Excitement is in the air.

We meet at the clubhouse for functions and we can talk of nothing else but our big trip. We get together at each other's houses and the conversation is all about gas mileage, things to see on the trek, campgrounds, etc.

Only three weeks from tomorrow and we leave. Can it be? My lists are growing longer and I have a list of my lists. The budget keeps coming up and it keeps getting larger as the gas prices continue to rise and we keep adding Must Sees to our wish lists.

We met this week to discuss menus and we plan to eat our evening meals together when in camp and that will help with our budget. Helen (Martha Stewart) and Mary have some great meals planned and all are quick and easy to prepare.

We are all on our own for breakfast and lunch each day and days we are touring we will probably eat lunch out for our main meal. We have all sorts of cooking
equipment and plenty of paper plates to keep the work load down and lots of crockpots and grills for simple preparation of tasty meals for seven people.

We have come up with a driving plan of sorts. Every day we will have a new leader and he or she will be responsible for the map, getting us their together and safely.
We will have a drivers meeting each night and go over the next days' trip.

We will have a line of sight plan in which the second RV will have the first in sight and the third RV will have the second in sight. Commuication will be with walkie talkies and cell phones and should there be any trouble we can be in contact immediately with the other rigs.

We each will have a AAA trip tik so we will all be on the same page and the driving days should be smooth and safe. We plan to leave between 9 and 9:30am each morning and stop by 3pm each afternoon. Our schedule calls for no more than 300 miles a day and we have campground reservations at most of the stops and will fill in the others as we travel, so there should be few surprises of arriving and not having a place to park.

Now, that is in a perfect world and we know we will not be living in one, but we are trying to start out with a plan and hopefully the traffic jams, detours, breakdowns , and over sleeping will be minimal.

Our lady drivers, Helen and Joan, have been practicing daily in the parking lot of an empty super market. They are also now driving their motorhome with their new tow car attached, trying to get used to the feeling of pulling something behind them.

We have had the carpets cleaned. the oil changed and the tires checked in the rigs and they are spruced up and ready to receive all the mountians of clothes and other "can't leave behind stuff" we will be taking with us.

Excitement in the air and so is panic. Anticipation, fear of the unknown, joy, giddy laughter, and apprehension are there as well. Certainly regret that we might only have this one Western adventure but total determination to enjoy each day and each moonlit campfire to the fullest and to build a memory which will take us into the uncertain "golden years" which lie ahead.

As my father always told me, "old age ain't for sissies, darling",so I am sure he is very proud looking down on me preparing for the adventure of my lifetime as we prepare to go into the West.