Around the Country in 80 Days

T-minus 7 days

We are camping across the country, from Florida to California and back. We will be welcoming our new grandson, Coen, along the way, meeting up with friends and family, and hoping we are still married when we return.

We are pulling a 29 foot North Trails travel trailer with an F-350, taking our Golden Retriever, Trooper, and enough Diet Mountain Dew to manage some long travel days.

        Planning an Epic Journey

Taking off for such an extensive length of time requires some prep work. Here are some items we considered:

1. I mapped out a route with overnight stops after approximately 300 driving miles. Given an average speed of 60 mph, and lunch and potty breaks, we plan to be on the road about 6 hours on driving days. Trooper plans to sleep about 6 hours on driving days.
   
2. Last spring on an awesome month-long trip to Ohio, we found it helpful to spend 2 nights after a long driving day. Not only do the drivers get a good rest, we can explore the local area, hike, bike, kayak, fish, or enjoy whatever the area offers on the "rest" day. This increases our trip's length, but allows us to really love the journey's variety of activities along the way. Hopefully we will enjoy a California desert wildflower super bloom this year in Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks.
   
3. I charted our driving route using Interstates and US Highways where possible. Knowing we need to be flexible with possible construction, accidents, or rush hour traffic, I feel I chose safe roads without height clearance problems and that also have vehicle service close at hand, just in case we have another(!) flat tire. Thanks to Kyle Van Vleet who recommended a tire pressure gauge. We installed that baby on Day 1 of prepping the camper.
   
4. I reserved mostly State and Core of Engineers parks, with a few National and privately owned parks when necessary. (We are not big on boon-docking in a parking lot.) I found some places would only allow booking 90 days ahead of time, so I put calendar reminders on my phone to get those reservations completed. I did not have any problems booking sites except in Arkansas, where the week we will be there is Spring Break for the schools. I booked in Missouri, just across the state line, to ensure we had a site near our planned stop-over with friends.
5. Kennels - We will be enjoying some activities where the dog is not allowed, such as the Grand Canyon Railway. I checked kennel and pet resort reviews, then booked doggie daycare for those days, and submitted electronic copies of his shot records. Trooper overheard me talking to one kennel and he told me he's not looking forward to these parts of the journey.
   
6. Preparing the truck and camper - a big deal for David. Learning from the flat tires on other trips, we decided to carry 2 spares for the camper. We will need to carry potable water on parts of the trip, so he sanitized the fresh water tank. After slide and rubber seal lubrication, examining the undercarriage for wearing insulation, heat and a/c checks, and gathering tools, he feels the camper is ready to go. The normal truck maintenance - oil and filter change, tires, brakes, etc. were all completed along with the dealer's safety checks.
7.  Medications - we use a local grocery store for our prescription medications, so we transferred these to a nationwide pharmacy. We now have 90 days of meds (when insurance allows), and will fill others as needed along the way.  
8. Packing is a breeze with vacuum seal zip-style bags. Bedding, towels, and clothing take up less room and can be stored under the camper seats and jack-knife couch. And dog food should stay fresher than in the the original bag, and be less likely to attract unwanted critters. Like bears, Nick Petriello.
   
9. Food! "Tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers." - Romeo and Juliet. 
   
1. Knowing that eating out can butcher the budget, I've use my Food Saver to vacuum seal meals for the freezer. It is easy to double a recipe and save half, make soups and chili, and pre-cook ground beef with onion, garlic, and peppers. We use the beef combo for burritos, tacos, and casseroles. Here's the best part: vacuum sealed precooked foods can be heated in the microwave or boiling water, meaning no cleanup! One of our favorite camping meals is ravioli. I vacuum seal the cooked pasta with sauce, so a quick reheat in a pot of boiling water means the main course is ready to eat in less than 10 minutes. Add a green salad and voila! Dinner is served! I'm hoping vacuum sealing will also keep food scents contained to keep away those bears I mentioned, Nick.
   
2. A great addition to our camper kitchen is an induction burner. No more heating up the camper in the summer with the stove burners, and it's a real time saver! 
3. On driving days we try to avoid fast food establishments. We plan to pull off at a rest area or local park, and raid the refrigerator and pantry in the camper - leftovers, cold cut sandwiches, soup, fresh fruit, salads - it's so much healthier and cheaper than the nationally available heat-lamp burgers or nuggets. 
4. BOGOs on canned or frozen vegetables, soups, shelf-stable milk, pasta, paper plates, napkins, paper towels, coffee, and much more, allow us to cut our costs as we prepare to embark on our adventure.
5. We will still need to stop once each week to restock fresh produce, eggs, or other perishables, but Wal*Mart and Aldi are super money savers. I hope to add to this list of discount grocery stores as our trip unfolds.

 

Gotta have the "Stuff" 

The kids gave us the sign (shown on the previous page) for the camper! We especially love the National Parks logo on it.

Thanks for ordering this awesome sign for us!

Final Thoughts

God has graciously provided enough retirement income to allow us to make this journey. We will give Him all glory and thank Him for all things on this trip, even the hard things. We pray He opens our eyes to His amazing graces. He promises He will be with us wherever we go; we're calling on that promise. 

Joshua 1:9