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LOL you were in the woods WAY too long!
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Happy Winter Solstice! 🌇🌃
Miscellaneous Ramblings From My 13,500 Mile North American Tour
- Thread starter Keeled Over
- Start date
Hello all,
Going top shelf this time!
Just rented a 12 person passenger van for September 1st through September 30th, 2025 for $1899 all in with no restrictions on travelling in Canada. Gonna strap that Grumman Standard to the roof and bring the trolling motor and gen.
I was checking other sites to find a better deal but it is too early for some - can't be over a year. Now the mileage is gonna suck, but it is about $1000 less then the mini van, so what the heck. Compared the the mini van this will be palatial. And, I can sit straight up on the inside in my camp chair. Chick already has plans for screens/shades using magnets. And and an extra spare will be purchased at the junkyard and used tire guys. I'll still use my elevated milk crate platform for sleeping, and the extra spare, shovel, cables, extra freeze dried meals and dirty clothing will be stowed below. Only going for a month this time - this ones all about Newfoundland and Labrador. Looks like the temps will be similar to what I just experienced.
Plenty of planning still to do, and I can watch rental companies for a better deal if it comes up.
NOTE - for those of you will an AmEx card, you do get some extra protections as a benefit when travelling. Some can be very helpful, but in order to take full advantage of these you must reserve and pay for your car with the Am Ex. If you reserve with a Visa, and pay with the AmEx, no bennies available. I have never had this happen to me so have not needed them but have heard this quite a bit over the working years.
So here we go again - later on I'll start a new thread on fishing questions and cool stuff to see. Love your scenic drives - if you have not driven that Icefield's Parkway you HAVE to before you die. It might well be the most stunning place in North America, and right up there in the world.
Thank you for the input so far, and the outstanding descriptions (you know who you are!) for the next round!
Going top shelf this time!
Just rented a 12 person passenger van for September 1st through September 30th, 2025 for $1899 all in with no restrictions on travelling in Canada. Gonna strap that Grumman Standard to the roof and bring the trolling motor and gen.
I was checking other sites to find a better deal but it is too early for some - can't be over a year. Now the mileage is gonna suck, but it is about $1000 less then the mini van, so what the heck. Compared the the mini van this will be palatial. And, I can sit straight up on the inside in my camp chair. Chick already has plans for screens/shades using magnets. And and an extra spare will be purchased at the junkyard and used tire guys. I'll still use my elevated milk crate platform for sleeping, and the extra spare, shovel, cables, extra freeze dried meals and dirty clothing will be stowed below. Only going for a month this time - this ones all about Newfoundland and Labrador. Looks like the temps will be similar to what I just experienced.
Plenty of planning still to do, and I can watch rental companies for a better deal if it comes up.
NOTE - for those of you will an AmEx card, you do get some extra protections as a benefit when travelling. Some can be very helpful, but in order to take full advantage of these you must reserve and pay for your car with the Am Ex. If you reserve with a Visa, and pay with the AmEx, no bennies available. I have never had this happen to me so have not needed them but have heard this quite a bit over the working years.
So here we go again - later on I'll start a new thread on fishing questions and cool stuff to see. Love your scenic drives - if you have not driven that Icefield's Parkway you HAVE to before you die. It might well be the most stunning place in North America, and right up there in the world.
Thank you for the input so far, and the outstanding descriptions (you know who you are!) for the next round!
Oops - I got the deal through Budget.
AmEx we have and do not use in Canada as they charge a foreign transaction fee
I lnow there are a zillion kinds of Amex cards so just check
We have Visa and no foreign transaction charge
The Icefields Pkwy is nice but the glaciers in 1867 were lower and it was nicer
Those tour busses. gah
Did you go to Salmon Glacier?
I lnow there are a zillion kinds of Amex cards so just check
We have Visa and no foreign transaction charge
The Icefields Pkwy is nice but the glaciers in 1867 were lower and it was nicer
Those tour busses. gah
Did you go to Salmon Glacier?
When I was traveling in my mini-van more than once I parked on the street in a residential for the night. Who is going to give that a 2nd look?
Alan
Oops - I got the deal through Budget.
Thank you Alan. I have often heard of this practice and have no issue with it. I have never been in situation where I needed to, but it is on the table. My last trip I had the white mini-van - dubbed Beluga by chick - with Florida plates. Didn't happen in Anchorage or Fairbanks but way up there I got a few comments, good natured ribbing about being lost, not knowing how to read a map, and if I was on the lam. I was thinking that wherever I parked up there someone might remember this van, the plates, and a weirded out American trying to find the hidden tank of petrol that seems to be the norm up there.
Yeah, I can see it being a bit more conspicuous in that situation. I was almost always in the states and usually parked in residential areas when I was traveling on a highway late into the night. I'd get tired and there were no rest areas nearby so I'd just pull off in the next little town and park in a quiet residential area to sleep the night. I'd be gone again early in the morning before most people were up and about. Sometimes "being gone" would just mean driving a few blocks to a city park where I could stretch my legs, use a bathroom, and cook breakfast.
Alan
I've slept in many places in my van, including rest areas, truck stops, Walmart, trail heads, fields, suburban streets and catholic church parking lots (with permission of the deacon).
Warning, however: It's illegal to sleep in a vehicle in some towns. You might even end up in jail for it. Ask me how I know. Of course, that was when I was sleeping entirely visible to the patrol cop in the front seat of my 1969 Dodge Charger. If you have good window shades on a van, which prevent the Peelers from peering in, you can probably avoid the slammer even in Manasquan, NJ.
Really want to see some pic's of that B-body!
Not mine, but the same copper color and black vinyl top. The "General Lee" driven in the Dukes of Hazzard TV show was a '69 Dodge Charger.
I wanted a Charger after watching the first famous movie car chase: Steve McQueen's Mustang vs. a 1968 Dodge Charger on the hills of San Francisco in Bullitt. The Charger front grill was changed in 1969 with the mid separator.
Very cool! Love those Chargers. It's funny seeing these things live now - they are so big.
For about a decade I worked for the company that made the interiors for those, and many other cars, for the movie industry. For the first movie we out together 10 sets. They have a bunch of cars for these shoots.
For about a decade I worked for the company that made the interiors for those, and many other cars, for the movie industry. For the first movie we out together 10 sets. They have a bunch of cars for these shoots.
we had nice flowered curtains on our Econoline 150, snuck into a hotel parking lot in Salt Lake City as we'd done in dozens of other towns, went to bed.
Unfortunately the cop had followed us in, waited 15min to see if we were going to check in, then woke us up to say 'you can't sleep here'.
That was the only place we had a problem with sleeping in the hotel parking lot..
Ended up in a truck stop on I-80 next to a bunch of trucks running their engines all night.. got into Wyoming, made a left and found some BLM land for a good night's sleep ;-)
Keeled Over - thanks for the trip reports, looking forward to the next one..
We drove up the Alaska Highway in that Econoline, Denali etc, it was a great trip.
Paddled one river in the Canadian woods, flipped, lost my wife's paddle, selfrescued and went on very cautiously. Met a Canadian a few miles downriver, he said, 'ay saw your paddle come by, figured you'd be along sometime'.
