Day 0 | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8
Family road trips are the ultimate bonding experience. In this collection I share why we did one, our RV experiences along the way, and important takeaways from the trip. Like they say, it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey. Sadly, our family dog, Pixi, of 12 years passed away shortly after this adventure. In a way this voyage was her farewell tour. The perfect farewell tour.
My family loves a few things and one of them is seeing my sister, their aunt in Nashville. Normally when we go, my wife buys a bunch of plane tickets, we rent a car and crash at my sisters place. This time around we were going to do the same song and dance, but our daughter Mia suggested something different.
Day 1- From Massachusetts to Pennsylvania New Jersey
When planning our souther road trip, my wife I referred to an app called RoadTrippers. It was the same app Aly and Al McLean used to plan their trip and they strongly suggested it for us to use. We looked at our trip in three phases…
Day 2- From New Jersey to Knoxville
This took a loooooong time. We left bright and early in the morning with a plan of driving for 4 hours which would have gotten us to the DC/Maryland area so we can do the nation’s capital before driving all the way through Virginia to Tennessee.
We got to Tennessee alright, but that is only thing that went according to plan.
This took a loooooong time. We left bright and early in the morning with a plan of driving fAfter driving for over half the day from New Jersey to northern TN, the 4 hour drive to Nashville was a breeze. Arriving to the warm embrace of my sister and parents felt really good. Naturally my sister had all the plans for the kids so we did one of her pet projects involving sneakers, spray paint, and water. Even though the TikTok videos were pretty cool…
This was Thanksgiving Day 2021 and we were doing it Nashville. To kill time before dinner starting we went to the beautiful Opry Mills Hotel to enjoy their Winter Festival. If you have never been, it does not disappoint. Live music, tubing (yes tubing), ice skating, tons of activities for kids, and we ended up doing a Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer scavenger hunt that quickly became the bane of my existence .
Day 5- The Great Smokey Mountains
The Great Smokey Mountains were majestic, beautiful, natures beauty at its finest and we barely survived the drive. I’m exaggerating, but not by much.
Day 6- Hello Natural Bridge Virginia
The Great Smokey Mountains would have been cool, but it was not the experience we were hoping, but on this day my wife had a sure winner in Natural Bridge, Virginia.
Day 7- Virginia to the Crayola Experience
That day with the Natural Bridge and the restaurant in Lexington Virginia was a winner for team Watkins. For our 7th day, my wife planned a trip to the Crayola Experience in Easton, Pennsylvania.
With our second Watkins roadtrip in the books, the first with an RV my wife and I did some reflecting on things that worked, things that didn’t which I share with you.
LeRoy J. Watkins III 