Vosslings Adventure Part 2-Day 25

Day 25

Tuesday, July 12, 2016        Crab marks the spot!

This morning Colin and I woke up early and went down to the beach to see if we could find Josh's wedding ring. I knew it would be a long shot after 2 storms came through but I wasn't going to give up just yet. When we got onto the beach I was so sad, the whole beach had been combed and you could see it wasn't long ago that it was high tide. We walked around where we were sitting yesterday and looked around for some time. We decided to back track the way dad walked home the day before, he didn't take our usual route. No such luck. Colin and I woke everyone up and told them to get down to the beach before all the good spots were taken. There were public umbrellas and chairs set up all along the beach so we decided to snag a set and add our chairs under the umbrella. We were situated fairly close to where we sat the day before so the kids could find us easily. The lifeguard came over to us and told us the chairs and umbrellas were for rent and we would have to move if we weren't going to rent them. So Josh and I moved everything. Bummer.

A short time later, Josh went into the water with the boys. They were having a great time when a woman screamed SHARK! I look up to find everyone running to shore and Josh was rushing towards Charlie who was closest to said shark. I have never run so quickly. I reached out to Colin running to shore while looking behind him. At this time there was a large crowd standing at the shoreline. VERY SCARY! It sure did look like a shark. After 10 minutes there was no movement coming from the object so a man decided he was confident it wasn't a shark so he swam out and it seems as though a large stick was stuck too close to shore.  We were all so relieved but very leery to get back in the water. 

The boys went out in the shallow water searching for shells so I grabbed my camera and joined them. I happened to see an empty crab shell and was fascinated so I ran up to show Josh. As I made it up the small hill, something in the sand caught my eye. I dropped the crab and in total disbelief I found Josh's ring. WHAT A MOMENT! As I handed it to Josh, he told me I should buy a lottery ticket!

Later in the evening, the kids and I rode our bikes up to the Trading Shop and took a look around.  They had some cool gifts and fun little souvenirs. We left with a root beer float and a smile. The kids decided to continue to ride their bikes around for a while when I had to call them home because they have a bike light policy that is strictly enforced and they don't all have lights on their bikes. They were bummed but we can fix that.

Sunrise on the beach

Colin looking for the ring and some shells

The beach had been combed and the lifeguard was putting out the umbrellas and chairs.

Colin shell hunting

*This is what a time-out on the beach looks like.*

Chandler and Charlie catching some waves.

Colin resting his eyes after being in the sun. 

It's never to hot outside to have the comfort of hot cocoa. 

Vosslings Adventure Part 2- Day 11

Day 11

Tuesday,   June, 28, 2016     "Sigh of relief"

We left Maine around 7am in the pouring rain. Next stop... Atlantic City, New Jersey. This day was made of bloopers. When we left Maine it was smooth sailing, but as we got closer to NJ we realized maybe GPS has us a little mixed up.  She had us going round and circles.  Finally when back on course, Josh and I were looking around on the 3 lane highway and noticed there wasn't a single over sized vehicle around us, not a truck, bus or towed vehicle. We looked at each other and said "oh, this can't be good".  Josh's first question was "how high are the underpasses?!" I started googling things and remapping our location. As we approached bridges, we cringed. What a sigh of relief when we made it through. This was the only road that would get us to our resort.  What a confusing, intense, mess. Words to live by, GPS doesn't know what you're driving. We managed to stay on course and made it to our exit... safely. The Atlantic City RV Resort was back in the deep words. When we pulled into the drive, we couldn't help but wonder if this was going to work for us. The lane was made of packed sand. This beast may have a problem. We unhooked the car and entered as 2. The Resort had sandy lanes and camping spots. Our spot was in the back which took 4 of us to spot him backing-in. Props to my guy for his ability to handle this RV. He makes it look so easy.

Early the next morning we had plans to leave the RV sit for a few days while we stay in New York. I didn't think to pack any suitcases since we were living out of a real closet, so Josh and I let the kids check things out and cook some dinner while we took the car and run into town on a hunt for suitcases. When we were done, we got turned around so we decided to GPS our route back to the RV. It took us a completely different way than where we came from. We came to a fork in the road... left to private drive/ right to main road.... So we stopped, looked at each other and just laughed. The main road was a muddy, narrow, over grown mess. He looks at me and says "at least we have 4 wheel drive!" This can't be right! GPS says our destination is 0.5 miles ahead. HERE WE GO!.... We came up to the BACK OF OUR RV. Literally right outside our door. I was laughing so hard I was crying. How did that even happen. It should have taken us to the front gate. Imagine the kids surprise when we pull up. HA!

We were placed in a spot with no sewer so we needed to conserve our dirty water tank on the RV for 5 days, that is not easy to do with 6 of us. While I was washing dishes, picture me with 2 full sinks washing and rinsing, then filling a pot with dirty water to chuck outside in the dark. I might have just preferred using a bucket to wash dishes outside. We used the public bathhouse to shower during our stay. Spoiled Glamper gone amazon woman.

Our road back to the RV

Vosslings Adventure Part 2- Day 7

DAY 7

Friday,  June 24, 2016    MAINE- Here we come! 

I don't know about the rest of the crew but I was pretty excited to visit Maine. I have had this quirky need to visit Maine since I was a young person. Happy Dance!

We closed up the RV and departed from Ontario, Canada at 6am. Our resort was about 10 short miles from the U.S. border. Upon entering the U.S. we had a friendly Customs officer feel the need to come aboard and snoop around. He was polite but completely intimidated us! The ride wasn't without hiccup. Shortly after we left, we realized there was no water in the RV fresh water tank! Josh was certain to have filled that sucker up before we headed out. I checked it, he checked it and I checked it again. We watched all the highway signs for large travel centers that would have water but we didn't have any luck. The highway had single lane fuel stations along the way so you didn't have to pay toll to exit the main highway. So we sucked it up and hoped no one had a major bathroom malfunction.

We arrived in Maine at Old Orchard Beach Wild Acres RV Resort at about 6pm. It was an easy ride for the most part. We quickly unloaded and filled the fresh water tank right away! We again crossed over the border with an empty fridge so we immediately needed food and supplies. We headed to the store and got a cart full and cruised around downtown Old Orchard. That place was hoppin'! On the way home we stopped at Jumpin' Jakes, which is a seafood restaurant right outside our resort. It was very late and we had spent the day eating blueberry bagels so why not! I was so excited to try lobster from Maine. IT IS SO CHEAP HERE! They even serve lobster at McDonald's. At Jumpin' Jakes, I ordered the twin tail special and Josh got Haddock pasta and the big kids shared the Surf and turf. The little kids had never seen mostly fish items on a kids menu so the traditional cheeseburger it was. The minute they put my plate in front of me, Colin was seriously disturbed. I had to ask the waitress how to eat this WHOLE lobster the right way. After she showed me how to tear them apart, Colin couldn't stomach his dinner. That was so much fun though! I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I'm in Maine what can I say.

Wild Acres Resort and Jumpin' Jake's for dinner

Our RV Spot

My LOBSTER

This is AWESOME

Poor Mr. Crabs she says

Charlie playing with my food

Day 25 HERITAGE DAYS

Day 25

Heritage Days 2015

Depart- Lawton, Oklahoma
Destination- Ramsey, Illinois
670 miles and 10 hours

July 2, 2015

We had a very busy day ahead. We had come to realize the Voss family reunion starts TODAY! My planning was a day behind. The only location we had to skip was our stay in Joplin, Missouri. A few years ago we took a trip to visit Grandma in Oklahoma and stopped for the night in Joplin, Missouri just after the tornado had ripped through town. We vividly remember the experience of driving through the devastation. It would have been a nice trip to go through there a few years later and compare the rebuild. I hope we get the opportunity at another time. We departed Lawton, OK at 6am in the middle of a rain storm. Josh was soaked after closing up the RV so we can get on the road, it was dark and wet and not the best start to our day. We had a good 10 hour drive ahead of us to arrive at the Family Reunion in time to hitch a ride on the firetruck in route for ice cream at Dairy Dee.

When we pulled into Ramsey, IL., we were ahead of schedule and really excited to set up camp at the WJLY Radio Station. As we pulled onto the lawn, the front tires sank into the ground, Josh stopped immediately. We were STUCK! We drove over 4000 miles and got stuck on the last leg of our trip. It was a bit of a fiasco but thankfully we were at the farm with family and were able to get immediate assistance. First we tried to pull it out with Dad's truck. It was unsuccessful. Then we tried to pull it out with a tractor, the tires just spun until there were spin out holes in the gravel drive. Lastly, we used 2 tractors to pull the RV until it started to roll back. SUCCESS! We had a good laugh at this. I'm just thankful we had access to equipment and a few family farmers to pull us out!

After we got ourselves out of the front yard, we drove up to the machine shed to park for the night. We were so happy to have made it to the reunion in time for dinner and the traditional firetruck ride to Dairy Dee for ice cream. When the firetrucks got back to the machine shed, Josh and his dad tired unsuccessfully to find us power for the night, the generator would have to do. We had a slumber party in the driveway. So be it!

RV stuck in the yard

Truck was unsuccessful....

Tractor was unsuccessful....

2 tractors.... SUCCESS

Ouch... that left a mark

Our trusty Firetruck 

New addition Firetruck.. family is growing

Day 11 Hoover Dam

Day 11  Hoover Dam

Voss Tour of Hoover Dam Nevada/Arizona 
June 18, 2015

Josh has always talked about touring the Hoover Dam so this was our deciding factor on staying in the Las Vegas area to site see both places this trip.  We planned on heading out to Boulder City early to beat the record high heat, but things don't always stay on schedule....

On our way out the door, we all had one last potty break before heading out and guess what happened... Mom broke the cable on the toilet lever when she stepped on it. So instead of going directly to Hoover Dam, we had to go to Camping World for toilet parts because they close early. On the way to Camping World Josh had a hard time reading Las Vegas signs and he missed our exit 3 times. That was NOT fun. Eventually we arrived at Camping World and here comes Josh walking out with a new toilet. Parts would take a week to order so we didn't have much of a choice. Then we realized it wouldn't fit in the trunk with all of us in the car so the toilet played back seat passenger for the remainder of the day. WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS......

On to Hoover Dam. The drive was beautiful. As we approached Lake Mead, I grabbed the camera. The water was a stunning blue. The bridge over Hoover Dam was beautifully constructed. As we pulled up to the entrance there was security check points. After a brief questioning and look through, we made our way down to parking. It was extremely hot outside by noon but we pushed through the walking self tour of both sides of the Hoover Dam. Later we headed downstairs to the museum and movie portion of the tour. After the Movie about the Hoover Dam, Josh, Carmen and Chandler went on a lower level tour of the operational parts of the Dam down 72 stories.  Meanwhile, Colin, Charlie and I went on a visitors tour of the making of Hoover Dam through the Museum. It was pretty neat for the boys to understand how water creates electricity and how the electricity gets into our homes. They also have a better understanding of how the dam helps the water get into certain parts of the surrounding states and how quality of life is better now with water source as apposed to the years before the Dam construction. Josh and the big kids seemed to enjoy the tour of operations. It was interesting to learn some of the facts about the construction period and the events surrounding it. Only 96 men perished during the construction. The entire town of Boulder City had to be built in order to house the workers for extended period of the construction. They were like family, always together rotating work around the clock.

After a long hot day, we settled down at the RV for some yummy kabobs and swim time. I was pretty excited to take full advantage of that beautiful Grill!

View From Hoover Dam Bridge

Hoover Dam Power

I40 Bridge

Statue of worker

Nevada Time

Josh standing in both Nevada and Arizona

Nevada/Arizona State line

Arizona Time

Old Hoover Dam Museum

Chandler, Carmen, and Josh taking Operations Tour

Hoover Dam Wall

Approaching Lake Mead 

Lake Mead

Hoover Dam Movie

The Boys creating electricity

The boys learning about how electricity gets from Hoover Dam to homes

Colin running operations

Time to relax

Kabobs  cooking

Dinner Time!