Day 10. Northern Cali

Greetings everyone after possible the worst night sleep yet most invent full night we have all had in a while =D We began Saturday, day 10! This morning we woke up around 6:15AM and started to make our way north towards the big trees! While on route a California Highway Patrol Officer pulled in behind our van and soon enough had us lit up in his blue and red lights. As the officer approached the van my heart was in my throat not really knowing what we had done to attract the strong arm of the law.

Anyways long story short and a quick pow wow. Soon enough and we were out of a marked lane violation citation and sent on our way with a have a nice day and drive safe. What a guy!

(I don't think that officer has ever driven a mini van with a car top carrier across a bridge before cause if he had, he would know those thing's take gust of wind terribly!)

The Pull over count now stands at 9!

Day 9 Nevada/ San Fran

Leaving our Clown Motel in Topopah Nevada we woke up today after a good night's sleep and warm showers. Driving though Nevada the long desert road almost leads you into a driving comma which happened to us when we overshoot our turn off highway by six miles. Anyways the highlight of the drive into California sadly has been a possible bear sighting on the side off the road which lead to us discovering that our excitement was actually over a cowwww. What an utter fail!

Anyways I really like California, its a beautiful state and we were able to witness the Golden Gate Bridge which was a personal goal for me! Anyways after touring San Fran last night we decided to make our way north towards the Redwoods National Forest!

Day 7/8ish? Hoover/Vegas/Nevada

After an early start in our Western Arizona campground, we took off on the free way for Vegas! The roads are wide open out here so the speed limit is posted at 75MPH. After making a quick stop at the Hoover Dam, the fun began.


Two words, Vegas Baby: Today the four of us hit the Vegas strip to see if we could win our life earnings in one lucky pull of the slot. Wellll plan's didn't go according to our wishes and I walked out empty handed =) (well I only spent a dollar so I guess I shouldn't complain). Here are the two things I took away from Sin City

1) I'm not going back to Vegas until I'm 21 years old,

2) They have more street vendors on the strip selling porn, hookers, and strip clubs then they do actual buildings on the strip. Matter of fact they sold soft and hard porn in newspaper vending machines on almost every street corner, some of which was free.

So after spending a good part of the day walking the strip like a quartet of high rollers in cowboy hats and wrangler jeans, we departed Sin City for greener things such as Yosemite National Park. Moral is good and I think all four of us are pumped to head into California tonight and see what we can find for adventure =) Until then friends and family we'll be in touch... maybe =) (see what the grizzly bears in Yosemite have to say about our shaggin wagon and the mounds of food we have dug into the car.)


Anyways after Vegas we he headed northwest towards California and found our way to the "Clowns Motel". I'll let you know what kind of sleep we get tonight =)

P.S I believe a thank you is in order for Hannah Brittany Mrs. D and Tim for helping us out with finding campgrounds along our route the past few days. The boys are thankful =)

Beautiful Sedona Arizona and snoring... ! Day 6ish?

Here are your two tid bit's of information for the day! 1) Call me spoiled but last night's sleep was the best night's rest I've gotten in days (for some reason that it beat the snow covered sleep we got a few day's ago.

2) Tom Duprey's snoring sounds like a high powered chain saw getting cranked up to cut down a Redwood tree! Haha matter of fact yesterday morning a neighboring camper up in Zion asked who the person snoring was haha =)

Anyways I'm sitting here enjoying some really weak coffee and taking in beautiful Sedona! Maybe 300 yards away from me sitting across the street is a huge red rock mesa/mountain thing. I don't think it dipped below 65 degrees last night so us boys took a walk around town. The highlight may have been talking to the discontented wendy's worker sitting out on a smoke break who advised us that Sedona had nothing for you unless you were 80 years old and in bed by 7PM haha.

Plans for today include doing some hiking and taking in this beautiful country side and then hmmmmm I'm feeling Vegas ;) Until then my friends!

Zion to Grand Canyon to Sedona Arizona Day 5

Hello! In my last post I highlighted a Harley Davidson motorcyclist who camped next to us. Well little did I know when he first introduced himself to me in line at the gift place across town was that he was a brother in Christ. What a cool man, he not only shared dinner with us he also shared a campfire with us, an shared his wealth of experience and knowledge with us. The campfire quote of the night was by far from Mr Craig: "God is Boss", I guess it may not seem to awesome now but at the time it really caught our attention. So this morning we are heading into Zion National Park for a bit for the second straight day and then we are heading Southeast to the Grand Canyon and then from there off to Sedona Arizona! The weather outside is beautiful and I feel fully recovered from hiking Angles Landing yesterday afternoon. Well until later my friend!

**The pull over count is still at 5. And right now I really could use some internet and a warm shower. O how spoiled we are.

P.S 2 This trip has been everything I could have ever imagined!!

Zion and Bryce Canyon

Today was the highlight so far for myself and the crew, we hit Zion and we hit Zion National Park hard. Jesse Luke and I climbed Canyon Look Overview which was majestic! And then after visiting the Zion National Park Visitor's Center the three of us decided on attempting "Angels Landing"! Angles Landing view did not disappoint us! The hike was grueling but so worth it, about half way up I could feel the thigh muscles start to cramp and my body was begging the question of why did I attempt this hike! We spent the whole day between Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, the scenery was breathtaking and pictures do not do it justice, this day made me so pumped for the rest of this trip!

At camp tonight I hit up a conversation with a Harley Davidson biker who happened to be in line in front of me in the gift shop, and it ended up that he was camping next to us and next thing we knew we were having dinner with him, what an interesting guy? He was retired and living the dream of biking everywhere across the country on his Harley. We had dinner and then he bid us farewell until a later time. Well the sun is going down, and the temperature is dropping. Lets hope we miss some snow tonight =)

Sleeping in the snow in Colorado Day 4

Good morning! Good morning from SNOWY Colorado, we rolled into Otter Creek last night around 6PM, made dinner, started watching the Hangover on my laptop but ended up passing out around 10PM. Fast forward through a very cold and windy night we woke up to our surprise, to find our tent covered with a dusting of snow! Well the cold and snow really forced out hand and we were all dressed and tent broken down and driving out of the camp exit at exactly 7:02 AM (Yes surprisingly 20 year old males do move at that hour =) Anyways now we are in search of a warm breakfast and then off to Bryce Canyon National Park! Until then

Entering the beautiful land of Texas!

Well loyal followers, it's official, we are now traveling though the FLATTEST country I have ever seen. This is beautiful country out here, currently we are traveling due west (still) on I40 West heading towards Amarillo. This is man's country with a mix of some hard woman out here. Every man I've seen it seems is wearing at least a camo hat with a mustache wrangler jeans work boots/real cowboy boots. We look out the van window and as Luke so greatly put it, you see so far the; DUDE the only reason you don't see farther is because the earth curves!"

This trip has been everything I could have wished for, we are making great time, and God has truly blessed us along the way so far, we should be hitting our destination for the night in less then three hours, but not before we make a quick detour, whats this detour? Well in the many hours we've spent in the van today as given me ample time to research the map, and I noticed this little tiny road off I40 right at the Texas/Oklahoma border, and after a little loser research(it was actually a pure mistake) I found this road to be route 66! So after about 30 seconds of debate we decided to take the little detour and roll into Texas on Route 66.

About two or so hours ago we rolled into Oklahoma City an a noteworthy culture experience occurred! We happened to find a parking spot right on the same spot as this African American religious group dressed in white sheets protesting that Jesus was black (as my friend Cass from back home put it so appropriately, "does his color really matter"?) We got within 25 yards of the protest and we decided that was close enough for us, so we then meandered along to the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing memorial which was well worth the 10 minute stop!

Anyways, Luke is in search of the hat that "John Wayne and Crocodile Dundee's son would wear" on this trip, so he has constantly been in search of this perfect hybrid hat.... Well as we were barreling due west through Western Oklahoma (what else is new haha) we saw this Cherokee Indian store so of course we stopped and Luke and Tom found these awesome cowboy hats, like the kind of hat a Texas rancher would be proud of, but Luke said it didn't have the right feel so we decided to move along in our quest of Amarillo. (But not before we took some photos with the bison in Indian garb!)

Anyways to close day three we have traveled from Memphis Tenn to Amarillo Texas, we drove for 12 hours and 730 miles, that is hauling my friend =) We drove though two full states and saw the real heartland of America. Anyways time for bed and much needed sleep. Until tmw my friends!

William Clinton Library Little Rock

Well we passed through Little Rock Arkansas for the soul purpose of seeing the Bill Clinton Museum, well we got to the museum and we found that it was $7 dollars a person to get in. Well bringing the conservatives we are, we agreed we wouldn't even spend $28 dollars to get into the George Bush Museum, never mind blow me Clinton! So we bid the the really clean and nice city of Little Rock good bye and sped off towards Oklahoma City. On the way we decided to stop at the home town of Carrie Underwood in some little town in Oklahoma, which was a crazy experience let me tell you that. There was one main road, a little housing development and then the HS which was right next to the high school football stadium which was bigger then any stadium in Western Mass.

High school football is king down here, we discussed the job prospects of growing up in this area of the country, and for the male's of this section of the nation the plan is simple, work out and become great at football and go to college and play ball, or graduate from high school at age 18 and move right into the hard labor of farming and oil drilling and never move out of town. Yeah talk about bleak prospects =)

Luke's mom tonight Aunt Denise text-ed me about an hour ago and being the woman she is, her and Uncle Jim are buying us a hotel room tonight in Amarillo! It's a worthy motivation to drive long and hard again today, we are still on I40 West, it seems like their isn't much in this part of the country to stop and see besides the little 5 building towns and the big capital cities. The landscape has changed drastically since we left Memphis, it started out flat and farms lands in Eastern Arkansas and then moved into a mountainous range, and now since we entered Oklahoma it has turned back to flat prairies and lot's of cows and broken down cars. (BTW we just passed our first oil rig! a noteworthy landmark for sure)

The drive of the great west is like the drain in the shower, the pull of the current of the great American west is drawing us closer and closer. We don't want to spend a lot of time stopping in these towns of nothingness when places such as the Grand Canyon and the string of National Parks is luring us closer.

P.S. The pull over is still stuck at 5, matter of fact we haven't even seen very many police officers.

Heading into the deep south, day 3

Good afternoon from western Arkansas, we woke up this morning and after a slight delay (Luke's coming down with an illness so we had to wait for Wal Greens to open up at 8AM to get Luke properly medicated. To recap the last 16 hours of so, Memphis = nice city but some sketchy people, at one point we unloaded the whole van overhead carrier and threw it in the van out of fear of being robbed overnight. Other then that little incident the process of visiting Memphis went smoothly.

We passed over the great Mississippi River shortly after departing Memphis and let me tell you, that river is song impressive! Hugh isn't the word to describe it, it's just massive, and as we drove over it, we contemplated what it would have been like to river boat down the lazy Mississippi river back when this country was first being discovered! Now that's the pioneer spirit!

So the original goal of this day was to stop in Oklahoma City, but like all great road trips, plans change. Our goal as of this moment (as we have found out already multiple times, plans change) is to hit Amarillo Texas by around 9PM tonight, Luke's mom Aunt Denise threw around a free night in a hotel so being the motivated men we are, we are shooting to drive about 10 hours total today and crash hard tonight. And after Amarillo Texas tonight, our goal has been changed to Arches National Park in CO, then moving south along route 70 into Bryce Canyon, Zion, and then the Grand Canyon National Park! For those of you keeping track at home, we should hit Arches NP by Saturday evening, and then Bryce Canyon on Sunday, and then Zion NP for two nights Monday and Tuesday. But then again I'm stuck with this old school atlas map and sadly this map doesn't calculate mileage and distance of travel like trusty google maps =)

Some poor fellow in Little Rock had the misfortune of being pull over victim number 5.

God's hand and crazy southern weather!!

Wow wow wow that's all I have to say, no doubt God's hand is in this trip, so to recap the last couple hours. The four of us veryyy smelly men rolled into Cedars of Lebanon State Campground around 11:30AM Tenn time. At 1PM as I checked us into the camp site I overheard the radio broadcast for a severe thunderstorm warning with large hail rolling strong due east our way, as I drove into the campsite I heard the first boom of thunder off in the distance, as I looked at our little tent, the fear of blowing away in the middle of the night in a strong gust of hail and wind flashed through my mind.

Now fast forward 32 minutes and we are now packed up, heading west on I40 towards Memphis, the weather outside is terrible, with pouring rain and gusting wind, so it is such a blessing that by chance I overheard that radio announcement and that we were able to get out in time =) And just to add to the good vibe taking place right now, we are traveling WITH our $18 dollar camp site refund, plus two (free) warm showers for Luke and I, and two hours of sleep for Jesse and Tom. As I was driving back to the campsite with the bad news of incoming weather, I noticed a sign at the camp with John 3:16 written on it. Hmm encouraging =)

P.S: Once again what is with these friendly southern people? The friendly camp ground attendant looked me in the eye, and apologized for the bad weather as she refunded our campsite haha. Like she had any control over it? And I could tell she really did mean she was sorry we were getting rained out. Wow I continued to be impressed with the really friendly people in the southern part of this great country. On other notes, now this rain just needs to remain drivable.

Finally a place to rest... atleast we thought

Well we finally decided on our route of choice, we are going to head for Lebanon Tenn, and camp over night at Cedars of Lebanon State Campground, we struck out on about four campgrounds before that but thankfully we finally found a welcoming spot to lay our heads for the night and shower!

I can tell morals are starting to lower a little, it's nothing serious though, the long over night drive and pretty bad sleep did a job on all of us. As I write this Luke and Tom are passed out in the back seat catching up on some lost sleep, and Jesse and I co piloting up front getting us to our destination for the night. The weather is turning warmer and muggy, it feels like a thunderstorm is ah brewing.

The wee hours of the night

We had our first run in with law enforcement last night, and I think we all walked away so impressed. We crossed over the Mason Dixon Line and it seems just like the food and the southern woman, the police officers transform as well into polite, approachable, human beings. This Virginia State Trooper was one of the nicest easy going police officers I've ever met, for the play by play I'll let Jesse Haqq take it away.

"Southern Hospitality
We saw a giant cross illuminated by green neon lights by the side of the highway so we decided to stop for a picture. Naturally a cop pulls up behind us within 20 secs after we stopped. We were expecting the worse, 4 guys wandering around the side of a highway at 2 in the morning, but apparently southern cops aren't the same pricks that our MA cops are. This guy was nice and he actually asked us if we were ok. It was the first time in my life Ive seen a cop offer to help a human being. He actually even said that we don't need to give him and explanation. What a guy." Jesse Haqq


We are kind of at a cross road, we need to figure out a plan for sleeping tonight, in the wee hours of the morning Tom and I took the driving shift, we had our first road kill of the trip when tom sliced a passive possum in half, oh well it wasn't like we were going to be able to stop the shaggin wagon on a dime for a large rodent.

I got about 3 hours total of sleep passing out on the vans floor, let me tell you it wasn't the holiday in. In total I think we all got about 3-4 hours of sleep last night, we are are all; going to sleep so well tonight! So far the pull over count (including us) is still at such a small number, only two poor individuals, hehe =) I think we fared a tad better then the poor fellow in Jersey did thought!

Opening Leg

Wednesday evening at 6:27PM we bid farewell to the comforts of our homes and the loving family's. We made pretty good time I must say, at this point its about 10:20PM as we are about 30 miles outside of Easton PA. The trip is going by fast, the entrainment is good, the spirits are high. The endless possibility's of what the tomorrow may hold for us is dangling in front of us like a carrot on a stick to a donkey. For me personally the lure of the 85 degree+, sunny weather of Oklahoma,
Texas, and the Grand Canyon that lay in wait for us in the next few days are calling my name.

The road kill game (thanks Brett Faro for the heads up on this game) is hard to play at night, and I would like to be passing the time playing something, but a bit of car sickness hit me between Hartford and NYC (no vomit, in case you all were concerned), so being copilot I had to muster my stomach strength to copilot my man Tom through southern Conn and into NY. Needless to say after filling my stomach and enjoying some home cooked food via Mrs. Haqq all was settled on the home front =)

We just passed into Pennsylvania, the two things I took away from New Jersey 1)we saw maybe two police cruisers the whole time, and one of them I could have sworn was pulling out after us but instead had a different victim in mind. My thinking is all the New Jersey police have better things to do like knock some drug dealing heads in Newark and Atlantic city. 2) New Jersey really does smell pretty badly, I mean I've smelt football locker rooms that had better aroma's then that state, I felt like we were in constant sewage plant. Anyways until later, that's your friendly up date from the shaggin wagon. The beach boys sure do know how to groove =)

Departure Day!

Greetings friends and families.

Today is departure day =) We are meeting around 5:30pm at my residence, packing the van, and after final good byes and some prayer from an elder of our home church, Tom Jesse Luke and I are setting off for the adventure of a lifetime! Our first stop is the Nashville, Memphis area which we should be getting to sometime around 1PM Thursday afternoon. We have been helped out so much by our friends and families with supply's and good advice. Now that the planning is complete, Jesse and I just need to complete one more final and then before we know it 5:30PM will be here! I hope I don't forget to pack my tooth brush =)

The picture I've uploaded is Grand Teton National Park at sunset.


P.S. Lord this trip needs your guiding hand every step of the way!

The True American Hero

So the other day as I drove into my drive way I noticed my neighbors flag at half mast, after inquiring from my mother why this was so, she informed me that our neighbor just lost a nephew in the Marines over in Afghanistan. So the next time I drove into my drive way I gazed over just as the sun was setting behind our countries flag at half mast, and I took a moment to really ponder, to really sit in the moment. On this road trip we are going to see America's true hero's, the people that make this country what it is, and make this country run. I'm not talking about those overpaid corporate men and woman in business suits running around like ants in the big city streets of Manhattan and LA. I'm talking about the construction workers we will meet and see who make America run,the 10th generation farmer out in Idaho who still bails his own hay by tractor without paid labor, the underpaid police officers and fire fighters in the big cities and small rural town's who put their lives on the line while simultaneously taking a step onto eternities door step, every time they clock in to work, so that those they love can sleep safe at night.
The men and woman in camo uniform's who just like their other men and woman partners in blue and red, assume the responsibilities that a lot of people aren't cut out to make.

I'm excited to meet America's true hero's, the real backbone of America, the people who go to work everyday and fly the flag proudly, The real American.

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel

Well we have about three days until we officially depart on this road trip of a life time! Tonight, myself and some good friends did some grilling and made fire ha ha. It's a goal of mine to catch up and see all the good friends who are coming home from school for the summer before I leave, such as the Bruins crew, and my home away from home down on South Main Street =) Tonight as we sat under the stars it really made me appreciate God's work as well as get me really excited to see a good wide open western sky filled with star's but no light pollution!

Today we did some hard core packing and preparing for the upcoming trip and tomorrow night we are planning on packing everything into the van except electronics and our bags of clothes! The weather is really forcing our hand to take the southern route first. The weather men (why do we trust them anyways?) are calling for rain and snow in the Wyoming area starting this Friday, so therefore we will begin this trip going south with a goal of Nashville as our first stop! The open road is calling our names, miles upon miles of hard pavement to pound =)

Preparing and packing

Greetings friends and family

Welcome to my first blog post, We are 5 days and counting from the planned departure date for our cross country road trip! Our team name is Team Bucket List because of the incredible number of items we will all cross off our unofficial bucket lists in life, while on the road for these three weeks. Team Bucket List consist of Myself, and three of my best friends, Jesse, Tom and Luke. We are all at the same transitional period in our lives in which we are all out of high school, but without full time careers, a marriage, or any children in which we are responsible for (we hope not anyways ..... Luke??)So with finals complete by 3PM Wendesday the 19th and no full time summer jobs ordering us back to reality until atleast June 12th 2010, the time is right, the open highways and byways of endless pavement and no idea what lies await beyond the next curve.

Therefore this summer we choose to hit the open road and attempt to complete a journey that so many wish to take in their time, but for one reason or another, the cards never fall into perfect place to allow such a journey. Us four young men saw an opportunity to attempt this trip of a life time and like the pioneers before us, we are taking life by the horns and running with it! America here we come!!