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Ready for the longish drive down to Moab (Nov. 2012).
There are only a few things in life better than a climbing road trip…at least I’m sure there are though I can’t think of any off hand. The excitement of preparing and packing the car. Selecting the audio books. Choosing the right music. Pushing through snow, rain, and dust storms. Pushing the hours. Pushing the mileage. Pulling into random gas stations at 3 in the morning. The redneck towns. The tweaker rest stops. The junk food. The shitty road food. The feeling of living in a self contained capsule. The open highway. The icy road. The sleepiness. The highway hypnosis. The caffeine buzz. The speeding tickets. The greasy diners. The never-closed Chinese joints. The small-town cops. The search for coffee. The search for sunshine. The DUI checkpoints. The snow tire checkpoints. The random piss stops. The pissed off truckers. The hours of self reflection.
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Driving grades for trips out of Portland.
We’ve done a handful of outings over the years. In my mind, an outing is a road trip once you pass the 600 or 700 mile radius or more than 3 or 4 days. Anything less is a walk to the corner store. On the more deranged side were the (regular) weekend drive to Moab (1000 miles) and one or two three-day weekend drives to Cochise (1500 miles). Probably too wise (old?) to do such bullshit again. On the funner end of the scale were the weeklong outings to the desert and a couple of short jaunts in Europe . Even reminiscing about our cross continent drives (5 to date) gives me that fuzzy warm feeling. A handful of random pics with the road trip theme.
Photos
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Driving through the scenic Pelion Peninsula on the Aegean Sea (east coast of Greece) with an unconcerned village resident taking a nap in the middle of the highway (Sept. 2008).
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Blondie and Shirley at The Owl trailhead after an overnight push from Portland…much snow greeted us that morning…don’t bitch: Blondie sat it out in the car while we climbed in the national park (March 2005).
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Shirley in front of our van taxi in some village. A quick stop about half way thorough the ~12ish hour drive from Antananarivo to Camp Catta (a distance of a little more than 400km; Sept. 2011).
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The northern approach road to the North Six Shooter has a few surprises. A small ditch proved a bit too much for our SUV and the morning turned into a project of a different sort. Indian Creek, Utah (Oct. 30, 2005).
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The crux of a climbing day in Thailand – the ride in on the scooter. At least we looked cool (& felt cooler).
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On a long and lonesome highway…Shirley and Blondie taking a lunch break somewhere (yes) east of Omaha during our long trans-continent drive home (Oct. 2008).
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Shirley and her new ride at the Thessaloniki airport…finally picked up our rental car in the morning for the drive to Meteora (Sept. 2008).
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The metropolis of Why, AZ…..or was it Sonora already?? Can’t tell with all the border partrol checkpoints it took to get there.
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Shirley in an olive orchard somewhere on the Pelion Peninsula on the east coast of Greece (Sept. 2008).
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US 93 in Nevada somewhere between Ely and Las Vegas…freezing fog & generally shitty driving conditions (Dec. 2010).
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Shirley admiring her parking job (yes, only 2 tires make full contact with the ground) after our climb of Vinatzer route on Third Sella Tower (Aug. 2008).
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Typical drive home from the deserts. This is the pass on I84 in Oregon just east of Pendleton (November 2006).
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Shirley and Blondie getting ready to head home. Red Rocks, Turkey Day Weekend 2009. Submitted for my TR.
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Relocating to Montserrat (…after some good bakery breakfast). This is the charming little town (village?) of Ayerbe in Aragon (Sept. 2010).
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Three wankers (…well four as Blondie is there too…then again, she is the real deal) on their way to Squamish (Aug. 2013).
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Shirley done with a lunch in Ely, Nevada. One of the very few charming towns in the state (May 2012).
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What next? Shirley and Blondie checking out the guidebook at the base of the Upper Breadloaves formation (over a couple of beers; June 2012).
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Shirley flying down an autobahn (at a blazing 120 km/h) just south of Munich in our rented mini something (July 2010).
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Shirley packing up the junk at the car with Tower Of Babel in the background. Zenyatta-Entrada climbs the sunny prow of the formation (~600 feet). The arduous approach to the base can also be seen (Apr. 2008).
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Shirley at the base of the Doupiani Rock (Ostkante route follows the ridge in the foreground) in full lichen bloom following some days of rain (Sept. 2008).
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Shirley & Blondie passed out in the backseat on our drive over to City Of Rocks (Memorial Day Weekend 2002).