In the beginning - Part 1

Looking back, I'm not sure where it started.   Was it my husband's sabbatical for which we had no plans?  Was it the "every kid in a park" program?  (www.everykidinapark.gov)   I can't recall where the plan hatched or at which point my husband said yes.  

Let's go on a national park camping trip when Sage is in 4th grade.  Let's plan a big trip.

It's been in the works for so long I can't even recall where it started.   I know that is part of the reason we bought a minivan a year ago.   Not just a replacement minivan but one with roof racks, lower milage, a tow hitch and DVD player.   This was a roadtrip machine - not just a soccer mom van.

It was last year as well, I purchased a book from the library foundation sale, a older edition of National Parks of the American West.   I read it.   I asked my family to look at it.   I begged my family to look at it.    Finally last Sept, Scott picked it up and said we should just do a big 'ol circle.  Sage showed some interest so back at home we started a spreadsheet and plotted out this trip with the idea that maybe we had a month.

Screeeeech.  That was the sound of the giant circle which required us hitting everything quickly and driving daily that came to an immediate halt.  The American West is big.   I forget that.   Or maybe I forget other places are so small.   We could drive everyday and still not really manage to hit all these places on Scott's big 'ol circle.  Forget the fact that it would be miserable and we wouldn't be able to do much exploring at all.
What's the point of going all the places if you don't see them?

So Scott did the next best thing, he found a website to map the trip and left me alone with the book.   Furkot.com helped us realistically plan a trip without a spreadsheet open in one tab and google maps in the next.    The best part was we planned several trips.    We planned different directions, we planned for different dates and we narrowed down what was really possible.  


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