This summer we are ended up not in Asia. I couldn't leave my fur babies for that long. Plus, Hubs' vacation time isn't as flexible as mine. We road tripped to California and back! We packed up our van, a Ford Transit Connect, and drive from Georgia northwest and then south along the Pacific Coast Highway and then the details are yet to be straightened out for out route home. We were on the road for two whole weeks. That's a lot of camping, hiking, and driving, I know. But, we live is a huge, gorgeous country. And I plan to enjoy it before the EPA completely disappears...
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Preparing for this trip was more effort than any other. You'd think traveling by car in your own country would be straightforward and simple. But no, we had to handle the vehicle maintenance, jigsaw puzzle packing, and route out the trip. (We ended up routing out each day the night before, but having a foundation plan helped!)
- Vehicle Maintenance:
We got new tires to start. The Braves have a promotion when when they hit a home run in the 4th inning Kauffman Tires gives $144 off all four tires. Hubs, being the mechanical savvy fellow he is, also got a special carpeting which fits the grooves of the plastic flooring. He got a steering wheel cover, put in a GPS display and backup camera, changed the oil, put on seat covers, got new floor mats, put in a new arm rest, put in new shocks, added a roof rack and a cargo box. I, on the other hand, hung a dream catcher I made a few years ago and added some stickers to the cargo box. This was not my most helpful aspect when preparing for the trip.
- Closing Up Shop:
My helpful hands came inside the house. Getting your house ready to sit for two weeks seems easy, but you have to imagine the sights and smells you could encounter when you cross the threshold after a fortnight. Obviously you should clean your house. I cannot stand coming home from a trip to a messy house. Before I leave I vacuum, change the sheets, do all the laundry (including folding and putting it away), clean the kitchen, and take out the trash and recycling, You'd be surprised how stinky a poorly rinsed out cup can get sitting in your sink. Same goes for a damp washcloth in the hamper or an old sauce jar in the recycling. And because I love our Earth, and Hubs loves saving money, we closed all the curtains, turned off everything, unplugged what we could, and even turned the AC off. Nothing like coming home to hot, stale house! Better than a sticky, messy one. We would have turned off our water but we asked my dad to come bu and check on/water the garden. We also had the post office hold our mail. We are fortunate enough to have family live nearby and do drive-by checks to look for packages, busted windows, burglars escaping, fire, etc.
- The Fur Babies:
Surprisingly the dogs were the easiest part to pack for! Maybe it's because I did a lot more research on what to do for them than for the other aspects of the trip. First, there's the pet policies for all the stops we wanted to visit. National parks tend to have stricter policies than national forests or state parks. More on that in the next post. Secondly, there's what to pack for you dogs. There was a ton of information on this online (thanks Pinterest!). Basically it boils down to how to keep your dog safe, healthy, and happy. Then there's what to do for your dogs before you go. Medicines, grooming, exercising, vaccines, practicing riding in the car... And always make sure your pet has the proper ID on them and keep an extra copy of their paperwork in your vehicle. We also invested in reflective harnesses, cable, and tie out stakes for at the campsites.
- Lessons Learned From The Road:
1. over-packing --> still and ALWAYS abide by the "every ounce counts" rule, even if not physically carrying all of your belongs. All the extra stuff I packed got to be really annoying. We were constantly having the dig for things, rearrange, and it took up too much space in the van.
2. over-planning --> this was the longest trip I've ever planned for. It ended up being so long and tiring that we had to cut out a lot of the original stops. Perhaps I over planned because I teach and over-planning is always better than under-planning... Lofty goals for the trip meant a lot of the stops I was hyped up about got cut short or frankly cut out. We had to focus on the must-sees. Plus having the dogs in tow and weather conditions hindered us from going to some places so that helped slim the list. Being flexible is a must.
Next post I'll be describing our trip and all the amazing things we saw and experienced of our gorgeous country. If you wanted a sneak peak at some pictures, check out #vantriptails2017 on Instagram.
