Okay, deep breath. This is the big one. The dream I have had for 20 years. Maybe longer. The one that has been invading my thoughts in the last month, the one that scares me, the one that excites me, the one that I don’t know if I’ll be able to do. A full-on walkabout.

What the heck is a walkabout?

There are probably three meanings of walkabout in the general zeitgeist of society. The first is a British term, with LIKELY racist leanings, of someone who has just wandered off and can’t be found. Someone silly or unreliable in general. The second is a DEFINITELY racist term from Australia suggesting that (mainly) Aboriginal people are unreliable and shiftless and just wander off to do whatever they want.

However, the third version is the important one, and the origin perhaps of the other two. It is indeed Australian in origin, from the Indigenous communities, and seems generally to reflect a search for one’s identity, a voyage of discovery. To intentionally go on a long journey to find yourself, to figure out what is important to you and who you are in relation to others, the land, etc. Not surprisingly, for Indigenous communities, it usually has a spiritual component to it and a strong flavour of self-discovery through the journey, rather than travelling to achieve a destination, and often involves a close commune with nature. Many Indigenous communities have an equivalent of a vision quest (of the mind and spirit), while a walkabout seems more physical in its intent.

This third one is the one that interests me, both as an idea, and as a branding of my intended experience.

I have to confess, embarrassingly so, that I probably first heard of it in the movie Crocodile Dundee. If you remember, early on in the movie, there’s a scene where Mick is telling Sue (the female journalist) about how he used to date this other woman. He went on a “walkabout” around Australia to see what was out there, and when he returned, the woman was ticked at him for going without telling her. Mick didn’t understand why it would bother her; Sue sarcastically agreed, thus mocking clueless males. Of course, the point of the joke is to make you remember what a walkabout is because, at the end of the movie, he’s leaving NYC to do a “walkabout” in America, just as Sue realizes she’s in love with him and has to chase him down into the Subway on a crowded platform before he disappears from her life for months, years, or forever (it was the 80s, no cell phones or emails).

Despite the cheesy origin of MY introduction to the concept, it stuck with me.

Initially, I desired a long trip to see “what’s out there”. Then, it became a little bit more about seeing the land from the ground instead of just flying over it. I’ve been to the Caribbean and the top of South America; I’ve been to Asia; I’ve been to Hawaii; I’ve been to Europe. But I never get much of a sense of travelling to those places while on a plane. It’s more like a really long subway ride…I got on a tube in Ottawa, I got off a tube in Mexico, and there were some pretty pics on the way. It never seemed real.

So, just as I said in my post about cruises, I often don’t feel like I am getting a true sense of the planet. Or, dun dun dun (foreshadowing), of the continent I live on.

Where do I want to go?

I want to go on a driving trip from Ottawa to Alaska, Alaska to San Diego, San Diego to New Orleans, and home again. Broken into six segments, driven back-to-back…for a total of ~25,000 km. Yep, I’m nuts.

1. Ottawa to Calgary (20d). I would start by passing through Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Regina and Saskatoon, en route to Calgary. According to the CAA/AAA Triptik, the route would take a little over 38h to go 3650 km. If I limit myself to about 400 km a day, the app suggests I stop just before Sudbury, at Sault Ste. Marie, at Marathon, just after Thunder Bay, about two-thirds of the way to Winnipeg, halfway between Winnipeg and Regina, at Regina, after Saskatoon, and then at Calgary. It’s a great plan, if I was doing nothing but driving 400km a day. Not for nothing, but I expect I’m more likely to do Sudbury for the first night and then take the second day in Sudbury; same for day 3 and 4 for SSM; day 5 and 6 for Thunder Bay; day 7, 8 and 9 for Winnipeg. My real scheduling problem is what else I might want to do in Manitoba.

For example, maybe go to Churchill. Gulp. That’s a 2-day train ride, call it 5-6 days to go up and back. That one would depend I think on Andrea later…if she doesn’t have a burning desire to go to Churchill sometime in the future, I might go now; if she’s willing to go later, I’d wait for a future opportunity. Alternatively, I could go about 1 day north to Grand Rapids and then over to Saskatoon before doubling back a bit to Regina. That would be day 10-11 to get to Saskatoon, day 12 in Sask, 13-14 for Regina, and 15-16 to get to Calgary.

I could go faster in there; I could go slower in there. Some days might be a full day in each major stopping area, but it might be raining or I might just visit a museum in the morning and head out in the afternoon. I would likely give myself 20 days or so to get to Calgary, and if I’m there earlier, I’m there early.

2. Calgary to NWT, Yukon and Alaska and then to Vancouver (45d). The timing for this one is a bit more restricted as Andrea and Jacob are likely to join me for some of it. The real challenge of including them is the simple distance and resulting time; I have all the time in the world, but they do not. The app estimates 112h to do 9500 km. At four hours a day, that would take 28 days. Not including sightseeing times. If I was by myself, I’d probably estimate 45 days or so to do that whole stretch which would be pretty much 2d on, 1d off, and not necessarily many hard days.

Andrea and Jacob will likely have to figure out which portion of that they might be interested in doing. They may prefer separate trips to NWT, the Yukon or Alaska, for example. And I’ll have to make some resulting decisions about routing. I could pick them up in Calgary and take them BACK to Calgary instead of Vancouver. But neither of them are going to want to drive the whole 9500 km either. 🙂 They COULD meet me in Yellowknife and fly back from Whitehorse or Anchorage instead, knocking it down to about a third of that distance (3000). Or even travel Whitehorse to Anchorage which is only a 1000km. Or, or, or…lots of options.

I like the idea that they could maybe start in Anchorage and travel through Whitehorse to Vancouver, about 3500 km, and only 10 days or so. Both really want to see the Territories (which they would) and Jacob really wants the interior of BC with the mountains (which he would also get). That’s a long way away, though, although it really doesn’t change much for me. I’d still go to Yellowknife from Calgary. The timing challenge, other than meeting them, would be how I get to Yellowknife…some of the roads are impassable and ferries on Great Slave Lake stop running when the snow hits. I assume I’d still be fine in September (my goal is to leave Anchorage by the end of September to avoid any big issues on interior BC roads and, of course, spend most of September in the region to take advantage of the Northern Lights opportunities).

3. Around Vancouver Island, back to Vancouver, into Washington (20d). This one is surprisingly “short” in comparison, a mere 26 hours to go 1800 km. There’s a lot of backtracking, some overlap, not much to do about that unless I go sideways and do a long ferry from Alaska to the top of Vancouver Island. At the moment, I have no idea what that would cost or how feasible that would be. And if Jacob wants to see the interior of BC, it wouldn’t be my likely route anyway. For now, I’m assuming everything is under my control, no major boat trips to shave off distances. In theory, with only 26 hours and 4h a day, I could try to do this in 6 days, but that’s no way to sightsee.

I’d probably spend at least 2 days in Victoria, another couple as I went along to Tofino, another couple up in the Northern part of the island. By contrast, a couple of sections in there could easily be longer-haul days, particularly when backtracking. I could see a full 6- or 8-hour day packed in there. Let’s call it somewhere around 14 days in total, although that is a bit generous. Particularly given the fact that I’ve done the southern part of the island several times before. Except I forgot 3 or 4 days at the start in Vancouver. Call it a full 18 days, including Vancouver. I could maybe divert myself at the end to see Mount Washington, but that’s just a single-day blip. I also accidentally skipped Seattle during my route to Tacoma. Add another 2 days, 20 in total.

4. Tacoma to San Diego (14d). This segment would let me go down the coast, and I’d have some deciding to do — do I stay out by the coast and see the ocean all the way down OR do I go inland, hop over to Nevada at some point for Reno and Vegas, back out to the coast for Sacramento, San Francisco, LA, and San Diego. I don’t have a burning desire to do L.A., nor gamble in Las Vegas, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see them. The trip with a slightly inland routing would be 29 hours and 3000 km. So, about another 7 days-ish. Add a day for Reno and Vegas each, another 2d for ‘Frisco, 1d for L.A. (I just want to go to the Santa Monica pier and the giant beach) and perhaps 2 days in San Diego (I could spend both at the zoo looking at pandas!). That’s another 7 days, for 14 in total. Yes, I’d love to pop over the border to go to Tijuana just to say I did it, but no, I’m not crazy. Baja California calls, but I’ll stick to the U.S.

5. San Diego to New Orleans (15d). This would not be a direct route, but it would allow me to see Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas along the way. I wouldn’t go into the Grand Canyon, as that’s on a future list. Nor am I likely to do Colorado at this point either, as I might be getting into snow season in some places, depending on when the trip starts. Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Amarillo, Abilene, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans would be the major cities, although a few are more just pass-bys than a huge desire to spend any extended time there. A half-day in most would perhaps cover it for me. The driving would be about 37 hours and 4000 km. Whew. That’s a solid segment, for what looks like a short haul. Driving is 9d approximately…call it another 5d of stopping plus a day of rest; let’s say 15d in total.

6. The trip back home (10d). From this point on, it’s about making my way home. A direct route would take me 22h and likely cross at Prescott of all places, going south of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. That doesn’t seem like an exciting option, but it would take me through Kentucky and Alabama. I hate to spoil the surprise, but I have other plans for those states. 🙂 Instead, I will likely start with a straight shot north to Memphis, St. Louis and Chicago before crossing back at Sault Ste Marie. That adds 9h and 3100 km to the trip, call it 31h of driving or about 8d. I’m not really sure that is accurate; some of those days might be a bit faster. Memphis and Chicago might add an extra day each, so 10d in total. But as I go through Wisconsin, I am REALLY conscious of the potential weather in December.

Summing it all up

Overall, that would be 20d to Calgary, 45d to the Territories and back to Vancouver, 20d around Vancouver Island, 14d to San Diego, 15d to New Orleans, and 10d to get home = 124 days. If I were to leave the day I retire (August 27), I wouldn’t return until December 29th. I could shave some days off or add in days for car issues, fatigue, or loving an area and wanting to spend more time there, etc. However, I think it’s likely to be a four-month trip.

Wow, I initially thought six months as a huge outlier, but more like 2 in reality. While I’m right in the middle, I thought I would be closer to 2 than to 6!

Now comes the reality check.

First and foremost, I have to figure out the whole logistics (some of which will come in the next post).

Secondly, what does this mean for day-to-day costs? Where will I sleep, what will I eat, etc.

Thirdly, I don’t know if I can even do this from a social perspective. A 4-month trip by myself? Sure, it’s not 1950. I will almost always have full internet access wherever I am and can do FaceTime with Jacob and Andrea, except perhaps in the extreme North, and if I go Starlink, maybe still then.

Fourth, not quite the most important, but close…will I chicken out? This is a HUGE undertaking by myself. If I was travelling with Andrea, separate from the companionship and all of that, it would just be nice to have someone to brainstorm with if something seems daunting. Do I go left or right up here? What does the computer say is the distance to the next campground? Which someone could tell me without me having to pull over to look it up, if there was someone with me. And if travelling together, we could say, “Hey, let’s take a break for a day, no need to stick to the schedule, an extra day here, an extra day there, what would it matter?”.

The trip is enormous and daunting and scares the bejesus out of me, particularly going it alone.

This makes me want to do it even more before I get too old to consider it. I try not to have regrets in my life; I make my choices and move forward, but if I chicken out on this one, I think it’ll top the list.

What else would stop me?

Finally, I come to the most important consideration. My health.

In my current physical condition, there is no way I could undertake it. I just don’t have the agility, stamina, mental fortitude, or general “back” health to do this right now. My heart is fine, blah blah blah, not worried about keeling over anywhere. At least, not any more than sitting home in my easy chair.

But just as I am not some long trek hiker, this trip will still test me physically. And I am not currently up to that test.

Of course, this is the whole point of pre-retirement planning. I need to figure out what I need to have in place financially and physically for me to do this trip, not wait until I retire and go, “oh no, I can’t afford it”. Just as I invest in the financial side of retirement, I need to catch up / buy back some parts of my health and agility with extra investment in the next three years. Starting with my back, general mobility, and then moving on to my weight and ongoing exercise habits. That’s a future month of planning. But this trip IS my most significant practical “need” for my health planning.

In terms of routing and planning, I’m still really concerned with the Territorial / BC portion of the trip as a timing constraint. It is WAY longer than I expected. I really didn’t understand the distances, and we might have to compromise on some of the joint portions to make them work financially and time-wise for Andrea and Jacob. And if I look at a map, my routing skips Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. I might do some of those later, and it isn’t like I’m collecting Pokemon where I have to get them all…it is more the idea that if I’m already IN the area, should I be doing a bit more zigging and zagging on my way home? Arkansas is a stone’s throw from Memphis, for example. But that thinking might lead to the madness of adding another 30d to my trip home. I’m not COMPLETELY against that idea, true, but well, it seems unlikely. Heck, I might even get to Sudbury and call the whole thing off. Plus, I might have to move some of the trip forward 6w if it means I can guarantee I avoid snow.

Obviously, an ideal scenario in my planning would include some sort of pre-test of this mad-cap scheme. But that’s a question for another post, perhaps. Stay tuned.

Okay, now go ahead, tell me this is ridiculous

That’s my big trip-of-a-lifetime, a white man’s walkabout, err, driveabout in North America. I don’t know whether I’ll find myself, or even if I need to anymore. Maybe I’ll just feel more lost than ever. Or maybe realize that it was all silly self-reflection….Maybe all I really need is a motorcycle and the open road for a couple of days with my brother.

But this trip calls to me. To get a true sense of the continent. A bookend to go with an ocean-crossing cruise, perhaps.

Now, tell me I’m ridiculous. Talk me out of this.

Or tell me about any giant trips that call to you. Not about trips that you would do if you had unlimited funds; tell me about ones you could actually do if you committed to it. Whether you should or not.

Talk to me, Goose.