Happy Reading

So, in between school work with Derek, changing Devlin's diapers and studying for my upcoming real estate exam, I have been cramming all of this road trip planning. I am so excited for this trip! Today I went to AAA and picked up books for most of the United States. I have been reading on the Frommers website as well. I will post my plans as soon as they are solid.

It is surprising how much you learn just by reading tour books. I have Derek reading the little paragraphs they have listed on the places we are visiting. He is also going through the books to find places he wants to visit.

I am trying to decide if I want to put together a notebook with a section on each state we are going to visit. I was thinking I would include the capitol, when the state was founded, a map and then leave places for him to journal. I also want to inlude literature on all the museums, monuments and parks we see to help remind him later when we look back on these places.

So happy reading. I have so much to do :)

The Right RV

Marty, the boys and I went shopping for RV's today. We decided to shop at Mike Thompson's Superstore because they are a very large dealership with many new and used RV's to test out. We looked at Class A RV's which are the large tour bus vehicles, as well as the Class C which are the vehicles up to 31-32 feet.

This was an important step in our process of planning this trip. We have been shopping online researching new and used RV's but you don't get a true feel for the vehicles until you are actually in them. We love the looks of those great big beautiful tour buses, which are filled with beautiful amenities. However, when you are actually in these monsters it becomes a bit overwhelming. We sat in the drivers seat in each of these RV's and tried to picture ourselves on the road. It was a blast! We learned so much just by talking with the sales staff today.

We are certain we are going to purchase a Fleetwood Tioga 31' RV. After reviewing many different manufacturers, we like these the best. We are looking for a Tioga with 2 slide outs. The slide outs provide extra room in the RV when you are parked at a campsite. They are like pop outs in a pop out book. There was a lot of storage, which is much needed when you are planning a long road trip. We like the flow of the floor plan in these RV's. The cabinets are durable, our salesman lifted himself up and down on these to showcase the durability. Also, when looking at many of these campsites across the country we have noticed a lot of restrictions. You cannot park a Class A anywhere. Some National Parks won't allow them on site. So, as we dug deeper we realized it wouldn't be an ideal choice for us.

The Tioga is comfortable, and although it will be tight as we are traveling across the country with our large dogs it will suffice. We will definitely be traveling in style. The fabric is polyester and very durable! Easy to clean and remove.

I am so excited we got this major hurdle out of the way! If you are looking to do a road trip, I strongly advise looking at RV choices first so you can get an idea of what you will be working with on the road. It's also an important step in budgeting. When we looked at renting these, they were expensive. It really didn't make sense for us to rent one. The dealerships that supply these RV's for rent tack on additional expenses like on mileage, insurance and an additional deposit for damage. If something hits you on the road, you will be held responsible and have to pay for the damage. It makes more sense to purchase these vehicles and if you choose not to keep it then sell it on your own to a private party.

I am now going to really begin working on narrowing down sites and places to visit in each state. We want to take our time on this trip and see as much as we can without feeling rushed or bored. We also need to narrow down our route. So by picking fascinating places to see, we can begin picking the best route.

Planning...

We are planning to embark on an incredible journey to travel the United States. We are excited to share our experiences along the way by posting photos, videos and dialogue throughout our incredible journey. We are hoping to educate others on how to accomplish a road trip like ours and how to have a good time doing it! Also to inspire, traveling increases our knowledge and it is so educational.

We are a family of four, Marty, Kara (that's me), our two sons Derek and Devlin. We also have 3 dogs, Abby, Amos and Destiny. We decided the dogs would need to travel with us rather than stay home. This was for many reasons, one we have two English Mastiffs and a Teacup Chihuahua. The mastiffs are large dogs, great for protection, and need to be with family. They would have become stressed over a period of time without us. Also, it's nice to be able to cuddle up with them at the end of the day, or to take nice long walks. So for us it made sense to include them on our trip. After all, they are part of our family too!

Growing up, Marty and I camped a lot with our families. My parents owned an RV and we traveled to a lot of places over the summers and ate many interesting things. We still talk about these places today at family events. Marty's family enjoyed fishing and hiking in the woods. Together we wanted to be able to share these activities with our own children. Our hope is that they will take these memories and share them with their children.

I purchased a few books to help me in planning our trip. The first book is Trailer Life, which is the official directory of the Good Sam Club. As I have been researching, I have discovered how important it is to become a member. It pays for itself honestly. Many of the campgrounds and RV parks offer discounts if you are a member. Also, you can call them if you experience an emergency and they will provide you with a list of approved repair facilities who can help you with your vehicle. This is very important! For one, taking a cross country trip is already incredibly expensive, and second you don't want to be stranded in the middle of nowhere with a broken down RV and not have a place to take it.

We haven't set a budget for our trip at this point. For now, we are working on a route and picking places to visit in each state. We have decided not to visit Alaska on this trip. We went to Alaska on a cruise a few years ago and it was gorgeous. It was very spiritual experience for me! The mountains and glaciers take your breath away, and it made me wonder if earth is this beautiful what will Heaven be like?

We want to go back to Alaska and spend a summer traveling across the state in our RV. This way we can really take our time. We would love to get some great pictures of the bears feeding on salmon, and meet some of the locals. So for now, we will have to miss it.

We are also thinking about skipping Florida. As we explore each of the states while setting up our route we will make our final decision. The Disney theme parks are a large expense to consider, as well as a great deal of time, so we are going to look at our trip with and without Florida.

My goal this weekend is to begin researching RV's. We decided to purchase an RV rather than rent, so we are looking at the class sizes, manufacturers etc. A rental was $10,000 and we found nice RV's to purchase for the same amount. I'll report my findings at the end of the weekend. Tomorrow we are hitting up Camping World.