Westward Expansion 2012: Day 1

Yesterday we headed out on the trip we've been dreaming about: crossing the country to the west coast and back.  We settled on a southern route for this year's trip.  We start with Matt working in Kansas City and end with him working in Memphis.  The vacation falls in between:  Denver, Moab, Lake Powell (Lake Silencio for fellow Dr. Who fans), Grand Canyon, Yosemite, San Francisco, Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Cruz (surf school!!), Venice Beach, Death Valley, Petrified Forest, and Roswell.  We aren't big planners and will likely make things up as we go, but this is the basic idea for the trip.

estimated list of stops

vague trip route

It turned out to be great timing for getting away for a while  We had been at our house for a full week between trips and someone reported us for having the RV parked in our driveway.  Zoning in our county doesn't allow that, so we're going to have to figure out what to do.  Storage isn't a practical option for us since we travel so regularly.  We may have to add in a concrete pad at the side of our house, which is allowable according to zoning regulations but seems wasteful and silly since the RV will still be in view and we already have a concrete pad at our house -- the driveway.  I'm hoping everyone likes this trip so much they just want to live in the RV fulltime and ditch suburban neighborhood life for good!

Spent last week finishing painting and remodeling the interior of the RV (will get before/after photos posted eventually!) and getting some books and other activities together for the longer drives.  We also have Minecraft, some new field guides (everyone's interested in the southwestern, new-to-us wildlife), lots of legos, craft supplies, a guitar, and the x-box with us!

And we have Pablo, of course!

So long, Suburbia

Our first stop was in Frankfort to see Matt's brother's new home and visit with his mom, brother, sister and her kids and grandkids.  

 Cousins!

After that, we did our moral duty as people who grew up in Frankfort but no longer live there and ate dinner at Taco Johns.  The rest of the evening was spent driving westward into the sunset and feeling greasy and  dehydrated from the ridiculous amount of salt and oil we ate in those gross-yet-awesome Potato Ole's.