Roundtrip in the West. Like to meet?

[cabu]

Hello Friends,

My small family is planing to travel the US this summer 2011. We want to drive around in June like this:

I did something like this in 1998, but 10,000 miles in 4 weeks

So this time it's me, my wife and our little daughter and only 4300 miles.

I have two questions to ask you locals at the route:

1) What would you mention to visit what's not in a tourist guide. The tourist things I have seen, some of them twice...

2) I would like to meet people! Most of the time we are just driving around and sleep in motels. But the most interesting thing is, to meet people. And if there is already an orange topic we can talk about, it's even better.
So if you are somewhere "near" our route and would like to meet a small german family in real life, please tell me!! We will adjust the route.

Best wishes & hope to see somebody

carl

 

[stuart]

That is a very ambitious trip, and some beautiful areas. I have done most of the drive a few times. I particularly like the Oregon Coast.

We're about 2 hours north of Seattle, so somewhat off your route. But, depending the the dates, we may be in Oregon during June. Vacation plans are uncertain right now because of my wife's health issues.

I know that a number of members here live in California and Washington.

 

[cabu]

We're about 2 hours north of Seattle, so somewhat off your route. But, depending the the dates, we may be in Oregon during June.

Hello Stuart,

You are my No1

We will see how many here will reply and then we have to think about what is reasonable.
But, because you are No1, you got a priority If it will fit to your, your's wife and our schedule, let's meet and have a good time together.

Best wishes for your wife and I hope she is on the mend.

carl

 

[Eric McCarthy]

Sadly Im no where close to the route since I live on the east coast. But heres a thought to your touring options. Go Kubota dealer hopping. Its kinda like bar hopping but without the alcohol. Research Kubota dealerships along the way and pop it and visit them. Might find some really neat dealers. There's one about an hours ride north of where I live called Dickenson Equipment and their dealership looks like an old dairy barn with silos and all.

 

[aquaforce]

That is a cool trip.

I live in the southeastern U.S. so I am way off the beaten path.
Take a lot of pics and tell us all about the sites. Sounds like a great time. If I were closer it would be a great opportunity to meet as I have little girls too.

Good luck on your trip.

 

[cabu]

Sadly Im no where close to the route since I live on the east coast...

Actually the first 4 Day's we will stay in Salem (NH) at a friend's house. We want to travel to the Pilgrim Plantation and the Copy of the MayFlower. I lived in Gloucester (MA) for half a year when I did my internship and my friend is from the company I worked at.

Maybe there is somebody in New England to stop by and shake hands...

Carl

 

[cabu]

That is a cool trip.
I live in the southeastern U.S. so I am way off the beaten path...

It looks like the circle is a black hole of the members of OTT...

Thanx for you offer and say "Hallo" to your little girl.

carl

 

[5thhorseman]

I spent a week in Utah on my way back from Mexico one year and would highly recommend a day hike in the Finger Canyons of the Kolob, and a stop by to see the vista that is Bryce Canyon. They're a slight detour from your route through the southern part of Utah, but there's a good reason these places are in tourist guides.

Also, the coast highway south of Salinas is a lot more interesting than the inland route. At sunset it's beautiful. Make sure you have a full tank of gas.

 

[cabu]

...highly recommend a day hike in the Finger Canyons of the Kolob, and a stop by to see the vista that is Bryce Canyon. ...

Also, the coast highway south of Salinas is a lot more interesting than the inland route....

Thanx for the ideas. I visited Bryce Canyon in '98 but it would be very interesting for my wife and daughter. Good point!

And regarding the choice of roads, the picture is just a route in google-maps. I would never use 500 miles on an interstate. It's to boring. Last time in '98 we drove from Chicago to the Pacific on the Highway 20. That was really great, because we drove through so many nice city's and villages and also so many interesting places. We will do the same this time, using the nice roads and not the interstates.

carl

 

[Deneh]

Sadly..I live in the desert above Reno and am out of your route..Have good good trip though

 

[cabu]

Sadly..I live in the desert above Reno and am out of your route..Have good good trip though

The route isn't fixed yet and maybe we don't want to drive the hole way down at the pacifc. A desert would also be an interesting impression. I will discuss this with my wife and if you still have time maybe we can have a cool drink together in the desert.

carl

 

[cabu]

Sadly..I live in the desert above Reno and am out of your route..Have good good trip though

My wife just agreed to the point to visit a desert...


We were planing to rent a car and stay in motels over night. Then we thought about a Motorhome/RV. But the price is to much and additional they are crazy to use something like a 5.7 Liter gas-engine with a fuel consumption 3 times more than a diesel. Strange culture.
So now we are planing to rent something like a Voyager and stay again motels.

carl

 

[fj40dave]

You're going to have fun!

I'm glad to read that you're coming over the Cascades on Hwy 20....the view is (as you know) spectacular!

Stay on Hwy 20, and go West over Deception Pass bridge, and onto Whidbey Island.

Continue South to Coupeville and then go West again and catch the Port Townsend Ferry at Keystone (about 5 miles East of Coupeville).

You'll want to have reservations, it's small, and very popular!
https://business.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/reservations/

Once in Port Townsend, you may want to look around, it's a quaint little town, but then continue South along the highway toward Bremerton, over the Hood Canal floating bridge, and continue South - get on Hwy 3 and stop by and visit us here in Allyn!

The drive from here over to the coast is ok.....but I would recomend a side trip up to see Mt. St. Helens! I get in a ride up there every Summer - the road is awesome on a fast Sport/Touring bike!
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm/

After that, you can go through Longview and across the Columbia - getting into Oregon just East of Astoria and get started on the coast sights-sounds.

Dave

 

[Bellinghamster]

We're 1.5hrs north of Seattle, and 1hr south of Vancouver in Bellingham, Washington. If you head up to Vancouver, the San Juan Islands or Vancouver Island, you'll pass through Bellingham. Stop by for a visit. I recommend coming over the cascade mountain range from eastern to western Washington on SR-20, also known as the North Cascades Highway... beautiful!

I see you've got Yellowstone on your route. We're heading there at the end June as well, and really looking forward to it. It'll be my third time there. First time I was 16yrs old on my motorcycle with a tent, next time with my new bride in my Subaru wagon and a tent, now with kids (11 and 13), and we're taking our new to us but old/used motorhome... 1984 31ft with a 7.4 liter gas engine You're right... strange culture here. I looked for 2 years trying to find an economical small diesel motorhome that we could afford, but couldn't find anything reasonable. I almost started down the path of building one on an Isuzu NPR turbo diesel truck chassis, or converting a small diesel transit bus, but decided in the end the low cost of what we bought would allow us to buy a lot of fuel. I figure we'll spend about as much in fuel as it would cost to stay in motels, but might save in the end becauase we can cook all our meals instead of eating in restaraunts.

Paying to rent a motorhome AND paying for fuel probably doesn't make $ sense.


Pete

 

[cabu]

Thank you for the invitations !!

I will discuss with my wife and reply the results.

It was a really good idea to start this thread

carl

 

[ipz2222]

We all get excited about takeing a road trip. We even get excited when someone else gets to take one.
If you haven't seen it yet, get the movie "Road Trip" with Tim Allen and John Travolta. Hiliraious.

 

[cabu]

I will discuss with my wife and reply the results.
carl

My wife said YES

It looks like we meet a lot of friends in the north-west around Seattle.

Maybe somebody at the south part of the trip is also in favour to meet us...

Hope to see a lot of friends!

carl

 

[cabu]

Last update is, that we cut the "Mount Rushmore" out and add some Canada in. So maybe I have a chance to see if Vic is a real person...

I am really looking forward with this trip and I like the idea of having 4 weeks of vacation at once. In Germany the normal vacationtime in your contract is 6 weeks a year and a lot people get extra payment for these day's. For example I get 50% extra payment for 6 weeks. And because I do a lot of overtime on my businesstrips around the world, I come up to 3 month off each year. I like my job!!

Hope to get it organized to visit everybody who invited us.

carl

 

[fj40dave]

I want to work where you do!

 

[cabu]

Update:

The route has changed to this:

It's ~6900km or ~4300mi

If somebody is also in favour to meet a small german familiy, just give me note and we will see what we can do...


I hope the person at "G" is willing to shake hands, would be nice. If he has a BBQ, we can bring the steaks...

Hope to see all the friends. We changed the route to the north, I have never been there. So deep in Canada...

carl