When I tell you what I’m about to say, you’re either going to think I’m stark, raving mad or I’m going to be your hero. Personally, I think I’m a little of both.

In 12 long days I will embark on a journey of epic proportions. We’re calling it a “Gypsy Trip” — we being my best friend Amanda and I — because we are going to gypsy our way across the country. Sadly, we will not be hitching up a horse and wagon, but we will be pitching a tent almost every night of the trip and camping our way through some of the most beautiful spots in the good ol’ USA. And we might even have to do some fortune telling along the way to pay for gas.

I know what you’re thinking. Camping? Really?  Yes. Pitched tent, sleeping bags, s’mores and all. Our reasoning is simple: Camping is much cheaper than hotels. Sure we won’t have air conditioning. Sure, we’ll be dealing with bugs and spiders and creepy crawlies of all kinds. But you have to deal with that at some hotels anyway.

If you think about it, this is a journey people made on horseback with nothing but their saddles. We will at least have an air-conditioned rental car and sleeping bags. Oh, and cell phones with GPS navigation.

So now that that subject is out of the way, let’s get to the fun part: All the places we’ll see! Over 12 days we’ll pass through about 12 states and cover about 6,000 miles round trip. We’ll be visiting cities such as Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Taos and Las Cruces, New Mexico; Las Vegas and Los Angeles. We’ll see the Rocky Mountains, the Grand Canyon and the Pacific Ocean. And if we see a sign that says something like, “World’s Biggest Ball of Yarn, next exit,” you know we’re taking a right.

It’s OK to be jealous. But you’ll get to follow along with us on our trip through daily blog updates. (I’ll post a link to Amanda’s blog on my sidebar once I get the information from her.) For safety reasons, I’m not posting information about where we’re headed each day. (So don’t worry, Mom.) You’ll hear all about everything after we’ve done it and are moving on to the next place.

So, after more than a year of planning, the only thing left to figure out is what road music we’ll be bringing. Suggestions?  And if you know of anything worth seeing along the way, post it in the comments!