That’s probably because our comfort level with these trips has dramatically increased. It’s also, frankly, probably a product of better gear. And by better gear, I mostly mean my iPhone 3G, which affords us internet access while we drive in the car. That’s incredibly useful – heck, we planned, researched, and reserved everything we needed for our big summer trip across the South on it – and so it feels like we don’t quite need to be as prepared as we often are.

It’s also due to fact that we’re getting by with much less gear, especially for camping, that we used to bring. And we could probably further cut down on what we’re bringing, if only I we had enough time to think about it and make the necessary eliminations.

Finally, I know that Kim’s put quite a bit of time in trip planning. And she’s getting pretty good at it. We’re both mostly on the same page when it comes to roadtrip decisions, and I felt more comfortable this time around letting her pick hotels and routes without any involvement. Speaking of itineraries, here’s what we have planned:

Dec 24 – Depart Phoenix, drive to El Paso to see Chamizal National Memorial, continue on to camp at Big Bend National Park.

Dec 25-26 – Spend both days seeing Big Bend (and the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River that runs through it), camping these nights as well.

Dec 27 – Depart Big Bend, hit Amistad National Recreation Area, and continuing driving southeast, staying at an EconoLodge in a town called Harlingen.

Dec 28 – Drive to Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site, then visit Padre Island National Seashore, camping there or nearby somewhere.

Dec 29 – Drive to Big Thicket National Preserve, explore the park, and find somewhere nearby to camp.

Dec 30 – Head into San Antonio to see San Antonio Missions National Historic Park, adding a stop at – what else – The Alamo. Stay in an EconoLodge in the city.

Dec 31 – Finish up San Antonio, drive up to the Lyndon B Johnson National Historic Site, and then over to Austin to spend New Year’s Eve and part of New Year’s Day. Stay in a Days Inn.

Jan 1 – Explore Austin a bit more before hitting the road and driving back west. Camp somewhere near Fort Davis.

Jan 2 – Visit Fort Davis National Historic Site and drive to Guadalupe Mountains National Park where we’ll camp for the night.

Jan 3 – Finish up Guadalupe Mountains and high-tail it back to Phoenix, arriving late.

Jan 4 – Rest, relax and unpack before starting back at work on Monday, or…finish driving home if we haven’t kept to our schedule.

It should be a good time. We’ll add eleven National Park Service units to our lifetime total, and more importantly, complete all of the units in Texas. That will make only the seventh state we’ve completed (Nevada, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Tennessee, and Kentucky are the others), though we’re only one or two units away from finishing Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Indiana, and Missouri (not including Eastern and Midwestern states with only one or two units).

We’ll try to keep the blog updated, but with so few nights of guaranteed wifi, that may not happen that frequently. However, you can check out Scott’s tweet’s here and Kim’s tweets here for shorter updates, as well as some summary posts right here.

Scott’s also posted a map of our route and a quick explanation of why we chose this roadtrip.