Long distance driving holiday

Wow, what a trip! Hopefully you'll have a scrapbook full of photos and menus and other miscellaneous memorabilia when this is done.
 
Have fun Alan and the Missus. I confess that if it were me I'd be heading west on the Santa Monica Freeway till I hit the Pacific Coast hiway, then I'd drive north looking for the closest nice place to stay and I would come home five or 6 months later, or whenever the vacation time runs out. Luckily you are not as dull as I am.


Ha
 
Walt34 said:
Wow, what a trip! Hopefully you'll have a scrapbook full of photos and menus and other miscellaneous memorabilia when this is done.
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+1 Sounds like an amazing trip! I agree, your wife planned it brilliantly. Have a good time, drive safely, and fill us in on the details when you have a chance. :D
 
Bamaman said:
I'm jealous that you can get away for so long.

We have a single daughter with 2 kids that keep us from leaving longer than 2 weeks at at a time.

It simply is a trip of a lifetime for most people. The great thing about retirement is that you can go and do another comparable trip next year--if the stock market holds up.
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Thanks to Mr Market this is the 6th year of doing these very long vacations since retiring. Next year will hopefully be the UK and Europe, last year was Australia and New Zealand
 
We just completed our first day of travel. 11 hours from home to Van Horn, Texas, 650 miles. Mountains all around us, close to Mexico. Will press onto Phoenix tomorrow.
 
We had a great run, moving average was 69mph. We had intended to stop at Fort Stockton, but looked ahead and found there were several hotels at Van Horn, somehere I'd never heard of as we've never driven west of Fort Stockton before. Hampton Inn, even has WiFi!!
 
For some reason, I have always been fascinated by Van Horn! Don't ask me why, because I don't know. :LOL:

Glad you made it so far the first day. Texas is so huge.... it just never ends.
 
That sounds like an awesome itinerary.

Keep us posted along the way.
 
What a great trip! I can see my DH and I doing a very similar itinerary when DD goes off to college.
 
Enjoy, sounds like a lot of fun. Never did anything that long 3 weeks was the longest. We did spend some time in the Northwest as you are. We loved Vancouver and Vancouver Island, stayed on another small gulf island, nice too. Guess maybe next year.

My wife and I love Chilli Relleno. We had a blast trying them at different parts of the country. Some very unique dishes.




🐑
 
Alan said:
We just completed our first day of travel. 11 hours from home to Van Horn, Texas, 650 miles. Mountains all around us, close to Mexico. Will press onto Phoenix tomorrow.
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Wow Van Horn is a haul from Houston! You must've had some really nice driving weather yesterday.
 
W2R said:
For some reason, I have always been fascinated by Van Horn! Don't ask me why, because I don't know. :LOL:

Glad you made it so far the first day. Texas is so huge.... it just never ends.
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Jeff Bezos (Amazon) is building some fancy space port and a 1000 year clock around there. DH checks the satellite views now and then.
 
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I have the British Columbians on here to thank for our amazing trip along the Cassiar Highway in BC last year, it was probably the most beautiful part of our 6,000 mile journey.

Beyond Vancouver there are some beautiful and untouched wilderness areas and charming small towns that we really loved. I don't think you'll get up that far, but just below the Yukon border is Liard Hot Springs, which was AWESOME!
 
Awesome trip, Alan!

Assume you will head up the Oregon coast after Brookings (much more interesting than the interstate). Cannon Beach is a wonderful little town with beautiful rocks and tidal pools. Also a terrific little cooking school/gourmet store/restaurant called EVOO that we stumbled upon:
EVOO: Cannon Beach Cooking School

On the way there, the Tillamook cheese factory has a great tour if you are into cheese!
 
We drove 712 miles today and are now on the California/Arizona border, in a hotel just inside the California border. It was thousands of the iconic saguaro cacti in the Arizona desert, temperature was 102, right up to the California border where all traffic was stopped and we asked if were carrying any fresh fruit and vegetables. A couple of hundred metres further into California and the desert had turned into lush greenery with palm trees everywhere. California definitely bans the desert here.

The attached photo is from this morning from our hotel in Van Horn, Texas close to the border. Just after setting off we went through a border control checkpoint where ALL the traffic from I10 was question by border control officers. When asked if we were American Citizens I responded "Why aye man!". Fortunately I didn't look Mexican so he didn't ask to see our passports and let us through.

Santa Monica with DD tomorrow is next on the schedule.
 

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Alan said:
We drove 712 miles today and are now on the California/Arizona border, in a hotel just inside the California border. It was thousands of the iconic saguaro cacti in the Arizona desert, temperature was 102, right up to the California border where all traffic was stopped and we asked if were carrying any fresh fruit and vegetables. A couple of hundred metres further into California and the desert had turned into lush greenery with palm trees everywhere. California definitely bans the desert here.

The attached photo is from this morning from our hotel in Van Horn, Texas close to the border. Just after setting off we went through a border control checkpoint where ALL the traffic from I10 was question by border control officers. When asked if we were American Citizens I responded "Why aye man!". Fortunately I didn't look Mexican so he didn't ask to see our passports and let us through.

Santa Monica with DD tomorrow is next on the schedule.
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The drive to Santa Monica should seem like nothing after 650 miles the first day, and 712 miles today. :LOL: I remember those saguaro cacti in Arizona. You have seen a lot in the past two days.

Glad the border control check and the agricultural inspection went smoothly.
 
Dreamer said:
You guys are driving machines!
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+1

If I drive like Alan has, for even one day, it takes me a day or more to recover from a white-line hangover. One of the many things I enjoy about being retired is the luxury of not having to drive those miserable distances at one stretch.
 
REWahoo said:
+1

If I drive like Alan has, for even one day, it takes me a day or more to recover from a white-line hangover. One of the many things I enjoy about being retired is the luxury of not having to drive those miserable distances at one stretch.
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I am worn out just from being chauffeured around a small area of South Texas. Those longer distances just don't sound at all good. My back hurts just reading about them. 😳
 
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