ROAD TRIP!

[joreth]

One more and then I'm done posting for the night - promise!  And not just because tonight is technically going to end in half an hour.

I love road trips.  I love just taking off and driving.  I've done the plan-the-route-to-the-minute and the just-drive-and-see-what-happens and I love them both.  I haven't had a good road trip since I moved to Florida 11 years ago and I think it's way past time that I had one.

The problem is that I'm the only one I know with enough free time to do what I really want to do (not that I have the money for it - having free time sort of correlates with not having any money).  Now that I'm a Grown Up (TM), all my friends are also Grown Ups, which means they have jobs and families and obligations, and planning a long road trip like I want means they'd have to sacrifice something else - many of whom are not willing or able to do that.

So that means I will have to plan a road trip on my own.  I can do that, and I'll enjoy it, but it's not my preference.  I'd much rather share the trip with others.  But I just had another idea.  What if I plan my road trip and then invite people to fly out to various points along the way and share only a portion of the trip with me, and then fly home from another point a few days later?

The route I was thinking of is a giant, 5,000 mile half-circle around the US.  I've traveled across the country via two different southern routes, but I have seen almost nothing of the North US.  Ideally, I'd like to plan it for the summer of 2013, which should give me time to save up for it if I really do make the plans.  I'd like to drive north out of Florida, along the East Coast, hit Manhattan, visit datan0de's hometown in upper NY, go through Chicago, see the Badlands, maybe stop by Seattle (that one is debatable), visit tacit in Portland, spend some time at my parents' condo in Tahoe, visit corpsefairy & her crowd in Oakland, visit my hometown of San Jose, and then fly home.

Google Maps says the entire trip would take almost 4 days if I drove nonstop.  If I average it out to 8 hours of driving per day, it'll take 11 days.  Add one full day for each destination and it becomes 20 days.  So, leaving time for sight-seeing, I'm going to overestimate and say this will be a three-week trip, minimum, possibly even a month long.  Or, maybe I'll plan two road trips, and break off the entire West Coast leg into it's own trip at another time.

So I'm just throwing this out there for now, give people something to think about.  If you're one of my RL friends and think flying out to join me for a leg or two of this journey sounds like fun, start budgeting now.  If you happen to live in or near one of my destinations and want to meet me, keep this idea on the backburner and when/if I actually start planning for this, send me an invitation when I post about it.

---

Proposed Road Trip:

East/North Road Trip:

West Coast Road Trip:

Comments

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

When you come by the DC/Baltimore leg if you're pausing here for the night you're welcome to the guest room.

[joreth]

thanks!

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

No sweat. Depending on when you're here I might be able to take you out to see some of the sites. Anita Wagner's a neighbor too, if you're here during one of the poly get togethers I can make sure you know. :-)

[terriaminute.livejournal.com]

The western Montana section will go right through Superior, from whence I moved to Florida nearly 30 years ago (Nov 9th). It is...nearly unchanged. Which, you know, explains why I didn't find what I most needed there... Also, I think you go within just a short drive off the Interstate if you want to see Lewis & Clark Caverns, before you get to Butte. We really enjoyed it.

I grew up with a lot of road trips. When you live in the northwest, everything is far away. We'd routinely drive from Marin County north of San Francisco to Superior, once or twice a year, during our about seven years in CA. The route through Portland is prettier (we all thought) than the one through Utah.

[joreth]

Yep, I also grew up with a lot of road trips, which is probably why I love them so much. We used to drive to Texas all the time to visit family, and to some small town north of Seattle where some distant relative's boss had a beach house (called The Hugger Mugger). Those were the longer road trips, but we also drove the 8 hours from San Jose to LA, and the 5 hours to Lake Tahoe, and occasionally to Portland when my aunt & uncle still lived there.

When I moved here, I used the opportunity to take it as a road trip and drove the more southern of the two southern routes. A couple of years prior, a friend was being released from the military while he was stationed in North Carolina and he wanted to keep his car, so I flew out there and we drove back to CA along the more northern southern route. That's when I discovered Adrian TX, the exact midpoint of Route 66, and the creepy Stephen King-esque town of wacky road signs. One of these days I'll replace my scanner & upload pics.

[danceswthcobras.livejournal.com]

Feel free to drop a note if you're going through Raleigh and want to see some of the sights there or connect with the local community.

[joreth]

Thanks! That'd be awesome!

[the-failed-poet.livejournal.com]

I live in New York City and I'd love to meet you in person whenever you're in the area!

[joreth]

It would be awesome to meet up with some of my online friends on the trip!

[corpsefairy.livejournal.com]

Remember to stop at the Forevertron in Baraboo, Wisconsin! You will love it.

I think this is an awesome idea. I might want to join you for the Yellowstone portion; I went with Starchy about five years ago and I've been wanting to see it again.

[joreth]

I'd love it if you joined me for part of it! And it looks like [Bad username or site: @emanix @ livejournal.com] might possibly be there too, and I'd love for the two of you to meet!

[someblondeguy.livejournal.com]

Ping me too when you get to the SF Bay area!

[joreth]

Will do!

[emanix.livejournal.com]

Hey, not *all* your friends are tied to office jobs! If I can arrange an in-car charger for my netbook, and mobile internet (both pretty simple, I suspect), I could do some or even all of the trip with you, and I've always wanted to do a road trip in the US! Lets chat about it some time you're on IM? :)

[joreth]

Oh HELL YEAH!