A forest will choke out a thicket, I often recomend that fruit and nut trees be planted on purpose, so that we lock up carbon and produce food for ourselves, and chocke out the brush plants that are unpleasent to walk through. When you go on a hike along a tail it seems that you are always either bordered by clearing/lawn or by a thicket, but once you break through that thicket you can useually travle quite quickly and easily and have plenty of space to move about. The main reasonfor removing trees and brush historicly wasn't to make things more pleasent, it was to open up land for agricultural use. with a field we can grow staple cerial grains, or legumes, or use it as pasture for animals, while some trees may provide seasonal food for some critters it takes alot of work to survive off of them year round (and trust me when I say thing, willow does not taste that good) . Our modenr day lawns were not contrived from thin air, you need to look at were they came from to understand how they fit in. Lawns are popular mainly in the south (sure, lots of people like them, but in the south they are sick for them) the south had a large portion of its caucasian inhabitants come from scotland (the southern drawl is very closely related to the scots accent) in schotland they have huge green field that are kept down to a few inches all summer long, this is because there is alot of rain and people raise sheep. Now, in the south there isn't as much water in the summer, and there aren't as many sheep, but people still liked the look of home so a lawn with mowers and irrigation is what they came up with.

You could go the norther route in June and come back a southern route in the fall. Weather might be better. You might consider, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minn, ND, Mont Wyn-Utah-up to Wash then down the coast thru Ore, Calif, avoiding the big cities, then swing north, thru AZ, NM etc. Their is a lot of area to cover. Stop at the welcome centers, pick up some magazines, send for the free stuff from different states, get a USA map from Auto Club, plot out a general trip, don't be afraid to change it. Trip niks are great but do limit you to what Auto Club thinks you should see. Take maps and Auto Club books with you and you can always visit the Auto Club offices thru out the states. Post on the Kitchen table and those talented people will tell you their favorite places. Motels will run you around 70-100.00 a day + food. Try to use bottle water, and take medicines with you== I have a small suitcase for medicine. Take quarters for you to wash. Don't try to cover too much and try to stop every 3-5 days for a catch up. There is so much to see. Talk easy to wash items, I allow about 14 days of underwere etc. Take a cell phone, and keep in touch with relatives. I call one of my three kids at least 3-4 times a week. You said you plan to leave in June, so start collecting information now and maybe a notebook with ideas, and pictures etc. They have things that will hold clippings etc. Take stamps, pens/pencils/scotch tape, otherwards a minatature office. You cannot believe the stuff I have learned to carry. If you wish, email me direct and I will be glad to give you a list of what I take. Good luck Marie

Roof color is also important. If that's the roof you're keeping, it must be considered as part of the color scheme. The landscape hides your house. You may need to invest in some lower shrubs of low maintenance mixed with perennials. I wouldn't frame the house in white. Either one color for the body, soffit and facia trim, or at least a lighter tone for those trims. White window and door trim is acceptable. If your house were longer, the garage door in a toned down white would be fine. But, since the garage door is 1/4 the house front, I'd paint it the same color as the body or as the facia, soffit trim. I painted this house on Monday. The roof is Desert Tan and the house was originally dark blue with a white garage door. Shudder. It was a big blue box trimmed in white. Now it's Desert Tan roof with Cafe Cream body to match the new entry door. We surrounded the door with a forest green storm door and installed forest green shutters. We did paint the garage door the same as the body, but we separated it from the house with white trim. Michael

Looks awesome! I do though, have to admit I don't understand the black hole. It doesn't appear like it would, however I'm not there and it's not my choice either ^_^ My walls will be Lancaster Whitewash by Benjamin Moore, and I'm doing Black Ink on the mantel and surround, because I love the soft black with the blue undertones. It's a nice contrast against the black of the gas insert. Ours is an open concept, foyer, living room and kitchen all one big room. Foyer being more elongated, then you walk into the rest. My absolute dream, is to find an old surround, maybe with a double mantel and mirror in it, and remove this new surround with mantel. I dig antiques...lol