Trip to Chicago from Vancouver Island, BC, Canada

[70DartMike]

So in May of this year, I went on a road trip with a friend to Chicago. Evelyn, the friend, was born and raised in Chicago, but had been attending the University of Victoria, in Victoria, BC, Canada. She was moving back to Chicago, and had all her stuff shipped that way, and decided to drive through some of the States for some sights and whatnot, and asked me to go. The person I thought I knew for 3 years disappeared and turned into a total psycho, but other than that unfortunate part, the trip itself was good.
Lots of pictures, and lots of stuff I didn't get to see that I wanted to, but hope you guys see things that look familiar. If I am wrong in the locations or names of some things, just say so, as I don't remember a lot of the locations. I will try to explain the trip with the pictures as best I can, and I will be piecing it together over the next few days or so.

The trip was 2 weeks, and went.. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. I then flew back to Arizona, where I transferred to Vancouver BC.

We started off in Victoria, BC, Canada, and took the ferry to Port Angeles, where getting through Customs was absolute hell. For whatever reason, Evelyn's family thought it was best if I walked on the ferry, instead of driving on with them in their car, thinking it would just be easier, so I walked on. Going through Customs walking off, I was questioned over and over to where I was travelling to, why I was going there, how I was getting there, why I wasn't in the car with the family I was going with, questioning me on the water bottles I had in my backpack, why I had 3 water bottles, why they were empty, and continued to search my wallet. Asked me who Al was, and why I had his phone number (Al was the guy I bought the PowerWagon from), asked me why I bought the truck from him, and on and on and on, meanwhile letting wierdos wearing trench coats walk right on through. Rant over. Finally got through, and drove through Washington to Seattle, then to Olympia, then down to Oregon to Portland I believe.
Washington had a lot of old iron sitting in fields! Lots of 70's Ford 4x4's still driving on the streets too.

We stopped to camp on the side of this river, I believe it was in Idaho .. ?? .. and awoke to some people screaming 'Rattlers! Rattlers!' across the street.

This 4 door Coronet was one of the FEW Mopars I saw on the entire trip..

We went to a bird rescue, I believe it was called 'Birds Of Prey'.

And stopped in this park in Idaho .. ?? .. and wandered the town a bit. Is this Boise ?

Then the long drive.

Evelyn had an idea to stop at as many hot springs as possible, which was pretty neat finding them all. As good as she looked in a bikini, she was still a nutcase. :sign10:

Another truck in a yard.

 

[ramenth]

Some great pics in there! Thanks for sharing.

 

[goldfish65]

Cool and interesting thread Mike! You have a great eye for photography. I hope you put together an album of this story for future generations to see.

 

[horsehead]

Great pix.Thanks for the views. Maybe you can take a road trip to Virginia next year. The fall colors are spectacular. There are old cars everywhere. Im sure there are still hemis in the mountains here.

 

[memike]

So that is what customs is like , I will make sure to wear a trench coat and don't shave when I make my way to Canada one day Mike :-D.
I enjoyed these pictures this morning and the story as told.
Evelyn looks happy even if she is a nut case Mike :-D

 

[OldVart]

Thanks for sharing. You took some great pics.

 

[70DartMike]

Thanks for the comments.

Continuing on, we had driven down this highway to find another hot springs, and camp the night. After enjoying the hot springs, and then basically getting told to f*ck off by the locals, we headed back, and down the hill I saw some people crowded around this old rat rod, taking pictures. I tried to get a good picture, but this is all I got.

Here are just some pictures of the landscape on the way to a hot spring.

The locals had built this bath house with a tub to collect the water. Too bad it was scalding hot and you couldn't even touch it.

We stopped to camp, and I grabbed a pic of this Dodge van.

Stopped and looked at this old dam. Hand made I believe.

We stopped at an old ghost town along with another, I can't quite remember the names of them though. The pics start out with the cemetary.

Some of these buildings, you can still camp in.

I grabbed a pic of this old machine used for digging up gold. It would float down the river, digging up the entire bottom, and spitting out the loose rocks, which would basically reroute the river. We drove for miles down this road with the rocks piled high, I can't imagine what the river used to look like.

More to come later.

 

[megajoltman]

A Redhead eh!

Nice pics now tell us the real story:-\":-D

 

[412 Stroker]

A Redhead eh!

Nice pics now tell us the real story:-\":-D

Nice trip, nice Pics, So as you say she turned into a Psycho, that sux, does the carpet match the drapes??

 

[4spdragtop]

A Redhead eh!


That explains the nutcase part then!! Great in bed though!! Life would be perfect if ya wanted to be like Brian Wilson LOL

 

[70DartMike]

I would have gone for it, but it turns out she played for the 'other team' ..

 

[Small Block]

More pics of Evelyn please. The other team? Sounds like someone didn't know what they were doing the first time around. Nice country you have shown us. Tell Evelyn to call me for a conversion. Redheads have a heart too.
Small Block

 

[70DartMike]

I seem to have lost a bunch of pictures somewhere. If I find them, I'll post them at a later date.

A little further down the road, was another ghost town, with a bit of a museum.

This is what the river looked like after the machine had dug it up..

And some more scenery.

This poor guy was pretty pissed off when we camped near him for a night. He flew around in circles basically dive bombing us and yapping all night.

And this poor guy didn't make it..

This auto wrecker was in a town called Whitehall, does anyone have any info on it? The gate was open, but there was nobody around, so I didn't wander in too far. Enough to see the E body fender in the last pic though.

And here you can see the Mississippi River (?) has flooded a little.

 

[70DartMike]

We stopped at Little BigHorn, and it was some kind of anniversary, so they had a parade go through.

And stopped at the Rock Museum ..

Next update, I'll show the car show.

 

[70DartMike]

I can't quite remember where this car show was, but it was pretty exciting for me to stumble upon it during the trip. Evelyn hated being there, but considering everything we did was what she wanted to do, and my opinion seemed worthless, the car show was awesome

Two different Barracudas, but one is basically stock, and one has been modified.

A friend has a 67 Ford very similiar to this, 390 and all.

 

[70DartMike]

And more of the car show.

This was absolutely beautiful in person.

And we drove out to Devil's Tower.

We camped the night near Devil's Tower in a campground, and spotted this funky Dodge van. Before going to sleep, Evelyn and I were brushing our teeth, and standing on the edge of the forest line. All of a sudden I hear a loud vicious snarl, and turn to see Evelyn running for the car. She locks all the doors and leaves me outside with whatever was there, so I grabbed a large branch, and waited by the car. Finally she realizes, 'Hey maybe Mike doesn't want to get eaten by wolves either' and lets me in. I turn the headlights on, and out of the bush run two huge wolves. Thanks Ev.

On the drive, we pulled over to get a picture of the buffalo.

I think that one is about to take a crap..

 

[swedefish]

Thanks for sharing those great pics, more to come?

 

[70DartMike]

There will be more later, yes.

 

[smlveightis]

Great pics, great story! Thanks for taking us with you!

 

[IfItsGotWheels]

Was the return trip thru the US, Canada or did you fly back?

 

[Rob]

We were wondering how that trip worked out for you Mike. Awesome pics and story, too bad the girl turned out to be a nut job. I can well imagine your hassle at the border, always keep it simple, if you have to explain some crazy story you're in trouble. I loved the wolf story, that's awesome, locks you out to fend for yourself, priceless :-D

 

[70DartMike]

Was the return trip thru the US, Canada or did you fly back?

I flew back out of Chicago, and transferred in Pheonix, Arizona. Getting back into Canada was EASY. Not like getting into the US.

 

[69bronzeT5]

Awesome pictures Mike. Too bad Evelyn turned out to be a nutcase, redheads are my favorite hehe In the first Whitehall (I think?) junkyard picture you posted, there is a '73-'74 Charger crushed in that pile, you can see the taillights

 

[itsthepopo91]

Wicked pictures, the scenery was intense. Not a bad find just happening to stumble on a car show. :happy6:

 

[70DartMike]

Wicked pictures, the scenery was intense. Not a bad find just happening to stumble on a car show. :happy6:

I see you're new AND from Van, welcome to the site. What projects do you have going on? Lets see them, I'll even give you permission to hack my thread for a few pictures