As many of you have seen, social media has been full of the experiences and the sights Elite Series anglers found during the very, very long road trip to California. For many it’s been a trip measured in days rather than miles. From my front door to Sacramento, Calif., the location of the next Bassmaster Elite Series event, is just over 2,000 miles, and it takes between 30 to 35 hours of looking at mile after mile of interstate.
In 2006 I drove that same trip and turned it into 4,500 miles and 13 days. (See the full photo gallery here.) When the schedule came out, I saw it as an opportunity to see parts of America I had never seen. So many iconic locations along that route came to mind; The Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Arches National Park, Yosemite, to name just a few. And there are always those places you never think about until you see them, or make a last moment decision to vary the route. So there was no real plan or definite route. Just start driving west on Interstate 40 and detour north or south on a whim.
The only true travel decision was made one morning by a friend of mine, Jerry Cunningham that accompanied me. The decision was made to leave early in the morning and be standing on the southern rim of the Grand Canyon at daylight the next day. Had we visited the Grand Canyon time and time again, we couldn’t have had a more incredible morning to be there. We broke 4 feet of snow carrying out camera gear, and what we saw and photographed was incredible. The same with the three days we spent in Yosemite. Every night it snowed, making every curve in the road look like a postcard.
You’ll recognize many of the places in the gallery that accompanies what I’m writing. But many are just places you would drive past on the trip that so many people are making while I type. From Arkansas to the place Forest Gump stopped running…the California coastline to Oregon, indeed the road may become long, but it truly is a great American road trip.