Elixir Sue Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Plus a couple of road trips in France with my mom riding shotgun. Those were wonderful.Oh man, for some reason I was only thinking about road trips in the US. Another one of my all-time favorite trips was a road trip through the UK...started in London and went to York, Edinburgh, Inverness, Isle of Skye, Glasgow, Keswick, Liverpool, and back to London. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
vulture19 Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 May 81: Hitchhiked from Rochester, NY to Santa Barbara, CA and back. Not a real direct route (go figure), but I visited friends in Albany, Chicago, Denver, and Santa Barbara along the way. Technically not a road trip (US Navy), but.... July 86: Turned 21 in northern Pacific between Anchorage and Kodiak. A few days later, we steamed From Juneau, AK to Victoria, BC, mostly via the inland passage, before going into Vancouver. As I was navigation, I got to spend pretty much 24 hours straight on the port wing of the bridge shooting bearings, AKA sightseeing. Oct 95: Pays du Cathar in the foothills of the Pyrenees (honeymoon) June 03: Fond du Lac, Wi to Rochester overnight. Took the UP route, though, as I wanted to avoid Musicfest in Milwaukee and all of that lovely Chicago traffic. Sep 05: Great circle tour out of Albuquerque. The lesson known but driven home on that trip is to always be suspicious of the GPS. I knew how to get from Goblin Valley SP to Capitol Reef NM, but Garmin thought I might want to see the back country instead. Check out the pics here to see what Garmin will do to the unsuspecting traveler. What those photos don't show is the large creek/small river that must be traversed.... Other than that, my life is a constant road trip, though most of it is I-90 in NY, PA, and MA. I drive close to 50k miles/year for work..... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
froggie Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 melbourne to adelaide (10hrs) with some friends - i'm surprised i made it back alive! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Party @ the Moontower Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Some of the best roadtrips I ever had were in one of these sweet tanks as a kid. Back when people thought feeding their kids beef jerky & Coke for days was healthy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
andshewas Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 As for my favorites: : A trip to the Black Hills in South Dakota where I blew my transmission and got stranded for a week during Sturgis. You've done that too, eh? That happened to me twice (in different vehicles) while on family roadtrips in SD, but only once in the Sturgis area.I could think of less desirable places in which to be stranded. At least there's enough to look at in the Black Hills... My favorite trip was in December 2003/January 2004:SE Wisconsin through Iowa, Nebraska and southern Wyoming to the Wasatch Mountains in Utah for a week of skiing, then south through Utah to Zion NP and Glen Canyon NRA/Page, AZ, east to the Four Corners monument (which we broke into after hours to take pictures of ourselves standing in four states at one time) and Cortez, CO (where I spent NYE hanging out with random people at our hotel) and Mesa Verde NP (where I got my first Junior Ranger badge), then finally through the rest of Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois.It was a looooong trip, but it was really the only one during which there wasn't any bickering or fighting between the five of us. The skiing was incredible, and the views at the parks were still impeccable, even in the dead of winter. The best part was that we came back a few days late from winter break, and the first day that we were supposed to be in school was a snow day. I'd love to do it again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dreamin' Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 melbourne to adelaide (10hrs) with some friends - i'm surprised i made it back alive!10 hours - whoa! My husband and I drove from Melbourne to Adelaide when we visited Australia in 2003. We stuck to the Great Ocean Road route at first (gorgeous scenery), but it took ages, so we headed inland after the Apostles. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
froggie Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 10 hours - whoa! My husband and I drove from Melbourne to Adelaide when we visited Australia in 2003. We stuck to the Great Ocean Road route at first (gorgeous scenery), but it took ages, so we headed inland after the Apostles. yeah, that would take a while!. we went along the western highway instead Quote Link to post Share on other sites
remphish1 Posted January 5, 2009 Author Share Posted January 5, 2009 10 hours - whoa! My husband and I drove from Melbourne to Adelaide when we visited Australia in 2003. We stuck to the Great Ocean Road route at first (gorgeous scenery), but it took ages, so we headed inland after the Apostles. I just did the Great Ocean Rd in June (After visiting Froggie ). I should have put that on my list too! That was really incredible! Lorne and Apollo Bay where great too! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PopTodd Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 Dating my wife at the time:From Chicago to the Cumberland Gap.Had nothing to do with the scenery or any of that; just the company. It was probably the trip that led to our getting married. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 I drove with my friend Chris to the Bay Area and back by way of Minneapolis and back through Colorado when I was much younger in two weeks. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cryptique Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 I drove with my friend Chris to the Bay Area and back by way of Minneapolis and back through Colorado when I was much younger in two weeks. That's quite a sentence there, Lou. You have a way with prepositional phrases. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 That's quite a sentence there, Lou. You have a way with prepositional phrases.You should have seen the trip. Trying to give even a small amount of detail in one sentence makes no sense.... LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted January 5, 2009 Share Posted January 5, 2009 The afore mentioned trip was pretty monumental at the time. My buddy Chris and I took his red jeep with a cloth top and precious little suspension from Chicago to Minneapolis to see our friend John, then across the northern states to Yellowstone, past Salt Lake City and down to the Marin County where we stayed a few days and and then headed back through Yosemite, Nevada and across southern Utah which took an entire day since we ended up on back roads, some of which were dirt and finally ended up in Durango, Colorado for a couple days. The last leg of the trip was from Durango, by way of Colorado Springs to Chicago, which we did all in one shot (short stop in CS). I drove all night out of Colorado and through Nebraska and Chris drove all the next day through Iowa and IL until we got back to Chicago. That leg took 36 hours. All this occured in two weeks, which was ridiculously short. Chris got ill and ended up in the hospital, but we had a blast, picked up some hitchhikers (whatever happened to that??), saw a bunch of friends along the way and it gave us something to talk about our entire lives. Needless to say I don't recommend that long a trip in that short a period, but it was all we could spare. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
j4lackey Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 ... picked up some hitchhikers (whatever happened to that??).... LouieBJeffrey Dahmer. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Leo Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I was a regular hitchhiker when I was young and stupidballsy.In 1978 I hitched from Denver to Kalamazoo to visit friends and go to a Dylan concert.It was uneventful and pleasant until, just outside Chicago, a clean, newer model sedan stopped. I had been standing for quite a while with no action, so was very pleased and ran up to the car. As I reached the passenger side and looked in to tell the driver and his companion where I was headed, I had serious second thoughts. The two occupants were dirty, unshaven and looked mean as hell. It didn't look right. They didn't belong in that car and, by the looks of it, either did I. But, suddenly without dick and balls, I couldn't say, "Oh shit, I gotta pee. Thanks for stoppin', but I'll have to go and wait for another car." So, I got in.Their clothes didn't fit, they talked with deliberately short and simple phrases only to one another. Their laughs were merely sneers. The driver would look at me through the rear view mirror and not address me, only size me up. I was scared, as they say, shitless. Seriously. I thought they were going to pull a gun on me at any minute. This lasted for two hours.When they finally dropped me off an hour or so away from Kzoo, I called one of my friends to come and get me.I never hitchhiked again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
M. (hristine Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Oh man, for some reason I was only thinking about road trips in the US. Another one of my all-time favorite trips was a road trip through the UK...started in London and went to York, Edinburgh, Inverness, Isle of Skye, Glasgow, Keswick, Liverpool, and back to London. I took this exact same driving trip (trip back south was a bit different) when newly pregnant with Sarah. Those mountain roads were a little touch and go. One afternoon driving through the highlands, a tremendous rainstorm hit. In a matter of minutes, all of those barren hillsides came alive with massive, rushing waterfalls. It was one of the most incredible things I have been gifted to witness. Plus I ate the best salmon I have ever tasted at a wee pub nestled into a mountainside near Pitlochry. The next morning at the B&B I spotted some guys with fishing gear and talked to them about the fishing. They had come from Spain for "the best salmon fishing in the world." Quote Link to post Share on other sites
miss jayne Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Alot of memorable trips to see the Grateful Dead. My favorite one was Eugene to San Francisco with a great picnic at Castle Crags Park. I had flown up from LA and the leg into Eugene was filled with tie dyed people including Owsley who entered the cabin and exclaimed it was the most freaks on one flight he had ever seen. He sat by me was very nice and was carrying a silver brief case The shows were great and I got a ride home with my buddies who showed me the beautiful state of Oregon. Now it seems most of them live there! I once spent a week hanging out in several parts of south Florida, starting in Sarasota and ending in Key West. Quite lovely. A trip one year to Taos and the enchanted circle drive then up to colorado was spectacular. And while living in LA several escapes up the coast including one where we were the only ones in a small town because of el nino flooding. Had to stay til they cleared the road and the folks were great. Last but not least a 5 day trek through the Joshua Tree and Death Valley. Give me a map and I will find you the weirdest diner in any state. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
c.lo Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I don't know about "favorite road trip", I'm really not a fan in the drive, or sitting still for any length of time actually, but here are a few that I have been on in the last few years:from Toronto to Montreal at least once a year to see the husband's family (the last time with a crying 8month old - for THE WHOLE DRIVE)from Toronto to Pennsylvania for a "girls weekend" shopping last springfrom Toronto to Chicago last summer and this summer we're debating on either going to Ohio (to check out the R&R Hall of Fame) just the two of us for a few days, or to the East Coast (Nova Scotia) for a week or so with the boys. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stooka Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Back in the 90s, my wife, daughter & I loaded up the Geo Prizm and took a road trip from Amarillo to southern Arizona (Tombstone and Bisbee)- up to Phoenix and into Sedona. Then to Grand Canyon and over to Lake Powell and up to Monument Valley, Utah. Stopped in Mesa Verde Park in Colorado for cliff dwellings and then over to Red River, New Mexico and spent a couple of days there fishing. Took about 2 weeks. We suffered 100+ degrees while in Tombstone. 3 days later when we we left Flagstaff for The Grand Canyon, it was snowing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Preferred B Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 A few years ago my friend and I took a week or so for a trip from SF (we actually did some side trips around there first, like Napa/Sonoma) down to Los Angeles on California 1, with many stops along the way. I wish we'd had time to begin further north. El Paso to Marfa, Texas was pretty amazing. It's so remote. Also did plenty of driving around the North and South islands of NZ this year. The Southern Scenic Route lives up to its name. (If you ever make an overnight stop in Bluff, stay in the Oystercatcher's cottage!) (Morphogenesis, Zion Canyon - ) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LouieB Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I was a regular hitchhiker when I was young and stupidballsy.In 1978 I hitched from Denver to Kalamazoo to visit friends and go to a Dylan concert.It was uneventful and pleasant until, just outside Chicago, a clean, newer model sedan stopped. I had been standing for quite a while with no action, so was very pleased and ran up to the car. As I reached the passenger side and looked in to tell the driver and his companion where I was headed, I had serious second thoughts. The two occupants were dirty, unshaven and looked mean as hell. It didn't look right. They didn't belong in that car and, by the looks of it, either did I. But, suddenly without dick and balls, I couldn't say, "Oh shit, I gotta pee. Thanks for stoppin', but I'll have to go and wait for another car." So, I got in.Their clothes didn't fit, they talked with deliberately short and simple phrases only to one another. Their laughs were merely sneers. The driver would look at me through the rear view mirror and not address me, only size me up. I was scared, as they say, shitless. Seriously. I thought they were going to pull a gun on me at any minute. This lasted for two hours.When they finally dropped me off an hour or so away from Kzoo, I called one of my friends to come and get me.I never hitchhiked again.I still think about those days, having not hitched in many a decade. It sure was fun, but sure was scary some days. I would love to do it again, but no one does it anymore for the exact reasons you say. I once picked up a guy in Ohio who was absolutely impossible to understand, drove him across Rt. 6 and finally dropped him in Michigan City. I can't say I was sad. It was very weird, but luckily not dangerous as it turned out. I have picked people up in the intervening years and occasionally lectured them on knocking it off, particularly if they were young women. LouieB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Analogman Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Technically not a road trip (US Navy), but.... A sea trip. ha ha. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Edie Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I used to hitchhike routinely to and from school when I was in my teens - usually with other girls. I never had anything bad happen to me, though there was this one driver that we called "the perv" who would put his hand on the knee of whoever was unlucky enough to sit in the front seat with him. We would do just about anything to not be the one left out that would have to get into the front Quote Link to post Share on other sites
M. (hristine Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Also did plenty of driving around the North and South islands of NZ this year. The Southern Scenic Route lives up to its name. (If you ever make an overnight stop in Bluff, stay in the Oystercatcher's cottage!) The quality of light in these photos makes me weep. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
m_thomp Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 Gotta love doing the road trip. Here are some of mine of the past few years: August 04 to Sept 04 San Francisco - Santa Cruz - Modesto - Yosemite National Park - Reno - Eugene - Portland - Seattle My first time in the US with lots of memories, most of the truly unforgettable ones being the interactions with the local folk rather than the inspiring scenery and nature. For example, Modesto seemed such a quiet town but the people there were so warm and friendly. We were treated with almost regal regard and curiosity by almost everyone we met - I guess they don't get many visitors from the UK over there. This was best typified by our selections on the bar jukebox causing a group of locals to come over over, shoot the breeze (and pool), which ended up with them inviting us back to their party to drink liquor (gotta love that phrase) until the wee small hours. We had Warren Zevon to thank for that. Sept 07 Toronto - Algonquin Provincial Park - Ottawa - Montreal - Quebec City - Tadoussac - Trois Rivieres - Kingston - Niagara-On-The-Lake - Toronto Fascinating trip for oh-so-many reasons. Standout highlight for me was Tadoussac where we were spoiled by nature: whale-watching, maginificient trail walks and the beachsand at nighttime, which had the magical properties of twinkling in the dark when you stamped on it. Sept 08 to Oct 08 San Francisco - Monterey - Sonoma - Mendocino - Arcata - Redding - Mount Lassen National Park - Corvallis - Portland - Seattle - Vancouver Brilliant for testing the political temperature of a nation, we were there during the presidential debates, and got a real feeling for the importance, passion and the inevitable sea change that followed during the actual election. Oh, and I got to see (and hear) first hand just what local opinion was about Sarah Palin. Difficult to pick out highlights, because there were so many, but the drive out of Mount Lassen National Park was an unforgetable experience: one highway, three seasons visible (snow in one direction, downpours and lightning in another, flag-cracking sunshine in another) and Neil Young's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere pumping out of the stereo. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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