Pre Trip Preparation

How do you plan for a trip where the temperature outside will range from possibly over 100 degrees down to the 30's and the temperature inside the car can quickly change from laughter to tears? How do you plan your itinerary when you're not sure how long you want to spend at each location? How do you plan how much food to bring on a trip where you really don't have a sense of where the next grocery store may be? All these questions (and many more) have woken me up early these past few days.

Let me back up a little though for the sake of those who haven't had to listen to me ramble over these past few months about all the things I "want" to do and the places we "will" visit on this trip. Well, Mark did a great job sitting back and letting me ramble because he knew that sooner or later I would definitely figure out that I had some lofty goals and although I tend to drive fast we were not going to be able to see all the places I had in mind. In fact, we really aren't going to see half the places I originally had on my list. But, whatever we end up doing do and whatever we do get to see will all be amazing and memorable for us all!

So, the trip idea was hatched a year ago sitting around the campsites in NH with the Piersons, Leemings, Kerrs, Brennans and Obars. We all knew the Piersons were moving west so we thought it was a great idea to relocate our yearly camping trip to Yellowstone National Park instead of White Lake State Park in New Hampshire. This way, we can continue our tradition with ALL the families together.

Originally, the discussion was centered around the five East Coast families driving out in a caravan style. But, as each of the families started discussing their ideas and goals independently it became apparent that the trips were going to become more of an individual endeavor. Some people wanted to drive the entire route (this is what the Chalmers, Brennans and Obars chose), others wanted to rent RV's and fly home (Kerrs) and others decided that purchasing their own RV was the way to go (you go Leemings!). The best part about this past year was the realization that everyone was dead serious about making this trip and nobody was going to back out!

As time went by the trip was taking on a number of different dimensions for all of us. The most noticeable thing for me was that we really stopped thinking about the details once we decided to drive. It kind of gave me a feeling of freedom to not have to plan airline tickets, RV reservations and hotels. We really didn't think much about the trip until March and then we got pretty bogged down with spring sports.

Then, about a month ago, the emails started flying back and forth between the families." Has anyone planned their trip yet?", "Have we thought about what to pack?", "How are we going to handle feeding the masses (yes, we have 29 people going)?" These were just a few of the questions that we were all trying to answer while getting through the end of the school year, end of the spring sports and planning a massive vacation.

Two weeks ago, Sharon(Kerr) and I sat down to finally start mapping out our trip West. We had some very helpful suggestions from the Bowmans who, incidentally, completed a similar trip last year. Once again, our biggest challenge was actually narrowing down all our ideas. At this point, both families had some time to look through the AAA guide books and pick out some interesting sites and fun locations. We combined our thoughts and came up with a very lofty, but doable, itinerary. There is some potential that Glacier National Park will be visited!

The next big step was packing. We had to fit all the clothes, camping equipment for two families and seven people in my trusty minivan. This was going to require some serious planning. Obviously, the camping equipment was crucial. BTW, we are planning to camp our way out to Yellowstone, weather permitting. The clothes, while not optional, certainly got down graded to a minimal requirement (four shirts, four shorts, four pairs of socks each) With our lists in hand and or departure date nearing we started our preparations.

School ended on Friday, packing began on Saturday. With Mark's help I was able to collect and organize all the camping equipment, warm weather clothes, cool weather clothes and incidentals by the end of the day on Sunday. The family room looked like a college dorm room at the end of Senior Week. On Sunday night we packed the car with all the camping equipment, tent, sleeping bags and blankets and then drove to the Kerr's house to fill the car with the same from their house. The car was looking pretty good.

On Monday we proceeded to pack all the clothes in duffle bags and back packs. I'm amazed at how efficiently we can pack when I put my mind to it. All the clothes, towels, bathing suits, fleeces, shoes fit nicely into 3 duffle bags and two back packs...amazing.

On Tuesday I finished packing the car with all the Chalmers clothes and did the last minute shopping for all the little things. At Target I ran into the Brennans and Kerrs who surprisingly were doing the same thing! The rest of the day Tuesday was spent just getting all the small things settled so I felt comfortable leaving and not worrying about the stuff that I can't do anything about anyway. Sharon was busy putting the final touches on her stuff which we'll finish packing when we pick them up in the morning. Our plans are to leave the house by 7am. My tasks are complete.....off to play some Hockey (gotta make time for some fun ;-)....