The First BIG Trip in our Van...

  Hey Y'all!

We finally came up with a name for the van... BRUNILDA!

 Brunilda is a girl's name of Old German origin. With a name meaning "ready for battle," Brunilda will be able for anything life throws at them. Brave and fierce, your little warrior can draw on their inner reserves to face challenges that come their way.

Such a fitting name, since on this trip we did face a few challenges, and she conquered them all. Take a look here:

We had quite the adventure in KY. We started off doing back roads only, but rather quickly decided that would A) Take forever & B) Be a bit scary for our first major trip. Looking back we're both glad we changed that plan. After 20+ miles of hill, curve, and one lane roads we hopped on I-75 N at the first opportunity. From that point to MM140ish was pretty uneventful. It misty rained a bit on & off, nothing big. We stopped to stretch and eat our packed lunch at the Artisan Center in Berea (KY). 

About an hour later... pop, although it's not really a popping sound... it's hard to describe. We blew a tire! Chris was able to limp it up to the next exit (near Corinth, KY), where the tire then lost all air, so we had to stop. Of course there was only one gas station at this exit, and phone signal was iffy. Thankfully the station was right off the highway, so we were able to use the bathroom. Then we called a tow, which took forever. The tow driver was really nice though, and got us where we'd best spend the night with ease. After all was said and done we spent our first night in a Walmart parking lot in Dry Ridge, KY (right outside the automotive department doors). Their service manager was AWESOME! I don't know what they're paying him, but it's not enough. Around 10:30am we were back on the road and made it to middle IN without issue (I still don't like driving through Indianapolis).

Our first Walmart camping experience!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Pz4mJpHsndk

We spent a week in IN visiting family, and showing off the van. We went on a few walks, and took a few trips to the store, but since that was the neighborhood family lives in we didn't film anything. After our week there was up we headed out on the next leg of our journey- NE Ohio bound.

While also uneventful, this leg of the trip seemed to take far longer than anticipated, though we did stop pretty often. Several times just to stretch & enjoy the fall foliage, once to fill up and while there we stopped at Dollar Tree for some supplies, and since there was a grocery store next door that neither of us had heard of we checked it out too (Chiefs in Delphos, OH). Since we were already stopped we went ahead and ate lunch, then got back on the road.

Photo credit: Zachary Elwer

We arrived at our destination around 5:30pm much to the anticipation of everyone! The plan was to stay there a week as well, but we quickly decided to extend that leg of the trip to two weeks. We visited family, went to the park, hung out, played games, went Trick or Treating, and just enjoyed spending time together again (it had been almost exactly 2 yrs).

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fF1224g9fCI

We had to end the trip there since I had a few doctors appointments this week. Another CT, Urologist, and tomorrow with my PCP. (The kidney stone hasn't moved, so surgery is scheduled for December.)

Being there made me miss Ohio, but we'll return again soon!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jKZirboJIlo

The drive home was nice, the interstate through WV was almost empty. The tolls had gone up since last time, $4.25 x 3! We remember when they were just $1.25. I don't know if that speaks more to us being old or inflation, lol.

 We planned to stop and split the drive home into two days, and Beckley, WV seemed like a good place. The travel plaza there was closed for construction, but Tamarack was open until 7pm. We got there around 5:30pm or so, walked around a bit to stretch and look at the displays, then we decided that seemed like a good enough place to stay for the night and we sat down in the restaurant to have dinner. We exited just as they were closing, and made our way to the van. We were unsure if we'd get "the knock" but by 8:30 our movie was over, we were tired, and pretty confident we'd be fine as others were parked nearby as well.

This was daylight savings time, so we woke pretty early, but weren't ready to head out just yet. We took a walk around the exterior, filmed a bit, ate breakfast, and then headed out just as it was fully light. There were a TON of deer throughout WV, and into VA. We stopped a few times to stretch, have a snack, and enjoy the last bits of the colorful leaves. The rest of the way we took our time, and enjoyed the drive through the mountains, finally getting home around noon.

We traveled approximately 1,170 miles.

Drive time was around 26 hours, not removing stops other than overnights.

We started with 3/4 a tank and finished with 1/2. Filling up 3 times, gas prices between 2.94 - 3.49 per gallon. 

That's between 16-17 miles per gallon. (Not bad for a '91!)

We slept in 4 of 5 states we drove through. *KY, IN, OH, & WV.

Worst night sleep was Walmart, just because it was so bright outside of lawn & garden and TLE. Plus at that time we still hadn't cut the mattress to fit, and were hauling the bowflex for Chris' brother. (It was a bit tight, but really wasn't bad. The lights being on outside of lawn & garden all night long really was the worst of it.)

Best night sleep was the mid cool temps in both IN and OH.

We travelled around 55- 65mph the entire time (depending on the roads speed limit) and the van did fabulously! She climbs like a charm, but could use some better suspension in the near future. Other than that there are a few things we'd like to do, and some changes to be made, but overall it was a great trip.

Any questions? Leave them in the comment section below!

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Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife