So we finally dragged ourselves away from Barb and Norb’s on Monday 15^th September and headed to the border crossing nearest them. (The end of their road is actually the border so we were very near). To say we were nervous would be an understatement. Ever since we went up to the US Embassy in London all those months ago to apply for our visas we had been dreading it. Although we had been given 6-month visas we had heard all sorts of horror stories about being at the mercy of the immigration officer you happen to get.

We had made sure we had no ‘fruit and vegetables’ but our freezer was rammed with our own caught salmon and of course the bags of corn the boys had got from the farm.

After all the worry it turned out to be a breeze. We sailed through with 2 very funny and charming chaps who I think to be honest didn’t know what to do with us. One of them asked if it was even legal to drive a UK vehicle in the US. And as far as the salmon was concerned all they wanted to know was that we had had the proper license to catch them.

So that was it. And here we are. We have 6 months in the USA if we want it. We had no more of a plan than we knew our first real stop was going to be Yellowstone Park. Keen to get there before the snow arrives.

We spent our first night in Bellingham, Washington. Although just a few miles from Canada it felt like a world away. First trip to Wal-Mart to stock up and as we’d heard, there were the guns just in the aisle next to the electronics! Very bizarre.

We had dinner out that first night and were quickly reminded of the enormous portion sizes that the US is known for. John was offered a free refill of his soup bowl, which seemed a little unnecessary, as it was only a starter. Another nice touch was that for an additional $2 you could take home an extra meal – presumably for when you get home and are feeling a little peckish before bed!

The next day we went down to Everett and finally got our cellphones sorted. We had bought them way back in June and had thought they would work across Canada and the USA but sadly that wasn’t quite how it worked out. So we have had to use our UK phones for the last few months. But now we were all set up with US numbers and our own Mifi device that gives us Wi-Fi anywhere. I can’t tell you how much that has already changed our lives here. We have been so limited by only being able to communicate with home and work and search the Internet for campsites and our destinations etc. when we are somewhere with wifi.

The charming man in the phone shop told us about a crazy outdoor shop down the road. So we headed there and the kids stood open mouthed at the aisles and aisles of guns and crossbows. A quick archery lesson there in the store and more stuffed animals than I have ever seen. Charlie and I were particularly taken with the camo home furnishings and gun themed home décor!

We kept on stopping that day. Next was a dip in the ice cold water that ran down from Deception Falls. We’d promised the kids a ‘swim’ so even though it was toe numbing we had to go in. It literally took our breath away but at least the kids got a wash!

We had read about a strange tourist town called Leavenworth, which is a faux Bavarian alpine town. All the buildings were wooden alpine huts and even McDonalds and Starbucks had been given a make over. As it was on our route we stopped there and enjoyed a rather nice Bratwurst!

We stayed in Wenatchee that night.  Then Wednesday still heading slowly east towards Yellowstone we stopped in Spokane for a few hours. A city that hosted Expo back in 1974 its downtown area had been transformed with a Riverside Park that kept the kids entertained for a few hours. Huge falls here and a hydroplant. A 20’ high red wagon – another ‘worlds largest’ and a gondola ride over the falls.

I have no words for this – so I’ll just let the picture speak for itself and you can make your own minds up!

Finally on Wednesday got into Idaho. Well got into and left again immediately. Just across the narrow northern bit. I don’t think we even got out of Frankie just kept driving till then we were in Montana. We stopped that night in sleepy St Regis, Montana then on Thursday did a huge days drive and finally arrived in Yellowstone.

We were finding being back in the van a challenge. We’d lost our rhythm and were having to discover again how we do things. Frankie suddenly felt very small and cramped. Silly things like where all our shoes go so we don’t end up falling over the pile of them at the front door. Going back to showering in campsite shower blocks where shouting through the doors to the kids to ‘please actually use shampoo’ instead of having a shower in peace. Let alone going to the toilet on your own behind a locked door compared with being back in the van with always at least 2 people walking through or handing you things to put away ‘while you’re there’.

Also getting used to it being just us four again. The kids have had loads of other adults, and of course kids, to entertain them over the last few weeks and now they have just us. They are both missing everyone back in Abbotsford and Charlie particularly keeps asking if we might change our intended route so we can go back that way on our way home…

Despite all of that it does feel great to be ‘on the road again’ as the old song goes! I have planning paralysis however and am spending hours staring at the map and scouring through the guidebooks to try to figure out a logical route. I think I may need to look back at my blog post all those months ago when I realised that we just can NOT see everything. It doesn’t help that we keep bumping into people who are doing 6 week trips and seemingly covering loads. We have to remind ourselves constantly that it is not the same as doing a ‘holiday trip’. As we are ‘living’ this we have to factor in days off, school days, van repair days etc. and that slows us down somewhat.

Anyway, all nice problems to have and so here we were having finally arrived in the USA with 3 State Stickers on our map on the side of Little Frankie with a few days in Yellowstone to look forward to.