Planning and thinking

A few weeks ago we used the gift of a good old fashioned book token to purchase the Lonely Planet guide to the USA and a Michelin road map. Today at last, we spread the map all over the kitchen table and started studying it with the LP guide book on hand. There's too much to see and do. We should have planned to visit for 6 months. It looks as though we'll choose to set out from Tucson one April Friday morning to take the 6+ hour drive to Albuquerque as a starter. This will give us a chance to get a flavour of some of the interesting places along the way to Gallup. Then we'll set off for Canyon de Chelly and the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park (do they like the word "Tribal" there - I think it has pejorative connotations?). After that, we shall try to spend 2-3 days in the Grand Canyon area, and follow that up with a day or so at Bryce Canyon. Then we'll belt along to the general neighbourhood of Salt Lake City en route for Yellowstone, where we might be able to spend a few days before driving like the clappers until we get to Chicago. Car hire options were investigated today as well, and look reasonably promising.