Preparing for trip

Not an easy task to get ready for a 6,000 mile road trip. First thing, what to do with the house and dog?

We had the opportunity to have a college student come live with us for this school year and as part of the deal, he would watch our house and the dog while we go on our "little" trips. This became reality in August and Caleb is holding down the fort at home along with the ADT system and several people in and out of house to check on Bubbles.

Next, we had to determine where we were going to travel. So taking out the map we roughly highlighted a route to hit all the states we want to see and all the attractions in those states. This took several trial and errors and our route is not set in concrete.  Then to determine when to leave. The route we roughly sketched out would take us 15 days with no catastrophes, breakdowns or weather (rain or snow) outages. So in order to have plenty of time for side trips, stops when we feel like it, adventures on side roads, etc. we decided to leave 19 days before we had to be in New Mexico.

What do we travel in? Well of course my "Grandma Blue Mobile"! My Honda Van is the most comfortable and roomiest vehicle, great gas mileage (26-27 MPG) and easy to drive. After new tires and all checked out, it's ready for the trip!

We discussed camping at one point and were thinking of camping in some of the national parks. We decided against the camping thing and are planning to use Priceline or Trivago most evenings to find our sleeping arrangements.

Packing was another issue. In October we can expect anything from snow up north to rain to HOT in Arizona.  So when packing commenced it was pretty much like taking my whole wardrobe, plus my raincoat and winter coat. We will see what I actually wear.

We like to eat lots of picnic lunches on the road and usually only eat out once a day. So a big cooler is a must packed with all the needs for salads and sandwiches. We always have lots of snack foods for my "Hangry Husband" so we can get through the day if we don't stop to eat quick enough for his sugar drops!

So now that the van is packed and ready we are hitting the road! First day we plan to drive across Iowa and sneak into Nebraska (so I can say I've been there) and on up to South Dakota!

Check out my silly planning video on You Tube: