Home

With excitement and sadness we arrived home! Excitement to just be home! Sadness because we had the most incredible trip and we hated for it to end. We hope this blog has captured a little glimpse of what we experienced! We can not even being to put into words the amazingness of this adventure. God in His majestic grandeur created all these amazing places that we were able to visit. None of us can pick a favorite because each place had a uniqueness of its own. We loved them all! Corey and I hope to go back and raft the Colorado through the Grand Canyon and hike the Narrows completely in Zion. I will treasure sitting by the campfire under the Redwoods and I will always remember the Majestic view of the Grand Tetons. Horseback riding, kayaking, white water rafting, and zip lining with this crazy family of mine is etched in my heart forever. So. We are home. Back to some what of a normal. School begins next week for the younger ones. Older ones will go back to their part time jobs. The animals are all hear waiting on us can now rest knowing that their people came back! We probably missed them more than they missed us, well, except for Buckeye. He looks like he lost pounds missing his Emma Rose.
What's next for the Hartzler's? We do not know yet but we are sure excited to see where God leads us next. Whatever it is we  know it will be another Big Adventure!

 My Kingston

ZEKE!

Buckeye!  

 Our Sweet Chickens

 BRUTUS

 Last but not Least, well maybe...Smokey :)

Gateway Arch, St Louis

We are two days from home. Kids are begging to drive the rest of the way in one day. Even though it is possible, pulling the camper makes for slower driving and a little more stress on the shoulders. Not to mention the hours of back seat bickering we have to endure.  I will tell you that I have been allowed to drive much more on this return trip! I did not drive for the first 7000 miles though. :) Still incredible, the sights on the return dim compared to all that we have done. No one was looking forward to our stop in St. Louis except for me! I have always wanted to visit the Gateway Arch. The gateway to the west! Being so "close" to home that is all the kids can think about, but as we got closer the excitement level changed a bit. The kids were excited to go up in this giant of a structure. It was incredible. Standing 630 ft, it is the tallest monument in the country. There is much construction going on around the Arch but we were still able to experience the arch, watch the video and visit the Jefferson Memorial. We are all so glad we stopped here!

Just Driving

We have covered a lot of miles over the past couple of days. The ride is definitely not as exciting on the return East as it was when we were heading West. I may have already written that but it is true! The drive home is hard! We have stayed at many campgrounds.  RV camps, KOA'S, Small family owned campgrounds, Air Force Fam Camps, and even a night just on the side of the road in the middle of NO where!  You would have thought that we have done this multiple times by the way the kids talk but it has only happened once! They did not like it at all. We even found a couple of places that allowed military to stay free! One thing that bugs me a little is that most campgrounds charge a set price of the site which only includes 2 adults. Really? Since when is camping centered around 2 adults and not families? And if this isn't enough, many sites have a maximum of 6 people! Camping did not used to be this difficult. This KOA that we found in St. Louis allowed kids to stay free and had no problem with our family of eight.  It is the ONLY KOA that we have found that does this so I was thrilled to find it. We have enjoyed a couple of nights here swimming, playing ping pong, riding banana bikes, scavenger hunts, and doing some "gem" mining. We needed a day of campground fun and this was the perfect place for it.