The Plan

Ok, y'all. Here's the general plan for the trip.

First we're headed to NY to retrieve a certain Dan Man, then after a brief work stint on a friend's free-range hog farm we will be on our way to New Orleans. After we tire of the festivities (my social batteries will likely be exhausted after a day or two in the city) our little zoo will begin to meander in a westerly direction with an extended stay in the Colorado area before heading up the scenic route of the West coast. Eventually the goal is to see the Northern Lights in Fairbanks, Alaska, but we'll be crossing that border when we get to it. The best part about the trip is that we have nowhere to be in particular and have the freedom to experience whatever tickles our pickles. Want to see a random creepy wax museum on side of the road? Sure, we've got time. Want to go on a three-day hike up Pike's Peak? Why of course! Want to see statues of Confederate soldiers riding dinosaurs under a natural land bridge in West Virginia? Oh, too bad because it was just closed down, sorry. Somewhere else, then.

There are only seven states that I haven't visited in my short life, and I intend to remedy six of those on this excursion. Obviously Hawaii is a bit out of range, especially with so many pets. That leaves me with California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Alaska. I'll be updating you folks on here with GPS coordinates weekly, if not daily.

The purpose of this blog is multi-fold. It serves as an excellent memento of the trip as well as a photo collection. Additionally, it is a way to share my kookie adventures with the world. If the world becomes terribly interested in our business, it will potentially (far in the future) serve as a contributor to our trip funds. Ideally I'd like to get enough travel-hungry pet lovers to make this blog a full-time operation. I fully expect to include product reviews, perhaps even be sponsored, from relevant companies that produce travel or pet gear. There are already a number of items that I will be writing about and highly recommending to others. Another reason I'm creating this blog is as a resource for others who may wish to leave behind their stationary lives and scratch their travel itch. We are young folks who are close to broke, traveling with multiple pets and on a tight budget. Eventually the blog will evolve into a book that I hope will inspire young people to travel full time.  More to come in future posts on all of these topics.

As far as money goes, we have very little. I'm a member of Helpx.net, which is a website similar to WWOOF and helps volunteers find a place to stay and food to eat in exchange for a few hours of work per day. If need be we can find work at one of the hosts from there. It's mainly farm work which is something that I'm quite experienced at; it may be a somewhat novel experience for Dan. I'll be beginning the trip with only around $700, and Dan has saved around a thousand. Any odd jobs we find along the way will be performed with enthusiasm and gratitude. I'm going to be very frank about all of the expenses and earnings on this trip so that all of you can know exactly what it takes to swing it. Hopefully we find that it takes less than one might assume. Keep an eye out for my posts on budgeting and how we earn our way across the country.

Rosie, Piper, Juno, Dan and I can't wait to share our adventures with you! Check back every week to see what we've gotten into and also to make sure that we haven't been eaten by bears. Thanks for reading, and happy travels!