We found a secret portal hidden in the flat states of the U.S. as we ticked of hundreds of miles on our drive from 6pm on Sunday night till we finally laid out our tent at 10pm Monday evening at Land Between the Lakes in Western Kentucky. We stepped out of the car into a sticky, hot, bug infested campsite. But… the star-filled sky was beautiful.

We opted for more ventilation so we left off the rain fly for the evening. Blayke loves camping, like loves loves camping. When she sees the tent getting setup and sees her sleeping bag (an old sleeping bag of mine folded in half) get laid down she gets excited, giddy, and anxious to get inside. She loves when we hang a light from the tent ceiling. She loves seeing Sharma walk around outside as she sits inside. She loves the soft feeling of the tent walls against her fingertips. Blayke enjoys it in the way we always imagined and hoped she would.

This was our first time camping with her without the rain fly on. Typically, we hand her her pacifier and cloth as we lay her down and she lays there, looking up at the glowing light, and falls asleep rubbing her fingers on her cloth or the wall of the tent. The tent we’ve been using on this trip is our summer tent so it’s 90% mesh. Without the rain fly on, Blayke could see everything around us. Once her eyes adjusted to the dark, the chatting began. She was so tired, but couldn’t help but babble at the sight of the stars, trees, and wind movement.

At about 2am I rolled over and Blayke was sitting straight up, waving to something outside of the tent, quietly saying “Hi. Hi. Hi” repeatedly!!! I got out my headlamp and looked all around, curious if she had actually seen an animal or human. Nothing. This babe is crazy about the outdoors!!

The next morning we headed to Brice’s brothers house just south of Louisville and spent the week couch surfing on their basement futon. Our house in Somerset is occupied by our renter until the end of the month so we have 3 more weeks to spend on the road. Our time is filled with hanging out with family, applying for jobs, and watching Blayke grow. It’s pretty awesome.