One Week To Go

We are now one week from departing on our second cross-country driving trip. The first trip was in 2010 and we had such a good time then that we aren’t sure we could ever duplicate it but we are certainly going to try. In 2010 we travelled more or less through the middle and slightly more southern parts of the country so this time we are taking a more northern route. The 35-day, roughly 9,500 mile trip will take us through 17 states and one Canadian province (British Columbia), 7 national parks, 2 state fairs, a couple of “Western” train rides and a car-ferry crossing to and from Victoria, BC. To give some idea of our route, here is a list of some of the towns that we will be stopping at along the way: Columbus, OH, Springfield, IL, St. Joseph, MO, Denver, CO, Laramie, WY, Boise, ID, Bend, OR, Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, Vancouver, BC, Kalispell, MT, Fargo, ND, Minneapolis, MN and Milwaukee, WI.

This trip has been in the planning stages for about 9 months. We made our first reservations last November for the lodge at Crater Lake National Park where we are being joined by Bill, Margaret and Joshua for two nights. Even starting that early there were very few accommodations left, so we really started none too soon. Some people can take this trip with little or no planning, but that’s not the way we roll. We have all our hotel reservations made and most of our sightseeing planned.