| A year after getting married, my wife and I embarked | | | | outside of the car- I am not joking. Lesson number |
| on what I consider an epic journey. We packed our | | | | two: Do not entirely believe what you read in |
| new Sunfire up with camping gear and headed East | | | | brochures. |
| from the sheltered valleys of British Columbia across | | | | The density of the mosquito population was so |
| the prairies. Our goal was Montreal, and from there we | | | | extreme that even though it was already almost dark, |
| would head south to Indiana and then back West | | | | we realized that we could not stay there. Instead, we |
| through the United States. We planned to camp along | | | | drove a while longer and finally arrived in Ontario. We |
| the way, in order to save money. Our vacation was | | | | ate supper at a restaurant and then realized it was |
| an interesting one. I would not term it a disaster, but | | | | way too late to find and set up camp, so we found a |
| there were several significant events along the way | | | | rest stop and decided to sleep in the car. Lesson |
| that led me to realize several key facts about planning | | | | number three: A six foot two frame does not sleep |
| and implementing a big trip, which I would like to share | | | | well in the driver's seat of a Pontiac Sunfire. I decided |
| in this article. | | | | to climb in the back, which led to lesson number four: |
| Our first trials came as we left the mountains of my | | | | Always check what you are lying on, no matter how |
| youth and descended into the treeless prairies. | | | | late. I discovered in the morning that I had slept on top |
| Treeless is significant, as we realized on our first stop | | | | of the pancake syrup and the dish soap, which had |
| that there was no wood available at the campsites for | | | | both spilled their entire contents all over the car. An |
| fires, beyond a couple of old fence posts. | | | | attempt to scrub the syrup out resulted in the |
| Saskatchewan, therefore, saw us dining on cold | | | | formation of lots of bubbles. Our car to this day still |
| canned food. Lesson number one: Know the foliage of | | | | smells like syrup and soap. |
| your destination and plan accordingly. The buffalo have | | | | The remainder of the trip through Canada went well, |
| vanished and therefore the old pioneer fuel of chips is | | | | although I will say that the roads in Ontario are |
| no longer an option. | | | | seriously lacking when it comes to planning. The |
| The next night, we consulted our travel brochure for | | | | greatest disasters on the trip came on the way back |
| sites in Manitoba. Manitoba has trees, so firewood was | | | | East through the United States, and involved a severe |
| not an issue. We found a site that advertised plenty of | | | | altercation with a border guard, weather the likes of |
| firewood, spacious spots, and working showers. What | | | | which I had never heard of in Minnesota, a biker rally in |
| it did not advertise was the fact that it was located on | | | | South Dakota, and a forest fire in Wyoming. The |
| a recently flooded river, which upon returning to its | | | | biggest lesson I learned on the whole trip was that it is |
| banks had left a highly fertile breeding ground for | | | | absolutely essential to plan ahead when it comes to a |
| mosquitoes. I have never seen so many of these | | | | vacation. |
| insects in my entire life- you could hear them buzzing | | | | |