Oh, where to begin?
Unfortunately this initial blog post is way past its prime as you all
were to start this journey with us from our road trip prep: Robin finishing up
her job in San Francisco, our search for the coveted VW Eurovan, Mike
graduating from UC Berkeley, packing up & moving from our apartment in Berkeley, & finally all the real road-trip prep work such as
downloading our cds onto iTunes, buying 5-gallon water containers, finding the
fabric for our custom made curtains… Ok, so not all of our “to-do” list was
worth blogging about, but we still feel bad that this blog is coming to
fruition two weeks into our trip. As we
cannot make up for our poor time-management skills, we can at least fill you in
on what exactly it is that we are doing…
(A letter Robin recently sent out to friends & family
nationwide.)
Dear Friends & Family,
About a year ago, my adventurous husband came up with the idea that
we'd take a US road trip at the end of his master's program. Well,
here we are, a year later and Mike is graduating from UC Berkeley in
just 3 weeks time!!!
Slowly but surely, we've been mapping our route, saving gas money and
looking for a vehicle to take this journey in. There is still much
organizing and packing to do, oh yeah and we still need to find said
vehicle, but the clock is ticking and our departure date is quickly
upon us. What better time then to email you all of our intent to
visit you this summer!
Hopefully most of you have already heard about this road trip so I'm
not completely surprising you with this adventure; for those of you
whom I am surprising, I apologize! What Mike and I have set out to do
with this road trip is to see as much of America as we can, all while
visiting (and hopefully staying) with all of you. Sure, there will be
stops in cities where we know no one, and in that case we'll be
camping on the cheap, but our hope is that we can stay with you all
for one night or three, taking in the sites of your hometowns and
possibly helping you out while we're in your home. Mike can fix
things and I'm pretty good in the kitchen, plus we both love animals
so we can pet-sit if needed!
This is probably a good time to include that our 24-pound dog, Bailey,
will be taking this adventure with us. Bailey is a great houseguest,
I promise! She is REALLY good with tiring out other canine companions
with lengthy play sessions; plus she's well-mannered, completely house
trained, small!, a good cuddle companion and only barks when she's
having a lot of fun. Hopefully she won't be a deterrent for staying
in your homes, but if she is, we completely understand. Instead, can
we just camp in your yard?
Another condition of this journey is to not have a timeline, so we can
fully appreciate our last taste of "life with little responsibility".
And of course, we want to see all that we can see and spend as much
time with those that we love. We've discussed a 6-8 week trip, but
understand that beautiful sites and hiccups on the road could easily
extend or shorten this trip. That being said, we really would like to
visit you all, but may have to make exceptions as our route changes
and as the financial reserves dwindle…
Our plan is such (and please don't critique, as the first leg seems
silly from a gas perspective, but we have our reasoning…)
Chico, CA--May 27th departure
Oregon
Utah
Arizona
Texas
Louisiana
Georgia
North Carolina
New York
Massachusetts
Vermont
Quebec, Canada
Michigan
Illinois
South Dakota
Montana
Washington
Oregon
California
If your home state is listed above, it means we'd like to come visit
you! Or if we can't make it to you, we'd like to extend an open-van
policy: you can meet us on the road anywhere and travel with us! Just
know you'll have to bring a sleeping bag, good music and gas money :)
Now knowing our plans, can we come visit you?
Much love to all--Robin, Mike and Bailey
*PS, if you know anyone on our route who would love to house us,
please feel free to forward this email. Thanks!!
About a year ago, my adventurous husband came up with the idea that
we'd take a US road trip at the end of his master's program. Well,
here we are, a year later and Mike is graduating from UC Berkeley in
just 3 weeks time!!!
Slowly but surely, we've been mapping our route, saving gas money and
looking for a vehicle to take this journey in. There is still much
organizing and packing to do, oh yeah and we still need to find said
vehicle, but the clock is ticking and our departure date is quickly
upon us. What better time then to email you all of our intent to
visit you this summer!
Hopefully most of you have already heard about this road trip so I'm
not completely surprising you with this adventure; for those of you
whom I am surprising, I apologize! What Mike and I have set out to do
with this road trip is to see as much of America as we can, all while
visiting (and hopefully staying) with all of you. Sure, there will be
stops in cities where we know no one, and in that case we'll be
camping on the cheap, but our hope is that we can stay with you all
for one night or three, taking in the sites of your hometowns and
possibly helping you out while we're in your home. Mike can fix
things and I'm pretty good in the kitchen, plus we both love animals
so we can pet-sit if needed!
This is probably a good time to include that our 24-pound dog, Bailey,
will be taking this adventure with us. Bailey is a great houseguest,
I promise! She is REALLY good with tiring out other canine companions
with lengthy play sessions; plus she's well-mannered, completely house
trained, small!, a good cuddle companion and only barks when she's
having a lot of fun. Hopefully she won't be a deterrent for staying
in your homes, but if she is, we completely understand. Instead, can
we just camp in your yard?
Another condition of this journey is to not have a timeline, so we can
fully appreciate our last taste of "life with little responsibility".
And of course, we want to see all that we can see and spend as much
time with those that we love. We've discussed a 6-8 week trip, but
understand that beautiful sites and hiccups on the road could easily
extend or shorten this trip. That being said, we really would like to
visit you all, but may have to make exceptions as our route changes
and as the financial reserves dwindle…
Our plan is such (and please don't critique, as the first leg seems
silly from a gas perspective, but we have our reasoning…)
Chico, CA--May 27th departure
Oregon
Utah
Arizona
Texas
Louisiana
Georgia
North Carolina
New York
Massachusetts
Vermont
Quebec, Canada
Michigan
Illinois
South Dakota
Montana
Washington
Oregon
California
If your home state is listed above, it means we'd like to come visit
you! Or if we can't make it to you, we'd like to extend an open-van
policy: you can meet us on the road anywhere and travel with us! Just
know you'll have to bring a sleeping bag, good music and gas money :)
Now knowing our plans, can we come visit you?
Much love to all--Robin, Mike and Bailey
*PS, if you know anyone on our route who would love to house us,
please feel free to forward this email. Thanks!!
So now that you have the background: Welcome to the Cooks Do America, 2012!
Our goal with this blog is to post an interesting photo per
day to help record the fun we intend to have on this journey. Weekly we’d like to spend a bit more time
& update you all on the funny stories associated with the photos, describe
the breathtaking scenery we will encounter & maybe even the dos &
don'ts of a road trip with your spouse & your dog.
We hope you make it a daily habit to track our journey &
we welcome any & all suggestions of restaurants we must try, sites we must
see, & of course, the free bed & shower of your friends & family
nationally!
Love, Robin, Mike & Bailey
If you make it to LA, we live by the beach and have extra bikes!
ReplyDeleteThanks Hollie! I don't know if we'll have the stamina to make it down to LA (that's where you're living now, right?), but I appreciate the offer. Maybe I can save it up for future use?
ReplyDeleteHope all is well!