Regardless of what you are doing, having a plan is imperative. Whether it be for project planning at work, managing your personal finances or you are an RV'er setting out on a big adventure, rarely are you able to achieve your goal unless you have some kind of a plan.
Luckily for me, Barb is the ultimate planner. Since Day 1, she has maintained a spreadsheet of our adventures. For light trips, she will just list our daily travel details such as Point A to Point B details; miles, hours and how long we are going to stay there. It helps us to develop a picture of what to expect each day on our travels.
For bigger trips like our Alaska trip in '16 or our Maritimes trip this year she gets much more detailed. She has used a variety of spreadsheets over the years, our latest iteration came from a fellow RV'er who sent us their Alaska itinerary back in '15. We have tweaked it here and there to fit our needs and it has served us really well. It includes Arrival and Departure Dates, Locations, Milage, Travel Times and other details pertinent to the trip.
She starts out by inputting hard dates such as the start of spring planting at The Farm, walleye opener, ferry reservation; things out of our control that cannot be changed with any ease. Then she starts filling in the blanks. Then comes the real work. Research. We start reading blogs of others who have been to the area before us. In the case of this trip, we read John and Pam's blog from when they were there in '11, Steve and Dianne's blog from '18, Chapter 3 Travels who were there in '17, Take To The Highway who was also there in '17 and Rolling in a RV - Wheelchair Traveling who were there in '14. There were more, but I cannot remember then right now. None of them have travel tastes exactly like ours but the blend of all the these blogs gave us a lot of ideas for the areas we are going to be traveling.
Over the past few months Barb slowly started to fill in the blanks and before we knew it, our summer was planned! We only have 3-4 hard dates so there is some wiggle room here and there to stay longer, move earlier, add a stop, but we have a plan! As anyone who RV's knows you need to be flexible and adapt on the fly. As a matter of fact we are adapting as I write this as we are supposed to be on the road right now.
Spring planting at the farm was supposed to start this week but instead of planting there is this.....
Now I see how she does it...she KNOWS where the good fishing spots are, tells you to go over there, and she hits the prime spot and BINGO, we see who gets the biggest fish! lol As we say, "Man Plans, God laughs..." We can only control so much... Hope you have a wonderful Summer.
ReplyDeleteNow I get it! She has a plan for everything! Dang, I need to get better at this planning thing, that way I will catch the biggest fish.
DeleteIt sounds like a great plan. It is always interesting to hear how others travel. We all need to learn what works best for us. Or her, in most cases.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to hear how others plan and layout their travel plans, stops, the sights they see. Blogs are a great resource, and we get a lot of good ideas from them but not everyone is alike or like the same things.
DeleteLove the dresser drawers!
ReplyDeleteNext step on the dresser is to finish the drawer fronts and get them installed. Then we have to tackle the dresser top!
DeleteA friend of our says that the nice thing about planning a trip in detail is that its like taking the trip twice! So true. We plan all of our stops ahead of time, which is really helpful with a big rig. No surprises.
ReplyDeleteThat is a pretty darn good saying and so true! Barb gets stressed out if we don't have some kind of plan when we hit the road. With this delay, maybe I will get our dresser top done!
DeleteI had to google where the Maritimes were. Sounds like a great adventure you will be having in the months go come! Wow, Barb is detailed in trip planning and great making a spread sheet! I know it does help to have it down on paper like this rather than trying to "fly by the seat of your pants." I just read your profile and saw you guys were in South Dakota. I heard where we used to live in Billings they were getting hammered with snow and COLD temps. Guess you are getting the same storm system!
ReplyDeleteGreat projects to be working on in the meantime before you hit the road!
betty
The storm went just north of us, so we missed the snow, but we did get the wind. This has been the windiest winter we have had since we have been here! We do fly by the seat of our pants when taking short trips but for the longer ones, it is nice to have a plan.
DeleteI don't know how you came across my little blog but I am delighted to meet you. Being housebound for a couple of decades I do so enjoy vicarious travel and adventure. Hope to see you again. :)
ReplyDeleteI was just blog-surfing the other day and came across yours. It is interesting to read other blogs to see other people's lifestyles and get a peek into their lives. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteWow. Your planning seems like so much work. This is our method. We declare a travel meeting. Make drinks. I ask "Where do you want to go?" Lisa says "To the beach!" Brilliant! We make a toast to the Ukrainian army and the meeting is adjourned. Then we drink too much, forget what we said and end up in the desert. The camper looks good on the truck and the house keeps coming along.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about your planning method is that you forget what you said and have to do it all again the next day, and the next day, and the next day.....
DeleteI love to learn how others do their trip planning. We haven’t done a big one in a while but I’m now working on our Scotland/Ireland trip (this fall). Can’t wait to read about your experience in Maritimes, as we’ve talked about that for summer 2023. Can you try to include info about how a big rig handle the places you go? Just stuff like “wouldn’t bring a big rig here” or “Big rigs would do fine here” That way I can use YOUR blog to help plan our trip up there! Thanks! Looking forward to reading all about it!
ReplyDeleteI will do my best to remember that. It is something I always paid attention to when we had our 5th wheel. I bet it is nice to have Lisa and Steve to rely on when planning your overseas trip!
DeleteThanks for the honorable mention! Being on a schedule all our lives until retirement like everyone else our style was just winging it. That was much easier back in 2010 when we started out but not so much anymore with so many more RV’ers out there. You guys will have a blast in the Maritimes. One thing we learned that amazed us was back in the day if you were poor you ate lobster.
DeleteWe are really looking forward to the trip! I had heard that about lobster as well. Hard to imagine that lobster used to be thought of as a trash food like that!
DeleteToo bad there isn't a planner in my house. I'm doing good if I get a leave date. It's amazing that she can do that! I'm jealous! Spring seems to be coming in like a lion, and just for the record, seems to be hanging around later and later. Pack your long johns!!
ReplyDeleteOh, they will be packed! Along with sweatshirts and insulated pants for the farm. Barb just told me the highs in St. John's in June are in the 50's.
DeleteWhat a great spreadsheet. Ray certainly appreciates it. lol That's pretty much how he sets out everything with our budgets etc. I on the other hand being a previous dictatypist tend to do it with lots of pages cutting and pasting with pictures. :)Hopefully this crazy weather settles soon for all of our spring summer plans.
ReplyDeleteBack in my working days I loved using spreadsheets! Don't get the opportunity to do it much anymore. I had to look up what a dicatypist was and it all came back to me. My how times have changed!
DeleteI'm glad our little blog is getting some use now and then because I certainly use the hell out of other people's blogs to plan our travels. Honestly, I'm not sure I'd ever get started at all if I didn't have others' sites to reference from. I'm really looking forward to seeing how you guys explore the Maritimes. You'll have so much freedom with your set-up. It's gonna be great!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your information! There is a certain amount of freedom that we will have compared to when we had our 5th wheel. So excited to get moving!
DeleteGreat idea to get copies of others trip sheets. I've got a 2019 Ram. Just took the time to study usage of the exhaust brake system. In case you did not know, the tow/haul mode adjusts the transmission shifting. Can keep it on at the same time as the exhaust brake. Using tow/haul and exhaust brake on automatic is a no hassle way to travel the hills. Been practicing before we hit the mountains. Thinking I might start using tow/haul plus the automatic setting for exhaust brake when in the city for traffic light stops and starts. In the past I just used the tow/haul mode.
ReplyDeleteGood information. I have been trying both as well but have not analyzed anything in regards to it. We use will use the tow/haul with using the camper and do use the exhaust brake on hills. Would be interested in knowing what you learn.
DeleteThe silver lining to the weather delay...more house projects completed!! Love the drawers and closet doors. There is so much talent under your roof. It amazes me at what you two have done in your new home. Planning is so important to a successful life on the road but as you said flexibility is a must. You just never know what is around the corner. Hope the dogs are all right!!! Just saying!!
ReplyDeleteOh, I know what you are saying! It has been so cold and windy the last few days that although they are getting out for their walks, it is cold and miserable. It is 4 years ago this week that we started this project. One more and we should be done!
DeleteHere's to safe travels, fun times, new friends and cold beer. Enjoy
ReplyDeleteThanks Mike. Yes, to all those things!
DeleteI never could get the hang of spread sheets but good for Barb! The roof looks awesome! I love seeing everything come together in the house! Very impressive! Can't wait to follow along on the upcoming trip! Congrats on the canoe, that'll be awesome later this year.
ReplyDeleteAlthough we would rather be at the farm, it feels good to get some things checked off the list here at home!
DeleteSuper job on the drawers in your bedroom! Crazy weather all around but eventually it has to warm up. Hope you get to try out your new canoe. That should be fun I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteWe just might get out in our canoe yet this spring as the snow up north is delaying our departure. High 60's here next week!
DeleteI have been called the list lady for years but even I have to say that Barb is the queen of planners. The thing is that if you don't have a plan you just might get too comfortable and get on the road.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice having at least a rough plan for the summer, we will probably stick to 80% of the plan but sometimes you need to be flexible as well.
DeleteLooking forward to your Maritime adventures, I'm sure you'll give us ideas for when we finally get there. We were so bummed to not make it in 2019. I get what Barb means; it is like going somewhere twice.
ReplyDeleteWe will be heading east from Pasha a month from today to start that leg of our adventure!
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