• Home
  • The Airstream
    • Tow Vehicle
  • Destinations
    • Alabama
    • Idaho
    • Indiana
    • Florida
    • Louisiana
    • Michigan
    • Minnesota
    • Montana
    • New Mexico
    • New York
    • South Dakota
    • Texas
    • Washington
    • Wisconsin
    • Wyoming
  • Homeschooling
  • Budget
  • RV Park Reviews
  • About Us
    • News
  • Contact Us

Take That Exit

Leaving the fast lane, to enjoy the view

  • Home
  • The Airstream
    • Tow Vehicle
  • Destinations
    • Alabama
    • Idaho
    • Indiana
    • Florida
    • Louisiana
    • Michigan
    • Minnesota
    • Montana
    • New Mexico
    • New York
    • South Dakota
    • Texas
    • Washington
    • Wisconsin
    • Wyoming
  • Homeschooling
  • Budget
  • RV Park Reviews
  • About Us
    • News
  • Contact Us

Itasca State Park and the Headwaters of the Mississippi River {Minnesota}

Sep 72015



Itasca-State-Park-Headwaters-Mississippi-River

To keep things from being confusing (especially if you follow our real-time adventures on Instagram) – I’m a few weeks behind in blogging, here are some of our adventures from the week of August 9, 2015. 

In between our special days with our family in Bemidji, Minnesota, we took a day and drove about 45 minutes to Itasca State Park to see the famous headwaters of the Mississippi River.

Mary-Gibbs-Mississippi-Headwaters-Center

Within the Itasca State Park is the Mary Gibbs Mississippi Headwaters Center a National River interpretive center. It has some great displays with facts about the Mississippi river – including the interesting history of the river.

Mississippi-Headwaters-sign

Just a short walk from the Mary Gibbs Mississippi Headwaters Center are the headwaters of the Mississippi!

[Read more…]

{ 2 Comments }

by Heather Filed Under: Destinations, Minnesota

Extended family and life on “lake time” in Bemidji and Nebish {Minnesota}

Sep 22015



Family-Lake-Time-Bemidji-MN

To keep things from being confusing (especially if you follow our real-time adventures on Instagram) – I’m a few weeks behind in blogging, here are some of our adventures from the week of August 9, 2015. 

After we were supposed to get our fresh water tank repaired (read more about the repair that didn’t work) we headed north to Bemidji, Minnesota to visit family. I had been looking forward to this so much. . . last time I was in Minnesota to visit family I was 9 years old (25 years ago!). My grandma and grandpa grew up in Nebish and Blackduck farming the land, surrounded by their brothers and sisters – also all farming the land.

Eventually my grandma and grandpa moved to Alaska – but all my grandparent’s brothers and sister’s stayed in the area. Over the years these great aunts and uncles had kids (my mom’s cousins) and they had kids and then they had grandkids – and  today there is a LOT of extended family still in the Bemidji and Nebish area.

Catholic-Church-graveyard

The first thing we did when we got settled at the RV park was we went to visit my dear grandpa. Buried in the graveyard at the tiny catholic church where he and my grandma were married in 1954, it was the first time I had visited his gravesite. This meant SO much to me as my grandpa was a big part of my life growing up in Alaska – he was an amazing man. We tidied up his gravestone and left a baseball for him, as he loved watching baseball and would always sing, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” to his grandkids.

Something like this visit wouldn’t probably wouldn’t have happened without this cross country adventure and nomadic lifetsyle. It would be expensive to fly a family of four to northern Minnesota for this sole purpose.  But thanks to being on the road we get to do these meaningful things along the way.

[Read more…]

{ 6 Comments }

by Heather Filed Under: Destinations, Minnesota

The fresh water tank “repair” . . . that didn’t fix the problem

Sep 12015



Airstream-water-tank-cracked

To keep things from being confusing (especially if you follow our real-time adventures on Instagram) – I’m about a month behind in blogging, here are some of our adventures from the week of August 5, 2015. 

Do you recall our broken fresh water tank? Our fresh water tank appointment finally came around on August 5 (we spent the day at the Science Museum of Minnesota). After a long day we picked up Stella (our Airstream) right around closing time from Shorewood RV and she was still leaking water from the underbelly. The staff at the RV shop assured us – don’t worry about the dripping – that’s just residual from the repair. But two days later our tank is STILL leaking – especially when we would use our water pump – we knew it hadn’t been fixed properly. Sigh, by this time, we had already moved north to Bemidji, Minnesota to spend time with family and bringing it back to Shorewood RV wasn’t an option. I’m not sure I would have anyway, as they didn’t seem to fix it right the first time.

Shorewood-RV-Anoka-MN

Let’s just say we were a little frustrated. We had waited THREE long weeks for the initial appointment at Shorewood RV. The fresh water tank is where you store clean water for when you aren’t hooked up, via a hose, to a water source. This fresh water tank allows you to go to a dry campground and be able to flush a toilet, wash the dishes or even take a shower – without a hose hook-up. We had spent three weeks in expensive private campgrounds because we needed a water hook-up and we were itching to get into the state parks, not a possibility without the water tank working.

We called the next closest Airstream dealer on our route, Woodland Travel Center – in Grand Rapids, Michigan and took their earliest appointment of August 20. I knew as soon as I talked to them on the phone that we’d be taken care of. They were immediately more responsive and helpful than the last place – but we would have to wait another two weeks for another repair.

This is part of life on the road friends. It was frustrating, but not enough to throw in the towel. If we were living in our old house, we’d have car repairs, housing repairs and other things to tend to. It’s just part of life – whether your nomadic or stationary. This was just another bump in the road – so to speak – and we’d take it in stride.

We pledged to make the most of the situation and enjoy our time in Northern Minnesota and then head quickly through Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois and up to Grand Rapids. I’ll share more about these adventures soon. . .

{ 8 Comments }

by Heather Filed Under: Day-to-Day Living, Minnesota

Science Museum of Minnesota, Mississippi River National Recreational Area {Minnesota}

Sep 12015



Microscope-museum-minneapolis

To keep things from being confusing (especially if you follow our real-time adventures on Instagram) – I’m about a month behind in blogging, here are some of our adventures from the week of August 5, 2015. 

After we said goodbye to our other Airstream family friends, we headed into downtown St. Paul for a day of exploring. Specifically we went to the Science Museum of Minnesota – which happens to have FREE admission with the Association of Science-Technology Centers program – a reciprocal membership program that rocks (we purchased a Museum of the Rockies annual pass and it gets us into museums nationwide!).

Museum-Minneapolis-tv-screen

The Science Museum of Minnesota was fantastic. The kids really enjoyed the many exhibits – covering four or five floors in this massive building – it took the better part of a day to go through it all. The museum had everything from a news channel exhibit – where the kids got to be the news anchors. . .

minneapolis-museum-boat

to anchors away . . .exhibits about ships on the nearby Mississippi river. They also had exhibits about the human body, dinosaurs, Minnesota habitats and more.

[Read more…]

{ Leave A Comment }

by Heather Filed Under: Destinations, Minnesota

Connecting with other full-time Airstream families on the road

Aug 292015



3-airstreams-in-a-rowFrom left to right: Currently Wandering, Take That Exit (us!) and Up In the Airstream

When we first announced we were going to travel for a year in an Airstream we got mixed reactions. We get it – it’s not your typical choice for a family with kids. We’ve had lots of questions about the social implications of this lifestyle . . . would our kids miss their friends? Would we be lonely?

As I mentioned recently in a post addressing our most frequently asked questions – our social interactions have been anything but lacking! Although our kids aren’t in traditional school, they are interacting more with kids at campgrounds than they ever did in our old neighborhood. We have had the great pleasure of connecting with other Airstream families on Instagram (where the community is surprisingly vibrant and active) and we recently had the great fortune of meeting up with two of these awesome families!

It just so happened that all our paths intersected in Minneapolis, Minnesota and we spent nearly a week with the Curren Family from Currently Wandering and the Schrum Family from Up In the Airstream (instagram).  Between the three families we had seven kids range in age from 5 to 12 – and they all clicked instantly.

Airstream-Families-unite

All three of our Airstreams were parked in a row – right next to the playground. The kids ran from trailer to trailer, playing soccer on the grass, having a blast on the playground and occasionally playing Minecraft. Normal kid stuff.

[Read more…]

{ Leave A Comment }

by Heather Filed Under: Destinations, Minnesota

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »
About-Us-Clarke-Family

Click the map to see our destinations

Map-of-travels-as-ofApril30 Currently in Utah!
RV-Accessories-fulltime-RV-side
Family-Friendly-travel-games

Follow us Instagram

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No feed found.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to create a feed.

Why-We-Travel-Full-Time-sidebar
Affording Full-time Travel
RV-appliances-products-recommended-side

Recent Comments

  • Marie on My favorite RV-friendly appliances and products :: Instant Pot, Dehumidifier, Electric Skillet, more
  • Debi Durkee on Transitioning back into a house after fulltime travel. . .and our plans for future travel
  • Helen in Meridian on Transitioning back into a house after fulltime travel. . .and our plans for future travel
  • Cathy Conner on Transitioning back into a house after fulltime travel. . .and our plans for future travel
  • Tracy on Transitioning back into a house after fulltime travel. . .and our plans for future travel

Find us on Pinterest

Visit Take That Exit's profile on Pinterest.

Like us on Facebook

Take That Exit

About Us

Family-map-photo-350 We're a family of four, ditching mainstream and hitching up our Airstream for a year of travel around the United States. Learn more about us
Copyright ©2025, Take That Exit. All Rights Reserved. Custom design by Pixel Me Designs