The Way

They made up their minds
And they started packing
They left before the sun came up that day
An exit to eternal summer slacking
But where were they going without ever knowing the way?

~ Fastball, "The Way"

Our car, pre-stuffing.

Day 0 - Milwaukee, WI

     Where are we going?  That is a great question.  This trip started out as a pipe dream sometime last fall.  When I decided to go back to school, Amy and I realized that we'd really only have one summer left before things got crazy (or crazier, I guess).  We went camping right after our wedding, but hadn't been out since.  We decided that getting out camping had to be part of the plan. 
    
     From there, things snowballed.  Every time we'd find a place we wanted to go to, we'd see something else that was just a little bit further that we also wanted to go to.  At one point the trip lasted 50 days making a counterclockwise circle through most of the continental U.S. (hence the name of this blog).   That path had us going as far north as Montana, as far south as Texas, as far west as Utah, and as far east as the Atlantic Ocean.  But when I decided to take a few classes this summer, we decided to scale it back a little.  We'll still be taking the counterclockwise route (click on the "Map" tab to see our path and the "Itinerary" tab for details), but the entire eastern portion of the trip was cut out.  Some other summer I guess.  :)    
     


The packing list.
 Travel and excessive organization: a perfect match for me.

     So now the big day is almost here.  Tomorrow it's church and then up to the Twin Cities to see Carrie, Darren, and Makenna.  From there it's on to South Dakota for a few days. 
    
     However, before leaving, we had to figure out how to get everything we wanted into the car.  That was today's job.  We've been collecting things for the trip since fall, but today we got to see if it would all fit.  Some of what we are bringging are necessities: food, clothing, tent, sleeping bags.  Other things fit better into the category of luxuries: laptop, Badgers bean-bag-toss, enough S'More making material to last multiple years.

     The good news is, we managed to make it all fit.  Now we'll see what we forgot and what we brought that we really didn't need.  Since neither one of us has much camping and/or road-tripping experience, it could be interesting.  Hope you enjoy reading! 

Our car, post-stuffing.