Just Say YES!

Travels with Smooch-  Pre-trip Planning

Sometimes in life you just have to say YES!  So what that life is busy and full and you are embarking on a huge and important theatrical project.  So what that the garden needs harvesting and weeding and the list of house projects is endless.  So what if your consulting business could use an infusion of juice.   When you are invited to come help your daughter and her husband take care of their new baby in a city 2000 miles away, you just say YES!

Here is the pot at the end of the rainbow.. this little morsel.  

And here are my dear friends who said YES!

And here is my trusty sidekick who is up for anything and couldn’t stand being left behind, even for a day.  

Now to pack for this adventure.  What the what?  How do you pack when you will be away that long?   

Coats- check

Footwear- check

No you don’t need 5 coats nor do you need 10 pairs of shoes.  I mean seriously what do you really need when you're hanging out with a delicious baby and two labrador retrievers? Perhaps the right strategy is to think camp.  Pack your trunk with a uniform- green shorts, white shirts, a sweater or two and be done with it.   Ok, maybe you put in a party dress or a nice outfit for Thanksgiving, but really what else is essential? 

How do you prepare your life to be put on hold for 2-3 months?  You bring your computer, your kindle, your phone and you let the rest just stay where it is. Surely it will be there when you return.

How do you map your route when there are so many things to see between here and there? You get on the phone with your stalwart traveling companions and you discuss packing lists and routes and strategies. What are we going to do when we can’t figure out how to attach the septic hose to the ..to the… to the… wait!  Where do we attach the septic hose? Don't panic.  There are videos.  The RV company has a call center.  We'll map a route on Roadtripper.com and hope for the best.  Our husbands will be at home gleefully watching the adventure, laughing at our travails. We’ll figure it out.  We hope.

And one thing is for sure.  We will chronicle the adventure.  We'll write about it and we'll take pictures of it.  We'll invite suggestions from our friends.  So here we go.

From West Boylston to Denver via the Poconos, Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City..  What should we see? Where should we eat?  (We’re searching for gems from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives) What should we listen to? (podcasts, books on tape)  Or maybe we’ll just gab our way across the country, solving all of the problems of the world.  We do have one genius strategy which is to listen to Hillary’s new book “What Happened” so that we can gnash our teeth and rail at the injustice of it all.  That should keep us awake and alert.

We’ll be sharing updates from the road here.  But if you have ideas for us.  Let us hear them.

And the next time you get the chance- just say YES!