5,000+ Mile Road Trip 12/29 - 1/15 NYC ->CO->UT->COLLEGE - Official Thread

Alright so i'm doing it......i talked about the possibility in a post last month but now i'm finally sacking up and going all in. Instead of paying for pricey plane tickets and worrying about snow conditions, i'm going to follow the snow and keep an open itinerary. It has been a dream of mine and since this is my last year of college it's time to make it a reality. I've calculated gas prices and it will actually be cheaper than flying. I've got a gas guzzler but it will be good in the snow and fit all our gear. I'm going to be making the trip with 2 college buddies and we've lined up places to crash along the way. The narrowist skis i'm bringing will have an 89mm waist so i'm banking on finding the deep stuff no matter what it takes. Although we might not have internet at every stop, i will be checking the board to see where the maggots will be skiing in hopes that i can meet as many maggots as possible in my travels. I have places to crash so we're set with that, but it would be nice for maggots along the way to show us the goods. In return for any good will along the way, we will reward maggots with more than a few beers on us. Also we will be bringing 3 video cameras to capture the trip. Making movies is a hobby of mine so i'm planning on shooting a lot. My two buddies are not maggots but they lurk once in a while. Anyway, here is our tentative itinerary.......

12/29 - I leave NYC and head up to our meeting point in central NY (our college) - meet up with my buddies, pack up the car and drive STRAIGHT TO COLORADO!!!! Yes we are serious - we want to get there for new years so we are gonna split up in shifts and make an all out dash from NY to CO

12/31 - Arrive in Aspen to stay with a friend and party like rock stars for new years after a long post driving nap

1/1 - 1/8 - We are going to try and follow the CO storms so we are open to any CO mountain - definately the resorts up and down I-70, maybe head up to Steamboat

1/9 - 1/13 - Head over to Utah and stay with a friend at the U of U....ski mostly LCC, maybe some BCC

1/14 - 1/15 - Head all the way back to school, just in time for the first day of classes of the semester...........


You might think we are crazy but this trip will surely produce some epic/crazy stories - hopefully we can meet up with a lot of good people and maggots and get a lot of good ski days in....we are all adventurous so once we get out there we are just gonna let it flow and enjoy our time out there, wherever we end up.....

I know this is extremely broad, but if any maggots will be around during these 2+ weeks in any areas that we might be in, let me know so we can exchange #'s etc... Also if any maggot wants to hop in the truck and join us on any part of the journey that would be sweet. Like i said, i'd love to meet up with mags, ski as much as humanly possible, shoot lots of video and party like rock stars.....

you will be here just in time for the annual January drought...


bring your race stock groomer skis and alot of sun-block...


edit: and a bunch of us will be just skiing whereever during that time....if its dry and sunny come drink beers and grill with us at a-basin...

I'd like to jump in the truck, don't know about getting from Boston to the the truck however :p (or missing my first week of classes), but damn that sounds like fun!

just fyi, seems like a fine plan.

Central NY to Denver is a solid but fairly reasonable two day drive with a full night's sleep around Des Moines plus or minus. Remember, you get an hour back each day. I did the drive from Ithaca to Boulder in college solo more times than I can count anymore - doing NYC to Aspen will add 8 hours to the total, but with two other drivers, it's a piece of cake. Ithaca to Boulder was always two days for me, Boulder to Ithaca back was always three.

People will be around. Internet access is easy enough if you have a laptop with Wi-Fi. Panera Bread has free Wi-Fi and decent eats, there are a lot scattered around the West and Midwest these days. In Summit County, in Dillon, there's a coffee shop with free wi-fi and GOOD coffee, right next to the backcountry/ski shop there (somebody help me out here, just south of the highway, and west of the road up to Keystone, in the shopping center there by the McD's and all).

See ya soon
safe drive!

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Originally Posted by Raps

You might think we are crazy

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Doesn't to sound crazy to me. Have fun and if for some reason you find yourself up in the Sun Valley area look me up.

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Originally Posted by MOHSHSIHd

you will be here just in time for the annual January drought...

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Yeah....iskibc, blurred, shera, et al can attest to the drought last january. I thought it was a decent drought.

Have fun, my past january was pretty similar....dc-vt-co-ut-wy-mt-wy-id-ut-co-va-nh. 9k miles when all said and done, lots of pow skied, some rock scaled, some ice climbed, and some decent sized mountains toured up and skied off. And apparently I conducted research on the trip, although library time totalled an afternoon in the denver public library.

oooh oooh maggots traveling! I'm doing something similar....will be in steamboat from 12.27-12-3. def should meet up. I'm not bringing anything under 90mm.
Hunter

My sister and I drove from Philadelphia to Coeur d'Alene, ID in 33 hours straight through.

It was rough, but with more people it should be pretty doable. Good luck.

Two Words: YEAH BUDDY!

:yourock:

bring some utica club gold cans to barter with along the way (or drink), lots of change to make it through all of the tolls around chicago (ez-pass no worky out west) and try to hook yourself up with the xm/sirius radio thing.

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Originally Posted by Yossarian

. In Summit County, in Dillon, there's a coffee shop with free wi-fi and GOOD coffee, right next to the backcountry/ski shop there (somebody help me out here, just south of the highway, and west of the road up to Keystone, in the shopping center there by the McD's and all).

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Thats the Steamin Bean. Right between subway and the chinese place. Cant miss the office max

Did the Jersey-U.P.-Calgary/Banff-Jackson-Jersey thing solo same time last year. You'll have a blast, just watch the weather. I hit a blizzard in Minnesota/NoDak on New Yrs Day last year that was a freaking nightmare.
Oh, and a CB is clutch. If u don't have one, hit a big ass truck stop and hook it up. You'll be happy you did - better than any radar detector - though I hope you have one of those too...

Best solo haul thus far: NJ to Mammoth in 35 hrs (+9 hrs sleep and 5 to eat/gas up).

"It's spendy to speed here in Nevada." - NHP Officer:the_finge :FIREdevil :the_finge

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Originally Posted by acostiga

bring some utica club gold cans to barter with along the way (or drink), lots of change to make it through all of the tolls around chicago (ez-pass no worky out west) and try to hook yourself up with the xm/sirius radio thing.

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Haha for sure, i will be glad to bring some high quality CNY brews out west to sample (Hamilton pride acostiga! P.S. - they just opened the new science building which is nuts!) - maybe we'll even bring some kegs across the border for you Utah mags....


Thanks for all the encouragement thus far though, seems like a lot of your road trips that make mine seem like a walk in the park. Cantdog, that sounds like one hell of trip last year!

As for speeding, although we are aiming to do it in one shot, we will not be speeding. My V8 only has 200hp and a 4 speed. Therefore, when you get up past 75 or 80 MPG decrease significantly. Plus i've got beefy tires and a safari rack that will be pilled with gear so i will be desperately trying to conserve gas anyway possible.

Raps-
I did Ithaca Ny to Colorado springs with 1 friend in 31 hours driving+ 3 hours mandatory sleep for both of us= 34 straight hours. Easy as pie. Honestly, super great trip. What school are you coming from?

Yoss did you go to Ithaca or Cornell?

Get at it boys:yourock:

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Originally Posted by XtrPickels

Raps-
I did Ithaca Ny to Colorado springs with 1 friend in 31 hours driving+ 3 hours mandatory sleep for both of us= 34 straight hours. Easy as pie. Honestly, super great trip. What school are you coming from?

Yoss did you go to Ithaca or Cornell?

Get at it boys:yourock:

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Awesome, sounds like we'll be set......plus we got our ipods all hooked up to the tape deck so we can rock out for 30 straight hours....

I'm at Hamilton by the way....what ithaca school were you comming from? My fraternity is at Cornell but we don't really get along too well with them which is a shame since their house is sick....

Just try not to spend all your cash in Aspen. New Years there is real spendy.

I'll be out that way 12/27-1/3. Probably be at Copper most days, with a few side trips to A-Basin and Vail/beav. I'll have the laptop with me, so keep in touch.

my best solo ever is NJ-Boulder in 24 hours...

radar detectors rule...

if u bring a case of those saranac holiday mix pack ur welcome to stay in SLC with me 978-985-5412....i suffered a winter at syracuse U, now i ski alta... the names todd call me when ur out here, happy travels.....

i was a cornell kid. Yeah, Raps, most of those houses are pretty dang nice.

Steamin Bean', yeah, that's it in Dillon. Good spot. Thanks.

Aspen New Years will be fun but pricey unless you have a hook up or a party to hit.

Have fun, mebbie see ya on the hill. Lots of people to show you around here and there...

Way to get after it! IF your in the Vail area shoot me a PM. I'd be happy to show you around. If you have Saranac Seasons Best or Black Forrest in tow I may even show you some uber secret taping zones. You can find Wi Fi at the Tap Room in Vail and at Loaded Joe's in Avon. There are a couple of other places around as well, but the name's escape me at the moment.

shouldn't there be a separate "road trip" forum or something.... sheeeh :p bbirtle's's gotta wade thru all this warstory nonsense...
(I did 3 900mi days ft myers to bozone last year w/2 dogs and a trailer)

Looks like a can't go wrong kinda trip for ya raps, plenty of gaggles to ski with everywhere, epic tr expected...

Cornell related- I paid for a ski season by workin one summer on their freshwater pipeline project thingy where they cool the school by sucking up cold cayuga water. We poured all the sidewalks and drive aprons down Gun Hill and out to the lake... had interesting roadtrips each way with my 73 bmw bavaria, that fuckin thing...

Alright well one thing is for sure then, if there is any space left after initially packing up - i will fill it with cases of Saranac, maybe some Magic Hat as well....


And thanks for the tips on Aspen new years - i definately don't wanna break the bank the first night of the trip....being from NYC though, i've definately seen my fair share of over priced new years partys so i'll be a savy shopper..... plus i wanna ski the next day so.....

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Originally Posted by baseWeldr

had interesting roadtrips each way with my 73 bmw bavaria, that fuckin thing...

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Whoa, that makes the road trip infinately more impressive. Did the car rust out on your way cross country? Did the head blow off?

The only downside of my trip last year was also the big upside...the huge storm that hit Colorado, unfortunately hit pretty much everywhere across the country.

It started raining when I hit the mass line....turned to freezing rain around Nebraska...and full on ice storm around Omaha, and then finally snow about 100 miles from Denver. I80 was a graveyard, I saw flipped over cars in the median, numerous flipped over tractor trailers, it was scary. Saw cars right in front of me lose it and fishtail across the lanes and fly onto the shoulder/median.

If there is any advise, its to take your time getting out there. Sure, you might miss a day, but its fucking dangerous driving 30+ hours nonstop, especially in bad weather. Naping at a rest stop for 4-5 hours, or a Walmart parking lot, or even getting a cheap motel room will be a lot cheaper than replacing a totalled car, or god forbid, something worse.

Also, make sure you're car is in crosscountry driveable shape before leaving. I had tires swapped right before I left and neglected to check to make sure the wheel studs were torqued. I was in a rush and figured they couldnt mess it up. Well, in Kentucky in june I am slowing down from around 85mph and hear a really loud WHACK WHACK sound coming from my front end and bad shakes. I pull over, and two wheel studs had sheared off, a third was completely loose, and the fourth was on tight. Essentially, my wheel was held on by one bolt. Managed to find some replacement studs and do the swap, but I was kicking myself for not double checking it before I left, and the mistake nearly cost me a lot more than a days delay. (Although upon fixing I promptly started driving again around 1 in the afternoon, and rolled into boulder 6 am the next day, and started work at 7. Still a dumbass)

road trips rule! especially when in college...not a care in the world. only advice this mid-30s grillzeled veteran can offer: drive fast, take chances, ski hard every day, make new friends, and have fun. damn i am jealous!

your gonna have a blast...done plenty of road trippin in my day (phish)....


7000k miles in less than 3 weeks....best time of my life...


driving that much for skiing is even better!


have fun and be safe....


i suggest buying a sleeve of Skoal and you guys will be road champions