"Go West 'Young' Man" (With your wife for your 25th Anniversary)

We are National Parkaholics. Love them, can't get to them fast enough.

This year we celebrate 25 years of marriage, and decided it was time for an epic road trip and see one of the grand daddies of National Parks. The Grand Canyon. And since we're going to be out there, Monument Valley, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest are also in the list.

We will also be going to Winslow for Route 66 action. We may also head down to Sedona for a day. Oh, and we just happened to stumble onto the Balloon Festival in Albuquerque. There will be some off roading, no camping, and I'll probably need a new external drive for all the pictures.

We are starting from Virginia, so we will be travelling I 81 and a lot of I 40 and plan on three days of travel each way.



To back up the Parkaholic claim, this is what we've done so far. My wife has done more before we were married, so this is just our list:

Sequoia and Kings (before the recent fires)
Yosemite
Mesa Verde
Yellowstone
Grand Tetons
Isle Royal
Great Smokey Mountains
Badlands
Arches
Bryce Canyon
Canyonlands
Capitol Reef
Zion
Acadia
Mammoth Cave
Badlands
Mt. Rushmore
Devils Tower
Harpers Ferry

9/25/24 Update

Big Bend
Carlsbad Caverns
White Sands
Hot Springs
National Mall (twice, once with the Cherry Blossoms)

Fun stuff along the way:
Roswell
Winslow
Philly for subs

Memorials
Murrah Building National Monument & Museum
Flight 93 National Memorial

Major ones on the Bucket List:

Denali
Glacier
Haleakala
Cascades
Olympic
Ground Zero and the Russian memorial to 9/11

Vehicle - 2018 DCSB Inferno with a few mods


Updates to come...

 

How long you going to be on the road? This looks awesome!

 

My fave photo of your trip so far!

 

This is awesome... Can't wait to see more photos!

 

what were your stops/ motel / towns? When I have gone out west, I’ve only done speed runs via I-70… like 3 days to Denver area. Your trip sounds amazing.

 

Very cool adventure and congrats on the 25th anniversary!

We're Virginians too and plan to do something similar this time next year.. so looking to learn tips and destinations.

Looks like you might have a RTT but you're not camping?

 

We are out for a few more days. When we get back, I'll get to work. Lot's of photos to edit.

 

I'll fill more in as I get into a bit. If anyone needs it sooner, PM and I'll shoot some details your way.

 

This is my favorite photo of the trip so far. I think it will be hard to beat.

 

our 15th is next summer. hhmmm you're inspiring me here.

 

Our 36th anniversary is in ten days. Hopefully I can get my wife to do a similar trip next year for our 37th.
I'm gonna have to pick your brain about this trip for tips & suggestions when you get back here. Enjoy what's left of your trip. Keep the photos coming. They are amazing views!!

 

That's one reason for doing this. I will be happy to share what we did and what we would have done differently.

 

Looks great. Add Volcanoes Park to the bucket list.

 

I am just getting back into the camping. First time like this. My wife's camping quota has been met and exceeded. I still need some equipment for remote camping. But I have had it out.

 

Your wife may not have wanted to camp on your trip out west, but at least she was willing to make that trip in a pick-up truck. I'll need to convince mine over the next year that it's a great idea.

 

She actually floated the idea as I was thinking about a trip west next year. We looked at the air travel situations with covid, problematic passengers and delays, and factored in rental cost / availability and the drive became more attractive. That did put a rush on a few projects like the rear seat delete. Overall, despite some long days, we're glad we did this.

 

I had been contemplating a trip similar to this for next year. So getting the bumper and winch was already done. But, we were going to have a storage problem with a 14 day road trip. Luggage, food, snacks, etc. Only so much room in the back seat.

So I jumped over to the rear seat delete thread for some ideas. (https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rear-seat-delete-decks.632134/) That resulted in a weekend project.


We also had a dry storage area problem as we decided the best plan was suitcases in the bed of the truck. But no tonneau or shell. So my wifes idea:

Adakiit Car Roof Bag Cargo Carrier, 20 Cubic Feet 1000D Waterproof Rooftop Cargo Carrier + 8 Reinforced Straps Suitable for All Vehicle with/Without Rack

https://www.amazon.com/Adakiit-Carr...ced-Suitable/dp/B094TYW3H7?pd_rd_i=B094TYW3H7

This worked out remarkably well. Two large suitcases and two small carry ons. And my dirty boots. Easy to load and unload and the provided straps easily went through the factory D rings at the rear and the two I added forward in the bed. (Build thread has pics.)

Post trip analysis-Lights. It is dark between cities at night. I mean really dark. If you are on the road by yourself, address the lighting situation on our trucks, I have stock halogens. They are on the list to be replaced after this. When I added the bumper, I added Diode Dynamics SS3 Sports in a fog / yellow pattern. We used these for the majority of our night driving where high beams couldn't be used.

I also have Rigid side shooters for ditch lights. While effective, I will be considering a light bar for the front of the truck. Driving out of the North Rim at night, I think it's 28 miles, could have netted a lot of vennison if not for the ditch lights. But I think a bar would have been more effective for forward light over the high beams.

 

Itinerary: We originally planned to leave after I got home from work and drive to Roanoke VA. This would have gotten us there between 1030-1100 pm. I decided to take another day off to finish prepping the truck, and we left mid afternoon with the same plan, just an earlier arrival.

Winchester VA to Roanaoke VA; to Memphis TN, to Albuquerque, NM; to Cliff Dwellers, Vermillion Cliffs, AZ, to Tusayon, AZ, to Winslow AZ for two nights. We planned to reverse the cross country route home and duplicate stops, but also made no reservations in case we decided to change it up and drive longer each day. Aside from the first day, these were 12-13 hour days across country. The last day from ABQ to Vermillion Cliffs was only about eight hours, but that's because we had the three hour day on the first day out.

Hotels. We have been Choice Hotel members for about five years as I was commuting to MI once or twice a month for about 18 months. Reasonable rooms and variations on breakfast depending on the location. We also signed up for Holiday Inn Express membership, which worked well as we earned a kagilllion points for signing up, and more for each booking.

This worked well with two exceptions. First, the North Rim at the Grand Canyon. They were booked solid, which was to be expected at the time we decided to do this. That met staying outside the park. Google it. There is nothing up there.

We stayed at Lee's Ferry Lodge in Vermillion Ciiffs. https://vermilioncliffs.com/. To be fair, this place is not a bad idea, but the execution was lacking. It is an old site, and we were in a "mobile home" which was divided in half, two bedrooms each,a bathroom, table, and college fridge. No kitchen(ette), and the kitchen was closed for renovation, so no oniste food option. There are other options in the area, but this is what we had. Based soley on our unit and stay, it needs an update. And if we had known the condition, with other options, we would have gone elsewhere. There were other cabins and a larger house for larger groups, as they offer rafting and kayaking on the Colorado, fishing, etc. The other units didn't look bad from the outside, and place had an overall quiet, laidback atmosphere with a large fire pit and beautiful surroundings. And more stars than you could shake a forest full of sticks at. I wouldn't not recommend it in a pinch, but we would have preferred to stay up the road at Cliff Dwellers or in the park. Beggars can't be choosers, right?

Winslow. The worst experience at a Choice Hotel. And I reviewed it accordingly. Two stories. No elevators. I have two bad knees and a bad ankle. Three suitcases up the stairs was not a good time. It needs some work and is showing its age. And you could prpbably throw a rock and hit a truck on I40. Pool closed and dry with sand and other debri swept into a pile, not that we had plans to use it. I unerstand Covid issues, but the attempt at a breakfast was feeble at best. Frozen egg and cheese burritos, danish, and some kind of small fruit muffin. Coffee was there, but it was full of grounds. We went to McDonalds. We decided to cut our stay short and drive to Albuquerque after our National Parks.

We liked the Holiday Inn Express's that we stayed at along the way and had no issues with them.

 

Hotels seem to be using COVID as an excuse for sub-par breakfast, reduced room cleanings, etc. Amenities that should have returned post 2020 have yet to, honestly probably never will. Plus the insane prices… used to be able to get a decent Choice hotel day of for $100 bucks. That same room today, day of, will be $150+

Awesome trip though. Keep the posts coming.

 

We had hot breakfast at the IHG's we stayed at.

And thx.