Eight hours of driving today and we are on our 5th tank of gas. We have left Arkansas behind us and have made it halfway through Oklahoma, passing farmlands, cattle, more cattle, and casinos. It was a scorching 103 degrees all day today, although the humidity was much lower than what we are used to in Atlanta. The truck handled the heat well and effortlessly pulled our 14,500lbs Fifth Wheel, which could have been a little lighter if I had been able to decide what to bring. After considering all that could happen, I ended up making no decision at all and loaded up the RV with everything I could think of. Except something to secure the cabinet doors, leading to yesterday's unfortunate incident of my camera and lens being hurled out of a cabinet during driving. Camera and lens still check out ok so far.
Tonight's campground neighbors are great, a young family on their way back home to Florida after spending 40 days on the road through national parks in Washington, Oregon, and California, and a retired couple, who has been on the road for 2 months travelling through Michigan, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Montana. We absolutely love the RV community and the collective enthusiasm for travelling.
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We made it to Arkansas, driving through five states (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas) in just under 7 hours. As we passed through the states the landscape changed ever so slightly with trees less tall and the land more flat. We arrived in Arkansas to a heat advisory - according to the weather app, the temperature of 94 degrees and 50% humidity made it feel like 101 degrees. And here, as we stood in the sweltering heat, we encountered what seemed to be the first RV malfunction. The auto leveling system did not deploy. I certainly was no help in the heat, my effort just focused on staying alive.  Cliff, at least, managed to perform some actions, although I was not sure if repeatedly pushing the same buttons over and over was going to solve the problem. In the meantime, our tech savvy offspring, had already googled the problem, watched some videos, and presented a solution (resetting the system) which ultimately worked. And that is why we still bring them along!! 
Unfortunately, when we opened our RV, I saw what no photography enthusiast ever wants to see. The camera bag with my brand new camera and lens on the floor - hurled out of a 5 foot tall cabinet. The roads through Memphis had been extremely rough and we could feel the RV bouncing around behind us. After days of excitement about my new camera, panic set in immediately. I quickly took the camera and detached lens out of the bag and while I did not see any external damage it will take me some time to assess for internal damage. Note to self: Secure all cabinets. Lesson learned.
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July 19th, 2022
Four more days until we embark on our trip across the United States. We, or rather,  Cliff, is going to drive over 5000 miles pulling a 40 ft fifth wheel all the way to California and back. I will be the passenger; the one that cannot help yelling "stop" whenever brake lights go off in front of us, or next to us, or in another lane. And, yes, we are still married, We are delighted that our two youngest sons, both in college, are joining us for this adventure. They have made it clear that they are only coming along to see all the national parks we plan to visit, including the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Antelope Canyon, Sedona, and Death Valley. We are totally fine with that statement as we have made it clear that they are only coming along to make our lives easier. After all, that is why we have endured 26 years of parenthood.
We created this blog to provide daily updates of our trip for family and friends and anyone else who is interested in reading about our road trip adventures.