Road Trips

[DuckforcoveR]

As some of you may or may not know, we are a Road Trip/ Food family. Never had experiences as a kid with this stuff, so decided one day to start a new tradition with my kids. Since 2014, we average about 45,000 miles a year in a truck to chase down food paradise hot spots in the USA. 

Tons of memories, the kids love it, 32 states and counting, and I couldn't be more blessed with these troopers that love seeing this great land and all of the hidden gems. 

However, with that said, Dad also plans his own trips to add to the bucket list. I bought a Harley and have a dozen bike trips on the docket, I bought a yacht and have some sailing trips planned... wait, I didn't buy a yacht, scratch that, had too much to drink and had dreams again the other night...

Either way, saw this and just died laughing. Mind you, may need help from 2 of my 3 favorite G's to verify (Google and @Gordi ) but if this is legit I'm totally bringing the Harley on an international trip!




Legit or not, what's the best trip you've taken, OR the best trip you can imagine taking? Not opposed to air travel stories, but curious to hear from true wanderers and be inspired. 

[gordi]

As some of you may or may not know, we are a Road Trip/ Food family. Never had experiences as a kid with this stuff, so decided one day to start a new tradition with my kids. Since 2014, we average about 45,000 miles a year in a truck to chase down food paradise hot spots in the USA. 

Tons of memories, the kids love it, 32 states and counting, and I couldn't be more blessed with these troopers that love seeing this great land and all of the hidden gems. 

However, with that said, Dad also plans his own trips to add to the bucket list. I bought a Harley and have a dozen bike trips on the docket, I bought a yacht and have some sailing trips planned... wait, I didn't buy a yacht, scratch that, had too much to drink and had dreams again the other night...

Either way, saw this and just died laughing. Mind you, may need help from 2 of my 3 favorite G's to verify (Google and @Gordi ) but if this is legit I'm totally bringing the Harley on an international trip!




Legit or not, what's the best trip you've taken, OR the best trip you can imagine taking? Not opposed to air travel stories, but curious to hear from true wanderers and be inspired. 

I couldn't make out the text on the image Duckster, but... it looks like driving the length of the UK in less than 24hrs?
Is it possible? Yes. (The whole of the UK is roughly the same size (in area) as Michigan, Wyoming or Oregon! and 1/3 the size of Texas!!)
Would I do it? No. You'd miss all the best bits and the main motorways are boring!! LOL
I'd miss out all of the boring bits and go straight to the Scottish Highlands, pretty much anywhere up there!
Best trip? Hitch-hiking through Europe in 1984 after I finished my studies.
Nicest place (on that trip): Annecy in the French Alps: stunning, beautiful, immaculately clean, fresh-air like you wouldn't believe, and crystal clear blueish waters in the rivers and lake (Lac D'Annecy)... ahhh memories.

G

[DuckforcoveR]

As some of you may or may not know, we are a Road Trip/ Food family. Never had experiences as a kid with this stuff, so decided one day to start a new tradition with my kids. Since 2014, we average about 45,000 miles a year in a truck to chase down food paradise hot spots in the USA. 

Tons of memories, the kids love it, 32 states and counting, and I couldn't be more blessed with these troopers that love seeing this great land and all of the hidden gems. 

However, with that said, Dad also plans his own trips to add to the bucket list. I bought a Harley and have a dozen bike trips on the docket, I bought a yacht and have some sailing trips planned... wait, I didn't buy a yacht, scratch that, had too much to drink and had dreams again the other night...

Either way, saw this and just died laughing. Mind you, may need help from 2 of my 3 favorite G's to verify (Google and @Gordi ) but if this is legit I'm totally bringing the Harley on an international trip!




Legit or not, what's the best trip you've taken, OR the best trip you can imagine taking? Not opposed to air travel stories, but curious to hear from true wanderers and be inspired. 

I couldn't make out the text on the image Duckster, but... it looks like driving the length of the UK in less than 24hrs?
Is it possible? Yes. (The whole of the UK is roughly the same size (in area) as Michigan, Wyoming or Oregon! and 1/3 the size of Texas!!)
Would I do it? No. You'd miss all the best bits and the main motorways are boring!! LOL
I'd miss out all of the boring bits and go straight to the Scottish Highlands, pretty much anywhere up there!
Best trip? Hitch-hiking through Europe in 1984 after I finished my studies.
Nicest place (on that trip): Annecy in the French Alps: stunning, beautiful, immaculately clean, fresh-air like you wouldn't believe, and crystal clear blueish waters in the rivers and lake (Lac D'Annecy)... ahhh memories.

G

Here's the road trip detail, because yeah, I'm a juvenile at heart sometimes 

Road to Twatt

But certainly agree that the main roads don't quite give the same experience. Seeing the Highlands is 100 percent on my "don't wait until I'm too old" list.

[Bally002]

As some of you may or may not know, we are a Road Trip/ Food family. Never had experiences as a kid with this stuff, so decided one day to start a new tradition with my kids. Since 2014, we average about 45,000 miles a year in a truck to chase down food paradise hot spots in the USA. 

Tons of memories, the kids love it, 32 states and counting, and I couldn't be more blessed with these troopers that love seeing this great land and all of the hidden gems. 

However, with that said, Dad also plans his own trips to add to the bucket list. I bought a Harley and have a dozen bike trips on the docket, I bought a yacht and have some sailing trips planned... wait, I didn't buy a yacht, scratch that, had too much to drink and had dreams again the other night...

Either way, saw this and just died laughing. Mind you, may need help from 2 of my 3 favorite G's to verify (Google and @Gordi ) but if this is legit I'm totally bringing the Harley on an international trip!




Legit or not, what's the best trip you've taken, OR the best trip you can imagine taking? Not opposed to air travel stories, but curious to hear from true wanderers and be inspired. 

I've had 3 memorable trips, one for 5 months, North to South and East to West across Australia all with the children, deserts, tropics and one time towing the family boat/launch in which the children slept when we stopped overnight.

So many places it's hard to pick a favorite.   Crossing central Australia was special.  We would visit Broome, Cairns, Shark Bay, Cooper Pedy, Eden, Jarvis Bay, Cape Leeuwin, Groote Eylandt and many places in between if I could again.  Steered away from the cities.  Driving all the way we would stop at remote or indistinct places, set up camp and have fun around the fire.  

So any one trip is hard to pick out.  Did enjoy the Sandy Blight Junction road from Kintore (edge of Gibson Desert) to Uluru.  (Worked at Kintore at the time) From there we went east and crossed the Simpson desert and onto Birdsville.  South East to the Coast from there for the beach which we hadn't seen for years.  Bonus was that we hit the coast to stay and it started snowing in the "Snowy Mountains" in November which was odd so we packed up and hit the mountains and enjoyed a few days in the snow, albeit ankle to knee deep but it melted quickly.  Kids had never seen snow so we spent some time at 'Dead Horse Gap' building snowmen and having snow fights.  Made a difference from the desert.  Kids, tents and a camp fire in a secluded location under the stars, can't beat it.

Kind regards,

Bally :)

[DuckforcoveR]

As some of you may or may not know, we are a Road Trip/ Food family. Never had experiences as a kid with this stuff, so decided one day to start a new tradition with my kids. Since 2014, we average about 45,000 miles a year in a truck to chase down food paradise hot spots in the USA. 

Tons of memories, the kids love it, 32 states and counting, and I couldn't be more blessed with these troopers that love seeing this great land and all of the hidden gems. 

However, with that said, Dad also plans his own trips to add to the bucket list. I bought a Harley and have a dozen bike trips on the docket, I bought a yacht and have some sailing trips planned... wait, I didn't buy a yacht, scratch that, had too much to drink and had dreams again the other night...

Either way, saw this and just died laughing. Mind you, may need help from 2 of my 3 favorite G's to verify (Google and @Gordi ) but if this is legit I'm totally bringing the Harley on an international trip!




Legit or not, what's the best trip you've taken, OR the best trip you can imagine taking? Not opposed to air travel stories, but curious to hear from true wanderers and be inspired. 

I've had 3 memorable trips, one for 5 months, North to South and East to West across Australia all with the children, deserts, tropics and one time towing the family boat/launch in which the children slept when we stopped overnight.

So many places it's hard to pick a favorite.   Crossing central Australia was special.  We would visit Broome, Cairns, Shark Bay, Cooper Pedy, Eden, Jarvis Bay, Cape Leeuwin, Groote Eylandt and many places in between if I could again.  Steered away from the cities.  Driving all the way we would stop at remote or indistinct places, set up camp and have fun around the fire.  

So any one trip is hard to pick out.  Did enjoy the Sandy Blight Junction road from Kintore (edge of Gibson Desert) to Uluru.  (Worked at Kintore at the time) From there we went east and crossed the Simpson desert and onto Birdsville.  South East to the Coast from there for the beach which we hadn't seen for years.  Bonus was that we hit the coast to stay and it started snowing in the "Snowy Mountains" in November which was odd so we packed up and hit the mountains and enjoyed a few days in the snow, albeit ankle to knee deep but it melted quickly.  Kids had never seen snow so we spent some time at 'Dead Horse Gap' building snowmen and having snow fights.  Made a difference from the desert.  Kids, tents and a camp fire in a secluded location under the stars, can't beat it.

Kind regards,

Bally :)

That sounds like an amazing trip! So many sights to see, so different along the way. I have to admit I'm jealous, Australia is certainly on my bucket list. I used to sit on Google Earth with the kids and zoom in on the outback and tour around. 

[ABNARTY]

That sounds like awesome stuff what you are doing with your kids. Carry On by all means. 

If I want to go see Mars, does that count?

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Legit or not, what's the best trip you've taken, OR the best trip you can imagine taking? Not opposed to air travel stories, but curious to hear from true wanderers and be inspired. 

I bought a large RV and spent a year on the road traveling all over Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Calif, Utah, Arizona. Avoided all cities except for interstate pass-thru. I was an avid hiker & river rafter so spent alot of time in the national parks, national monuments, wilderness lands, forests, mountains & canyons. That was my best trip, totally unplugged from the rat race. My dream exploration vacation is to spend a few months down in the south pacific islands with a side trip to New Zealand.

[Bally002]

That sounds like awesome stuff what you are doing with your kids. Carry On by all means. 

If I want to go see Mars, does that count?

Those trips we did were some 18 years ago.  Youngest was a baby.

They all growed up now having babies of their own.

Cheers,

Bally.

[ChiefD]

Thanks for sharing. I enlarged that map, and laughed my ass off reading those names! Pretty funny stuff there. 

When I was 13 years old, my parents decided to sell the house, drive to Arizona, find jobs, and live happily ever after. The drive from Wisconsin was a real eye opener. We played games in the car to pass the time. I wrote down every time a license plate from a different state came by. By the time we got to Arizona, I had all 50 states. There was a horrific storm in Kansas where I saw a funnel cloud outside the car window. 

The radiator on my mom’s Pinto overheated in Oklahoma. We stayed overnight in Amarillo Texas, and I saw cockroaches the size of Texas! Drive through New Mexico and Arizona was hotter than hell. We got to Phoenix AZ. My parents had not done any prior planning and couldn’t find any place for a family of five that was affordable, so off we went back east to New Mexico. We stopped in Roswell, of all places, where my parents found a three bedroom house to rent. 

Roswell was nice enough I guess. We made some friends in our neighborhood, and got a dog. We were there for the 4th of July. I recall really pretty fireworks. I was nocturnal for the time I was there. I would sleep during the day when it was hot, and go outside and play at night when it was cooler. 

About three weeks later, after looking for jobs, my dad couldn’t find anything that paid the union wages he was getting in Wisconsin at his paper mill job, so we packed up, and drove back to Wisconsin, broke AF. Fortunately, my dad got his old job back, but my mom didn’t and had to find another job.

They learned the hard way that if one is gonna move their family of five across the country, jobs and housing probably should be lined up beforehand. But I got to see a lot of country along the way, so I’m grateful for that.

[Rodinus]

As some of you may or may not know, we are a Road Trip/ Food family. Never had experiences as a kid with this stuff, so decided one day to start a new tradition with my kids. Since 2014, we average about 45,000 miles a year in a truck to chase down food paradise hot spots in the USA. 

Tons of memories, the kids love it, 32 states and counting, and I couldn't be more blessed with these troopers that love seeing this great land and all of the hidden gems. 

However, with that said, Dad also plans his own trips to add to the bucket list. I bought a Harley and have a dozen bike trips on the docket, I bought a yacht and have some sailing trips planned... wait, I didn't buy a yacht, scratch that, had too much to drink and had dreams again the other night...

Either way, saw this and just died laughing. Mind you, may need help from 2 of my 3 favorite G's to verify (Google and @Gordi ) but if this is legit I'm totally bringing the Harley on an international trip!




Legit or not, what's the best trip you've taken, OR the best trip you can imagine taking? Not opposed to air travel stories, but curious to hear from true wanderers and be inspired. 

An acid trip back in the early 80s.

On a serious note : Probably a 2 month (January and February) military "ahem" hiking expedition in the Scottish highlands with nothing but a bin bag, some parachute cord, service knife, the clothes on my back, light webbing, an SLR 7.62 rifle and 55 other troop members.

And sometimes if we deserved it a Nissen Hut or a dead sheep buried under the snow to use as a ski ramp 

Only 17 of us finished.

The good old days....

[BIAD]

I have a tale, it's a long one and if one doesn't mind the ramblings of someone reared in a household not usually conducive with a standard
family background, I'll tell it here. It does have a Road-Trip connection and it's written in my usual 'over-the-top' manner, so please forgive me.

Background.
My home-life was fine, we had beatings at times from my father and only when one of my four sisters or I had done something wrong, but
on the whole, I grew up in a normal working-class setting with the lack of money being the only concern. We were what one could reasonably
deem a happy family.

But one of the main influences of how I now perceive this reality was my mother, she seemed to regularly have access to a different existence
quite unlike the one we all take for granted. I was pragmatic about her bouts of 'seeing things' and her nightly awakenings to invisible figures
arriving the bedroom (our house had only two bedrooms and being a boy, had to sleep separate from my sisters and in my parents bedroom)
-and hounding my mother with supposedly strange consultations. To me, it became something 'normal'... something that just happens.

Many nights, I heard my father gruffly tell his wife to quiet-down as she avidly asked the unseen about their unheard proclamations.
"Yes he is, he's at the window" was one such comment that had me staring for hours at the paisley-patterned curtains long after my Ma had
gone back to sleep.


The other odd late-night broadcast was something about 'All The King's Men' a vague reference -I believed at the time, to a British soldier that
she'd encountered on a train during the Second World War. My mother once told me this man had befriended her and later attempted to strangle
her during the journey! How she escaped the clutches of this bastard remained unsaid, but I selfishly hoped he took a German bayonet for his
trespass.

Don't get me wrong, usually my mother behaved like the other gossiping women in my street and got along with anyone she came into contact
with. She brought up a family of five and a husband who used to spend all his wages on booze, but this was before the outraged world of the
decadent. What some call the internet!

Yet even with all her burdens and her occasional jaunts into a place only few get to peek at, I believe her spirit-access-Romany-heritage did
eventually have an effect on me, no matter how hard I attempted to ignore it.
(Travel tale, BIAD... do the travel tale, for heaven's sake!)
...........................................................................

Travel Story.

We'd been married for almost ten years when we decided we wanted children. We'd been working hard and were okay for money, the mortgage
was taking a good kicking from my wife's acumen with finance and yet, something we felt was missing in our lives. We'd jumped through the usual
hoops of trying to make a baby and even looked at adopting. Still, with the family curse that only one male can be produced in a generation, I began
to ponder on the weird madness that my mother would sometimes gibber during her nightly 'visitations'.

She'd once said her folks came from 'near Wales' and travelled north in a horse-drawn caravan along country lanes, away from the regular people
who lived in -what my mother called 'little boxes'. (No doubt, she'd absorbed the lyrics of Pete Seeger's ditty to describe her ancestors' dislike for
those who frowned at their roaming manner!) I recall she mentioned her Grandmother saying that during their journey, they ate potatoes for bread
and turnip for cheese, but why and what it really meant, is beyond me. However, I know that to fill their grumbling stomachs, stealing from farmers
fields and hen-houses wouldn't be beyond their own 'living-off-the-land' purview.

So, following some unknown calling -that undoubtedly had something to do with my mother's bizarre confessions, my ever-forgiving wife and I took
a week-long car-trip down to Wales to take a break from a want that had become a need. My undisclosed reason for agreeing to the vacation was
to see if I could 'tap-in' into the supposed magic of the odyssey that my ancestors had taken to produce me here in the this North-Eastern town.
Maybe something that only the crazies like my mater would possibly appreciate!

Under the guise of a well-earned holiday, we took in the awesome Caernarfon Castle and then crossed the Menai Strait to the Isle of Anglesey on
the famous suspension bridge designed by Thomas Telford. Yes, I was certainly enjoying myself, but staring out at the Irish Sea from the 'Island of
the Angles', I wondered if I too had contracted the eccentric disease of my parent and this was all just some silly phase of finally embracing maturity.

We chanced a visit to the beautiful coastal area of St. Bride's Bay and Broad Haven, where the Coombs family and some kids from Broad Haven
Primary school had supposedly witnessed odd Ufo-related goings-on with strange lights and other outlandish phenomena. Still, no alien came to
explain why we'd been designated child-less, although I did admire my better-half's toleration as I explained the Coombs' wild account!

At Portmeirion village -where the sixties TV series 'The Prisoner' was filmed, we walked around a architect's Mediterranean fantasy and soaked in
the weirdness of the place. We sat in a tiny prim-looking box-of-a-carriage and felt the wind in our hair on the fourteen mile-long Ffestiniog Railway
that runs through Snowdonia National Park and listened to the gasping struggles of the steam-engine that my mother swore her great-great uncle
George Stephenson had evolved into what we know today.

Even up here on a single trackway on a mountain and smelling burnt water, I worryingly found myself wondering if I'd strayed from my clandestine
hunt and then caught myself before my mother's idiocy came screaming back in to support my secret reason for being here. No... we were on holiday
and creating a lifeform does not involve some type of pilgrimage to earn such a physical event.

The weather kept fairly sunny until we visited a redundant slate mine and observed the horrible conditions the miners endured to chip the grey rock from
the ceilings of the cathedral-like caverns. Back on the surface -as the rain turned the piles of discarded shale even more drabber than they already were,
my dubious quest seemed to take on a similar mood to the cinereal surroundings of this forgotten excavation and my verve for a mystical answer began
to dilute and soak away. My mother was still alive at this point, but would she be able to assist me via the telephone without her daylight-avoiding spectral
mediators at hand to whisper fair counsel?

But alas, I ceded that adulthood does not tolerate children's unsullied imaginings and the dragon isn't always slain. I needed to grow-up.
...........................................................................

Eventually, we came to Monmouth in the southern area of Wales and decided to book in at a idiosyncratic leaning abode that offered Bed & Breakfast.
Agreeing that we would extend our holiday to take in Devon and Corwall, we looked forward to another week of eating Devonshire clotted-cream and
staring up Somerset's Wookey Hole.


That night in the little old lady's Bed & Breakfast was one of the weirdest times of my life and I'm sure if my Ma had been with us, she'd have taken
to it without a second glance. After all the niceties of being accepted to stay, consent on the rent of the spider-webbed-filled room and being told by
the classically-quaint landlady that she didn't lock the front-door until midnight, we went out to enjoy a nearby restaurant.

Remember, to myself from my young working-class background, this was all 'very posh' and I'd never imagined that I would grow up to be able to
-not only travel to far-off places on the other side of the world like Roswell New Mexico, but to even chow-down the 'fancy-pants-grub' that they
serve in these swanky places for folk who have money.
Yet, here I was sitting before multiple eating-irons, a flute of bubbly and having a bank account to pay for it!

Jeez-Louise, this adulthood-stuff is a lot better than... better than, and that was when I absently glanced at the children's section of the laminated
menu. It advertised an egg dish called 'Humpty-Dumpty'. The hair on the back of my neck raised as I mentally followed the old nursery-rhyme.
All The King's Men... my mother's sentinels must've been giggling up their ethereal cloak-sleeves.

We arrived back at the B&B to find the old woman playing ardently on her electric organ, yer' know... as most one-night boarders discover after
a nice meal! "Good evening" she mouthed over the gallant tune and with a smile and a nod, we raced-up the steep stairway to the safety of our
door-locked room.

That night, we saw comings-and-goings that -in the morning over our breakfast, forced my wife and I to jokingily suggest we'd been luck to escape
with our lives. We ate our bacon and eggs alone and yet, I had spied at least two other couples enter the bedrooms during the night.
"Have you others staying?" I dared to enquire as she poured us another cup of tea. "Oh no, just you-two" came the reply and we quickly settled our
bill and left. Getting into the car, we both agreed the Bates Motel had a sister that liked to reside on the River Monmow.

...........................................................................

Maybe some day I'll write about our time in the western peninsula of England, but for now, my main focus is on when we decided to turn back for
home, follow the meandering trek of my Romany forebearers -if you will. We aimed the car eastwards towards Salisbury in order to see the famous
collection of monolithic blocks of aggregate known as Stonehenge. My wife had already viewed them and I was excited to see what thousands of
others found so fascinating about this circle of sarcen and bluestone.

For myself, if there was any majick there, it eluded me. It was a strange place and the whole area smacked of long-lost ritual and a paganistic era
when nature held sway before science stole its crown. Still, I came away feeling cheated for some reason and just as I reached for the car-door,
the whole paradigm of the situation crashed down on me like a vengeful Monmouthshire landlady leaping from from her Hammond organ to acquire
the human meat that she would later baptise as bacon.

I had read it somewhere, it was another circle of standing stones... a lesser-known Neolithic place where my mother's long-ago whisperings made
sense. Grabbing the well-thumbed Collins Essential Road Atlas of Britain, I breathlessly searched for the route that would bring me face-to-face to
those metaphysical phantoms who'd trolled my mother for years and mocked me in the restaurant. My wife watched with concern as I mumbled to
myself and sought the road to Oxfordshire, somewhere on this page was my path to the Rollright Stones, a place where I was required to be.
...........................................................................

"Put some money in the little box as we leave" my wife said as she glanced over at me striding out the impossible count. Legend as it that a Witch
deemed the Rollright Stones could not be counted correctly due to her majick. There are rumoured to be 72 stones in the circle, but the old tale
dictates that ‘No one shall live who counts the stones three times and finds the number the same’.

Nodding at the instruction from my Missus, I squinted in concentration as I stepped onwards and then quickly screwed-up my computation.
The Witch had won this round and turning to make towards the car, the logical side of my brain nudged my spirit and kindly reminded me that my
life wasn't a movie and Tangerine Dream hadn't created the backing music. Sure, we can wish for the days when magic solves the dilemma and
wonders are daily held in awe, but reality is reality and no matter how much love one may have for their parents, the ground still hurts when you
hit it and nobody gets out alive.

Maybe the old cackling bitch was a girlfriend of the ghostly apparitions that tormented my family's sleep -I amiably thought, but crossing the clipped
grass in the stone-circle, I was reminded that the unnamed spellbinder had also been involved in something intriguing more than a puzzling summing
of chunks of oolitic limestone.

It was said that when the Witch encountered an Iron Age king and his men marching over Rollright Hill, to save herself from the constant ridicules
of the company, she informed the king that if he could see the local village of Long Compton after seven strides then she would make him ruler of
all England. Placing his best foot forward, the hopeful overlord strode to the top of the Rollright hill and confident that the Witch's prize would be
an easy one to claim. But as he walked towards his assumed destiny, the wily wizard-ess spoke again and the land began to move.

“Rise up stick, and stand still stone,
For King of England thou shalt be none;
As Long Compton thou ne’er didst see
Thou and thy men hoar stones shall be”

This unknown wannabe-king never made it and the village in the spell remained unseen. Now, that failed monarch and his companions stare blankly
out across the arable fields and surrounding trees of a scene not as sexy as Stonehenge. Stone monoliths all them, the King and The King's Men.
...........................................................................

The piece of rock I took from the circle was in my pocket just over nine months later when I watched my son being born and now it resides in a place
of secrecy. There is Majick out there on the highways and byways, an enchantment linked solely to the individual experiencing it. Maybe others can tell
their tales of travel, after all... true magic is in the telling.

[DuckforcoveR]

Legit or not, what's the best trip you've taken, OR the best trip you can imagine taking? Not opposed to air travel stories, but curious to hear from true wanderers and be inspired. 

I bought a large RV and spent a year on the road traveling all over Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Calif, Utah, Arizona. Avoided all cities except for interstate pass-thru. I was an avid hiker & river rafter so spent alot of time in the national parks, national monuments, wilderness lands, forests, mountains & canyons. That was my best trip, totally unplugged from the rat race. My dream exploration vacation is to spend a few months down in the south pacific islands with a side trip to New Zealand.

Nice! Yeah the west is the only place in the US I could get lost in for a year and forget everything. 

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Legit or not, what's the best trip you've taken, OR the best trip you can imagine taking? Not opposed to air travel stories, but curious to hear from true wanderers and be inspired. 

I bought a large RV and spent a year on the road traveling all over Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Calif, Utah, Arizona. Avoided all cities except for interstate pass-thru. I was an avid hiker & river rafter so spent alot of time in the national parks, national monuments, wilderness lands, forests, mountains & canyons. That was my best trip, totally unplugged from the rat race. My dream exploration vacation is to spend a few months down in the south pacific islands with a side trip to New Zealand.

Nice! Yeah the west is the only place in the US I could get lost in for a year and forget everything. 

The US is a big place. Almost every State has area has that special place that only the locals know about, because they want to keep it that special place. An great place to "chill".

I grew up in the woods, a member of an humongous family. When I reached my teen years, my Mother told me that wherever I go, I should find me a secret space, where I could go and as you put it, just "Chill".

I remember my very first secret space. We lived on over forty acres of woods, that backed on about 60 to 80 acres behind us and to the sides of us. I found during one of my walks, a huge fallen tree that was perfect in every way. Right width, right incline. It became my secret space. I would go out, lie on that tree, and read for hours. I would sit and eat the foods I had brought with me, and just chill.

The biggest treasure I found was right after I had graduated University, and had just started my new job. I decided to take a walk in the woods behind the building I was living in at the time, and I found hidden far back up in the trees and bushes, a stream. I followed the stream for a good ways and ran smack dab into a waterfall. There was not a soul there.

I could hear far off in the distance, activity of people going about their daily lives, and oblivious to this beautiful oasis. It became my favorite secret place. To this day, I have never told any one where to find it. I only lived there about four years. During that time I never ran across another person at my secret place.

Things were a hell of a lot different back then. I don't think I would be as brave today as to go off for hours to a secret place in the woods. That may be why in my later years, I bought my own secret place. Though it is not that secret, it still gives me peace and pleasure, to walk the 100+ acres around me. A place where I can just "chill".


Look for it. You will find it. Usually much closer that you could have ever imagined.

[FlyingClayDisk]

...

Legit or not, what's the best trip you've taken, OR the best trip you can imagine taking? Not opposed to air travel stories, but curious to hear from true wanderers and be inspired. 
...

Your question is an interesting one to ponder indeed.  Some of the very best "trips" start out as ones you never expected to become what they ultimately did.  Equally, some of the most disappointing ones started out as the ones you had the highest hopes for. Yet others start out as what seem like a 'trip' and turn into a "journey of a lifetime", ones so life-changing you can't put your finger on a specific moment which was good or bad, but when looked at as a whole were life altering in ways which are almost indescribable.

For me, my most notable trip began on December 7th, 1995.  As much as I didn't want to admit it, life would never be the same after that day.  Even the "day" itself turned out to be surreal, lasting more than 38 hours.  On the morning of 8 December 1995 I awoke to a loud banging on a glass sliding window near my bed.  As I pulled the curtain aside in the darkened room I was greeted by a large adult male Macaque monkey on the balcony angrily trying to open the door, and a large yellow parrot in a nearby tree.  I knew, right in that moment, my life would never be the same.  I was both scared and oddly alive in a way I never had been before.

It would be two years before I would set my foot back in what I had previously called "home" back in Colorado.  I had returned in order to travel to Michigan just long enough to celebrate my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary.  And without even as much as a 24 hour bloc of relaxation, I was back on an airplane headed to the other side of the planet.

That "trip", if you could even call it that, contained every emotion I think a human being is capable of experiencing in a lifetime.  And, I was forever changed as a result.

[DuckforcoveR]

@BIAD - fantastic story. Seriously, if you ever write a book I would buy it in a heartbeat. And if you've already written one, I will travel across the pond to get an autograph copy!

[DuckforcoveR]

Thanks for sharing. I enlarged that map, and laughed my ass off reading those names! Pretty funny stuff there. 

When I was 13 years old, my parents decided to sell the house, drive to Arizona, find jobs, and live happily ever after. The drive from Wisconsin was a real eye opener. We played games in the car to pass the time. I wrote down every time a license plate from a different state came by. By the time we got to Arizona, I had all 50 states. There was a horrific storm in Kansas where I saw a funnel cloud outside the car window. 

The radiator on my mom’s Pinto overheated in Oklahoma. We stayed overnight in Amarillo Texas, and I saw cockroaches the size of Texas! Drive through New Mexico and Arizona was hotter than hell. We got to Phoenix AZ. My parents had not done any prior planning and couldn’t find any place for a family of five that was affordable, so off we went back east to New Mexico. We stopped in Roswell, of all places, where my parents found a three bedroom house to rent. 

Roswell was nice enough I guess. We made some friends in our neighborhood, and got a dog. We were there for the 4th of July. I recall really pretty fireworks. I was nocturnal for the time I was there. I would sleep during the day when it was hot, and go outside and play at night when it was cooler. 

About three weeks later, after looking for jobs, my dad couldn’t find anything that paid the union wages he was getting in Wisconsin at his paper mill job, so we packed up, and drove back to Wisconsin, broke AF. Fortunately, my dad got his old job back, but my mom didn’t and had to find another job.

They learned the hard way that if one is gonna move their family of five across the country, jobs and housing probably should be lined up beforehand. But I got to see a lot of country along the way, so I’m grateful for that.

Now that's a trip! Interestingly enough, I sometimes wonder about the same. Sell the house and leave wisconsin, take the kids on a trip to the South West and start anew. But your story is the exact reason why I haven't jumped. While I prefer my trips with no plan, I also can't bring myself to risk them (if that makes sense). 

But it sounds like a memorable experience even if it ended back in WI! Glad you came back! 

[DuckforcoveR]

As some of you may or may not know, we are a Road Trip/ Food family. Never had experiences as a kid with this stuff, so decided one day to start a new tradition with my kids. Since 2014, we average about 45,000 miles a year in a truck to chase down food paradise hot spots in the USA. 

Tons of memories, the kids love it, 32 states and counting, and I couldn't be more blessed with these troopers that love seeing this great land and all of the hidden gems. 

However, with that said, Dad also plans his own trips to add to the bucket list. I bought a Harley and have a dozen bike trips on the docket, I bought a yacht and have some sailing trips planned... wait, I didn't buy a yacht, scratch that, had too much to drink and had dreams again the other night...

Either way, saw this and just died laughing. Mind you, may need help from 2 of my 3 favorite G's to verify (Google and @Gordi ) but if this is legit I'm totally bringing the Harley on an international trip!




Legit or not, what's the best trip you've taken, OR the best trip you can imagine taking? Not opposed to air travel stories, but curious to hear from true wanderers and be inspired. 

An acid trip back in the early 80s.

On a serious note : Probably a 2 month (January and February) military "ahem" hiking expedition in the Scottish highlands with nothing but a bin bag, some parachute cord, service knife, the clothes on my back, light webbing, an SLR  7.62 rifle and 55 other troop members.

And sometimes if we deserved it a Nissen Hut or a dead sheep buried under the snow to use as a ski ramp 

Only 17 of us finished.

The good old days....

Yeah I left the properly induced trips out of here, but that's an idea for a thread I think... 

[DuckforcoveR]

...

Legit or not, what's the best trip you've taken, OR the best trip you can imagine taking? Not opposed to air travel stories, but curious to hear from true wanderers and be inspired. 
...

Your question is an interesting one to ponder indeed.  Some of the very best "trips" start out as ones you never expected to become what they ultimately did.  Equally, some of the most disappointing ones started out as the ones you had the highest hopes for. Yet others start out as what seem like a 'trip' and turn into a "journey of a lifetime", ones so life-changing you can't put your finger on a specific moment which was good or bad, but when looked at as a whole were life altering in ways which are almost indescribable.

For me, my most notable trip began on December 7th, 1995.  As much as I didn't want to admit it, life would never be the same after that day.  Even the "day" itself turned out to be surreal, lasting more than 38 hours.  On the morning of 8 December 1995 I awoke to a loud banging on a glass sliding window near my bed.  As I pulled the curtain aside in the darkened room I was greeted by a large adult male Macaque monkey on the balcony angrily trying to open the door, and a large yellow parrot in a nearby tree.  I knew, right in that moment, my life would never be the same.  I was both scared and oddly alive in a way I never had been before.

It would be two years before I would set my foot back in what I had previously called "home" back in Colorado.  I had returned in order to travel to Michigan just long enough to celebrate my parents 50th Wedding Anniversary.  And without even as much as a 24 hour bloc of relaxation, I was back on an airplane headed to the other side of the planet.

That "trip", if you could even call it that, contained every emotion I think a human being is capable of experiencing in a lifetime.  And, I was forever changed as a result.

I couldn't agree more if I tried. EVERY TRIP I've tried planning to a T has somehow let me down. I've had road trips to California with every hotel, rest stop, and restaurant planned in advance. One "took too long at the wayside" later and I'm crabby in the car that we missed the steak happy hour in Amarillo. 

The last 5 years or so I just use technology more and planning less. We drive until I can't stay awake and just look for hotels, motels, or campgrounds in the area. Much better!

But I'm very jealous that all my escapades are in the US only. Monkeys and Parrots would be enough for me to forget this all in a heartbeat.

[DuckforcoveR]

Legit or not, what's the best trip you've taken, OR the best trip you can imagine taking? Not opposed to air travel stories, but curious to hear from true wanderers and be inspired. 

I bought a large RV and spent a year on the road traveling all over Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Calif, Utah, Arizona. Avoided all cities except for interstate pass-thru. I was an avid hiker & river rafter so spent alot of time in the national parks, national monuments, wilderness lands, forests, mountains & canyons. That was my best trip, totally unplugged from the rat race. My dream exploration vacation is to spend a few months down in the south pacific islands with a side trip to New Zealand.

Nice! Yeah the west is the only place in the US I could get lost in for a year and forget everything. 

The US is a big place. Almost every State has area has that special place that only the locals know about, because they want to keep it that special place. An great place to "chill".

I grew up in the woods, a member of an humongous family. When I reached my teen years, my Mother told me that wherever I go, I should find me a secret space, where I could go and as you put it, just "Chill".

I remember my very first secret space. We lived on over forty acres of woods, that backed on about 60 to 80 acres behind us and to the sides of us. I found during one of my walks, a huge fallen tree that was perfect in every way. Right width, right incline. It became my secret space. I would go out, lie on that tree, and read for hours. I would sit and eat the foods I had brought with me, and just chill.

The biggest treasure I found was right after I had graduated University, and had just started my new job. I decided to take a walk in the woods behind the building I was living in at the time, and I found hidden far back up in the trees and bushes, a stream. I followed the stream for a good ways and ran smack dab into a waterfall. There was not a soul there.

I could hear far off in the distance, activity of people going about their daily lives, and oblivious to this beautiful oasis. It became my favorite secret place. To this day, I have never told any one where to find it. I only lived there about four years. During that time I never ran across another person at my secret place.

Things were a hell of a lot different back then. I don't think I would be as brave today as to go off for hours to a secret place in the woods. That may be why in my later years, I bought my own secret place. Though it is not that secret, it still gives me peace and pleasure, to walk the 100+ acres around me. A place where I can just "chill".


Look for it. You will find it. Usually much closer that you could have ever imagined.

100% agree. I too have that secret place in Norther Wisconsin that I've hiked and hunted for years. Very few people know of it, only the locals. And even the locals will drive right by the fire access road if it wasn't for that small sign that says "FR 529". 

Better yet, I want my kids to have that same feeling I had out there for the first time, so I made up my own Forest Fenn poem for them that leads to a spot, and I buried cash and some keepsakes from when my dad passed out there. They love the poem but are too young to go trekking on their own, it'll be my last gift to them when I'm gone.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

100% agree. I too have that secret place in Norther Wisconsin that I've hiked and hunted for years. Very few people know of it, only the locals. And even the locals will drive right by the fire access road if it wasn't for that small sign that says "FR 529". 

Better yet, I want my kids to have that same feeling I had out there for the first time, so I made up my own Forest Fenn poem for them that leads to a spot, and I buried cash and some keepsakes from when my dad passed out there. They love the poem but are too young to go trekking on their own, it'll be my last gift to them when I'm gone.

What a wonderful idea. Maybe it will become a family tradition that will be passed on to each generation.

Almost a rite of passage, and fun way to keep a family tradition alive, as well as a precious memory.