Longest road trips

Yeah, it's a bummer because I'd like to spend a few stopover days in a few places. Gonna boogie up to whitehorse, hang out for a day to celebrate my birthday and pick up a stowaway (my dad) then press on. Tried to make it so there are long days through the void where windshield views will do, and shorter days when we are in cool places like Banff, plus a couple days so I can ride mountain bikes in Kamloops and Kelowna.

 

I have 3 weeks of vacation at my current job, and I got this approved a year out. My sales pitch was "I am giving you one year's notice, you have no excuse for not approving this"

 

Tracking. It's in the plan. We have a few days that we can take up the slack if need be. I wanted to go in July to give a little more time for construction work, but life schedules for the group dictated June.

 

Oh man do I know what that's like. I work for an airline and get flight benefits, my wife has retired from long road trips.....

 

Stuff was def harder and a bit more adventurous back then.

I remember having to navigate for my dad when we PCS'd all over using an atlas. I remember being stoked when Mapquest printed directions became a thing...Right up til you missed a turn that is...

 

I've driven from GA to several western states 11 times in 7 different vehicles since the late 1980's. Three of them in my Tacoma. I've been to Yellowstone twice. We did a loop of well over 5000 miles coming back though parts of Utah and through Colorado on the way home. We drove the southern route to the Grand Canyon in 2016, then north into Utah to see Zion NP and took the more northern route back home. I've driven to Colorado twice to hunt and once to New Mexico. I have family in Texas that I've driven out to visit and we've done a 3 summer camping trips to Colorado.

 

I'm thinking of this trip for next year if you wanted to join for part / all of it...

You're in ~ north sound area of Seattle, right? Add an extra day each way for you.

 

Lemme know when you get to town (if it isn't June). First round is on me!

I'll share a few semi-secret spots up there

 

Looks like an epic trip. I'm in Grande Prairie, AB-north of Jasper on the east leg of your journey. If you're heading through and want a coffee/beer break along the way let me know, it'd be cool to meet another Taco enthusiast.

When in Kelowna check out the Kettle Valley Railway if you're looking for a cool biking trail, it's an old rail bed from an abandoned rail line. There's a section south of Kelowna that's really scenic with lots of tunnels and rail trestles. I think it was 26km round trip with 2 tunnels and 10+ trestles, it's just on the edge of the City so it's easy to find.

 

I do too. Sometimes it's faster than the freeway too when traffic is a problem!

 

That was for @YF_Ryan , but if you wanted to fill out the extra paperwork for the feds, then you're welcome to come too!

I didn't start travelling to cool places til AFTER I finished working for the Feds. Figured an active 3 letter dude showing up in places like Cuba or Egypt would get me in a few dicey spots. Really, I just didn't want to have to deal with our travel security briefings and paperwork.

 

I grew up going to WVA with my dad and Even though we could do the trip in 3 hours taking all highways, he would always go all back country roads. I always do the same when i go places. There's so much more to see when you're off the highways.

 

That’s sweet. I plan on avoiding GW bridge as well.

 

I did Vancouver to Inuvik and back through Hyder, AK (highly recommend it!) in 11 days couple years ago, lots of driving but thats all i had for time. We did it in beginning of August and it was just above freezing in Inuvik, FYI. Mostly had to stick to highways tho.

 

I'll be in your town the night of June 9 or morning of June 10 according to the plan. If that works for you, I'd be glad to meet a friendly face!

 

Look at that, another nice trip. Thanks for the invite. And yeah, I'm just south of Seattle. I'm thinking my first big trip should be Utah, Arizona, etc. My wife has never even seen the Grand Canyon or any of that stuff. I was lucky, my family always did long 2 week roadtrips when I was a kid. Never camped, but we still got to see A LOT. I think our longest was around 4000 miles, all in a '92 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera.