The Food and The Budget

Let's see: 23 lunches @ 11 sandwiches per lunch plus chips and cookies = as much space as we have in the van total. Add in dinners and breakfasts and you quickly see the rational behind the chuckwagon! We have determined that there will be four major food acquisition stops: here, before we go, Richmond, VA, Port Jervis, PA and Nauvoo, IL. There will be three coolers: the lunch cooler, the fruit cooler and the other cooler. The good news is that our kids are not really picky. Timothy, for example, thinks that he has died and gone to heaven if we can have tuna helper for dinner. This (carefully cultivated) situation simplifies the eating some, so our camping dinner menu is filled with beef/chicken/tuna helpers with quesadillas and taco salads providing more variety. It is all easy for me to write about because Tresa has spent hours figuring it all out and making lists and more lists. On the whole, we are feeling good about the food picture: easy to fix (and cleanup) camping meals with enough variety to keep us sane, broken up by visits to family and eating out here and there.

The budget is tight, but, if gas prices don't shoot up, we will be okay. Gas is expected to be close to 1/2 of the total budget. Hotels are the next largest percentage, with food and the stop at CedarPoint the next two items.

Yesterday we test-packed the van to see how we are on space. I purchased a hitch rack that will give us extra capacity as well. It looks like there will be room for the kids!

We are now very excited to go and are working through all of the little final details: who is going to take care of the chickens for 23 days?