Twas The Night Before Departure...

Welcome back loyal blog followers. To those of you who were avid followers of my Dublin adventures, here it comes again, my travel log, North American edition. To those who got sick of my ramblings, not sure if this time around will be much better, except there will be guest commentary from my co-captain and co-explorer, Lindsay. There will undoubtedly be a lot of banter between us and co-contributing, and hopefully no passive aggressive comments on the others annoying habits that are bound to surface when faced with 30 days in the car together. Not even Thelma and Louise or Bonnie and Clyde could do this roadtrip without a little crabbiness coming out. Road Rule #1 : Airing of Grievances. No passive aggressive anger allowed. If the other is annoying you, air it out, and move on. Luckily this is not our first travel exploration together. Each has taught us something and I'm sure this trip will be no different.

Things we've learned from our trips to Arizona has given us Road Rule #2: Never pass up the opportunity to get gas. This is a rule that we will stick to loyally, because I don't find the idea of running out of gas somewhere in the Canadian Wilderness too appealing and while our "I don't know what to dooooooooo" response is humorous when we can call our dear cousin Carrie for help, this trip is all about survival of the fittest. Uncle Charlie doubts my ability to "rough it", but I'm rocking my travel hair - back to the short hair circa Dublin last spring- and when in doubt, I have no trouble finding the nearest Holiday Inn, Motel 6, or Super 8 on my smartphone. We are loaded up with all the necessary supplies...including my "graduation present" from Aunt Kathy. Nothing says years of hard work and achievement and a college degree like a package of Hershey's Bars, Marshmallows, and Bear Spray. Yep, dear Champaign friends and fellow graduates, bet you didn't get Bear Spray for your graduation. It seems we've decided against the kayaks.... a logical decision I think, although Lindsay was really sold on the idea, and thought it made us look "more badass". Her idea was that we should "Go big or Go home", which is the basis of the trip... but Alaska is pretty big for me, and I didn't want to have to regret the decision of bringing the kayaks. Plus, it's not like you can MAIL home 2 kayaks.

And we have PLENTY of gear. 2 tents (a back up incase of incident), an airmattress (30 days of sleeping on the ground is surely no sleep number experience), an array of cooking supplies, my one little duffel bag of clothes (get ready to see a thousand pictures of me in the same 4 outfits), hair care/beauty products (I don't care if were camping in the wilderness, I'm blow drying my hair in the cigarette outlet), travel books (Claire, the guidebook, Fisher would be proud), 2 Atlases (going old school in case of technology malfunction), a TomTom (our 3rd companion), books & dvds (I'm treating this car like a moving couch), a computer (complete with my CPA study material...), and plenty of food. Due to Road Rule #3, a lesson brought to us from our Hawaiian adventure post High School graduation... No food = Bad Mood. Keep my counterpart fed or else she becomes very irritable. Well we got 80 packs of fruit snacks to keep me content, although I could probably eat my way through those before we hit Wyoming. Good news is, there is a Wal-mart everywhere. This is not 1960s American road trip, we are the Wal-Mart generation, and anything we need can be conveniently bought at the nearest Supercenter, at near margin cost. I have a feeling that I'm going to be doing a lot of peeing at Wal-marts, I don't care what Lindsay says, its going to take a lot to get me to use that "Go Girl" funnel that allows females to pee standing up. Seriously, weird.

For good luck, we've packed a Grandpa Metz hat and an old Papa M1 license plate that has served me well in the trunk of Cream Puff. Never too old for a little superstitions, or more accurately our guardian angel for road adventures. I have a feeling he'd like this adventure, a little King of the Road action. Keep us safe, and keep us sane Gramps.

We've got an early departure time and then its straight through Minnesota to South Dakota. I have a date with a corn palace tomorrow and a lot of highway. Need my sleep in a real bed and a hot shower in the morning before I lose modern conveniences. We hope to update you from the road, but who knows where we will find Wi-Fi.

And so it begins, the Epic Road Trip 2011... to Alaska. We've talked about this road trip for so many years, and now, here we are, loaded up ready to go. Bigger than we ever talked about... but if you are going to drive across country, why not drive to Alaska?

Tomorrow begins our adventures, until then...

-B