My Risk Meter is low... or where am I sleeping?

My risk meter is pretty low.  What I mean by that is I like things sorted out ahead of time for important things - and there's nothing more important to me on a road trip than to know where we are going to sleep at night.

We know several people who make trips routinely and just "stop and get a place" when they are ready to stop for the night.  With the prevalence of cell phones and internet at your fingertips, this is a less risky plan than 25 years ago when you had to rely on the AAA Guide Book or a roadside sign to know what options there might be in the next town up the road.  Today you can do a quick search to not only find what hotels are coming up, but whether there is availability and what it's going to cost - and you can make the reservation without having to wake up the night clerk.

But these same folks also have tales of "no room at the inn" or the exorbitant price of a last-minute room.  Or having to drive another 50-100 miles before finding somewhere that wasn't super-sketchy where you had to worry about safety and security or the gator that was swimming in the pool.

My risk meter is pretty low - so that means making lodging arrangements ahead of time is high on my list of priorities for a trip as intricate as this one.

In a previous post, I wrote about researching the places we wanted to visit and where we would be overnight based on the things we wanted to do and the distance we wanted (or didn't want) to travel in day.  Some places will be just overnight stays, but in others, we will spend 2-4 nights at a time.  Some of the accommodations we want to stay at book up fast, so we couldn't wait too long to make a reservation or we would have to find somewhere else to stay.  So spreadsheet in hand, we got busy making our reservations.

While there are several strategies for making and managing hotel reservations, I'll share ours with you.  Obviously, you have to first know where you want to stay - the city or town or middle of nowhere, and when you plan to be there.  For an extensive trip like this one, we investigated the areas that we thought might be significantly more expensive on weekends or holidays to determine if we needed to shift our arrival days to be a bit more affordable.  We also checked on minimum night requirements; we found that Air BnB's often have a 2-3 night minimum and some resort areas, during season, require 4+ nights (but off season they will allow a single-night booking).  Our trip will have us in parts of Michigan just before and during "season opening" so we are planning accordingly.

Once we had our dates and locations set, we reviewed various travel-related sites to identify possible accommodations including hotels, bed and breakfasts, campgrounds, cabins, state park lodges, guest houses, inns, and Air BnBs.  For our by-the-numbers readers like me, we have reservations with these hotel chains and accommodation types (number of locations):  Marriott (3), Holiday Inn Express (5), Choice Hotels (3), Hilton (1), Radisson (1), Cabin/Campground (1), Resort (1), Independent Hotel/Motel (1), Air BnB (4), Inn/Bed&Breakfast (3), Condo Rental (1), and relatives (3).

We found that most hotel chains allow reservations 50 weeks in advance, but a few are shorter at 11 months out.  Air BnB hosts often only book out 6 months in advance, but will sometimes open their booking window further out if you ask.  Local inns, particularly in areas that have summer seasons, typically don't open their booking window for spring until after the winter holidays.  And those that do allow for a more advanced booking usually have a stricter cancellation policy.

We are members of the loyalty programs for each of the hotel chains we will be using; we might as well earn the points, plus you can get a "member's rate" that saves a few dollars over the AAA or Senior rates offered.  The member's rates were often pre-paid with no cancellations (just lose the money if you cancel), and while we are all for saving $5-$20 per night, we are still too far out to make that commitment.  So we booked at the lowest rate available that allowed for free cancellation.

Here's a tip:  check on the available rates for the same night at the hotel as if you were booking a new reservation; if it's lower than the rate you have, some of the hotel chains let you just update your reservation online to the lower rate, while others you'll want to book a new reservation and then cancel the original one to lock in the lower rate.  (We have already saved $32 just by checking on two of our reservations.)  We expect to make adjustments to our reservations once we are on the road to take advantage of any lower rates once the cancellation window won't matter for us.

In addition to booking ahead of time to know where we will be sleeping at night, we also opt to book directly with the hotel online rather than through one of the several third-party booking sites.  While these sites offer convenience and what appear to be better prices, there is a risk of getting to the establishment and finding that there was a "glitch" and you don't have a room.  [Did I mention my risk meter is pretty low?]

Do you have a strategy or money-saving tip for booking accommodations?  If so, leave it in the comments to share with us and our other readers.  

~ Cindy D. 

#FlowersMakeMeHappy

 If you follow me on Social Media, you'll know that #flowersmakemehappy is a common hashtag in my posts.  I love flowers so much, and I will often stop in the middle of a walk to take a picture of a flower.  I love flowers so much that the picture(s) for my birthday month on our family calendar are exclusively pictures of flowers that I've taken in the previous year.

So it should be no surprise that I am interested in the flowers we may see throughout the Middle States.  And as you know by now, I like to know something about the places we're headed before we go.  So this post is an arrangement of the official state flowers and wildflowers of the 17 states we'll be visiting next year.  Each state is linked to their official state symbols site when one was available.

Florida - the official flower is the Orange Blossom and the State's wildflower is the Coreopsis.  I often see these happy flowers growing along the roadway but never knew what they were called, nor that they were the state's official wildflower.  I just always say, "I like those happy yellow flowers."

 

 

[Photo Credits]

Alabama - the Camellia is the state flower while the Oakleaf Hydrangea has been designated as the official wildflower.

Mississippi - The official state flower of Mississippi is the magnolia blossom.  And like Florida, their state wildflower is the coreopsis.

Arkansas - The Apple Blossom is Arkansas' state flower.  Isn't it beautiful?  These bloom in mid-April through mid-May, so we should be able to see some while in Arkansas.

[Photo Credit: Getty Images / boboling ]

Oklahoma - While the beautiful Oklahoma Rose is the state flower, the state's wildflower, the Indian Blanket, has a more interesting story.  These wildflowers bloom in May, so we may catch the beginning of their season.

[Photo Credit: TexasEagle]

Kansas - Just as Florida is known as the Sunshine State, Kansas is known as the Sunflower State, so it's only natural that the official state flower is the Wild Native Sunflower.  In the 1903 legislation that designated the sunflower, it was written that the sunflower is a "flower that a child can draw on a slate, a woman can work in silk, or a man can carve on stone or fashion in clay."  (I expect I will come home with at least one souvenir with a sunflower on it.)

[Photo Credit]

Missouri - Hawthorn is the name of Missouri's official state flower.  I didn't know what this flower was until researching for this post.  It blooms mostly in May, so we should see some and you bet I'll be getting a picture!

[Photo Credit]

Nebraska - In 1895, Nebraska declared the Goldenrod as its official state flower.  Another state on our itinerary, Kentucky, also uses Goldenrod as an official state symbol.

[Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons]

Iowa - The state's official flower is the Wild Rose, but they didn't designate a specific variety; unofficially, it's the Wild Prairie Rose.  It typically blooms in June, so unless it blooms early, we probably won't see it.  But isn't it pretty?

[Photo Credit]

Minnesota - This state's official flower is endangered.  The Pink Lady's Slipper, a wildflower, was designated as the state's flower in 1902, but by 1925, it became protected by state law.  It is illegal to pick the flower or to uproot or unearth the plants.  The plants can live up to 50 years.  

Wisconsin - The Wood Violet is Wisconsin's official state flower.  These bloom in May and June, so we'll keep an eye out for them.  They come in a variety of colors, but I think from the photos I saw, the purples are my favorite.

[Photo Credit]

Michigan - Like Arkansas, Michigan's state flower is the Apple Blossom.  They bloom in May and June, so I hope we see some while we are in the state. I would love to compare them to those from more southern Arkansas.  Michigan also has an official state wildflower, the Dwarf Lake Iris.  These bloom in late May / early June and are the ones I am most excited about trying to see.  However, Dwarf Lake Iris are on the threatened plant list.

[Photo Credit: Charles and Diane Peirce, Michigan Wildflowers]

Illinois - The Violet and the Milkweed.  The only thing I know about milkweed is that it is a flower that grows in the Glade of Trust in Disney Dreamlight Valley.

[Photo Credit]

Indiana - Indiana has had four official state flowers beginning with the carnation (my favorite flower; my wedding bouquet was white carnations), followed by the tulip tree flower, and then the zinnia until 1957 when Peony was picked (pardon the pun).  I remember as a young girl growing up in south Georgia that my mother had a small flowerbed where she planted zinnias.  So when my initial search for "state flower of Indiana" returned Zinnia in the search results, it brought back fond memories.  So for my mom and for me, here's a picture of zinnias that reminds me of my childhood.

[Photo Credit: kasiap - stock.adobe.com]

The IndyStar had an interesting article from 2017 about how the peony became the official state flower.  And in case you, like me, weren't quite sure what a peony looked like, here's a picture that was in the article.

Kentucky - While Kentucky and Nebraska both have Goldenrod as their official state flower, Kentucky designates Solidago Gigantea as the official species of Goldenrod.  The link in the state name will give you more information if you're interested.  And while Kentucky does not have a specific state wildflower, the Kentucky State Parks invite you to enjoy the state's wildflowers in their natural habitat.

Tennessee - The Iris is the official flower of the state of Tennessee which also boasts two official state wildflowers: the Passion Flower and the Tennessee Echinacea, aka the Coneflower.

 

[Photo Credit]

Georgia - The Peach State's official flower is the Cherokee Rose, and the official wildflower is the Native Azalea.  And even though I grew up in Georgia, I didn't know these facts until this post.  

[Photo Credit:  Bron Praslicka]

[Photo Credit]

So you can see why this #flowersmakemehappy traveler is looking forward to taking our time as we make our trip - so we really will have time to stop and smell the flowers.

Which is your favorite flower?  Let us know in the comments!

~ Cindy D.

Road Trip Exercises and Stretches

Our AAA Trip Tik predicts that we will spend about 95 hours on the road when we make our Middle States trip, and while we are limiting the time and distance in the car each day, that's still a lot of time to be driving.  I get restless in the car, and my body gets stiff and achy if I don't move about and stretch, so I thought I would look for recommendations for exercises to do either in the car or at a rest stop.

Several of the search results returned similar exercises one can do from the passenger seat that are geared toward ankles, knees, glutes, spine/back, abdomen, and arms. The Sharp HealthCare (San Diego, CA) has an article, 6 Simple Car Exercises to Avoid a Painful Road Trip that provides instructions for how to perform these exercises.

Performance Health Academy has an article that includes additional exercise recommendations for outside of the vehicle when at a rest stop such as lunges and push-ups using the car as a base.  As a bonus, their website has a library of 900 exercises that you can search to create your own exercise program!

And of course the folks at Cruise America have suggested exercises for road trips, too, that can be performed while riding or on a break.  The Hospital for Special Surgery offers some stretches that are ideal for travelers.

From my own experience, taking the extra few minutes at a rest stop to stretch and walk around is key to improving both physical and mental alertness, both necessary for driving safety.  One thing DH and I like to do, and are looking forward to with this trip, is playing Pokemon GO.  By searching for new creatures, trying to hatch an egg, or battling for gyms, this is a fun way to incorporate exercise into rest stops. (And if you want to be Pokemon GO friends, my trainer code is in the comments.)

After reading through the exercises and stretches, these are also good for anyone who spends a lot of time seated, such as in an office.  I tried them out while drafting this blog entry and think they will be good to incorporate into my work day.  So if you see me doing these at my desk, you'll know that I'm training for our road trip!

What are some of your favorite ways to combat car ride fatigue?  Leave us a comment!

~ Cindy D.

Exploring our nation's park service

The National Park Service (NPS) oversees a variety of lands, recreational areas, historical sites, and more.  And until I was using their website to identify points of interest for our itinerary, I hadn't realized how vast the NPS's collection is.

• National Park
• National Monument
• National Historic Site
• National Historic Park
• National Historic Trail
• National Scenic Trail
• National Preserve
• National Parkway
• National Military Park
• National Battlefield Site
• National Seashore
• National Lakeshore
• and more!

We have several NPS places on our itinerary - and in preparing the list for this post, I discovered two more to add!  Each place is listed below by state; while we will visit some states more than once on our trip, I am including all NPS sites regardless of whether they are on the way north or the return leg south. 

Mississippi - Natchez Trace Parkway.  This is really a crossing of the Parkway, but we plan to stop at the visitor center.

Arkansas - You can guess!  Hot Springs National Park.

Oklahoma - Washita National Battlefield.  This is one of the two that were added.  It is only four miles off the highway from Quartz Mountain State Park to Dodge City, Kansas.

Kansas - This state has the most sites that we will encounter.   Fort Larned and Fort Dodge are both along the Santa Fe National Historic Trail on the way to Marysville.  And  the Oregon Trail crosses the Pony Express route just west of Marysville. [I hope we don't get dysentery.]  

The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail belongs in Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa.

Nebraska - Homestead National Historical Park in Beatrice is the second addition to our NPS list.  We planned to be in Beatrice on a Sunday morning for church services, so when I saw this was located in Beatrice, it only made sense to add it!

Iowa - Herbert Hoover National Historic Site will be a day trip from Le Claire.

Michigan - I didn't know there was such a thing as a National Lakeshore until some Michigan friends suggested we not skip the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  We also plan to visit the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and if weather conditions permit, we want to take a boat tour while there.

Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky have the NPS stops along the Abraham Lincoln portion of our trip, from the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park in Kentucky, the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Indiana, and the Lincoln Home in Illinois.  We'll be starting in Illinois, so it may be that our Lincoln leg seems to have a Benjamin Button effect.

Missouri - St. Louis is home to the Gateway Arch and to the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site. 

Tennessee - The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is our last NPS stop on our journey.  While there, I really want to hike a teeny tiny portion of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail that goes through.  I know it's not really hiking the Appalachian Trail, but it's probably as close as I'll ever get.

The NPS links are useful for planning, but in addition to checking there for information about hours, fees, and general operations, it's a good idea to follow their social media feeds for up-to-date information that you might have missed or is evolving.  You can find their social media links at the bottom of their website.

And for your entertainment, follow National Park Service LEGO Vignettes on Facebook or Instagram.

Have you been to any of these NPS sites on our itinerary?  If so, let us know which ones and if you had a favorite thing about it.

~ Cindy D.

The Pony Express leg

Early in the planning process, I was looking for a place to stop in Kansas on the way to Iowa and came across the small town of Marysville.  A video about the town evoked a sense of Hallmark Channel Christmas Movie quaintness, so I decided to place Marysville on our agenda.  At that point, we hadn't thought about going to Dodge City; Marysville was our Kansas destination point.  [Kansas is one of the states I still need to visit.]

While Marysville is a small town, it is rich in history, and a significant part of that is its position along the Pony Express route.  The Marysville Pony Express Home Station and Museum is located there and is the first home station headed west from St. Joseph, Missouri.  I admit, I don't know much about the Pony Express, but along our drive from Marysville to Marceline, Missouri, I found there are several opportunities to learn more.  The town of Seneca, Kansas, has a Pony Express Museum, and  St. Joseph is home to the Pony Express National Museum.  I reached out to the museums to see if they could recommend any books or documentaries that might be good for some background information to make our visits more meaningful.

One book, Riders of the Pony Express by Ralph Moody, was available at our public library.  I would recommend it as a place to start if you are like me and don't know much about this 18-month period in our nation's history.  And that's the first thing I learned about it - that the Pony Express was so short-lived; it was made obsolete by other forms of communication and transportation (the telegraph and the railroad).  There's more information from the National Park Service including a map.

Today, people refer to the middle states as the "fly-over states" without understanding the important role the people and places of what is now Middle America held in the settling of the country.  Ventures like the Pony Express passed through this land to serve an important purpose - to provide information to settlers in the western part of the country.  The first riders of the Pony Express paved the way for new methods of communication by showing what was possible.  And six or so generations later, I can communicate with you, dear reader, through means such as this blog.  

If you want to learn more about the Pony Express, here's a video from Weird History.

I am referring to this leg of our trip as the Pony Express leg.  Other legs include the Mark Twain leg, the Abraham Lincoln leg, and the Family History leg.  If you have a question or comment, you don't have to use the Pony Express - just put it in the comments below. 

~ Cindy D.

Criss-crossing the Mighty Mississip...

You can learn a lot about geography when planning a trip.  Studying the maps for more than just the route you want to take can show you things you haven't thought about before - like just how far the Mississippi River runs!  The headwaters start at Lake Itasca in Minnesota where the river begins its over 2,300 mile winding trip to the Gulf of Mexico.  If you drove from Lake Itasca to New Orleans, it would be about 1,500 miles by highway.

[Photo Credit: marchinileo0]

Our Middle States route has us going about 5,450 miles, or an average of 120 miles per day. During the 46 days, we will cross the Mississippi River eight (8) times.  Our southernmost crossing will be just below Memphis on our way to Hot Springs, then two weeks later, we'll cross east again at Winona, Wisconsin.  Then 9 days later, we'll cross heading west again at Dubuque on our way to Le Claire, Iowa.  We'll criss-cross a few more times at Hannibal and St. Louis with River Boat tours planned for both locations.

Growing up in the south, my only experience with the Mississippi River was crossing into Louisiana on the way to visit my grandparents.  DH and I have been to New Orleans a few times, and to Texas by car, but again, the crossing was on I-10.  We thought once about maybe doing one of the riverboat cruises but never did.  [Note: checking out what is offered in tour packages/itineraries has been helpful in identifying places to stop and things to do that we might not have thought about on our own.]

You can read more about the Mississippi River here.

~ Cindy D.

Roof-top Camping, or my first trip to REI

This weekend I went to an REI Co-op store for the first time.  Subaru was having an event in partnership with them, and we drive Subaru Outbacks, so I wanted to see what they had going on.  When we got there, they had a Thule-brand tent strapped to the top of the Wilderness Outback!  I had recently read a few articles about people car-camping with roof-top tents - so it was fun to see it set up, literally on top of the vehicle.  They told us that the car can support 700 lbs and the specific tent they had strapped on top could support 600 lbs.  Here are a couple of pictures so you can see.

[Photo credit: WDC]

[Photo credit: WDC]

I've been watching a lot of Instagrammers who are living and adventuring in their vans, busses, or RVs and have been interested in the logistics of such a life on the road.  While our Middle States trip is not going to require us to live in our car, we will be living out of our vehicle as we go.  The REI store has so many solutions for organization and compact storage!  I haven't spent much time yet thinking about the logistics for packing so we don't have to fully unload and reload the car at each stop, or how to keep things situated that they are easily accessible along the way.  And believe it or not, I haven't made my list of essentials to take yet.

If you have tips or hacks for long-distance car travel storage and organization, or a list of road-trip essentials to share, drop them in the comments!

~ Cindy D,