Road Trip Preparation

You're probably asking yourself why I'm devoting a post to Road Trip Preparation. Well, it's been a while since we've done a road trip with an elderly dog, our married daughter, her 2 year old son and ourselves. Wait a minute...We've never done a road trip with the aforementioned variables. There definitely was a great deal of thought into the details of packing and preparing for a 1000 mile journey and being away from our home for 4 months.
WHAT TO BRING:
1. Since our return last year from southern Utah I had been accumulating needed items (note this is MY definition of need, it may not be yours or my husband's) in a large plastic covered container. As I'd come across something, I'd pop it in there. The container was getting pretty heavy, so a few weeks before we left I moved the bin to the garage floor. All kinds of miscellaneous items were placed in the bin, and later near and on top of the bin.
2. As we're traveling with a young child we needed items for his comfort, which would also be for our comfort. To rephrase an old saying: When a two-year-old isn't happy then no one's happy. These items included: Portable DVD player and assorted movies; miscellaneous snacks; small toys and books, one blankey and one bear (Elmo). In addition to these items were the necessities-diapers, wipes, and 2 sippy cups (in case one gets temporarily misplaced). We also travelled with an umbrella stroller and brought the jogger so Ty could go on bike rides with us when we got to Utah.
3. Clothing-Since Michael had left some clothes there, he didn't bring quite so many clothes as I did. I left very little there (a robe, some slippers, and a few long sleeved shirts) so I brought quite a bit with me. Between us, we had 1 large suitcase, 1 garment bag, 1 duffle with shoes in it and a garbage sack (easiest way to pack) of jackets and outerwear.
4. Claire's stuff-Since we were traveling with Claire we had items for her comfort as well as her food. We were a bit surprised that she hadn't passed away since she nearly did the week of Melinda and Landan's wedding. She's rallied and so we had her food, an extra bag of her food and her blanket. We also brought her sweater which she hates to wear, but in case it got cold we wanted her to have it. We brought two leashes and because we didn't have room for her dishes, we used plastic ones.
5. Stuff to work on while we're in Utah-Michael brought our scanner so that he could continue the task of scanning all of our photos. He's made great progress, and wants to continue to do so. I brought a sewing machine that Carynn gave me. It's newer than the one I brought down last year. I also included a tote bag of cross stitch kits and yarn and a knitting frameso I could make some knit hats for the Humanitarian group that's very active in Padre Lakes.
5. Small ice chest with sub sandwiches, yogurt, cream cheese and soda pop. In addition to these items I had a tote bag with crackers, granola and raisins for all of us to share.
6. Carynn and Ty's stuff- Besides the things I've already mentioned-Carynn and Ty had one large suitcase and a duffle bag that included his lifejacket.
7. Three bicycles and the bike rack to mount them on the back of the Yukon. Bike helmets, gloves, etc. were tossed in the back.
8. Lest we forget-we each had our carry-on items. Those things of either sentimental or material value, plus what we needed for our planned overnight stop in Idaho Falls that we wanted close at hand. Besides the scanner (see item 5) Michael brought our cameras (digital and video), our laptop, and our ipods. My keep-it-close-to-me bag held Michael's medical info, our bills and other correspondence, my scriptures and whatever I thought of at the last moment to put in there. My purse I kept separately. I'm not exactly sure what was in Carynn and Ty's carry-on but know that it included what they'd need for the two day trip that they didn't want buried in the back with the rest of their clothes, etc.
9. Random stuff like the shovel I threw in just in case we got stuck in snow, an end table to assemble to go along with the rockers that our friends the Billingsleys had kindly dropped off and placed in our garage, the pillows for the rockers and some other decorative items to hang on walls or display.
10. The kitchen sink (Just kidding).
HOW TO FIT IT ALL IN:
I had begun packing the vehicle on Thursday and Friday. I ended up unpacking it on Saturday so we could try to rearrange what was already in there and try to fit it Carynn and Ty's things. If you look over the list again, you'll see that we could either fit the "stuff" in or the people and dog in. I was stressing out when Jamie and Carynn said, "You have a rack on top, why don't you use it?" I dismissed their suggestion because I didn't want to buy an expensive car carrier. They left to get a piece for the DVD player and when they returned with the piece and an expandable soft-sided vinyl roof top carrier; AND it only cost $40.00. I was very relieved and gladly reimbursed them the 40 bucks. We filled the carrier up, Jamie strapped it on top of the Yukon and voila we had enough room in the vehicle for us to sit, maybe not comfortably, but at least we could all fit in. I had had visions of us looking like the Beverly Hillbillies as we drove down the road, so I was very pleased that the only outward signs that we were filled to capacity were the bike rack and the perfectly respectable roof top carrier.

Melinda, Landan and Landan's friend Justin had joined us for dinner that night (we celebrated Melinda's 20th birthday early with one of her favorite meals, plus presents, cake and ice cream) and left late in the evening. Carynn, Jamie and Ty enjoyed the birthday dinner and festivities (Carynn made a yummy cake too) and spent the night so we could get an early start in the morning. I stayed up late working on Melinda and Landan's wedding scrapbook, not done but coming along nicely, and hit the hay very tired, but as ready for our journey as I'd ever be. Michael went to bed earlier than all of us, but stayed awake until I joined him.

Stay tuned for Road Trip Part 1

NS