Arduous Trip Planning

"What's To See and Do" Planning

To plan for this 5-6 month journey, the first thing I did was to read (from cover to cover) the AAA TourBook of attractions for each and every state or province that we are planning to pass through (north of Tennessee). As I re-read, I highlighted anything that seemed unique or of interest to one or both of us. On a state’s map, I then highlighted (in orange) the city names of the attractions that AAA notes as Key Attractions (must-sees). Then I went back through the TourBook and reviewed each highlighted attraction. If, on my second read through the TourBook, I think the attraction sounds interesting, then I highlighted those city names on that state’s map (in pink).

Next step is to review the highlighted cities on the map and determine a probable route through the state. Of course, I have to keep in mind where we’ll enter and exit that state. Any attraction in between the exit and entry points is fair game. If any of the highlighted attractions, especially “must sees,” are far from the probable route, I must determine if it’s worth it to venture far to visit it. On the map, I write an "X" mark over any attractions or cities that I now want to exclude. I can now plan our intended route.

The third step is to find campgrounds along the intended route. We do not like to “dry camp” (without electricity) because we do not have a generator. So, I have to be selective in planning where to stop every 200 miles or so.

Side Note: We don’t want to plan more than 4 hours of driving time between overnight stops. I know this isn’t much headway, but when you have to hook up, clean up, and giddy-up, it takes time. So, the most I have ever planned is 5-hrs of driving—and that’s pushing it for Dave. It takes a lot of concentration and energy to keep “Homey-Roamy” between the lines on those narrow, winding roads. We probably won’t unhook Homey-Roamy when we are just stopping for a night and there are no attractions to see in the area.

The fourth step is to determine how many nights we will stay in a particular campground/city. Of course, that all depends upon what there is to see and how much downtime we’ll need for resting.

OK, so what do I do with all this information? I create a binder, what else?

Because this Alaska trip is such a long trip, I wanted to keep a calendar in Outlook as my visual overview of where we will be and when. In Outlook, I entered each campground across the number of days we plan to stay as an "All day_event." And yes, they are color-coded according to campground stay, pre-paid event, hotel (instead of campground), etc. YIKES. Isn’t this extensive planning disgusting!