#2- Stay at campgrounds with playgrounds and pools. For us, these were KOA’s. Shout out to KOA for the hook up and having reliable, clean, epic campgrounds in every state all over the U.S. This was KEY in keeping "team Lee" moral high. We would tell the kids, “don’t worry... when we get there, you can swim and play as much as you want.” There is serious power in that statement!

#3- Have “The best Plan is no Plan” as KAVU athlete Tyler Bradt always says. To me, this means make a loose plan but allow LOTs of room for whatever life throws at you in any given moment. For us, this meant stopping whenever we wanted to stop, and charging ahead whenever it felt good and possible. Essentially, "go with the flow".

#4- Don’t make drive-days longer than 6 hours if at all possible. Also, make sure to build in some short 2 - 4 hour drives between those longer days in the truck. We also wanted to stay off interstate highways as much as possible, so we could actually “see” America. This was a good strategy to give the trip a more mellow, slower pace.

In our crazy digital world these days, it is nice to get out there and do something analog. As I mentioned, I've always wanted to see KAVU dealers across the country and shake the hands of shop owners and retail staff who are our KAVU “boots on the ground”. These are crucial members of our KAVU family who make all our dreams happen by believing in the KAVU mission and supoorting our products in their stores. 

Knowing that stopping to see friends was important, we made our route based on those locations, with some other attractions we always wanted to see along the way. Kati had always wanted to see the Great Smokey Mountains, the Rocky Mountains and Yellowstone. And, I wanted to see Dinosaur National Monument and the Great Sand Dunes National Park. 

Also, I wanted to visit Texas if possible. Texas is a wild state that everyone should visit at some point. What can I say.... It just has this “TEXAS” vibe to it;-)

So, we drove from Pennsylvania to the Great Smokey Mountains.... Then, on through to Chattanooga and up Lookout Mountain.

This stage of our trip allowed Kati, who had also always wanted to listen to blues music in Memphis, to walk on Beale... so we did that. We also took the opportunity to see the Mississippi River as we crossed it on our way to Allen’s Lake house in northern Arkansas.

We were excited to stop at Allen Breeding’s Lake cabin and hang with him for 4 full days. Allen is our South Central sales rep, and he has always told me to come visit him at his lake house, which I've always wanted to take him up on. But, northern Arkansas is a long drive from Seattle…

It was simply an opportunity we weren't going to miss!

This was Rayno’s favorite part of the trip! We ripped around the lake for days on Allen's pontoon boat and he taught the boys how to fish. In fact, Rayno caught his first fish there! 

He even let the boys drive the boat!

Then we stopped in Fort Smith, Arkansas for lunch and randomly found a trolley we could ride, which was built in the early1900’s!

After that, we blasted across Oklahoma and ended up in Amarillo, Texas. I found us a place to stay that offered Limo rides to a steakhouse. Pure Texas!

When I saw this place with cabins and a Limo ride to a steak house, I immediately knew we were staying there for the night. Kace had a goal to get a cowboy hat from Texas, so we made that happen on our way to a great steak at the Big Texan Steak House!

Then, we ripped up through New Mexico and headed to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. We made a point to get up early and do some "sand-sledding". 

After a few hours, there was sand everywhere... and we were exhausted from hiking up and down massive sand dunes.

So, we drove to our friend’s house outside of Denver and stayed for 2 nights. It was wonderful reconnecting with old friends Jake and Maggie and recovering from our wild adventures so far. I loved watching the kids play and enjoy some time out of their car seats. We also got to witness a proper Colorado hailstorm. Ice Cube sized hail falling from the sky was something I'd never seen before.... and it was wild!

After our time in Denver ended, we drove through Steamboat Springs, CO and finished our day at Green River campground near the Dinosaur National Monument. The following morning, we decided to do a hike to the quarry... where the dinosaur bones are. 

I couldn't believe there were actual dinosaur bones! Honestly, it was mind blowing and amazing to see real bones from an animal that walked the earth so many years ago! The boys loved it!

Then, we drove up through Utah and Wyoming to Lander. There, we were able to meet “Rio” a pet racoon. 

Surprisingly and randomly, there was this dude with a racoon following him outside the hotel we ended up staying at, and I was like….”Hey bro, there is a racoon following you.” He said, "yeah... he's my pet". 

The boys got to pet “Rio”, making this.... without a doubt, a memorable moment on our trip! Ha ha...

Next, we drove out into Yellowstone and straight to Old Faithful. 

We waited, and waited, and finally Old Faithful was faithful and blew. While waiting... we got to see a lighting storm, a Bison walk by, and a "show stopper" double rainbow.

The next day, we drove through the park with views of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, the Hayden Valley and a sulfur pool. We finished the day at the West Yellowstone Rodeo. Kati and the boys had never been to a Rodeo, so this was obviously a “must do” on our Great American Road Trip!