Summer of 23 (Day 2): Ohio- Kansas

Messi did fabulous last night for his first night in the camper. He had to deal with all the things at once, so it was like shoving him off into the deep end and hoping for the best.

Fireworks.

Honestly annoying.

They lasted until close to 11 pm and we were at a KOA…. AKA, a family-campground. We had our AC on low and white noise on to cover up the nonstop noise. (I know I sound like a old grumpy person now, but I don’t care).

The fireworks were so often and loud the whole evening that we couldn’t get Messi to use the potty one last time before bed. He just kept heading to the truck to try to hide underneath it as he was super scared.

Adding to Messi’s intense initiation/first night of camping, it hardcore thunder-stormed at midnight.

Literally all the things making noise.

Messi did fabulously tho and didn’t make a peep when I got up and gave Amelia her 3 am meds. He did catch me trying to do my YogaBurn workout at 6:30 am as I wasn’t quite prepped/set up and ready last night. I tried to sneak my AirPods and iPad out of my backpack which was close to his kennel, to follow my week 7 workout… he noticed.

We left our campsite after breakfast and whatnot. Today was another intense day of driving. We are getting back into the swing of things and have reframed the way we drive a bit. Instead of driving until we need gas/break/food and search whatever area we are in for something to accommodate us… we are now looking ahead 2-3 hours, picking a nice big rest stop gas station and driving to it to accomplish all the things.

DJ and I did smoothies and “picky bits” (our new term for charcuterie since we are skipping the meat) for lunch and we grabbed Jackson a cheeseburger meal and Amelia some French fries at the McDonald’s at the gas station. Dinner tonight was leftover Einstein bagels that I bought Friday for a quick and easy dinner before we left.

Both Messi and Amelia took naps today while driving. Traveling is such hard work!

We will be in Colorado tomorrow evening. We still have over 8 hours of driving (without factoring in stops) tomorrow to get to Fort Collins! We definitely are crazy! (And we definitely can’t say no to going to Colorado).

At our 3rd stop for the day, I took Amelia into the camper to use the bathroom while DJ got gas and Jackson took Messi potty. The boys then headed into the travel center to use the bathroom and left Messi in the camper with me and Amelia.

Amelia got SUPER interested in petting Messi and then started to almost study him while he was panting. (87° F out, it was HOT). I watched the thought process Amelia had as she figured out to stick out her tongue and wiggle it around to mimic Messi. She was desperately trying to interact with him and show him that she had her tongue out too. Unfortunately my phone was in the truck charging and I didn’t get video/photos of it. By the time DJ and Jackson got back, she had been doing this for several minutes and I told DJ to record it. He didn’t get much because Amelia got distracted with the boy’s arrival. I’m hopeful Amelia will do it again and I can grab some better photos and videos the next time. It was freaking adorable. (She sticks out her tongue for the first couple seconds of the video before getting distracted).