Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

The time has arrived for us to depart on an adventure of a lifetime. We leave here at the break of dawn for our 2 month trip cross country with our tiny teardrop driving to California and back ("back" being in the plan). I'll use this as our travel log, much in the way I used the link below as our "build journal". I'll look to post about our travels, with pics and videos, when possible. Basically taking a somewhat northerly route out-- pretty much straight thru center of the country (South Dakota-Wyoming sort of direction). The return will be more southerly to avoid any potential of running into snow (hopefully).

Happy Trails ahead..........Giddyup!!!!!

John

John, so happy for you two!
Looking forward to following your travels and your journaling. I see your west destination is somewhere in Central California. Hope you are planning on visiting the Redwoods while up that way. Jedediah Smith Redwoods (camping available) and Burlington Campground in the Ave of the Giants are great. Reservations should be made far in advance. Same with Big Sur if you turn that direction.
Safe travels,
Ralph

Quite the adventure!

Chicago is nasty. When I get to the Chicago toll booth sections on a trip, without an ipass, I just blow past each toll booth. Then when time permits, I pay all the tolls online (I think there is a 30 day grace period to pay online without any penalty whatsoever).

After the trip, I go online at the Illinois toll road web page and pay all the skipped tolls in a lump sum, with my credit card. It is far easier to skip all toll booths since it is easier to pay that way. Otherwise, I have to keep the receipts and spend a lot of time figuring out which tolls I skipped and which ones I did not skip.

BON CHANCE

sw

Good luck John, and have fun!

Looking forward to reading your log.

Tom

Have a good trip.

Thanks all for the well wishes.... a little rain here this morning as we prepare to pull out.
Ralph thanks again for the previous tip on Cody WY. We do plan on spending some time there.
First destination is Max V Shaul State Park, a bit past Albany.

John

Bon Voyage! See you did depart EARLY!

Safe travels, will be following and hope to get'r done someday.

Bob

Safe travels John! Looking forward to the trip reports.

Chris

Yech. Southern Idaho... at least you'll see the Craters.



Tony

Wow! Nice trip. Have a great time!


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Monday September 12

Arrived Max V Shaul State Park 3:30pm. Once off Interstate 88 and heading down NY 30 we passed over this little creek. There crossing the middle of the road was the largest snapping turtle I've ever seen. Looked like a miniature dinosaur or crocodile. So cool. We kept on our way, headed through Schoharie and we noticed billboards for the local Corn Hole Championship this coming weekend. Unfortunately we'll have to miss it. Passed plenty of fresh produce and cider stands.


There was only one other rig in the park and we basically had the pick of any site we wanted. I suppose the camping season is pretty much finished this neck of the woods. After we got set up we went for a hike on one of the trails. Did a little geocaching, saw a ton of (well, about half dozen) red spotted newts and plenty of unfamiliar vegetation (spending some time deciding if the 3 leaf plants were poison ivy or something else. Some was and some was not... but still looked pretty scary and best be avoided).




When we returned we made dinner. The first meal cooked on our new Partner Stove. Fried potatoes with jalapeño peppers, eggs and some down home tomato salsa mash up. Tasty good.... In the middle of cooking it started raining harder than it has rained all summer. Torrential downpour. We remained somewhat dry under our hatch and kept saying "glad we're not tent camping". I did enjoy seeing the rain water fly out from the hurricane hinge being extended 3/4 inch out from the trailer side. Still raining really heavy here at 8pm but nice hearing the rain bounce off the teardrop roof.


Tomorrow we travel on to Lake Erie State Park.
John

Stay dry John! If you can, snag some of that cider on your way across the state. (Can't get it like Upstate New York anywhere else!)

Tom

Tom&Shelly wrote:snag some of that cider on your way across the state. (Can't get it like Upstate New York anywhere else!)

When we left this morning we took a different route out and was never able to find any other cider stands
We'll keep looking. Thanks, Tom, for the tip though!

TUESDAY-SEPT 13
Left Shaul Park around 9:30am. The Subaru's windshield wipers had quite a workout today. The types of rainfall where you can't see out the windshield. White knuckle drives for parts of the day. Lots of corn fields and dairy farms as we made our way to Lake Erie. Beautiful green countrysides. Lush. Extreme hills.... up and down. Took some really local roads which made the travel a bit longer but much more interesting than highway driving. Made it to Lake Erie State Park around 5:30pm. Got a great spot. Not right on the lake but close; within a short walk. The lake is huge, like you'd think you were on the ocean. Pedalled around on our bikes exploring a bit.... till I got a flat tire. Will find a bike shop in the morning. Cooked salmon croquettes, and sliced tomato with red onion for dinner.
John