Trip stuff.

So I had a look at some ticket prices and car hire prices, and guess what? It's just cheaper to fly from Adelaide to Los Angeles and hire a car than to add the Los Angeles to Minneapolis leg. That's not counting the petrol/gas, meals, and hotel/motel stays. Some or most of those expenses would be covered by our normal weekly spending anyway. And Darrin likes driving, and really loves the idea of a roadtrip. And I don't mind it either, especially if I get to see some national landmarks like the Grand Canyon, Old Faithful, Mount Saint Helens, the Alamo, Mount Rushmore & the Black Hills, and Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalbuquerque, where the sun is always shining and the air smells like warm root beer, and the towels are oh so fluffy!

Darrin looked at sites tonight about hiring a Winnebago or similar vehicle, and it's about half of what the airfares would be. Yeouch.

So now I'm looking for experiences of people who've done massive cross-country roadtrips and stayed in hotels. Do you book the hotels in advance, or just trust that somebody'll have a room available wherever you decide to crash for the night? And what restaurant chains feed kids under x years for free? I remember hearing Shoney's did this at one time. Any others?

Oh yes. And the newfangled cars with the built-in child safety seats - how old or heavy does a kid have to be to sit in one?

That's it for now. I'm sure I'll have more questions later. Bedtime.

Hey, cool, I don't have to post later today. But I probably will. What else am I going to do when it's 42 degrees outside?