Anticipation

Well HEEERE we GOooooO!

OK... almost.

We've been anticipating a cross-country driving trip for a few months now - to be done when I retired in July. But then I got "un-retired" with a consulting job and I've been happily consulting and collecting the pay for that - and waiting until the job is finished - and THAT has been stretching out awhile, so we've been "going to leave" for a few weeks already - but are still home. But we think that we're really, truly, about to get on the road - with the route as shown on the map. I've been reading "Live Your Road Trip Dream" - a book about RVing around the US - and they had a section on "When To Plan Ahead".

It had one line:

"NEVER plan ahead".

Meaning: when one is going on an extended driving trip - any planning you do - will have to be changed when something happens - so don't even TRY to project WHEN you're going to be "at Mom's house". So I'm trying to leave some of my OCD tendencies behind and just figure out generally *where* we think we want to go - and leaving the rest to "on the road" decisions.

We'll be in our Mini-Van named "Van Monroe" (after the singer in the 20's) and the intent is to drive from Melbourne, FL - to California - and back. The current route is shown on the map, but changes daily as we add, subtract, and re-arrange stops. We're specifically *not* planning a schedule - so that we can be flexible. We've got Microsoft "Streets & Trips" which lets us put in desired stops - either by address - or it knows all of the biggies like "Grand Canyon" - and then I just ask *it* to tell us what order to see them in - to get the optimized route - and gives us directions. The map below is from "Streets & Trips". We've also got "Leila" - our Garmin GPS unit - which will tell us where we are - and tell us where to turn - at any point, and I've acquired an "AirCard" for the laptops so we think we'll be able even be online while we drive - and use the various websites (AAA, Expedia, Travelocity) to pick out lodging and eating needs - as we need them. The intent is to post photos and reports as we drive along - with the target start date of Sept 27 (or 28... or maybe 26).

Ride along with us - and for now, we'd enjoy hearing your suggestions for other things to see or do - or suggestions about the ones we already have planned.

Current stops are:

1) Home

2) Fake stop to make "Streets & Trips" go the right way (smile)

3) Friends outside Blairsville, GA

4) Friends outside Ocoee, TN

5) Friends in Nashville

6) My Brother, Manhattan, KS

7) My Mom, Kingman, KS

8) Mesa Verde

9) Monument Valley: Click HERE to see Monument Valley

10) Arches National Park: Click HERE to see Arches National Park

11) Bryce Canyon: Click HERE to see some of Bryce Canyon's views

12) Las Vegas

13) Yosemite

14) Tahoe

15) Friends in Napa (Wine Tours!)

16) San Jose

17,18) Pacific-Coast Highway - Southbound

19) Knott's Berry Farm (Roller Coasters)

20) Disneyland/California Experience

21) Laguna Beach

22) Tijuana

23) Grand Canyon

24) Painted Desert/Petrified Forest

25) Albuquerque

26) Santa Fe

27) Carlsbad Caverns

28) Other Brother's Arkansas Wine Tour

29) Destin/Panhandle, Florida

29) Back Home