Our Planned trip vs Actual trip

It is always interesting to go back and look at what was our plan vs what actually happened.  This was the planned trip

And this was acutal trip

We followed the original plan for a few days then we started to deviate from it, discovering a few unknown places but still visiting the two major places for the trip: Canadian Rockies and Mount Rushmore.    It was liberating without having a real plan so we could truly relax and went places as we went along, mixing in some cities with nature.  It was a great trip.

Trip Planning

This is the least amount of planning for our long road trip I have ever done.  We have absolutely no reservations in anywhere we are going other than just two destinations, Mt Rushmore (my daughter Kadia’s choice) and Candian Rockies (my wife Susan’s choice).   They happen to form a triangle with home as the 3rd point.

Technology has advanced some since last planning.  This time we used Roadtripper to do a rough planning of possible places we may visit.  The best part of it is that it can be shared among others so many of us can look and change the trip.  My main goal is to get a rough distance estimate to make sure it is doable within our time constraint.   It is estimated to be 166 miles per day.  It is a little high than what I like but it is about the same as our 4 month cross country trip and 2 month Alaska trip so it should be manageable.  As they said in Coco, “Seize the Moment.”  It is getting harder now as kids are older and have more things to do.  We just have to do it.

 

Some friends said that we are brave to do this without any reservations.  I found that is the most logical (or lazy) way to do it as it is hard to plan out such a long trip.  Luckily, everyone is a good trooper and willing to spend a night in the car if necessarily.  Let’s hope we don’t get to that.   Another friend said “doesn’t kid get bored sitting in the car?”  To which I replied, “well, never a dull moment when they fight each other!”

It is a chance to see new things, spend time with family and write something on the trip so I am looking forward to it.  Now time to go pack so we can leave on the trip, leave the planning to do in the car as we drive.  With smartphones now, it is so much easier.  Wonder how we did it 12 years ago without a smartphone, a lot more planning definitely.