Update on my 10,000 mile road trip

[Ryan1975]

Hey All,

Don't know if I fully came out about my road trip with you all before I left...but I departarted New York for good last June 21st and started an epic road trip.

1 correction - I will add a leg to Texas after Upper Michigan and back to KC.

 

[Ryan1975]

This was my first day:

Today: 860 miles...St Louis to Denver. Departed 6:20am - arrived 5:30pm.

Zero tickets...zero cop issues. 1,860 total miles of driving.

2012 Toyota 4Runner bought May 19th, 2012 with 7 miles - finished today with 5,300 total miles.

And then there was this:

I think this was in Kansas....this dude is a phenomenal pilot:

He was crop dusting and I had to have a photo of him doing barrel rolls

 

[Ryan1975]

Continuing on through the flyovers:

Lots of this in Kansas

Saw this:

Reminded of this:

[y]cM6W6GpIRtM[/y]

Side Note:

Drove through the following football towns in the last two months:

Houston Texans
Buffalo Bills
Denver Broncos
KC Chiefs
Indianapolis Colts
Cleveland Browns
Baltimore Ravens

 

[Ryan1975]

Saw this at Ft Riley:

Stopped at Fort Riley in Kansas for gas. In 15 years in the Army...I've never been to Ft Riley before. It was pretty cool.

 

[Ryan1975]

Lots of this crap in Eastern Colorado:

Weather was a perfect 81 degrees all the way through Kansas. As I approached the Colorado border it got really really windy (high winds advisory) ...on the back side of the weather front the temperature jumped all the way up to 99 degrees.

 

[Ryan1975]

I then stopped in Denver Colorado for my birthday. Had dinner with my parents at a Mexican Restaraunt for my b-day after getting ****faced with an old army buddy at the platte river bar during the day.

My dad and I departed in his his truck (2011 4Runner) on Sunday, the 24th of June.

Sleeping in Missoula Montana tonight. Just finished up dinner at MacKenzie River Pizza Co - awesome beer.

Lots of this today:

915 miles today in my dad's 2011 4Runner Limited

2,775 total miles so far

All of this we saw this day:

Various locations up I-25 in Colorado and Wyoming

Saw the entrance to the AF base on the Wy / Co border - old ballistic missiles base

Saw lots of areas that had burned

 

[Ryan1975]

Heading out of Denver north through Wyoming to Montana

Frontier Days Stadium...apparently a huge deal for cowboys

Starting to get very pretty

Lots of construction across the US...no matter where you go

Pretty resevior

Wyoming was very green...even though Colorado is burning

 

[Reata]

Awesome, keep them coming!!

 

[Ryan1975]

Monday June 25th

Crossing the Mountains into Idaho (3 pictures)

Visited my grandfather's final resting place

Deer in my Aunt's front yard. 2 twin fawns less than 5 days old (wobbly legs)

Aunt's black lab wanted to play with the baby fawns so bad.

Now the next few pictures need some explanation. My grandmother pulled me aside to show me some of these photos. I snapped some photos of the photos to retain for my own memory's sake. I'll try and point out great grandparents and years.

Grandmother at 19yrs old before she was married and had my dad.

Grandmother 6yrs old

Great Grandparents in the center

Great Grandparents in 1927 - 3yrs before my Grandmother was born

^ Notice the rutted road in the background...the flapper haircuts and the clothing. I loved this photo and really would like to have it some day.

 

[Reata]

More, more, more!!

 

[Ryan1975]

Loading up dad's truck with family momentos and possessions for the trip back to Denver

Photo with my Grandmother

Our Trusty Steed for the Trip to Idaho from Denver

Momma Deer and twin Fawns outside Aunt / Uncle's house

****ing around with the HAM handheld trying to get on a repeater...it's not clear but the obvious reason why I can't get on the 2m repeater is right in the display fuuuu

Here's me and my sister loading up in Denver and adding all of my brother's, sister's and everybody else's crap to take to Michigan tomorrow. :slap:

My 4Runner is now completely packed full.

 

[Ryan1975]

Stopped in Chamberlain, S Dakota tonight (29 June). Lots of pretty country, wide open plains. Big push through Minneapolis tomorrow to final destination for this leg of the trip.

Totals so far: 14 states
4,620 miles travelled
1 week down
3 to go

Arrived in Upper Michigan on the evening of 30 June.

This is the view from my mother's back porch:

Oh yeah...small detail:

I got my truck weighed as empty as I could get it (minus gas tank....I screwed up) No spare, no seats etc etc. 4,860lbs

I weighed in at Truck Stop in S. Dakota at 5,740lbs. I'm very happy.

 

[Ryan1975]

So we arrived in a stopping point in my trip in Upper Michigan, but that doesn't mean the fun doesn't stop.

^ Got my two babies reunited for the first time

^ Bought a floating raft for my family

^ Morning fog

^ Later that afternoon after it burned off

My truck chilling on Lake Superior Coastline the next day during blustery weather:

Pulled the Corvette out of Hibernation in anticipation of me towing it down to KC in a few days and got her all cleaned up:

(Thanks antman for bumper cupholder idea)

That's pretty much it for now. Going to go shooting tomorrow in the woods. More pictures to follow.

 

[Michigander]

Stopped in Chamberlain, S Dakota tonight (29 June). Lots of pretty country, wide open plains. Big push through Minneapolis tomorrow to final destination for this leg of the trip.

Totals so far: 14 states
4,620 miles travelled
1 week down
3 to go

Arrived in Upper Michigan on the evening of 30 June.

This is the view from my mother's back porch:

Oh yeah...small detail:

I got my truck weighed as empty as I could get it (minus gas tank....I screwed up) No spare, no seats etc etc. 4,860lbs

I weighed in at Truck Stop in S. Dakota at 5,740lbs. I'm very happy.

Cool trip. Where in the UP is your family at? I miss it up there!

 

[Ryan1975]

Cool trip. Where in the UP is your family at? I miss it up there!

Houghton / Hancock

 

[G8RB8_12SR5]

Awesome Trip So Far

:nicethread:Looks like a great time. I PCSed from Kings Point, NY to Seattle, WA last summer (USCG) and did the drive starting at I-80 in NJ to Cleveland and then I-90 the rest of the way. Our favorite states were SD, WY, and MT. Fantastic scenery throughout. Keep us posted and enjoy.:driving:

 

[Michigander]

Houghton / Hancock

Are you going to have time to explore a bit? Schlatter Lake and high rock point is one of my all time favorite places, haven't been out there for a few years though.

I have extended family in Alantic Mine, I went to school up there as well.

 

[KCcarguy]

Be sure you stop at Oklahoma Joe's (Gotta do the one in the gas station) in KC and Get a Z-Man sandwich! :hungry:

 

[Stifler]

cool.... did you trade your limited in for a TE mid trip?:shrug:

 

[desertred]

Be sure you stop at Oklahoma Joe's (Gotta do the one in the gas station) in KC and Get a Z-Man sandwich! :hungry:

Recently heard about this place. One of the 10 places you HAVE to try before you die?