Betty the RV

Betty the RV

Here follows the shortened account of our 31 day cross North America Family Road Trip in Betty the RV. We survived tornados, snakes, sewage, Texas, and four children.

Day One: Betty (the 1976 RV) wobbling in the wind; border trouble; side flap flapping in the wind; top hatch clapping like a popcorn maker; surprising desert and canyons in Eastern Washington; headlights on and off; slept in rest stop in Idaho.

Day Two: Climbing into Montana; strange skies; snow in Butte; exhaust manifold pops while crossing the continental divide; Betty sounds like a loud Harley; struggling up hills; limp into Big Sky Montana; sleep in gas station parking lot, snow all around.

Day Three: Engine sounds horrible; mechanics closed; Yellowstone mechanic does not know up from down; downhill into Yellowstone, Wyoming; Bison, wolf, elk, geysers, Old Faithful; Grizzly RV Park, RV hook-ups, freezing cold.

Day Four: Showers and coffee; engine won’t start, sewage won’t empty – too cold; prayer makes both work; over Continental Divide again; downhill back into Idaho; engine still protesting, cruise into Utah, through Salt Lake; Mormon Tabs everywhere; discover Flying J in Nephi, Utah, sleep there; “Where we are is exactly where we want to be.”

Day Five: Dom’s ripped PJ’s; Tanya discovers blown manifold; Mays automotive fixes exhaust, way better; Southern Utah is beautiful – Big Rock Candy Mountain; eat in Mormon town, Joshua exposes doctrinal error; into Arizona, another huge climb, beautiful canyons lit by sunset, scary to drive in; stop in Cameron, Arizona gas station; store clerks mean; Caitlyn leaves phone.

Day Six: Grand Canyon; “Oh no, the border!”; Watchtower; no donkey rides; jumping cacti; beautiful views; camping overnight, smores, campfire;

Day Seven: Heading  through Arizona to New Mexico; swirling red dust clouds; Route 66; Betty stalls; Suddenly hot temps; headlights stop working in Albuquerque; Enchanted Trails RV Park.

Day Eight: Through NM towards Texas; “What is that bull doing?” Rest stop has “Beware of Rattlesnakes” signs and a Tornado shelter (foreshadowing); strong winds keep us awake and nervous.

Day Nine: Arrive in Houston, after harrowing drive through Dallas; stop at hospital, continue on to Walmart; Karen and Joseph and family; huge sleepover.

Day Ten: Soccer games; Joseph’s parent’s place, Noah and Doms peeing in backyard; UFC with Joseph.

Day Eleven: Church – tour of the facility; Betty housing Mexicans?; Splashtown – “I survived the Tornado!” (foreshadowing); “Crocodile Isle was AWESOME!”.

Day Twelve: Raymond checks out Betty; Cherie has 4 hour coffee date, cheesecake in the evening.

Day Thirteen: Getting Joseph’s car; NASA; fixing Betty; Dom goes low, goes to hospital – CAT scan scare; Children’s Hospital – Dom is fine, insurance weirdness; final night in Houston.

Day Fourteen: Drive to Tulsa, OK; Thunder storms and lightning show as we roll in; park in Believer’s Church parking lot; 5am fierce winds and tornado siren goes off; Betty rocking back and forth, green light outside; each adult grabs a child and goes under table; Dominic sleeps through, Aaron calls Tim “I think there’s a Tornado outside, and we’re in an RV.” “I think you’d better get out.” “Uh...”; Tim lets us into prayer room for safety.

Day Fifteen: Coffee at Fusion, hanging out with Tim; Linsey and Aaron and Mathieu come in, bowling and pizza and mall and park; Evidence of tornado destruction on streets outside; Tanya and Caitlyn hanging with BR crew; Thursday in the park, Ray singing songs; meeting with Aaron and Leah about Van; Tribe drumming night, drumsticks and prophecy; leery night in Betty, lightning and heavy rain.

Day Sixteen: Hang out in Fusion with Adam and family; visit Harvest grocery co-op; Doms poops in urinal; driving towards KC, Miss; more evidence of tornado damage on back roads through Kansas; Coffeeville, Kansas – Tanya’s heritage; miss Wendy’s street, drive into ghetto; finally find Wendy’s mansion; Noah finds dead mouse; over to Thad May’s, Boo greets kids at the door; (non)smelly firewood; Boo sneezes, kids lose it.

Day Seventeen: Big breakfast at Wendy’s, Adam Cox, Lindsay Ellison, Maggie, others; visit Boiler Room, art space, Campus America, Linnea et al and their incredible book shelf; kids and Boo and Thad go to the park; curry at Thad May’s house, sharing with Thad and Mary.

Day Eighteen: Adam and Juli’s baby trump morning coffee; Venison sausage; prayer and prophecy time at Thad’s; Boiler Room (hip) gathering; begin drive to Chicago; stay in Iowa rest stop.

Day Nineteen: Find great Rest Stop with dump!; Interstate closed, detour to Walmart; police investigate children on their own in Betty (not on their own); bumpy rainy ride into Chicago; arrive at Blue Island Church, see Ro-ro; Caitlyn freak-out when Meghan Labreque arrives; exercise room; drive to Polanco’s, enter a party (Neisy, Caleb – Nap Dyn, Prezza, children, Maggie the dog, Ambur); fantastic dinner, homemade ice cream; Guiseppe.

Day Twenty: Cherie migraine; laundry, exercise, lunch and climbing wall at Church; dinner at Beggar’s Pizza; still no Eric Himes.

Day Twenty One: Six Flags in Corps Van; first really sunny day, no line-ups, mixed feelings towards Dark Knight, loved Buccaneer Battle, log ride; Caitlyn and Tanya crazy bus and train ride into Chicago, hair extensions; White Castle; prayed for Ro-Ro and Prezza.

Day Twenty Two: Lincoln Park zoo, crazy drive into Chicago; Tanya explores Clark St.; Jo-Jo the Gorilla, lions, tigers, bears, rhinos, giraffes, warthog, monkeys, hissing cockroaches, naked mole rats, blue-tongued skink, etc...; drive to CFOT, see Wrigley Field!; visit Ian; go to little cafe; back to Church, extended talk and prayer re Boiler Room, War College etc...

Day Twenty Three: Leave Chicago, drive to Madison, with many tolls; see Joseph Steinke, staying in Winnebago House; eat at Mexican Taco place, cooking brownies; visiting with BR people, including Wes, Neel, Kaya (who has her own language) and others for dinner; Dom bit through a glass; Ciara took care of Kaya; Wes and family may be coming to Vancouver for a spell; Dominic did NOT like the brownie.

Road Trip Journal Continued...

Day Twenty Four: Awake early to head out to Madison Farmer’s Market; Pumpkin Oatmeal bar for breakfast; kids watch break dancers, including 2 Mormon missionaries who could really throw down; cheese curds – but no poutine; “If you don’t stay still, Dominic, I’m going to draw you as an alien!”; dinner at the Winnebago house; another migraine for Cherie; unexpected 2nd night stay in Madison.

Day Twenty Five: Off in the morning towards Minneapolis; Betty smells exactly like a toilet that has not been emptied for 5 days and has been sitting in the hot sun, “It’s either Betty or a field fill of 400 cows that have been crapping for 60 years”, “We are reaching bio-chemical weapon status”; desperate to find an RV dump station, finally do; kids are very squirrely in the RV today, they may be reaching the end of their patience, as are we all; hugest dead deer on the side of the road yet; reach Minneapolis, eat dinner with BR community and the Wohlers; everyone prays for Cherie’s migraines; do yard work; kids pair off with Wohler children to play.

Day Twenty Six: Bike riding; everyone piles in Betty, we visit Fallout Boiler Room space for some prayer; visit Fallout Art Co-op to see studio spaces; Dominic has conflict in the park, announces to other children that he is Superboy, they remain unimpressed; tacos and District 9 at night; giant argument about the value of Speed Racer the movie between Caitlyn and Bobby goes 10 full rounds.

Day Twenty Seven: Begin the day with Peter Pan; got Minnesota Twins tickets and bubble tea in downtown Minneapolis; Bella Wohler likes to eat Lego; prayer and talking with new interns at Source; t-shirt exchange; Twins vs. Yankees game suspended due to thunderstorm , which ended the moment we got out of the stadium; final prayer with Peter.

Day Twenty Eight: On the road by 5:30am; Betty coming apart at the seams a little; making great time, aiming for Regina; ate lunch in North Dakota, attacked by ants; dumped our sewage in Drake, where they allowed us to get rid of our wasted near a children’s playground; ate dinner near Danish windmill; running out of gas near Can border, discover puncture in tire – two rednecks fix tire in Lignite, N Dakota; spectacular sunset; cross border with no issues; fear of more tornados, big lightning storm in southern Sask; make it all the way to Regina, 1200 kms today.

Day Twenty Nine: Cold night in Betty; sleeting in Regina; meet Erika in Robbins donuts; pray outside of proposed prayer house; leave Regina, heading for Calgary; more ominous looking skies and big storms; snowing in Calgary, leaking in Betty; reach 24-7 community (The Wilsons) in Calgary, crazy suburb with ridiculously similar names for every street; Caitlyn wants to know War College summer assignments.

Day Thirty: Snow on the ground in Calgary; off to Jesus Loves You Society to help unload a truck, pray, eat lunch, play hockey, and look at prayer art; stopped in at Peter’s Drive in for wicked awesome milkshakes; dropped off crib and bike for a young family; kids go swimming; Caitlyn finds someone to talk about musicals with; dinner and prayer with Andy, Debbie, Nolan and Sherry.

Day Thirty One: Wake up to even MORE snow on the ground in Calgary; concern over Betty’s ability to ascend (and descend) the Rockies; horrible conditions driving out of Calgary, someone left the gas cap at the gas station; beautiful drive over the Rockies; dinner at Denny's; find a Flying J in Kamloops to sleep.

Day Thirty Two: LAST DAY; leave at 5am, climb over Coquihalla, Betty does fine; growing excitement as we near Vancouver; drop Tanya off in Langley, sad farwell; Betty stalls on Hastings St, typical; finallyb reach home, our community painted and redecorated our home!