[LG6R]

Day 3
Sat June 18

Woke up at 5:30am MST. The rest area had a sign that read "Stay on concrete paths. Rattlesnakes have been spotted in the area."

You better believe I stayed on the concrete path.

Chugging happily along again on I-90/94. Roadwork on the interstate had turned it into a gravel road. It's times like this I'm glad I don't have a nice car.

En route towards Yellowstone. I was happy to finally start seeing some nice scenery. Snow-capped mountains, winding roads and the sheer magnitude of the cliffs got my heart beating fast again.

Stopped off for gas and a touch-free car wash. The touch-free car was sucks when your car is really filthy and didn't get any of the brake dust off. Oh well. They have 85.5 octane gas in Montana :screwy: I went with 88 octane, which was 10 cents cheaper than 85.5 octane. Another :screwy:

Continuing on US212

I thought this US212 (the Beartooth Highway) would have been open by now but it was still closed due to snow. It was open the last time I came through a couple years ago and that was May. This was now June. Must've had more snowfall this past winter than ever before.

The top of Beartooth Pass 10,947 ft elevation

Funny to see people going skiing in June. The snow on the side of the road was about as high as my car.

After only getting to the Wyoming border, I had to turn around and go back to Montana, down the way I came up.

A major part of the road went from 5,200 ft to 8,000 ft in 12 mi. It wasn't an easy task for the underpowered little 2.0 with a full trunk- it was struggling the whole time.

Looking back now, I didn't really mind turning around because I didn't take too many good pictures on the way up. I took better pictures on the way down and got to see the same scenery again from a different angle.

Yeah buddy

Taking the long way to another entrance into Yellowstone. Time for lunch: peanut butter crackers

Abandoned mill

House on wheels. Speed limit on this road was 70mph. Where else will you find a back country road with 70mph speed limits?

Getting into Yellowstone. This would be my third trip here and do you know why I keep coming back? Every time you come, there's something different to see. You might see some wildlife you haven't seen before. Different geysers might erupt. Maybe you'll see something new. It's never exactly the same.

I was greeted by the ever-present buffalo. They look so peaceful and tame until you see one charging and that's when you're reminded of how fast and strong they are.

Buffalo in mirror might be closer than they appear

Reminder of the 1988 fire

Yellowstone Lake

This was mostly what I came for, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Last time I came for these pictures, the memory card messed up and the pictures were lost.

This was my unexpected highlight of the day. As I was leaving the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, I spotted a grizzly bear! Imagine that, getting to see a real grizzly in the wild.

The bear disappeared somewhere amongst the trees. Maybe went down to get a drink of water.

Now this is probably the best part of the story. Less than 3 weeks after these pictures were taken, a man was mauled by a grizzly bear in Yellowstone, right near the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It could have been the same exact bear! Who knows?

Link to the article:
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/07/nation/la-na-grizzly-yellowstone-20110707

Moving on, geysers along the road

Herd of bison. A few drops of rain started coming down again.

Elk. Hard to tell from the picture but this guy was over 7 feet tall

I headed north into a rest area in Anaconda, MT for the night. This rest area was nice and brand new, complete with private bathrooms and you could have your own sink behind a locked door. I was able to take a mini-shower in that sink that would hold me over for a while. Got to wash the car at the rest area the next morning too with my own water jugs.

End of Day 3. Total mileage so far has been 2600 miles.

 

[DukeDKT442]

So good. :thumbup:

 

[LG6R]

Day 4
Sun June 19

Didn't see much today. Drove from Anaconda, MT, through Idaho, and into Washington state.

Missoula, Montana as seen from I-90

Lead car was a 1911 Rolls-Royce.

More rain through Idaho on I-90. It's rained part of every day so far into the trip. Tell me again why I keep washing the car? I was surprised how steep the grade was and how windy the interstate was. Parts were down to a 45mph limit through the national forest.

More gas, and a picture with Smokey. He ran out of beer and wasn't happy about it.

Lake Coeur d' Alene

In Spokane, I went to see Mt. Spokane State Park. There wasn't much to see since I could only go as high as 4300 feet and the rest was a private road for condos.

Along Hwy 2 in Washington towards Coulee City

Went though some small towns and going through one town, there was a state trooper who pulled a U-turn and started following me. I wasn't speeding. 30mph right on the nose. I didn't do anything wrong but he kept following me out of town. Then pulled me over. You'll never guess what for. No front plate. My car's registered in Pennsylvania which don't have front plates. And even if they did, it's not a law that can be enforced by the state of Washington. What a waste of my time and I didn't need to feel the stress of a traffic stop. He was very nice and professional though. Even gave me some tips as to where to park for the night.

Continuing on, more bad luck: This ass hole came out of nowhere and decided to commit suicide on my car. Hit the corner of the hood and then bounced off the windshield. Luckily no damage to the car. I think it was a pheasant.

Who knew parts of Washington state looked like this?

Approaching Coulee City

Grand Coulee Dam

The 25-mile long SR155 road along Banks Lake was spectacular, especially with the vibrant sunset. Too bad the pictures didn't capture the beauty of the drive.

Sun Lakes State Park. The shape of the landscape reminded me a lot of eastern Utah, only the colors were different. A large river had carved a large canyon and some sections looked like Canyonlands National Park.

Too bad I didn't have the opportunity to fully take it all in because what concerned me at the time was a sleeping location. I had planned on parking there, but each campsite cost $22. Way too expensive to sleep in my car. :screwy:

So I headed back to Banks Lake and parked at a pull-off area that was behind a guardrail and had my own private parking area. It was very peaceful with no one around for miles, very few cars passing at night and a handful of deer. After the sun set, the clear sky brought with it stars that I watched twinkle as I fell asleep. It was an excellent place to stop and best of all, free!

 

[RatBustard]

great update man! incredible scenery. regarding the snow, they did have record amounts fall this year, and i had heard some skiing places were staying open until july 4th.

 

[LG6R]

Well this was anticlimactic :laugh: the thread started, then the next thing ya know, it's "I'm home again."

Where's the rest of the itinerary and the pics man! :thumbup:

They're coming, they're coming. Uploaded a bunch more pictures today, now I just have to sit down and start putting it together.

When you coming to miami? :laugh::beer:

Already went the past 2 Novembers in a row. I like Miami :thumbup:

Radar detectors are illegal are they not?

Only in Wash, DC and Virginia. And the eastern half of Canada. Legal in other 49 states, etc.

hey man, really funn stuff you got on here.You should have came across the boarder eh!

Love the pics thats the route I take when I go to bike week in sturgis

Do you drive or ride there? Can't imagine what the interstates look like in that part of the country around bike week.

great update man! incredible scenery. regarding the snow, they did have record amounts fall this year, and i had heard some skiing places were staying open until july 4th.

That's pretty nuts. :beer:

 

[jedipie]

Whenever I get my MK3 VR6 running I kinda planned on doing a USA roadtrip next summer. Maybe a MK3 cruise? Haha

 

[miatafreak]

It's nice to see some shots of the good ole PNW. My cabin on Lake Coeur d'Alene is one exit before the Sherman Ave. exit :laugh:

 

[zrace07]

FV-QR

Incredible! Very inspiring! I've always wanted to do this, but have never really been in the position to do so. Awesome!!

 

[noodlesdefyyou]

Too bad you didn't go across Snoqualmie Pass. The scenery change from west to east WA is one of the most phenomenal things I have ever seen.

Green green green EVERYWHERE on the west side, cross the pass, and nothing but beautiful barren red rocks, plateaus, and nothing in the way of you and the horizon.

There's also I-15 between vegas and ....whatever that city in cali is. barstow? Nothing but straight road, plateaus, and ghost towns until you hit what I call 'advertisement alley'. There's a one mile stretch of really bright fancy neon advertisement banners on both sides of the road just before you hit vegas.

Another spectacular sight to see is following 70 through utah and seeing things like Eagle Canyon, and Ghost Rock.

I forget if its also on i70, but theres quite a bit of freeway following the colorado river. thats a fantastic drive.

If you are ever in the Amarillo, TX area, stop by and eat a steak at the steakhouse there. forget the name, but you cant miss the banner. they have the 80oz challenge.

oh, and the drive down 40 between alberquerquie and barstow is pretty surreal. ghost towns everywhere.

but honestly, if youre going that way, take route 66.

 

[dankvwguy]

your sleeping idea with back seats in genius. ive only used it once but with the 4" memory foam pad i have it amazes me how comfy it is.

 

[BlueDevilCabby]

I love your threads.

 

[DaddyOfPayton]

I love your threads.

x2

 

[DaddyOfPayton]

Hey, where can I get one of those center sun visors? :sly:

 

[PKstrategy]

:thumbup::thumbup:

come out thursday, punk.
or Dubnutz BBQ this Saturday.

 

[dankvwguy]

Hey, where can I get one of those center sun visors? :sly:

i think they came in mk4s. might be in the mk3.5 cabrios too

 

[crackershack99]

B3 passats

 

[vcampg]

:thumbup::thumbup:

Love road trips, I actually just got back from one.

Grand Coulee has some sweet laser light shows at night! I'm from WA, and I miss it everyday. It offers everything as far as landscapes etc...I will be following this thread closely

 

[dankvwguy]

B3 passats

ya, what he said

 

[mikeone718]

These roadtrip threads are always both awesome and entertaining :thumbup:
And x2 on coming out on thursday or this weekend

 

[LG6R]

Day 5
Mon June 20

Woke up along Banks Lake at around 8am. Starting to get lazy. Watched some of my footage of the trip so far, watched the cars go by, watched people fish in the lake, shaved, etc.

The sleeping situation, for those that haven't seen my other threads

The charging station. There's the GPS, radar, cell, and the refrigerator. Then a power inverter charging the DVD player, camera, video camera, and HD video camera. I couldn't blast the radio too loud because it would blow a fuse. Did end up blowing one fuse which I readily changed out while driving, didn't even stop. Good to keep some spares in the ashtray.

I've been hearing a clicking noise at low speeds coming from my front left wheel. So I also took the time to jack up that corner of the car, take the wheel off, and check everything out. Looks ok and I don't know what it could be. It might have always been clicked but I never paid any attention to it. Now that I'm so far from home, I listen for any and all signs of trouble. Put the wheel back on and headed north again.

North Cascades National Park

Made a friend

A couple friends actually

Stopped again to check out the left front wheel. The clicking is starting to bother me more and more. If I only knew what it was...

This marked 1/3 of the trip over. My first goal was to make it to Vancouver, and I did- NYC to Vancouver in 5 days.

The border agents asked me all sorts of strange questions. Where do I work, how am I paying for the trip, how much cash I have on me, how much cash I can get from an ATM, etc. I almost thought they were going to rob me. This was all none of their business.

Downtown Vancouver

Lots of modified Volkswagens in Vancouver.

My impressions of Vancouver: nice city. However, my expectations were very high since everyone has been telling me how extraordinary it is. How beautiful it is. How clean it is. I wasn't that impressed. Homeless people everywhere. Dirty streets. Businesses boarded up with plywood. Shady characters on the corners. I was planning on taking a tour of Hastings Street but with all the bums and crackheads crawling about, I didn't feel like walking around. I could see this sort of riff-raff without leaving home, why does everyone rave about this place?

Then again, I didn't see it in its natural state. I saw it on June 20th. Five days earlier on June 15th, the Stanley Cup riot destroyed downtown Vancouver. Stores were looted, cars set on fire, people stabbed, etc. Such stupidity over a stupid hockey game.

Downtown Vancouver was better seen from a distance. This is the view as seen from Stanley Park.

Then headed back out of Canada. Don't get me wrong; some streets were nice, I did enjoy seeing the beautiful buildings, and the city had a great mountainous backdrop. But it was getting dark and I saw all I was going to see of Vancouver on this particular trip.

End of Day 5: 3,520 miles completed.