Long Road North

Every now again we are blessed with the opportunity for adventure.  Adventure takes many forms, mostly fruiting from one's own efforts to seek the experience.  An adventure can be a day on the water or six months abroad, a matter of happenstance or the culmination of weeks of planning, taken alone or with friends or with complete strangers.  I am lucky enough to have an adventure on the horizon - another long drive.

This particular adventure has been on the horizon for  a year now, and my preparation started with building myself a tear drop trailer.  Teardrops are fascinating.  They have the spacial efficiency of boats with the practicality of cars and tents.  This one also doubles as a storage unit.  I was introduced to teardrops through this book: Teardrops and Tiny Treailers by Douglas HeisterTeardrops and Tiny Trailers.

The Cover of Doug's book

The drive north covers some of the most beautiful country of North America

So I decided to build myself one, how hard could it be?  When I returned from Alaska last summer I consulted with a friend of mine more verse in the ways of hammers and nails, drew up a number of blueprints and began construction.  (I hardly documented the construction) but five weeks later I had a teardrop.  It has since enjoyed a few improvements and here is how it stands now.  So far it has about 4,000 miles on it.

New coat of paint and finished inside

Near the Colorado River in AZ

Sunday I leave southern California en route Hope, Alaska.  The drive will take me nearly 4,000 miles up the length of California, through Oregon and Washington and past some of the most prestigious North American waters before reaching British Columbia.  From there we (myself and Conrad) continue north through BC into the Yukon, through Jack London territory then west into Alaska.  In the two weeks we have, we hope to cover much water, see parts of this country and Canada we've never experienced, chase spring north, and enjoy our most recent adventure (for Conrad it is a particularly sweet treat, perhaps he'll tell you why).

Fishing the San Juan River in Northwestern NM

Dawn in Arizona

So this is as much as we've planned,  leaving room for decide-as-you-go tactics.
Teardrops and Tiny TrailersTeardrops and Tiny Trailers
Stay tuned to Prescription: Trout for news and photos from the drive.