With our newish '06 EX AT as our cruise ship, Ms. Marvel and I took our two kids: Erin [5] and Andrew [8] on our first really big family vacation. Three weeks at our disposal with four goals: see the US Formula 1 Grand Prix at Indy, and see Nana (my mom) in Des Moines and their grandpa (my dad) in Florence, OR and as much new stuff along the way as possible. For two kids never out of California, that covers a lot of territory. In fact, it took 7272 miles to get it all done.

We got back early yesterday AM (2:30 to be exact) to rain and thunderstorms in Southern California (a rare thing indeed) and our son greeted our non-rolling home by barfing on the front doorstep. Charming. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/MadamX/Element-al%20Summer%20Vacation/IMG_4484.jpg

Prior to that we camped in Zion NP and saw deer and turkeys and the kids got their first view of squirrels (we have almost no squirrels in SoCal), visited Bryce and Capitol Reef where my daughter took care of her barfing requirement. Travel Agent tip: if you visit the Capitol Reef Visitor Center, step *over* the doormat - don't know what my kids have against doormats...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/MadamX/Element-al%20Summer%20Vacation/IMG_4461.jpg

We camped at Rocky Mountain NP and saw more deer and elk and even got snowed on ever so briefly. The E took us up to 12,100' and three crossings of the Continental Divide. Hung out with Nana in Des Moines and the kids got to see a basement for the first time (yeah, we don't have those either).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/MadamX/Element-al%20Summer%20Vacation/IMG_4493.jpg

Drove to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and camped out in the infield. The kids saw and caught lightning bugs for the first time (we don't have those either) and then watched their first F1 race. Stayed a night in Chicago and went to the top of the Sears Tower and took a river tour. Visited friends in Rock Island. Went back to Nanas house where our son got his first plane ride (in a Piper Cherokee Warrior). Rode the Boone and Scenic Valley Railway (first train ride for the kids) and our son even got in our first chance driving a lawn tractor.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/MadamX/Element-al%20Summer%20Vacation/IMG_4813.jpg

Drove up to Winnipeg and across Canada to Waterton Lakes NP then back to the US to camp in Glacier where we saw, well, glaciers. Back up to Banff for camping at Lake Louise. Stood on a glacier at Columbia Icefield, saw a wicked waterfall in Yoho, and watched a train go through the spiral tunnels. 7 more crossings of the divide.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/MadamX/Element-al%20Summer%20Vacation/IMG_4942.jpg

Drove to Vancouver, BC and hung out in Stanley Park. Took the ferry to Vancouver Is. and spent some time in Victoria where we caught the ferry back to Port Angeles. Toured around Olympic NP and saw banana slugs and more kinds of moss than you can imagine. Then down the coast to Florence, OR to hang out with grandpa, sand dunes and lighthouses. Then back home where we sit right now.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/MadamX/Element-al%20Summer%20Vacation/IMG_4943.jpg

In our three weeks, we visited 13 other states and 4 Canadian provinces (not to mention another country), a dozen or so national parks, hit four time zones, covered climates from low desert to alpine to rainforest, travelled by plane, train, automobile, and ferry, ate four new kinds of potato chips (ketchup, dill pickle, fries and gravy, and roasted chicken - nutty Canucks), and saw 96 other Elements (you need activities for the kids, you know).

We learned some stuff along the way.


Oregon has a lot of Elements. Saskatchewan not so many.
Sharing the road with RVs sucks.
You can't bring beef from Canada into the US.
Rally Red isn't a very common color. SOP is.
Sharing campgrounds with RVs sucks.
Glaciers are very slippery.
Culver's ButterBurgers are awesome.
Just because the sign says that there's a gas station at the next exit, doesn't mean that it's open.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is huge.
Don't ever stay at a HoJo in Winnipeg.
Every camper should have a box of Cottonelle Fresh Wipes with them.
Most US Border Agents have never seen an Element before.
Our E gets it's best mileage below 65MPH (at least with all the crap on the roof). It gets really bad mileage when the wind is blowing like a hurricane.
Crocks aren't good camping shoes.
It takes about 45 minutes for two lifeflight helicopters to land on the freeway in front of you and for traffic to start moving again.
It sucks to run over a squirrel. (thump-thump)
An Element with a Loadwarrior is too tall for some parking structures in Chicago.
Pipe cleaners are great entertainment for car-bound kids.
There's a GG Element for sale near Forks, WA.
7272 miles isn't as far as it seems when you're with your family.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/MadamX/Element-al%20Summer%20Vacation/IMG_4709.jpg

(Eating all our Canadian roast beef on the side of the road at the border as we enter Montana.)

So, we took 4 people for 3 weeks camping and hoteling from 35 degree to 105 degree temps in a vehicle smaller than most of the RV tow-behinds that we passed (we did pass two RVs towing E's). It was suggested by some that we go with a small trailer, but we got it all inside and up top without much trouble. Here's the setup.

We knew from the Joshua Tree meet what we could do inside the E, so it was clear from the start of planning that we'd need to go on the roof or the rear for some stuff. We ended up on the roof with the usual Yakima setup with a Loadwarrior + extension. The extension makes it long enough to accommodate our long bags and folding chairs end-to-end.

On the roof is our 4 folding chairs plus a 70 liter dry bag (SealLine Boundary 70 (http://www.seallinegear.com/packs.asp?Action=Boundary&Category=PacksDuffles)) which holds 4 sleeping bags and two camp pillows. It offers shoulder straps so when we did walk-in sites, it was easy to just toss it on the back and head in. Also are two 40 liter bags (SealLine Widemouth Duffel 40 (http://www.seallinegear.com/packs.asp?Action=WideMouthDuffle&Category=PacksDuffles)) for clothes. Each held enough clothes for all 4 of us for 4-5 days (about 10 days total). We had two smaller nylon bags so that we could rotate clean/dirty among all the bags. We never had more than 10 days between laundry stops, so it worked out very well. Also up top was a 75 liter zippered dry bag (SealLine Zip Duffel 75 (http://www.seallinegear.com/packs.asp?Action=ZipDuffle&Category=PacksDuffles)) which gave quick access to emergency gear, raincoats, spare shoes, and gave us some overflow space as we picked up things as we went.

Everything fit very easily and even with heavy rains and 70MPH speeds, nothing leaked a bit. Even a paperback book in the zip duffel showed no signs of being damp. I'm very impressed. Everything was held down with a cargo net and a couple of tie-down straps. The bags could easily be pulled down and put inside if we were in a hotel and the clothes bags, while a bit heavy, weren't a problem carrying into hotels. Takes about 5-10 minutes to load everything up there, as I did in the pouring rain in Nanaimo.


In the rear we had a Coleman steel-side cooler which just barely fits lengthwise in the rear. You need to pull it out about an inch to fully open up. Two white plastic tubs held all of our cooking stuff and dry goods. Coleman Grill Stove (http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-9/qid=1153289720/ref=sr_1_9/602-7763188-3623044?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B000BPEE4M) (yes, in Rally Red only at Target) next to the cooler, 2 gal water jug, lantern, tent tarp, and thermarests were tucked here and there in the back. A medium nylon duffel held sweatshirts and clothes that we wanted to access from inside. A tote had our toiletries and whatnot for quick access on the road (kids, remember). Also was some assorted tools, rechargeable batteries, books, and a few more pillows tucked away in the rear side bins.

In the rear seats, we had our box holding all of the kids books and toys and net overhead (http://elementownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24877). The net would hold hats, pillows, and wet clothes when things were wet. Under the seat with the box was my laptop and a shoebox with maps. Between the seats was another shoebox with more maps. Under the other seat was two Stanley Organizers (http://www.stanleytools.com/default.asp?CATEGORY=HT+ZAG+USA+MIX&TYPE=PRODUCT&PARTNUMBER=14325&SDesc=25+Compartment+Professional+Organizer) - one first aid, the other repair parts and other handy bits. (A multitool and two pipe clamps will let you mount a golf umbrella to your folding chair for a nifty shade when it's 97 degrees at IMS).

Up front, we had our iPod and charger, power inverter, phone chargers, and sitting on the floor in front of the subwoofer just fits a standard school size backpack which was our grab-bag for hikes. We'd pack snacks and the camera in there and whatever else we wanted handy. It had two water bottle holders on the side which effectively gave us two more cupholders up front.

Packing the E is largely an exercise in figuring out how to use every inch of space that you have and putting some energy in shrinking the stuff that goes in there, rather than figuring out how to make the E bigger. With our setup, we never had gear higher than the rear seatbacks, so rear view was never blocked, and we often were able to leave space behind the passenger side rear seat for my son to recline and take a nap (my daughter's carseat didn't permit it to recline).

Oh, and my stepfather was even able to sneak a hockey stick in the back when we left my mom's house in case we needed it to enter Canada.

Love this vehicle.

Wow! You guys are my heroes!! I wanna do a road trip like that one day... but I still can't imagine how you fit 4 people's worth of gear and equipment for a 3 week journey when we couldn't fit enough gear in my E for a 3 day rafting/camping trip last month!!

Great pics, descriptions, and posts, johnsonwax! I really enjoyed it, and continue to love hearing how people are really using this car! (fave part: sneaking the hockey stick in)

WOW! What a fun and exciting family trip you took. :) Some great memories I'm sure. Love how you have fully utilized the Element.

sounds like you guys had a lot of fun..nice pics.

wow, great trip, great pictures!

welcome home

Wow, sounds like you had an incredible trip! Good job in fitting everything in the E without a trailer!

I'm hoping to do a 3wk trip across the US within the next 2 yrs....all depends on how much Vacation time I can rack up!!

Wow! What a trip. Just an awesome journey on many fronts I'm sure. Thanks for the great post about your trip.

I am jealous!! What a great trip. I haven't been on a vacation in a couple of years but used to do trips like that with my family every summer when I was younger. Great pics and a fun time. Congrats on a great trip. I am too heavy a packer to do what u did though I think.:D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/MadamX/Stuff/200px-Rubiks_cube.jpg
If you can solve a Rubik's Cube, you can pack an Element. LOL I can't solve a Rubik's Cube so I was so happy DH is so clever. Getting things out of either the cooler or the white plastic tubs was an exercise in patience - as was loading the bags on the roof and taking them down. But it worked! The only thing we would probably do differently would be to build something to elevate the cooler so tubs could slide beneath.

It was a seriously nice vacation. I miss the mild weather and quiet hikes. My phone hasn't stopped ringing. Why does modern life have to be so jarring?

Here we are after 2 nights in Zion. Imagine The Watchman looming over your campsite. Awesome!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/MadamX/Element-al%20Summer%20Vacation/IMG_4446.jpg

You guys must pack like me....not like Mrs. IRV.

Great trip, great pictures and a great write up.:)

How did you keep the E looking so clean?:confused:

How did you keep the E looking so clean?:confused:

Haha! Rallye Red is one of those colors that can get filthy dirty yet it still photographs well. Believe me, when we rolled into our driveway after 23 days, it was DIRTY DIRTY DIRTY! There were some mud puddles in Banff NP and Olympic NP that were virtually emptied with purposeful Ele-puddle jumping. Wheeeee!

We washed it yesterday evening in the driveway and we were exhausted.

And, Irv, this one is for you...we will not only reveal our location but also a city in Alberta with the same name:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/MadamX/Element-al%20Summer%20Vacation/IMG_4674.jpg

Thanks for sharing your vacation with us... brings back some memories from my childhood....

And, Irv, this one is for you...we will not only reveal our location but also a city in Alberta with the same name:

LOL Well played.:lol:

Your vacation sounded awesome :grin:. Must have been fun with 2 kids and all those miles.......:). Great pics too.

What a great trip......
Is that a Yakima Roof Rack?
jurn

Great pictures and write up. Loved reading it all especially the lessons learned. What an adventure for the whole family.
If I could kindly add one it would be "A family of 4 driving 7272 miles in a Rallye Red E in a 3 week vacation period...PRICELESS.
Thanks so much for sharing

What a great trip......
Is that a Yakima Roof Rack?
jurn

Yeah. We ended up with a Loadwarrior with the extension. I considered a Megawarrior, but I think this works well. I expect other stuff will find their way up there some day, so the narrower basket should prove a better choice. Got it all at REI during their 20% off all Yakima sale back in May.

It extends about 1/2 way over the sunroof, still allows it to open, but not to be removed. The standard basket was just too short to accommodate all of our stuff without a lot of stacking. Besides, the longer basket looks better, IMO.

I have a really short commute, so leaving it up there won't impact mileage, though I'll probably take it off for longer trips where it isn't used. It's handy for washing the roof of the E, though. I just climb up and sit on top of it and wash underneath.

Yeah. We ended up with a Loadwarrior with the extension. I considered a Megawarrior, but I think this works well. I expect other stuff will find their way up there some day, so the narrower basket should prove a better choice. Got it all at REI during their 20% off all Yakima sale back in May.

It extends about 1/2 way over the sunroof, still allows it to open, but not to be removed. The standard basket was just too short to accommodate all of our stuff without a lot of stacking. Besides, the longer basket looks better, IMO.

I have a really short commute, so leaving it up there won't impact mileage, though I'll probably take it off for longer trips where it isn't used. It's handy for washing the roof of the E, though. I just climb up and sit on top of it and wash underneath.


Most excellent choice and the part about the sunroof not being able to be taken out is very ok with me. I am always of the belief things start to leak when messing around with them. I only need to open it. Although I do keep the rubber fresh.

That's the roof rack I have my eye on, maybe within the next 7 months.
I wondered about my gas mileage but only need to drive 23 miles a day total.

I like your ride, it looks good.
jurn

In Glacier NP we learned where the inspiration for the RR E came from:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/MadamX/Element-al%20Summer%20Vacation/IMG_4728.jpg

It's our own private tour bus.

He we are camping in the rain at Lake Louise:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/MadamX/Element-al%20Summer%20Vacation/IMG_4785.jpg

An E sitting on a ferry headed for Vancouver Is.:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/MadamX/Element-al%20Summer%20Vacation/IMG_4887.jpg

Visiting the Washington coast:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/MadamX/Element-al%20Summer%20Vacation/IMG_4949.jpg

At Takkakaw Falls in Yoho NP:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/MadamX/Element-al%20Summer%20Vacation/IMG_4826.jpg

One of the best roads on the trip, the Yoho Valley Road leading to that waterfall has a set of three switchbacks that are as steep and tight as any I've ever seen - perfect for the E. I had hoped to drive Old Fall River Road (http://www.nps.gov/romo/visit/weather/scenicdrives.html) in RMNP, but it didn't open until a few days after we left.

At Indy, Honda had a booth with some of their cars, ATVs, jetskis, boat engines, bikes, etc. (Honda is a factory team in Formula 1) and they had a tangerine EXP. It was one of the more popular items in the booth, with people climbing all over it, moving the seats around, etc. I get the sense that it's still a bit of an unknown in the midwest.

Sounds like a great trip.

You should whip up a map showing your route. Something like gmap pedometer (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/) would probably work for that. (Be sure to turn off the milage markers though!)

- Jeff

Sounds like a great trip.

You should whip up a map showing your route. Something like gmap pedometer (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/) would probably work for that. (Be sure to turn off the milage markers though!)

- Jeff

Yeah, I had the same idea. I like the google map route planner (rather than line-of-sight) and am looking for a hack that will let me catenate multiple routes. Might be able to do it in Google Earth, too. I'll knock something together.

That looks like quite the trip and it sounds like you had a great time. Hopefully someday in the future, my wife and I can do something like that too. So far, we're still too busy getting settled into life after school to get out and take a giant vacation!

Someday though... :rolleyes:

Wow! Great pics. Great write up. Great trip.

I liked your RR next to the Glacier park bus- they do look like long lost relatives.

Also a really nice piece about things you learned, made me laugh. And yes, Culver Butter Burgers are pretty awesome.

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much for sharing that, you guys are an inspiration! My wife and I have our big 10-year anniversary next summer and you've got us thinking - Giant Roadtrip in the E!

Johnsonwax-

Looks like you use a Kelty Noah's Tarp. What size and what would your user report be on it? I was thinking of picking one up (either the 9 or 12) and would like to hear comments on them.

Thanks.

that was one of the best trip posts i have ever read.
thanks for sharing.

Mrs. bobhch, our 2 kids and I would end up killing each other by the 3rd day.............Nice pics and write up. :) Thanks for the post, Bob

I'll ask the Mister to type a technical answer to your question about the Kelty Noah 9 but I have to say that it was the only piece of camping equipment where I would sit there and say (on more than one occasion), "I am SO glad we spent the money to buy this thing!"

We ate several meals under that tarp in the rain and our lovely Kelty Noah was the fine line between me staying sane or going berserk. We felt pretty smug in the campgrounds, looking around at entire families sitting in their cars in the pouring rain and there we were, "enjoying" a meal cooked over the propane stove.

It's a great quarternary tarp!

So, we got the Kelty Noah 9 tarp just before the Joshua Tree meet. That was really our first time sort-of using it. This trip was our second.

In J-Tree we set it up, but the high winds and lack of stake grip out there in the desert blew it over. We've since gotten the biggest, meanest stakes for use out in J-Tree that should take care of the problem (18" long). Way bigger than Box4Rox's, for those that saw his. Remember kids, it's not a contest...

Anyway, the tarp got a decent workout in the loop trip, especially at Lake Louise where we got some heavy rain. It's the 9' tarp and still quite large. The 12' would have times been too big to fit in our sites. In addition to the tarp we got the Kelty 78" poles, which are very well suited and fit in the same carrying bag.

The tarp is a catenary design, so between the main poles is a seam which creates a ridgeline. The opposing corners then take a line which is staked down to the ground. Water then sheds cleanly down to the low corners. In this shape, the tarp takes a very taut shape and doesn't flap or really move much at all in the wind (assuming you can stake it securely). We did get some good gusts in Lake Louise but the tarp was fine for 2 days. The shape of the tarp does make it vulnerable to winds striking it at an angle between the pole and low corner when it can act like a sail. If you can, orient the tarp with the ridgeline perpendicular to the wind so it rolls over the top. Going the other way will make a windtunnel and if it's raining pretty much eliminate the value of the tarp.

Because the tarp is 9' per side, the distance between the poles - the ridgeline is about 12' long. That puts your supporting stakes about 25'-30' apart. The lowside stakes can be closer, but the farther out you can put them the higher the low corners of the tarp can be. That means that you need to have a decent amount of space. We had some sites (Glacier, for example) where there wasn't nearly that much space.

The tarp is long enough that when run over the top of a typical picnic table it will easily cover the entire table. A driving rain may still get in the ends, but you can just pull your table to correct that. Sitting at the table doesn't give you much headroom due to the corners coming down. My head would typically touch the tarp when seated. With low corner stakes closer to the tarp, it wouldn't have been high enough. It wasn't bad with two small children, but it wasn't spacious by any means.

Because of the catenary shape, you can't do some things with this tarp that you can with flat tarps. You really can't hang it off the side of your E like a big awning. I haven't experimented, though I intend to, but I think I can attach one of the low corners to the Loadwarrior and run it straight out with poles supporting two sides, providing a cover for either the side doors or the rear hatch. I'll report on that later. paulj may have already tried this - he's got the same tarp and seems keen on lashing things to his rack.

A few things that will help the 9' with the table situation.

1) Taller poles will help elevate the entire roof at the expense of running those low corners even farther out. The 78" poles are a good height for most people to walk under the ends unfettered, but raising the whole thing up a notch would certainly help with getting around underneath.
2) Intermediate height poles on the low corners would do quite a bit to help with the seating headroom. I expect that I'll get a pair of trekking poles along the way to serve this role. Most will extend to 50"-60" and the use of these would allow the low corners to be staked closer to the tarp.
3) There are numerous other tie loops on the tarp that allow you to stake down or hoist up parts of the tarp. With a nearby tree, or with very inclement weather and a supply of stakes and line you can do quite a lot.

I've camped with regular tarps and in the rain it's really difficult to keep them from storing water. You either need to force a ridgeline or pitch the tarp steeply enough that a catch basin doesn't develop. Neither works terribly well. The Noah is a massive improvement in that respect.

I like the shape because I can set one pole end right near the end of the picnic table and put my stove under it and there's enough height and airflow that you can safely cook underneath. There's no water running off on you and you can stay rather dry (driving rain notwithstanding). I like the packed size of the tarp as well. Tarp + poles are very small - easily fit under the rear seats, etc. Some of the other options I looked at like the Sunshade or Carport are pretty huge - bigger than my tent. The Sunshade looks very nice but as you can tell from the trip, we get by pretty well with minimal space. The Carport looks nice as well but it really lacks flexibility from what I can tell. If we did a lot of beach daycamping and such I'd probably get one, though.

Bottom line, I wouldn't even look at a traditional tarp given the Kelty - and definitely get either their poles or comparable ones a bit taller. If you're looking for comfort and have the room to pack it, give the Sunshade a look as I think it'd feel roomier. If you know that you'll have the space for it, you could also consider the Noah Tarp 12, but it'll be BIG. We rarely have that much space when camping. We could have made it work at RMNP and Lake Louise but the sites at Zion and Glacier were way too small. Glacier was even too small for the 9. Our usual sites at Joshua tree are too small for the 12 and sometimes for the 9.

Just the kind of real world report I was hoping for. Thanks!!

My use would be more out in the desert, so rain is less of an issue than the wind taking the tarp. I had already ruled out pretty much anything other than a "wing" style tarp like the Noah or maybe a Black Diamond Megamid. Since I am really looking for a picnic table cover, the Noah looks like a great choice (and price)

I'll definately get good stakes if we pick one up.

This is a trip that you and your kids will treasure the rest of your life.