Next Trip Idea - US West Coast Kite / Road Trip

This is a bit off the tech topic but I thought I'd post it anyways since my blog has been Seriously neglected over the year.

A few years back I did an amazing combination of a road trip, ski bum season, and kite trip all in one. I took 4 months off from work and first went from Boston to Breckenridge, CO, driving in my 200 Jeep Wrangler. I was there from March 1 until the end of the season. While I was there I worked in a ski rental shop part time to get the 5 Mountain pass (Vail, Beaver Creek, Breck, Keystone, and Arapahoe Bay) and got as much time on the snow as I could. I would wake up every day and look at the amount of snow and wind and decide what I'd do with my day. Most days I would snowboard in the mornings and once things were tracked out I'd head to Dillon Reservoir and snow kite in the afternoons. In the 6 weeks I was there I got 16 days on the kite and 18 days on the mountain. After Colorado I drove to Arkansas to drop my Jeep at my brothers then flew to St. Lucia for 2 weeks of kiteboarding at The Reef. Once back in the states I drove to South Texas and started my road trip in South Padre. and drove around the Gulf Coast and up the East Coast back to Boston. My goal was to kiteboard in every state that touched water. Over a course of 7 weeks I went to 26 beaches and kiteboarded in 12 of the states. Since that trip I've wanted to expand the goal to include every state that touches water in the US. I came up with this idea of doing the US West Coast in the same style and think it's about time to start planning it.

My plan is to drive my 1973 Convertible Volkswagen Beetle from Boulder, CO to Vancouver, BC then head down the Pacific Coast to San Diego and possibly Baja California. From there I'd head back to Boulder to put the car back in storage and head back to Boston. Or if I found an amazing place to keep it in CA I'd drive it there and find a place to store it.

For the drive out to Vancouver I'd take the path through Wyoming and stop at Yellowstone National Park then head west to Portland to hit the Gorge for a few days. Then head north to Vancouver and kite some of the spots up in BC. Then head back to Seattle then hug the coast back down to Portland for another few days in the Gorge. From there the plan is stay on 101 and CA Rt. 1 as much as possible. Camping and couch surfing my way stopping at every good kite spot for at least a day.

Here's a rough map of the route I'd take.

The only question is when can I make it happen. First I need to get my Bug out of storage and in the shop in Boulder. I've used German Auto before and trust they can set my old bug up for the trip Then make sure I've got enough cash and time to do the trip. I'm thinking about 3 months should do it.

My last trip was about twice as long and I was very low tech on that trip (no smart phone, no GPS, no wireless) but this trip will be documented better. I will have a GPS running but only to track my path, not to guide me. I prefer to rely on a road atlas, signs, and getting lost. Getting lost is sometimes the best part of road trips, it leads to the unexpected.

I'm targeting late Summer / early Fall for the trip but only time will tell if I can do it this year.