No. 17 Do a part of Dad’s Road Trip pt.1 Accountability Plan

Posted byBreanne St. MartinPosted in#bcs30before30

Planning for May 2021

California Leg

When in his twenties (mid 1970’s) my dad took a cross country road trip with a friend of his, Rick, and their two dogs, Sam and Jake. They started in Southern California in August, drove up the west coast into Canada and back across the northern central United States to the east coast and landed in Cocoa Beach Florida. My mom, sister and I had seen some photos of the trip and heard a story or two from conversations with both dad and Rick. Days following his passing, we found a journal he wrote while on the road trip, and let me tell you there was a LOT of the trip/story that they didn’t tell us.

Dad’s dog Sammy (Sam)

It was crazy to read his adventures all these years later. The stories of this 20 year old man who would in a decade or so become my father felt so familiar with his mannerism but at the same time felt so different, after all not even my mom knew him yet. There were a couple stories we had never heard (sleeping on couches of total strangers, drugs, hitch hikers, and “chicks”) maybe he left them out on purpose, but nevertheless being able to read his memories made me feel closer to him.

The journal we found didn’t cover all the places they visited, but it had 76 days worth of my dad’s memories of this trip. The list above is his list of all the places they traveled and the journal took us through their time in DC/Shenandoah National Park. I’m not sure who or what encouraged my Dad to write down parts of this trip into a journal, but I am so thankful. So for the third time my Dad influence part of my list, not only to make it in the first place, but also to write it down.

Back in 2015 I was invited to a friend’s wedding in Florida. This of course brought on many conversations from his time in Cocoa beach, I am forever thankful for these conversations and stories. On my last day in Florida we made a detour on our way to the airport. So when we arrived at Cocoa beach I made sure to get my feet in the sand and toes in the ocean. I’d been where he once was and when he was around the same age. So while writing this list, I decided I wanted to use his journal as a guide and do a small leg/part of the road trip that he’d gone on in his twenties.

Surfing in Cocoa Beach
Cocoa Beach 1976
2015

Road Trip: The Plan

So here is pt 1 of No. 17 Do a part of Dad’d road trip – for accountability here is my plan. I’m setting some ground rules- things I can and cannot change about part of Dad’s trip.

Things that will change:

  • Timing- I am employed full time and cannot take 2 1/2 months + to do this trip, so I picked a small 2-3 day section of the trip that is close to home. I want to be able to do the small section justice.
  • Safety- My dad took this trip in the 1970’s as a male, with another male and 2 dogs, if there is something that I did not feel was safe in 2020 (sleeping in the car, picking up people on the side of the road, smoking with total strangers, etc) I can pass, no questions asked.
  • Side trips- If there is something along the route that I want to do, I can take a detour, Dad’s road trip will be the framework, but I can take small moments to make a meaningful memory for me.

Things that I wanted to keep the same:

  • Activities: If he talked about an activity (hiking, canoeing, rafting etc) I plan to do the same thing in the same general area. Sometimes he gets specific about trails/locations, but if he didn’t, I’ll plan to find a trail or campground that sounds similar/ is close to where he says they were generally located.
  • Places- Luckily he got pretty specific about places he stayed in this leg of the trip (it was the beginning), I plan to stay and head in the directions of the places/campgrounds they stayed in, and the ORDER that they stayed in them
  • Fires/Food- he surprisingly talked a lot about the fires they made and food they ate. I will to the extent possible, plan my meals to be similar to his and make fires around the timing that he made them (morning/evening etc)

Locations:

Day 1 – Three Rivers (near Sequoia National Park) (detour)

Planning to start our Journey up the 5 freeway with a 4 hour drive to the Three Rivers/ Sequoia National Park area. Lake Kaweah (in Three Rivers) has a Marina with kayaks, aqua cycles and patio boat rentals, which might present a fun break from the car and ideally we’d get here right around lunch time. Although not at this lake, Dad and Rick did some rafting and Kayaking on their trip, we do not yet know how Brandy will do on the water, so there is a first time for everything! There are no dogs allowed on the National park’s trails, so we do not plan to stay or hike within the park, I did find a campsite that allows dogs so hopefully we can set up camp shortly after lunch and either enjoy the river there or take a quick drive through the national park before dark.

Research Links

Day 2 & 3- Huntington Lake & Twin lake trails

Another couple hours of driving should allow us to make it up to Huntington Lake before lunch. This was where dad’s first entry started. Their first day was a lot of driving (~7 hours, I imagine this was because dogs are not allowed in the National park so they just kept going). If all goes to plan and we make it here before noon, this will give us some extra time on the trails (Brandy is certainly not a lab or retriever so I am imagining that she’ll need the extra day light to make a portion of this hike).

Luckily in the National Forrest dogs are allowed on trails and in some campgrounds! Dad explained there location as follows: “Camped up from the lake (Huntington) by a trail to twin lakes”. Based on this bit of information, the closest camping ground to the twin lakes trail head looks to be called “Badger Flat Campground” and it is temporarily closed to COVID. Until we see progress with COVID here in America, I’ll plan to look at campgrounds near the lake.

Dad and Shoemaker spent a couple days here (arriving on their day 1 and not departing until Day 4). Lots of hiking, swimming, rafting and some fishing.

Day 4- Fresno & Home

It was very clear that they headed to Fresno next, however it wasn’t super clear how long they stayed/the purpose from his notes. Mostly thinking that this was just somewhere that the guy they picked up on the road needed to go/was the path to the biggest highway. They stopped for some essentials and a new radio (it busted back on their day 1, poor guys). So we’ll plan to stop in Fresno for a moment before heading the 350+ miles back home.

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