Plan your trip ahead of time!

I let my dog Jazz outside yesterday to "do her thing", and I noticed that when she was done she crawled back into the house dragging her back legs and tongue like a hot, thirsty camel herder. Not only that but I've noticed that the weeds are getting so big that when they make demands, I listen. For example, I hereby publicly announce that I will no longer yank, tug, pull, rip, tear, poison or disparage in any way that may be

interpreted as derogatory or non-supportive, any such plants commonly referred to as "weeds", which, from this point forward, shall be called Independent Herbal Developers.

What do these things have in common? They all mark the beginning of summer in Indiana, which usually marks the beginning of the busy travel season. And if it didn't cost me $328.53 per tank of gas, I'd probably be hitting the road as we speak. But if you're like most guys, which I am, then you probably won't think about anything but golf and fishing until you're on the road. Then you'll remember that a) the only directions you have are written around the edges of a napkin spiraling inwards over ketchup stains, and b) you don't have any place to stay if or when you get there. Well, fellow vacationers, learn from my mistakes. Let the Internet make your trip an easy one. Plan ahead.

The first thing you will want to do is make hotel reservations. My

college days of sleeping on the beach during spring break are over, and since my last name isn't Rockefeller, I like to find a hotel that blends comfort and style with a price that even someone with $100,000 worth of school debt can afford. Ahem, I mean a working stiff, like myself. For discounts and bargains, try these sites: All-Hotels, Budget Hotels (which let's you search by price), and Travel Discounts. For

international reservations, check out Choice Hotels International, and for luxury, check out Open World Luxury Hotels. Until Ed McMahon pays a visit to my house some Super Bowl Sunday, I'll stick with the first three.

Ok, so the reservation is made and now you have to figure out how to get there. For airline tickets check out one of the neatest travel sites on the Internet, called Priceline.com. Don't try and be cute by bidding $10 for a trip to Rio because it won't happen. Besides, I already tried. But you may able to save $50 or more off the normal fares. You can also bid on rental cars, hotel rooms, groceries, and home financing. Also check out Travelocity, TravelNow, and BestFares.com. For train reservations, check out Amtrak or TravelNow. In the interest of saving space, I'm not going to list car rentals since most hotel or airline travel websites have links to car rentals. But I will mention one of my favorite over-all sites. It's called Flight Tracker and it will present an airplane over a map to show you where an actual flight is in real time. So if you're waiting for relatives to arrive and you want to see where they are in flight, click here. You can actually see the airplane move and an instrument panel showing the plane's airspeed, direction and altitude. To quote my 5 yr.-old nephew, "It is soooo cool."

If you're driving to your vacation getaway, you'll need a map and

directions. For this you'll want to go to MapQuest or MapBlast!. Both sites allow you to print out a map, text directions, or both. You can even choose between the quickest or easiest route. For those of you with a chronic leadfoot, check out SpeedTrap.

The last thing you want to do before you leave is check out the weather and make sure you're not heading into an impending snowstorm or

typhoon. Go to either The Weather Channel or Weather Underground. If you just don't believe it unless you see the radar picture, then go to Geostationary Satellite Server.

Well, I would love to stay and chat but the Independent Herbal

Developers are knocking on my door. I mowed my lawn this weekend and they are ticked!!