And in the End...

 So we've been home for a few days, unpacked the stuff, got on talking terms with the cat again, and entered all the receipts in the checkbook register.

Some parting thoughts:

- Budget! We made a budget for the trip for everything from gas ($3.75 average per gallon x 10 miles/gallon x 2,544 miles) to tolls to food on the road. Even with thorough budgeting, we still missed a few things like tips (even though we were on the meal plan). Thankfully, the one thing we always put into our budget is a margin. The beauty of a budget is you can relax and enjoy your vacation without coming back to financial mayhem.

-Make peace with the fact that there is no "winging it" with Disney. My art school approach of "let's see where the project goes" will make for some frustration.

- If you're traveling with the whole crew, try to arrange for time alone with the spouse. Send the kids to the playground, give them a roll of quarters and send them to the arcade, lock them in the van, whatever you have to do to get a few hours alone to re-connect with your spouse. Because there is no privacy in an RV. We could hear the kid on the other side of the rig scratching their nose so this limited the conversation topics for the spouse and I.

-Plan for no more than three days straight driving before taking a day off to just chill-lax. This has physical and mental benefits.

The kids learning how 10,000 chicks are transported

-Take the scenic route if you can. Robert Frost was right about taking the road less travelled and having no regrets about it.

-We've found that 260 miles a day is about as much as we can do. This allows for spontaneous stops, stops for potty, fuel, iced coffee and other supplies as well as getting into camp early enough to relax and maybe enjoy some of the camp activities.

KOA selfie #smallcamperproblems

- Audio books, NPR podcasts, other podcasts are great way to pass the time.

Meet Crush - our wire sea turtle mascot

- You will still need an atlas. I don't care if you have a GPS device and an iPhone, there were still times we navigated old school because the GPS didn't understand we wanted a scenic route but only up until the next town and then the highway, but not that one, this one, etc. etc.

- Take pictures.

Like a book, we have some acknowledgments to make here:

Our thanks....

to all the friends and family who offered opinions and helpful hints about Disney

to Rousseau's RV Rental Center for making the whole rental process easy

to Newfangled for their support in allowing Bo to leave for three weeks

to the Iacobbos for letting us boondock

to Christina for cat sitting (feeding her not actually sitting on her)

to our neighbors for keeping an eye out on the ol' homestead

to WalMart for being everywhere and having everything (did you know RV's require special toilet paper?)

to our children for having a good sense of humor and patience. You are a blessing.