Unforeseen Travel Challenges, Volume I

It has been a little over five weeks now since Grace and I left our jobs in Denver to start traveling. It’s hard to say whether the time has gone by quickly or slowly since then but I think it’s a bit of both. One thing is certain: we picked a beautiful time of year to take a road trip across the U.S. To date, we’ve already driven more than 5,000 miles, which includes going as far north as Canada, to the most northwestern point of the continental U.S., Cape Flattery, and nearly as far south as Mexico.   

Before leaving for the trip, we spent a lot of time trying to anticipate what challenges were ahead. We also discussed how important it was to keep a loose itinerary, knowing we might want to change things up at the last minute. What we didn’t anticipate is how challenging it can be to keep a flexible schedule while visiting some of the most iconic locations in the U.S. during their “high season.”

Those of you who have followed the blog so far know that until now, we’ve mostly shared photos of beautiful places and cataloged some amazing meals. So, in an effort to keep things in perspective, we wanted to talk about a few of the times over the last month that things didn’t go to plan. (The following are in chronological order.)

1) Yellowstone: We got lucky on our first night camping at Curtis Canyon Campground in Jackson Hole, snagging the last spot of 12 when we arrived at 6 p.m. Feeling confident, we decided to spend the next morning fishing in Teton National Park instead of driving straight to Yellowstone to be there early to get a camping spot. After taking our time fishing, making lunch and driving the few hours to get there, we arrived at Yellowstone in the late afternoon looking for a first come, first served campsite and were shocked to learn that the entire Park had filled up at 11 a.m. There were still some backcountry sites available and, since that was our only option, I took Grace to the Ranger Station to get a backcountry camping permit for what would inevitably be a night hike to a remote campsite. Soon after, I saw panic in Grace’s eyes while we watched the mandatory backcountry bear safety video. I think it was right about the point in the video where they say "if a grizzly bear enters your tent, it has bad intentions and you should do everything in your power to defend yourself." Knowing that a late-night excursion was probably a bad idea for our second night camping, we went to Old Faithful to de-stress and plot out what parking lots we could sleep in. Then, by a stroke of random luck, we got ahold of Joe, a friend who was camping with his family in the park. It was a close call, but we ended up being lucky enough to camp at a great spot in Grant Village with Joe and his family - much better than dodging park rangers all night.

2) Bozeman: We arrived in Bozeman in the late afternoon. After a couple of nights camping, we were very excited to check out a new city. Although maybe too excited, because we forgot about our recent mishap in Yellowstone and decided to spend some time using the internet in a coffee shop, get drinks with a work friend, and go out to dinner. With nowhere to stay, we headed for Gallatin National Forest, which is about 30 minutes outside of Bozeman, just after 10 p.m. But when we arrived at the dirt forest service roads, it was pitch black and we could not find a place to pitch our tent. We decided to sleep in the car (which luckily has a bed in it). We found a gravel parking lot with two other cars in it, seemingly doing the same thing. But it rained all night and the car was steaming hot and full of condensation because we could not keep the windows open. We also heard and saw at least three strange cars with modified mufflers loudly ripping through the backroads past our parking lot in middle of the night. Needless to say, it was not a good night’s rest and the stress of trying to find a new place to sleep every night was setting in. 

3) Canada: After Bozeman, we found a couple of great campsites in Glacier National Park. From there, our plan was to spend a few weeks driving through Canada to Vancouver. We drove six hours from Glacier National Park to a small border town called Porthill in Idaho. What we never expected was for me to have a passport issue at the border and be turned around at 3 p.m. With two weeks erased off the itinerary and absolutely no back-up plan, we raced to a brewery (conveniently the first place we saw with wifi) to come up with a new plan. First, we had to cancel three AirBnB reservations. Then, we debated where to travel next. Should we drive eight hours to Boise or just drive west to the Washington coast? We settled on visiting Mount Rainier National Park but of course it was getting late and we were yet again without a place to sleep. We tried a couple of campgrounds in Idaho, which were all full (it didn’t help that it was Friday). Then, we started searching for hotels, most of which were also full, or crazy expensive. Finally, we found one and ended up pulling the trigger on the Hotel Davenport in Spokane, WA, which unfortunately was $240 a night. If they didn’t have a pool and hot tub, it would have been much harder to cope with the price tag. The way I saw it, it was the equivalent cost of 10+ nights camping.  

You’ve probably noticed that finding a place to sleep for cheap during the high season has been  a constant theme for us. It’s clear now that if we want to camp anywhere good this time of year, we need to find a spot early. (Even on weekdays!) Since the above experiences, we’ve run into similar issues finding campsites in Olympic National Park and Big Sur. 

4) Seattle: Here is an issue I probably should have anticipated but did not. We had a great place to stay with our friends Lance and Nicole near Pike Place Market in Seattle. But, we’re driving a lifted 4Runner with a roof box, making the clearance around 7.5 feet. There’s also a Honda Ruckus on a hitch, extending the car’s length 3.5 feet. And what we didn’t have was a place to park. The car would not fit in any garages and all the open air parking lots were insanely expensive. Not to mention in sketchy areas, which meant the constant stress of having all our belongings in the car and the scooter exposed - enticing items for anyone with mischievous intentions. On top of all that, the overnight parking lots expired at 4 a.m. so we had to set our alarms early for a couple of nights. I can’t say I learned much from this experience except don’t have a huge car when visiting cities.

In conclusion, for every amazing view we have seen and meal we have enjoyed, there has been an unexpected bump in the road. But, looking back on just a month, I would not trade the experience for anything. We have found our travel groove and are taking the opportunity to learn from our mistakes in the United States, which is far more forgiving then our next stop, Africa. Originally, I was pretty excited that we had lined up most of our travel around the best times to visit many areas, although now I think we will be dealing with the crowds for quite some time...