Ask Me Anything! LWOW Edition, Volume 1

My brother David had a fabulous idea to help me pass the time on the LONG trip home--to have people ask me questions they've been wondering about regarding our trip!  So, I posted the question to my friends on Facebook and the questions started pouring in.  I'll do my best....but there were so many questions, I'm going to have to break it up into a few posts.

Q.  How did you avoid contracting the Hanta virus in Yosemite?  
A.  Well, we were only there for about 5 hours and during those 5 hours, we made a point of not feeding the rodents.  It was difficult to refrain (especially considering our penchant for feeding the Rocky Mountain chipmunks!), but we knew we didn't want to bring Hanta home as a souvenir, so we refrained.

Q.  What did you do with the Quest (our van) in terms of maintenance to get ready?  
A.  Well, as you may remember, our minivan had nearly 152,000 miles on it before we started the trip.  However, it's a Nissan, which is supposed to run forever (which works against you when you're ready for some new wheels), so we felt like it was LWOW worthy.  We replaced the coolant and transmission fluid before we left.  About halfway through our trip, we decided we needed new tires and got an oil change in Pasadena, CA.

Q.  Would you ever do this trip again?  
A.  NO.  YES.  I don't know.   It's still too fresh....and I'm typing this after sitting on my butt in the same seat in my car for over 24 hours and I'm STILL only in Oklahoma, so I'm a little scarred from this part of the trip.  That said, if you have never done this trip, then YES--you owe it to your country to help us bring back the Great American Family Roadtrip.  It was truly a once in a lifetime experience.  Key word:  ONCE in a lifetime.  So, I guess the answer is....I wouldn't do this exact trip again, but perhaps another one another time???  We didn't hit Yellowstone or Mount Rushmore or the Grand Tetons, so there's still plenty of 'Merica to explore. To be continued....

Q.  Have you found you packed well?  Had the stuff you needed?  Didn't bring stuff you didn't need?
A.  We packed REALLY REALLY well.  If you'll recall, I posted this master packing list a few weeks before we left and we adhered to it pretty tight.  I honestly don't remember ever having to make a walmart run to buy something we forgot EXCEPT a little broom/dust pan to sweep the dirt and dust out of our tent.  If anything, I brought too many "cute" clothes, but mainly because I wanted to look like a star in Hollywood and wasn't quite sure what I would want to wear.  ;)  The kids were running low on clothes by the time we got to California, but I was able to do laundry in Pasadena and Long Beach, so we got by.

Q. Favorite Memory
A.  This is a tough one!  I almost have a favorite memory in each spot we visited....but if I HAD to pick just one favorite memory from the entire 17 day trip, I would say it was the 2nd hike we did down into the Grand Canyon as the sun was starting to set.  It was almost eerily quiet and we were all by ourselves--only 3 other people on the entire trail.  As we walked, the kids asked questions about our lives before they were born, and about our families and what it was like for us growing up.  As we patiently answered each question, I suddenly had this "aha!" moment when I realized that THIS was the point of the whole trip.  To get the children away from the screens, friends, sports, social obligations, and their separate bedrooms and get the parents (us!) away from our chores, work, friends, errands, and social obligations in order to simply BE TOGETHER.  I found I was so much more patient and willing to take time to answer their questions and engage in conversation with them when I wasn't constantly worried about getting to the next place on time.  It was lovely.