Planning the trip

Those that are close to me know that I am a planner, a quality that I proudly passed on to my boys.  I have put a lot of thought into planning this trip since I decided on my retirement date of January 2014 back in August. 

My planning has had to change a number of times.  I originally thought of getting a light weight truck camper here in MA and leaving for FL and spending time in the FL Keys before heading west to CA. Then I found out that what I wanted is a west coast product, not sold on the east coast.  My search went out to the few venders that make light weight campers.  After looking online then emailing companies I was frustrated not having a solution that suited my needs.  Sitting in San Diego learning that one vendor in Riverside wouldn't answer my emails I found a solution in Santa Anna that is basically a camper shell top that would be light weight in comparison, give me more room on the truck floor, cost less and could be customized to my specifications.  Denise and I drove to the sales representative and saw the camper and I made my decision.  The only issue is that I need to drive to CA to get it before I can camp in it.  Even better the lead-time is only 2.5 weeks.

This means that I will be driving to FL to drop mom off  in Leesburg and spending only a few days before making my way quickly to CA.  I will get the camper installed in Santa Anna then head to San Diego to stay at son Clayton & Dana's to outfit the camper the way I want.

This means I will only bring the basic things with me and buy or ship the rest to San Diego to install there.  I do plan on camping across the Deep South to CA in the winter.  This could work well as temperatures could be mild or cold.  If too cold I will opt for a motel here and there.

After I get the camper in some suitable shape I will be headed to Phoenix area to camp alter/augment the camper while attend baseball Cactus League spring training and playing disc golf.  Oh yea, and doing as many things that I can and writing here about it.

I will be sharing some of my planning as part of my posts.