These Are Your Greatest Road Trip Memories

Ladies and gentlemen, it's road trip season. A record number of people are expected to hit the roads in the coming days for 4th of July weekend. That's what got us thinking about yesterday's question of the day.

It was the perfect time to reminisce about the best thing that every happened to you on a roadtrip that wasn't sexual, and most of you listened to that guideline. Most of you.

Anyway, you filthy animals, sit back and read the best things that have happened to your fellow Jalops while they were out on the open road... as long as it wasn't sexual.

Over the series of a number of road trips it always bothered me leaving the toll booth at the East Gate of Indiana Toll Road that the speed limit dropped to 45 mph and there was no sign on the opposite side to tell you what the speed limit is, so technically (and according to the ISP who ticketed my grandmother for it) the speed limit to Angola was 45 mph because that was the last signed speed. So after another road trip to MI from NJ, I paid attention to it and realized there truly was no sign, I wasn't just crazy. So, I wrote an email to the Indiana Toll Road Authority and asked what the speed limit was. It turns out Indiana only puts Speed limit signs on the highway after entrance points, and since there was no entrance at the east gate to the toll road, there was never a sign. When the national speed limit was 55mph, there was no slow down for the toll booths, so there was never a need for a sign to be replaced when limits went to 65, and it was an oversight on their part when they did have the slow down into the toll booths to never have a sign leaving them as that and the west gate entrance from IL were the only places with this unique issue. So in 2015, I corrected a 30+ year error in road signage with an email and was told I could refer to the new signage leaving the East toll road entrance as 'My sign.'

I have no idea why, but this feels incredibly heartwarming. Good for you, PotbellyJoe. You righted a bureaucratic wrong years in the making. That takes a lot of work.

I too would take a picture in front of a sign that I helped put up.

Suggested by: PotbellyJoe and 42 others

Best car related. I was touring colleges with my older son. We were in CT, and my younger son and I went to visit F40 Motorsports, since we were staying 15 minutes away. We started chatting with the guy on duty (this was like a Tuesday AM, so the place was deserted). I asked if I could check out an old 914 which was parked behind the shop, and he offered to let us tour the warehouse. Everything from the Rainman convertible to the Newman V8 Volvo. (Photo is from the net, not mine.)

And then he told us to visit one of his friends a few minutes away and tell him happy birthday (it was his birthday). That shop specialized in fixing up old Alfas as racers and some other cool cars, and they gave us a full tour as well.

It was such a nice surprise, especially since we were clearly tourists and not customers.

I would pay money to see Wayne and his mustache walk around and just tell me about cars. It would be magical.

Suggested by: emilminty drives an E30 and the Fiero is finally fixed

In early 2014 I decided that I wanted to go on a cross-country road trip. My 2011 Porsche Cayman was not up to the task — it had already had multiple engine-out warranty repairs and I believe two separate power steering repairs that required removing the entire dashboard — so I decided to buy a new car specifically for the road trip. After narrowing it down to a BMW M2, an Audi A4, a Corvette, and the new 2015 Mustang GT, I eventually went with the Mustang.

Ordered one as soon as the order books opened, specc'd out exactly the way I wanted it, and started planning my road trip for September of 2015, from Brooklyn -> L.A. -> Brooklyn in 7 days. I timed it so that I left Brooklyn on Saturday morning, and after stops in Rolla, MO on Saturday night, and Amarillo, TX, on Sunday night (car is pictured above at a rest stop in Texas where the sky is way too big for comfort for this NYC kid), I got to the Grand Canyon on Monday afternoon in time to spend 2 hours at the rim of the canyon watching the sunset as the shadows played all along the canyon walls.

Getting to watch all those shadows dance along the ridges of the canyon for 2 hours while I sit listening to classical music was one of the most pleasant, relaxing experiences of my life. Driving out west is a blast; nothing east of the Mississippi is all that interesting to drive through. Did Denver -> Brooklyn in two days because there just isn't anything worth stopping to see along the way.

Man oh man, that sounds like a ton of driving, but also a beautiful experience. A cross-country road trip is very much on my bucket list, still. One of these days I'll get around to it.

Suggested by: neverspeakawordagain

I took my then girlfriend to Moab to roll 300,000 miles on the '89 Montero I had been daily driving for the last 6 or so years. It was the first summer of the pandemic and camping was one of the only activities available, and I had been planning on doing something momentus to retire the reliable old SWB buddy from daily duty. It was the Spring that also had that crazy derecho wind storm that tore through the southwest, even causing damage back home in Denver. When it passed over us we ended up both absolutely drenched, holding onto the shreds of tent in a muddy puddle, shivering and absolutely wrecked. Over the span of the next half an hour we had the entire gamut of emotions and reactions, but as the sun came out and started baking stuff dry we were finally able to assess the damage and even with some pole damage the tent went back up. We stayed, got some fun dune driving in, and rolled 300k on the return trip at the weird Jackass Joe's gas and beef jerky place.

I went on to marry that lady and our first son is due end of August. I decided I was going to ask her around when we were setting up the tent the second time, boldly claiming we didn't need a hotel room, we could do this.

You started off with "then girlfriend" which made me think you guys broke up after this experience. I'm glad that isn't the case. Congrats, my dude.

Suggested by: Markoff8585

Sort of counts?

I drove down to visit some family out of state and we went to eat at an Italian restaurant. They had a $40 raffle for a car for their 100th anniversary so we threw out name in the pot. A couple months later got a call to come pick up the car! So we rented a car one-day and drove our brand new 2015 Fiat 500 home. Had planned on selling it immediately but ended up really liking it so I sold my other daily driver instead.

It absolutely counts. That rocks.

Suggested by: StalePhish

"(Again we do not want to hear about your sexual escapades while driving your Mercury Topaz. We just don't.)"

Per Rule 34, you know it's out there. Who has the intestinal fortitude to google "Topaz fanfic?"

First of all, how dare you?

Suggested by: emilminty drives an E30 and the Fiero is finally fixed

It wasn't a single thing, but it kicked off a series of events:

In 2003 I took a road trip with a flatmate of mine. We both quit our jobs and lived out of my 1999 Nissan Frontier as we drove around the country. 6 weeks, roughly 11,000mi. After taking a Greyhound from NYC to upstate NY where my truck was being stored we didn't get on an interstate until we reached Seattle. One of those kinds of trips.

Anyway, toward the end of the trip we attended a wedding in Nashville for some close friends of ours. My road trip partner met his now-wife there. She was officiating, he was standing on the bride's side. We got back to NYC, and two weeks later he moved to Portland to be where she was. That opened up room in the flat for my now-wife to move in and get the hell out of our home town.

Nearly twenty years later and it's worked out pretty well for all four of us.

I do not know how you spent 6 weeks in a Nissan Frontier with one other person without killing yourself, but hey that's pretty sweet that it all worked out!

Suggested by: IstillmissmyXJ

Back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth and the Charger was an everyday car, I moved to the shithole state of Virginia. (You want to live where the cops have a hardon to nail you for the least vehicle infraction, move to Virginia.)

It was winter and a U-Haul trailer was lashed to the Charger's rear bumper with all my worldly goods. I pointed the Dodge's hood to the east and followed it on the Interstate as I made my way across the USA.

A bad snowstorm hit. I hunkered at a motel till the next morning. The snow was deep and not getting cleared all that quickly from the Interstate, so it was packing down to a slick, no-grip surface. We were all moving slowly, till you "think" you can go faster—try to make up some time.

Big mistake—the car ahead of me slowed down too much. I pumped the pathetic drum brakes and got nothing except the "excellence" of the Charger going into an uncontrollable skid. I turned the wheel and eventually the car responded—it swung around like a giant pendulum thanks to the damn U-Haul trailer. I was backwards on the Interstate as I KER-WHUMP!! slammed sideways into the snowdrift alongside the Interstate. The engine died.

'Shit, now what?' I thought. I got out to see how bad it was. It was as if the Charger had melded to the snowbank—all fused together. Plus I was facing the wrong way as the icing on the cake.

As pure dumb luck would have it, someone else spun out close to where I proved what a "genius" I was behind the wheel. People were digging that car out. When they got done, they came over and got the Charger free from the snowdrift. Whew! The Luck Gods smiled on me that day.

I swear I didn't drive over 25mph for the rest that day—luck all used up.

So many wild things in this story, I don't even know where to start. All I'll say is, perhaps going forward don't drive your Charger in the snow with a U-Haul in back of it.

Suggested by: the 1969 Dodge Charger Guy

Went to the Grand Canyon with some friends in college. The canyon was the only part we actually planned for the 9 day trip. We took a few other big trips and always just relied on the free maps we got at those Welcome to Our State places when you cross the state border for our things to do. While sitting at our camp site, we realized Vegas was really close (compared to our Midwest home) and St Patrick's Day was coming up, so we packed up and drove to Vegas for that. Then while we were there, realized that now California is really close, so we decided to head for an LA beach at first light (we slept in the car, so it's not like we were eager to sleep in anyway). Then while at the beach after about 10 minutes of relaxing and getting bored, we built a giant sand castle, small sand town, and ~50' winding irrigation ditch through it to the sand farm and retention pond behind the castle. In all, we easily took up ~30'x40' of beach space since no one was around and built a 4' tall sand castle. We stayed long enough to watch the sand city get washed away and be impressed by how well our flood control kept the waves from touching the castle. So the best thing to happen to us was that we looked at map, pointed to a place/thing that sounded good, then just went.

Dammit. I want to build a sand castle now. I'm impressed by your irrigation methods, as my apartment in NYC struggles to have consistent high-pressure shower water.

Suggested by: engineerthefuture

Made a Friend

Road trip with the family and in-laws, stopping in Las Vegas summer of 1995. Took an hour to check in the MGM Grand. I must have looked pitiful dragging my wife, daughter and newborn to the counter because unsolicited, we were upgraded to the Concierge's Level.

While Housekeeping came to the room and dropped off extra towels, Don King is a couple doors down locked out of his room. This is a week before Tyson's return to the ring after prison. I hate Don King but after 15 seconds talking to him somehow he's my best friend. Said he would give us tickets to the fights that evening. 15 minutes later a guy knocked on the door with 4 tickets to the Pettway/Vaden IBF Jr. middleweight championship fight.

Couldn't find my father-in-law and brother-in-law so I left 2 tickets in their room while me and the wife took off for the fight. Gave our tickets to the guy at the door. He offers to take us to our seats. It's dark inside with a tiny ass boxing ring waaaaay down on the floor. We follow the guy down the steps and I stop halfway to look back at the light from the little ass door waaaaay back from where we came. Guy take us all the way down to the floor and seats us ringside behind Terry Norris (the guy that beat the shit out of Sugar Ray Leonard) I look across the ring and see McNeeley leaving and Mike Tyson talking to my buddy Don King.

The undercards were great but literally nobody was paying attention. I was stunned because I had never witnessed back-to-back-to-back ass kickings before, especially that close.

Finally, the main event. Round 11, all 3 judges had the champ ahead by 1 point when referee Richard Steele stopped the fight, awarding the challenger Vaden a TKO and the title with 27 seconds left. Complete pandemonium in the arena and we just sat there, stunned like Miss Celie in the juke joint fight scene in the Color Purple.

I love watchin' dudes beat the shit out of each other.

Suggested by: 900turbo

i slept in hay and under the stars?

C'mon buddy say it with your chest. You don't have to question yourself. This is a safe space.

Suggested by: ShunklaS25

Driving through the Australian outback, pull in at a pub at about 5:30pm after 10 hours of driving a defender. Completely empty, but they give me a comfy room for the night, a t-bone, and 8 beers for $120.

That, my friend, is quite a meal. I am very jealous. I also cannot imagine what your stomach turned into the next morning. Your poor toilet.

Suggested by: Redmond Herrington

Being able to afford the gas

ha.

Suggested by: Kirk Scot Dalgleish

Arriving at the destination. Can't wait till humankind invents the transporter.

Sir, this is a car website.

Suggested by: Benjamin N. Michaud

February 1996, rented a convertible Corvette in Vegas and planned a round-trip drive to the Grand Canyon. Pre-GPS or anything like that so paper maps and fingers crossed. Never considered the weather in Vegas (around 70 degrees at the time) would be different from the Grand Canyon. As we got nearer to the Canyon, I noticed snowbanks on the side of the highway. Then it actually started snowing. So, in the afternoon I was doing doughnuts in the snow in the parking lot at the top of the Grand Canyon and then a mere five or six hours later, had the convertible roof back down cruising the Las Vegas strip at night.

Okay, that's really sick. Also it's a total lemonade out of lemons situation. Kudos to you.

Suggested by: elgordo47

New Years eve 1991 in Munich for a 10day European road trip with 2 buddies.

Two best things on one trip:

1. Rental car was to be a middle of the road Opel Astra. What they gave us was a Lancia Delta HF Turbo!!

2. While in Berlin at the Brandenburg gate the US recognized Croatia/Slovenia. There was an impromptu festival conducted to celebrate. Some of them found out we were American and told we HAD to come celebrate with them!! we of course obliged!

I am very jealous. The Delta HF Turbo is one of my bucket list cars. Treasure that memory, my friend.

Suggested by: Monsterajr