Great Family Road Trip

Great Family Road Trips
Episode #1

by Janis Brett Elspas

When we set off on our latest 4-week, 6,000+ mile road trip from California to Canada and back in August 2009, my original intention was to log in to MommyBlogExpert every day from the road to post daily travelogue updates and pictures for you readers.

Almost as soon as we hopped on the freeway in Los Angeles to dash out of the smog toward greener pastures, I realized that no way was I going to have ANY ENERGY to write my blog while traveling, much less have the time to check my email daily or to even keep up with my tweets on Twitter. Hey, I didn't even have the strength to talk to my hubbie by cell each day, or for that matter, the sanity, to talk to myself.

Come on, get real, I thought. Mommy (that's short for MommyBlogExpert) was driving alone from L.A. and Daddy wasn't meeting us until a week later in Missoula, Montana with four feuding tweens (12 year old triplets and 13 year old big brother) seated in the back rows of our Ford Expedition EL. Was I out of my mind? What had I been thinking?

It wasn't until now, two weeks after returning from this trek, that I finally mustered up the mental clarity to begin sharing the many chapters of that memorable adventure with you. As I reflect back, I am amazed at how much ground we covered in a month's time: not just literally, but figuratively. It's a good thing I kept detailed handwritten notes that filled up an entire legal pad of paper, as well as receipts, and much of the literature I had accumulated while on the road so I can make direct references in upcoming posts in this series.

Hopefully, you'll agree that there are many more benefits for you as the reader if Great Family Road Trip episodes are organized by topic rather than to simply told chronologically as daily journal entries. After all, I'm writing this blog for you, and I want you to be able to find the information you seek easily.

Coming Up in Episode 2...
Next in this family road trip series: A story in the works about how to plan, prepare and pack for a family trip. This will be followed by an assortment of vignettes about bears, U.S. Customs, huckleberry hunting, thrift store discoveries on this trip, plus lots more -- but, not necessarily in that order. There will be some great resources to be found in those upcoming pieces...items off the beaten path that you may or may not have ever been covered on the Internet before.  Don't miss a single episode and subscribe to my blog now.

Also, for more tidbits than are on this blog, be sure to follow me on Twitter @MommyBlogExpert.

The Great Family Road Trip is an ongoing true-life family travel blog series by veteran road tripper Janis Brett Elspas that chronicles the various adventures, fabulous finds, and lessons learned from family road tripping through America while on a budget.


In addition to writing about family-friendly travel on MommyBlogExpert, Elspas blogs here about novel ways to make parenting, family, and time with children more fun, enriching, and affordable. She is PR-friendly and loves working with consumer brands to produce product reviews about products and services that enhance the lives of families, parents and/or their children.  

Drawing on a decades long career in public relations, advertising, and journalism, she is currently transitioning to professional Mommy Blogger.  An active member of the growing Mommy Blogger community she is hooked into Blogher, SheBlogs, Social Moms, Mom Central, and other networks. Elspas is always interested in connecting with other mom and dad bloggers who want to share and learn from each other.