Today was the day we started our month-long trip…but first Cal had to take his math final. The younger kids all had their last day of school yesterday but Cal’s official last day was today. Since he only had one test to take he would be ready to be picked up at 9am and our plan was to leave at about 9:30.

We packed last minute things and Nole put the RV battery back on (he was charging it on the trickle charger inside). He left to get Cal and I disconnected from shore power (the camper had been plugged into our house until this point). Unfortunately, something was wrong with the battery, the wiring, or user error because we were getting no power from the battery inside the camper. Without the battery we had no power to the fridge which was a major problem since the fridge and freezer were full of food.

I put ice packs in the fridge and we picked up dry ice for the freezer (Meijer sells dry ice if you ever need it!). We were on our way around 10:15.

We stopped for lunch at the Lake Forest Oasis, stopped once for a bathroom and twice for gas ($5.95/gallon, yikes!).

We drove about 380 miles today and it took us about 8 hours all told. Nole drove all day today and is a pro now!. There was lots of traffic but Google Maps saved us from a 30 minute plus delay at the Michigan border so that was nice.

We are staying at Camp Dearborn tonight in Milford. We got here at about 7:30pm. Nole and I set up the camper while the kids took the bikes over to the playground. Then I made hamburgers for dinner and did the dishes.

My mom and Ray are in Michigan to spend the weekend with us here. They left before 7am and got here a couple of hours before us. They were able to give us a heads up on road conditions which was nice. Because we got in so late we didn’t see them tonight. They’re staying at a hotel about 45 minutes from us.

I gave everyone a tour of the camper and stressed the importance of putting everything away when you are done using it–we will see if it sticks.