My Favorite RV Trip/moment of 2015
I don’t know about you and your RV season, but 2015 was an awesome camping year for Soulful RV Family. We traveled over 10,000 miles in our Class A Newmar. Being a minority RV family, we are constantly asked “what’s it like to RV?”. We explain what Rving means to our family and the lifetime memories that we are creating with each and every family adventure. Then we always invite those people to join us and experience the RV lifestyle first hand. Hopefully in 2016, we will get more friends and families to take us up on our offer.
Recently, I was asked, “What was your favorite moment or trip this past year?” I had to think long and hard about that one. I poured over pictures. Boy, we took thousands of pictures over the course of the past 12 months. Reliving all those great moments brought back all those wonderful memories. Traveling through the likes of Atlanta, Ft Lauderdale, Orlando, Virginia, Pennsylvania , South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, and many more; finding my favorite moment took some time. I poured over hundreds of pictures, laughing and smiling the entire time. Those pictures were a wonderful reminder of all those precious memories we created for our family. Then I found it. The one trip, the one moment that touched me the most.
Here is my favorite moment of 2015…..
This moment is so special for so many reasons. On our three week trip to Mt Rushmore and back we had decided to enjoy a few nice stops along the way. One of those stops was Worlds of Fun in Kansas City. We stayed right on site at the Worlds of Fun RV park. It was our last full day there and I began to look at our next destination. Then I realized that we were only three hours from my alma mater, Iowa State University. I played football and graduated from ISU in 1990. I had not been back on campus since I was inducted into the ISU Hall of Fame back in 2006. My wife, Tia, has never been to Ames, Iowa. Nor have my three young boys. So I asked Tia about taking her and the boys by my school. She thought it was great idea. I checked the travel routes and it wouldn’t change our trip time much. So we decided to swing by Ames. We found a campground a few miles away from campus. And hit the road. We were set to arrive in Ames around 2pm. About an hour into the trip I thought, “this is June, I wonder if anyone will be at the Athletic buildings?” so I called the Athletic department. I explained the situation, that we had made a last minute decision to come by the University and asked for a tour. I was put on hold and told that really no one was around to grant last minute tours. Then, she passed and asked my name. I told her who I was and that I had played football there and was in the school HOF. Sometimes you need to use whatever clout you may or may not have. She told me to hold on again. After an agonizing long wait (about 2 minutes) she asked with a cheery voice, “what time will you be here?”. We set a tour time for 3pm.
We arrived in Ames and drove right to the Jacobson building. I was blown away with the changes the football program has undergone in the last ten years.This place was amazing, and I couldn’t wait to get inside. We ventured inside and met out tour host. The tour lasted about 2 hours and we were treated like royalty. This was above and beyond the call of duty. I personally felt so special. Taking my little boys to see where their Dad played college football was special. Along the tour we got a full facility tour of the new ISU football building. We can to the old HOF and they were in the middle of remodeling that area. The new area will be tremendous. I looked up to find two of my three boys scanning the HOF list. Then they yelled in excitement that they found Daddy. Looking up I saw KJ and Jayson’s hands had stopped right on my name in the ISU HOF list. Tears began to well up I my eyes. Thank goodness my wife was smart enough to snap this picture to capture this moment forever! 
They were so proud of that their Daddy’s name was up in the HOF. I was so happy to be able to share my career my little boys. That moment, was my best moment RVing in 2015. That entire day was so special. Seeing all the changes at ISU made me an even prouder alumni. As we wrapped up the tour and headed to the parking lot, everyone was hungry. If you have ever been to Ames, Iowa you know there’s one place you have go to eat. So we went to Hickory Park. The BBQ was better than I remembered.
And the portion size ensured that we had plenty of leftovers to bring back to the RV. I will forever cherish
this trip back to Ames. Experences like being back in the stadium that changed the course of my life, teaching my kids the story of Jack Trice for whom the ISU stadium is named after, getting the VIP treatment and tour, and eating the best BBQ in all of Ames. It wasn’t just a priceless moment, it was a priceless day. So there’s my best moment/trip of 2015. I wonder if our 2016 RV travels will top that? I can’t wait to find out!
Here are a few other pictures from that day enjoy…
