The Journey

My wonderful wife and I spent our honeymoon back in '85 in a jeep, (bless her patience!) We camped at night, bought a permit to drive on Race Point at the tip of the Cape in Provincetown, went to museums, ate ice cream, and had a wonderful time. I even cooked her breakfast on the way down, on the tailgate of the jeep, with a Coleman stove.

Each year, as our family grew from 2 to 6, we'd drive the 6 hours from Plattsburgh to the Cape along routes 89 and 93 in Chevy Astro minivans. Putt-putt golf, long days on the inner beaches, and, ‘they can have anything they want’, ice cream sundays were added to the activities. Magic days!

The boys grew to be great men, and we couldn't be more proud of them. Grand babies, too! We're, ‘empty nesters’, now, but the call of travel and adventure is still a part of us. Along came the overlanding phenomenon, and being an avid dirt road aficionado, I was HOOKED!

SO, rather than spending upwards of $50k on a class 3 RV with 4WD, I got the bright idea that we'd build a 4wd camper to use in the Adirondacks, (or Dacks, as we call them up here in the ‘Great White North’ of New York state). Because of my military disabilities, I qualify for an MAPPWD permit for the Adirondack park, which allows us motorized access to many free campsites, administrative dirt roads, fire and fire-tower roads, and many ‘truck trails’ throughout the park. These are existing roads that rangers use to access some of the more remote and underused areas of the park. This truck is being built for this purpose!

It's also being built for, ‘The Journey’, foliage trips across northern New England, and beach camping on the numerous beaches of Cape Cod. Once the proper permits are purchased, and recovery equipment is verified, self-contained OSV's, (over-sand vehicles), are allowed directly ON many of the beaches of Cape Cod! They also allow camping on the beach.

We're building Dackwagon for this dual purpose, woods and beach!

THE JOURNEY

Basically, we’re still traveling from Plattsburgh to Cape Cod, just not on the highway! First, we'll travel the Bailey-Hazen military route from northwest VT, diagonally across VT to the NH border along the Connecticut River, about mid-state. This is a collection of dirt, gravel, and some paved roads. It was built during the Revolution for troop movements into Canada, (but abandoned once they realized indians could use it to raid the colonies). It follows ridgelines with amazing views.

Once in NH, we'll enter the ‘‘Hampster Route’, a collection of dirt roads strung together by avid dual-sport motorcycle riders on the Adventure Rider forum, (ADVrider). These are all legal dirt roads that allow you to go from the northern border of NH, to the southern border with MA, touching as little pavement as possible.

From the MA border, well just take back roads around Boston to get to the Cape. We'll visit local alcohol producers for samples, provision from farms and farmstands, and small general stores.

Then, we'll drink the samples as we sleep on the beach, sit around the fire, and enjoy the sound of the surf, whales, seals, and shore birds. More magic times!