Good morning everyone :) With the help from the kitchen forum we were able to remodel our kitchen from the small island of St John in the US Virgin Islands making choices sight unseen on many items. It is now time to move to the exterior of the home including decking. I have been researching decking and had decided (or so I thought) on the AZEK Arbor Collection in the color Morado (someone who was coming to St John on vacation bought me a sample) as it seemed the best fit for us but now I have heard about the Timbertech XLM and was wondering if there is a difference in quality and maybe ease of installation as hubby will be installing himself. I believe both have hidden screws available for purchase but is there something I am missing - is one a better value/quality or are they both a great product? It is hard as we can't run out to a store and compare - well we can but it involves a car ride, a ferry ride, a taxi ride and a plane ride to Miami :) Thanks for any advise you can offer. Piaa

Wow! Sounds like a great idea. DH and I have been to: * Montego Bay, Jamaica - was inexpensive, but not exactly a "venture out of your resort" type of trip. Not exactly a safe place. We stayed all-inclusive at Rose Hall Wyndham for 4 days. Great water slides, lazy river, pools, etc. But I couldn't see longer than 4-5 days there. * Aruba - can be expensive, but we used frequent flier miles for much of it. This was my favorite! Of course, it was for 10 days for our honeymoon. :-) We stayed at the Wyndham with a breakfast/beverage package. Lots of nightlife, great restaurants, things to do. Like going across the US in a few short miles - one side of the island is rocky from the waves bashing it, there's a desert area, and the other side is calm sandy beaches. Very cool. You can go much cheaper by using a timeshare/villa. * Cancun, Mexico - super cheap and a lot of fun. Airfare might be more for you being further away. Nightlife abounds. Great food. Wal-mart if you forgot your suntan lotion or need to pick up a bottle of liquor (no kidding!). We took a couple of excursions - one to Xcaret (ecological park) and one that included the Mayan ruins, repelling and zipline. Below is a link that might help you hunt down the elusive villa or a small house. Good luck and have fun! Here is a link that might be useful: Caribbean vacation finder

I have to agree about the veering off of I90 and if you do fill up if your tank becomes even close to half full. Some of the small towns now have 24 hour pumps but finding a small town with one can empty your tank. The air is normally much dryer and the wind blows constantly except for about an half of an hour both morning and evening when you are in the treeless areas in southern Idaho and Montana so you may find that you need to hold onto the steering wheel more tightly than normal. Hells Canyon that is near the Oregon Idaho line south of Spokane is an interesting place that will add to your appreciation of the early pioneers that came that way. It is south of Spokane but pay attention to any early snow.

Just as a "want to waste some time option", you might start with a real map (real paper... I know, completely unheard of nowadays) and a simple school pencil compass. Use the compass to make several concentric circles with your home location at the center. This would give you a rough idea of how far you could or even want to drive in an average day. By using the mile indicator located on the map somewhere, you could set up the circles at perhaps 100 to 500 mile distances from one another. Secondly, make a list (even a mental one) of the cities, burgs, and attractions between two or more circles. While not perfect, this will give you an idea of a couple of things. First, we will know that I/we don't mind driving XXX miles per day and secondly, what might be available to see and do within that preferred mileage suggestion. Thirdly, reduce that defined area by picking a compass direction that seems most advantageous to what you want to see and do on your (pick some number of days and insert here) trip. Realistically, the compass direction may have to be determined more on available roadways than on actual compass points but then, what's a good trip without a few side trips. If you have even more spare time, start to look up commercial tours, where they go, what they include as sightseeing attractions, etc. You don't have to actually take the tours but rather, use their advertising $ and experience to plan your own trip. The internet is wonderful for these uses since it goes everywhere with no cost other than what you're already paying per month for the service. Every state and most of the mid to larger sized cities also now have a load of information on locations, attractions, and so on... all neatly arranged dated and free to you. I've probably stated the above concepts poorly but maybe you can glean a bit of information that will make planning a bit easier.