Cruising 'Til the Tires Fall Off:
Dave's Quest for the Grand Canyon
June 15th, 2001 - 4:20pm: Taking the following week off work, I set off
on Friday on my journey to the Grand Canyon. My plan was as follows:
-
Drive from Whistler to Seattle on Friday night.
-
Visit Mount St. Helens Saturday morning, cross into Oregon,
and camp the night at Crater Lake Park.
-
Cross into California on Sunday, making the 7-8 hour drive
to San Francisco, checking out the city all evening before camping somewhere
to the south.
-
Drive down the coast on Monday, making it to Los Angeles
in the afternoon and exploring Hollywood and its surroundings until nightfall.
-
Cross the Mojave Desert on Tuesday, stop by Las Vegas long
enough to drop a quarter in a slot machine, pay a quick visit to the Hoover
Dam, and then cross into Arizona and camp a few hours short of the Grand
Canyon.
-
Spend all of Wednesday exploring the Grand Canyon.
-
Head up into Utah on Thursday, explore the sights on Highway
12, stopping at Lower Calf Creek Falls along the way.
-
Pass through Salt Lake City on Friday, cross into Wyoming
and camp at Yellowstone National Park
-
With two days left and at least 16 hours of driving to go,
I pass through Montana and a bit of Idaho before camping near Spokane in
Washington.
-
Spend Sunday driving through mostly familiar territory as
I complete the final leg of the journey back to Whistler.
That was the plan. Drive over 6000 kilometers, hitting 9 different states
in 9 days. Naturally things did not quite go that way in reality.
Friday, June 15th: Getting a Head Start
Saturday, June 16th: Waterfalls, Dams,
and Craters
Sunday, June 17th: Overheating and Traffic Jams
Monday, June 18th: California Coastline and Getting
Lost in Oxnard
Tuesday, June 19th: Hollywood Blvd and the San
Gabriel Mountains
Wednesday, June 20th: Stranded in the Mojave
Desert
to be continued... (I hope)
P.S. I didn't make this trip completely alone. Check out my Travels
with Morpheus.