Day 5

Waking up in a trailer is a unique feeling that I haven’t quite gotten used to. Tyler and I were up with the daylight, before the alarm he set to awake for his workday. The tight living quarters of our travel trailer make it very easy to feel cluttered and in disarray. Anyone that knows me knows my distaste for messes. Last night I went to bed with a bigger mess than I was comfortable with.

I immediately went to work on organizing the trailer and folding the load of laundry I did the night before. There is something so satisfying to me having a clean and tidy space! Tyler’s mind went directly to breakfast and after logging in to his iPad to check in on his daily agenda and the stock market, he went to work making a delicious breakfast.

I continually am grateful that Tyler enjoys cooking, or at least he loves to eat, and therefore it requires him to cook. I suppose I am just fortunate that he will always make sure we are fed and he does it so effortlessly and with few complaints. You could say we make a pretty good team!

Online learning was effortless today. I am not sure if it was a fluke, or if we are just adapting to the structure. We woke the kids to eat breakfast and as soon as they finished with their meal, they got on their Chromebooks and started to perform their assigned coursework without being prompted. They were finished within an hour or two and took the free time to head to the pool.

It was a beautiful day in South Dakota. It was mostly sunny and the kids came back from the pool after a couple of hours with a slightly red complexion. Tyler worked between the inside of the trailer, the outside picnic table, and a pavilion closer to the pool. He even took a lunch break and swam with Ashton briefly before returning to his “office!”

As soon as Tyler was finished working, we headed for Rush Mountain Adventure Park. We intended to take a cave tour and spend a few hours on the attractions, however, a storm watch closed many of the offerings which made us change our plans. The beauty in this experience is the flexibility we have. There was little to no thought about what we would do next. After all, I had studied brochures and pamphlets for hours this morning of local attractions. We decided on Bear Country U.S.A!

Bear Country U.S.A is a drive-through wildlife park that some friends recommended as a must see and it did not disappoint. As we drove through the park we saw elk, reindeer, wolves, cougars, mountain lions, buffalo, big horned sheep, and SOOOO many bears. While we were in the confines of our closed up vehicle, the wildlife roamed freely around us. It was incredible to see these beautiful creatures, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but be reminded by Tiger King and the harsh reality of animals in captivity. I snapped a lot of photos as we navigated through the park and at the end we parked and walked through an area that housed some of their smaller species of animals, including baby bear cubs!

We drove a few extra miles in to Rapid City to go to Safeway for some groceries before returning to camp. We have been enjoying all of our meals from the comfort of our trailer, but with little storage, we were running short on supplies and we needed replenishment. Tonight for dinner Tyler made Traeger Hawaiian chicken!

We enjoyed another wonderful meal and then worked out with the kids! I think our neighbors’ are beginning to think we are a little crazy. What they don’t know is how crazy I would be if I wasn’t able to workout! The kids finished the evening off at the pool with the other kids around camp and later enjoyed smores by our neighbors campfire.

I think we are starting to get the hang of this camping thing! We joke about the laundry list of things we will need to make everything a little better and more organized for the next time. Today Tyler exclaimed to the kids we would be doing this for at least the next 3 months…

For now, we will enjoy the moments on a day to day basis and only time will tell how our adventure will unfold!

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