To drive or fly . . .

Okay, so I am bored at work and trying to decide whether to drive or fly home for the holidays . . . San Francisco (ish) to Bellingham.

Departing: 12/23 Back at work: 1/3/05

Pros to driving:
I can take my road and mountain bikes home (can't run and shouldn't
ski cuz of knee injury . . . but stellar conditions may cause re-evaluation)
I can renovate the bed of my truck with ski storage/sleeping accomodation
with Dad's help and tools . . .
I don’t have to go through holiday security at the silly airport
I can stop and see family on the way.
Depending on the weather, I could bike along the drive home.

Cons to driving:
14 hours in a car . . . twice in a week.
If the nuclear storm hits WA, I have to sacrifice a ski day (or drive all night
down a super boring hwy. . . . alone)
Wear and tear to the truck.

Essentially, it will be a no-brainer on the way there, but I feel like it's gonna suck on the way back, especially cuz I'm not gonna want to leave Bellingham any earlier than I have to.

I apologize in advance for this being the lamest post ever, but travel plans always stress me out, so I'd like y'all to make my decision for me! So, comment away!

I say drive. The driving stress may be bad, but no worse then dealing with the airports at this time of the year. Plus you can do a little bikey, because bikey is fun :D And the drive up is pretty nice to boot.

Road trip!

I hate the hassle that airlne travel has become. My advice...
See the USA in your Chevrolet

[IMG]

if you are solo, fly, if you have a partner drive, sleep, split the time, chat.

If the drive back South is the sucky part....why not spend an extra day or two and drive back someway you haven't been before....or take a longer, more scenic route, like the coast......just a thought.

Getting the truck set up by dear old dad is the tie-breaker

dude, definately drive, its way more fun. see how many speed records u can break!! unless ur on I-5, so many fukn cops. i drove from reno to mt hood on highway 26 ( i think) and didnt see one in 5 hrs of driving

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Originally Posted by Tyrone Shoelaces

If the drive back South is the sucky part....why not spend an extra day or two and drive back someway you haven't been before....or take a longer, more scenic route, like the coast......just a thought.

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Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winna!!!!

Seriously, this is the way to go.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kellie

Depending on the weather, I could bike along the drive home.

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and pull your truck behind. That's core. ;)

Drive.


789

14 hours behind the wheel? You'd be crazy to even consider it unless you have a good stereo installed.

(I'd drive.)

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Originally Posted by Superstar Punani

Road trip!

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Pfffft.

Fly.

Road trips suck.

The "Dad" in me says don't drive solo unless your truck is REALLY reliable. It's just a sad reality that women have added safety considerations when traveling solo.

28 hours of driving

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If I were you I would drive. If I were me, I would fly because I'm scared to take my car farther than one tank of gas will get me.

Crank up the stereo to keep awake. This will also improve your singing(if you sing in the car)

Gas prices SUCK!

Go Fly!

I just did the exact opposite of Kellie's drive (B'ham to Bay Area) and it didn't suck any worse than the flights I took a month before. It was actually better, since I could lug all my crap around (bike/surfboard/skis) with ease instead of suffering w/ a ski bag in the airports. It cost me no more than $80 one way in gas (my car gets high 20's mpg) which is probably going to be about the same as a plane ticket. So given that the price is about the same, here are the pros and cons of driving.
Driving Pros:
You have your car and all your shit (bikes being a decisive factor here) and can do what you want, exploring along the way or way back, etc.
Driving cons:
it takes a full day out of your schedule each way.

Looks like the general consensus is drive, even if it means one less potential day in the promised land . . .

I probably won't come back the coast, cuz that just makes the trip home longer. Plus, I may as well see the fam while I'm at it :) Or, maybe I could . . . probably won't decide 'til I'm on the road :cool:

Not too worried about the alone thing - car is pretty reliable, and after having broken down in the middle of South Dakota (alone), getting towed to Pierre (the whole time, travelling through the national grasslands on a non-interstate, thinking "if this guy wanted to kill me, nobody would ever know"), and going to the opening night of the dart league at a place called the Possum Lodge, before crashing at the mechanic's house - I'm not too worried. Man, that was a trip (and I realize that "story" probably made no sense . . .).

It's so hard to focus with impending vacation :cool:

you can always claim "car troubles" when you postpone your return trip...

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Originally Posted by Kellie

Looks like the general consensus is drive, even if it means one less potential day in the promised land . . .

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You can drive at night to minimize the time lost, but make sure you load up on caffeine and some heart-thumping, blood-pumping metal mullet mayhem mix CDs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Superstar Punani

You can drive at night to minimize the time lost, but make sure you load up on caffeine and some heart-thumping, blood-pumping metal mullet mayhem mix CDs.

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If you need any suitable CD's you know who to call!

Hey, aren't they open at Hood and Shasta? Could be fun, but you'd need one of those cool knee brace things like the pro foot ball guys wear - judging by your first comment. Hood is wonderful, and if you really wanted to make a ski-n-safari you could jig over to Batchelor, don't know if these are open yet, but that next storm looks like it might do it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Superstar Punani

You can drive at night to minimize the time lost, but make sure you load up on caffeine and some heart-thumping, blood-pumping metal mullet mayhem mix CDs.

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Cuz we all know how much I love that kind of music. :wink:

maybe im just a psycho, but i like driving long distances...


did indy>boulder solo once non-stop.....1200 miles, took 17 hours....fun times..


all you need is good music and some redbull....

As soon as the sun sets, driving becomes extremely boring.

Ask your knee. Does it want to drive for 28 hours?

Drive...make some good mixed CD's, drink a shit ton of Red Bull, eat nasty food along the way and jsut anticipate being back in the PNW where we have no snow but you know you will have a blast anyway. I road tripped back home last year and loved every minute of it. It takes longer, but like everyone else pointed out, you can take all of your shit and not worry about the airlines losing it. Plus, the airports are crazy right now anyway and that means the chances of them losing shit are just that much higher...DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE!
And if you need a break to go ski hood, let me know!

I'm in SoTahoe now following a 13 hour drive from PDX the other day (with a dog). Skied yesterday and am headed to Vegas later today (about 6 hours). Drive to Los Angeles this weekend, at some point do an overnighter in San Diego, and head back to Tahoe for New Years weekend skiing. Then drive back to PDX.

So, I guess I'm leaning towards roadtrip. Have fun and drive safe!

Gonna fly - reality hit that this afternoon, I can leave work, go mountain biking, head to the city and see one of my best friends . . . or drive for 12 hours.

Thanks for the input - maybe next time I'll listen! :wink: