Friday, February 17, 2012

Planning is Half the Fun

We are 98 days from our BIG TRIP! It doesn't seem possible that in less than 100 days we will be off on a journey to see parts of the world we've only ever seen in pictures {and on the Brady Bunch}. All kidding aside, we are SUPER excited about our trip! Jason and I sat down and mapped out a tentative course. We've made a few reservations at campsites, but the whole trip isn't set in stone just yet. This is a map that I used to figure out how far we will be going on our trip. In total it will be over 5,000 miles! That is a long way to drive...and a really long way to pull an rv! There are some definite stops on our trip, and I've included most of them on the map below. 

We are still looking for great places to visit along the way, so any and all suggestions or links are welcome! I picked up a few books at the library yesterday so that we could start looking for some "off the beaten path" types of places and make sure that we hit all the "must see" sites too! I would love to take the boys to some fun "kitschy" places along with all the great wilderness & learning things we are planning to see!

We are pretty set in our plan up until we leave the Grand Canyon. We have either made reservations or called about places to stay up to that point, but after the Grand Canyon it gets a little complicated. Apparently Yosemite & Kings Canyon can get a lot of snow in the spring so they don't always make reservations for their campsites until they know they will be able to open. I get that...but I also don't want to drive more than halfway across the country without a plan of where we will be staying {I'm not very spontaneous, can you tell?}. And after we leave Yosemite & Kings Canyon we are moving on to big cities...while pulling an rv. I have to say that is just a little bit scary! But we want to see San Francisco{which btw is totally spelled wrong on my map!} and our plan for heading home is to drive through Los Angeles and hit 1-10 and come all the way back to Mississippi {with a couple of stops on the way}.  

Even though we have a map, some reservations, and sort of a plan, we still have a lot of planning to do....and planning is half the fun:) Oh and we have still have a TON of work to do on the Airstream too!

18 comments:

  1. Kelli, that sounds amazing! I am so anxious to "go" on this trip with you! We have thought about going west someday too and seeing the Grand Canyon and staying at a Dude Ranch :-) So many fun adventures waiting for you! {I get nervous too when things aren't planned out and I don't know what to expect! Thank goodness Dan does all the planning though, or who knows where'd we end up! ha!} Happy planning!

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  2. You're coming through San Antonio?! Girl- you MUST STOP!! I would love to visit if even for just a short time. And my town has ALL kinds of fun stuff to do if you want an extended stay.

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  3. F-U-N!!

    If you have a tentative date for when you are in San Antonio I would love to see if we could meet up and don something fun!!

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  4. This sounds like a really fun trip. Can't wait to see all the photos. I bet the boys will love it.Have a great weekend.

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  5. we did our big road trip down the East Coast summer before last - such good family fun. Don't forget a journal to scribble about your trip and stuff with maps & tickets & napkins from favorite eating spots.

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  6. It looks likes you are going to have one heck of a trip!!!

    I can't wait to see all the FAB pictures :)

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  7. Wow! That looks like so much fun! Can't wait to hear about all the fun memories!
    -Kendall
    Songbirds and Buttons

    PS:You should stop by Missouri, there is a place called the Magic House that is fantastic for kiddos!

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  8. When we went on our road trip I used Trip Advisor alot. I found some really neat places. Just type in the city then hit things to do. We went from SC to SD,and my kids loved it! We are going to Co this year to the Rocky Mountains.

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  9. How FUN!!!! I would love to be up and travel the US. We have the perfect set up with Jeremy's flexible schedule and homeschooling the girls. We just need the RV {and some extra money, lol!}

    I don't see any stops in the Pacific NW, Kelli!

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  10. Fun!! San Antonio is a wonderful city. Look into El Mercado, The Alamo (duh), River Walk, and Schlitterbaun (a kid's dream come true).

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  11. THIS LOOKS SO FUN!!!! I love it! What a super fun time you will have.

    If you are coming through the Dallas area we should grab coffee! Or even better we can camp a night with y'all!

    I'm hoping you will tweet your vacay so I can follow along. What a wonderful adventure you will have!

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  12. Wow! This sounds like fun!! I want to do this with my kids someday. We were at the Grand Canyon last year (October 2010). Our kids loved Phoenix and Scottdale almost as much (if not more) than the Grand Canyon. There are some good shorter (and kid friendly) hikes in that area. If you are near Tucson, there's a park called the Saguaro National Forest. You can see some huge cacti and it's moderate hiking. I love the southwest!! I could see our family moving there someday.

    I echo the thoughts of San Antonio..very cool city.

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  13. WOw how fun! My husband and I have talked about doing this and we look forward to the day we start our plans. You are going to have a blast!

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  14. How exciting! I bet you're going to have a great time!

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  15. Kelli, this is going to be an unforgettable trip. When I was a girl, my family took a train trip from Jackson, MS to San Francisco and back. We stayed several days in SF. It was really something. But I've never been to the Grand Canyon or Yosemite! It's going to be fun to see how things go for y'all!

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  16. My family did a similar trip one summer. Two places I'd recommend are Meteor Crater and the Painted Desert in Arizona.

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  17. hey! i found your blog this morning at Serenity Now's linky party ... had to get a peek of your Airstream redo which is completely amazing! my sister and I recently did a California trip and drove Highway 1 from San Francisco to Cambria ... not sure you want to do that pulling an RV, but it's too beautiful for words. I would highly recommend a stop at Hearst Castle (near Cambria) and think everyone should got there at least once! Happy Travels!

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