Leg 11 - May 13 - Branched Oak State Recreation Area

The stopover point was a Nebraska State Park called Branched Oak.  It had a lovely view on top of a bluff over a lake.  Unfortunately, we had to catch up on laundry and basic RV maintenance. (Dingo: Our little in-house washer/dryer is a fantastic benefit, but it is mighty wee! What would have been a single load of EP diapers took 3 rounds in this little guy! Re RV maintenance: I'm not sure how Andy is so awesome all the time, but even things that seems so big and complicated he's like "oh, we can just flip flap flop bop and make it work again.") 

Andy figured out that EP was a beast at climbing slides. She would climb up, then slide a little, then stop and giggle incessantly - it was magic.

This is my, Dingo's, great buddy from the days of yore - se llama Adam Larios. I'm not kidding when I say that Sophomore and Junior year of college, Julia and I were basically at Adam, Adam, and Eric's house every single day having a ball and non-stop shenanigans. He currently lives in Lincoln and popped up last minute to see us for the evening... and he added the Nebraska sticker to the back of our RV.

In no way ever is this a staged photo ever.

I am of the opinion that this photo is the best photo ever taken. Andy looks beautiful, Eliza looks beautiful, the background is beautiful. My heart is bounding over with joy when I see these two. (When we arrive at campgrounds, I often have to jump into getting some work done for my remote job, so Andy and Eliza go off adventuring while I work and make dinner. It seems to me that they are having a ball together - and I think she is falling more and more in love with her papa every day. She is such a lucky girl and he is a lucky papa and I am a lucky mama. This trip is doing us all such good.)

We missed a turn out of the campground this morning, but luckily, Andy loves the adventure of driving the RV on a gravel road. What an unplanned fortune: this road, though gravel, was absolutely beautiful. In these moments, Andy stops in the middle of the road and takes a picture out the front window. 

About an hour later, we were driving through the town of Seward, NE, and I so wish that I had captured Andy's narration on a video. You guys can only imagine the excitement that comes from Andy when he see regular humans doing nothing particularly spectacular and loving them. "Look at that guy scratching his head. Good job guy, you get that itch. Look at those ladies getting their bagels for the morning. Everyone needs a good bagel. This town is great. Babe, let's move here. They have a concrete store!"