Friday, April 4, 2014

D is for Driving Across Countries!

Count-down 43 days until departure for Alaskan Adventure!
4322 miles to drive.
82 hours driving time.

That’s like driving from our house in Northern Ohio to Bogota, Columbia; or from Inverness, Scotland to the middle of Russia (Novosibirisk); or from Lisbon, Portugal to somewhere in the middle of Iran (Shahreza to be more precise). You get the idea. That’s a lot of road.

Our approximate route

Of course we won’t actually be driving across the entire U.S. or Canada. We are flying from Ohio out to Minneapolis, MN then we’re taking a shuttle to Iowa, where we’ll pick up the RV that will be our hotel, restaurant and vehicle for three weeks. 
   
Then we begin our 4322 mile drive.

All those miles together with our two teenaged daughters and nine year old son might sound daunting.  In fact, I’m looking forward to the quality time. We’re bringing our favorite road trip music which we plan to play and sing quite loudly (I guess that will keep the bears away!)  

I’m not overly romantic about it though.  I’m sure the close quarters might get tiresome and tempers will surely flare occasionally but we are used to being on the road together.  Our round trip road trip from Ohio to Seattle a couple of years ago was a total of about 5000 miles but we stayed in Seattle for about a month so that broke up the driving. And we all agreed that was the best trip we’d ever taken!
My biggest worry, other than the bears of course, is driving an RV.  I’ve never driven anything longer than our old Delta 88 that we had when we first got married. This thing is going to be 28 feet long!  Those curvy mountain roads that we’re bound to travel up and down are scary enough in a minivan!  I hope I don’t run us, or anyone else off the road!

 Have a great day and drive safely!

 Kathy :)
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14 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 4, 2014 at 8:20 AM

    I'm so excited for your trip. My longest road trip, Dallas to New York - 24 hours.

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  2. Julie FlandersApril 4, 2014 at 8:27 AM

    Wow when you list all those other destinations it really hits home just how long of a drive this is! So excited for you, what an adventure. I'd be nervous about driving the RV too, I've never driven anything bigger than a car LOL.

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  3. Nick WilfordApril 4, 2014 at 11:19 AM

    Wow! Hope you have a blast. Surely you're not going to do ALL the driving though?? :)

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  4. Alex J. CavanaughApril 4, 2014 at 12:20 PM

    Be sure to practice driving before you leave. At least you'll have a bathroom with you.

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  5. Crystal CollierApril 4, 2014 at 12:59 PM

    Yikes! I love road trips. We thought the one we took cross country three years ago would be a nightmare (with a 4 year old, 5 year old, and 10 year old). Turned out it was a riot of a time, even after our portable DVD player died...5 minute into the trip. (Yeah, we didn't have any other mobile devices.)

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  6. Melanie StanfordApril 4, 2014 at 1:15 PM

    82 hours! Holy cow. Last year we drove in a truck 28 hours to Branson, Missouri and I thought that was a long road trip. I can't imagine 82 hours. Good luck and have fun!

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  7. Sarah AllenApril 4, 2014 at 2:03 PM

    I'm kinda jealous! I love road trips :)

    Sarah Allen
    (From Sarah, With Joy)

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  8. Stephen TrempApril 4, 2014 at 4:24 PM

    I love long road trips. Drive safe and enjoy the amazing experience!

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  9. Liz A.April 4, 2014 at 5:12 PM

    Can you take an RV driving class? My dad and his wife did that when they first bought their RV. Now they make one major trip a year. They've driven cross country.

    Sounds like you all will have a lot of fun.

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  10. J E OneilApril 4, 2014 at 5:26 PM

    Man, that's a long way, even if you are flying part of it. I hope everyone stays sane!

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  11. kjmckendryApril 4, 2014 at 8:14 PM

    sydneyaaliyah-thanks! Dallas to New York would be lots of fun too!

    Julie- it didn't really hit home for me until I compared it to driving from our house all the way to Colombia!

    Nick-I've been thinking of you and your family.

    I'm hoping my husband will drive most of it, but I know I'll have to do my part too! :)

    Alex- That's a good idea, I hope we have some time for that. Yeah, it's great to have a bathroom, but not so sure about having to empty it out!!

    Crystal- We did a number of 10-12 hour trips with the kids when they were young, and we always had a great time but it is easier now that they're older(most of the time!) Glad you guys had a great time and even without devices. Yay!

    Melanie- Thanks, it will definitely be an experience to remember!

    Sarah-Awh thanks. I love 'em too.

    Stephen- Thanks! We will. :)

    Liz-That's a great question. I'll have to look into that.

    JE-Haha. Yeah, me too!


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  12. davidgmckendryApril 4, 2014 at 9:05 PM

    When driving an RV, don't do anything too fast...that way you avoid surprises! Also, Jessica should be able to drive her share too, like on the flat open plains, if she gets her license. :)

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  13. Kyra LennonApril 5, 2014 at 8:12 AM

    That amount of time on the road makes my head spin a little - that is a heck of a lot of driving!

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  14. MikeApril 6, 2014 at 2:59 AM

    What a journey!

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