I'd love to do this one day as well. Reading through here reminded me of some of the smaller attractions I've seen as a child like the Royal gorge bridge, cripple creek and some of the bigger ones like Pikes peak from when I used to live in far west Texas. I really want to make a trip like this out west and hit the high points like you did. That's the main part of the contiguous united states I haven't been in, that and the far north east.
Just do it! If I hadn't done this as a spur of the moment decision I probably never would have been able to do it again. Hindsight is 20/20. People plan all their lives and never get it done for various reasons. I still wish my wife could have done at least part of this trip, but it only lessened my enjoyment a small amount. I was still able to share what I had done with her each day on the phone every night.
Budget about $1500 per anticipated week on the road. This allows you to keep up with gas, goodies, and food without fretting over whether you have enough. I ended up spending ~$5k for the 4 weeks of the trip against an anticipated $3k, but things like IAmTodd's skid set were not in the prior planning.
Oddly enough, I've never been to Louisiana either, only state south of Arizona to Pennsylvania I haven't been to, but if I find my way down there I wouldn't mind meeting up. I may even try and make it out to the Jamboree this year if I can. Didn't work out last year...
If you make it drop me a PM. We'll figure out how to get together over the weekend.
tips, tricks, suggestions, or pointers for someone looking to do something similar? I'd be trying to do as much camping either in a tent or in the 4Runner as I can to keep costs down.
I posted this in the newer thread, and I still stand by it for the reasons cited. In hindsight the one thing I do wish I had on my trip last year was a roof top tent. I didn't finally actually "camp" until I got to the Jamboree for 3 days at the end of the trip. The convenience of a simple pop open RTT would have been more encouraging to just find an empty spot to park. The tent I had with me requires about 10 or 15 minutes of setup and takedown and I was just too tired at the end of a lot of days to want to mess with finding a spot and getting it out.
By all means look at and consider any suggestions people make during a given trip. I saw a LOT more than I had initially planned on due to those suggestions. And it made the trip even more worthwhile. I did have to drop some stops due to time constraints, but the added sites more than made up for the lost ones.
I do appreciate the kudos guys. I still look this thing up and read through it every few months just to relive it. And I dearly appreciate everyone I met during the trip. They helped me maintain my sanity, and all of the conversations were really great! Just plan to spend twice as long on each visit. The time flies by and you catch yourself saying DANG I gotta get on the road! :becky:
eep:
