Stevie it is!

Our trip is in high gear and we are rolling! Thanks to Matt's Sister, Courtney, and her Genius, the camper has a name: Stevie!

We ended up officially leaving McKinney on Friday around 1pm. Our aim was 10, so I think we did pretty well. Leaving was harder than expected. Of course, the moment of getting on the road and realizing we're doing this, brings on the emotions and tears of having to say goodbye. Megan's amazing brother had to throw in a picture album of loved ones complete with a sentimental message (sorry Colchild but we had to mention it) which threw us both of the handle.

Fast Forward to Sherman, Texas: we were completely focused on the fun we were about to have,(meaning our emotions were tucked inside both our heads and no longer out loud) spending time with Matt's Sister, Brother-n-law and nieces camping along the Buffalo River in NW Arkansas.

We arrived in Fayetteville around 5:30 and met up with Courtney, Eddie and the girls at a Walmart to stock up on food for the weekend. After Walmart, we drove for about 3 hours to our campsite. Of course we arrived and it was dark so we set up camp, put the girls to bed and had some adult time by the campfire. Relaxing... but very enjoyable.

To be honest, the set up was a bit rough in the beginning. Our camper, which we fully inspected several times before taking it on the road, decided to turn on us and see just how much we could handle. The outside lights stopped working on the way there which resulted in people driving behind us and relying on our speed to stop instead of break lights. Once we arrived and were set up, Megan turned on the water. Picture a sprinkler on steroids coming out of a drawer. Yes, it was the great flood of 2009 and yes, we need some pipe tape to fix up a fantastic leak under our sink. We will deal for now.

We stayed at Buffalo Point until Sunday and had an amazing time. What a beautiful spot it was. We got to fish, float, and relax. We loved every minute of it. When it was time to say goodbye to Buffalo River, our fantastic camper decided to stay up and refuse to leave. Finally, after several hours passed, loads of different tools had been gone through, camper parts were strewn on the ground and beat up by Matt and incompetent park rangers had stopped saying "just shake it", the crank latched on and the camper descended. Applause all around and a huge sigh of relief. We decided: another problem solved, let's hope that doesn't happen again.

We drove to Memphis on Sunday and were not really sure where we should stay. A camping neighbor at Buffalo Point had told us about Meeman-Shelby State Park and repeatedly told us it was amazing. We knew we wanted to see the sights, so we debated on getting a hotel room, staying in Graceland RV park or camping at the State Park. Don't ask us why... but the State Park won.

It was gorgeous, filled with trees and on the Mississippi River. Driving around the park, we found a campsite (once again, it was dark) and immediately started setting up. 2 seconds outside at our campsite, resulted in at least 7 mosquito bites. Matt and Megan's mood= NOT GOOD. Frustration, itching, sweating, exhaustion and still in shock at the fact that there were more churches than gas stations on the drive to Memphis, we both sat down, looked at each other and burst out laughing. We both could not believe the amount of bugs that existed in that forest!

This morning we decided to pack up and leave; as beautiful as it was, we are both nail biters and are both unable to scratch a mosquito bite appropriately.

Today was Memphis Day! We drove to the city and found a pet friendly hotel. After dropping off Daisy, we ate at the Commissary. SO GOOD! We shared a plate of Barbecue that we will forever crave. After lunch we made it to Graceland. The place was pretty empty so we didn't have to wait in any lines. What a house! We have decided to use Elvis' vision as our guide to decorating our first home. The evening ended with a visit to Beale Street and more BBQ at BB Kings. Memphis is an amazing city. We are exhausted! Daisy is sitting here snoring next to us.

We are leaving tomorrow to head towards Washington D.C. We aren't 100% or even 50% sure what the plan is tomorrow, but we now know we need to be in D.C. by Wed. night. I guess we shall see...

We are having a blast! We love you all so much and everyone crosses our minds everyday!

Matt, Megan, Courtney, Eddie, Isabel and Sophia

Isabel put a million objects on Daisy's leash so she wouldn't run away! So Funny!

Everyone caught a fish but Megan...several actually

The Commisary! So Good!

Graceland

Beale Street

Thank You

We are so grateful for all of our friends who came out last night for the going away party. It was a huge success and so much fun. The band A Therapeutic Smile was amazing and everyone should get their hands on some of their music. A huge thanks to Bob: "the best dart player in the world" for being an amazing musician/auctioneer/raffle caller. Another thank you to Marie Briton and Churchill's Pub for everything. We had so much fun that today we have been dragging while packing. We officially have the camper loaded and our goal is to be on the road at 10am. We love you all!

Greg and Mindy with an auctioned sign

Trying to get a picture of the group

Some of Megan's co-workers from her last job

Ms. Lucy and Matt

Crazy? Brave? Stupid?

As the days pass by at an alarming rate, I find myself mixed with feelings of anxiety, excitement, stress, nervousness, fear, impatience... 4 more days. 4 more days until we start our adventure.

Everyday, since we made our decision to take on the American Tour, has been filled with comments from friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers, that always contain the words "Y'all are... (fill in the blank). That blank is usually filled with "crazy", "brave", "risk takers", "insane", "nuts", "awesome", "irresponsible"; you get the point.

Matt and I find ourselves defending our decision, even if there is no reason to. I came up with the idea that maybe I am still convincing myself this is the right thing to do. As this thought went through my mind I thought, who is to say what the right thing to do is?

We are young, we are newlyweds, we do not have kids yet and do not own a home. Why is it "crazy" that we are taking advantage of this time to be together and to take an adventure we both have always wanted to? Why are people so scared to go against the "norm". I realize that it is important to be successful in life, but to us, success does not mean owning a 4000 square foot home by the time we are 30. Most people rate their success by their careers, their cars, their owning a home. We want all the above, and could have been their quickly and know we can get their in the future. We don't know what could happen tomorrow or the next day and we both strongly believe to take advantage of the time you have. Why are people so scared to do that?

Next time someone says: "I wish I had the nerve to do that", my reply will be "you do, pack up your stuff and go".

As for us, our first stop is Camping on the Buffalo River this weekend. It soon begins...

Photos

Check out some of our wedding photos at Wisner Photo Blog, our fabulous photographers blogspot.

Or you can see them online at pictage.com, event key mattnmegan

Doggies and Campers

We have officially finished moving out of our house and are now residents of the Bado Casa for the next 2 weeks. We are getting antsy to leave! We could leave ASAP, but Miss Daisy Lucy has a doctors appointment on the 12th that can't be rescheduled.

Daisy eating her last meal in our empty house.

Anyway, Thought we would post some pictures of our new camper!! It's so cute, complete with an astro turf mat and fake flowers.

This is the sink and stove

The kitchen table also folds into a twin size bed.

TV with DVD player and one of the beds in background

Sink, stove and fridge area

P.S. We are having a small last shabang at Churchills, formerly the Londoner, on Wed. Aug 12 to say goodbye. Come by if you can!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Hickman's Trailer Trash American Tour 2009!

We are so excited about our upcoming road trip and wanted to start a travel blog for friends and family to keep up with our whereabouts, adventures, conundrums, needs for food and money and so much more. Thanks to an amazing friend, we have a laptop to bring for daily blog posts when we start the trip.

We are deep in preparations for our trip and have been extremely busy. We are currently in the process of moving our belongings into storage. We had a very successful garage sale and managed to get rid of the junk that other people would call treasures (who would want a used crossword puzzle book?) We have recently purchased our new home for the next few months and are so excited about it. We found a Coleman Fleetwood Popup camper on Craigslist in excellent condition. It's light enough for our SUV to pull and has a stove, fridge, sink, 3 beds and everything we will need to survive. Pictures will be up soon.

As of today we are planning on leaving August 14 and will begin up the east coast. Who knows where we will end up or how long we will be gone for. We are very open to travel tips, including places to see, so please let us know if you have any suggestions.

Life is a Highway!