Ridge Runner
Delta V
When I was in high school and college, channels like History and Discovery were starting to air more programming geared towards traveling, such as specials about Route 66, ice roads (before Ice Road Truckers), and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The scenery was as varied as it was beautiful, and for someone who had never gotten to travel outside of the Southeast US, they definitely helped kindle a fire in me to get out and explore. I'll never forget talking to a Marine recruiter in high school who had a stack of tags with words on them like "knowledge" and "adventure". He had me arrange them in my order of preference, and at the time I ranked "travel" near the bottom of a very long list.
While those TV shows were working in the back of my mind, life happened. I went to school, got a job, went back to school, got a few more jobs, all the while my wanderlust kept growing. In 2011, I received a project 1970 Chevy Blazer as partial payment for some work I did, and my desire to travel hit me full force. I joined this site and started reading about adventurous trips and the amazing vehicles that people like @Larry took on them. I bought a wall map, pinned it up on my bedroom wall, and started marking every place that tickled my fancy. Any friend who even hinted about having had so much as a fuel stop in a faraway town, I interrogated for advice and information. My vehicle of choice went from the Blazer to a 2000 Tundra with a camper shell to a 2014 Raptor; my route changed even more often.
For a long time, I put the trip on hold for business plans for a garage. When those business plans fell through (hence the project Blazer is still sitting in my backyard neglected), I needed a change of pace and scenery, and threw myself fully into my trip. I realized that the funnest times of my life were when I lived away from where I grew up, but my problem was I hadn't traveled enough to know where I wanted to move to. I'm good friends with the family I worked for, so I started hinting around that I was looking to quit in the next year.
At the time, my daily driver was a 2000 Toyota Tundra TRD 4x4 Access Cab. It's a great truck, but it was repo'd from the previous owner, had its maintenance neglected for a good while before I got it, and usually only gets about 13 MPG. Since I was looking at a long trip in a vehicle and I had been saving a long time for my planned business, I decided to splurge on my first nice vehicle. I looked at a new '18 Raptor and was sold, but decided to test drive a first generation just in case. For me, there wasn't enough difference to justify another $20,000+, so a few weeks later I had a one-owner, never-been-in-road-salt 2014 Raptor crew cab in Ruby Red delivered to me by CarMax out of Oklahoma City. As far as overlanding vehicles go, a Raptor definitely isn't at the top of the list, but if you're a single guy with a dog going on a long road trip with some overlanding thrown in, then the Raptor is actually a pretty great choice. The suspension soaks up bumps and most potholes, and the perfectly flat floor in the back means a large dog can be comfortable.
Finally, I had enough money put aside for my trip and I gave three months notice at work (I told you I'm friends with the family). I went on a comparatively short trip to Arizona with my mom, and a couple weeks after we got back to Tennessee, I loaded my dog and a bunch of gear into my truck, and we headed out.
Shane (my dog) and I left on September 6, 2018. Originally, I had wanted to run my route from south to north, but thanks to a wise suggestion from a friend, we went north first. The plan was to hit up Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, swing back into Colorado, down into Arizona, and back to Tennessee through New Mexico, Texas, and Arkansas. I had a contingency for Nevada and California, but ultimately ended up leaving those states for a later trip. Because we set out after Labor Day, travel and sightseeing were easy. The crowds at most stops were at a minimum and our fellow travelers were either retirees or young adults who just wanted to see the country. In essence, people who genuinely wanted to be there rather than Explorer-loads of families who were doing their annual bonding experience.
Wow, this post got a lot longer than I intended. I've been wanting to do a write-up for a long time and I guess I'm a little excited. Anyway, I'm going to try and break the trip down by day with lots of pictures thrown in.
While those TV shows were working in the back of my mind, life happened. I went to school, got a job, went back to school, got a few more jobs, all the while my wanderlust kept growing. In 2011, I received a project 1970 Chevy Blazer as partial payment for some work I did, and my desire to travel hit me full force. I joined this site and started reading about adventurous trips and the amazing vehicles that people like @Larry took on them. I bought a wall map, pinned it up on my bedroom wall, and started marking every place that tickled my fancy. Any friend who even hinted about having had so much as a fuel stop in a faraway town, I interrogated for advice and information. My vehicle of choice went from the Blazer to a 2000 Tundra with a camper shell to a 2014 Raptor; my route changed even more often.
For a long time, I put the trip on hold for business plans for a garage. When those business plans fell through (hence the project Blazer is still sitting in my backyard neglected), I needed a change of pace and scenery, and threw myself fully into my trip. I realized that the funnest times of my life were when I lived away from where I grew up, but my problem was I hadn't traveled enough to know where I wanted to move to. I'm good friends with the family I worked for, so I started hinting around that I was looking to quit in the next year.
At the time, my daily driver was a 2000 Toyota Tundra TRD 4x4 Access Cab. It's a great truck, but it was repo'd from the previous owner, had its maintenance neglected for a good while before I got it, and usually only gets about 13 MPG. Since I was looking at a long trip in a vehicle and I had been saving a long time for my planned business, I decided to splurge on my first nice vehicle. I looked at a new '18 Raptor and was sold, but decided to test drive a first generation just in case. For me, there wasn't enough difference to justify another $20,000+, so a few weeks later I had a one-owner, never-been-in-road-salt 2014 Raptor crew cab in Ruby Red delivered to me by CarMax out of Oklahoma City. As far as overlanding vehicles go, a Raptor definitely isn't at the top of the list, but if you're a single guy with a dog going on a long road trip with some overlanding thrown in, then the Raptor is actually a pretty great choice. The suspension soaks up bumps and most potholes, and the perfectly flat floor in the back means a large dog can be comfortable.
Finally, I had enough money put aside for my trip and I gave three months notice at work (I told you I'm friends with the family). I went on a comparatively short trip to Arizona with my mom, and a couple weeks after we got back to Tennessee, I loaded my dog and a bunch of gear into my truck, and we headed out.
Shane (my dog) and I left on September 6, 2018. Originally, I had wanted to run my route from south to north, but thanks to a wise suggestion from a friend, we went north first. The plan was to hit up Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, swing back into Colorado, down into Arizona, and back to Tennessee through New Mexico, Texas, and Arkansas. I had a contingency for Nevada and California, but ultimately ended up leaving those states for a later trip. Because we set out after Labor Day, travel and sightseeing were easy. The crowds at most stops were at a minimum and our fellow travelers were either retirees or young adults who just wanted to see the country. In essence, people who genuinely wanted to be there rather than Explorer-loads of families who were doing their annual bonding experience.
Wow, this post got a lot longer than I intended. I've been wanting to do a write-up for a long time and I guess I'm a little excited. Anyway, I'm going to try and break the trip down by day with lots of pictures thrown in.
