Thinking ahead....

Because planning is where it's at, we're going to have a large binder (I'm talking about 50 pages) with info on all our stops, particularly the national parks. (be jealous). While compiling this info, I found out that instead of driving up (5,000ft elevation in 15 miles) to Rocky Mountain National Park, we can park in the quaint town of Estes Park, CO, and take a shuttle up er. (Last Pittsburgh utterance ever). However, to do that, we'd have to be able to carry with us all we'd need for 3 days of living (minus water). In other words, if I buy a $100 backpack, I can save the car from likely overheating and vapor lock, which might end up costing thousands. Good investment. I was also suckered into purchasing some other necessary and probably unnecessary items... first aid kit (necessary), LED Maglite (so very necessary), multi-tool (who knows, but I feel like a camper with this $4 gadget strung off my belt), fire starters (probably necessary... I failed out of the boy scouts) and some camping specific dining utensils (probably unnecessary, I hardly use utensils when eating normally). All in all, we are pretty stocked up for our stay in Rocky Mtn... It's going to be sweet.... now for all that driving before that...