Day 1, traversing the desert.

I'm sitting here safely and comfortably at our Comfort Suites in Las Cruces, NM, near the U of NM campus with one kid finally asleep and the other reading. We got a slightly later start than anticipated, but still were on the road by around 9:30 am. We hoped to refuel in Tucson and head to Las Cruces in time to see the "free" Natural History Museum there, but the Costco in Tucson was farther than I thought and we lost an hour due to that and roadwork. Big surprise, huh? Then we lost another hour as soon as we got to NM since AZ doesn't participate in Daylight Savings Time. The museum was closed.

It turned out alright anyway. Since we realized we wouldn't make the museum, we decided to stop anywhere we wanted. Our Tucson detour took us right through the aircraft boneyard at Davis Monthan AFB. We visited "The Thing" near Dragoon, AZ. Saw it on Roadsideamerica.com and figured, since it only cost $2.50 for all 3 of us to see it, we'd try it. No spoilers here. I'll never tell in my blog, but if you ask me (or the kids) in person, we'll spill the beans. Also saw some great rock formations in the Texas Canyon (Dragoon again). Then it was flat. Not quite pancake flat, but pretty darn flat.

Check out today's photos.

We're off to White Sands tomorrow. Ted forgot his sneakers (well not forgot; packed them then took them out to play ball and forgot to RE pack them) and only has flip flops, so we'll see how much walking we can do, but at least it will be amazing looking. We'll get to a Payless ASAP, but there aren't any open that early in the morning.

Hopefully more posting tomorrow.

Happy motoring.

Twas the night 'fore vacation

Twas the night 'fore vacation, and all through the house, everything was packed; the laptop, the mouse.

The suitcases were lined up by the doorway with care.
We hoped they'd all fit, but we didn't know where.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of tumbleweeds danced in their heads.

I couldn't sleep, which meant Chip couldn't either, so we packed up at midnight and then took a breather.

When back in the house we did go to bed, vision of mile markers danced in my head.

We woke the next morning and went straight to working. We loaded the kids up, and boy were they perking. They hooted and hollered and bounced up and down, waved "Good-bye" to Dad and started naming towns.

On to Tucson, Las Cruces, Fort Stockton, San Anton, the Alamo, Katy, Lafayette in week one.

There's Mobile, Atlanta, Virginia Beach too, don't forget D.C., Hilltop, then the Haines crew. But it doesn't end there, we're off to New Jersey where I'll finish this ode with another versey (I know, it's not a real word, but this is creative writing here).

Stay tuned for more chapters....

Who said patience is a virtue?

I suppose that IF you're able to patiently wait for something and remain calm, have an inner peace about your waiting, and not fret every little detail 10 times because you have time on your hands, then it is a virtue. And I lack it.

My waiting is not peaceful or calm, so maybe I'm NOT being patient; I'm just waiting. Waiting for people to get back to me about parts of the journey, waiting for packages that were ordered in plenty of time to arrive before we leave (but still haven't!), waiting for time zone changes so I can make phone calls, waiting for the kids to get up so we can do our "To Do" list, and finally, waiting for the day to leave. Deep breaths, prayer, meditation, exercise, and distraction are what I need!

The kids are on their best behavior. Minimal bickering, good moods, and helpful attitudes (voluntarily) prevail. I had to ask them what was up? They said they're just so happy the trip is right around the corner. They can't wait to see their grandparents. They want to go to Canada. "Who else are we seeing, Mom?", "What time do we leave?", "Where is our first stop again?", "How many of the hotels have swimming pools?". A litany of questions. I'm glad. I said I didn't want to do this trip if they weren't excited, and they sure are.

Well they're getting up now, so I'll get started on today's list. Pray for patience!

I can't wait!

As we sat on the back patio talking about the upcoming trip last evening, I decided I really don't want to wait to get going. Alas, leaving early to see more stuff, means more hotel rooms and far too much cost. BUT, we looked at it and decided that leaving one day early would give us a day to visit White Sands National Monument. 275 square miles of white gypsum sand. It seemed like an utterly amazing place to check out. And apparently, you can SLED down some of the dunes in the park! I think that's what cinched it for me. We're now leaving a day earlier.

Today is the first day of summer for us. Surprisingly for Arizona, it's cloudy, cool, even drizzly. A perfect first day out of school for the kids to get their wish. They told me that the first day off, they wanted to sleep in (Claire made it until 7, Ted 9) and watch cartoons all day. So far, they've been able to do that, plus some video games. I, on the other hand, have gotten all of our reservations printed and filed, tour plans printed, listed all the Costcos along our route that sell gas, printed airline reservations for Chip to join us (don't want to forget to pick HIM up), and for my mom to join us (Chicago to Denver), ordered our National Park Pass, and collected the phone numbers of folks we'll need to call along the way.

Claire lost a tooth yesterday afternoon and Grammy suggested that she write the Tooth Fairy a note asking her to leave Claire's tooth so she can take it on vacation to show her grandparents. She wrote the cutest note, and the Tooth Fairy did leave the tooth. Hopefully, she can find us on the east coast in a couple of weeks.

More later!

Just a little longer...

Well the kids' last day of school is Thursday, then a mere 10 days later, we're on the road!

If you're like me, before you go away, you like to have the house looking nice. The reasoning for me is morbid but simple...if I die on the vacation (wherever it is), I don't want anyone to see that I left a messy house. Stupid and illogical, I know, but there it is. Like they won't have other things on their minds! Some people don't want to come back to a messy house because it ruins the relaxed feeling the vacation created. Not me. I'm worried about what people will think of my housekeeping skills while I'm in the hereafter! I wish I cared that much while I'm still alive, but I don't. I digress.

My point was going to be how frustrated I am with my inability to get the house straight before this trip. The root of the messiness is this. The living room has become the staging area for the trip. There are piles scattered about for a variety of purposes. I've got a pile of "important papers", a pile of empty suitcases, one of AAA literature, an assortment of accordion folders holding the reservations, packing lists, and phone lists, a box for my portable kitchen (a paring knife, dish soap, scrubbies, straws, napkins, spoons, etc...), piles of kid stuff for them to sort through and thin out...we CAN'T take it all. I've done a "test" packing of the car to be sure the suitcases I've picked will fit IN the car (I don't want them on top), and they do, but there's got to be a limit. Maybe we'll settle down to finding it this weekend. Then I'll know that everything in the staging area will end up in the car and I can clean around it with peace of mind.

We've done the test drive with the Craig's list $35 cartop carrier to be sure the straps will hold (they did). I've purchased and returned the cooler that plugs into the car lighter. It took forever to get cold and never got cold enough for me to trust perishables in it. Plus, I could buy ice twice a day every day of the trip and still spend less than what the cooler cost. Not worth it. I've checked to make sure that the suitcases I've picked all have working wheels so the kids can drag them into the motel themselves (they didn't and I ended up replacing a broken one). We've made little gifts for the people we're staying with along the way (can't tell you what since it's supposed to be a surprise!). I feel like I've reached a standstill until I can actually start packing suitcases. I'm sure I'll create more work for myself before that (LOL)!

I'm still waiting for word on whether or not we get to go in the White House...cross your fingers!

Signing off for now. But I'll be back!

pre-trip pictures for perspective

I'm working on the best way to share photos, so as my guinea pigs, please let me know if this link works.

There are only 3 photos (why waste the effort for more if it doesn't work well). For now, I'm going with our apple site photo albums. I tried the picasa, but had some technical issues, sooooo, IF the known technology works, that's what I'll stick with.

The maps are for perspective. The first map is unmarked of the whole country. The second marks in yarn our planned route. I must admit, I am now a bit...hmmmm.....awestruck? by the size of what we are undertaking, but voyage on! The yarn travels through 25 states and Canada.

The box of toys is what we are referring to as our mobile entertainment center; physical activities that can let off some steam at rest areas and parks along the way. We still need to add a few items and we do have a box of "in the car" games. We're not doing portable dvd players this time. We're going to see if they (the kids) can handle actual interpersonal communication with each other and us.

Here's the link.. pre-trip pics

Making the arrangements.

It's official!  All of the reservations have been made for all of the hotels along the way.  We have a few relatives along the path that we can stay with too.  We've made some loose decisions about things to see, but everything is flexible.  If anyone's not feeling well, if we run out of time, if the weather doesn't cooperate, we can change it.  

I've been polling the kids occasionally and asking what they're most looking forward to.  Right now, Ted says just seeing all the different places we'll see is what he's looking forward to.  Claire wants to go to the beach.  I can't wait to see some of the places I've never seen, but also seeing the kids' reactions to places that are familiar to me.  Chip's bummed that he can't do the whole thing with us, but is looking forward to the last part of the trip to see new things.

We've tested the cartop carrier to be sure the straps are solid, and that I know how to tighten it up since I'll be the lone adult for so much of the trip.  Now, I'm working on checking my technology. Will the cameras connect to the laptop?  Do I have all the chargers and cables I need?  Do I know how to sign on to the sites I need to get to while on the road?  Do I have low-tech backup for everything?  Do I know how to use my gps?

I bought a couple of car power adapter splitters and chargers so I can keep things charged on the road.  We also bought a cooler we can plug in on the road.  We'll be staying in hotels with breakfast included and eating dinner out, so we're going to try to do picnic style lunches on the road.  The cooler will help with that.

Do you have any "have to have" items you like on road trips?  I'd love to hear some suggestions.

Time to plan!

There is some interest in our road trip this summer, so I thought I'd write a little note to describe/explain the plan.

We usually take a 2 week family trip in the summer to get back east. Most of the time it's to see family. Last year it was to visit New England, so this year we wanted to get back to family. It's an expensive proposition, no matter what mode of transportation you take. We really like getting back to see folks, but it's never simple, always expensive, sometimes inconvenient, and frequently stressful. All trips can be. Between making the plans, coordinating time off from jobs, navigating family obligations, figuring out how to fit it all into a short schedule, I decided to try a different approach this year.

I stopped working in January, so I no longer had to figure out my time off from work, just Chip's. It's limited since he's in a new job this past October, so driving was not an option for him. But I love to drive and travel, the kids do too, so we decided to see if they wanted to drive across country and back and Chip will join us by plane on the east coast and again later in the trip. No mad dash across the continent; we'd take a more leisurely stroll and see what we wanted to along the route. They were eager, so the planning went on.

We'll start here in Mesa, travel to El Paso, TX, then San Antonio. We'll sight see for a day there, then visit Don and Mary (and Lucy and Ellen) in Katy (outside Houston). From there, it's on to Lafayette, LA, Mobile, AL to see the battleships and the Gulf of Mexico. Off to Atlanta, GA, Wytheville, VA, Skyline Drive, Luray Caverns, my sister Trish in Hilltop, VA, and 2 days in DC. The kids want to see monuments...I know how to do that, plus we have tickets to see the capitol and Library of Congress (in the works), and possibly the White House. Then we visit Steph and Greg in Richmond, and on to family in Virginia Beach. This is where we pick Chip up.

This is like the halftime intermission. We get to settle for a few days in one place...catch up with friends and family, hit the beach, maybe see Big Daddy take the Neki Hoki to the strip. Then we head up Eastern Shore, take the Cape May Ferry to NJ for the second half of intermission. More family, beach, pool, friends, resting up before the journey back. We also say goodbye to Chip until Denver, CO.

The trip back starts with a visit to my sister Lynn outside of Rochester and Niagara Falls. Since I've gotten my passport, we'll do the day at the falls (both sides), stay in St. Catharines, Canada, then head to Toronto.  A few hours there, then through Canada to Port Huron, MI and Toledo.  From there it's off to Chicago to get Grammy and we'll stay in Rockford, IL.

We head to Rapid City, SD, spending the night in Albert Lea, MN. On our way, we'll see The Corn Palace and whatever odd sights we can come up with along the path.  RoadsideAmerica.com helped us find some of these.  In SD, we'll check out Mt. Rushmore and the surrounding parks. Then it's off to Denver. We'll drop off Mom for a side trip she's taking and pick up Chip for the remainder of the trip.

From Denver, we head to Moab, UT and Arches NP. The next day we leave for Zion NP and Bryce Canyon. Then it's off to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Page, AZ, Meteor Crater, and Holbrook. We'll spend part of the day in the Petrified Forest and then head home.

Our friends and family seem to be split in their opinions. Half think it sounds like a great time, the other half think I've utterly lost my mind. It might be a bit of the latter, but definitely more of the former, I think. I'll try to post updates and pictures as we go along.

Wish us luck and pray for a safe journey.