Wednesday 15 October 2014

Roadtrip Recap

I'm back.

After spending the night at a rest stop in Trinidad CA, I drove north along the 101. What should have been a lovely drive along the coast turned into a bit of a nightmare. The skies opened and let loose a biblical flood in the form of precipitation. If I were a automotive journalist, I'd describe the handling of a 98 Windstar as loose and wallowing. Driving up the coast in the dark of night during the torrential downpour took all my undivided attention and was quite exhausting. I had initially aimed for Lincoln City but made poor time due to the inclement conditions. I deemed it was safer to wait out the storm in Newport and determine whether I should head inland in the morning.

I did just that. The weather didn't look like it was lifting and I didn't want a repeat of the night before. Frankly, I wanted to get back to Vancouver...so I hit the I-5 and drove the 700 odd clicks home. At best, the weather was spotty and caused me to pull off the interstate a couple of times due to dangerous conditions (0/0 visibility). As much as I wanted to make time - it wasn't worth the risk of being involved in a giant pile up.*

So what did I learn?...

In retrospect the last week was an interesting experiment in the open ended road trip concept. It was the first time I had properly been on the road for a while so I was re-learning some vandwelling lessons but also some new ones.

On the planning front. I planned too little and too much at the same time. Initially, I had two potential loops. Vancouver - Reno - Boise - Vancouver or Vancouver - Eureka....then back some how. I ended up changing my a couple of times and did sort of a hybrid of the two. Here is the loop I completed. Point to point, it's around 2800 km...which is a fuck ton of driving for 7 days - even for the 10 I initially planned on.

So, in the future, I think no route should be planned. Just a direction and a time frame. South for 10 days. This leaves it flexible. Throughout the trip I had Reno and driving through Nevada on my mind - so despite enjoying Oregon - I pushed onwards when there wasn't really any need to.

The part I didn't plan enough of was WHAT I wanted to see and do. This could be done the night before. I would research the parks / sites of interest on the next leg of the journey (this would leave planning flexible and spontaneous). In addition  I need to be prepared to go out of my way to check out the attractions. I wish I had checked out Smiths Rock State Park north of Bend - but it was north and I was heading south. Everyone has their own focal point for adventures. I'm particularly interested in the bioms that the states has (particularly those that differ from Canada). As the site can be quite vast and remote - I feel this sort of site seeing requires more research in advance than, say, exploring the downtown core of a city.

Staying away from big chains to eat is also tricky...especially in the States where chains reign supreme. They are safe and reliable and I am not an adventurous soul when it comes to food. Even with reviews online, it's hard to tell what places will be good and frankly - every time I've branched out in the States - I haven't been overly impressed. I ate at a pub in Newport and despite solid reviews, it would not have past muster in Victoria or Vancouver.  It was ok...but I've been spoiled. I expect things like house made patties in a burger I'm paying $15 for. I guess that is the gamble one should be prepared to take.

American's love their highways. One feature I've overlooked up until living in a van is rest stops. I feel there are more of them south of the border. They allow for 8hr stays and have decent bathrooms (a lot of Canadian stop don't allow long stays, which is counter intuitive). I would rank them in the slot above Walmart parking spots. Safe and reliable. I enjoy that I'm in a position to rate Walmart parking lots and rest stops...

Gas was cheap. That was a nice change.

One thing about this trip that I found particularly hard, was the lack of social interaction. I could only chat with friends and family when online (don't have international texting). Being in the middle of nowhere and driving so much, I didn't interact much with the locals either. In the past, I generally had orienteering events and social reasons for my wanderings (visiting friends etc)...I'm not sure how to over come this, or if I should just embrace it.



* On a side note, American readers, if it's raining - PUT ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS (I seriously can't believe the US doesn't have day time running lights as they seem like a no brainer).

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