My wife and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary next month. To celebrate we are going to do a road trip as that is what we did for our honeymoon (road trip out to Grand Canyon other places out West and back.)
Plans thus far are not final. I have a few stops that we plan to make for sure and getting there and back are the only set points I have as of now. My friend moved out to East Sound, WA (an island just off Seattle) a few months back so that is our final destination before we head back home. In between we plan to see another friend in Helena, MT as well as Glacier NP. The only other set point will be Manhattan, KS as we have another set of friends who moved out there a few years ago.
Other places we are considering include Albuquerque, Las Vegas, and Yosemite.
Main thing for us is time due to a few other events and work items we will have to leave in the middle of the week instead of on a friday afternoon. Also we have my parents and in-laws are watching the kids. We are looking at approximately July 17 evening - ~31 (our anniv is the 27th)
Now for where this applies to UC and MUD.
I did some research on flying/renting a vehicle, driving my own vehicle, and buying an RV/van and making the trip. I really wanted to do the van thing, but time and $ ran short on me, still looking at this for a later time, but not this trip. Flying and renting would work but require a ton of scheduling, planning and $ wise it just didn't add up. The only advantage of the flying option is time to spend with the people we want to see/visit. SO this leaves me with driving our own vehicle.
I could take the 80, but gas would be rough and I need new tires and oh yeah its FOR SALE. SO that leaves the 4runner. MPG isn't too bad, ride is nice, its comfortable, with the roof rack and Yakima box it will haul everything, and we can still sleep in it when we need to. Hey this is looking like a great option. Then it hit me, we are leaving in 5 weeks! I cannot pull a JP but I definitely have a few things that I need to get done as well as buy a few things to get ready for the trip. AND I have to get an itinerary together.
Because of our time frame I can't go everywhere we want to, I need to figure out what we can do and enjoy in ~ 2 weeks. I'm trying to figure a few routes and places and see what will be best for us not only for the sites we will see but also in the time we have. From what I can tell I'm looking at approximately 6500 miles round trip.
One thing I am curious about are some really good forest service roads that are out there and can't be missed, etc. Especially within a park we may want to see anyway. (i'm not looking to wheel hard or anything, but some stuff similar to the ole whee or milder would be awesome. If I can fit some of those in I certainly will, but with the time we have its already going to be a push to add a ton unless it is on the way or worth it more than another attraction. As soon as I get some of my dates and ideas for when, where, and how I'll post up so I can get some feedback.
Plans thus far are not final. I have a few stops that we plan to make for sure and getting there and back are the only set points I have as of now. My friend moved out to East Sound, WA (an island just off Seattle) a few months back so that is our final destination before we head back home. In between we plan to see another friend in Helena, MT as well as Glacier NP. The only other set point will be Manhattan, KS as we have another set of friends who moved out there a few years ago.
Other places we are considering include Albuquerque, Las Vegas, and Yosemite.
Main thing for us is time due to a few other events and work items we will have to leave in the middle of the week instead of on a friday afternoon. Also we have my parents and in-laws are watching the kids. We are looking at approximately July 17 evening - ~31 (our anniv is the 27th)
Now for where this applies to UC and MUD.
I did some research on flying/renting a vehicle, driving my own vehicle, and buying an RV/van and making the trip. I really wanted to do the van thing, but time and $ ran short on me, still looking at this for a later time, but not this trip. Flying and renting would work but require a ton of scheduling, planning and $ wise it just didn't add up. The only advantage of the flying option is time to spend with the people we want to see/visit. SO this leaves me with driving our own vehicle.
I could take the 80, but gas would be rough and I need new tires and oh yeah its FOR SALE. SO that leaves the 4runner. MPG isn't too bad, ride is nice, its comfortable, with the roof rack and Yakima box it will haul everything, and we can still sleep in it when we need to. Hey this is looking like a great option. Then it hit me, we are leaving in 5 weeks! I cannot pull a JP but I definitely have a few things that I need to get done as well as buy a few things to get ready for the trip. AND I have to get an itinerary together.
Because of our time frame I can't go everywhere we want to, I need to figure out what we can do and enjoy in ~ 2 weeks. I'm trying to figure a few routes and places and see what will be best for us not only for the sites we will see but also in the time we have. From what I can tell I'm looking at approximately 6500 miles round trip.
One thing I am curious about are some really good forest service roads that are out there and can't be missed, etc. Especially within a park we may want to see anyway. (i'm not looking to wheel hard or anything, but some stuff similar to the ole whee or milder would be awesome. If I can fit some of those in I certainly will, but with the time we have its already going to be a push to add a ton unless it is on the way or worth it more than another attraction. As soon as I get some of my dates and ideas for when, where, and how I'll post up so I can get some feedback.