THE Trip, THE Encore' :: And We Are Off

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

After some long weeks of prep, doctor and dentist appointments, family gatherings, cleaning, yard work, more prep work, organizing, packing, moving stuff here and there, we were finally all packed up and ready to roll.

First day out we like to leave the house about 1ish, it was later than that. We ran out to the campground about 100 miles from the stickbuilt and pulled in to find some sad, but, not unexpected changes.  The facility is not new any longer and some of the electrical is starting to show the signs of hard use.  It was the same last year.  This year, they no longer staff the office like they used to, and their signs for office hours are far from correct, and the managers were not willing to come down and sell us propane 10 minutes after they closed the office (no closing time posted anywhere).  So, we left them with a weeks household garbage and may consider finding another place to make our first stop out next year.  Sad.  Very sad.  It was the perfect stopping place for us.

Second day, we drove only about 200 miles, give or take, some in the rain, with temps around 40 degrees F, nasty gray skies and a brisk wind. I had on so many layers I could not count them and I was still cold walking the fur kids on potty break stops.  We stopped early in a small campground in southern Indiana.  We were ready to be off the road.  But, today was the day I got to say, I believe THE Trip, THE Encore' is gonna happen, see, Indianapolis in my rear view mirror. OKKK, it is the side view mirror and it is not a photo of downtown, but, it will just have to do!  LOL

Third day, even shorter drive, we end up just north of Nashville, we are off the road very early, we rest.  Much needed rest.  We realize we have fallen back 2 hours, one for daylight savings time, one for Central Time Zone.  The yorkies are not so sure they like this deal, it really throws off their dinner time.

Fourth day will be a Monday, we need to get to the other side of Nashville, that means we will not roll until about 10 AM, wait for the locals to get to work before we venture out on the I roads.  I'll chat about that day's drive soon.

So, after some months of hope and planning,THE Trip, THE Encore' has begun.

We are off and rolling and Indianapolis was last seen in the side view mirrors.  WOOT!





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THE Trip, THE Encore' :: The Proposed Route, Well Part Of It Anyway

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Two years ago Man and I began to realize the dreams of over 30 years, a trip west of I 35 to places like Arizona, Utah, national parks, red landscape, LOTS of red landscape.  I named the escapade "THE Trip".  I never believed it would be realized, too many times we had hoped to go west and each time the trip was thwarted.   My favorite phrase was, "I'll believe it when I see Indianapolis in my rear view mirror!"  Then in November of 2010, I did see Indianapolis in my rear view mirror.  I think I was in disbelief for months.  It was wonderful!  OK, it was beyond wonderful!

We traveled about 15,000 miles, 6,500 of that was towing Tana.  We were on the road 8.5 months.  We met wonderful people, some of whom changed me forever.  We saw wonderful things, stunning, breath taking scenery.  I took something like 25,000 to 30,000 photos, I lost count!  Did I say it was wonderful??  Yep, it was.

Well, I am thrilled to announce we are going to give the west another whirl.  This year we are planning/hoping to go further west.  Some of the bucket list visits are: Oregon, Washington, more of California, Nevada, maybe the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Yosemite National Park, Crater National Park and the goal this time out, Glacier National Park.  Two years ago when we were sorta close to Glacier they still had 90 FEET of snow up there around July 1st.  Yes, that's right, 90 FEET!  Well, hello, how do you think they get glaciers, eh??

We have been doing some planning, which in of itself is a bit weird, as for the last few years, we rarely plan anything, we just sorta blow around in the wind.  We can do that in part because our home has wheels.  No planning is a bit scary and in some ways, strangely, liberating.  We let our Maker be the planner, we just rolled with it.  However, this year, at least at the start of our tour we expect to have friends with us, RVing friends, with a lovely Motorhome and toad (car they tow behind), a border collie, a love of cameras, history, flowers and geocaching (they taught us geocaching).  Yes indeedy, we are going to do part of this trip together.  I am getting so excited!  What a blessing to go traveling around our beautiful USA and then to be able to do so with such good friends is a double blessing, maybe a triple blessing!

Part of the planning was figuring out where to land for the holidays, I need to "nest and rest" over Christmas and New Years.  We decided on Tuscon, our reservations are made already!  Amazing!

Another part of the planning was to decide what to do between now and then.  Man has long wanted to visit Big Bend National Park so that was put on the plan as a "must do".

The bucket list grew and it shaped the first 6 weeks of THE Trip, THE Encore'.  And, thus, a map was born, and here it is.  The proposed route, this is NOT written in stone, just scratched in a bit of dust.

(I do note that there is a bit of an error on this rough outline map, number 8 will not happen!  LOL)

So, God willing and the creek don't rise, starting in just a couple of weeks, we will wave at Indianapolis, Nashville, the Natchez Trace, Jackson Mississippi, New Orleans, Galveston (via Port Bolivar and the free ferry), San Antonio, Big Bend National Park, and Benson Arizona on our way to Tuscon for the holidays.

Between now and then, I have some serious packemup chores to do, and some family to hug.

On the road again - - you know that song.



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