RV Trip (Part 1)

As you all know we had been planning a family RV trip for a very long time. We have always wanted to do it and we were so excited that we were finally having the chance to see it happen. We prayed, we planned, we counted the days. Everything seemed to fall into place.

I never actually drove...the picture was just for effect! :)

What didn't make sense though was last week, the night before we were to leave I had unexplainable feelings. I would describe it as being extremely overwhelmed, worried, and fearful. I hardly slept all night and just felt completely overwhelmed with so many feelings.

By morning it seemed I just needed to get going and I would be fine. It was probably normal jitters...

But was it?


It's hard to yet wrap my mind around all that happened the past week but I will try to get it into words.  I am still trying to make sense of it myself.


We arrived our first day at Assateague Island in Maryland. Home of the wild ponies. If you or your children have read Misty of Chincoteague then you know about this place. We had read this book together and it was quite surreal to now actually be here. We had a spot over the sand dunes from the beach and the ponies were wandering around all night. Very cool experience....

We left that morning for Chikahominy River Park, right outside of Williamsburg, VA. I had a hard time relaxing in the RV when we were driving. Even though my husband was comfortable and had no problems driving, I was constantly looking ahead feeling anxious. We traveled over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge that day which was extraordinary...

We settled in that evening at Chikahominy, there was less panic and we were able to sleep well. The next morning we went to Williamsburg which we absolutely LOVED.

We spent 3 days in Williamsburg...all along I would fight feelings of fear. I prayed, I asked God to take it away...I know fear doesn't come from God...


but was God trying to tell me all along something...was the fear actually a mother's instinct?

that, I am still trying to discern....

Anyway, every time I would think about how far away from home we were in the RV, I would panic. When I thought about how much further we had to go, I would panic.


And then, it happened...


Our third night in Williamsburg, my son, who had been sleeping in the loft bed in the RV woke up crying during the night. He came down to sleep in our bed and he was coughing really bad. He had this cough since around the 2nd day and he had commented that every time he went to sleep it started.  But now he was coughing something awful, and wheezing. He fell back asleep but I stared at him as his breathing was really fast and really loud.  Here at 4 am, I started looking up urgent care facilities on my phone. It is not a good feeling being so far from home, in an RV, with a sick child.

The plan was that day to go down to North Carolina to stay with family for a few days. When my son woke up we decided to get down to NC and assess then if he should go to a doctor. At this point 2 more kids were coughing.

The ride down to North Carolina seemed to be eternally long. I was completely consumed with worry at this point. Feeling trapped on the road, so far from home with a sick child.


It only got worse...when we got to North Carolina, I went up to the area where my son was sleeping and the smell hit me so hard. There had always been a "smell" to the RV, but it was clearly coming from his sleeping area and it was awful. We realized there was water damage up in that area. My husband said the place we rented from told him about it the day we picked up the RV but that it had been fixed. This was the first I heard about it.


At this point we suspected mold behind the repaired water damage. The smell was horrendous up there. I can't believe my son had been sleeping up there, and every cough reminded me of this.


It was here that I hit my breaking point. Uncontrollable crying, fear, and feeling completely helpless...

God, why oh why, is this happening? 

We prayed about this trip, and we thought we were in your will...

what was happening?

Should I have listened to that mother's instinct the night before we left? 

Should we have not taken the trip?

But here we were, 700 miles from home....

Be sure to come back for part 2 tomorrow...
To be continued...