A Trip With Mom

Planning a 5000 mile road trip with my 93 year old mother was made easier by the use of Google maps and Google searches. Now, my mother is pretty independent. She lives by herself, drives, and is pretty sharp for someone her age. She is also somewhat set in her ways - and definitely has her own opinion on things. This trip was for her and I needed her to be part of the planning - what route? what to see? What we choose to do has to be accessible by car - not walking as that is mom's one limitation.

OK, back to the trip. We are to leave Seattle area shortly after Memorial Day and spend about 2 1/2 weeks traveling to Oklahoma/Texas. Our hometown is in Oklahoma, not far from the Texas border and mom could remember the last time she visited there with my brother 20 or so years ago, of going to a restaurant in Vernon Texas that served good catfish. Other than visiting with her brother and family, this seemed to excite her more than anything else. I was able to Google restaurants in Vernon Texas and a restaurant that sounded like what she remembered -"The Catfish Grill" - was found. I think this helped to spark her interest in the trip.

Now that mom was willing to go on the trip, I started looking at the routes available. Mom wanted to go through the canyon country of Southern Utah if possible. So, planning the route to be driven had to include Moab Utah. The trip could take several routes: Seattle to Yellowstone and then down through the Teton's, Denver and then down to Oklahoma. Another route was to go to Salt Lake City, Utah and down to Moab Utah, and then into New Mexico and on to OKlahoma. Yet another route being explored was to go down the Oregon - California coast to the Napa Valley and San Francisco and then over to the Grand Canyon and on to Oklahoma.

I was able to print out each route, including the miles between cities and points of interest. Travel time was also calculated by Google Maps. All of this was printed out and put into a notebook that mom was then able to study and comment on.

All of these routes can be traveled in either direction. So now the challenge is to determine which way we will go. This may be determined somewhat by weather and the distances between stops for the night. As of now, we are looking at go to Salt Lake City and then down to the Canyon Country first. We will probably not decide what route we will come back until we actually start back.

All of the planning for this trip could have been done with paper road maps, tourist guide books, etc. My choice to use Google saved me lots of time and actually gave me more options and things to see and do. I was able to print out the different routes and what was along each route to see.

The one thing that really surprised mom was my ability to search for rest stops in each state we were to drive through. I was able to print out maps and list of the rest stops to assure mom that she would have ample places to stop and rest.

I plan on stopping every couple of hours to get out and stretch my bad back and walk around. I have always used the excuse of wanting to take pictures of something as a way of justify stopping. Now, with the knowledge of where the rest stops are located, it will be easier to plan the day so we can get out and stretch every couple of hours. The only states I could not find rest stop info for was New Mexico and Arizona. There were non-govenment sights that filled the gaps here. This was only possible by the ability to search the information highway and Google proved to be the best search engine to use.

Now, to find a computer and software that will actually pack my camera equipment, clothes, and load the car. The driving I want left to me.