Pounding the pavement is a fundamental element of being a BangShifter. From logging short haul scenic drives to epic cross country adventures, road trips are one of the great joys of the car hobby. Chad’s recent adventure with the Route 2 Media guys got us to thinking about some of the more fun adventures we have had on the highways and by-ways of this country.
Drag Week 2005 was an experience both of us shared. Chad rolled in his well known and well worn 1956 Chevy wagon, and I rolled in a weak suck Chevy Malibu Maxx as an embedded journalist on the trip. Despite the septic nature of my wheels, the sojourn was one the greatest gearhead weeks ever. In other travels we’ve found drag strips in the hidden nooks of the country, driven up mountains, and loaded our car onto single vehicle cable ferries to cross large rivers.
Today being Tuesday, it is a good time to drift off and think about the best road trip you ever took. Spill the beans!
Today’s Question: What’s the best road trip you’ve ever been on?
one of my most memorable was memorable because of the lack of actual road…, I had to do a work trip in a new Commodore wagon (Holden V6 ) from Adelaide South Australia to the riverland – the last night was staying in a town called Barmera which is about 3 or 4 hours out of Adelaide. The morning I had to go back the one road heading back was pretty well at a standstill with trucks , traffic etc for some reason I forget but it wasn’t going to clear at any time soon. I made a snap decision and just hung a left down a dirt track…I had no map, this pre-dated GPS, and after about 5 kilometres this track just petered out to nothing. I was pissed off at myself because I’d have to double back with zero gain so I thought `ah, screw it ‘ and just kept going. Work cars are even better than hire cars in this regard. So, banging along a couple of wheel tracks I eventually came to a gate into some farmer’s back paddock. Kept telling myself that to go back was pointless and just pressed on through this paddock for a long long time. Eventually I came up to a house and this old fellah sitting on his verandah who was very surprised to see me pull up. He told me he was 76 and had never seen a car at the house…apparently the stuff to build the house had been carted in by horse and wagon…I told him I was lost and where was the road… he pointed in roughly the direction I was going and said over there somewhere I think…this was maybe 2 or so hours since I’d left the road so heading back was not an option. Cut a very long story short I just kept going and after maybe 4 or so hours I saw a flash of chrome on top of an embankment. Took 4 gos to get up the embankment and found myself on the Swan Reach Road….bloody miles and miles from where I’d started. From there I went down to Swan Reach cos I knew there was a ferry across the river there – nearly out of petrol, I filled up there then headed back to Adelaide, staggered that I’d actually made it through.. I know this won’t mean much if you don’t know where I’m talking about – go on Google maps, put in Swan Reach then find Barmera and draw a straight line between them – you’ll see there are no roads at all….poor ol Commodore wagon…still looked shiny on the topside but I knew how banged up it was underneath…I often wonder what they thought the next time it went up on a hoist for a service…
I have a great wife- she has no problem with just going with no plans and stopping where we want when we want with no destination set. We have taken several monumental road trips: Route 66 from OK City to Santa Monica, Route 66 from OK City to Chicago, and from home in Clanton, AL to Kallispell, MT and back in 9 days. All of these were fun but I think the best was the Route 66 from OK City to Chicago. I think that being less than 1.5 days from home made us even more relaxed. We took 3 days to get across Missouri. Just a nice slow sight seeing trip. Lots of detours to see caverns, zoo’s and historic road side sites. It was great.
But as for me without my wife- I would have to say Drag Week of this year. What is not to like? Road tripping with some buds thru places you have never been with some racing thrown in for good measure- and all in your hot rod.
Touring the country from coast to coast as well as Canada and a bit of Mexico in a VW Westfalia Micro Bus . Ahhh .. those were the days . Simple needs . Simple lifestyle ( get to the next gig .. play well … hang out a bit when there was time … keep up the ‘chops ‘ … move on to the next and damn everything else ) Simple and repairable transportation … And a whole lot more open and unfenced land than there is in the US today .
When my late wife and I went from our home in Laguna Bch. CA, up I-1 the “Coast Highway” to Canada and back. We stoped whenever we felt. Did some shopping, camping and staying with friends along the way, with no set schedule. It was great!
Each time–and there have been many times–my wife and I run Wisconsin’s River Road (Highway 35) in no matter what vehicle we’re in or on (bicycles), we are reminded that the simple beauties in life are the most important.
2 different trips, One from Arizona up the PCH thru Orgegon and Washington…then a ferry ride from Bellingham to Alaska…From there up the ALCAN thru BC, Yukon and down thru Alaska to Anchorage
The trip back was from Anchorage to Vancouver via the ALCAN, from Seattle to Yakima to Salt Lake City to Vegas to Tucson.
Both trips were pretty spectacular…the trip up was in a 91 Chevy Suburban and the trip back was in my 99 Dodge Ram…We had a blast, there was no rush…we had all the time in the world to just mosey along…I would give anything to do it again.
We were finally able to afford a new car and we had to have a Dodge Daytona because of the NHRA Pro Stock Team was coming out back then. We went to the races in Atlanta from Ohio. We were there all weekend, had tower suite then on the way home we decided to take the back roads all the way. We took any road going north just using a map, stopping anywhere we wanted taking our time. We saw all kinds of really cool stuff. We ate in small town places and had some of the best food in the South. We rode through the Smokey Mtns. It was over 25 years ago and my wife and son still talk about that trip.
I went t Southern Calif. to go drag racing for 2 weeks in ’68 – stayed 10 years.
In 2009, my friend Ray Jones and I set out in his new Dodge Challenger, from Neodesha, Kansas, and drove 22 hours nonstop to Ocala, Florida, to see Don Garlits’ Museum of Drag Racing!! After a night in the hotel, next door, we spent the better part of the following day at the museum. Don was on his way to Bakersfield, but T.C. was there, and remembered me from a weekend we had spent swappin’ tales at Kansas City a few months before. He proceeded to give Ray and I the most intimate tour of the museum, as only T.C. Lemons could! I stood in awe of the man, sometimes with tears running down my face from laughing! But, alas, our day ended, and Ray and I spent the next 5 days chasing trains, all the way home! Roanoke, Virginia, Cass, West Virginia, Cumberland, Maryland, Altoona, Orbisonia, and Horse Shoe Curve, in Pennsylvania, and a stop at the US Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio! 16 states in 7 days! Had the time of my life. And cruisin’ in a new Challenger was like icing on the cake! At one point near Cas, West Virginia, Ray was doing a little “road racing” around the curves in the mountains, enjoying his new car. After a while, I had to ask him to slow down, because I was getting sea sick!! lol Man, I was in the Navy and never got sea sick! Must be testament to Rays drivin’ skills!! lol
Every road trip Bob Chiluk and I take to photograph something for BangShift.com is the best road trip. We see cool stuff, usually take our time on back roads to get there, and meet cool people we never thought we’d get to meet. If you ever get the chance to sit in a motel room in Iowa with Chad Reynolds at 2AM, take it.