What's the big idea?
You know when an idea suddenly pops in your head, and you can immediately sense that it's going to become a reality? I had one of those last night. I was walking out to my car after work. It had been a day spent researching different options for a big trip during some vacation time I have in May. The plan, overall, was that I going to rent an SUV, drive out to Las Vegas to celebrate my brother's 21st birthday for a couple of days, and then venture out to the eastern Utah/Colorado area to go backcountry driving and take some photos... I'd spend 5-6 days doing that, and then drive all the way back to Glendale on Memorial Day.
But it struck me last night that it will be very expensive to rent a truck for a week, plus the cost of lodging in Vegas for a couple of days. Also, with the outrageous, sky's-the-limit gasoline prices of late, one must take the cost of driving around a gas-guzzling SUV a thousand miles or so very seriously.
So I was thinking, maybe I drive my own car out to Vegas, stay a couple of nights, and head back. Relax for a couple of days, and maybe take an abbreviated trip out to Death Valley or Joshua Tree or something, in a weekend rental. And I would only spend about a third of the original estimated cost. Hmmmm....
