Gimme an open road...

December 7, 2007 1:24 PM

I want to plan a long road trip by myself. I'm not sure exactly where I want to go, but I do know that I want to take some pictures, and have an adventure.

This has been an incredibly crazy and big year for me. I made some huge changes this year and for the first time in my life am on my own. I know I won't always be in this transitional state, but right now I want to take advantage of the freedom that I've created for myself.

I'm very busy at work and will be until around the 18th. I don't have any holiday plans with my family, and they will live if I tell them I won't be around this year.

I was thinking about taking a vacation somewhere, but now that it's so late, I don't think it's really feasible for me to book a flight anyplace and I don't have a lot of time to search for deals or plan.

I can, however, easily plan a road trip. I'd like to rent a car, bring my iPod, and head for points uncharted. I'd like to stop off places on the way where I can meet people, talk to them, just making brief connections with interesting people along the way. I'd like to take pictures, write about what comes up, what I learn from people.

I live in Southern California. I think I will probably go for driving up the coast, all the way up to Seattle and back, my best friend lives in Seattle. Along the way I may visit some family in Sacramento. Other than that, I don't really have much else to plan for.

I've seen most of the sites of the Pacific coast already -- The Madonna Inn, San Simeon, Hearst Castle, San Francisco, Lassen National park, Crater Lake, etc etc. I took a road trip up the coast to Bend, Oregon when I was a kid, and it was great fun. Still, I'm not looking so much for sight-seeing as I'm looking to stop in interesting towns, find a bar (or something else) and talk to some folks, and hit the open road and listen to music in between. I do think I'd like to stop and take a hike at some point, or spend some time alone in nature as well.

I can have up to 12 days to do this if I want, so time isn't really all that important. I could go up to Seattle and even go east from there.

Here are two things I'd love to hear suggestions on:

1.) Any interesting towns between LA and Seattle that you would recommend stopping in, any interesting bars, clubs or coffeehouses or other community places?

2.) As gregarious and extroverted as I am, I haven't really done the "go into a bar and make some friends" kinda thing. If I'm alone in a bar it's usually because I'm waiting for someone. I've had a few times when I've been on a business trip and wound up having a conversation at the bar with the bartender or someone who's sitting there, but it's not something I do regularly. Any tips?

posted by pazazygeek to travel & transportation (13 comments total)

since you've already done the west coast thing, why not loop a bit east into the desert - go to Death Valley, Salton Sea, then up through Arizona into Utah, then curve back West through Nevada, go through Reno, hit Yellowstone, then keep heading north? Not sure if 12 days would be enough time for this, but the scenery could not be beat. Have fun!
posted by nomad73 at 1:45 PM on December 7, 2007

I've found that an offensive T-shirt can really get a conversation going. The trick is to find/make one that aligns with your own views, on a subject you're willing to talk about. This is why I don't wear my "suicide is telling god you can't fire me I quit", but still wear my "will kill rush limbaugh for food" one.
posted by nomisxid at 1:51 PM on December 7, 2007

You know what you should do, is open up an atlas and throw darts at it. Wherever the dart lands, that's a destination! God help you if the darts hit the ocean.

Regarding the bar-thing: ask people for something specific, like "Are there any places to mini-golf around here?" That's a good conversational ice-breaker, 'cause then it's implied that you're just visiting, and you can talk about the road-trip, and they can talk about the area. Also, do you still smoke? That's always good for getting other people to talk to you -- that whole "collegiality between smokers" thing.
posted by Greg Nog at 1:54 PM on December 7, 2007

The desert.
posted by rokusan at 2:20 PM on December 7, 2007

Just one thing to think about; if I read you right you're planning this for late December, i.e. a few weeks. If you're driving in the pacific northwest there is a chance you will get hit by a snowstorm, like the epic storm which recently crippled much of Oregon, Washington, and BC. (The I-5 between Portland and Seattle is apparently still closed because of this storm, in fact.) If you go off the main highways or into the mountains you're taking quite a risk.
(see previous thread last year following the death of James Kim in Oregon)
posted by PercussivePaul at 2:35 PM on December 7, 2007

Go up to Seattle, but:

1) take US 395 to north to Susanville
2) cut across to the coast on CA 44 to Redding and CA 299 to Eureka/Arcata
3) US 101 north to Port Angeles
4) ferry to Victoria
5) ferry through the San Juan Islands back to Anacortes, then south to Seattle
6) a straight shot down I-5 home

That should take at least a week to drive if you're stopping off and seeing stuff, which you should.

Alternatively: straight shot up I-5 to Seattle, then through the San Juan Islands/Vancouver Island with Seattle-friend?

I've never been to these places, but this road trip is one of my dreams, so I thought I'd share. No idea about weather along the route, though - snow might be an issue at this time of year, but most of these roads (except US 395 to Mammoth and through Reno) should be lightly traveled at this time of year, at least by LA standards.
posted by mdonley at 2:38 PM on December 7, 2007

Holy shit. I also live in LA and was pretty much planning the EXACT same thing...leaving on the 19th and driving up to Seattle in back through to the end of the year. Until I realized that doing this in July or August would be infinitely more pleasurable. I also don't really feel like driving through any sort of snow weather. But kudos to your excellent taste!

Anyhow, I did some asking around and have been told that the Oregon coast north of Florence is supposed to be lovely, although you should definitely take what Percussive Paul said to heart.
posted by dhammond at 3:44 PM on December 7, 2007

The Eureka/Arcata/Humboldt area is interesting. You'll find lots of old pot-smoking hippies and counterculture types. I had a blast when I drove up from LA on a road trip last year.
posted by HotPatatta at 4:09 PM on December 7, 2007

Maybe you can come up with a theme for the trip - something like finding the best pie in each town or the best bbq, best diner breakfast or bakery. It will give you a good starting point for conversations. When you find an interesting town, stop at the library or for gas or at a park and ask around to get opinions on the best food in town. People love to talk about their favorite food. And if you say, "I'm on a 12 day mission up the coast to find the best donuts" then you're suddenly a fun interesting person and not some scary stranger. Ask also what's worth photographing in town, or where you can go to get the best views or prettiest scenery. Maybe make it a rule that you won't eat in any chain restaurants - that you'll seek out local cuisine 3x a day. It sure sounds like a fun trip - I hope you have a blast!
posted by Kangaroo at 4:10 PM on December 7, 2007

If you haven't been, go to Europe.

I hadn't, so here was my 2 month road trip: I started out in Rome with my girlfriend for a weekend. We drove up to her house near Montepulciano for a couple of days. I left her there and took a train to Florence for a weekend (it's tiny and easy to to walk everywhere). I hopped a train to Bologna (no tourists there), rented an apartment within walking distance of the center of town. I stayed there for a month and took Italian lessons for 4 weeks. Every Friday after class, I rented a car or took a train (Bologna is a good rail hub) to a different city (Venice, Turin, Parma..) for the weekend. After the month was up, I went back to Rome for a about a week (so I could see everything this time), then I hopped a train to Milan, then I flew to London for a week. Then I hopped a train to Paris for a week. I'm a soccer fan so I went to a couple of matches in Milan and in London.

Best trip I ever had.
posted by wfc123 at 4:32 PM on December 7, 2007

I once took a solo 15,000 mile road trip that ended with the coastal highways from Vancouver to San Diego. My two favorite stretches of the entire trip were the east coast of the maritime provinces of Canada from Kejimkujik National Park to Rimouski and San Diego to Tupelo, Mississippi, via Acadian Louisiana. The trip from Vancouver to San Diego was pretty monotonous, except for Olympia National Park and the redwoods near Klamath, California. But my trip was a summer trip, so I don't know what you will find in December.

Be prepared to give a lot of your money to Big Oil.
posted by billtron at 2:13 AM on December 8, 2007

I recently undertook Massive Road Trip ’07, it totaled about 7k miles and I ended it around your area. People are crazy for not telling you to drive 1. All of it. But drive it south so you can be right on the edge of the cliffs, more of a return trip type. The costal highway is some of the best driving in America.

Having said that, there is a lot of cool things east of you (like the whole of the continental states)You don’t know surreal until you pass Joshua Tree at 3 am going 80 on 10, with GY!BE blasting and signs like LAST GAS FOR 90 MILES.

Just stay outta Barstow and you will be ok.
posted by Faux Real at 5:32 AM on December 8, 2007

If you haven't been, go to Europe.

Europe's great but keep in mind that you may have some trouble driving there and back in two weeks.
posted by dhammond at 3:32 PM on December 8, 2007