I’m in a text group with two friends that I graduated high school with. I met one in 1990 and excepting a seven-year gap when I moved away during childhood, have been friends since. The other I met in our senior year of high school when I moved back. Generally, it’s what you expect out of a text group: memes, bitching, more memes. These aren’t car guys, per se; they like them as transportation but there is no doubt that I’m “the” car guy of the group. So imagine my surprise when I see this:
“Hey…so, do you want to plan a road trip sometime? I don’t mean like right now, but maybe when we are 45? Silly as it is, I think the National Lampoon’s Vacation route would be just about the kind of speed I’m thinking of, but I also don’t know all of the cool shit out there.”
Unfortunately for all of us, time does not stop. The leaves fall, the snow melts, the flowers bloom and the summer sun brings out yet another round of things you want to accomplish between sunrise and sunset. It’s been a decade since I started writing for BangShift back in June, 2014. A decade. Ten years, four jobs, one major career pivot, two nephews, two nieces, three cats, and fifteen vehicles. It’s been a ride that started with a road trip, the month-long post-deployment sabbatical that I took in 2009 that saw me racing at Bandimere and experiencing Bonneville for the first time; saw me meeting up with a plethora of friends, including BangShift forum members; experiencing the joy of blasting through Snoqualmie Pass while racing someone in a Dakota R/T and the fear of doing 120 MPH while I have a firestorm on one side of the highway, triple-digit winds blasting me all over the Interstate and semi-trucks threatening to tip over in my way for what felt like two hours too many. I’ve done roadtrips before and since, but that experience was something special. Of course I want to throw two guys who really haven’t seen much outside of Illinois into a car and head west.
After discussing with Haley, the route would be a simple affair: a gigantic loop of the American Southwest that starts in Colorado Springs, drives southwest through Arizona and to L.A. before moving north to Lake Tahoe, east to Bonneville, then northwest to Seattle before they head back home. That drive would be less than my ’09 roadtrip, but there is so much to see in that range of locations that they would be lost for words. That, and I’m all but certain they have never seen that side of the country.
The vehicle of choice…now that is something else altogether. Wise money would say to rent a motorhome, at least a Class C, and hit the road. I don’t like that idea. I’d pick a large four-door sedan that’s road ready with air conditioning and get moving. Think a late-1970s Mercury Marquis, 1980s Fifth Avenue with some hop-ups or a 1990s Caprice, that kind of ride. Something that would eat up the miles in comfort without looking like it was rented from Hertz.
I don’t know if it was a fleeting thought of theirs or not, but I’m actually planning for this. Once the three of us sit down face-to-face and discuss the details, I intend to lock down the final plan. If they still want to go, that’s fine. If not, maybe Haley and I hit the road in the Charger, catch up with old friends, and check out the scenery without the need for work to justify the reason.
Road trips are the one of the gifts we get as gearheads. Just like a first start, a first drive, or a great lap around or down the track, a road trip is that reward for the work you’ve put in. It’s vacation. So as I continue to plot and plan someone’s mid-life crisis to Wally World (“Sorry, folks, park’s closed!“), where would you go if you were ready to hit the road?
The wife and I did a road trip up A1A from San Francisco (got out of there quick!) to Seattle (only spent a brief night there.) Different VRBO or hotel every night, incredible scenery (awesome ocean views, Redwoods, etc.). We flew out, rented a Mustang convertible and flew back home. Best trip we ever took in 35 years of marriage!