The End

All of you are probably getting tired of reading about our trip, but this blog turned out to be like a "dear diary" for me and not only let me vent about things that were getting on my last nerve, but also share our experience and some pix along the way.

Nothing brings a family closer together than 2 weeks in an RV. I had a tendency to write more of the bad, than the good experiences, but nobody wants to hear the good stuff. That is no fun. So, OVER ALL, we had some really great experiences. Would I ever do it again? HELL NO!!!!!!!

I will leave you with some final thoughts:

• Brad said he is going to miss the RV and wanted to know if I wanted to go up to Mackinaw Island for the weekend in it? Is he smokin' something?
• I will not miss the RV Toilet
• I will not miss Trent calling me "little midget lady"
• I grew some kind of growth or wart on my finger this trip
• I asked Brad what the best part of the trip was for him and he said "going canoeing with Cass and going to a baseball game with Trent Pat and his son". Hmm, none of those activities included me - weird
• The best part of the trip for me was the Casino
• I will not miss Trent tellin' me I smell like beef jerky (which I DO NOT by the way)

Thanks to all for reading............. This beef jerky smellin' midget lady is out.

Brad: "just 3 more hours"
Marcie: "I don't know if I can make it"
Brad: "jump"
Marcie: "YOU WISH!"

Ok. St Louis is my kind of town. Lost $40 at the casino but that is just fine. It has been my best day yet!! Cassie wanted to eat at the spagetti factory while Mom did some gambling but Brad told her she would like "Show Me's" better. Cassie said the waitresses wore underwear for their pant and very low cut tshirts. Hmmm

Trent is hanging in the rv, brad and cass are going up in the arch and I am heading to the casino!!!! Yippee!!

Spent the night in Columbia, MO. Heading to see the arch, crankin' a little Guess Who - No Sugar Tonight. If you have not heard Brad sing it is really quite lovely.

Entered Kansas about 15 minute ago and brad has already (twice) said, "we're in kansas toto". Somebody get me out of this RV.

Bought a really sweet pair if camo sunglasses this trip, but the problem is, I can never find then. Get it? Camo and I can't find them? But seriously, I really can't find them.

I am sad to announce that we are on the final leg of this journey. Left Golden about 30 minutes ago. Plan is to be home tomorrow. We enjoyed spending time with the Feasels. Pat's kids are adorable and his son looks just like him. I will post a picture later.

Stupid quote of the day. "I'm the way Michael Jackson wanted to look" (brad) as we were making fun of his butt chin.

Stupid conversation of the day. Me to Trent "what the hell is your dad doing?". Trent: "the Irish jig -duh"

We are in an Irish pub having lunch right now. Brad is trying to cheer me up. I am quite sad we didn't get to go to the casino.

Meeting up with the Feasels tonight. At least there is something to look forward to.

White water rafting. Pretty fun but very chilly. Was super excited because we were going to drive up to Central City and I was going to get to do alittle gambling while the fam had lunch. Drive all around town and could not find one damn place to park this damn RV. So we are driving back to to RV park. I am not a "happy camper".

Heading into Coors plant for tour. Now we're talkin'

You know the nerves are shot when you have Cassie screaming "I can't take this family anymore. I want to go home!!!"

Having breakfast at Perkins then heading to Golden, CO to visit with the Feasels.

My random thoughts as we travel across the great state of Wyoming

• One of the greatest joys my family members get out of life is getting a rise out of me. I get particularly grossed out by hotel room carpet. I will NOT walk on the carpet in bare feet or even just socks. Shoes are worn at all times. If you really think about it, it is SUPER GROSS. I also try to encourage my family members into wearing shoes at all times, as well. They do not seem to be as put off by the nastiness as I am. Not only are they not put off, Trent and Cassie like to gross me out even further by rolling all over the floor and exclaiming, “look Mom, I am going to lick the carpet”. I am equally grossed out by the bed spreads (come on, you’ve seen Dateline). They also enjoy woolly-boogering (West Virginia word) all over the bed spreads and rolling themselves up in them. Some days I think I should just put them in foster care.
• Cassie does an excellent job policing herself. She didn’t want to go to the Rodeo due to cruelty to animals. She covers her eyes during “bad parts” of movies Brad rented and wouldn’t let Brad buy the Epic movie because it was the unrated version.
  
• Not sure I can take anymore Johnny Cash
  
• I asked Brad to help me out with a few interesting points to share on the blog. He is not much help; he said all he could think to write about was Rod being ballheaded.
  
• Whenever Brad thinks there is a lot of something (for instance, windmills in Wyoming that he keeps making me look at), he says “there must be 57 of ‘em”. I am so sick of that.
  
• I really hope we can shave a day of this trip and get home on Thursday instead of Friday.
  
• From Cassie: why didn’t we leave Trent at home?
  
• I am not sure any of us are going to like each other by the time we get home.

From Brad: I wish I had Breanne sitting next to me right now. Driving thru Wyoming, listening to Johnny Cash, nothin' but open prairie.

328. The number of times I have heard on this trip "STOP LOOKING AT ME!"

Really Jeff?

Woke this morning at 6:30am to phone ringing. It was Jeff (Brad's brother). "where are the keys to the shed?" (he is at our lake cottage). "really Jeff? It is 6:30 in the morning". "no it's not, it is 8:30". Maybe in Indiana it is 8:30 but in Wyoming it is 6:30. They have been hanging up on the same hook for 14 years. "Goodbye Jeff"

Yes, I rode a horse today, and her name was Jill

I am quite certain that I will not do this again. While the views were stunning, my ass is still recovering.

Lucy enjoying being out of the freakin' RV. I was so excited too, that I almost chased Brad like this!!

Are vacations supposed to be relaxing?

What a beautiful view!

Most people use binoculars, Brad

Just arrived at our cabin in the Grand Teton's

and there is a proctologist on the loose!

(these were right outside our cabin)

I love streams and I love Bison

I just decided that today. This has been the best and the worst day of my life. Yellowstone is sooooo amazing, but I had just one problem. I am terrified of heights (it is a Pritt thing, you should see my dad). I mean ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED OF HEIGHTS. While the beauty of the Park was overwhelming, I missed a lot of it because I was curled up in the fetal position, blinds closed, and earplugs in, blaring Sister Christian on my iPhone. I was absolutely certain that at any moment, we were going to plummet to our deaths and it felt like Brad was driving 86 MPH. There was hyperventilating, near fainting and a lot of sobbing going on. I don’t like being this way. I think I am a strong person, but when it comes to heights I lose all sense of reason. As I was curled up in the back of the RV (again, blaring Sister Christian) all I could think about was Rod (Brad’s brother). I wished he was curled up with me (sorry Sandy). I know that sounds strange, but he is also terrified of heights, and I thought, if I could just have someone in this with me – that understands that my heart was about to stop (not just stop, but EXPLODE), it just might be OK.

Please enjoy our pix!

I was standing about 100 yds away to take this with my zoom

From where I was standing, it looked like they were standing on the edge of a cliff. I couldn't take it anymore and went back to the RV for a bloody mary.

Yellowstone was amazing (what I saw of it)

I want one!

Bison outside the RV - VERY Cool!

“Are you allowed to hug strangers?” says the old man to Cassie. “Ummmm, not really” – good answer Cass

from thursday 7/16/09 (sorry I didn't get to update last night)

Cassie and I got to spend some girl time together last night, when the boys went to the Rodeo. Sorry, not our thang…. Yeah, I said “thang”.

We decided to leave the Ponderosa (the name of our campground) and grab a bite to eat. As we enter the restaurant, a VERY elderly man approached her and said, “Why, I don’t think I have seen a prettier thing. If I were younger, I would court you. Are you allowed to hug strangers?” Moi was thinking, “you come one step closer you old perv, and I will deck ya”. Picture the old guy on Family Guy. The perv that whistles when he talks. He looked JUST like that guy. OK, the story starts off creepy, but actually ends very sweet. His daughter stepped in and said, “of course she is not allowed to hug strangers – sorry, it is his 92nd birthday today”. Ahhhh – it sure made me miss my granddaddy at that moment. Cassie, go give the old perv a hug…. It was so sweet, I hugged him too.

What a lovely evening.

From Brad: highlight of my day is when I talked Trent into sticking his toe in scalding hot geyser water. Then he screamed "god dang that is hot" and he called me an idiot. I almost fell down I was laughing so hard.

No Internet last night. No service most of today (yellowstone). Will update all on the last two day when we get to Jackson on couple hours.

There is a new Sheriff in town!!!!!!!!!!

AND SHE SAYS IT IS TIME TO HIT THE ROAD!!!

We have about a 6 or 7 hour drive to Cody, WY. Brad will be napping, but I have my copilot (thanks Eddie) and a good book on CD. Let's do this thing. Later.............

Remind me whose idea this great adventure was?

Cassie meets a new friend at Wall Drugs

Trent, is that a smile?

Just a couple pix from Mt Rushmore

I don't really think a caption is necessary. Their faces say it all.

What a day

You have no idea. Brad not feeling well, so he asked me to drive "for a bit while he lie down". He says, "not much traffic - four lane road - you should be good to go". We make the switch, he snuggles up with Lucy and off we go. Twenty minutes in he is asleep and I hit construction. Down to two lanes - concrete barrier on right side and orange cones on left (for 42 miles). And where in the world is it OK for the speed limit to be 65 in construction zone?? SOUTH DAKOTA!!!!!!!!!! No way am I going 65 so I have about 26 cars lined up behind me for the duration. Finally construction ends (temporarily), I give a little fist pump in the air (I really did that) and the 26 cars zoomed past me even more elated that I.



After about 3 hours driving we make it to Wall Drugs. Pull into parking lot - Brad gets out of the RV - sways just a bit then claims he needs to use the bathroom for an "emergency". We leave Brad back at the RV. He says he can't make it. We return 45 minutes later with a thermometer and Brad has a fever of 101.3. Lovely. I shove a bunch of Tylenol down his throat and tell him to go back to sleep. So I guess I am driving to Mt. Rushmore. More construction. Roads starting to get hilly and curvy. Knuckles whiter that Michael Jacksons (of course when he was still alive), but we make it to Mt. Rushmore. We hustle out, get some pix and buy a cheesy magnet and pile back into the RV and head out to find a "pet friendly" hotel. Thank you Holiday Inn Express in Stugis SD. Thank you Coors Light.



I am one BAD ASS, RV DRIVING, MOTHERTRUCKER! Night all.........

Feeling a little sick to stomach... Brad wants me to drive. Crap here comes a rest area and we are really going to do the switch. I will let ya know how many cars I run off the road.

Holiday Inn has never felt so sweet!!!! Ahh a bed. And Trent is feeding ice cubes to Eddie with his mouth trying to get a rise out of me. PS: it is working.

Generator still not working. Need to fix before we get to Mall and leave the dogs in the RV.

Off to Mall of America and nobody has killed each other yet. It has been close. Almost had to use code word "Yellow Bird" this morning.

If you don't know the words, don't sing the song.

This trip is sure wearing Eddie out!

Just thought I would throw this one in for fun

for those that have not seen this on facebook.

"Letters from Brad"

Quote of the day..............

"it feels like someone took a pressure washer to my ass"
~ Brad Harruff

Actually had a pretty good day

Can't you tell by the look on Trent's face?

So I am having a beer

Not working well together as a team

and this is where I bathed this morning

We have our own stalker!

Made it to the Dells

Look at Cassie trying not to touch her brother. The love is overwhelming!

P.S. our canopy smells like butt.

What happens when you run through a toll without paying?

I wish we could figure out how to lock the refrigerator so things would quit flying out of it

Chicago traffic is stressful. Especially in an RV!

Could this be a sign? Haven't even left and the air conditioner not working........ Crap

I think Eddie is ready!

So it begins......

Just 2 days to go........

Last evening Brad informed me that we would only be using the bathroom and shower in the RV for “emergencies”. What I wanted to say was just one word….. Really? But instead, I said “that is a great idea dear”. I had a flashback to our honeymoon in romantic San Diego, where he thought it would be a great idea to stay on Indiana time the entire honeymoon, so we didn’t mess up our internal clocks……

Now Brad wants to know if I have a nylon shirt “like his Nike one” because "they would be great for rafting and canoeing". “No” I don’t. Three minutes later, he is in front of me with HIS nylon Nike shirt, making me touch and feel it (in case I am too stupid to know what a nylon shirt is and I was confused by his question – it happens). “Sorry Brad, I still don’t have a nylon shirt”. He walks away saying in a sing songy voice “you are going to be sorry”. Seriously, it is 10:20pm and all I want to do is watch a little HGTV.
Help