|
So it is summer and school is out. Time for another 3 week road trip. This year we are taking a northern route. The Oregon Trail along the North Platte River, the Black Hills of South Dakota, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Other than that we don't have a plan yet except to seek an adventure around the next curve or over the next ridge. We are thinking of going to the Pacific coa
|
|
So we did not get out at 4:00am like my grandfather Walter would do back in the 70's. He always wanted to get out early to beat all the traffic. In the photo below, Tucker is leaving a symbolic space for Bradley who will not be going with us this year.
|
|
For years I have used a GPS tracklog and software I wrote to geo tag photos. I thought it would be fun to return to some places where Tucker has been in the past and try to get a similar photo after several years.
|
|
It does not feel like a western vacation until we cross the Mississippi River. Check, done that, now we are on a vacation.
|
|
So Tucker only agreed to go on this trip if we rented ATVs. Last year we had a great time in Moab with ATVs and he wanted a repeat. Using Paddy he checked out rental places in Oregon, Idaho, California, Wyoming and Utah as we traveled down the road. How did I ever get around the country before iPads and 4g internet?
|
|
If you read the post about the cow you know we had some set backs trying to make ATVing in Utah happen. But Friday morning Brad at RecreationVentures had two new Honda ATVs ready to go along with a trailer. We headed up the moun
|
|
The Snowy Range just west of Laramie, WY is a place I really enjoy. I have been there four times I think. In 2001 my Mom and Dad were with me and the boys when we encountered a snow storm in June. Signs warn that this can happen any month of the year. I remember calling my brother Greg in 2001 and asking him what the weather was like in Raleigh that day. It was 100 degrees. He did not seem to appr
|
|
I knew we would be in Nevada and would need to get to the coast of California but the problem is there is no easy way to travel between the two points. While looking at the map trying to figure out a route I noticed Lassen National Volcanic Park and since I had never been there, I thought it would be something to check out. I did no research and expected old lava flows in a flat landscape like Cra
|
|
This post is for my brother Greg. Greg is a new convert to the Harley Davidson lifestyle. He has the motorcycle, the bling and the tattoo. We stopped at the Flying Dutchman Winery this afternoon in Otter Rock, Oregon. We tasted a few wines and purchased a nice Chardonnay. Then we noticed the owner's tee shirt.
|
|
If you do much traveling with a truck and camper you are going to have mechanical problems. There are just too many moving parts. Last year we were smoking down the road when three cylinders of the mighty Cummins diesel shut down in what Chrysler calls "limp home" mode. We were in Clarksville, Arkansas and
|
|
So I took a week of vacation, packed the tent and sleeping bag and flew to Seattle. I traveled for a week in a big circle through the North Cascades, eastern Washington, Oregon and California. I remember buying a bag of cherries near Grand Coulee Dam late one day. I drove around the lake in the golden light just before sunset eating cherries and spitting the pits through the sunroof with the music
|
|
We decided to not go to Glacier National Park since we had lost a day in Beaverton Oregon with truck issues. Tucker had been throwing out the idea of rafting and this change of plans opened up a half day in our schedule. He fired up Paddie and started looking for rafting locations and companies in the Yellowstone area. He called one to get information and before I really understood what was happen
|
|
This is just a silly post. At Chimney Rock in Wyoming Tucker said "Hey, get a photo of this." So I did. Then it became kind of a joke as Tucker urinated his way across the country marking his trail. We will let the reader decide which ones are real versus simulated.
|
