Well, we made it to Dodge City. I won't spend a lot of time on this post, because Jeanette wants to get to her email still and it's late.
We have had two great days of travel. We've gone a little over 1000 miles so far, I think. The notes are in the van. So far we've had van trouble (air conditioning didn't blow through the vents) and camper trouble (stop at the end of one bunk broke). The AC problem we got fixed before we left Coopersville, our regular garage fixed a vacuum line and didn't charge us anything. The bunk problem I sort of fixed tonight after a trip to Wal Mart for screws.
It has been hot, as high as 101 today. The scenery has been increcible. Eastern Kansas on I-70 is very hilly, but the last 100 miles after we left the interstate were flat as a pancake.
As I write this it's a little after 11, and nice and cool. The campground we're at is nice, with grassy sites and a nice lake next to our camper. We'll be touring Dodge City tomorrow, and we'll try to upload some pictures tomorrow night.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Countdown
There are so many crazy things you have to do before you leave on a long vacation. At 6:40 this evening I realized I had forgotten to stop the newspaper. Fortunately the circulation department is open until 8 to take calls from cranky people who didn't get their paper on time. They said they'd stop it starting tomorrow already. Whew!
I've been especially busy the past week with wrapping up teaching for the semester. Today was our final day of class, but when I got home I had to run the pet lizards to Emily's house, which turned into a 2 hour trip because of road construction and traffic delays. Then I had to finish putting all the maps in order and making sure I have all the phone numbers set. In the middle of all this I got a phone call from one of the campgrounds where we hoped to stay giving me the reservation confirmation, so I had to quickly write another check and add it to the stack of bills getting mailed out tomorrow.
I still haven't packed a single article of clothing (for a one month trip!) and it's just about 8 PM. I'll be lucky to be in bed by midnight. Tomorrow morning I have three errands to run in Grand Rapids while Theresa and the kids get the trailer packed. If everything goes right (and it probably won't), we'll be on the road by 11 tomorrow morning. Google Maps tells me it will be about a 7 hour drive to Hannibal, Missouri, where we're staying Friday night. We'll see.
We will not have internet access until Saturday at least, so this is probably our last post before we leave. Our campground in Dodge City, Kansas advertises wireless internet, but we'll see how much they want us to pay for it. Almost all of the places we're staying after this weekend offer free wireless.
I've been especially busy the past week with wrapping up teaching for the semester. Today was our final day of class, but when I got home I had to run the pet lizards to Emily's house, which turned into a 2 hour trip because of road construction and traffic delays. Then I had to finish putting all the maps in order and making sure I have all the phone numbers set. In the middle of all this I got a phone call from one of the campgrounds where we hoped to stay giving me the reservation confirmation, so I had to quickly write another check and add it to the stack of bills getting mailed out tomorrow.
I still haven't packed a single article of clothing (for a one month trip!) and it's just about 8 PM. I'll be lucky to be in bed by midnight. Tomorrow morning I have three errands to run in Grand Rapids while Theresa and the kids get the trailer packed. If everything goes right (and it probably won't), we'll be on the road by 11 tomorrow morning. Google Maps tells me it will be about a 7 hour drive to Hannibal, Missouri, where we're staying Friday night. We'll see.
We will not have internet access until Saturday at least, so this is probably our last post before we leave. Our campground in Dodge City, Kansas advertises wireless internet, but we'll see how much they want us to pay for it. Almost all of the places we're staying after this weekend offer free wireless.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Trip Plans
This blog is set up for our family to use as an online journal for our big trip out west.
Our plan is to hit the road from Coopersville, Michigan on July 27. We'll spend a week working our way to California, and hope to spend the weekend of August 4-5 with our friends Mark and Shari Jackson in Fresno, California. We'll then head to San Jose where we'll stay with my sister Heidi and her family for a week. During that time we'll visit San Francisco, the Pacific Ocean, and just relax with Heidi, Jeff, and their kids.
On Friday August 10, Theresa and I will fly to Seattle where we'll spend the night and go to our nephew Ryan's wedding on Saturday. The kids will stay behind, with Heidi and Jeff. We'll fly back to San Jose on Saturday after the wedding, and go to church with Jeff and Heidi on Sunday.
We plan to leave San Jose on Monday, August 12. We'll head north to Oregon, visiting Crater Lake and the Columbia River Valley. On our way east we'll visit Glacier National Park and then the Black Hills of South Dakota. We plan to get back home on Thursday, August 23.
All told, we will be gone for almost a month, and we'll put around 6000 miles on our van and camper. We plan to visit national parks in Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, and Montana. We're hoping for good (not hot) weather, minimal road construction, and safe travel. We'll update the blog when we can; many of the campgrounds where we hope to stay have internet access. We should be able to post a few pictures to this blog as well.
Our plan is to hit the road from Coopersville, Michigan on July 27. We'll spend a week working our way to California, and hope to spend the weekend of August 4-5 with our friends Mark and Shari Jackson in Fresno, California. We'll then head to San Jose where we'll stay with my sister Heidi and her family for a week. During that time we'll visit San Francisco, the Pacific Ocean, and just relax with Heidi, Jeff, and their kids.
On Friday August 10, Theresa and I will fly to Seattle where we'll spend the night and go to our nephew Ryan's wedding on Saturday. The kids will stay behind, with Heidi and Jeff. We'll fly back to San Jose on Saturday after the wedding, and go to church with Jeff and Heidi on Sunday.
We plan to leave San Jose on Monday, August 12. We'll head north to Oregon, visiting Crater Lake and the Columbia River Valley. On our way east we'll visit Glacier National Park and then the Black Hills of South Dakota. We plan to get back home on Thursday, August 23.
All told, we will be gone for almost a month, and we'll put around 6000 miles on our van and camper. We plan to visit national parks in Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, and Montana. We're hoping for good (not hot) weather, minimal road construction, and safe travel. We'll update the blog when we can; many of the campgrounds where we hope to stay have internet access. We should be able to post a few pictures to this blog as well.
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