Advice for the Traveler

Have you seen the pictures lately? If you haven't remember to go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30520769@N06/ Advice for the potential traveler: Especially those of you who have the idea of traveling with children. . . . and a dog. . . . in an RV. . . . for a long time. From August 2nd, 2008 to November 18th we were on a Voyage of Discovery, as our family of four (five, including the beloved dog) experienced America by more or less circumnavigating our nation in our 36 ft. Fleetwood Discovery Motorhome (affectionately called "LaFawnduh" by the girls). As she moved around the country she pulled along our Jeep Wrangler (known as "Kip" by the girls). We amassed 12,945 miles in the Motorhome and 6,560 miles in the Jeep. This blog, and all of its posts more or less are a journal of the trip. As the girls completed their homework, and as Connie prepared our meals, I made the daily blog entry (not always, but as often as possible). We were fortunate to have experienced this trip and we would most definitely do it again if possible. Our family was close before we left, and as 9 year old Audrey puts it, the trip made us all "bond". Audrey especially, gained a great deal of self confidence during her time on the road. The trip enriched all of us as it broadened our perspective on our fellow Americans and gave us a greater appreciation for its beautiful scenery; especially the lands set aside for us as our National Parks. During our travel around the nation Hannah was 11, Audrey was 9. Folks, that age was PERFECT. I can’t imagine things going better than what they did. We began planning the trip five years ago and we waited until now so that: 1.) Audrey would be old enough to have lifelong memories, and 2.) We recognized that as wonderful of a person that Hannah is, she will become a teenager who given the opportunity to travel as we did will be more likely to say, “No way!” So, for us, we saw a narrow window of opportunity in which to make the journey and for YEARS we budgeted for the upcoming trip. Now, for the advice: First and foremost: GO! Sure, it’s not cheap but if you start planning for it and saving for it, then the trip is very much doable. Cost of fuel for the trip: A lot. Cost of admission for all of the places you’ll visit: A ton. Chance to give your children a trip of a lifetime; One that they will remember and talk about for decades to come: Priceless. Now for some real advice: 1. Be flexible. I learned this early in the trip and when I did the day was much more enjoyable. 2. Establish a routine. Even though it is important to be flexible, routines are predictable and comforting. Even the morning routine of tossing the ball for the dog was something that I looked forward to. 3. The unexpected happens. Most trips are going to include traveling during the road construction months. So, there will be road construction delays; and weather delays; and delays caused by accidents on the road (hopefully not your own). 4. An air card, or Wi-Fi at the least, is a great tool to check on the above and adapt to it. By going to the various state Department of Transportation websites you can see where and when there are construction projects. This allows you to plan an alternate route instead. You can also check with NOAA’s National Weather Site and see where there are thunderstorms, high wind warnings, hailstorms, etc. The NOAA site was ALWAYS right. 5. Try to make as few reservations as possible. Now, this can be a challenge if you’re going to New England in the autumn, or Disneyworld, or any amusement park in August, but try to allow for as much time between the reservations as possible. Because there are going to be many, many, many unexpected treasures along the way. Places where you will wish you had more time to explore. But, if you have a reservation tomorrow, you will need to move on. 6. Unless you are fortunate enough to be retired and traveling, you will undoubtedly be on a time schedule. For us, both Con and I needed to return to work, and the girls wanted to get back to their friends and routine at school. So the challenge of the trip was balancing the finite time allotted for the trip with the multitude of things that you want to fill your days with. For us, it was as if eating a holiday meal. Our eyes were simply bigger than our stomachs. We tried to do too much and that only led to long days, no breaks, and ultimately increased stress levels for all. The kids faired far better than Mom and Dad did. the later were generally speaking, exhausted. So, the bottom line is to make sure that you have in your schedule the needed breaks from traveling and doing, doing, doing, going, going, going. 7. This one is directly related to number 6, but bears separate mention: As you travel you will want to spend time with beloved family and friends along the way. When you do, they will undoubtedly want to “treat you” to a good time. That means that time that you had hoped to relax, and hang out, and visit, is now spent on the move perhaps from sunup to sundown. You’ll be exhausted. Make sure that your loved ones know that you’re looking forward to just spending time with them. So, somehow budget time to be "down time". Call them flex days, call them hang out days, call them whatever you want, but just have them. You will NEED to have "Hang out on the beach times". Less time in going places and seeing things (do that as well) but also time to RELAX. Yep, pretty much a repeat of number six, but again worth repeating since folks, it is important. Remember to simply sit and sip that Sweet Iced Tea beneath of the shade of the Maple trees. 8. Keep long travel days to a minimum, or not at all. When we started out a day with a drive of 350 miles ahead of us, after an hour of driving we realized that we still had 290 miles to go. This meant that all of the passengers and the driver were not looking forward to the remaining miles; but, if instead we started out the day with an attitude of, “We’ll go as far as we want and then we’ll stop.” That day went by at a much more relaxed pace. The 11 year old in our group made that observation and she was right. Our three longest travel days turned out to be three of our least stressful since they were days when we just went as far as we wanted and then stopped. 9. Recognize at the onset that no matter how long your trip is, it is not going to be long enough. There will still be many days where you have to choose one thing at the expense of not doing another. 10. No matter how much you love one another you will still need some “away” time. Our RV is 8 ft wide by 36 ft long. That's on the outside, for on the inside it is filled with a lot of "stuff". We had two adults and two children and a dog in that space for 110 consecutive days. I looked forward to my morning jog or my hikes with the dog; Con looked forward to going to the grocery store or going to the laundry alone simply because she was able to be away from the “gang”. At the Laundromat she was able to read a good book without interruptions. 11. Not necessarily a good thing that we did: We dove right in. Meaning, we had never went on a comparable RV trip ever before. Or, even anything close to it. So, there were a lot of "unknowns" and "learning" to be done. Unfortunately this learning happened along the way. With 20/20 hindsight now, perhaps it would have been better to have been more familiar with RV'ing before we had left instead of learning as we went. For instance, our Class "A" motor home had a lot of storage space, so we originally filled the space up as a good boy scout would who wanted to be prepared; but as the trip drew nearer and fuel prices continued to climb, I thought as a backpacker would, I downsized and lightened the load. I didn't want to haul stuff around for 10,000 plus miles if I didn't have to. I thought of the mountain passes that LaFawnduh would have to climb and I thought that she needed to go on a diet. Well, guess what, I wished I had the stuff. The bicycles, the wetsuits, the motorcycle, the in-line skates, etc. LaFawnduh is the first diesel powered vehicle that Con and I have ever owned. We didn't trust that she would be able to haul all of the weight around, but as it turned out she was a torque monster. She did just fine. Heck, she did exceptionally well. Just some food for thought. 12. If your dog is a Labrador Retriever, and if she has the personality that ours has, by all means, take him or her along. In all of our travels our dog did not make a mess, or get motion sickness, or bark inappropriately. She was a breath of fresh air (and sometimes a breath of not so fresh air) that never once complained; even when we had left her alone for hours on end. She never griped during the four days that we left her at a kennel (three days at Disneyworld and once in Key Largo). The kids snuggled with her and her presence was very much a calming factor for the hours on the road. At the campsites, whenever somebody came to the door, she barked, and that is a good thing when you are with your loved ones at some strange and unknown location. 13. Purchase the annual National Park Service pass, aptly named "America the Beautiful-The National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Annual Pass." During our trip, the card paid for itself at least four times over. 14. Now this one is pure opinion. There are a lot of different opinions as to "how to travel" and having made this trip we would definitely do it in the same manner. In a Class "A" motorhome. Perhaps the only better way to see America would be from a helicopter, but that wouldn't have been as intimate. In the motorhome, if you were fortunate enough to have been in the front seats (passenger seat preferable) the view is as if looking out a picture window. The view is broad and your vantage height above the roadway provides a view of America that is unbeatable. As we moved around the nation the kids and Mom made trips to the potty, and often times prepared lunches on the go. There were times that the only time the RV stopped was for the driver to make a potty break. At that time, the dog was taken out by Mom or the girls. While moving around the nation the girls were able to do homework, read books, listen to music and audio books from the comfort of their "lounge" seats. They napped easily and never once suffered from motion sickness. Now, that is in comparison to Hannah who generally suffers from motion sickness within twenty miles of riding in a car (even her Mom's comfortable Denali). It was Hannah's motion sickness that made us consider getting a motorhome in the first place. We were all prepared to make the trip pulling our 30 ft. Airstream Excella trailer, except for Hannah's motion sickness. Her motion sickness was becoming the deal breaker in making this trip. Hannah claims that the openness of the RV prevents her from feeling ill. Folks if she couldn't travel without motion sickness, this trip would have never happened in the first place. 15. And related to 14, with the Diesel motorhome it was a piece of cake to pull a dinghy. For us the Jeep Wrangler 4-door which had ample room for the four of us plus the dog, extra clothes, picnic lunches, camera gear, etc. We were simply aware of where we were driving into, and never once had to disconnect the dinghy from the RV because we had gotten into a "tight" spot where we needed to back out of. Generally, as we pulled into the campground for the evening Con would go inside to register and I would disconnect the Jeep. When Con returned the Jeep was idling and ready for her to lead the way to the campsite (Related to Number 2, establish a routine). 16. My friend, Mike Hunton suggests a pre-flight checklist. I didn't do this, because I never was able to complete a finished product. All of mine were simply drafts. Mike's checklist is laminated and is something that you do step by step before pulling away (he is a trailer hauler, but that works for him just fine). With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, had I completed and followed a checklist the RV steps wouldn't have needed replaced, the refrigerator cover would still be the one that came with the RV, and we wouldn't have had that near miss as we were pulling out of Scussett Beach, Massachusetts. Fortunately for us, the Methners called us on the cell phone and said, "Hey, your antenna is still up". There will probably be more things that come to mind, so I’ll add them as they do. . . . Keep safe. Have fun. And by all means, GO!!!!!!!!!!