preparing, (theoretically)

So, you've decided you want to travel around the country for three years seeing all the marvels there are to see (or at least as many as you can).  That sounds fabulous, right? But how???  Well, let's say we start with

1. Accommodations.

  Lodges/hotels ?? Hello, we're not made of                                          money and hope to have                                          some left to live on after                                          the trip is over = a hard NO 

  Tent ??                    ABSOLUTELY NOT !!!!!                                              (Read that as "a hard NO"                                         also, just in case in there                                        were any doubts) 🤣

  Rv ??                       Don't really want to have to                                      drive everywhere in our                                            "house".  We could tow a                                          car    ... Would I get carsick?                                    ... Likely 🙄

5th wheel ??            They are so big ... and we'd                                      have to buy a truck

Trailer ??                  Sort of like a pop-up only a                                      bigger, with hard sides                                            (good for bear country),                                          flexibility in sizes and                                              options.

Let's go shopping and see what we can find!

2. Our house. We certainly didn't want to sell,  but what options?

3. Then there were our four legged babies. Most national parks aren't particularly dog friendly for even the most well behaved pups, of which ours don't qualify. Most loving perhaps, best barkers perhaps, best at going off leash and doing what ever they want perhaps, but most well behaved? NEVER.  And there was still the house question...

Luckily, thankfully, serendipitously, providentially, blessedly (you fill in your adjective of choice) both Ben and Grace (his fiance) AND Josh and Camryn (his girlfriend) wanted to move into the house.  It will be an opportunity for them to save some money AND allow us to have some peace of mind knowing that our furbabies will be much loved and cared for by family they know AND the two couples can help each other with the upkeep of a 160 yr old house.

Ok, so far everything is working out better than could be hoped for, EXCEPT ... we don't have enough bedrooms in our house!  🤔

Not a problem. 

We'll take two undertilized (read as storage) rooms downstairs and turn them into a bed and bath for one of the couples (bonus: we'll use it later when we no longer feel up to mounting those long, steep, narrow stairs that frequent houses of an age).  And... we'll let the other couple have our room.  (We will move to the much (MUCH) smaller guest room.)

Perfect!  Issues resolved. Time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. 💪