The Itinerary (expanded)

When we first planned this trip we broke out the U.S. map, picked out the places we wanted to visit, and using a ruler as a mileage gauge, roughed out the route. In doing that, we left a lot of blank spaces on the calendar for travel. What we did not do was figure out where we would be staying on those blank days.

So here we are two days before we depart and we are just beginning to map out all of the in-betweens. Of course because this entails trying to make sure we limit our driving to a comfortable number of hours, we need to roughly locate where we will be stopping for the night.

In doing this, I have come to realize that my original drive time estimates have been off. Consequently we have modified our itinerary slightly, adding more time in the San Francisco area and an extra day in Albuquerque. We have also substituted Nashville for Memphis for our stay in Tennessee and a couple of one day stops have been added.

Other than the Memphis/Nashville change, the basic itinerary remains the same, although the actual dates may be off by a day or so.

The Westward Trip

...but first

Joyce and I have been on a few trips in the motor home in the past year and a half, but none for more than a week or two. Last year we had signed up to go with a caravan to Alaska in the summer of 2013 which would have run for about 60 days or so, plus whatever time it would take to get to the staging area and whatever time we would spend out west after the caravan ended. Late last year we felt it necessary to cancel that trip to attend to personal issues.

Thursday we will begin a two month trip to the west coast and have invited a number of friends and relatives to follow us on our trip via this blog. For the next three days we will begin packing up the motor home.