The Pre-Trip

Planning for a 33 day trip covering nearly 10,000 miles is a story in itself.  I worked on the itinerary for months in an effort to ensure that we had enough time in each location to do everything we wanted to do.  I literally tried to plan down to the quarter-hour.  I also mapped out the entire route and printed directions.  My binder is 3 inches thick.  But I'm confident it will serve its purpose.

Here is one example of a days map:

We chose to rent a car.  I got a very good price when I reserved a standard SUV from Enterprise for 35 days.  I was wary of the specific terms regarding miles as well as my choice in vehicles on pickup day.  A standard SUV included models such as the Hyundai Santa Fe.  My concern was that it would be high mileage and too small.  (We were packing a lot for 5 weeks of various activities!)

I prepared my own car – a Toyota Highlander as if it were to make the trip.  I had it serviced 3 days before the trip and requested an inspection to ensure its readiness, specifically mentioning the original 5-year old battery.  I was told that the car was good to go.

Pickup day came and we trundled off to Enterprise early to have the best selection of cars.  We had 2 choices – a Kia Sorrento or a Jeep Grand Cherokee.  The latter surprised me as I had been told only the base Cherokee would be available to me on my reservation.  Since it had only 15,000 miles on it, we decided to take it.

We took the rental car home and I started transferring some stuff from the Highlander to the Jeep.  I was noticing that the Highlander’s interior lights started dimming pretty quickly.  I tried to start it and the battery was too low to turn the engine over.  I jump-started the Highlander with Susan’s car and it ran fine … except that the “check engine” light was on.  Choosing the rental turned out to be a fortuitous decision.

As I type this, we are now on day 5 and the Jeep has been great.  It has a great ride, is very quiet and comfortable, has instruments in all the right places, and gets good gas mileage.  It is a nicer car than the Highlander, although it is smaller.  We’re happy so far.  Knock on wood!