Its not easy to blog in the middle of the mountains in West Virginia. The internet is constantly in use by somebody else and blogging is the last thing on my mind out here. ☺

So Saturday, after an endless day of packing and getting everything ready to go, we finally were able to take off. We stopped somewhere for a bit, and when we tried to go again, the RV didn’t even attempt to start. We called the roadside service people, and their truck broke down on the way to get us, we hadn’t eaten dinner, and everything seemed pretty bleak for a couple hours. The RV randomly started up again, and we quickly went to the nearest auto parts store to try and fix the problem before we got too far from home. Turns out, the alternator needed to be replaced, so Justin and Dad set to doing that while us girls went and got some food for all of us. The guys worked for hours without much progress, but they kept trying. We were almost to the point of giving up, when a guy ran right up and started working on it. We had no idea who this guy was, or why on earth he would just decide to jump in and help, but he did. He had nipple rings and a goat beard, and he was a mechanic just trying to help us out a little bit. He really must’ve been sent from God, I wouldn’t go so far as to call him an angel because he didn’t seem like the angelic type to me, but regardless it was a major help, and the boys were able to finish it up shortly after. That night we attempted to sleep in a Walmart parking lot. Yeah. Not the greatest experience of my life, it feels really odd to having nothing but a door separating you and the wild people who hang out at Walmart in the night. Who knew it was such a popular place to party? I didn’t, until they kept me awake for most of the night.

Sunday we were ready to hit the road again, when the RV decided to quit taking gas. Just like that. We found a campground nearby and prayed that we had enough gas to get there. We did, and the people who owned the RV Park were so nice, they found a mechanic on a Sunday, to come and help us with the gas tank. God bless them. A man came around not 2 hours later to fix it up, and bring us to the gas station and try it out. It started taking gas again, not as fast as normal, but we were just grateful that it was. We ended up spending the day and night in Leslie Michigan, there was a pond that Justin and Kyrsten swam in, and we all had the opportunity to take an outdoor shower ☺ that was interesting…

Monday, we hit the road again, and stopped about half way to get some groceries at Walmart before we were too far away from civilization. This put us behind schedule by several hours, so we stayed the night right on the edge of Ohio and West Virginia. The campground was out in the middle of nowhere, and it was night when we got there.
So.
Tuesday we went exploring around the trails at the campground. There was a huge lake just out back behind our campsite, and us kids spent the morning running around in the woods until we found a huge, steamy, pile of bear poop-right in the area that we had been exploring. I was the brave one, and put a leaf on the poop, and then touched it to see if it was warm (EWW) and it was definitely roasty. Needless to say, we didn’t stick around long after that ☺

Tuesday afternoon/evening was spent winding through the Appalachian mountains to get to Black water Falls Campground , where we are currently at. I just about passed out half a dozen times on the way here, winding through the mountains going 55 in a small house is NOT an enjoyable way to spend the afternoon, let me tell ya. It felt like we were going to just tip over and tumble down the mountains the whole time.

But, we arrived safely after 180 miles of that craziness, and that pretty much sums up life up to now. We are still in the middle of the mountains in West Virginia, where we have spent the days biking, and hiking through the mountains. Somehow, Mom continues to cook just like she would at home, making the same things we would eat at home, just as if she had made them in a regular sized kitchen. Dad gets to work early every morning, his “office” set up right outside at the picnic table. And Justin, Kyrsten, and I always find some crazy thing to entertain ourselves, whether its by chasing deer through the woods, or riding our bikes several miles uphill to visit the small corner store that’s up the road a ways from us. Tomorrow we take off for Manassas, Virginia for about 8 days, and we really have no idea what to expect there. Anyway, I will blog more whenever I get another chance with wifi. ☺