2017 Travels
It is time again, the start of a whole new year of traveling (my 7th year) and as usual I have the year already planned out… mostly, as room for changes are built in. In fact, not only have we already begun our 2017 travels, we have already made two changes to the route in just the first two weeks of the travels!
In 2017 the plan has been to make a run for Big Bend National Park in Texas, but not before getting Kerri to a few National Parks she has not been too as adult in Arizona and New Mexico. After Big Bend we continue East into New Orleans where we will spend the month of March. The Natchez Trace Parkway will lead us to Nashville where we will turn South East to Georgia and South Carolina. The Great Smokey Mountains and a quick visit to the Appalachian Trail before hitting Bourbon-country for Kerri. By summer we should be in the Great Lakes portion of the USA and start our slow migration back towards the Pacific North West, following the Luis & Clark route. A quick dip into Colorado (family) and Utah for a multi-day yak-packing trip in late summer before returning to Washington so Kerri can see those National Parks. Finally, a coastal drive will get us back into California for the holidays at the end of the year.
The adventures (in order):
- Pinnacles National Park, CA
- Rincon Parkway – Ventura, CA
- Kofa Wildlife Refuge – Arizona
- Las Cienegas National Conservation Area
- Chiricahua National Monument
- White Sands National Park
- Carlsbad Caverns National Park
- Terlingua Texas
- Big Bend National Park
- The long long drive
- Lyndon B Johnson National Historic Site
- Austin & San Antonio
- Penetrating Louisiana
- Bayou La Rose
- Kayaking in a swamp
- Avoiding Mardi Gras
- Palmetto Island State Park
- New Orleans
- More New Orleans
- Jean Lafitte National Historic Park
- Learning about Mississippi liquor laws
- Natchez Historical Park
- Natchez Trace Parkway
- Vicksburg National Military Park
- Nashville, TN
- Little River Canyon
- Russell Cave Natnl Monument
- Chattanooga Natnl Military Park
- McKinney Campground
- Ocmulgee National Monument
- Macon, GA
- Okefenokee Swamp
- Savannah, GA
- Cumberland Island National Seashore
- Congaree National Park
- Great Smoky Mountains
- Blue Ridge Parkway
- Western Smoky’s and Daisy Town
- Tennessee Goat Farm
- Cumberland Gap National Monument
- Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace
- Mammoth Cave National Park
- Van Buren State Park, Michigan
- Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
- Pictured Rocks National Seashore
- Duluth Minnesota
- Two Harbors, MN
- Weekend tent-camping in Minnesota
- Grand Portage Natl Monument and some MN State Parks
- Voyageurs National Park – Rainy Lake kayak
- Yak-packing in Voyageurs Ntnl Park
- Bemidji Minnesota
- Entering North Dakota
- Theodore Roosevelt National Park
- Rapid City, SD
- Longmont, CO
- Frolicking about Colorado
- San Juan Mountains
- Colorado Ghost Towns near Silverton
- Revisiting the Sawtooth Mountains
- A weekend in the mountains
- Gathering in SD for the eclipse
- Salmon, Idaho
- Driggs, Idaho
- Lava Hot Springs, Idaho
- Chesterfield Ghost Town
- Antelope Island, Utah
- Moab, Utah
- Kayaking the labyrinth
- Capitol Reef Ntnl Park
- Great Basin Ntnl Park
- Moochdocking in Sac
- Returning to Point Reyes
- Final days on the coast
- Moochdocking in the East Bay
Wow, almost a lap of the country.
When you leave Voyageurs in Northern MN and head towards ND you should swing a bit south and check out Itasca State Park in MN its where the source of the Mississippi is and a very nice park.
Thanks, I will look into that park
Living on the East coast and having family to visit at least once a year, your route this year looks similar to what I envision once retired. How many miles do you estimate this loop (and any runaround mileage in town)? Best of luck!
I hadn’t really checked the mileage but if memory serves, when planning it way back, it was about 7000 miles not including the running around towns or seeing sights beyond the actual travel route. However, the original plan has been heavily altered as the year went along. I doubt it all equals more than 12,000 miles though. When I was in the van, alone, I did more miles each year, with the most being 17,000 miles in a single year, including all driving.
Could you describe your style? Come into town or boondocking location…. and stay a night/a few days/a week plus, then move on? Thanks!
Before 2015 when I was in the van I rarely stayed more than 3 days in each location. I often pulled in, stayed a night, saw the sights the following day and drive off that afternoon to another location. Since 2015 and traveling with Kerri in the trailer, due to her work schedule we only move on the weekends (Sat-Mon). Weekdays we stay put where ever we are for her 9-5 work. A few times each year we may stay two or three weeks in one spot, but that is rare. Mostly boondocking in the West. East of the Rockies is harder to find boondocking, so this year has been a lot of campground and RV parks.