FAMILY TIME
Our plan for the summer of 2024 had been a family road trip to Wyoming. We had been eager to take our son, Jackson, out west. Unfortunately, Christy had knee replacement surgery in March, and recovery took longer than expected. We ended up delaying that trip to the summer of 2025.
Jackson is now 2 ½, and my ability to carry him on my back on long, tough hikes is nearing its end. It was now or never.
For the trip, I planned a couple of moderately easy basecamp backpacking trips. The plan would be for me to hike in with the gear, set up camp, hike back, and then return with the family. After spending 2 or 3 nights, we would reverse the process. I also planned some regular car camping and dayhiking, and I reserved several campgrounds well in advance to make the logistics work.
Christy planned our food, Jackson’s food, her clothes, Jackson’s clothes, the diapers, and pretty much everything else.
We didn’t go straight to Wyoming from North Carolina. First up was a trip to Milroy, PA for Christy’s family reunion. The drive up on Friday was pretty smooth. Along the way we stopped at a random playground so that Jackson could get out and run around. That was our strategy on all of the longer drives on this trip. Instead of stopping somewhere for lunch, we would pack a lunch and take it to a park, or rest area, or ideally, a playground.
We made it to the campground before dark and spent the evening visiting with family. We stayed in a cabin with Christy’s parents, which was quite nice. On Saturday I managed a trail run on campground property. It was hot and humid and wet and muddy and buggy – in other words, miserable.
The rest of the weekend was more pleasant. It was great catching up with some of Christy’s aunts and uncles and cousins. The best part was seeing Jackson play with other kids, even though all of them were older. He hasn’t had many chances to interact with other children, so it was great to see him get that opportunity.
Next up was a chance to visit with Jackson’s birth parents in Iowa. On Sunday afternoon we drove to Fort Wayne, Indiana. We spent the night in a hotel and finished the drive to Iowa on Monday. We spent the next three nights at an Air BnB on the Wapsipinicon River near Central City. It was a nice little cabin in a remote, quiet, wooded area near the river. It would have been perfect if the mosquitoes hadn’t been so voracious. They were so bad that we didn’t spend much time outside. If we did go out, it was necessary to stay in the sun, where mosquitoes fear to fly. On a related note, one of the prime selling points of the cabin was a short trail to a sandbar on the river. We thought it would be the ideal place to hang out. Unfortunately, the trail was pretty overgrown, and the mosquitoes were unbearable. Jackson and I attempted to walk down there, but we retreated before we reached our destination.
That night, Jackson’s birth mother, Tuesday, and her children, Winston and Penelope, visited us and spent the night. I cooked burgers and hot dogs, and we spent the evening hanging out together. The next day, we all visited Wapsipinicon State Park. We started out playing in a creek – Jackson’s favorite past time. I did a trail run, which was surprisingly challenging in the hilly terrain. Later, we all did a short hike to Icebox Cave and Horsethief Cave.
On Wednesday, Christy and I both went running from the cabin (separately). It was hot, but we were able to outrun the mosquitoes. Later we took Jackson to a community swimming pool in the nearby town of Monticello. It was a great way to stay cool in the afternoon heat, and Jackson had a lot of fun. That evening, Christy and Tuesday went out for dinner. I took Jackson with me to Marion to meet up with Jackson’s birth father, Cam. It was an enjoyable way to spend our final evening in Iowa.
I got up late that night to use the bathroom and glanced out the window. The fireflies were putting on quite a show! There were frantic bursts of light coming from every direction. It was wild! Back home we have blue ghost fireflies and synchronous fireflies, but this display was more energetic. Did the fireflies get into some cocaine or something? I’d never seen anything like it.
STEAM ENGINE
I woke up with a head cold the next morning. It was annoying, and I think Christy and Jackson both caught it from me over the next few days. We started fairly early that morning, as we had to drive most of the way across Iowa and all the way across Nebraska to Cheyenne, Wyoming. We made two notable stops along the way. The first was in Omaha, where we visited a park to see one of the Big Boy steam locomotives. Jackson was thrilled, but it was shadeless and in the mid-90’s, so we didn’t stay long. Later we stopped at the Village of Potter in western Nebraska for a bathroom break. There we found a playground near the railroad tracks. 3 trains passed by in the 30 minutes that we were there. It was basically the perfect place for Jackson.
We spent Thursday night in a hotel in Cheyenne. The next morning we had a nice breakfast at Epic Egg. Then we visited a park that had two playgrounds and another Big Boy steam locomotive. It was paradise for Jackson! I played with him there while Christy went to the grocery store. Afterwards, we headed for Lander, Wyoming and Sinks Canyon State Park.
Back to Iowa
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Please remember to Leave No Trace!