WHAT DO WE TAKE?

WITH the itinerary set and the route planned, it was time to turn to the question of what we needed to take to keep things as simple as possible on the road and at our various stops along the way.  Obviously, we'd have to pack enough clothing to get along for at least 5 days at a stretch without access to a washer and dryer, but there remains the fact that, for Mom at least, we'd be traveling in both high summer and "Florida winter" temperatures.

If you don't know my mom, you can be assured of this -- "winter" is any weather at any time of day or year that includes temperatures below 70 degrees farenheit.  Winter, for mom, means leggings, flannel pants, and long-sleeved sweaters!  So while our journey north will take us through high summer temperatures in most of the lower 48... say, 78-108 degrees, Alaska (at least the part we'll be seeing) will be enjoying summer temps of 60-70 degrees.

We will each take a small suitcase of overnight necessities and a change of clothes for our many stops.  The rest of our clothing will be in lidded, plastic bins -- easier to access and stack in the back of a van.  One bin each for Paul and me, and two for Mom -- one for summer things, one for winter!

As for our travel needs, I've invested in a few luxuries and one or two "must haves."  In the must have column, I've included a first aid kit, roadside emergency kit, visor extension (for when we're driving into the rising or setting sun), and lap trays for Paul and Mom, who are both addicted to games on their iPads.

In the "luxury" department, we've decided to skip the fast food so I've included a small folding table and chairs for roadside stops, along with a small fridge (and I do mean small... 5-6 drinks, some lunch meat, cheese, and condiments in small containers), a plastic tub for bread, crackers, chips, extra drinks and like that.  And for the heck of it, I bought a fancy iPad holder (because I love WAZE and expect to use it over the onboard Nav system in our rental van), and an old school, Rand McNalley Road Atlas, 2018, so my grandson can both learn basic map reading and track his travels for posterity!

Doubtless we'll spend the best part of the nine days between now and our departure changing and rearranging our packing lists, but eventually we'll just have to hit the road and make do without anything we forget!