Good buddy Peter and I go back about 40 years now. That’s hard to believe when I think about it….he must be pretty old now. We grew up together in the So Cal aerospace industry, chasing each other across companies that made bombs, aerial refueling equipment, helicopter blades, and more. We’re both retired now, and we’re both enjoying life. Peter and I have a lot in common (you might remember him as Python Pete), including an interest in guns, motorcycles (Peter bought one of the first RX3 motorcycles to arrive in America), photography, and travel. Peter and his wife recently wrapped up an epic road trip in the starship Wingnutz (it’s the roadburner you see above), and he wrote a guest blog for us showing just a few of the highlights. Here you go, folks…it’s a great read. Enjoy!
My wife, Sasi, and I went on an epic road trip a couple of months ago. The impetus for this trip was our nephew’s wedding in Massachusetts. We figured this was the perfect opportunity to camp our way across America (and get the hell out of California for a while). The vehicle for this journey was a 2019 Ford Transit van that we had converted into a 4×4 camper van. This van is pretty much self-contained and we can live off the grid for three or four days before we have to resupply the water tank. With this setup we can choose not to stay in campgrounds thereby avoiding other cranky people.
Starting in So Cal we drove north through Nevada. At our first campsite in Nevada at Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge, we watched in utter amazement one evening as a hawk used its talons to snatch a bat right out of the air mid-flight no more than 15 feet directly in front of us. Never saw that before.
We continued north into Idaho and Montana enjoying the spectacular scenery of the Sawtooth and Bitterroot Mountains. One day we drove a measly 50 miles because we just kept finding fantastic sights and places to camp. Our campsites in this area were usually way up dirt roads next to streams (with very cold, invigorating water…like 44 °F cold.) and a couple of times at altitudes exceeding 8,000 feet. We thought we were gonna see and smell a lot of smoke from all the fires in the Pacific Northwest, but nada. This is definitely an area we are going back to in order to explore more extensively. We spent too much time in this area jeopardizing an on time arrival to the wedding.
So, we quickly made up time heading east across the Northern Plains to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. You don’t wanna see people? The UP is one place to do that as it’s pretty sparsely populated and very heavily forested. The few locals we encountered were extremely friendly and helpful. Sasi was excited to be able to pick wild blackberries at our campsite which was just off a snowmobile trail. There was no snow as it was late August and nobody else was crazy enough to drive something other than a snowmobile on this trail. Solitude is great as it gives you the opportunity to observe and listen to the wildlife (the forest kind of wildlife as opposed to the city kind).
Next significant stop was Niagara Falls which was one of the highlights for Sasi. It was her first visit and she was absolutely overwhelmed as was I even though I’ve visited before. We walked to all the scenic overlooks and did the Maid of the Mist boat tour (worth it). Joe spoke previously of these electric motor driven boats. They are indeed quite quiet; however, the falling water is not. Our campsite in this area was on Lake Ontario and in the evening, we could see the sparkling lights of Toronto across the lake. Unfortunately, we could not visit the Canucks because of crazy COVID-related border rules.
Off to the wedding in the Boston area. It was nice.
The next highpoint of the trip was to eat live Maine lobster in Bar Harbor, Maine. This is a beautiful island and although there were way too many tourists visiting, we managed to get a table in an otherwise deserted restaurant overlooking the water. The lobster has a better, fresher taste in Maine than the so-called live Maine lobster we get in California. The food was amazing and so was the scenery as we drove around the island after lunch.
I wanted to go see the northern parts of Maine because the maps show hardly any roads in that area. Hell, we have a 4×4 so who needs roads, right? “Wrong!” said the boss/copilot/navigator/cook/wife. Never piss off any of those people or you will regret it many times over (I keep learning). So, we headed west into New Hampshire and Vermont and bought copious amounts of locally sourced maple syrup.
We followed the Appalachian Mountains south all the way to the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. We did not see Dolly Parton but did find great places to camp including one place where we met a couple from Spain who are five years into traversing a good part of the world in their custom RV that looks more like a military vehicle than an RV. See www.erg-adventure.com.
We then meandered kind of Northwest and finally just west across the very flat Great Plains stopping for a few days in Colorado to visit family we had not seen in two years. A few more incredible campsites came our way in the Rockies. The Forest Rangers here were super nice in guiding us to the out of the way camping spots we prefer.
We finally made it home after five weeks, 30 states and 9,000 spectacular miles. Don’t ask about fuel economy because a 4×4 van does not understand economy. However, you can’t put a price on the sights and experiences we enjoyed on this trip!
That’s an awesome story, Peter, and it looks like you and Sasi had an amazing adventure. Thanks very much for sharing it with us!
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