I’m really enjoying this series and this book in particular but the author has a habit of rambling a bit too much. There are large sections where Ben is thinking about the road ahead, or their past experiences, and planning or reviewing every single detail down to the nitty gritty and it’s incredibly annoying. I don’t want to be mean, but it reminds me of when I used to have to write an essay in school and I’d find myself below the minimum required word count with no time left to do much about it. You know how you’d try to come up with new and creative ways to bulk up the word count a bit without adding any more actual content? (I did, at least!) Yeah, these books have a lot of that. That said, I feel like it’s getting better as the series progresses. My other beef is the fact that their dogs are ornery and keep running off and getting themselves – and the rest of the group – into life threatening danger, and yet Ben, Joel, and the kids never even think about putting them on a leash.