The Johnson Road Trip - 2007

[mjohnson]

Tomorrow we (Mrs mjohnson and mjohnson myself) head off on a trip of epic proportions.

Our goal: visit the mjohnson family in Michigan
Our origin: New Mexico
Our time limit: Back in NM for work at 7:30am on 1 Oct.

Our locked-in destinations so far... (starting Los Alamos NM 1200 Wed 19 Sep)
Wed night: Boulder CO (couch surfing with friends)
Thurs night: Bismarck ND (free Holiday Inn Express night thanks to Mrs mjohnson's business travel)
Fri night: Duluth MN (free again thanks to the road warrior)

I'm planning to avoid the interstate as far as possible. We'll do maybe 30 miles tomorrow from the E. side of Loveland Pass to Idaho Springs. I'd like that to be the last for a while.

Any suggestions of not-to-be missed roads in the Boulder-Cheyenne-Sturgis-Bismarck area?

I'm thinking we'll settle for I-25 to Cheyenne (Mrs mjohnson is from Ft Collins/Loveland so we've seen it and done it with the back roads in that area) then up US-85 to Spearfish, SD.

Maybe lesser roads, though paved, will catch our interest. Any suggestions? Two years ago we drove some county roads from Cheyenne to Scottsbluff, NE (and onward to MI) in the '78SC and had a great time.

- We've been towards the Agate Fossil Beds NM and we did the Badlands.

- Staying west and hitting Devils Tower in WY was suggested. I've never been there but she climbed there 15 years ago.

From Spearfish, SD I don't know whether to go East in SD then North to Bismarck or the opposite, north on 85 to the ND border then working diagonally up to Bismarck.

Suggestions?

Good diners/farmer's markets/steak houses/shot-and-a-beer-and-a-burger places?

I'll keep a running update on this thread, hopefully with pictures...

mike

[mattdavis11]

Takin' the Lincoln Navigator?

[mjohnson]

Navigator?

Garsh, we don't have one of those...

Two years ago we did the trip in our '78SC. That went well except the SS Badger parking monkeys (car/train ferry across Lake Michigan) broke a sway bar link and 8 hours on I-80 from Lincoln to Denver soaked the starter enough to earn us a push-start after dinner.

We decided to get something with more creature comforts (cruise, AC, modern muffler) so the '02 Carrera will be the weapon of choice this time around. Soul-less, yes. Capable of eating up the back roads at tastefully obscene rates? Ohhh yes.

Anyway, our Pathfinder doesn't get the gas milage of the Porsche. Al Gore would want us to take the Carrera. For the children...

mike

[71T Targa]

If you're going through Duluth, you must be going to the UP. I'm sure you already know, but the deer are THICK this time of year. Be careful through MN, WI, MI.

[mjohnson]

We'll decide later whether we're going through the UP or around Lake Superior. I've never been up there and Duluth to Sault St Marie looks like a nice day's drive.

I grew up in MI so I have a healthy fear of the whitetail. We won't be doing much driving after (or even near) dark. Never hit one yet though I had my closest call just this morning on the way to work in New Mexico. Missed a mule deer by 3 or 4 feet with my jeep as I was blinded heading into the sun.

That would have been a great way to start my last 4 hours of work before vacation...

mike