Karin's Last Day

(Craig)
Yes, today is Karin's last day at work! So, she slept in and called work to let them know that she'd be late. How funny!
Karin has been with Charles Schwab for many years. But the three hours of daily commute has been a drain on her. When we initially began to look at workamping, I could see in her eyes that she was thinking that this may be her "out". Yes, she may be the "Prom Queen from Frugal, Minnesota", but hey, being frugal isn't a bad word. Some people associate the word "frugal" with "cheap". I may have been one of those people at one time. But now I associate "frugal" with "smart".
So as I go back to work this evening, Karin's fellow employees will be throwing her a party to say goodbye. Karin has one of those never-ending smiles :) I'm sure that she will be missed.
Me? My last day at work is Monday. No party for me....I've only been there for maybe 2 months. That's ok......my boss must like me. He gave me a neon Bud Lite Lime sign the other day. What will I do with that?
Other news. Furniture guy is coming to look at and price our furniture on Friday. We'll see how that goes. I now have transferred all relevant files, pictures, etc. from this desktop computer to our new laptop. Karin is also going to keep her Apple. So this desktop will be on sale as soon as I clean it up.
My son Josh is coming up for the weekend. He has a four day pass. That means that his deployment to Iraq is very near. No specific dates yet. We both appreciate your emails and comments that thank him for his service and wish him well.
We plan to be in Dallas, Texas on Thursday, April 1st. That is set in stone. We want to be ready to leave by the 21st of March. Our actual journey is looking at starting on the 28th/29th. On the way to Dallas, we will have a couple of stops. We have three legs on this trip. Denver to Dallas, Dallas to Minnesota and Minnesota to West Virginia. Many stops in-between. And yes...there are going to be more pics popping up very soon!
We chose and signed up for our roadside assistance plan this week. We decided on CoachNet. We just found many more positive comments about them. We also joined Passport America. PA is a membership club that offers 50% off at associated campgrounds. And, we have purchased Microsoft Streets and Trips software. We tried several programs, and were happy with this one. It works great to plan out trip..each leg, each stop, and what is there to see between point A and B. We also have a GPS unit to use.
With those of our friends that are local, we are planning to see you before we go! I will let you know as soon as we have a couple of dates setup.

Learning a few things as we begin to plan our trip

(Craig) Here's what we know so far about the route we must take when we leave Colorado: Departing sometime between April 1st and 15th; must be in West Virginia on May 10th; going to visit Karin's dad in New London, Minnesota on the way.
So we have some stops in-between. That's easy! I pinned our road map to the wall and gave Karin a dart. Well, if we go with that strategy, then we are heading to Eureka, CA, going to the beach and driving into the ocean for about 5 miles :)
Ok, we won't do that. Plan B....we tried a program by Microsoft called Streets and Trips 2009. It offers us a 60 day trial before purchasing, so we tried it. Nothing to go crazy about, but it did make an interesting route for us. We like it, and may stick with this route. Our first leg would be Denver to Valentine, Nebraska. Found hiking, biking and a river to kayak there! Well, it may still be chilly in April, so we will see. May stay there a day or two.
Here's some interesting info we've found: you can "boondock" (camp without facilities ie. water, sewer, electric) for free in many WalMart parking lots...and also casino parking lots. You always need to check with that store or casino. We found two interesting websites: www.freecampgrounds.com shows camping sites across the country that cost $10 or less. www.casinocamper.com shows casinos that you can park at for free. Ok, we need to be frugal, so this is a great start :)
The second leg after Valentine, Nebraska takes us thru Oacoma, South Dakota. This is a small town along the Missouri River. The Lewis and Clark trail runs thru here. This may be our second stop. Then on to Minnesota.
This first leg isn't set in stone by any means. Just sharing our thoughts and processes as we move along.
I did ask for some input from another website that has many experienced RV'ers on it. I asked whether they preferred trip planning software, a GPS or the "old school" foldy maps. I'll let you know what the consensus is.
Thanks for all of your messages and emails!! I've received several messages wanting me to be detailed about our steps towards this trip. Many have also thought about doing this someday and want to hear the positives and negatives that we run into as we plan to hit the road. There is SO much more to do....
Oh, and feel free to leave comments here, send me an email, message via FaceBook, or even become a follower. All comments, opinions and suggestions are sincerely appreciated!