Trip Prep
I've been on a gazillion road trips over the course on my life but this trip was unlike all the previous vacations. This is vacationing with a purpose. Thirteen states, seven hotels, hundreds of hours in the car with two teenagers who, more often than not, do not get along. It's going to be awesome!
I've been planning and organizing this trip for well over a year and now that it here, it seems surreal. Once the planning was in place, the next step was organization and packing. I looked at tons of travel blogs and Trip Advisor and what I decided on amalgamation of several plans and recommendations from other seasoned travelers.
The entire trip is a fourteen day odyssey starting in North East Dallas driving to Memphis for BBQ and overnight stay. I chose to break the trip intto segments and the travels plans easily broke up into four segments:
Section One: Fout days to Virginia/Baltimore, MD
Section Two: Four days in Washington DC
Section Three:Three days in Williamsburg VA
Three days through the Derp South
Within those segments, we are visiting several historic locations which have specific dress codes. The Private Capitol tour requires business casual dress. The White House Private Tour actually asks that you dress in "business appropriate attire." I printed stickers for each person in the family so they were able the plan accordingly, like clean underwear is a MUST!
Three of us were totally onboard with the game plan and chose their outfits in accordance with the daily itinerary. One member pitched an absolute FIT! Nightmare.
How do you pack for two full weeks? One week road trips are easy because you can do pretty much anything for s week. Two weeks s thousand miles from home required 98% of your life to be packed. So here's my solution.
1. Pack a backpack for the first section and DO NOT open the main suitcases until you arrive are the second section of the trip.
2. Pack each person their own snack bag in brown paper gift bags. Control the amount of foot and drink by putting the snacks in ziplock bags. This is because the snacks must be parsed out over the first four days of travel to Mount Jackson. Well, that and my son is a bottomless put and will eat everything within the first hour.
3. Control trash. This is key for a successful road trip.
4. Have the car checked out by a professional.
5. Fill it up with gas before leaving town.
6. Print maps, directions and get an Atlas. You never know when the cell service doesn't reach you.
Right now my Xanax is kicking in and I'm about to fall asleep. We're headed to Arkansas, then on to Memphis. Must sleep...
