The Next Great American Road Trip: Budget and Maps

One huge consideration for us when planning this road trip is the budget. I believe, based on my experience with these things in the past, that the more comprehensive the plan is, the more I can afford it. Still, I'm me, and my mom is who she is, so there has to be room for spontaneity. I can plan for that.

We'd already decided that we needed to use my van to go across the country so that my grandma could practice getting in and out with no surprises.  This means that I had to figure out how to make my van work for another cross country adventure. It's the same van we used last time, so it has a lot of miles and is starting to show it's age. It's only a 2010, so I don't really have a whole lot of trouble with it, but it definitely needs some love if it is going to make it across the country, so I have to budget for that.

The next thing is that packing for the first great adventure was difficult, adding another person who has mobility equipment that she requires is near impossible if I don't make some changes. We decided that we needed to put a tow hitch on the back of the van and get a small utility trailer to bring stuff on, namely the electric wheels that my grandma uses. I also have to figure the space that was inside the van from my kids being smaller and all the things that we could get away with packing around them. It's just not going to work to do that again (as much...I'll probably still have some stuff stuffed in places, but still giving ample room). The trailer should give us enough room, depending on what I find to use. Looking for cheap but sturdy stuff isn't going to be really easy I'm finding.

The next thing we have to plan for that is different from the last trip that will have an effect on the budget is the way that mobility issues will change the way that we stop for the night along the way. Last time we did quite a bit of tent camping with an occasional stay at one of my mom's vacation resorts. This time we have to add in some hotel stays and less tent camping. I'm working on the ability to tent camp with my grandma (she's game as long as she is capable), but I have to plan for the hotels in case the tent camping doesn't work out as an option. If you've ever tent camped you know the significant difference in price of the trip. I was working out one stop and the difference there was $29 for the tent camp site vs. $170 for the hotel room with an ADA room. It's not pretty, but I'm working on it. Like I said, with enough planning time, I can afford anything. It's the benefit of working as a substitute teacher, I just have to be more willing to work more often.

Then we have Micah's need to run and escape the small car filled with a couple of people who can't handle stemming for a long time. It doesn't seem like it will effect the budget, but my plans for meltdown prevention usually do.  We know from last time and the train debacle of this last year's summer youth camp with church (don't ask) that moving vehicles and Micah's slumber do not mix well. Honestly, I don't blame him, I don't sleep well in a moving vehicle either. Lack of sleep affects mood. I want to prevent some of the meltdowns that happened last time in a safer space (though my mom lost it last trip, and she is generally extremely patient). Now that we know that, there will be more stops this time, and especially stops that require physical exertion on the part of the boy. For one thing, I will be taking my bike, so I can keep up with him on runs that will be planned on our trip. Will this alter the budget? Oh, yeah. More stops means more money for overnight stays, which means I really have to figure out how to make those stops cheaper or work even more days that I wouldn't have.

So, since stops along the way are so important for the budget, I decided to go ahead and stop to make the map. I feel like the map is going to determine the budget more than the budget is going to determine the map. For this I looked for a tool online that can help me plan the route and find the stops along the way. I found the easiest tool for what I wanted to do, was to use Furkot. It saves and plans my trip, even telling me what time it will be when I reach a destination, and showed me some fun places to visit along the way. It's easy to use and save the info, and when I finalize the plans it even has a way to make reservations through links on the map. I probably won't use that last feature much, what with the stops at my mom's vacation resort and possibly camping stops (not a reservation option).

 We knew that we wanted to take a northern route across the USA this time. We did a southern route last time, and honestly, I've done that a few times in my life, but never did the northern trip. I want to do it for myself as much as anybody. I like the idea of going to places I have never been taking my kids.

Another thing that is determining some of the map and budget is our desire to hit several national parks. Ali and Zoe, since they are in the 4th grade, qualify for the Every Kid in a Park pass that just came out this year. It allows 4th graders and their families to go into all national parks for free for a whole year. Thanks Obama! I decided that we would hit Yellowstone for sure, and I would see what else happened after I studied a map for a while. The next place I was sure we would go was Mount Rushmore. With Zoe's president obsession (for real, she wants to know everything historical, but especially the US presidents), I decided that it was a must. Beyond that I was kind of lost. I just studied the map for a while, then I started looking up road trip blogs and searched Pinterest for ideas. I think I have a pretty good start on a route, but I don't want to set things in stone until I start really working on reservations. I'm just looking at websites for costs still and making a budget.

I'll definitely go into more plans that are going into the map on a later blog. I'm still searching for ideas and thinking about the budget. The rest is still pretty up in the air.

The Next Great American Road Trip: Early Planning Stages

Next summer my mom, my grandma, my kids, and I are going on a cross-country road trip.

Why in the world would I want to take all of us on this crazy adventure? Well, I'm a little crazy...okay, more than a little.

You see, after our last road trip was such a huge success, I just started thinking of what we could do the next time. I love a good adventure with my kids, and there is just so much that I learned in my childhood from the road trips and camping that we did, I just want my kids to learn all that too. Just because my kids are in public school doesn't mean that they are limited in the experiences that they should have in their childhood compared to mine as a homeschooled kid. We just have to do a lot of our traveling in the summer.

In California, 5th grade history focuses on America. The twins will be going into 5th grade next year, so I thought that it's the right time to do an American history road trip so my kids can have memories of where the places that they learn about in history actually are before they read about it in a textbook.  Cool, right? For Micah and Becca, it will be the other way around, seeing the places that they have already learned about in school, and giving them a personal memory to solidify the things that they have already learned about.

So that was the idea. Next came presenting it to the other adults in the house.  Tony's biggest problem with road trips is work. He just doesn't have the vacation time to come on the whole trip. We decided that we needed to make compromise. He is going to fly out for the week that we are on the east coast. It's right in the middle of Little League All Star stuff, but he's willing to give that up for the vacation with his family. The thing is, if he gets the World Series or Regional games to umpire that he has applied for, he will basically be running himself out of vacation time for the year in the very beginning. It's kind of a stretch, but we will make due.

My mom is an easy sell. She NEVER takes vacation unless she absolutely needs/wants to. She also gets a whole lot more vacation time than Tony does at her job, so she has a ton of hours coming to her. She wants to take a whole month off? It really isn't a problem as long as her supervisor has enough notice.

My grandma is a whole 'nother matter. You see, until recently she has been almost completely bedridden in my house a year, then like 6 months before that in a rehab place because she fell and broke her leg. It takes a while for a woman over 90 to heal. She is finally getting around a little. We recently figured out that she is able to get in and out (with help) of my van fairly well. This means she can go places, which makes taking care of her a whole lot easier.  Here's the thing, though: we still take care of her. Arthritis is getting the best of her hands and she just can't cook for herself or even write anymore. If you know my grandma, you know that she was an avid writer and sent cards constantly to everyone she knows (hundreds of people) around the world all the time. The fact that she is physically unable to do this has had her pretty down for a while. Basically, all she has done for the last year is sit in bed and watch TV. That is so not her personality in any way.

All that being said, my grandma needs to get out, we can't leave her by herself at home, so she is coming with us. Good times.

The scariest thing about this is that she and Micah don't always get along. If he is going through a rough day, she can't handle it. She starts yelling at him, he escalates, and everything gets rougher. This means that my plans have to include the ability for Micah to get out and run, and we definitely need times when they will be away from each other, even if they are close for a long time in the car.

This also means that my van will be extremely full. Last time we did this, my kids were smaller and they also had an empty seat. This time, we are going to be looking into a small utility trailer for the van to hold stuff so that we don't have to be packed in just the inside of the van. This also allows us to bring my grandmother's power chair, so that will make going places with her a lot easier on everyone.

Okay, so, all that crazy stuff is happening! AHH!  I'm excited! It's a fun thing to plan the logistics of everything. I'm glad I have several months to do it. We have so much to do to prepare!