We have the house closing set for early morning on the 12th of May. Lynne and I want to get "on the road" asap after that. So, we've been mapping out a route to the cabin that has a few constraints:

1. We don't want to go more than between 500 and 600 miles each day.
2. Would like to arrive at the cabin early in the afternoon. (This leaves plenty of time to get the cabin "running", unpack, etc.)
3. Need a contingency place to park the travel trailer if the roads are muddy.
4. Will only have 1/2-day of travel the first day.
5. Need to stay in motels that are pet friendly.

I think we have a plan.

We'll load both trucks on the 11th and be ready to go. We've done this many times to prepare for vacation, so this should be easy. We will hook up the T@B (travel trailer) to the Expedition and have it ready to go, also. We will leave the dogs and cat in the empty house and take the loaded Suburban to the closing, which is about 30 minutes away. When the closing is done, we'll drive back to the house to pick up the animals. Lynne will drive the Suburban and I'll drive the Expedition.

I think we will then be able to head West around noon. Our first overnight stop would be Clarion, PA. That is about a 308 mile drive, so about 6 hours. Not bad for a first day.

The second day will be the long one, but shooting for Davenport, IA, seems to make sense. 627 miles, probably about 12 hours of driving. That is a longish day, but if we leave around 7:00 a.m. we should arrive around 6:00 in the evening. We get the advantage of a time change.

The third day will be shorter and we'll strive for North Platte, NE. This is about 577 miles, maybe 11 hours of driving. And, another free hour with the time change.

We've found Comfort Inns in each of these places that are well rated and pet friendly, so that is whom we will likely make reservations with.

Finally, we will make it in to Laramie after another 270 miles or roughly 5-1/2 hours of drving. That should put us into Laramie around noon. We'll do some minimal shopping (meals for a couple of days), then head to the cabin. That is another 25 miles or so, and will take 45 minutes. If the roads are muddy, we'll need a place to store the travel trailer. We don't have that sorted out yet, but maybe the storage facility where we will store some household goods would allow us to park there for a few days? We hope the roads are not muddy and we can take the trailer directly into the cabin.

So, that's the plan. About 1,800 miles. About 35 hours of driving. (We usually make it in 31 hours without the trailer.)

Wish us luck!