Mike & Andy's insane road trip (56k should run in fear)

[BB72CHEVKT]

Great job!

[rambler]

awesome pictures and stories,, maybe you can post more pics and such on a DVD, and sell it for donations to the board? I know I would be interested..... that is some beautiful country you went through.

I know all about the Kum & Gos, they were mostly in Arkansas areas, and they bought a bounch of "Quick Trips" near central MO, and changed the names.. I like your quote on that... "I'm just saying...."

[fine69]

As great as Andy makes this roadtrip tale.......... It was really more fun than you can imagine.

The comentary he provides really doesn't do the trip justice. We had so much freakin' fun it wasn't funny......Ah, i don't think thats possible now is it????

Oh crap. He forgot to add the story of Mr.Oriental who drug his Hybrid van along a large cement pole in the CircusCircus parking garage. Trying to park by two cool guys in a green "love" machine.

[grinch4om]

awesome

[71swb4x4]

Hey Andy, I think you photographed a misspelling.
What is a missle? I assume they mean missile.

[screwballl]

Excellent photojournal! I wish I had a camera with some of my trips... I have been coast to coast in a car, but only flown once in my life (back in Sept 2008 at age 30 from FL to SD for my bros wedding).

Not trying to steal any spotlight, just sharing a few of my adventures.

Lets see, some 12 years ago western SD to northern Cali, down to SF/Oakland, then east to Reno along 80 to Cheyenne back up to SD.
Then several road trips from SD to here (northwest FL) and back (a touch under 2000 miles one way).

I would say I have well over 30,000 miles just from roads trips (250+ mile trips) in the past 10 years (not regular every day driving). For example it is 260 miles from here to New Orleans. If you add in the short trips say 100-250 miles, that would probably add at least another 10,000 - 20,000 miles in the past 10 years.

I would say the best places from my trips have been the redwoods in North Cali, the salt flats, Bighorn mountains in northern WY, Black Hills of Western SD, summertime in the middle of a growing cornfield in Iowa, the St Louis Arch, amazing deep lake effect snow in Kalamazoo Michigan, Reno, Biloxi MS, New Orleans and the French quarter, Downtown Chicago, and numerous other places.

The only places I have not been is the southern route say along I-10 west of New Orleans to SoCal, the Pacific northwest (WA, OR, ID) and have not been up the east coast yet. So I still have 20 states to go.

[70rs/ss]

Andy, is it me or are the last several photos, now red X's?? Too cool, my family and I took the PCH South out of WA and all the way down into the redwoods about 2-3 years ago, lots of way cool old iron out there!!

Bonneville is on my list of to do's but I am afraid I may never leave or will have to go back every year for ever?! I want to make a run, don't care in what or how fast, just to say "I DID IT!"

[1LoC10]

Looks like a fun trip.... good job on the story and pics too

[LUV2XCLR8]

Awesome pic's Dudes

[Palf70Step]

Good job on the write up. Glad everything worked out good for youns!

So when is the next one?

[ETsC10]

What an epic journey! Great pics! Great Story!

I would think this will become one
of the threads voted BEST of 2008!

I also think it's about time the 'Dew' company
starts kicking in some royalties ...

Thanks gentlemen, what a treat!



ET

[Longhorn Man]

I already have a trip in the works for May, but nothing like this.... a tropical island vacation.

[67cruiser]

Great story and some very cool pics!

[Botietruck]

Great job!! Enjoyed the photos and stories!!

[68C15]

sounds like you had an awesome trip. the narration was top notch as well as the pics. speaking of pics, I really like the ones from WY.
the ones from NE, well, it just makes you want to slip into a coma and hope things will be better when you come around. places like that is why they invented XM radio.

Andy, i have to mention something. about every time I see a pic of you, you are wearing your work pants.

[El Jay]

[QUOTE=68C15;3076792]sounds like you had an awesome trip. the narration was top notch as well as the pics. speaking of pics, I really like the ones from WY.
the ones from NE, well, it just makes you want to slip into a coma and hope things will be better when you come around. places like that is why they invented XM radio.

Andy, i have to mention something. about every time I see a pic of you, you are wearing your work pants.[/QUOTE]

Be happy he's wearing pants.
Don't even think about asking.

[Longhorn Man]

i like my work pants... they come off easily.

[kingsolver72]

Very cool..I love the pictures of the mountains.No one paints a more beautiful picture than God.
The Nebraska pics looked like I-70 anywhere in western (flatland)Kansas.
I'm wondering if Mike made it home with any hubcaps.
By the way...Jack Kerouac has nothing on you boys from Ohio.

[pritch]

Dang, that looks like a great time. I love road trips. That stretch from
Bendover, Nv/Utah State line to Salt Lake is pretty cool. Just don't get too far off the beaten path. It's 120 miles from Wendover to Salt Lake, and on my 17th birthday I was on a road trip, nearing home, and my points broke in my dizzy. I was leaning against the mile marker 60 post hitchhiking. I stood there for 2 hours 'till I remembered I had a spare points in my toolbox.

thanks for the pics, guys!

[Yukon Jack]

What a great post to read - sitting in a hotel lobby right now and this was a great way to pass some time. I can't pick a favorite photo - too many great ones - the first set of the very tall trees in the snow are very awesome - I can't believe how tall the trees are!!!!!! Thanks for taking the time to post all of this!

[Longhorn Man]

Originally Posted by stllookn

Whoa....dude...AWESOME PICS and commentary! I think that is a tear in my eye...no wait...it was just the dog farting!!!!! My vote for the best pic is the one of TSA opening the COOLER OF DOOM!!

Mike.... That is the PERFECT name for it... I now have a label on it saying Cooler Of Doom!

Originally Posted by abebummy26

That pic from that lake out by the salt flats is amazing.
it is now my background pic.

e-mail me cockroach93@yahoo and let me know exactly WHICH salt flap pic it is that you like, and I'll e-mail you a high res copy... makes MUCH better wall paper

Originally Posted by GOPAPA

Did you happen to see Camp 18 on your way to the Beach and back on Hyw 26 ? And another question :: was there no signs saying chains required "?

There were signs. Mike and I agree that $100 chains, and then NEVER installing them again in our life... not money well spent. In reality, we were kinda stupid for stopping on an incline like that.

Originally Posted by dieselarmy13

Andy, I'm going to kindly pretend you did not say all that mean stuff about my beloved home state of Nebraska. My feelings have truly been crushed.

It's all in fun. We ALL know that the fun stuff in a given state is not always right off the freeway. The states after that wasn't even worth typing about.

Originally Posted by Sub-versive

Where on the coast did you guys go? The pics look like Cannon Beach or maybe Seaside...Oh and pics of holding Babe's balls at stumps of mystery are a tradition.

I think it was Seaside! When i stood under the statue to get out of the rain... I just couldn't resist it.

[Longhorn Man]

Originally Posted by Jerry Jones

Well, I must say, that was worth the wait. Simply awsome! The photos were top notch, and the commentary made it like I was there (for more than a few hours). Great job fellers.

Coupla notes:

To kick your'e keys to Oakland from the GG bridge you need to kick them to the Bay bridge first.

Larry and I are cousins (not the kissing kind... ok maybe once or twice). His dad and my dad were brothers, and his mom and my mom were sisters (we are on each others "if I need an organ" list).

The scenic route we sent you on was hwy 160, and the "canal" you were traveling back and forth across was the Sacramento River.

As far as Larry keeping the auto store in business... I think he does it single handedly sometimes.

I ran into the guy with the "green" truck a couple of days ago, he primed the bed since we saw it.



And El Jay... you only beat me by 3 1/2 hours.

I was goin off of what someone else said on teh bridge part. It didn't quite sound right to me, but she is like, WAY smarter than I am. Guess i gotta go give her a hard time now.

Has the Sacramento River been modified by man? It looked so much like a canal or something... didn't look very natural at all.

The green truck, the drivers side was already in red oxide primer... I dunno if that's what you saw or not. I've always liked the weathered look if it 'weathered' properly... and his yellow showing through green hit the nail on the head.

And like I said before... it was great meeting you. Give us a heads up if you are headed this way.

[Longhorn Man]

Originally Posted by CG

You guys were smart not to go out onto the salt this time of year. You could have easily gotten very stuck out there.

When I was a kid my dad took us on some family road trips....I hated it. But now as an adult road trips are probably my most favorite thing to do.

Mark, the kid at the Mc D's at the state line warned us about the same thing. There were just too many reasons NOT to go on the salt... verses one reason to do it. (we wanted to... the only reason TO do it)
Funny you menton the chlid verses adult view of the road trips... I just spoke to my son last week about taking him on a shorter road trip... and we have a destination picked out, with some sweet things to see there... just My son and I, look for it this spring!

Originally Posted by El Jay

Hmmmmmm. I can make you 1 helluva deal on a house!

Larry... a good price here, isn't even a DOWN PAYMENT there.
100k to 150 k will get you a decent house, blue collar side of town, in a decent area here... mike's town, you can get a but better for that money. I know you are a few miles from SF... but what would 150K get you out there?

Originally Posted by Frizzle Fry

Wow, that's just plain cool. I had no idea what you guys had planned when you left here. If it were me I would have probably taken the shortest route home, but you guys did it up right! Too bad we didn't get a pic of Andy's expression when I opened the door and said "Custom Camper Guy?" (as if I didn't know who LHM was)

The route we took was mostly based on the weather. Had it not been so snowy, we probably woulda just taken shortest A to B route. I'm glad we didn't.
When you were saying custom camper guy... I was like WTF is he talking about? Huh? Did I miss something?
yeah... it took me a second. Fine69 and I were talkin about your projects for quite a while on the trip... like I said, you got some amazing stuff goin on in there. I'm glad brad set this up to meet you... it won't be forgotten

Originally Posted by glock35ipsc

I did in fact pick the chic over these two. But I have a great story (that I can't tell) because of it!

Hmmm... I think our speculation, may be worse than the facts... esp in my sick twisted mind!

Originally Posted by 70rs/ss

Andy, is it me or are the last several photos, now red X's??
Bonneville is on my list of to do's but I am afraid I may never leave or will have to go back every year forever?! I want to make a run, don't care in what or how fast, just to say "I DID IT!"

The red X's may have been a slow connection on your ISP (dial up maybe?), or your actual computer... it could have been the board 'bogging down'... I suspect your computer just timed out before the last few showed up. I checked and rechecked... they show up on my computer, the one at work, a few friend's computers...
As for doing the salt flats... you are enough of a gear head, that just standing there in the dead of winter with soggy (undriveable) conditions.... you'd STILL love it. just knowing the history of our hobby that happened right where you are standing... it is truely amazing.
Look over the records... there's TONS of records not set. Odd ball stuff. You can do it without spending a ton of cash.

Originally Posted by 68C15

Andy, i have to mention something. about every time I see a pic of you, you are wearing your work pants.

OK, my first answer was typical Andy garbage... I do wear work pants most of the time. If you've ever wonr them, you may 'get it'. Comfortable, durable, long lasting, cleans easily... I tend to like them more than jeans and they hold up to "andy use' better than slacks or dockers type pants.

Originally Posted by kingsolver72

Very cool..I love the pictures of the mountains.No one paints a more beautiful picture than God.
The Nebraska pics looked like I-70 anywhere in western (flatland)Kansas.
I'm wondering if Mike made it home with any hubcaps.

I'm not sure if I said this in the original post... but I have never been one to phot nature. My favorite stuff that's not automotive related, is old barns, bridges, and old buildings... in use, or boarded up. My last major road trip, i was too buisy driving to get any real good photos, so I didn't get into it like I did this time. but I totally got into the view.
I feel you on the I-70 comment. I would say it looks like I-70 from just ewast of Denver, clear through Ohio. It doesn't get pretty again till PA.
As for thu hubcaps.. Mike took them off before we left Brads. He couldn't stand only havin them in the front, so we went rollin NASCAR style!

[Longhorn Man]

I would like to thank everyone for the kind words on my photos and comentary. I was honestly afraid that it was going to be booring.
I also want to thank fine69 and low fuel prices... and e-bay ( ) for making it all possible. I can't leave out the hospitality of Brad and El Jay, meeting jerry jones and Frizzle Fry also made it all fun.

[Jerry Jones]

I am no historian, but I think the Sac. river is in its natural state other than levee reinforcements.

I may have missed the red primer on that 'ol green stepper before.