It is upon us

So we are now 3 days out. It is all locked in. Packing is ongoing. 3 people, 16 days, 60+ hours of driving, 6 states (8 if you count 4 corners being two states we aren't traveling through), 1 Subaru, 5 National Parks, and only a few thousand miles. So much to do. So much fun.

People interested

Ok--here is the list of people interested (meant to spark more interest)

Locked in: Rob, Amanda, Barry
Interested, just not locked in: Bryan, Heather

THAT's right--and update!!

Barry is going to join us on the trip--it's all locked in, airline ticket purchased! He shall be flying into Reno on 8 Aug and join us for the trip from Lake Tahoe/Carson City through Yellowstone and back!

New and improved--final??

Here is the new itinerary. This is relatively final. All nights are reserved at this time. Minor adjustments could be made if individuals commit to coming (i.e. for you Barry with meeting up on the 6th or 7th of August). But all in all--this looks awesome. That lodging cost is EXTREMELY cheap for what we're doing. Think of that divided by 4. If more than 4 or 5 go (one car load) then we of course will have to add more rooms, etc. This will increase the costs. Also--estimated at outrageous gas prices, gas should be around $600 for a vehicle (hopefully less). That is already around $1000 for the two weeks. This is still very affordable for what we are doing, split 4 or 5 ways. We will do cheap food, etc, too...

Itinerary for changed dates

OK--So I've been trying to update the itinerary a week. And make some changes. First, the bad news this means. The two reservations I already made--have to cancel those. I tried to change them forward a week, but so far no luck on that. And I can't find anything available right now through Amanda's discount. But, that doesn't make it all lost. We'll find some place to stay.

On a positive note, I found a cool tent cabin for $39 in Grand Tetons NP for the night of 10 AUG. This should be awesome!! On the way back from Cali. Check out this link:

http://www.gtlc.com/lodgeCBV.aspx

I'll have a neat little spreadsheet out hopefully later today....with the new dates and all (29 July-12 August). I hope we can get a cool group to do this...something to always remember.

Input

OK. Amanda and I are back from New York City on that trip (see http://spaces.msn.com/mcdeadmeat) for pictures. Now I just need input--on times. It is time to get the dates locked in for this road trip. I really want to do it--but think that maybe we want to get a little less ambitious--do a little more relaxing on the trip? I am open to anything. But I know we still have some dates reserved for hotels--those are lined up. But need to know who and when people can go...this thing is going to be great. I really believe it will be a time to get closer to each other and God and have fun. Do something out of the ordinary, to really get ideas for what we want to do with our lives. Yeah--doesn't sound like the normal road trip stuff? Or maybe it does? But bottom line is I want to use it to challenge each person going to understand that God wants to use us. In whatever way He has in store--but this can help us do this! Honestly!

Week change??

OK--so we may need to shift the week of the trip one to the left. Instead of starting on the 5th of August, is it better to start on the 29th of July? This is so we can return to the Springs on the 12th-13th of August, so Amanda can be in an interim class at UCCS starting the 14th. I need to know if this is an issue with anyone else--I know I will have to see if I can get that first week off. The other option (which I DO NOT PREFER) is to shorten the trip to a week and just do part of the trip. That isn't near as fun!

Sample Itinerary, Phase Deux