Mississippi Road Trip: Rules of the road

We are off on our Mississippi Road Trip adventure. Again, we’re a family of four traveling some 3,000 miles from the headwaters in northern Minnesota to the mouth at the Gulf of Mexico.

Before heading out, we established some guidelines:

• Travel on a budget. We have $2,700 to cover the cost of lodging, food, hotel, and entertainment for 18 days; this comes to $150 a day. We're not including the cost of driving a car or our plane flights or airport related expenses.
• Avoid franchised restaurants. Eat where the locals eat. Go to farmer's markets. Picnic.
  
• Act like a local. Read local papers, listen to local radio, talk to local people.
• Travel off the beaten path. Stay off the Interstate whenever possible and follow the roads that hug the Mississippi River.
  
• Appreciate our surroundings. Learn all that we can about the Mississippi River by stopping at museums, reading interpretive signs, talking with experts.
• Keep the kids entertained—without the help of a DVD player. Sing songs, play games, look out the window, and bond as a family.
• Stay at hotels offering value. We're bedding down in Best Westerns because the wi-fi is free and breakfast is almost always included. The swimming pools provide free entertainment.
• Drive a fuel-efficient vehicle. We're driving a Mercury Mariner hybrid because it comfortably fits a family of four and gets great gas mileage, about 30 mpg.
• Eat all the pie we possibly can. We hope to find the best slice available on the banks of Old Miss.
• Preserve and share the experience. Write daily blog entries, snap photos, take video, and send tweets (find me on Twitter: onthegowithamy).