U.P. Overland Adventure via Florida

So I've never left an In Progress Trip Report before....I've just always relied on our daily blogs to post up our ramblings.

Cindy and I left yesterday to head north for next weeks Upper Peninsula Overland Ride. We're leaving from Cedar Key Florida which is in the North Central section of the state just west of Gainesville. I'm thinking we're probably coming the furthest of all the participants in this years 3rd annual trip.

Being as we were waiting for a new Pelican 1650 case to get delivered to hold the camera gear, and our UPS guy uses Cedar Key as his last stop on his route, we didnt get out of town till almost 5pm.

First leg of the drive was along two lane backroads, which is our favorite route to travel along.

Whizzing along under the deep cover of giant live oaks draped with spooky looking Spanish Moss, trying to outrun a nasty rain storm made for a pretty backdrop to the towns time has forgotten years ago once I-75 was built and the businesses along Route 19 dried up.

We both commented on how we knew we were getting closer to Georgia once we started noticing rolling hills, something Florida isnt that known for.

The truck was rolling along nicely with a brand new set of brakes that were installed for this trip, a fresh rotation of the Goodyears and the new lightbar mounted on the front to hold the Lightforce lights.

While the truck was up on the lift, we found a leaking shock, a bent swaybar mount and a few other items that needed attention, but those will all have to wait till we get home as we were running out of time. Not bad considering this is the first new set of brakes in over 100,000 miles of non-stop traveling, while most of those miles were towing a 9,000lb camper. Thank Goodness for the Exhaust Brake!

The day ended as the sun went to bed and so did our relaxing views. Driving the twisting backroads at night isnt all that fun due to the loads of deer, armadillos and other critters I'd rather let live, even with those Lightforce lights throwing a bright beam ahead of us, so we found our way to the dreaded I-75 (We HATE using the interstate HWY system) and put some miles behind us.

Midnight rolled around and we found a motel just shy of Atlanta. We had decided not to risk setting up the Camping Lab RTT in a Rest Area due to the amount of comments it draws from people when its folded up and just sitting atop the truck.

I can only imagine how hard it would be to sleep in it without getting woken up every few minutes from gawkers.

We passed a few campgrounds, but not wanting to spend $35 just to set up camp for a few hours beside the HWY, we opted to spend double that and be able to crawl into an already made bed, get out of the mid-90's heat and humidity and have a shower to wash off the getting ready nastiness.

I know this is a pretty lame start to my first Trip Report, but I'm hoping to spice it up more once we get further north and hit some temperatures that are more comfortable to camp and enjoy the outdoors.

More to come!

Have a great trip Pat!

Looking forward to seeing your rig!

You're travelling from one peninsula to the other! Great!

Are you coming through the Lower Peninsula?

Rather than bore you with the more than 1000 miles of roadway we traveled today, I'll simply reflect on random things that crossed my mind while we traveled from Southern Georgia to Iowa.

* Driving for long stretches of time would be impossible, or majorly mind numbing without Satellite Radio. Today alone made the two year subscription worth its minimal cost.

To have so many stations to chose from depending on what mood we were in, never lose a station if we were listening to a news program or a story on one of the talk programs, and be able to jump from 80's big hair bands, to B.B. King Blues, Outlaw Country or throw in some Reggae when that itch arose was simply wonderful.

* The Southern States are infatuated with fireworks! Every exit boasts of the largest display in the south, the biggest selection and the best bang for the buck.


* Having a Styrofoam cooler inside the cab of the truck is probably the quickest way to drive an otherwise laidback couple completely insane.

The night before we were getting ready to leave, Cindy had packed an older cooler we had with food and drinks to keep inside the cab of the truck with us. By the next day when we were getting ready to leave, she checked the cooler to find all the ice had melted and the bottom of the cooler was nothing but a few inches of cold water.


Rather than bring a useless cooler with us, we have a few of those cheap, gas station Styrofoam coolers guests always leave behind in the motel rooms.

She loaded all the food up in one of those and we pulled out to get on the road. The noise the lid makes when scratching against the Styrofoam base is the equivalent of nails on a chalk board. Riding like this for a few hours, we were both ready to kill one another.

We also learned that gas stations only sell these annoying coolers. Stopping at numerous stores told us Styrofoam must be very inexpensive to produce, because it's the only type of coolers every store we stopped at had.

We finally found a Wal-Mart which I thought would have a larger selection, but being as the South is breaking records this summer with the latest heat wave, it seems cooler manufacturers are having a record breaking year with sales. The shelves were empty with only a few soft-sided coolers to choose from other than a smallish Coleman that would have to make due.

I hate the soft-sided models because they usually wont keep ice for longer than an afternoon picnic. This small Coleman would suit us fine and we swapped the goods from the little annoying noise maker to our new quiet, red sided savior.


* Seeing the way people pack their weekend camping gear is very humorous. Roof Top Boxes not properly bolted down so they're catching the wind off the windshield and bouncing on the roof makes me wonder if people read directions or even have a clue?

Pick-up trucks loaded down with what looks like an apartments worth of furniture covered by a flapping blue tarp and a hardware stores supply of bungee cords is always good for a questionable look.


Those cargo baskets that slide into the rear receiver were loaded down with so much gear, the front end of the vehicle looks like it's hovering inches off the ground. It makes me wonder how there isn't more accidents with loads strapped down like this.

These sights made for plenty of good laughs and made me think of what people might think of as we pass by when we have our camper in tow that usually has the motorcycle on the back, the kayaks on the roof of the truck, the bikes on the front of the camper and multiple items strapped in random places. I was just happy that today I wasn't one of those people.

* Mitch Fatel is probably one of the funniest people I've ever heard in my life - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC4YugjnHFE"]This link[/ame] should be clicked only by adults and those wanting a good laugh

* When driving along not paying too much attention to anything other than the roadside beauty of the Smoky Mountains, and you look in your rearview mirror and see a motorcycle that has one of those headlights that flashes from regular to bright at an obnoxious rate, it makes me want to punch that guy in the head for scaring the crap out of me thinking I'm being pulled over by a cop.

* On that same note, but a different topic, songs should not allowed to have sirens mixed in with their background beats. This results in me slamming on the brakes, turning down the radio and looking in all my mirrors to see where the emergency vehicle is, only to have my wife laugh at me for hours.


* Taking photos of the goofy faces your wife makes while sleeping in the passenger seat will result in a very hard punch to the side of the head when she looks through the camera later in the day

* I can not even begin to imagine how gross those massage parlors along the side of the highway must be on the inside! Can you imagine sitting around a campfire with one of the massage therapists, if they're even certified, and hear the stories they have to tell...YUCK!!!

* I dont consider my truck to look very EXPO worthy. I mean it's basically a stock F-250 with a Camping Lab RTT mounted up top. It has a light bar on the front with two Light Force lights and a bunch of stickers plastered all over the tailgate. Maybe the stickers makes it EXPO....HA! HA!

But what I'm getting at is I was surprised by the amount of passing motorists who pull up beside us throwing the peace sign or smiling with their thumbs up.

What surprised me even more is when passing through the Hood, even the gang-bangers and Brothers stop what they're doing and wave or throw their hands up pumping their fists and smiling from ear to ear.

* I know this has been talked about alot, but this trip really drove home how comfortable and user friendly a very lightweight, self contained trailer would come in handy for long distance road trips. I'm talking about a Casita, Scamp or something like an Oliver. Oliver's being really nice, but way too much money in my mind.


To have a made up bed available at any time during the day would have been a dream today. We passed through numerous rain storms that made us pull over to wait them out due to the zero visibility.

Without a trailer in tow, we simply had to sit on the side of the road and stay trapped in the truck. If we would have had a self contained camper, we could have killed two birds with one stone and while waiting out the storm, we could have made lunch, napped or use the bathroom which would have saved time from having to do these later in the day.


When it came to pulling over for the night, the camper would have saved us another hundred dollars spent on a motel room that we simply slept in for a few hours to get off the road.

I'm always shopping Craigslist for items too good to pass up, so the next time I come across a lightweight camper, Cindy has already given me the go-ahead to snatch it up and start on a super lightweight EXPO worthy trailer.

This idea was cemented in when the day started getting uncomfortable due to how long we'd been in the seats. We started looking for a spot to pull over around 11pm. At 3am we finally found a motel room and by this point we were walking zombies.

Apparently the colleges in Southern Iowa go back to school next week, so every motel was sold out with parents and U-Hauls loaded with their kids junk.
We even tried to pull over thinking we'd set up the Roof Top Tent in a rest area.

That was till we got out of the truck and hit the humidity. We sat in the truck just napping for a few minutes, but both woke ourselves up when the sweat was running down our foreheads just sitting there trying to sleep.

The night ended in some roadside motel with the A/C set at a frosty level. I think I was asleep before I hit the pillow and dreaming of the next trailer build.

timbercruiser said:

Looking forward to seeing your rig!

You're travelling from one peninsula to the other! Great!

Are you coming through the Lower Peninsula?

Click to expand...

Only on the way home. Heading up to Minnesota first so we can hit the WE Fest before the U.P. Trip

Be safe!

Leaving bright and early! See ya soon!!:wings:

After following you blog for so long, even as just a reader, somehow it just seems strange reading this and imagining you NOT having your trailer behind you.

I cannot wait to see the pics from this trip. I was only in the UP for a few days and was completely blown away. The UPOverland crew showed me the good stuff. Far as I can tell, it's all good stuff in the UP!

:lurk:

Safe travels Pat!

Subscribed.

PHXtaco said:

After following you blog for so long, even as just a reader, somehow it just seems strange reading this and imagining you NOT having your trailer behind you.

Click to expand...

It's been very strange and has taught us that we're completely spoiled when it comes to Road Tripping and not having the luxuries of a made-up bed, a refrigerator filled with food, a bathroom and a shelter to wait out a passing storm.

We also learned that if we're trying to make time to get somewhere, pulling into a campground to set up the Roof Top Tent seems like a total waste.

The last hotel we stayed at we only slept in for 5 hours. That included breakfast and two hot showers and a good nights sleep (Well 5 hours worth). We both figured it would have taken a hour total for camp set-up and break down, and that night as we got out of the truck around midnight, the temp gauge still was reading around 90 degrees! Not fun in a tent!

So we've both been jotting down notes the entire time about things we learn without having the camper behind us.

We're now in Detroit Lakes Minnesota for the WeFest Country Music Festival, and we had planned on using the RTT the entire time to camp in.

Our friends who we're here with, work for Miller, which is one of the main sponsors. They worked out a deal that we'd cover the show for them with photos, and they'd hook us up with a spot in the VIP Camp.

We didnt know, but that included a 25' camper. So we were blown away when they gave us the keys to a FunFinder that is fully equipped. Sort of took away all the stuff we had brought to spend the week in the RTT, but I'm not complaining.

We leave on Sunday for the Upper Peninsula and I'm really looking forward to that leg of the journey. This is alot of fun, but a week of solid concert coverage with beer reps, my liver is hurting. There are mulitple refrigerators that are never empty with Leinenkugel's various flavors of brew, High Life, Miller, and a few other beers.:friday:

I havent updated this leg of the journey on here because I didnt really consider it EXPO worthy, but it's on the blog if you're interested.

Starting Monday, there will be a update after we leave here in route to Michigan.

Thanks for the comments, and photos will be following soon

Pat! Looking forward to following your progress. It is kind of brutal watching it from the sidelines this year. I hope you guys have an excellent time. I will be drinking a cold one here down under watching anxiously.

Looks like the first of the photos are posted up here... http://http://www.upoverland.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=499

A link to some TV6 coverage.
http://http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/story.aspx?id=496275

On the trail. Day 1!

Here is a handful of pictures...

The trip was great as always!
It was great to see everyone again.
Here are a few pictures to share...
Already making plans for next year...

Brian and Andrew