The Planning Phase...

Having finally decided our plan of action, the fun part of mapping and dreaming and planning has begun. We are getting hitched on May 29th, and we are headed out on the open road June 1st, 2021 to embark on the ultimate road trip. We will spend nine months, or 273 days, traveling through and around the Lower 48. I decided that I need to blog along the way, for both the mental exercise and the documentation of this madness, so that some day I can print it out and put it in a time capsule or something. Lol.

Here are some screenshots of the trip as it's been planned so far. I'm using an awesome app called Roadtrippers. You can add and delete stops along the way, and you can filter search results to find whatever you are looking for...gas stations, rv parks, attractions, etc..

There are nine legs of our trip, but one is an offshoot, so I'm calling it leg 5A. That means that there are technically eight legs of our trip, just like a spider. No idea why that's relevant, but I'm picturing the treks on the map as eight legs of a spider. Yes, the medical marijuana is working. Haha. Anyway, based on my calculations, we are currently looking at 18,000 miles of driving. Wowza! That seems like an awful lot, but over nine months there will be plenty of chill time, too.

The first leg of our trip is from Coalville, Utah (home) to Bakersfield, California, where Beau grew up. We will spend June 1-5 in St. George at the beautiful St. George/Hurricane KOA Campground. From there, we go to Vegas from June 5-9, where we will party like it's 1999 for my 50th. I'm not actually addressing the fact that I'm about to turn 50 as of yet, so I'm not really sure how I feel about that. Old. I generally just feel old.

In Vegas we will stay south of the strip at a place called The Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort. Not to be outdone celebrating my 50th, we will be attending the 2021 World of Concrete in Vegas, which is being held from June 8-10. C'mon now, People, you know you're just a little bit jealous. And if you think I'm kidding, click on that embedded link for the World of Concrete. It's a real and exciting event. Lmao. After Vegas, we are off to Bakersfield from 6/9-6/14. I have never spent time in California at all, so I'm most excited about the trip North along the coast on Highway 1. Major bucket list item. 😁

Leg 2. From Bakersfield, California on June 6/14 we head north to Mukilteo, Washington, arriving 6/27. Almost two weeks to meander up the road, along the coast of California, Oregon and Washington. Tons of stops along the way. I have taken a cue from my cousin Beth, who recommended many of those stops, and focused on important places like breweries, wineries and creameries. Lol. We will eat and drink our way through beautiful Oregon.

We will stop for the night on 6/14 at the Walmart Supercenter in Marina, CA. We like Walmart parking lots, mostly because they are a free place to stop for 24 hours, but also because we can find them everywhere. I have also joined a group called Harvest Hosts, which has assembled a list of over 2000 places where members can camp overnight throughout the US...they are wineries, farms and other attractions. So cool. So far, I have booked a few nights at vineyards in Grand Junction and Denver.

In Washington, we are spending a few days near Westport in Hoquiam where a buddy of mine from Tampa lives.

Apparently, that weekend is Rusty Scupper Pirate Days in Westport. Sounds fun!! Hoping that we can get Beau on a charter boat to do some fishing. And then we will roll on into Seattle from 6/27 to 7/3. We are staying at Lake Pleasant RV Park in Bothell.

Leg 3. From Seattle we head to Gig Harbor and Spokane, then on into Montana and Wyoming, with a stop in Idaho Falls, and then back to Coalville for Xander's birthday, which is July 28th.

Leg 4. Coalville, Utah to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Perhaps the longest leg of the trip distance wise, this will be the most boring drive to be sure. We will head south to Moab on August 6th for a couple days, then on over to Grand Junction for some wine tasting. After that, we'll spend a few days in Denver before heading up through Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, North Dakota, Minnesota, and then over to Wisconsin. I picked the Sturgeon Bay area because I remember my parents taking a boat trip there a long time ago and having very fond memories of the experience. So excited to go create my own memories...

Leg 5. This leg will actually be split in two parts, because leg 5A (below) occurs halfway along the route. After our travels through the Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia), we will stop to see my beautiful friend Laura in Frederick, Maryland. From Laura, we head north to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to spend some time with the Amish, and then on up to Niagara Falls. See Leg 5A, below...

Leg 5A. From Frederick, Maryland up to Niagara Falls, then over to Maine, via a trek through all of New England, then back down to Bel Air, Maryland, where we will pick up with the rest of Leg 5, eventually stopping in The OBX (Outerbanks). Another one for the bucket list!!!

Leg 6. Outerbanks to New Orleans. This one still needs some work, as I will add quite a few more stops in Florida. Will update here as I go along. The planning and booking of RV parks takes me about a day for one leg. I am trying to have all nine legs booked by May 1st. Aggressive, but its the only way to travel. We are trying to travel during the high season, and many of the RV parks are taking reservations a year in advance. It also takes a toll on the budget, as you have to pay some/all of the total cost of the stay at each park.

Leg 6 means we will be headed south by mid-late October. Lots of bucket list stops on this leg as well...Charleston, Savannah, and GulfShores, Alabama, ending up in New Orleans by the end of November. That leaves three months to get through legs 7 and 8.

Leg 7. New Orleans to El Paso. From New Orleans, we will backtrack a bit and hit Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and the big state of Texas. Hoping to be in El Paso before Christmas. Then we have Jan and Feb to take our time heading back to Home Sweet Home.

Leg 8, El Paso to Home Sweet Home. Our final stretch. New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and a bit of Utah. That, my friends, is a wrap. 18,000 miles and 9 months later, we will have visited all of the Lower 48 states. Pretty freaking cool!!!