Road Trips either accomplished or planning for?
I was talking to a friend of mine recently who is about 65 and retired three years ago. I randomly asked him if he ever thought about taking a road trip and driving Route 66 or something like that. He replied "Hell yeah! I think about it all the time. Here I am with lots of spare time but I don't feel like I am making any memories."
Has anyone here, including @RoadTrip himself, driving Route 66? Or driven "the loneliest highway in America" which I think is in Nevada? Has anyone driven the Pacific Coast Hwy 101? I seem to recall @iDawg years ago said he rode a motorcycle along 101 in California.
Route 66 has always been in the back of my mind.
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I've driven the 101 numerous times. Took the 99 to California as a kid with the family. Pre I 5
Been on most parts of Route 66 including time living in Tulsa
Wife and I did the Lewis and Clark trail drive kind of the return trip since we started in Seattle. Got down to Nebraska from South Dakota and saw the wagon ruts of the Oregon Trail
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I do a bunch of road trips each year. Planned so far for 2025 are Oregon Coast / California redwoods in May and Lake Tahoe / Death Valley / Las Vegas / Great Basin NP in June.
I am expecting Ichiro to be inducted into Cooperstown this July, so will probably do an eastern road trip along with the induction ceremony. I am leaning towards Adirondacks / Vermont / Maine. -
Travels with Stalin?
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Road to Hana on Maui
Been all over the Western US. Chief Joseph Scenic Highway is a must for REAL Americans.
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Did Road to Hana, and I think the Nevada one (at 100 plus, for hours). If Cali ever gets its reads down and they fix the bridge between Carmel and Big Sur, we’ve been talking about taking it all the way down.
After our wedding in OC, we took the 1 to Avila Beach, and later up to Carmel and back.
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I’ve done the entire west coast along Hwy 1 or 101 in its various stretches. Big Sur to San Simeon is still the most spectacular stretch of road in the US but it’s closed until later this year at least. We got at far as Bixby Creek bridge this Summer. I’ll sext you a pic.
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Great novel, probably one of Steinbeck's most underrated.
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This is definitely the right time of the year to daydream about hitting the road.
We're going to pound the continental divide, eastern Idaho and western Montana in 2025. I anticipate 2 trips minimum and a total of 3-4 weeks traveling, camping, and fishing. Two of us, 2 dumb dogs so the bears have something to eat, two inflatable kayaks and a scooter for river shuttles.
Oh...also my golf clubs.
I've driven all of 101 in Wa and Or, but never into California. That's on the list but down it a ways. There's too much good stuff inland that I haven't done. One thing about big sky country in the summer is the way golf courses look surrounded by all that brown. The green glow calls to you and is hard to resist.
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Drove down to Carrizo Plain to see the super bloom a couple years ago, very impressive. Took 101/1 back to WA… started at Pismo Beach, camped along the way up until Crescent City… it was super fun and I'm definitely glad I did it, but I got my t-shirt and don't think I'll do it again.
Monterey was incredible, I'd live there in a heartbeat if I could afford it. Speaking of Steinbeck, I bought a copy of 'The Log From the Sea of Cortez' from the Monterey Bay Aquarium (Highly recommend) and read it as I made my way north. Excellent novel.
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I bought a paperback of that just a few months ago but haven't read it yet.
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Just remembered another one…About 10 years ago, for an October wedding in Manchester, VT.
Flew into Boston, rented a car and drove through NH to wedding, mostly on Interstates. The wife went secret squirrel and post-wedding, we drove to Cooperstown. As we were leaving, I threw out the idea to take back roads for the return.
The “turning of the leaves” is real, and spectacular. Stopped off in Woodstock for lunch (not at Yasgur’s Farm), and back to Beantown. Perhaps my favorite lazy drive I’ve ever taken…
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yea, I've done some miles. I've done a fair amount of 66, but it was a bit disheartening about how little was left. This was decades ago and I’m sure it’s even less now.
Americana is still great. Many of the roads I drove 30 years ago I did again with may family in a big SUV. The only rule: no chains… either hotel/motel or restaurants…oh and no screens when we were not on an interstate. Yellowstone, Yosemite, Brice, Zion, Arches … and others
America is beautiful. Mom and pop diners are still a value. Go out and see them before the corporate version of fentanyl ruins it all: Dollar General -
I drove through the center of Nevada on the way to Vegas with four of my friends when we turned 21. Had the night shift after we left Winnemucca. Got to Tonopah I think before we saw headlights again. Yes, very lonely
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Driven the Washington coast and into Oregon as far as the beach with the big rock.
Drove the California coast from SC down to Carmel after going to a UW game, possibly the bowl game at the baseball stadium.
Probably drove Colorado to Louisiana or Texas and back at least a dozen times.
Drove Colorado to Arizona a few times.
Mrs Nacho and I stayed in Sedona then instead of going straight back to Old Man Nacho’s house in Phoenix, drove north to Flagstaff, east with a stop on a corner in Winslow, AZ and then south through the Tonto National Forest. Got to drive through snow showers in Arizona in April.
Bought my oldest kids car from my neighbor and delivered it to her for graduation and took the most meandering trip from Washington to Kentucky.
Driven through Montana a few times. Easy to see why people put up with the winters. That place is fucking gorgeous.
Planning to drive to Gettysburg solo in April. For some strange reason, Mrs Nacho is uninterested in visiting a civil war battlefield for 2-3 days.
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In 2003 I was in Amarillo and went for a long walk at about 2AM. I stood in the middle of Route 66 with not a car in sight, and just pondered on the hundreds of thousands of people that had traveled westward on that spot back in the day, heading for what they hoped was a better life.
Edit: And as I stood in the middle of the road, I distinctly remember listening to Smashmouth on my Walkman. (Didn't get an iPod until a year or two later).
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US 395 north out of Reno into Susanville California up by Lassen to the back side of Shasta and up the Cascade spine of Oregon
In fact 395 is one of the cool roads ever along with 95. Lone Pine and Yosemite in Cali
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Free Pub !
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I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the back roads
So I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me weed, whites, and wine
And you show me a sign
I'll be willin'... to be movin'
@RaceBannon knows
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An interesting series of road trips I have done recently are an attempt to visit the entire US coastline. I am only missing three counties to complete this. Here are some of the bigger trips I took to accomplish this:
South Padre Island, TX - Lafayette, LA (starting and finishing in San Antonio). This trip was great for food as I sought out select Texas BBQ, tacos, and did some stops on the Boudin Trail in Louisiana.
Lafayette, LA - Tallahassee, FL (starting and finishing in New Orleans)
Key West, FL - Florida peninsula loop to Tallahassee up the gulf and St. Augustine to Fort Lauderdale down the Atlantic Coast (starting and ending in Fort Lauderdale)
St. Augustine, FL - Wilmington, NC (starting and ending in Charleston).Wilmington, NC - Toms River, NJ (starting and ending in Philadelphia). Started the trip with baseball games in Philly and Baltimore, on the same day! Then jetted down to Richmond, VA and then to Wilmington to start the trek up the outer banks through Delmarva.
New York, NY - Gloucester, MA (starting and ending in Boston). Went to Cape Cod first, then to Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and Long Island.
Imperial Beach, CA - San Francisco (starting and ending in SF). Six day trip where I saw baseball games at all 5 California MLB ballparks and drove the coast. -
395 through Central Oregon is a great one.
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I know… every time I hear Winnemucca
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Don’t sleep on Little Feat. They are as essential as Skynyrd IMHO. But I’m crunchier than you Skagit County fellars.
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On the Delmarva trip did you ride the coastline or the slightly inland roads? I've never even gotten down to the VA part of the peninsula despite going to the DE or MD shore almost every year. Chincoteague is somewhere I've always wanted to visit.
Most of my roadtrips are lame since I prefer flying, but driving through little towns across the plains of Nebraska and Kansas is always an experience. Did the OR and WA coast once as well; nothing like that scenery.
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I did both. I stayed in Chincoteague one night and Ocean City the next so I did a loop along Chesapeake Bay and crossed over to Dover to visit the state house and then down through Rehoboth and Dewey beaches to Ocean City.
I returned to Delmarva this November following the Penn State game. I stayed one night in Rehoboth Beach and then took the ferry across the bay to Cape May where I stayed a night before heading back to Baltimore. -
I could do a full blown TLDR on this so I'll try to keep it brief
Biggest trip in terms of time/distance was a month long golf road trip in 2016 that started in Seattle, went South to Las Vegas, east into DFW/Houston for a wedding, continued east through Tuscaloosa and Muscle Shoals, Alabama, then north up through Nashville, Indy, and into Michigan, then looped around the Upper Peninsula of Michigan down into Wisconsin through Iowa and then back west through Omaha, Wyoming, Montana and I-90 home.
I've done all the types of routes that you can do from here to Texas (Montana to Billings down through Denver into northern New Mexico before hitting Amarillo and into DFW; through Salt Lake City towards Denver and the rest of the way). Usually those are 3 day drives but I did it in 2 days in 2020 due to COVID and did more of the back road route through Colorado … won't do that again.
I've gone up through Idaho into Canada and driven up through Banff on the way to Calgary … incredibly beautiful. Next time I'm in that area I'll go the other way to get up through Jasper. Going up to Whistler or even east to Kamloops or Kelowna is nice but isn't close to the drive to Banff.
Did a trip this year from Dallas to Eastern Tennessee (about 45 minutes east of Knoxville) that was better than one would think … went through Starkville and Birmingham on the way up to a golf resort called McLemore (fantastic) before getting to Tennessee. The way back went through the length of Tennessee through Memphis, etc. … not much of a looker
I've driven through much of North Carolina whether it's the stretch from Charlotte/Raleigh to Myrtle Beach or from Charlotte over the mountains to Eastern Tennessee (Johnson City).
I've done the drive to Bend more than a few times and a few times have carried on on that route down to Reno … fun drive when you're going through the back roads of California.
You don't realize how truly big Texas is until you've driven Dallas to El Paso … it's stupid long and the most boring drive you can think of that isn't heading East from Denver into Kansas.
By far the most beautiful drive I've ever been on is heading from Monterey/Pebble Beach and going down to Big Sur … best section I've ever driven. Close 2nd if going up the 101 in California on the way into Oregon and driving through all the redwoods as it literally feels like you're driving in a real-life video game.
The drive that consistently puts me in awe though is going through the red rocks in Utah (whether coming up through Nevada or heading from SLC to Colorado) and then when you're in western Colorado going through the mountains and eventually driving through the Vail and Breckenridge areas. I'm lucky that I have a friend that lives there and go there every few years … it's truly spectacular.
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I could do a full blown TLDR on this so I'll try to keep it brief
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My longest drive was I-90 from Philadelphia back to Seattle.
Drove from Seattle to Phoenix, down through Idaho and Nevada. Stopped overnight in Boise and Vegas, and also drove the Hoover Dam. That was for the infamous Sark plunger in the desert game at ASU. Flew back, thankfully.
Have also done the drive from Phoenix back to Seattle through California with stops at Six Flags in SoCal and a day in SF on the way back. Also drove down to San Diego and back with a couple buddies, within the span of about 3.5 days, for a friend's wedding.
Did the road to Hana with my wife, and kept going all the way around the island in our rental Sonata. Handled the off-road stuff like a champ. If you stopped at Hana and turned back around you missed out on the best parts of the drive. Truly spectacular, and Charles Lindbergh is buried at a church out there overlooking the Pacific.
Have not driven much on the coast in WA/OR because the weather usually sucks. Probably should find time to take the family down 101.
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Burns, OR. Cool fucking town.
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I drove from the San Gabriel valley to EWa on 395. I had to stop in Burns to buy wiper fluid, a squeegee and a roll of paper towels due to large, plentiful bugs attracted to my windshield…at one point I was stopping every mile they were so thick.
