5,000 Miles - Go Big or Go Home

Mark and I seem to take on a big adventure every time I retire.  After leaving DSHS, we hiked the Camino de Santiago also known as the Way of St. James in Northern Spain.  This time we purchased a 30 foot travel trailer to explore the US.  We are addicted to National Parks, nature photography, and experiencing the beauty of this county. We have tested out the travel trailer 4 times on short trips.  Our 5th trip was cancelled because the AC was not cooling, refrigerator stopped working and the microwave needed to be replaced.  Thankfully, the dealership was able to fix all the problems with a new AC and microwave installed and a component replaced in the refrigerator.  We were lucky that these issues were identified and repaired before we left.  Fingers crossed that we don't have any more mechanical problems.  

 We talked about adding Glacier National Park to our already full trip, but decided 4 weeks was long enough and adding Glacier would add another week... and once you are in Glacier you are so close to Canada that it would be a shame to not continue further north - so we will have to do Glacier next summer.  There are so many places and states to visit. We are excited about the future.  

Mark has watched 100's of You Tube videos on "how to", "what to" and "just in case do" for pulling and preparing a travel trailer.  He also downloaded apps for telling us if we are traveling on a road with a bridge our trailer won't clear and finding available campsites.  One app tells us on average when we need to stop for gas, were we can stop and maps the route plus gas stops.  We have 50 something required stops for gas and overnight. We "feel" prepared. 

Speaking of prepared, trip planning is half the fun for me.  I may just be a little obsessed with planning and organization.  This binder has our daily itinerary, stops, sights to see, photography locations, coins for laundry, contacts for AAA and all of our memberships like KOA, Harvest Hosts and Good Sam.  The good part is we have a few dates that we must be at specific places. We only have one reservation that has been made in advance at Mt. Rushmore giving us some flexibility - if we want to leave a place sooner or stay longer.  

I have prepared and frozen 25 meals that are ready to be thawed and heated or cooked sous vide.  With some meals out, we should only have to stop for some minor groceries like milk, bread, eggs, and fresh fruits and veggies along the way.  I am hoping we find a few roadside fresh produce places.  

We leave in one week - Thanks for following along with our journey along the Cowling Way.