Eight weeks, 27 states, 4 kids and my pooch. After more than two years of planning, it is amazing to me that our adventure of a lifetime is less than a fortnight away!

"WHY?!?!"
This question always follows a negative assessment of my sanity. While the rest of the world is busy shopping back to school sales, what would possess me to pack my kids into the car for a 10,000 mile jaunt around the country? There are many reasons but I guess the heart of it lies in the fact that I want to give my kids a passion for learning. They have spent two years studying American icons, people, and landmarks and now I want them to experience the USA. It is one thing to read about the Black Hills of South Dakota. It is another thing completely to spend the day as a Junior Palentologist and watch history and science come to life at a dino dig.

After confirming my insanity, people want to hear the details of our adventure. "Camping? You are going to camp across the country?!?!" You should see the look on their faces when I explain that the boys planned the trip. Armed with two years of narrations, travel magazines, and an internet site with smashed penny locations, my eight- and six-year-olds plotted a 6,000 mile one way trip to California. It soon became obvious that our two month trip would take four or five if the boys had their way so we encouraged them to trim it down a little. Everyone picked two "must see" places which worked well until Bekah came out of left field with "a circus". Drew is currently in the process of convincing her that a pow-wow is even better than a circus and therefore meets her requirement. Her response, "Does it have dancing ponies?"

At this point I am excited about finally going, overwhelmed at the idea of packing for two months on the road, and a little apprehensive about doing this in the dead heat of summer.