours to get things running somewhat smoothly.  We filled up our water tank, which I am pretty sure as a leak.   We got the electricity running.  We got the heat on too!  


It was such a mess though, we had WAY too many things and were literally tripping over things.  It was a pretty big disappointment to realized that, just like everyone else who RVs full time, we also didn’t eliminate enough things.

Once the kids were asleep Hernando said we should call it quits too.  I tidied a tiny bit and we were ready for bed and ZAP!  No power.  In the frosty temps HerNandi worked against the wind to get our power back up with no luck.  Now power in a RV also means NO HEAT.  
At 11 pm I was too cold to sleep so Hernando gave it another go.  Nothing worked, he got in the van to warm up and prayed for help.  The idea came to him, he did it and vioila!  We had power and heat.

Of course the cold damage was done, I had eaten a banana only to find it was beginning to freeze, HA!  So we closed up the pop up bed and slept in the kids room for warmth.  It was a rough night, and everything did work out!


Another False Start
Monday, we were ready by 11 am and the brake controller wouldn’t connect, nor would ANY power to the trailer.  It was extremely frustrating because, well it worked the day before.  We spent most of the day troubleshooting and ultimately got an appointment for our van for Tuesday morning. 

That night, we downsized a TON.  We brought WAY TOO MUCH STUFF.  It probably sounds like we did nothing, but even a small task can take a long time without five kids.  So go ahead and throw on the time it takes to be there or five kiddos.  



You won’t believe this! 

While Hernando took the van in for repair (it was the grounding wire) the kids and I did laundry outside, enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather.  



Tuesday night after the kids were in bed I was hanging out with Monique and got a text that our bed had broken.  Well, that sounds pretty unpleasant, right?  Yes, especially when you consider our bed is a fold out over our propane tanks!  We couldn’t see the full damage until morning, but it turns out the wood that supports our weight cracked almost all the way across the front of our trailer.  


Hernando once again took Jemma’s bed and I took the floor.  Thankfully with the warmer weather it was a pretty cosy night, and we were ready to take off Wednesday morning.



Birth is a very special time in your life, but it's one day out of the entire childbearing year.  

You are meant to have a positive experience.  You can navigate all the challenges and concerns during pregnancy, birth and beyond with grace and ease.  

I support you with personalized coaching, pregnancy health, childbirth education, breastfeeding/formula feeding preparation as well as preparing for postpartum and even returning to work!  


Learn more about Sage Motherhood Mentorship and book your free call with me today! 
 
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