Day 1: Austin to Murfreesboro, AK

●●● The Drive
Total miles:  453
Hours Driving: 7 hours
State Count: 2 - Texas and Arkansas

Early Friday morning, we packed up the car with three weeks worth of camping gear and began our journey toward Virginia.  The car was full, with hardly an inch to spare... but we managed to fit everything we needed!

I had spent months planning this trip, picking out each and every stop... now I would find out how well I did!


However, before we even left Austin, we made our first stop!  

There was a first-to-find geocache along Mopac, and we decided to stop and get it before we were on our way. 

As it turned out, we were not the first, but the second... but it still was a really fun way to start our trip!  

And the first of many geocaches along the way!

The drive went fairly smoothly, though we did get our one and only police pullover of the entire trip before we left Texas (failure to slow down 20 mph when passing a roadside assistance vehicle).  Fortunately, I was given only a warning and not a ticket!

We passed from Texas into Arkansas in the early afternoon, making far better time than I expected.

We made our first "Welcome to ..." rest stop and geocache find! Bringing the total state count to: TWO!

●●● Crater of Diamonds State Park

Due to scheduling, we were travelling during K's birthday.  As compensation for not having the typical birthday party, he got to choose where he wanted to spend his birthday.  

He decided he wanted to dig for diamonds in the only public diamond mining field in the world!  So, our first stop on the road trip was to visit Crater of Diamonds State park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas!!  We arrived in Murfreesboro, AK around 4pm and quickly found the state park.  

Of all the parks we visited, Crater of Diamonds was probably the most expensive (but hey - you could find a diamond!!)  There was an entrance fee, and then a rental fee for all of the mining gear.  But, if you purchased an entrance pass at 6pm, you can use the pass for the evening and also for the following day.  

So, after arriving around 4pm, we took some time to set up camp for the night and then headed to the main entrance at 6pm.  

We purchased our entrance pass, rented our gear, and headed out to find diamonds.... or not.

To visualize Crater of Diamonds, imagine a huge dirt field, acres wide... 

Then add some hundred degree heat and very little shade!  

It turns out, hitting the place at 6pm in the evening was a good way to do it!

We walked around the rows, looking for anything glittering; we dug and washed and rinsed.

We searched the two hours before closing on Friday night and then for a few hours again on Saturday morning. 

The park provides some helpful guidance on how to find diamonds. And then after you finish, you can bring anything you think might be valuable to the desk.  They help to identify all of your finds.  

While we never did find any diamonds, we did find a lot of quartz, some glass, and some other random stones! Although we were unsuccessful in our quest for carots, we did have a fun time looking :o)

For our first night camping, this evening was our hottest of the whole trip. It was one of those sweltering nights where you just laid in your sweat, and waited for the hours to pass.   But, the hours did pass, and in the wee hours in the morning it cooled off enough for us to catch some zzzzs.

Day 2: Murfreesboro, AK to Big Spring, MO

●●● The Drive
Total miles:  325
Hours Driving: 5 hours
State Count: 3 - Texas, Arkansas and Missouri

One of Dave's big requests for the trip was to see St Louis.  It was only 175 miles out of our way... and on a 3,800 mile round trip, that's pocket change ;o)

In looking on the map, it seemed like Big Spring Campground was sort of on the way from Murfreesboro to St Louis, so we added it to our list!

So, after our unsuccessful search for diamonds, we packed up the car, and headed to the Ozarks.  We drove through all the back roads of Arkansas until we hit the back roads of Missouri. :o)

I have to say, having never been to Missouri before, it is a beautiful state!

●●● Big Spring Campground, Van Buren Mo

Big Spring is a gorgeous campground with lush green grass, heavy trees, abundant wildlife and the Current River flowing through it.  

It was a few miles out of our way (heading to St Louis), but it seemed like a good place to stop for the night. Neither Dave or I had ever been to the Ozarks before.


We arrived around 6pm on a warm day.  After setting up our tents, we were hot and tired.  So we all headed down for an incredibly relaxing and cooling dip in the Current River. 

We stayed over an hour, which delayed dinner a bit... But it was well worth it to feel cool and comfortable. 

And after an hour, we could still hardly drag the kids back for dinner.  

We had a quick dinner of campfire fajitas, followed by a cake we had brought along for K's birthday!  

Tonight's sleep, after cooling off in the river and with cooler outside temperatures, was far more pleasant than the previous night!

And so ended Day 2 of our Grand adventure!

Day 3: Van Buren, MO to St Louis, MO

●●● Big Spring Campground, Mo

The next morning after packing up camp, we headed down for a quick geocache at "The Big Spring".  We almost didn't even stop to see it...  Wow, we were totally amazed!  

It was beautiful! 

It turns out, Big Spring is one of the largest springs in the United States (depending on rain fall), and with a flow of 470 cubic feet per second, it could fill the Cardinal's baseball stadium in hours!  

Although we never did find the geocache we went looking for, we spent a good hour enjoying the location and Dave got some awesome photographs!

After exploring some little caves around the spring, we walked a little further down the river to a quaint bridge. 

From here, you can just barely see the start of the spring at the far end!


●●● The Drive
Total miles:  157
Hours Driving: 3 hours
State Count: 3 - Texas, Arkansas and Missouri

Around mid-morning, we climbed back in the car for the short 3 hour drive from the Ozarks to St Louis.  This was one of our hotel stops on the trip, and we we all looking forward to a hot shower, soft bed and curtains to shut out the morning light!

●●● Saint Louis, Missouri

We arrived in St Louis mid-day and got very excited at our first glimpse through the windshield at the arch.  The thing about this town is that the arch is everywhere.  Not only do you see it from just about every location, but it is a common motif on every building, sign, design etc.  We got very used to the sight over the next two days, but it was still always amazing!

We checked into our hotel, got ourselves cleaned up and headed out to check out this awesome structure!
   

We had been forewarned that the lines to purchase tickets to go up the arch are fairly long.  Fortunately, since we arrived in the early evening, the lines were not as long as we expected.  

 We purchased our ticket to ride up to the arch, and then took some time to explore the Arch museum - which was truly awesome!  

It really gave you the feel of this city being the window to the west.  We also checked out the Building of the Arch movie.  

Anyone visiting the arch would be well served by checking this movie out - it really underlined the amazing engineering marvel of building the structure!

Around 6pm, we got back in line, this time to wait to get on to our little cart up the arch.  
We climbed through the small steel doorways, climbed into the tiny carts, and ascended up the arch, one stair step at a time!  It was a pretty amazing experience!

At the top, there is a small sort of arched hallway, with even smaller windows...  

... with an amazing view of the city!!

The boys loved the view, and the feel of being in a slightly swaying building!

All in arch, the arch is truly a masterfully engineered piece of art!

Day 4: St Louis, MO

We planned one down day during our trip out to Virginia for a couple of reasons.  Having never been in St Louis, there were some places I really wanted to visit.  We also thought a day off the road might be good for all of us.  

But most importantly, Dave really wanted to see the Cardinal's play in Busch stadium... and they were only playing on the evening of the 5th, so we sort of scheduled our trip between his work schedule, and the Cardinal's game :o)

●●● City Museum

Anyone who learned we were going to St Louis would inevitably tell us:  You HAVE to visit the City Museum.  So, we planned to spend our morning there.

Okay, honestly, this is the most amazing museum I have ever been in!! 

Our morning, soon turned into: closing the place down!  Yes, it was really that fun!

The "No Maps" sign at the ticket counter pretty much explains it all!  This museum is a place for kids of all ages to explore. To climb, jump, crawl but most of all, to discover!

It was built in what had been a very large shoe factory, and many of the crawl-through tunnels were chutes originally designed to send shoes from top floors down to the basement for shipping!










Because of the stormy skies and promise of rain, we started off at the top of the museum - which is visible from blocks away!  

Everything you can see can be climbed on, or over, or under... you get the point!

After hours of play, we finally descended into the interior of the building... and descended is the right word, as we went down a ten story slide!

The inside was just as amazing as the roof!  

Below was the amazing Puking Pig - I mean seriously, shouldn't all museums have a puking pig??

We all spent the day climbing, playing, laughing, crawling (the museum store knee pads were a worthwhile purchase!)  Even having spent all day there, I'm still not sure that we got to see everything!  As D said, "Well, I guess we'll just have to go back" :o)


●●● Busch Stadium

Dave really wanted to take the kids to see their first professional baseball game.  Austin is a wonderful town, but it doesn't have a professional team! So, we planned our trip around the Cardinal game...

Unfortunately, I didn't plan well enough by pre-buying tickets!  When we looked the day before, the only seats available... at any price... were the outfield bleachers. 

And, as it turns out, these seats were **awesome**.  Close enough to feel a part of the game, close to snack bars and bathrooms, roomy... Perfect!  We sat in a pile of long-time Cardinal fans who were happy to share their love of the game with us!

After a full day of climbing in the museum and watching the game, we all happily climbed into our soft bed to end an incredible Day 4!

Day 5: St Louis, MO to Slade, KY

●●● The Drive
Total miles:  387
Hours Driving: 6 hours
State Count: 6 - Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky

After a nice hot breakfast in the hotel, we piled back into the car and headed back on the road toward Virginia!

Immediately upon leaving St Louis, we entered into our 4th state - Illinois. Unfortunately, there was no "Welcome to Illinois" reststop, and the road sign passed by too quickly for a photo!  So we don't really have any proof of our visit to this state.  Boo :o(

A few hours later, we made a quick stop in Indiana, making State # 5:

And then after another drive, we arrived in Kentucky - the home of Colonel Sanders!  We made a lunch stop in Louisville and visited the Kentucky Welcome Center:

●●● Natural Bridge State Resort
A little after 6pm, we arrived at Natural Bridge State Resort and Campground. 

We headed over to the pool, but it was just closing... and it seemed too late to hike to the Natural Bridge.  So we set up camp, and had an early evening instead.

Our tent site was right beside a clear little stream, which provided endless amusement for the boys!

Along the way, we had seen some pretty cool bugs.  But the bug that we saw in the restroom of this Kentucky State Park was truly the most bizarre.  Doing a google query, it seems like maybe it is a Northern Mole Cricket.

Although the campground was very nice, and the location beautiful... this was probably our hardest evening - as there was a very large group a few sites down who kept us awake with the music blaring until late in the night.  We did finally ask them to quiet down around midnight - and quickly fell asleep in preparation for Day 5 - our final day on the road out to Virginia!

Day 6 - Slade, KY to Manassas, Virginia

●●● Natural Bridge State Resort
We had a long day of driving ahead of us, but we took a few hours in the morning to check out "one of Kentucky's finest natural sites"

A short but steep hike led us to the bottom of the natural stone bridge.  

A squeeze through the rocks

and we were at the top!

A short hike around the top led us to a good view of the bridge.  It was an extremely foggy morning, and even at this hour, you could still see wisps of clouds in the trees! It was beautiful!

In all directions!!

There are two methods of getting to the top.  The mile long hike that we took, or a sky lift!  Unfortunately, the sky lift didn't open until 10am, and we needed to be on the road by 10:30am, so we opted for the hike.  

However, when the boys saw the sky lift... they **really** wanted to ride it. And when we were passing by it, ready to hike down, we realized it had just started running.

So Dave very kindly took one for the team.  The boys and I took the sky lift down while he hiked the mile to the bottom, retrieved the car, and then met us at the bottom of the skylift.

But, on his hike down, he found an incredibly cool cave, filled with fog, and a low cold breeze blowing from a crevice in the rock.  And we just had to see that!  So, after he picked us up, he drove us back to the short hike to the cave, and we got to enjoy that as well!

●●● The Drive
Total miles:  520
Hours Driving: 9 hours
State Count: 9 - Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia

This was definitely our longest trip on the way out.  We planned a few sight seeing stops along the way to break up the trip.

●●● Nada Tunnel

This tunnel was very close to Natural Bridge State Resort and seemed like a good way to start off our trip.  

To quote Wikipedia, Nada tunnel is a historic, 900 foot tunnel that used to be a railway tunnel.  

It is extremely tight - 12 feet wide and 13 feet tall and looks like it was hand hewn with pick axe!

The tunnel was really neat to see, but a side benefit of seeing it is that it took us along some incredibly back country roads that we would have never seen otherwise.  

Although Google only said the trip was 15 minutes out of our way, it seemed like it took waaay longer than that... probably because we drove much slower than the posted speed limit on those curvy back roads!

●●● A quick trip to Ohio
Once we got back on the interstate and took a look at our route, we realized that we were going to be minutes from Ohio.  Having never found a geocache in Ohio, and neither of the boys having ever been, we figured it would be worth our while to drive through Huntington, cross the river and cross off another state!

●●● Lunch at Hill Billy Hotdogs
While in Huntington, it was time for lunch.  Long ago, when I was scrolling through all of the possible side road trips, I found this place called Hill Billy Hotdogs.  It seemed highly improbable that we would be driving through Huntington right at the time for lunch, but low and behold ... here we were.

A quick stop for some hotdogs, and an amusing look at the variety of paraphernalia hanging from the walls certain broke up the tediousness of our drive!

The most amusing of all was the fact that, in West Virginia, you are allowed to eat roadkill.  A sign at Hill Billy's confirmed this with "Hit it on the run?  We'll put it on a bun!"

●●● Back on the road in West Virginia
After a much longer stop in Huntington the expected due to the Ohio geocache, Hill Billy's and a DNF geocache in Huntington, we got back on the highway... but got off at the next stop for a quick photo at the West Virginia welcome center!

 ●●● And finally... Virginia!!!
The road from West Virginia was beautiful and green, and long and twisted. We finally arrived in Virginia around mid-day. We had to, of course, get a quick Welcome Center shot!

 ●●● Humpback Bridge
Again, in my Google planning from home, I had found through roadtripper.com a cool stop along the drive at "Humbpack Bridge".  Not sure if it was worth the five minute diversion off the road (we were ready to be home in our hotel), we decided we'd go ahead and check it out.

And it was SUPER COOL!

This is one of the few remaining covered bridges in the United States.  It was hand built in 1842 and used until 1929.  

According to Wikipedia: The supports incorporate a unique curved multiple kingpost-truss system that is not found in any other surviving wooden bridge in the U.S. The bridge is an original and completely unique design not duplicated anywhere else.

It was rediscovered and restored in the 1950s and restored.  

When we visited, the bridge was in the middle of a reworking and had caution tape across the front, but that didn't prevent the boys from using it to cross to the other side for a geocache!

This location is also one of the LOVEwork Virginia locations.  

Get it?  :o)