Tag Archives: charlie

Charlie Goes West: The Wrap-Up

Statistics

Length of trip: 27 days
Days of long-distance driving: 15 days
Distance driven: 5,773 miles (9,291 km)
Average Fuel Economy: 24.2 miles per gallon (10.3 km/litre)

I am so very happy with my 2020 Subaru Outback! It was the perfect road trip car. By the end of the trip the total mileage on the car was 30,336 miles.

Nights in hotels: 9
Nights in AirBnbs: 15 (AirBnbs in Flagstaff, Albuquerque, and Denver)
Nights staying with friends: 3

I was very happy with my AirBnbs, though they were all very different. Flagstaff and Albuquerque compared to a studio motel room, but Denver was actually a two-bedroom house with full kitchen. The real winner was Denver which put me in easy walking of so many great shops and restaurants.

Breweries visited: 49
Beers checked in: 148

Why breweries? I assure you I am by no means a heavy drinker, though I do enjoy a good beer. I have found the brewery-hopping is a nice thing to do when traveling with Charlie because they tend to be dog-friendly, and there is a built-in social environment. I had the good fortune to have great conversations with random strangers, something that is normally kind of difficult for me to initiate. Everybody wants to talk about Charlie, though, and that’s a great introduction to other topics. (Also, how did I check in so many beers? I like flights.)

Lessons Learned

  • Back to back to back days of driving are pretty rough. You’d think I would have learned that last year!
  • Mountains lift my spirits. I saw the first hint of mountains in western South Dakota, the Black Hills, and I was actually elated. It was a great feeling.
  • Exerting yourself at 7,000+ feet above sea level takes a far greater toll than you might expect. I mean, I’m still out of shape, but I’m not THAT out of shape!
  • Mountain roads are fun. Back roads are fun. Even rocky, unpaved dirt roads are fun (when you have a car equipped for it). Interstates are boring, but when you need to get from here to there quickly, sometimes you have no choice.
  • Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Keep Assist are a godsend on long, straight, boring highways.
  • Nevada always surprises me with the beauty to be found in even some of the most remote and desolate areas.
  • California is a nice place to visit, but I’m pretty sure I would never want to live there.
  • I knew this already, but traveling with a dog who loves to ride in the car is wonderful. You never feel alone, and always have a friend right nearby. Charlie is the best road trip buddy ever!

The final lesson learned is that although this trip wasn’t cheap and was a lot of time away from work, who knows what the future will bring? Do the things that make you happy while you can. Sure, plan for the future, but don’t forget to enjoy today, too.

I have so many wonderful memories from this trip that I will treasure for years to come. Those of you who have followed along in this blog or on social media, I hope that you were able to enjoy the trip vicariously. I also hope that you have adventures of your own in your future!

Thanks for reading.

Coming in late? You can start reading about the entire trip from the beginning: Charlie Goes West

Charlie Goes West, Day 0

I’m still scrambling trying to get everything packed, or at least staged and ready to go. It turns out when you’re going to leave home for a month, you need to give some things a little extra thought. How long will those eggs in the fridge last? Which lights should be left on? Little things like that.

I still need to get Nora’s food and medications all packed up. The dog sitter loves Nora, which helps. They have a small dog and a couple of young children, and Nora gets along quite well with all of them. She spent the night with them last weekend and they got the Full Nora Experience, which means she got into their snack stash and ate an entire bag of Fritos and a bag of Brownie Brittle. They need to work on understanding her “tells” as well. When Nora comes and sits in front of you and stares at you, she isn’t saying “Oh, please pet me.” She is saying “Hey dummy, I need to pee. Let me out.” They had to deal with a couple of accidents because of that, but seemed quiet OK with it. In talking with them, they have a lot of experience with dogs way more troublesome than Nora, so I think she’ll be just fine there.

Nora stares into the camera as a hand from offscreen scratches her chin.

So anyway, I have four weeks of travel ahead of me, starting right after I drop Nora off tomorrow morning:

The first week and a half is going to be fun, but a little tiring. As I have learned from past road trips, the daily routine of driving someplace new, stay at a hotel, then pack up and drive to the next place can be wearing. I’m glad I’ve got some AirBnB’s lined up in Flagstaff, Albuquerque, and Denver. That will give me time to recharge a bit, work remotely, and do some laundry!

Tomorrow, I hit the road!

A map of the western United States showing Duncan's route from Illinois to (in order) Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, California, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, and back to Illinois.

Charlie Goes West! (Summer 2023 Road Trip)

I loves me a good road trip. I’ve been on a couple of great ones over the last couple of years including 2017’s Great Western Road Trip and 2022’s Drive to the Canadian Maritimes. It’s almost time to set out on a new adventure! Every adventure needs a great name, and this year it’s Charlie Goes West.

My last trip out west took me from Chicago north through the Prairie Provinces then down the Pacific Coast from Portland to San Francisco, then a straight shot back east on I-80 then I-70. That was fun, but I missed out on the Northern Plains and some of the nicest parts of the Rocky Mountains, not to mention the entire Southwest. I was also completely solo on that trip, and I learned last year how much fun it is to travel with Charlie. He may be blind, but he adores riding in the car and thrives on meeting new people.

When I started planning out this year’s trip, I thought about some things I didn’t want to miss. I’ve never been to the Badlands, and I’ve never had a chance to explore the Southwest. Also, the four states in the contiguous US that I have never set foot in are Nebraska, South Dakota, Arizona, and New Mexico. It’s time to fix that! For extra fun, I didn’t want to retrace any of my 2017 route if it could be avoided. All of these pieces came together into this year’s route, which is around 5,200 miles as planned:

A map of the western United States showing Duncan's planned route.

(Map generated by Furkot, an extremely handy road trip planner!)

I have the luxury of a good amount of vacation time and the ability to work remotely most of the time. That’s why after 2017’s two-week trip and 2022’s three-week trip, this trip is going to be a full four weeks. Because I’m working from the road occasionally, I’ll only be using eleven vacation days. While I didn’t know many people out in the Maritimes last year, this time around I’ll be passing by many friends along the way. I’m looking forward to some fun times ahead!

I hit the road on Saturday morning, 12 August, and I can’t wait! I’ll be posting updates here on my blog, as well as on my Mastodon account (which should get notifications of blog updates as well).