4 Wheels 4 Girls

September 27, we pulled in next to the curb of OUR HOUSE IN ATLANTA!!! Oh my gosh, we were back! For some reason that is unknown to me, it felt like we had never even left. Everything felt like how it was before we left, and I don’t know why, but I didn’t like it. I wanted it to feel like we had been gone forever. When we pulled up at our house, we saw Dinara and Abby, Ellie’s best friends, and Dinara’s mom, Lisa, standing in our yard. Abby and Dinara came running toward us like they hadn’t seen us in years. That’s how I felt, too. I jumped out of the RV and hugged Lisa, and headed for the front door, eager to go inside. Then I spotted my friend that lives down the road, Will. I told him he could come in the house, so he followed me inside. Me, Greta, and Will went upstairs first, because that’s where me and Greta’s room is. It was so empty! We hung out up there until suddenly Brynn came into the room! Then Will said he had to leave, so we said bye. We spent the rest of the day hanging out with Brynn. We were home!

Friday, May 20, was the wedding day of two dear friends. This was an event I wouldn’t miss, so I flew home to Atlanta for a couple of days to join the celebration, catch up with friends, colleagues, and neighbors, and to take care of the house. Fun was had, work was done, time flew by fast. Even so, I was eager to get back and rejoin the RV adventure.

So, to the friends I was lucky enough to see and spend time with: It was great to see you all.

To Bobby and Lea Ann: Thanks for including me in your celebration. May you enjoy a long, blessed life together.

We hiked into Providence Canyon, on the border of Georgia and Alabama. Down at the bottom of the canyon, there were old creekbeds, which, unfortunately, were mostly mud.

Dad standing in the creekbed

It was SO cool at the very bottom, because you could look up into the little nooks in the rocks and see tree roots and slabs of purple rock and purple sand.

Ellie exploring down in the mud

Ellie discovered some bear tracks and deer tracks in the mud.(Mud is really an amazing thing, don’t you think?) We continued to hike down deeper until we were out of the creekbeds. We decided this would be a nice place to made sandwiches and have a picnic, only to discover that the turkey was frozen and we had forgotten the cheese! So we just ate bread and enjoyed the view for a while.
When we reached the top of the canyon, we scraped off our exhaused, muddy feet and got into the RV. We ate a good lunch of sandwiches (with unfrozen turkey!) and drove off to our next destination-Eufaula, Alabama!!!

On Monday, we went to Providence Canyon State Park in South Georgia. I had never been there before. We went there and hiked. First we packed lunch into my mom’s big backpack. We meant to pack cheese, meat, and bread. Ana carried our lunch on her back all the way down into the canyon.

Ana is carrying our lunch

On the way down to the canyon floor, me, Greta, and Stella all got our feet stuck in the mud. It was mushy.

Me and Greta touched something squishy in the mud and asked what it was. Dad told us it was animal poop. We yelled.

The canyon walls are sedimentary rock.

The canyon had a lot of sedimentary rock in it. I have been learning about that in Ms. Pitt’s class this year. I saw layers in the canyon walls. I saw how lots of sediment got hardened and turned into rock.

My favorite thing in the canyon was the purple sand. We had so much fun.

We travelled to a campsite but it was closed, so we looked for a Walmart on the way to where we were going and we found one and we slept there.  It was in Columbus, GA.  It was very hard to sleep because there were cars going by on the highway and lights were turned on all night in the parking lot.

We slept in a parking lot

My sisters got to see the deer, but I didn’t because I was in the back at the table in the RV.  My sister Stella told me they were just finished crossing the road.  She said there were a lot, probably fifteen or more deer.

My Drawing of the Deer Herd We Saw

We were driving from Atlanta to our first campsite, and we saw a herd of deer on the side of the road. There were at least ten all standing together.

It was late at night, so we couldn’t take a picture. So, I took a picture in my mind and drew it.

Well, we officially departed on Saturday, but only made it about twelve houses down the street.

Not very far down the road. You can see our driveway a few houses back.

We quickly realized that, after five days of rushing to pack up and clear our house of all our stuff so our renters could move in on Saturday, we had overpacked some things and completely forgotten others. So, we spent one last night in the neighborhood with some dear friends down the street. Sunday we got organized, said our goodbyes once again, and hit the road for the second time.

Finally! It took several full, full days to pack up the house and provision the ship, but we are ready to roll.

Loaded Up and Ready to Roll

It took three brains and way too long to figure out how to fit all six bikes on the back, but as of Saturday, February 5th, at 6:PM, we are ready for the open road.

The Open Road

Hurray! Here are some pictures of our RV:

Our RV

I want to call our RV “Mrs. Bananas” because she reminds me of a banana for some reason.

The front of our RV

I can’t wait to sit on the cushy couch!

Our Bedroom

I hope I get a top bunk.