Load up!

Tomorrow we're loading up the Suburban and hitting the road for a 10-day trip to Glendale, Arizona. We're on our way to the BCS National Championship Game to watch our Oregon Ducks play in the biggest game in their 114-year history. But more on that later. This trip was actually the reason that I started this blog; a way to record the things that we see and do along the way and share them with our friends and family so that the next time you're craving a double-double south of Bakersfield you'll know to get off at Kettleman City and hit the In-N-Out.

I was also hoping for some interaction along the way, where friends could suggest places to stop, places to avoid, places not to miss, etc. But in the middle of all of the holiday madness, I was much to late in getting this page up and running.  Anyway, it's here now, so let's go.

September, 2006

The road trip.  In days past it meant weeks of fast driving, alternate routes, and long trips up and down the West Coast.  I started making solo road trips shortly after turning 16.  In 1997 (I think) I loaded up my Honda Accord with Corby Wilson and we drove from Lebanon to Rosarito Beach, Mexico.  Back in the good old days when there was little fear of being shot in a border town or kidnapped for ransom.  Or the fantastic road trip that Kelsey and I (and Luke) took to Santa Barbara and Palm Desert for our first wedding anniversary.  Carefree and loose, with the open road stretched out in front of us...the world was ours!

Tomorrow, we embark on a different kind of road trip...the family road trip.  The first drive of more than 2 hours that we'll make with our 2 and 3 year old girls.  Now I love my kids, and they're great kids...but somewhere in the back of my mind I have a vision of a double-meltdown somewhere near Stockton with nowhere to hide, and not a cold beer in sight.

Maybe I'm wrong.  Maybe we'll hit the road and they will entertain themselves and stay happy for the entire trip!  We did borrow a sweet dual-screen DVD player from the Gaskey's that may just be our saving grace, and on a trip of 16 hours no amount of TV is too much.

I just want them to have fun and enjoy the trip.  They're going to meet some family that they've never seen before, as well as spend some time with extended family that they know and love.  Isn't that what family travel is really all about.  Hopefully along the way we'll have some amusing stories to relate, and we'll experience places and things that we'll be dying to tell our friends about.  And hopefully, I'll have the fortitude to open the laptop and share the day...or at least open a cold beer and share it with my wife.

In 12 short hours, they journey begins...