May 1 - Prologue

A nice little detour! I have always liked to drive. Doesn't really matter where; if I can take the SUV, then I would rather drive than fly. Why, you might ask? There is a certain freedom to driving. You can go when you want, stay as long (as you are welcome) and return when you want. You can go fast and you can go slow. You can bring everything you need or travel light. You can take detours; turn down a road and see what's there. You can find many ways to go to the same place and you can go to many places the same way. For sure you can get lost! You can turn the music up, yell at your GPS and these days, pull over and book a hotel or the next golf course on your tablet.


Shh, I'm napping

You can take a little time to think about things. It's always nice to stop at the local diner for breakfast or lunch and learn what's going on.  You just need to be a little inquisitive. You can pull over and have a little nap  ..  anytime you want. No need to rush.

In the past, I have taken this type of  journey by myself, but for this adventure, I plan to share my time with three special people. Here's where we plan to go:

Bob's & Friends 2013

Joining me in Denver, Colorado on May 11 is my long time friend, former boss and mentor Bill Foskett. Willy and I will take 8 days to travel through the American Rockies. There might be a few 'White Knuckle' roads to navigate, before we reach the desert and Phoenix. Along the way we plan to see both the Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. We are planning stops at Monument Valley, the Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, Roosevelt Dam and Apache Junction. The trip from Roosevelt Dam to Apache Junction  will follow the Old Appache Trail down through the valleys of the Superstition Mountains.  Bill wants to go white water rafting in Moab. Sure hope they are prepared for a couple little guys like us! Here's a link to see where we will travel:
 Denver to Phoenix

Once in Phoenix, we will hook up with an old friend and colleague Garry Cooney for a couple of days. Willy will then head over to California to see his brother. I will stay on in Phoenix for a couple of days of golf with Garry.

Trek 2 starts in Los Angeles May 25 where I will meet up with my nephew Warren Duffy. Warren will fly to LA from Toronto. Warren needs to keep me young for this next leg of our journey. These 9 days will be a little less structured and a little tougher going. Warren and I will travel old Hwy 395 from just east of LA to almost the Canadian border.Our trip looks like this:
Old Rte 395 

This is the original North/South in-land route and is still considered one of the great US Bi-Ways. For this journey, it will be important to have plenty of gas, food, water etc.  as these items will be hard to come by for some of our route. We will drive through the Sierra Madre Mountains, Death Valley desert and hopefully traverse the famous Tioga Road through Yosemite National Park. This road only opens (due to winter conditions) in late May each year, so with a little luck we may get through. We'll catch our breath for a night in Reno and then back into the wilderness.  From there we will follow old Rte 395 through Oregon and Washington with a pass by Mt. St Helans and into Seattle. 

The final leg of my trip will be spent with my buddy from Ottawa Dave Lefebvre.  Dave and I have been friends for 50 years, which takes us back to grade 9.  Our connection these days is through golf.  We have played golf in Florida now for many years each winter and my cottage golf in the Gatineau almost always includes Dave.  Dave will fly out to Vancouver, spend some time with friends and family and we will hook up in Seattle around June 3.

We plan to take US#2 - The Great Northern from Seattle to Ontario, playing golf everyday.  Best I can tell there are around 170 golf courses along the way.  We only plan to play around 9-10 of them.  We'll also take in a few sights through the Rocky Mountains (one more time), the Great Northern Plains, down through Minnesota to the Great Lakes and home. We'll probably find the odd country bar or western saloon for periodic refreshments and a tasty cigar.  This oughta be a blast! 

So friends/family - come join Bill, Warren, Dave and me.  You can visit my blog and live vicariously through our journey.   I (we) will try to post each day (for sure every other day)  There will be lots of photos, possibly some videos, some music to capture the mood and a little commentary.  Will try hard to keep it interesting.  Want the readership to go up - not out the door!  Stay tuned and look for us starting May 7/8  ..  Bob