Posted by Stan

Yes, Sierra was happy to be entering Montana — even if the sun made it hard for her to smile.

Montana became the 46th state we’ve visited on our journey, and was quickly followed by No. 47, Wyoming.

But the real reason to post this photo is that Sierra has now been in all 50 states at least once. She’d kick everybody’s butt on that Facebook list going around . . . were she on Facebook.

The one thing we brought the most of—more even than clothes or food—was books. We have three cabinets filled with books. One contains Sierra’s schoolbooks. The second is filled with travel books that pertain to this leg of the trip (Corrales to New Jersey). The third contains travel books on Europe, Leg Two of the trip, in case we want to read up on Europe as we get closer to our departure date. Each bookcase holds between twenty and thirty books, depending on thickness. Included here is my copy of Alaska by James Michener, a slog if there ever was one but an interesting slog.

Sierra also packed a small suitcase (or as she calls it, “green monster”) of books, another twenty or so. I have a satchel of books relating to Legs Two and Three of our trip—books to read or to use for schoolwork in Europe, books to replace Alaska when I’m finished with it and books that deal with the southern United States—stored in the back. Some of these, which I bought from the Friends of the Rio Rancho Public Library or got off their free cart, I will discard after reading. A lot of RV parks have small libraries or offer books to swap. I also packed a small backpack with a few other items for the European leg.

Last come the audiobooks, which we got for free through the Albuquerque Public Library. Sierra downloaded one novel, I downloaded a novel and a collection of New Yorker columns. We also downloaded French, Italian and German instructional audiobooks for Sierra, myself and Stan, respectively. Audiobooks are especially good to listen to when it’s the middle of the night and you don’t want to turn on the light. The only problem is, when you fall asleep, it can be hard to find your place again.

And, we left books related to Leg Four of our trip in Corrales, where we’ll pick them up when we visit briefly in March.

Crazy, isn’t it. We had intended to ship some of these to New Jersey, since we’ll be heading to Europe from there, but since we had room they came along for the ride. The only problem will be deciding which ones come to Europe with us. The Kangoo we rented for Europe can only hold so much.

How do you pack for a 15-month trip? So far, it seems that we brought way too many clothes—except for Sierra, who has no fleece or sweatshirt and, until we went to REI in Seattle, had no hat. We looked at fleeces in Whistler but decided to try to find something cheaper before we head to Alaska.

Since it has been in the low 60s most days, we’re surviving in jeans and fleeces or long-sleeved shirts. We have done laundry twice—once to clean the clothes that didn’t get clean the first time. Perhaps later on we’ll be able to wear shorts again.

Stuff we forgot:
Sierra did not bring her Nintendo DS charger. (No great loss, Mom says.) I forgot the Spray ‘n’ Wash. (Ha ha, says Sierra.)

Stuff we didn’t need to bring that we brought:
* So much food. I didn’t think ahead of time that we would want to pick up local items along the way, or that we would be eating out occasionally.
* High-efficiency laundry detergent, which is why some of the clothes didn’t get clean (see above).
* Two decks of cards (Poor planning on my part, Sierra says. Yes, she forgot important stuff, such as a fleece, and remembered weird stuff, such as a million books.)

What we have had to buy:
Hat (see above), milk and bread (ran out), cheese (didn’t run out but wanted different ones), local beer and wine, mat to replace the one Stewardess Sierra forgot to pick up off the ground in Yakima, cookies (once the chocolate ran out), apples, Spray ‘n’ Wash. A camera, after Stan injured the Nikon; he was already thinking about something smaller anyway. Flip-flops for the shower to replace a pair Sierra wore to death. Also, we lost a part for our bike rack, but the manufacturer is sending out a replacement.

What we still need to buy:
Violin music, combo hiking boots/sneakers for Stan, a fleece (see above), a math book, a Swiss Army knife for Sierra (who wants one a lot).

That list will get longer.

When we’re trying to figure out where to stay, I often look at the website RV Park Reviews to see what people have to say. The reviews are anonymous and mostly seem honest. Some people have different priorities than we do, such as needing a lot of room for slideouts and long rigs, but they are mostly regular travelers, not people who live in their RVs and stay in one place.

I post reviews here as well. To read them, you can click on this link.

1. Learn to sleep with earplugs. Road noise travels far and a lot of RV parks are near interstate highways.

2. Don’t pack more perishables than you can eat before parking the RV dry for a few days. Pork chops for breakfast, yum!

3. Try not to think about the fact that there is a large child hovering eight feet above you who could roll off any minute!

4. Bring paper plates for when water is too precious to waste on washing dishes — and for when you’re stopped for lunch by the side of the road.

5. Bring clothes you really like. You’re going to be seeing a lot of them.

6. When opening the overhead storage, be prepared to duck or catch something. What is it they say on airplanes? “Contents in the overhead compartments may shift. Use caution when opening.”

7. Try to eat in shifts, so you can share the dining equipment. Cut down on water usage and effort!

8. Ex Officio travel underwear are one of the world’s great inventions. They dry really fast. You’ll never need more than two pairs of underwear again.

Although one point of our trip is to go slow, there are days when it’s necessary to log some miles. Like in Canada and Alaska. In June, of course.