The family and I are off to Watkins Glen for the Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen and Corning 100 races. A true family road trip in a rental RV.

I took a day off to spend a little time on the road with my wife, dog, child and future child. We set off on our little journey late evening on Wednesday and set off for a Wal-Mart!  That’s right, it’s not a myth: Campers are welcomed at Wal-Mart.

My original route was going to take us to Cleveland for the night. Then we were going to proceed to our “Griswald”-type excursion at the Niagara Falls. None of us have been there before and since its only three hours away from The Glen, we thought it would be a great way to utilize the RV. We spent most of the day walking around. The falls, Canadian and American, are rather impressive. But I thought that Niagara was going to be bigger, really.

Perhaps the highlight of the trip was our voyage on the Maid of the Mist. Each of us adorned our “recyclable” blue ponchos. Good thing, really. As we walked on the boat, I heard a lady comment, “Are there any good places to stand?” The operator responded, “There really aren’t any dry places on the boat.”  It was fun, 22 minutes dock to dock and a true misting at the base of both American and Canadian falls.

At first I was very unexcited about the trip, but I warmed up to the idea and became a tourist for the afternoon.

Once we completed our voyage, the family, sans Rex, our dog, marched to the RV for our final leg of the trip, “The Glen”.

We are here, a Thursday night at The Glen in the swampy campground. It’s been raining here for about a week. Van likes it, though, because there are plenty of puddles and mud to play with. Rex, on the other hand, is still torn up after he nearly ripped the awning off the RV.

Catch the “Return” next week!

Jarrod