Cross Country Cruise: Plans, Part I

Javier, the dogs and I are headed on an epic road trip mid-July. The first major destination is Portland to see some dear friends get married. Next, Los Angeles for a film conference, then Tucson, and finally we'll circle back to ol' BG before the school year starts (and before my sister, nephew, and mom come for a visit!).

What's special about this trip is that we'll be camping part of the way. Javier and I have never camped together before, the dogs have never camped at all, Lola has never been in the car for long distances... Will tempers be tested? Yes. But until then I'm having a blast planning everything out. I love to plan in general, but I love to travel plan best.

My favorite part of the planning process has been figuring out driving distances, mapping our route, and finding places to stay.

Here's our route:

The first day on the road will be a doozy. Ten and-a-half hours just to get to a KOA outside Minneapolis. Propping up a tent in a glorified RV park isn't very appealing, but I figure it'd be better to get a big chunk of the mileage done on the first day so we can enjoy our time in the national parks down the interstate. Also, Javier is severely afraid of ticks, and WI (the closer camping option) is a hot spot for those Lyme disease-ridden buggers.  Plus, this KOA in Maple Grove, MN (sounds lovely, doesn't it?) has putt-putt golf (see below), so that's all we'll nee to unwind, right?

The next day, though, it gets really good: the Badlands of North Dakota and Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park:

Looking at this, I can imagine myself queuing up Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town

Hopefully we'll see some of these, preferably at a distance from our tent.

On day three we'll be in Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest outside Butte, Montana. Specifically, we'll be staying in High Rye Cabin, built in 1919 near a mining district in the Fleecer Mountains. There's a creek nearby, but no running water in High Rye, which is fine because we chose to stay in a cabin to avoid bears. And according to all the warnings on the forest service website, there's a lot of bears in Beaverhead-Deerlodge. No thanks.

High Rye Cabin

Then off to Portland, with perhaps a brief stop-over in Seattle to see Kari and Collin. If anyone can recommend a good pet-friendly hotel in the City of Roses, or a good dog sitter for that matter (we need Paco and Lola watched for a night while we're at Beth and Chris' ceremony), that would be fantastic.

After the reunion with old friends, and after a bit of urban dwelling, it's back on the road, this time on the Pacific Coast Highway.  We'll camp for a night (or two!) in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. I did some research, and Hidden Springs campground seemed like a good bet, but we'll see what spot catches our fancy when we get there.

I'd like to see this, please, among the redwoods.

Depending on Javier's schedule at the conference, we may have another night to camp along the PCH. I need to do some more in-depth research, but so far Limekiln State Park sounds pretty sweet. 

Then off to L.A., or Orange County more precisely, where the dogs and I will be chilling while Javier spends his daylight hours at Chapman University. No camping in SoCal, unless we stop off in Joshua Tree on the way to Tucson. 

I don't think there will be any camping on the return trip. It costs more to camp in the Sandias outside Albuquerque than it does to stay at a Motel 6, and there's no way I'm camping anywhere near Oklahoma City, especially after the disaster this week. Same goes for camping near St. Louis, which is our normal penultimate stopover before our arrival home.

In "Cross Country Cruise: Plans Part II": Gear

A preview: Should we buy this tent?....