Overview of Day 10 and the whole experience!

Hello followers! Now that I am back at my trusty desktop, I would like to overview the last day and wrap up the whole trip experience for you :)

Day 10 was a long haul home. We got up in Sacramento, and headed out at the noon checkout. We grabbed gas and beverages since it was already HOT, and headed north. After about a 2 and 1/2 hour drive, we stopped at the last In-n-Out Burger in Redding, CA and got our grub on! Man, I love that place! We kept pressing on....

It was hot. Kept getting hotter. Hit 103 degrees around Weed, and were thrilled to get into southern Oregon where it finally got into the 90's! We stopped in Roseburg, OR for gas and Applebee's and kept making the drive. At that point, we had been on the road for 9 hours. With our transmission stuff and inner tie rod, we were taking it low and slow to make sure we got home ok... can't push it when you have your cubs in the car!

Stopped for coffee late, and kept going. At least traffic was light traveling at the time of night. We put the top up in Oregon when the temp hit 76 degrees because the cubs get cold at that temp at freeway speeds, but we were shocked to be sticky at 63 degrees at 2 am in Tacoma... it was 84% humidity! Despite being 40 degrees cooler than earlier in the day, at least that was 15-30% humidity... man, that makes a difference!!!

We pulled in at 3-ish a.m. and were ready to sleeeeeeeeep!!! Whew! What a haul. The cubs did great, especially considering it was the last day. We ended the trip 2 states short in the license plate game... we got Hawaii on day 8 or so, leaving us missing New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Oh well, there is always next trip!!! ;)

Lessons we learned as a whole:
1. All of the tips from Day 1! Re-read those... lol...
2. Top down in the full sun is TOUGH on the peeps in the backseat.... When trip planning, do a day trip trial run in similar conditions to what you will be doing on your trip. We learned that a convertible is NOT fun for the people in the backseat at more than 65 mph... and it takes away the best part of a road trip... the chatter that goes on in the car along the way. This lead to having to let the cubs plug in more than I would have liked. That was bad pre-planning on the part of the Bears.
3. Don't discount small, locally owned hotels... two of the best rooms were the small, local motor lodges. The big hotels may have been "newer" but in general, the "older" but clean hotels had the best amenities and service. And a 10% increase in what you spend can make a HUGE difference... definitely check out all the options before you book.
4. The places that had pools? Great. But we never got to use one because of our itinerary. Think your mileage through and add in time for gas and food stops. If you are going to get back to the hotel for the night after 9, basically count out the pool... and find a property that is cheaper because it doesn't have one.
5. The car got better gas mileage than we thought... I haven't added the final total yet, but I am pretty sure we came in under budget. I'll post final numbers in a few days after I get things settled...
6. Plan in your budget for water if you are going somewhere warm! We planned for drink stops, but we didn't plan to carry a cooler to carry enough water cold, and it gets warm fast at 100+ degrees, and you go through A LOT when it's that hot. We had an episode of dehydration with Youngest Cub, and after that had to build in cooler travel temps and more cold drink stops. This added time and money to the plan.
7. All in all, the first few days were hard because we were getting used to the routine of a road trip, since it was our first. The middle 2 days were rough because we logged high mileage in the heat without a lot of activities, and everyone got a little cranky from mis-communication. By Day 6, we had the routine down and the needs for stuff to do and see worked out, and those last days were the best. We figured out the differences in the cubs personalities and expectations, and better knew how to roll with both. :)
8. No matter how prepared you think you have your car, have a plan for what to do when something happens. Thankfully we didn't have to use our AAA coverage, but it was nice to know we had it, and if it wasn't for Google, it would have been much harder to take care of what we needed to. But we met some great folks along the way, so as per a road trip, it all led to some great experiences. Another kudos to Rimrock Express Lube in Billings, MT and Leo at Discount Tires in Gallup, NM for taking such great care of us. If you are near them, please give them your business... they are totally worth it!

We definitely worked out the bugs and are much better prepared for our next adventure! When we go, you will too.... this blog will go live again with our next trip (other than the promised budget post!)

Until next time,
Mama Bear... happy and HOME!

Whew- Day 2!

Well, Mama Bears are the first to rise and the last to bed, and so it goes today as well. However, it's my penance today... I'll explain why in a minute. :)

Started off as planned... I was awake while everyone else slept, so I showered and combed out my tangled hair from yesterday. I went to the nearby truck stop and got coffee, new sunglasses, milk for cereal, and gassed the car. Came back and woke everyone up, and they ate and we packed up. We left Butte headed toward Yellowstone about 11 am. It was a beautiful drive to the West Yellowstone entrance... Top down, great temp, LOTS OF SUNSCREEN!! 

We got our annual park pass, and headed toward Old Faithful... But actually had more fun and better views at Lower Geyser Basin! Not as crowded and a variety of things to see. The Fountain Paint Pot was cool... When I get to my computer, I'll upload some videos to my YouTube channel.

 Anyhoo, we left there and headed to Old Faithful. We had AMAZING ice cream at the store and went and hung out by the geyser for a bit, but no luck for us today. 

It was 30 minutes, we couldn't really wait anymore (which turned out to be the right call... Again, later...), and it wasn't going to go for at least another 30 minutes. Eh... It's cool. So we headed back to the car and continued our drive. 

We looped around to drive alongside Yellowstone Lake... WHICH IS FREAKING HUGE... Annnnnnd that's when we figured out the random tranny slip we felt earlier was getting worse. No bueno. We saw a few bison, and then stopped by a service station for transmission fluid. And THEN realized we couldn't get the cap off to fill it :/ So, we're dealing with it tomorrow morning. 

On the rest of the drive out of the park (to the Northeast entrance) we got stopped TWICE in the Lamar River Valley so a HERD OF BISON could cross the road. Got it on video... The commentary is fantastic! But here is a pic to hold you over... 

We saw deer, antelope, bison, a rabbit, and MORE BISON. They're everywhere! Time flies, and it was 8 pm as we were heading out of the park. That's when the bad planning on my part came in. You seeeeeee, I planned the trip on google maps. This is great, but I didn't look at topography. Between Cooke City and Red Lodge is AN EFFING MOUNTAIN. 

Allow me to give you a visual.... Remember the scene in the first Lord of the Rings where the fellowship has to go over that crazy mountain pass and almost dies? The Pass of Lemloch or some other such shit??! Yes. That is what this felt like. It would have been stunning if we had A) expected it, B) didn't have a tranny that is acting an ass, and C) DIDN'T REQUIRE DRIVING AT 20 Mph... Oh yeah, and it was 40 degrees. When I started investigating this.... Turns out it was a little pass at almost 11,000 feet above sea level. Snow on the ground... Lots... Frozen alpine lakes. It was stressful, I thought Padre Bear was gonna strangle me, but we let the cubs play their games, so they were troopers, and we finally got to Red Lodge. At 10:30. Whooooooooo, was Padre Bear grumpy!!! We had starving cubs, and finally got to the hotel in Billings about 11 pm. WAAAAAAAAAY later and harder on the car than we planned :(

Cubs showered while I ran to get everyone some food, which ended up being BK. Pickings are slim for drive thru in Billings at 11:30 pm on a Monday!  

Everyone is asleep, I think I'm forgiven, so now I'm going to bed so I can check the topo for the rest of the trip over morning coffee! Lol... See y'all tomorrow!

TTFN, 

Mama Bear :)