EL DORADO STATE PARK, EL DORADO KANSAS, BOONDOCK IN WICHITA AND BACK—CAMPS 10, 11, 12

I don’t know what it is about every time we try to head north it is like the truck is terrified to leave the safety of home. 

This time we made it all the way to the gate of the campground before the truck decided it wasn’t going to restart after we stopped to read the check in info on the empty gate host cabin.

It turned out to be an air in the lines problem again and after what seemed like an eternity it finally did start and we were able to move on into the campground and into a fairly shaded pull through campsite one of the camp hosts suggested. 

It had water and 50/30 amp electricity, but no sewer and was $24 a night.  What we weren’t told was there was a $3 fee for each block of time you rented a spot whether it was one night or 14 you paid a $3 registration fee.  They also offer no discounts and of course have a graduating cost depending on what amenities you are getting.  Our rate was $24 a night.

We were on campsite 2 in the Quail Run campground.  Right on the corner of the road and a very easy to access campsite. Fairly level with a gravel drive, no real pad to mention, just a gravel curved pull-thru that you park on. It seemed to be very firm, and when we had rain it didn’t create a problem so all was good.

The site is a bit unusual in one way.  This is an older campground with the state of Kansas slowly adding more and more 50 amp sites, but to avoid having to re-wire everything they are putting the 50 amp boxes on the passenger side of the trailer, opposite the driver side lower amp electric box and the water hook-up.  So you end up with your water on one side of the camper and the 50 amp electric on the other no matter which way you come into the pull thru.  

This means you may need either a longer hose or a longer extension cord for your electric depending on which way you pull in.  Luckily we were able to park just right on the pad and not have a problem with either. Folks whose utilities hook up in different locations on their rig than ours may have a bit of a problem.

We have a good view of the lake from our campsite.

While getting into the campsite and setting up we saw Canadian Geese and deer.  This felt so much better than those in town parking lot campgrounds for relaxing.

Another thing that seems a bit different here is all the undeveloped land between campsites that is apparently being use for prairie hay production.  They had recently mowed and from the way it looked the balers should have been coming soon.  I like the idea that the grounds were producing a useful product that didn’t detract from the natural beauty of the place.

Our first day at the campground we started trying to pull in NBC on our over the air antenna because the Olympic opening ceremonies were scheduled to start in two days.  The opening/closing ceremonies are some of our favorite parts of the Olympics. This was the first we had try to use the already installed but partially broken antenna on the camper since we started traveling in May.  TV simply isn’t that big a priority with us.

After much discussion when we realized that due to some problems with the antenna NBC would only come in badly pixalated we decided it was time to break down and get an antenna.  The one for the camper has some damage to it and the rotator doesn’t work well.

Instead of buying and wiring in a regular camper one we chose one that mounts on the camper window at Wal-mart.  Gary installed it that night.

We were thrilled.  It has a better picture than our satellite system had on the farm, is very thin and compact and Gary didn’t have to get on the roof to install it.  A major win in our book.

At this particular location we could not get ABC with it, but we could with the camper system.  Since the Olympics are on NBC, which was super clear it was a great investment for $60.  A new one for the camper would have cost far more and then would have only been wired for the bedroom (why do they do that?)

We could have found a sports bar to watch the Olympics opening ceremonies at, and then again for the closing and the events we want to watch in between, but we would have spent far more on food doing so.  Plus now we have an antenna for when we do want to watch tv, which we don’t do very often anyway.

I will admit there are a few shows like NCIS I do miss, but without Tony…maybe not as much.  If Abby ever leaves they have lost me as a viewer.

We had planned on going to Cowtown and a historic museum on our second day there but woke to thunderstorms and cooler temps.  Since both the museums have a lot of outdoor displays and the forecast was for storms all day we opted to hang around the camper and catch up on blog posts, video editing and other chores.  Then to enjoy the Olympic opening ceremonies.  Leaving the museums for another day.

We did visit Cowtown the next day, but decided to save the museum for another trip since we had decided to move on earlier than originally planned.

So the day we visited Cowtown we drove around and took a photo of a couple of sculptures that caught our eye. 

While at El Dorado we were alone most of the time, even with the weekend the park didn’t fill completely up.  When we boomeranged back due to truck problems we were literally the only ones other than the camp hosts there on that Tuesday night.

We originally tried to leave on Monday, but once again had a valve stem break so we went to Meineke, in Wichita to get the brass valve stems we had been looking for all along and finally found at Oreilly’s in a small Kansas town.  Unfortunately, by the time we found out from Sam’s Club, who couldn’t/wouldn’t install the stems that it was Meineke we needed to go to they were closed. 

So we boondocked overnight, with permission in Sam’s parking lot.  Even though it was August it wasn’t too bad that night until the rains hit and we had to close the windows,

Naturally, while Meineke was checking the tires they found we had a rear seal going out.  So we went ahead and had them fix that, verifying the work would be warrantied, this turned out to be very important about a week later.

10 valve stems and the rear end work turned out to be a two day job and that is why we ended up back at El Dorado campground  back in site 2 on Tuesday night. We didn't even disconnect and then took the trailer in Wednesday for its part of the valve stem work and we finally got on the road headed further north thinking our worries were over. 

As I mentioned before we were the only people there, but there was abundant wildlife and Gary got some great photos and video.

All in all our stay there was comfortable and pleasant.

TRIP REPORT: DAY 3 AND YOU GUESSED IT, TIRE 3

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Once again we woke early had a cold breakfast and headed for Wal-Mart in Birmingham.  We were headed for one on the far side of Birmingham when I spotted one just as we were entering the city.  It was already pushing toward noon.

Once again only one tire was available and once again the guys used it for the spare.  At this point all they wanted to do was get on the road because we had reservations booked for St. Augustine, Florida for that night and the next night.  We all wanted to sleep comfortably so bad.

To help make the day a little more relaxed we decided to play travel games like we had when the kids were little.  The first one I pulled out the road atlas and using the info in it had the guys trying to figure out the nicknames of all 50 states, thoughtfully supplied by Rand McNally.  

A side note here about the Rand McNally Atlas’.  I know using an atlas seems so old fashioned in the age of GPS, but don’t get me started on the errors on a GPS, let’s just say we’ve taken many an adventurous side trip depending on first Fiona, our name for the one that we ran on my laptop when we were mystery shopping full time.  

And you really don’t want to talk to me about Dora, what we call the one on my dh’s phone that uses google maps.  Dora has a real love for taking us on little side trips through not so good parts of towns, and always where there seems to be the most traffic and construction.  You’ll hear more about Dora on the blog post about our recent trip to Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri that we went on just recently—after I finish all the posts on the wonderful WDW trip first. 

Anyway, we usually purchase a new Rand McNally road atlas from Sam’s Club or Wal-Mart every 2-3 years.  I am a good navigator when I have good Maps and their maps tend to be very good.  But even more important is an index they have in them of all the Wal-Marts and Sam’s Clubs across the nation.  

This info is very important to us because the index lists which ones are 24 hours,  the ones where we can generally boondock, and which ones have fuel stations, even more importantly, which of those fuel stations have diesel.   So we had purchased a new Rand McNally for this trip and it turned out it was a very good thing we did.  Now back to my narrative. 

Once we were out of states I told the guys a story about when I was traveling the Rendezvous circuit with some friends and we’d played the travel game where you start with a city and the next person has to name a city that starts with the last letter of the city you named, the third person then has to use the last letter of the second city to name a third and so on.  The only rule being you could not use the same city twice.

The thing was the woman who seemed to being having zero trouble in naming cities was, well not someone you would think to be that knowledgeable of US cities. 

I happened to look back at her from where I was riding in the front seat during one of her turns to discover she was using the index of the road atlas to find cities.

Both men know the woman well, so they got a good chuckle out of it.  Ds suggested we play that game with NO road atlas.

I suggested a Disney twist in honor of our trip.  The rules were simple, play the game the same as the cities version, only we could use anything Disney, movies, songs, theme park attractions, actors etc.  The only exception ds made was we could not use Star Wars or Marvel because while Disney owns the franchise to them now, they were not actually Disney products, yet.

Folks let me say right here and now the game was MUCH harder than we expected.  We started with Minnie, moved on to Elsa, then Ariel, and so forth.  There are certain letters that are REALLY hard to think of after the first few. 

We played for about two hours and the highway flew by as we did. 

I know some of you folks live in and love Atlanta, Georgia.  Not so with our family.  Our first trip back in 1980 I was driving through on one of your tall bridges when a bird smacked into the windshield, scaring me silly.  Another trip we saw a horrific wreck, with a body we will never forget, other times it has been awful traffic (is the traffic ever good in Atlanta?) and this time we were tense about tires. 

We made it onto and off the loop headed down the highway without getting lost and through awful traffic and of course construction and just as we were just about to join back up with the main highway …

You guessed it tire #3 blew, taking out the bumper of the driver’s side of the camper.  I had absolutely had it.  I told the guys right then and there we were buying TWO tires come hell or high water and there would be four new tires on the ground or I wasn’t getting back in the truck.

This time they had to change the flat on the side of the road under a bridge and we were all really nervous because the traffic was whipping the trailer around and zipping by so fast  I was afraid one of them would get killed.

While they changed the flat I looked up Wal-Marts on our route and found two within 10 miles and a Sam’s Club as well. 

As soon as we were back on the road we went to the first Wal-Mart, ZERO tires available.  But the tire and lube guy was nice enough to call first the other Wal-Mart, no tires there either.  

I prayed as he called the Sam's Club and they had two, exactly the number we needed!  So we cautiously traveled the 9 miles to the Sam’s and then I ran in to pay for the tires,  while dh took the trailer around back and to start removing the remaining tire that could still blow out on us 

I shop Sam’s on a regular basis and generally the greeter doesn’t even look to see if you have your card.  The greeter at this Sam’s was determined I was not going in without her examining mine closely.  I was not in the mood for her nonsense, and no matter how hard I dug through my belt bag I couldn’t find that elusive card.

So when she got a phone call I slipped past her and went to the tire counter a few feet away, where I told the gal who I was and that I wanted to pay for the tires that the man from the Wal-Mart had just talked to her about.  All the time I was digging for my card and the greeter was fussing at me. What was that woman's problem anyway, I mean if nothing else I could have got a guest pass for free!

Finally I called dh and told him to bring me his card so we could get the tires.  Turns out my son had my card because he had used it to get fuel for his truck a few days before.  Duhhhh, I remembered that as soon as I saw ds coming through the door.

We had to wait for the two tires to be put on the rims before the guys could put them on the trailer.  The wait turned out to not be the few minutes we were promised, but HOURS.  Sitting in the truck on the hot asphalt waiting on the men to put the two tires on the rims was agonizing.  I just wanted to get to a campground, have a hot shower and a cool night's sleep.

With this final trailer tire purchase we were now down $700 of the cash we had budgeted for the trip, but knew we had it in savings where we could easily transfer it when we could get on a secure server. I had made arrangements with our bank for just such an emergency prior to leaving for the trip.  Always let your bank, or if you still use them, credit card company know when you are going to be traveling out of state.  You will save yourself a lot of time and embarassment by doing so.  Nothing is more embarrassing than having your card declined while traveling and knowing you have sufficient money available.

Prior to being on the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover program such a huge expense would have wrecked our vacation and forced us to use credit cards, even if we didn’t want to.  This was not an option for this trip at all because we had closed  all our credit card accounts five years ago and have never regretted it.

After being on the program and without credit cards for five years we are not only very near the end of the massive debt we started with, despite being unemployed 18 months of that time, but we have sinking funds for things like tires that we keep fully funded.  It is from the tire sinking fund this money came. I thank God constantly for the freedom we now have by not using credit cards and highly recommend that everyone check out the book Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, your local library probably has it and it won’t cost you a thing.

Of course Murphy wasn’t through with us and our tires.  When dh tried to put the spare back up under the trailer where it belongs the mount wouldn’t work, naturally. Disgusted he threw the old tire spare up into the bed of the truck, vowing to work on the storage mount later in the trip. 

We left Atlanta with four new tires on the ground on the trailer and an old spare we wouldn’t trust very far if we had to use it.  We’ll buy a new tire for a spare, as is our habit, once the tire fund is refilled after we get home. 

By the time we left it was almost dark.  We generally don’t travel after dark because if you break down, you are stuck.  After a short bit it became very clear to us we weren’t going to make St. Augustine that night.  I tried to call and cancel that night’s reservation, but the office was already closed. 

We ended up boondocking yet a third night, this time in the parking lot of the Valdosta, GA welcome center.  A nice parking area, security, and HOT!  Miserable hot, none of us slept well at all.

Murphy was really being a brat!

Jan who agrees with dh that we will never boondock in the hot weather again if we can help it either away or in OK

TRIP REPORT: DAY 2 TIRE 2

Friday, May 23, 2014

We were up at daybreak anxious to find a tire early and try to get to Birmingham, AL before dark.

A cold breakfast of sweet rolls, milk and fruit and then it was directly to Wal-Mart to buy tires.  We didn’t want to take any chances.  We arrived shortly after the tire center opened only to discover to our dismay they only had one tire in the proper size for the trailer. We had hoped to purchase three because when one goes they all go.

For those who don’t already know this Wal-Marts generally won’t mount tires on RV’s.  This one was no exception.  So while the guys waited out getting the tire mounted on the rim I did some minor grocery shopping and then met them back at the truck.  

By now I was starting to lose the battle with the virus/allergy and I was not a happy camper.  The tire tension was not something we needed to add to it. Despite my wanting them to the guys decided to not put the new tire on the ground but to keep it as a spare.  After all the remaining “old” tires still looked fine, no signs of tire wear, bulges, loose tread or anything.  

So we headed out of Van Buren, AR with three old tires and one new one on the ground with a new one as a spare.

As we drove along I-40 I watched the scenery fly by.  After a while I noticed that many of the fields had odd shaped berms in them.  The berms were low and curving, with curving rows laid out evenly spaced in them.  

I studied them for a while and finally asked the guys if they had any idea what they were for.  Dh didn’t miss a beat with his answer “rice”.  In Arkansas?  Yep, in Arkansas.  

After I got home I did a little research because for some reason I thought all rice grown in the US was grown in Texas and I actually had going to see the rice fields and the processing plant on my list of things I wanted  to see when we retire.  What can I say, I am weird, I like agriculture tourism and touring factories.  I like to know how things are grown and processed for us to consume.  

It turns out rice is one of the biggest products of Arkansas—who knew? 

I was so stunned I forgot to take a photo of the fields as we flew by, maybe next trip.  I scoured the web for photos of what I saw that were copyright free, but found none, although I did see some gorgeous photos of the Arkansas rice fields and other rice fields around the world.  

For those of you who are curious as I was the search term I used was “photo Arkansas Rice Fields”.  It might make a great homeschooling subject or field trip for some of you.  Who knows?

At almost the exact same time that day as the previous night the second tire on the passenger side blew, taking out the latch that holds the camper door open when we are parked as it did.  To say I was not amused would be an under statement. 

We were a long ways from Birmingham and there was no 24 hour Wal-Mart to camp at, so we found a Flying J station with a Denny’s planning on spending the night there. 

The meal at Denny’s was disappointing after the wonderful one we had at the Denny’s at Flying J in Joplin earlier this year.  Service was poor and all bread associated with our meal was burnt badly.

Despite being tired and tense about tires we realized that although this Flying J allows overnight camping there was a smell that made even my two healthy travel mates gag and it just about did me in period. 

We all knew by that point my “cold” was actually an allergy problem.  I had all the medicines I needed for it with me and so when the discussion of going home came up I pointed out I would feel worse at home because I would have ruined the trip for everyone and I was not contagious.  So we forged ahead.

Sleeping in the heat, with no air conditioning and a smell that would choke an skunk we moved on looking for a campground along our route thinking we’d stay in one and run the air conditioning and put the slides out so we would all be comfortable.  

Of course Murphy is relentless. We never did stumble across one that wasn’t miles and miles off our route, so we ended up further down the road toward Birmingham pulling into a Pilot station well after dark and parking between the semis for the night

 

While security is good at the truck stops generally, the rumble of the motors on semis and their height blocking the movement of any possible cool breeze made sleeping a little less comfortable than we would like.  But at least we were safe, and not in danger of having another blow out in the middle of the night.

Thus ended day two of our trip.  Jan who is so sorry she didn’t take photos of the rice fields in AR away from OK.

DAY 1—WE FINALLY LEAVE!!

Saturday, November 16, 2012

Our original plan had been to leave on Friday, Nov 15, 2012 at 8:00 am, but Gary had to work overtime all week and with the delay of doing the camper repair we found that we were just too tired to finish packing the last minute items on Thursday to leave on Friday morning.  So we worked on packing on Friday, doing final chores and then hit the road today about noon.

We had gone to bed exhausted and decided that since we were on “vacation” there was no need to rush.  After all we were not on a set time schedule.

So after hugging our son and critters good-bye we slapped the Sesame Street Alphabet tape in the truck player and as our family tradition has it sang “C is for Cookie” with Cookie Monster as we finally hit the road.

The first day we made it just past Weatherford, OK from our home just outside of Tulsa, OK.  We could have gone further, but we try very hard to not travel after dark.  We learned a long time ago that if you want a decent place to camp or boondock stopping early works better than stopping late.

We decided to boondock between Weatherford and Elk City at the Love’s just off of highway I 40 for the night.  As we ate our dinner of Wiener Wraps, pork ‘n beans and chips we discussed that it was suppose to be in the low 40’s that night which could be a little bit nippy to get up and take care of personal business during the night.  Campers are not that well insulated compared to your average home, for those of you who have never camped in a fifth wheel with slides. 

Even though the slides have snug fitting rubber gaskets around them air still seeps in and that makes it a little cooler in the winter.

But that was not a problem, after all we had two brand new batteries on the fifth wheel with which to run the furnace.  EXCEPT, while we were eating a semi pulled in next to us to park for the night and it became obvious to us that while we could run the sides out there was a good chance the semi would clip the bedroom one as he departed in the morning while we still in bed sleeping and that would be a heck of a wake-up alarm.

Besides we generally don’t run the slides out even for a few minutes when boondocking.  Because you are suppose to be just sleeping, not camping. 

The problem was that in order to turn the furnace on we had to run the slides out to get to the switch to do so.  So we mulled over our options:

1.   Move on to somewhere else to sleep

2.   Re-park further down in the lot and that was already filling up fast.  In fact as we discussed this option the one place we could have safely ran the slides out was taken by a semi.

3.   Go to a campground and pay for hook-ups.

4.   Tough out the temps and just put another blanket on the bed. I was not fond of this idea as I get up at least once every night for calls of nature.

5.   The final option I came up with after we had heavily discussed the other four.  Run the slide out, turn on the furnace and then run the slide back in, before the semi could pull out and clip it.

We went with number five. While I kept a close eye out for the semi driver getting behind the wheel, just in case he was just stopped for dinner and not the night,  Gary ran the two slides out, got the furnace going and then quickly ran the slides back in.  No problem. 

Of course that meant that we couldn’t get to our closet or clothing drawers the next morning, but we could at least get into bed and sleep warm. Which we did quite well.

Again for you non-camper types.  The way the slides are set-up on campers is they slide into the empty floor space while traveling.  In the case of the bedroom for our fifth wheel the bed is snug up against the built in bureau drawers directly across from the bed when the slides are out.  This also helps to keep the drawers from popping open as you go down our nation's fine highways.

The living room slide goes over the entertainment center that also contains the control panel for the furnace, air conditioner and the non-working read-out panels. 

You can still walk through the narrow space between the sofa, recliners and eat at the kitchen table, as well as cook in the kitchen when that slide is in, it's just a little more snug.

Sure enough the next morning all the semis were gone, so opening the slides back up to shut off the furnace and get a clean change of clothes was not a problem.

If you have never been to Weatherford, OK the big highlight we see as we come through this town on our many a trips down I-40 is the wind mills, there are hundreds of the big white giants sitting atop the numerous hills of the region.  Like silent sentinels they slowly turn and are fascinating to watch as you travel through the town.  We never bore of watching their majestic arms slowly turn in the wind. 

We always end up discussing the pros and cons of wind generators as we see such devices along the way as well.  There is the inevitable discussion about cost versus output and of course there is the fact that it definitely changes the scenery from God’s wonders to man-made ones.

I always think of the Man from La Macha tilting at windmills and wonder what he would have thought of the silent white generators that graced the hills all around Weatherford.

Some are so close to the highway you can easily get photos of them.  We didn’t stop and take photos of them this trip as we did so when we took this same route four years ago and again when we were traveling and mystery shopping in 2010.  The photos shown with this post were taken in June of 2010, but they give you an idea of how huge and plentiful the wind mills are in this area.

In fact, as I write about this vacation I will include information about various landmarks and things to see from those trips as well, because I wasn’t blogging in 2008 at all and was doing limited blogging in 2010.  The 2008 photos were from this near same trip and was in November 2008, so if you see a reference to 2008 in future posts that is the trip I am speaking about.

So day one was spent traveling, then stopping to cook a hot meal and going to bed early to move on to Day 2.  Sorry it was such a boring post.

Since we didn’t take any photos this first day I’m including the windmill photos of 2010 and  a map of the route we took for the trip.  Maybe it will be helpful to “follow along” as we go.

Jan who loved seeing the windmills because it proved we were actually on the road again away from OK.

SAVING MONEY WHILE ON THE TRIP, GETTING THERE

April 17, 2012

Sorry for the long delay in getting this post up life has been just that life. 

We generally drive to Walt Disney World from Oklahoma because we prefer our camper and staying in Ft. Wilderness.  We have found that the cost of driving, for two of us, is almost identical to the cost of flying two of down.  However, when my son travels with us it is definitely cheaper to drive, because of the way we do it.

There is a type of camping called “boondocking”  I’ve wrote about it in my travel blogs previously, but for those of you who haven’t read those blogs a brief description is you sleep in your camper in a Wal-Mart, Cracker Barrel or other compatible parking lots for free.  These lots are generally well lit and have a security patrol.  Not to mention they are generally right at the exits from major highways and therefore give you easy on easy off access.

The companies benefit from your staying so it is the proverbial win-win for all involved.  How do the companies benefit?  You stop and sleep in a Wal-Mart parking lot are you not going to go into the store to at least use the restroom, are you going to look around and maybe buy something?  You buy something they benefit. I often wait to purchase things like bread and other perishables for the trip until we stop at a Wal-Mart to boondock.  That way I’m not paying “extra” but they are benefitting from my sleeping in their parking lot. It is my way of saying thank you for the use of a safe place to sleep.

The main thing to do is check ahead of time if the store allows it.  Most 24 hour Wal-Marts do, but not all.  Some states prohibit it and of course stores near large amusement centers forbid it.  One Wal-Mart we generally stop at on our way to WDW does not allow overnight  camping in their parking lot, HOWEVER, the Sam’s Club next door does.  It all has to do parking space availability. There are lists on Wal-Mart RVing, boondocking and such on yahoogroups.  Many camping groups discuss this periodically too.  They will often have lists of where you can and can’t stay in their files.  If in doubt call the store ahead of time.  We’ve even stayed in lots that we’ve been previously been told weren’t available simply because I called and the manager agrees to let us do so that one night.  Helpful hint: if you purchase your Rand McNally large road atlas from Wal-Mart or Sam’s club they have a chart in them that show where the Wal-Mart’s and Sam’s are.  This chart has if they have fuel and if so what types, if they are open 24 hours and of course where they are located.  EXTREMELY helpful  when boondocking.

Please remember to not abuse this privilege.  This is strictly a pull in and sleep situation, not a camping location.  Don’t pull out the charcoal grill, set up the lawn chairs and run out the awnings.  It is for sleeping one night only. 

Also do not block any drives or delivery areas.  Note where the semis will be coming in to make their deliveries and do not cause them any problems.

We generally pull in just before dark and park on the outer rim of the lot.  Normally we don’t even run the slides out because we are just there to sleep.  But if there is a reason that we need to run the slides out we park where our slides are out over the grass at the edge of the lot, not into the lot.  Such times would be, someone forgot to plan their wardrobe for the trip down where they would not have to get into the drawers that are blocked when the slides are in  and suddenly find themselves in urgent need of clean underwear or socks.  Once the items are retrieved from the drawers we run the slides back in.  We want to cause as little chaos as possible for the stores that are so generous about letting us sleep there for free. We also seldom disconnect unless there is a reason we truly NEED the truck to be free and clear of the fifth wheel.

You can also sometimes pay a small fee to sleep in hospital parking lots.  One trip we slept at a fair grounds for next to nothing.  We’ve also slept at truck stops (very noisy with the semis there), rest areas on the highway (not recommended, but if you are very drowsy far better than having a wreck) and many other spots.  Safety is your first consideration, so we generally go with the Wal-Marts that we know have night time security patrol.

If you feel the need to camp in a real campground instead of boondocking then look into the National Parks Pass to stay for half price in the National Parks and Corp of Engineer parks.  If someone in your party is over 62 this pass will cost you $10 for a lifetime.  If you are under 62 the price is much higher and an annual cost.  I’ve written more about the America the Beautiful Park Pass in previous posts. 

If the National Parks pass won’t work for you then look into acquiring a KOA or Good Sam’s (not Sam’s club) card for discounts at their campgrounds.  Both give discounts and/or free nights camping. 

Whether it is the Parks pass or the campground discount cards you need to weigh the price of the card against the savings you will reap for the trip both to and from the World.  Sometimes it will not pay for itself.

Camping not your cuppa?  Many hotels have discount/loyalty cards as well. Check those out.  Also many charge cards have discounts for certain hotels, as does AAA, AARP, and insurance cards.

Also check into discount websites like Expedia or Travelocity for discounts on hotels as well.

Flying?  If you can’t get someone to take you the airport, then check the yellow pages, your insurance company and all the organizations like AAA you belong to for discounted airport parking. 

When we are driving down we also travel with X amount of cash with us, because there are many fuel stations that have gas as much as $.12 a gallon cheaper if you pay cash.  Since we do not use charge cards any longer it’s not a problem for us.  Some stations will consider a debit card cash, others consider them a credit card.  Most places, in the past, considered travelers checks cash, but now many places will not even accept them.  So cash in hand is the best option for us.  We divide the cash up to avoid a major loss/theft in various places.  We use the debit card on the special travel checking account we have when we can and still get the cash discount, but otherwise we pay with cash.

By a special account I mean that is all we use this account for.  We put the vacation money in that account prior to leaving and that’s all that ever goes into this account.  It is at an entirely different bank than our household budget account, so if some evil person steals that card, or hacks into the account they will not be able to access ALL our money.

As we travel we eat a lot of cold meals at the camper in parking lots and rest areas.  We will generally, however, have one hot meal a day at a fast food place that has a very large parking lot nearby that we can park the fifth wheel  in and walk to the food establishment.  This has been included in our trip food budget.  I’ve also been know in the past to heat foods in the sun on the dashboard in a food saver vacuum sealed bag, or wrapped in foil placed on the hot truck engine.  Whether we dine out or heat in this manner we have at least one hot meal a day while traveling.  It just boosts the morale.

Remember the mypoints I mentioned in the last post on this subject?  Those gift cards you get from mypoints can be used to pay for your fuel or for that hot meal each day.  That’s free money for your trip.

If you are traveling with children another thing to consider is the “are we there yet?” syndrome.  Kids get bored quickly.  Download audiobooks from the library for free for them to listen to, if you have a travel dvd player record movies for it long before leaving, also free from the library—I recommend Disney movies to set the mood.

Various travel games, a road map they can write on and follow the route on that is all their own is good as well. You can get free maps from AAA if you belong to them.

My son recently told me one of his favorite things while traveling on the long trips as a kid was “the rest area box”.  This was a box that contained things like jump ropes, Frisbies, balls, sidewalk chalk for hop scotch and such.  It only came out of the trunk when we stopped at rest areas.  The kids were REQUIRED to choose an activity from the box and do it. Like jump rope all the way around the picnic area, play a game of hop scotch or something similar while I laid out the lunch stuff.  Afterwards Mom and Dad would play catch or throw the Frisbie with them for awhile.  While this adds a bit of time to the length of the trip, it adds a LOT of quiet to the car/truck as you get back on the road.  Quiet is PRICELESS!

We also schedule stops along the way both to and from the resorts, especially on the way home.  It helps to ease the let down of the trip of a lifetime being over. Of course we watch for discounts for these stops as well. 

One of our constant travel companions is the AAA Tourbooks for the areas we are traveling through.  Often there are free or nearly free sites listed in the books that can be truly interesting.  On our Mt. Rushmore trip we found many interesting FREE sites.  I was always a “Little House on the Prairie” books/tv show fan so discovering I could visit reconstructed locations where the books took place was fun for me.  Large sculptures along the roadside were another favorite, as was Walls Drug.  If you do not belong to AAA, which I highly recommend you do if you travel any at all, then perhaps you have a friend or family member that could pick these up for you for free.

On the Disney trips we stop at the beach where Jaws was filmed, Civil War battle fields and graveyards to research the family genealogy.  These are generally free or we find discounts (like the National Parks Pass) for the places we stop.  Even driving out over the ocean on a very long bridge just to see what we could see is fun.  If the budget allows we might stop in Gulfport, MS and go on a submarine tour.  Whatever we do, we always include these stops to help break the travel up.

I am certain there are more ways to save on the travel part.  I’m definitely open for suggestions from all you kind folks.  Thanks for your continued reading.

Jan who can’t wait to be back on the road to Walt Disney World from OK.