Here is the list of our stops we are making on our trip. There are somethings that are not confirmed yet, so I didn't list them.

Boise, ID - Just a place to stop before we continue on.

Salt Lake City, UT - Salt Lake, The Mormon Temple, Raging Waters Amusement Park

Bryce Canyon, UT - Enough said . . . planning on some fun and beautiful hiking.

Grand Canyon, AZ - Wow!!! Everyone says it's huge.

Cortez, CO - Four Corners and Mesa Verde

Albuquerque, NM - Just a stop overnight before we head to Carlsbad, NM

Carlsbad, NM - Carlsbad Caverns - looking forward to seeing lots of bats and taking lots of pictures for my reading students. We study bats at the beginning of the school year.

Abilene, TX - Family . . . Hello Granny Striplin!!!

San Antonio, TX - The Alamo and the river walk . . . one of Mom and Dad's favorite places to visit.

Beaumont, TX - Edison Museum

New Orleans, LA - Swamp Tour, French Quarter, Music Tour

Montgomery, AL -

Atlanta, GA - Piedmont park

Greensboro, NC - Booker T. Washington National Monument

Williamsburg, VA - Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown. We will be there during the Fourth of July celebrations. We are very excited for this. :o)

Washington DC - Everything we can possibly see in the time we will be there. So much history!!!

Philadelphia, PA - Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross House, State House, Gettysburg

New York, NY - Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Twin Towers, Time Square, Central Park, Wall Street

Boston, MA - Boston Massacre, Boston Harbor, Bunker Hill

Buffalo, NY - Niagara Falls

Angola, IN - Another stop. Jelly Stone Park (sounds like fun)

Chicago, IL - Millennium Park, Chicago Art Museum, Michael Jordon statue,

Lacrosse, WI - An overnight stop

Sioux Falls, SD - An overnight stop with some outdoor art exhibits

Rapid City, SD - Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse

Yellowstone National Park - Lots of wildlife and fun

Craters of the Moon National Park - Lava Tubes

Home Sweet Home - Sleeping in our own beds for the first time in almost 6 weeks.

Nineteen days until departure . . . I can't believe we are so close and yet it feels so far away and still so much to do. Mark has been plugging away the past couple weeks making reservations at different campsites. This weekend was quite a blessing and busy.

First, my wonderful sister-in-law, Bonnie texted and wanted to know if we wanted a guest pass to Nike. Needless to say we took her up on that offer, as we all need some good hiking shoes for the trip. We are now all set with a couple pairs of good walking/hiking shoes.


Next, it was time to pull the tent trailer out of the garage and see what we were into. We spent some time practicing putting it up, taking it down and dividing up jobs to help make the set up process easy when we pull into campsites. We also found some interesting amenities I'm not sure Mom and Dad knew the trailer had in it. :o)

We also decided to help keep things compact during this adventure, we would use boxes instead of suitcases. The boxes that reams of paper come in are the perfect size. We can fit five of them across the back of the van. Whatever we can fit in the boxes is what we can take for clothing. The girls have packed up their boxes to get an idea of what to take. We keep having to remind them that they still need to take a pair of pants or sweats and a sweatshirt or lightweight jacket or something. Even though it is summer, there is still the chance of some cooler weather in some areas.

For now it is all in the little details that are somewhat boring. I am looking forward to when we are actually on the road and can post all the exciting details of this adventures.