Jason & Norah's travel plans

Well, we have our plans set for getting to Lone Duck. We'll be leaving from Jon Steiger's residence and taking some of his extra stuff that doesn't necessarily qualify as airline carry-on luggage. We had a choice between coming across I-80 or I-70. Google Maps, Mapquest and Trip Maker all told me that I-80 would be faster, but further analysis showed that the I-70 route only added an hour or so over a four-day trip. I-70 avoids tolls through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, even though it adds a small stretch of toll road through Kansas. I-70 also takes us Past St. Louis and Kansas City, but allows us to avoid Chicago and Denver (home of the country's most expensive toll road; their online calculator told me driving 10 miles around Denver would be three times as expensive as driving through the entire state of Ohio). With that in mind, we decided to take I-70.

July 10: We'll go get our trailer out of storage and take it down to Jon's place. We'll also hit the grocery store to get some supplies for the trip.

July 11: From Jon's, we'll be heading west along I-90, then just before getting to Cleveland we'll be heading south on I-71, and around Columbus to pick up I-70. We'll be staying at the Dayton KOA in Dayton, Ohio. Not to be out-geeked by Walt, I've even plotted out specific fuel stops along our route. On the first day, we'll be fueling up at Flying Js in Austinburg and Berkshire, Ohio. The plan calls for 372 miles driving distance this day.

Why Flying J you ask? They offer a free discount card targeted at RV owners. The discount is only $0.01 per gallon of gas along with a small propane discount, but the card is free. They usually have pretty good fuel prices anyway due to the volume they deal with, they're easy access when pulling the trailer, they usually have a separate RV parking area away from the big rigs and they allow overnight parking. Good to know in case I experience a nap emergency along the way. Apparently Flying J has been doing a lot lately to attract the business of RVers, which is appreciated. (I don't work for Flying J or have any stock in the company, just passing along information I've found useful, maybe someone else will as well.)

July 12: West on I-70 around Indianapolis, stopping at the Flying Js there as well as in Effingham, Illinois. Then we'll avoid the central part of St. Louis by going just to the north. This night we'll be staying at the Lazy Day Campground in Danville, Missouri. 419 miles.

July 13: More traveling west on I-70 around Kansas City and across Kansas, stopping for the night at the KOA in WaKeeney, Kansas. We'll be fueling up at the Flying J in Salina, Kansas, but that's too far from Danville to make it on one tank. There is a Flying J in Kansas City, but it's out of our driving path. We'll have to find an alternative somewhere around Kansas City. 472 miles.

July 14: Even more driving west on I-70 through Kansas. We've been through Kansas once before, and it's just like Nebraska: drive straight and flat, and keep it up until you think you might go insane. We'll need a fuel stop somewhere in west Kansas, and then we'll be pulling off I-70 in Limon, Colorado to fuel up again at the Flying J there. From Limon, we'll just take US Highway 24 to Colorado Springs, head through Colo. Springs and up the canyon to Lone Duck in Cascade. This day is only 310 miles, so we should get there relatively early to give us enough time to get set up.

We're going to try leaving camp each morning around 4:00 AM while travelling. This will allow us to be stopped and in the pool before the afternoon heat really sets in. Since we're naturally night owls, it remains to be seen how well this is going to work out. I briefly considered leaving at around 8:00 PM and driving through the night, but realized that not many campgrounds are going to be very amused with us pulling in at 3:00 in the morning looking for a place to sleep.

I also considered just doing our sleeping at the Flying Js, but campgrounds offer electrical and water hookups in addition to swimming pools. Without the hookups, we can't run the air conditioner or microwave in the trailer, and showering would be quite limited by the on-board water tank. Since we'd need to carry extra water, we'd be using more fuel anyway, so with all that in mind we decided to bite the bullet and pay camp site fees. They're still only about half the cost of motel rooms, and even the worst campground I've been in was more pleasant than most motels. I know crummy campgrounds are out there, but I've done my best to avoid them, and during the summer I'd just much rather be out camping. That's why I got the trailer in the first place.

As for the return trip, we're still working on that plan. My parents are planning on coming over from Salt Lake, so we'll be staying around a couple of days after the meet is over. We'll probably leave on Tuesday the 25th, which should put us home on Friday the 28th. The return trip will probably be through Nebraska across I-80, since we won't be stopping at Jon's on the way back. I'll post details of that plan once it's set.