How We Got Here: Planning, the Gist

LONG STORY SHORT
​We figure out where we want to go and what we need to have a good time on the road.

​By Kristine McGowan

Jason, planner extraordinaire, takes an MLB the Show break while Catsby assists.

We decided to dub our pretirement the “Big Trip.” Because we’re just that clever.

As usually happens with anything we do, our planning began with a spreadsheet—or, I should say, Jason’s planning began with a spreadsheet. I cannot convey how little I contributed to this part of the process. I just concocted—or really, happened upon—the original idea. Jason took my idea and sprinted with it. ​

Within a few weeks, he started building what would eventually become a complex Google Sheets workbook that outlined our finances, our savings goal, where we wanted to go, what we wanted to do, when we wanted to do it, and on and on. He calculated how much we could save based on our monthly income and expenses, and he determined what we could do once we had those savings and how long we could do it for.

I won’t go into detail about the financial side of the planning here (namely because I can’t), but if you want a deep dive, Jason will post one soon (and I’ll add a link here when it’s available). He’ll also post a deep dive about his process for building our itinerary. In the meantime, you can at least see his mind-bogglingly detailed map of where we’re going on Our Route. 

With one look at that map, you’ll understand just how much I’m coasting on Jason’s planning skills here.

Anyway. Following his research and calculations, we decided it made sense to keep the Big Trip—yes, we’re sticking with that name—contained to North America. We wanted to see the U.S. National Parks, and we felt we should see them while we were still able (and willing) to hike ten-plus miles a day and paddle through whitewater that could gobble us up for breakfast. 

We also wanted to be relatively comfortable on the road. I’m not ashamed to admit that, for me, that means taking a shower most days and having my own toilet to sit on. We would go through multiple ideas over the following years, but eventually, we settled on the three things we would need to enjoy the Big Trip: 

A truck. 

A travel trailer.

And, finally, the spiciest member of our little family—our cat, Catsby. 

I told you we’re clever at naming things.