The Itinerary, We Think.

This shall be our steed and our home for the 6744 mile adventure!

6/24: Pick up rental RV and load. And how do you plan/pack ahead of time for a vehicle you've never seen? That's the Zen koan of the moment. Looking at floor plan PDFs for 1999 Rialtas is the best we've come up with.

Head north to Redding, CA. See the bridge and then while in the area visit:

Lassen National Park Use up that National Parks Annual Pass!

Mt. Shasta Lavendar Farm

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

Walla Walla, Washington area (just because it's fun to say) and our first Roadfood destinations

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and our second Roadfood destination and third Roadfood destinations

Whitefish and Glacier National Park

Great Falls, Montana, with a big dose of Lewis and Clark

Yellowstone National Park

Grand Tetons National Park

Jackson, Wyoming, with friends for 4th of July

South Dakota Tour through the Badlands, Crazy Horse Memorial, Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood and Lead

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

Williston, North Dakota to visit our friend and sorority sister, who is pastor of the Episcopal Church in Williston

Passing through Fargo, ND for our fourth Roadfood destination

Collegeville, Minnesota to visit a friend who is now a monk here

Minneapolis, MN and St. Paul to go to a bunch of recommended restaurants and see The Fitzgerald Theater (too bad the show is traveling for the summer and not in town!)

From the Food Network TV Show "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives"

1. Psycho Suzie's Motor Lounge

2. The Nook to have a Jucy Lucy

And 2 more Roadfood destinations

1. Mickey's Dining Car

2. Hell's Kitchen

And perhaps the museums in Minneapolis

Then via scenic byways to explore Minnesota and Paul Bunyan on our way south

Plus stop and see a few Frank Lloyd Wright homes on the way south in Mason City, Iowa
Wright on the Park
Stockman House

Kansas City, Missouri just to sample the famous BBQ and see the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the American Jazz Museum, and another Frank Lloyd Wright, the Community Christian Church. There are also a few additional recommendations from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. And they must be good because they don't have web sites: Grinders and 39th Street Mama's.

Omaha, Nebraska to visit friends and family. One dinner will be at Warren Buffett's favorite restaurant and probably another Roadfood destination or two

And onto the west side of Nebraska to Chimney Rock and Scottsbluff National Monument to contemplate what those pioneers accomplished in their Conestoga wagons

Boulder, Colorado, to hoist a pint with good friends

Colorado Springs to see more folks

Alamosa, Colorado and Great Sand Dunes National Park because of the children's picture book, The Bunyans

Pagosa Springs, Colorado to experience all that there is to experience there

450 miles to Salt Lake, Utah. Sleep!

617 miles to Gold Country (around Auburn)

Get up, wash and clean the RV, drop it off, and (gulp) drive 224 MORE miles HOME!