The Great Northern Redneck Adventure - Final Planning

[RedneckExpress]

Well, time is drawing near for my first transcontinental Truck Camper adventure at long last!

Time to finally add more states to my rather pathetic states map .



For a great many months I wondered if this trip was going to ever be anything more than a pipe dream, especially earlier in the year when doom forecasts of $5.00/gal gasoline was being shouted from the highest roof tops and fuel prices were in a rapid spiral up. 

But, sanity eventually prevailed and the doom that was proclaimed did not occur and I ended up being wise in my planning to simply keep saving and see how things panned out. 

So, now, with roughly 4.5 weeks left on my work contract, I am finally starting to come down to the departure wire and am thoroughly looking forward to my first adventure with the Redneck Express out of Oregon and further away than she's ever been before. 

Over the course of the past year, I've been on and off doing a little planning to get the main route down, and this is the map I have thus far, though it does not detail a great many stops along the way that will likely occur, it does give a general mileage map of my route. 

http://tinyurl.com/GreatRedneckJourney

I may end up needing to break the map down into multiple parts as I've actually run up against the limit of route adjustments/destinations that Google Maps can handle on a single route planner. 

Main destinations

   
• Lake Coeur D'Alene - Returning to visit the surrounding small towns, like Wallace, Kellogg, Smelterville, etc... and ride some more of the Coeur D'Alene Trail along the converted UP RR right-of-way as well as ride the Route of the Hiawatha Trail along the old Milwaukee Road Right-of-way.
  
• Glacier National Park - Returning to visit it again on my own time and schedule.  Visited here back in 2004 traveling with family, whose schedule was alot tighter than I would have liked, possibly tour the S&S Factory in Kalispell if they're allowing tours.  Also plan to spend a bit more time near Flathead Lake. 
  
• Yellowstone National Park - First time first to this park for me, originally was planned to visit it back on the same trip that I first saw Glacier in 2004, but never happened. 
  
• Devil's Gateway - A side stop on the way east to see Devil's Tower, it's a large cut in a rock face that marked a major point along the Oregon Trail.
  
• Devil's Tower - Ever since I saw Close Encounters of the Third Kind, I've always wanted to see this fascinating geological creation.
  
• Mount Rushmore, Custer National Park, Crazy Horse Monument, The Badlands - Only ever seen photos of these places, more national parks and monuments I've wanted to visit.
  
• Wall Drug - Can't truly know how tacky a tourist trap is till you've been there at least once to say, "Yeah, it was just like you said it was."
  
• Minnesota & Wisconsin - I know very little of either state and don't even have a clear picture of what they'd look like in my head as I've never seen them as an adult, and their on my way to see Michigan.   These are two areas where any insight into Road Side Attractions, Monuments, etc... etc... would be greatly appreciated.
  
• Michigan, the UP, the Mackinaw Bridge, Detroit and all the trimmings - Getting close to my mid-way point, here. First state on the route where I have family again.  Read a great many tales, some or all possible tall, from books like the Cat Who.... Mysteries and seen a grand panorama of pictures from other TCers who've been there to want to visit.   Plus, there's the Ford Museum in Detroit, and any other tidbits I might find in motorcity before turning west to Grand Rapids to visit one of my Uncles.
  
• Indiana, Elkhart, the RV Museum, some camper manufacturers - Some more RV related visits along the way, and of course Lafayette to be able to say I've eaten at both of the remaining XXX Root Beer Thirst Stations . 
  
• Kankakee, IL - The Mid way point I need to reach by September 28-29th.  Dawn will be flying into Chicago on the 30th and staying till around the 11th of October to visit with family she's never met and see Chicago and the great many things Lincln. This is where I'll be spending the most time in one spot, visiting Springfield, Chicago, and way down to the south end later on to visit Darwin and his 1st gen Cummins that he did a Dually conversion on .  And possibly even over to Pocohontas, IL to say that I've visited the hometown of one of the female Country Musicians I like .
  
• More to come as people make suggestions!

So, now, that you know the route and what I've got on my plate so far, it's time for all of youins to offer up what I'm missing, the Diners, Drive Ins, Dives, Tourist Traps, Corny Road Side Attractions, and so on.

I won't be able to make this trip again, at least not for a few years and I want to see everything I can.

I'd love to go further east, and I may yet, depending on fuel prices and how much money has been spent by the time I reach the mid-way point.

I dream of going all the way to the other side to reach the other ocean that only exists as words in my mind, but I can only save so much money up in the time I have left, and there's still so much that the truck and camper need done to get them ready to handle a 6000 mile adventure such as this. 

[Oz]

I hope you'll be "taking us with you" so-to-speak!

[RedneckExpress]

You and a lot of others, I'll have this running in duplicate in a number of locations, with my main blog being the master repository, which I hope to get updates out ever day or two as I go.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Sounds like an amazingly fun trip!  If you are going so far east and do have the time and money, I highly recommend going all the way to the coast in New England.  There is just something about the North Atlantic ocean that is hauntingly beautiful.

Can't wait to read your adventures!

Kev

[RedneckExpress]

Due to the limitations of Google maps, I ended up having to break the map into two pieces, the route east and the route west to add anything more. 

So far, here's the update general route going west, it's still fairly basic.

Westward Bound - The Great Northern Redneck Adventure

And here's a couple maps I'd like to do, but are kinda near the pipe dream range due to raising the extra money ($500 over my original budget to go all the way to Charleston, providing gas stays at an average for $4.009) needed to add the extra miles.

Westward Bound and Down - Tennessee added

Altantic, Ho!  Eastern Seaboard at last!

[Oz]

Looks like an awesome trip!

[Stripe]

Wait, I'm Confused, are u heading west? Or east first? 

CMM500

[RedneckExpress]

East, then West.   The latest post is the western bound half, I had to break it off from the original map because I couldn't add anymore to that map.