The Preparations

As most of you know, Mike has played professional golf for several years now. As he came to a crossroads in his life, he decided it was time to enter the 8-5 working world. But before he could do that, there were still some states out there he had never seen during his Hooter's travels! So we made a schedule and began to plan our trip out West. I of course was still working at Tyco and hating every minute so I thought, what a great time to just quit! I gave a 3 week notice and June 30th was my last day.....and I have never been happier!

First plan of attack was a tent. We knew gas would cost us a near fortune so we needed to live cheap. We decided tent camping was the way to go. Off to Wal-Mart we went! Came home with the Ozark special for $64.99 ("roll back"!) and with excitement we put it up the next day. Much to our dismay, this cheap tent had no zip up windows, it was completely open on 3 sides! We decided it was not making the trip with us. So we took the tent back to Wal-Mart, but they had no other one's we liked. Next stop, Target. They had 2 we were were interested in...we chose the Coleman special for about $15 more than the Wal-Mart tent.......got home to set it up & this one had a big hole in front door zipper. So back it went. We chose the other tent we had looked at in Target, came home and set it up....winner! We love this one! And after another $300 later for chairs, food, and first aide supplies, we were ready to start our journey.