YOU'VE GOT TO START SOMEWHERE!

I'VE done all the planning I can do.  I have no doubt there will be adjustments along the way, but we're starting from here:

I had planned to drive my own vehicle.  It's large enough to comfortably carry the three of us and all our required clothing and travel needs cross-country, and new enough to be equipped with nav, charging ports, bluetooth and all those things that make it possible to take to the road somewhat fearlessly.  On the other hand, one of my sibs pointed out, because it is MY vehicle, if anything were to go wrong with it on the road, we're going to be stuck until I can arrange a resolution.  In the interest of removing as many weak points as possible in our travel plan, we've decided to rent a mini-van.  It will accommodate our needs and should there be any problem with the vehicle itself, the rental company will simply bring us another and we can continue our journey with little time impact.

With the vehicle question sorted, it was time to get down to routes and miles.  We've got one driver (yours truly) and an appointment with a ferry roughly 3,000 miles away on July 13.  I've allowed seven full days for the journey out to ensure I don't have to be behind the wheel more than 8 hours each day, and to allow for fuel/bathroom/food/exercise stops, and for any delays due to road conditions, weather, traffic, or unforeseen trouble with the rental van.

I had allowed for two "visits" along the way, the first of which was to have been in Waskom, TX (roughly 8 hours from home) to see a cousin, but, alas, she will be traveling herself at that time, so our first stop will be at Barksdale A.F.B.'s Military Lodging just outside of Shreveport, LA.  We'll cross most of Texas on day 2, stopping for the night near Amarillo.  Day 3 should see us through the northeast corner of New Mexico and into Colorado near Ft. Collins.  Day 4, I'll add my 43rd state when we cross into Wyoming on our way to Ogden, UT and an overnight stay at Hill A.F.B.  From Ogden on day 5 we'll cruise through my 44th state (Idaho) and aim for # 45 for what we hope will be a two-day visit with a childhood friend in Burns, OR, whom I haven't seen since we were in college (for those of you who weren't paying attention to my first post, that would have been about 40 years ago)!

We'll leave Burns on 12 July and head into my 46th state, Washington, where we plan to overnight, 60 miles from the ferry terminal, at Ft. Lewis (just outside of Everett), leaving ourselves a short hop to Bellingham the morning of 13 July for a 3:00 boarding call on the Columbia.