Day 15: July 11, 2025 – Oakdale, WI to Girard, PA
Endless road before us—today was all about forward motion, even when circumstances tried to prevent it. We went the distance… got delayed… and then went even more distance, making this our longest travel day of the trip. It was fate (and a bit of flexible planning) that had us end the night in a quiet church parking lot.
We drove a lot today. And we spent a lot of time in the RV—not all of it actually moving. Funny how things work out. We knew this would be our longest haul and got the early start we’d hoped for after a good night’s sleep. But the moment we hit Chicago, things went sideways. The roads were awful—bumpy, chewed-up, and mid-construction for what feels like the rest of time. The last time we brought Kevin through Chicago, it was just as bad. By the time we stopped for lunch at the Indiana Welcome Center, my head was rattled from the ride.
Side note: Welcome Centers are underrated. We’ve hit a few on this trip, and they offer big parking lots, clean bathrooms, and are usually easy to access from the highway. Plus, you stumble on little gems—like the Triple-Dog-Dare statue at the Indiana Welcome Center in Hammond. Remember the scene from A Christmas Story where Flick licks the frozen pole? Hammond is actually the real-life inspiration for the fictional town of Hohman. A fun photo op and, conveniently, right next to a Wendy’s for a quick bite.
It was there that Rob started pulling stones from the RV’s front tire tread and noticed some unusual wear on the driver’s side. He was convinced it would blow out and take the Jeep with it—definitely not the kind of road drama we needed with 1,200 miles still ahead. So, we rerouted to Tire Barn in Schererville, IN, who (bless them) miraculously had our tire in stock. These roadside angels had us swapped, balanced, and back on the highway in just over an hour.
Fresh tires in place, we hit the road again… only to hit wall-to-wall traffic. And we stayed in it. For HOURS. This became one of those days—the kind we usually try to avoid but sometimes just have to survive. Even with detours, it was stop-and-go through construction zones, pothole mazes, and general highway chaos.
By early evening, we waved the white flag and paused for dinner: pancakes and microwave bacon all around. The fridge is down to bare bones now, but since the kids usually sleep through breakfast, we repurposed the morning meal for a surprisingly satisfying *breakfast-for-dinner*.
Bleary-eyed and exhausted, we finally pulled into St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Girard, PA at 11:30 PM—a full 16 hours after leaving Oakdale (even with the time change). Rob parked Kevin under a big security light, we pulled the shades, and crashed hard. The church parking lot was silent, peaceful, and just what we needed after a day of dodging barrels and burning daylight. There is a sense of accomplishment on these long days, even with the extreme exhaustion and the late arrivals. Now that this happens to us only on rare occasions, it’s not so bad. That said, I really don’t want this to happen again tomorrow.
Tomorrow… we’re home. Hard to believe. One more stretch and then our own beds!
End of Day Stats:
Mileage: 660 miles
Hours: 16
New Tires: 2
Rubber Ducks Deployed: 0 (didn’t even try)
Hippo Status: Brains officially jostled by roadwork
Cue The Distance by Cake—because today was all about going, pushing, crawling, inching… and getting there, one orange barrel at a time.
Wandering, But Not Lost 