We are off! The odometer is reset to zero. CC is cleaned, serviced & fully loaded. This year we have a different starting point. We're beginning this trip from our new house in Polk City FL.
We left in mid May heading to Belleville for a whirlwind three weeks, visiting our daughters & grandkids, (Hunter was home too!!), doctors and catching up with friends.
We left early June swinging by Peoria, IL to visit our sister-in-law, Kathy Stanley, then onto Valparaiso, IN to visit a long time Country Coach friend, Bob Harbrecht. We needed to get to the Cinncinatti area to watch what was going to be Hunter running in a "Spartan Race". It turned out to be four of our five grandkids running the races.
What's a Spartan Race? Spartan Race's are a race against yourself, there are four verisons which include the Spartan Sprint (3+ miles of obstacle racing, 20+ obstacles), the Spartan Super (6+ miles, 25+ obstacles), the Spartan Beast (13+ miles, 30+ obstacles), and the Spartan Ultra (30+ miles, 60+ obstacles)
The obstacles themselves also vary from race to race. Frequently obstacles can include a fire jump, climbing under barbed wire, wall climbing, mud crawling, the "over-under-through" (a series of obstacles in which runners must first climb over a wall, then under a wall, then through a square hole placed in a wall), spear throw, rope climb, heavy object carries, "Herculean Hoist", "Tyrolean traverse", monkey bars, Traversal Wall (similar to a bouldering wall), Hobie Hop (a thick rubber band is placed around the ankles and participants hop through consecutive tires), Slip Wall (a wall built at an incline, roughly covered in grease), a zig-zag log jump, steep mud climbs (rolling mud), tractor pulls, underwater submerging below walls (dunk walls), Atlas carries, tire flips, stump balances (skipping on stumps across a pond), and a rope swing.
Failure to fully complete any obstacles results in a 30-Burpee penalty (or in some cases, a penalty loop) that runners must complete before continuing their race. A participant can obtain a Trifecta medal after completing a Spartan Sprint (or Spartan Stadion), a Spartan Super, and a Spartan Beast in one calendar year.
AJ, Saxton & Mica ran the Sprint (3+ miles of obstacle racing, 20+ obstacles). Hunter earned the Trifecta, running the the Spartan Beast (13+ miles, 30+ obstacles) Saturday with some high school buddies & his father-in law. Then Sunday he ran the Spartan Super (6+ miles, 25+ obstacles) in the morning & followed it up with Spartan Sprint (3+ miles of obstacle racing, 20+ obstacles) in the afternoon. He's crazy right? He does these races all the time. I think this was his fourth Trifecta.
Just before the Sprint, clean & happy! 
Not so clean, but still happy! 
Happy look of accomplishment 
Covered head to foot in mud, but USS Laffey still visible 
Couple more obsticles to go 
Hunter in race two 
Carrying a 50 lb sand bag up & down a very muddy hill 
Get that upper arm work out in! 
75 lb sand bag pulley 
Third race complete
After the races we left the next day for our next RV caravan. We need to be in Hermon, Maine by July 11th to meet up with Adventure Caravans. It’s an organized tour company that plans & “escorts” RVers on tours all over North America. We are on a 59 day Gaspe' & Canadian Maritimes tour a spectacular tour of the coastlines of the Gaspé Peninsula, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland.
The beauty of this type of tour is they organize everything. Campsites, routes, some meals & lots of excursions. We will be traveling with a Wagonmaster & Tailgunner, same ones from last year. Plus about 17 other RVing couples. It should be quite a trip.
The plan is to have enough internet at our overnight stays to keep the blog current, so cross your fingers!
We're doing a couple of Harvest Hosts and three campgrounds spending three weeks getting to the starting point.
Next entry will cover those sights......
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