Roadtrips 2009

[Chris]

Do you already have plans for roadtrips in 2009?

I'm a little short on cash the next 1.5 years so no big overseas roadtrips, so it's gonna be somewhere in Europe.

I've travelled to Spain last summer (2,200 miles in 5 days) but I wanna see some mountains, so it's gonna be Switzerland and then head to France for some cross-country travel.

Just after the summer season, I am gonna do a roadtrip with a friend of mine to central Europe, like Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary. The roads are great there now, they have all been renovated years ago.

What are your plans?

[un1]

This is a list for every month of our trips that we will take:
(Just so you know, we live in Thunder Bay, Ontario)

January - No planned trips.
February - South Padre Island, Texas
March - No planned trips.
April - Winnipeg, Manitoba
May - Duluth, Minnesota
June - Toronto, Ontario
July - Still in Toronto.
August - Fargo, North Dakota
September - No planned trips.
October - No planned trips.
November - No planned trips.
December - Toronto, Ontario

So most of them are short but the one to Texas will take us three days o get there, and the ones to Toronto take us 17 hours, and we drive. 

-un1

[ComputerGuy]

July 2009 - Washington, D.C. (2,000 miles of fun)

[deathtopumpkins]

I don't have enough money this year... We usually drove somewhere about 10-13 hours away every summer. We've been to Salem, MA; Old Saybrook, CT; Charleston, SC; Savannah, GA; and St. Augustine, FL in recent years.

[rawr apples]

March - Detroit to DC
Summer - Cross Country possibly

That's it for me probably

Maybe a few Portland - Seattles

[ComputerGuy]

March - Detroit to DC
Summer - Cross Country possibly

That's it for me probably

Maybe a few Portland - Seattles

If you come here, visit I-5 Exit 189...one hell of an interchange...I-5, Broadway, SR 99, SR 527, SR 526...

[Alex]

Trip ideas floating thus far include Dallas, Midland-Odessa, Lubbock, Amarillo, perhaps later this winter.
Driving up Interstate 75 to Kentucky and Michigan and all over the lower peninsula.
Lake Tahoe for a wedding.
Maybe Death Valley with Mike?

[Darkchylde]

February: To Winnfield, LA by way of Natchez, MS

No others planned... I do most of my roadtrips as spur-of-the-moment things.

[OracleUsr]

It's not an interstate roadtrip (it might turn out to be one, but I'm not sure I actually want to do that part of it)

In late June/early July (basically around the week before July 4th), I hope to be taking a lighthouse hopping trip to the Outer Banks, and, possibly, to the Hampton Roads area.  At least get 5-7 of NC's lighthouses in pictures for my upcoming book Landmarks with Light

Boring?  Perhaps, but after two years of going to New Jersey (2007) and Florida (2008), I'm ready to take a shorter trip.

[algorerhythms]

I might be unlazy enough to leave the county at some point. Maybe.

[deathtopumpkins]

OracleUsr: If you come here to Hampton Roads looking for lighthouses, be sure to visit Cape Henry Light. The really old original stone tower (1700s) is open for climbing, and quite a climb it is!   I highly recommend the OBX lights though... seen all of them except the southernmost two major ones many times.

[Alex]

It's not an interstate roadtrip (it might turn out to be one, but I'm not sure I actually want to do that part of it)

In late June/early July (basically around the week before July 4th), I hope to be taking a lighthouse hopping trip to the Outer Banks, and, possibly, to the Hampton Roads area.  At least get 5-7 of NC's lighthouses in pictures for my upcoming book Landmarks with Light

Boring?  Perhaps, but after two years of going to New Jersey (2007) and Florida (2008), I'm ready to take a shorter trip.

I used to live in Kitty Hawk and always enjoyed seeing Bodie Island and Corolla Lighthouses.

[deathtopumpkins]

If you go to Bodie you have to stop at the beach across the street (Coquina). There's some cool stuff there, including a 1730s (if my memory is correct) shipwreck in the dunes.

aaroads: Oh, I hate you  You got to LIVE there!

[OracleUsr]

OracleUsr: If you come here to Hampton Roads looking for lighthouses, be sure to visit Cape Henry Light. The really old original stone tower (1700s) is open for climbing, and quite a climb it is!   I highly recommend the OBX lights though... seen all of them except the southernmost two major ones many times.

Actually, on my NJ trip, I did stop at Cape Henry and climbed the old tower.  Great side trip, except for having my car extensively searched, en route to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel and the Delmarva Peninsula.  The daymark on the newer tower is really cool, IMHO.

As for Coquina Beach, been there.  One of the access roads is actually opposite the crossroads for the lighthouse road off NC 12, if I'm not mistaken.

I have pics of the 5 OBX lighthouses, and pics of the insides of two of them, but they're from an older camera that I found took unscalable pictures, so I'm going back at least to the 5 (Ocracoke, Cape Hatteras, Bodie Island, Currituck Beach/Corolla, and Cape Lookout) and maybe the two southern ones you mention (Oak Island and Baldhead Island, if I'm not mistaken) for more and better pictures.  I want to make my book as clean as possible.

AARoads:  Good shot of the Bodie Island Lighthouse.

[Alex]

If you go to Bodie you have to stop at the beach across the street (Coquina). There's some cool stuff there, including a 1730s (if my memory is correct) shipwreck in the dunes.

aaroads: Oh, I hate you  You got to LIVE there!

Hence all of my experiences in Hampton Roads (and my early OBX Roads project).

It was not bad living there, but the winter was pretty cold and as the weather warms, the traffic goes up exponentially. Driving across the Wright Brothers Memorial Bridge gets old too...

For anyone that considers visiting, be sure to check out Jockey's Ridge State Park, the largest natural sand dune on the east coast.

[deathtopumpkins]

Actually, on my NJ trip, I did stop at Cape Henry and climbed the old tower.  Great side trip, except for having my car extensively searched, en route to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel and the Delmarva Peninsula.  The daymark on the newer tower is really cool, IMHO.

Hmm... last time I drove on Fort Story was pre-9/11, so they didn't search us then, in fact there was hardly any security. You went after then, right?

As for Coquina Beach, been there.  One of the access roads is actually opposite the crossroads for the lighthouse road off NC 12, if I'm not mistaken.

It is! That's what I meant by across the street. 

I have pics of the 5 OBX lighthouses, and pics of the insides of two of them, but they're from an older camera that I found took unscalable pictures, so I'm going back at least to the 5 (Ocracoke, Cape Hatteras, Bodie Island, Currituck Beach/Corolla, and Cape Lookout) and maybe the two southern ones you mention (Oak Island and Baldhead Island, if I'm not mistaken) for more and better pictures.  I want to make my book as clean as possible

Ahh, you're in luck if you wish to take pictures then. This past summer they finally finished restoring the bottom of the inside of Bodie, and you can go inside it and take pictures now. 
As for the southern two, I believe those are them, though for some reason the name Cape Fear keeps poking into my mind...

[WillWeaverRVA]

I've got a lot of friends in Springfield, Illinois. I might make that a roadtrip destination this summer rather than fly out there.

[Dougtone]

Roadtrips for this year.  Since I recently moved from Albany, NY to Binghamton, NY, I figure to make more local trips around Central New York, the Finger Lakes and Pennsylvania as opposed to the Hudson Valley and New England.  I make an annual trip to Maine, and that won't be changing.  I may visit Oregon for a week over the summer to visit family.  Perhaps a trip to Washington, D.C. is in order.  I am also looking to go to Ontario, Detroit, West Virginia, and I'd like to finish off Ohio's counties (I have 17 to go).

[njroadhorse]

Maybe some miscellaneous stuff over Spring Break
I might chronicle the Jersey Shore's roads this summer
At least one to Ohio, Mass, and Virginia over the spring/summer/fall

[deathtopumpkins]

Where at in Virginia, njroadhorse?

[OracleUsr]

Actually, on my NJ trip, I did stop at Cape Henry and climbed the old tower.  Great side trip, except for having my car extensively searched, en route to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel and the Delmarva Peninsula.  The daymark on the newer tower is really cool, IMHO.

Hmm... last time I drove on Fort Story was pre-9/11, so they didn't search us then, in fact there was hardly any security. You went after then, right?

As for Coquina Beach, been there.  One of the access roads is actually opposite the crossroads for the lighthouse road off NC 12, if I'm not mistaken.

It is! That's what I meant by across the street. 

I have pics of the 5 OBX lighthouses, and pics of the insides of two of them, but they're from an older camera that I found took unscalable pictures, so I'm going back at least to the 5 (Ocracoke, Cape Hatteras, Bodie Island, Currituck Beach/Corolla, and Cape Lookout) and maybe the two southern ones you mention (Oak Island and Baldhead Island, if I'm not mistaken) for more and better pictures.  I want to make my book as clean as possible

Ahh, you're in luck if you wish to take pictures then. This past summer they finally finished restoring the bottom of the inside of Bodie, and you can go inside it and take pictures now. 
As for the southern two, I believe those are them, though for some reason the name Cape Fear keeps poking into my mind...

Sorry to post so late in replying.

First, yes, I went back in '07 to Fort Story, so it was well after 9/11 (interestingly, though, it was the first year that the anniversary fell on the same day of the week, Tuesday, as the actual event).  I could tell they were really nervous about tourist traffic into the military base, which explained their aversion to my camera.

Yeah, I remember seeing the crossroads on NC 12 that had the Coquina turnoff opposite the lighthouse road.  Only one crossroads sign in that part of Dare County, IIRC.

The name Cape Fear wasn't far off, as Caswell Beach (Oak Island) and Baldhead Island are both in the Cape Fear River area.

I read about the Bodie Island opening.  Definitely want to visit that before closing time one day, and maybe "nightspot" the lighthouse as well, taking pictures at dusk.  I would love to do that with the Bodie Island and Currituck Beach lighthouses, as these are the only two of the seven that still have first-order Fresnel lenses (Ocracoke has a fourth-order Fresnel lens, but the idea of a white painted lighthouse that is hard as h--- to find showing a fixed white light doesn't really excite me as a night destination)

[deathtopumpkins]

Oh, I've seen Bodie Island at night before... what a sight to behold. And postcards, photos, etc. just don't do it justice... Can't recall ever having been at Currituck at night though. And I suppose Ocracoke is hard to get to, but that was part of the appeal of it to me.

[Scott5114]

I might be unlazy enough to leave the county at some point. Maybe.

Oh, come now, you know you want to experience the verdant fields of McClain County! 

My plans are for making it to Kansas City twice this year as normal (possibly hitting Springfield MO just afterward on one trip.) Beyond that I'm planning to be in Waukesha, WI for catofdar's wedding and hopefully Dan Garnell's Indianapolis meet. That's about all I can do without my workplace getting all apoplectic about it.

[Freewayjim]

In June/July I may head up to NH to visit family, I did not get up there in 2008 so I'm hoping to do it this year. Depending on business & such I may take another trip somewhere in August and there's always the possibility of a day trip some weekend this spring (either Knoxville, Nashville or Birmingham/Montgomery)

There is also a good chance of a trip to Charleston, SC to visit my In-Laws. I love my wife, she does not make me sit there & visit, I can go off and do all the road-geeking I can handle as well as a trip to the USS Yorktown where the gift shop has a ton of Ravenel Bridge items

[SSOWorld]

Outside of standard trips toward Milwaukee and up north in WI, I hope to make the Youngstown meet or a SW PA meet.  Money isn't really a luxury atm so I'm limited.