Before we left, we (with the help of Steve W.) rototilled our back yard.  Here's Alison fighting with the machine.

After that, we figured we deserved a vacation.  Our strategy was to keep our driving time pretty low per day (5 to 7 hours), and to take at least a couple of significant breaks to give Cielo some play time.  Here's one of the first places we stopped, a great little playground in the deserty part of California:

We had reservations at the Grand Canyon campground, and planned to camp several times during the trip out to Colorado.  We had a camp stove, but wanted to make sure we knew how to work it before we really had to.  Here's Alison getting it going in the parking lot of our hotel in Needles, CA: