Our Trip Has Begun!

On January 6, 2010, our family began our adventure to Austin Texas. Our objective: to build Tough Mudder Austin. Just what does this mean? Well, the total head count in our van was 9, Myself, Christine, Rickey Lyons, Walt Jr, Jacob, Anneliese, Daniel, Joseph, Mark and our dog Daisy, to drive 1,800 miles south!We left our home at 5:00 p.m., after a full day of packing our 20' enclosed trailer with household items, clothing, mattresses, all our tools, materials for the event, and of course some big toys, two quads!

The travel was tough, we made it only 500 miles the first night. The next day, after hearing of major storms that will be passing through the south, we decided to drive the 1300 mile balance of our trip straight through.

Exciting events and challenges on the trip, YES! Mark threw up all

over himself and his car seat early on our second day. Rickey was given a great opportunity to strengthen his gag reflexes as he cleaned Mark up until we could pull over safely. Ha, what a mess! But we cleaned up and moved on within an hour. Second obstacle, a blow out at 6 a.m. in Louisiana. The rear trailer tire gave up after a long hard trip! Thankfully, we were prepared for this kind of thing! Up an running in an hour. After 42 hours of travel, we made it to our destination, Smithville, Texas.

~Walt Sr.