For our trip, we decided to be really adventurous and to make the driver there and back in a 15 passenger van.  Our first step was to remove the rear seat from the van, as we would need the cargo space.  So we had to hunt around a bit to find a rental car agency that would rent 15 passenger vans, and one that would allow us to remove that rear seat.  The rear seat weighs about 100 pounds, so removing it is no small task…and getting it back in is a much larger one. The first rental car agency said that it would be $1000 fine for taking out the rear seat.  Ouch.  Fortunately, the next one was much more understanding.

Darol: Could you remove the rear seat for us?

Rental Car Worker:  No, we can’t do that.  But as long as you have the seat in there when you leave her, and it…ahem…falls out, that’s OK.  You can use it that way.  Just make sure you bring it back with the seat back in.

Darol:  I understand!

We launched out on the trip on a Thursday afternoon and stayed the first night at Pops and Mimi’s.  Knocking out that first 2 hours was a huge benefit, as it allowed us to drive all the way to St. Louis the next day.  It would have probably taken about 18 hours that next day if we hadn’t done the first 2 hours, as we would have rush hour in multiple cities.  The children did a great job on the trip out there, though there was a bit of “van fatigue” from time to time.

Admittedly, one of the biggest advantages to this passenger was the high clearance it afforded us on the very, very rough road on the way to/from La Plata Peak.  These picture don’t quite do justice to this small stream crossing that we zipped right over.

One of the more humorous stops on the van ride out to the mountains was a stop at a Whole Foods in Denver.  Chloe, the extrovert, marched right up, made a friend named Maria, and invited her to get into her shopping cart for a “ride”.

We ended covering about 2100 miles each way for the trip.  Our stops were in Kansas City and Denver on the way out, and Wichita and Nashville on the way home.  The children did extremely well, and weren’t insisting that we fly out the next time, so that was a good sign.