Your definition of a vehicle based adventure

bob91yj

bob91yj

Adventurist
Founding Member
No one is going to have a wrong answer, curious when you personally go from the just going somewhere mentality to the adventure travel mentality.

Garrett made me think about it in another thread when he mentioned "no cell phone reception".

I'm not tethered to my phone, if a license was required to carry a smart phone I'd have to use smoke signals. My cell is also my work phone for customers to reach me...except on weekend/holiday/vacations, I rarely even know where my phone is on weekends, usually find it in my lunchbox where I put it Friday afternoon on my way home.

Despite all of that, I have expanded my horizons enough to realize that I'm never in that big of a jam if I'm upright, taking nourishment, AND have cell reception. I've got some buddies that would come get my dumb ass from most anywhere if I gave them a call. In this day and age, I think life has the POTENTIAL to become an adventure once out of cell phone range.

What say you?
 
Most of the places I like to go to have no cell reception. Ive gotten up to high elevation and gotten signal, when my bill came, I was hitting a tower WAAAY far away, not what I expected, its just all I could hit.

BTW, even if YOUR carrier doesn't show a signal, if you call 911, after your phone tries to hit a signal from your carrier and is unsuccessful it will search any available signal, meaning anything that may of be part of your service providers tower package regular use may not work, but for emergencies, the phone will find any possible available signal from any carrier.

Getting more physically creaky over time (especially from injuries), I don't mind so much being able to get cell service.

Anyway, about anything that's travel, seeing new or old favorite things can qualify for vehicle based adventure. I like wild places, historical stuff, Indian Ruins, or just trying something new that someone suggested or sounds interesting.
 
IMO the biggest adventure I have is trying to get thru some of these towns during rush hour... I feel much safer and way more relaxed in the middle of nowhere regardless of cell service... hell, I don't have cell service at my house.
 
Yea no cell service isn't a requirement for me. That's like people who argue over what counts as "real" camping. A trailer isn't camping to the tent guy with his car, but a tent isn't real camping to the ultralight minimalist backpacker who puts up a bivey.

Trump said:
The vehicle is the tool of the adventurer. It can sometimes provide the adventure, take you to it, or distract you from it. Go out to a new/old place (maybe even in a city), explore, have fun... vehicle-based adventure.
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My sentiments exactly, couldn't have been said better myself.
 
Maybe I should have posed the question as "when do you feel like you are truly on your own during a vehicle based adventure?", you have to make it out of whatever jam you are in with what and who you have with you.
 
^^^ That used to characterize my backroads driving experience. That was before cell phones, so get stuck, and its either get out yourself, or miles of walking to hitch a ride and get help. Ive done both to get unstuck. I slowly improved my recovery gear, and also improved my judgment on doing things that got me stuck. The exceptions were when conditions weren't apparent at first look. Ground that looked OK in the dark and turned out to be saturated and mud. The last oen I recall involved a ride back to town to get a friend. I'm glad he brought his chain saw, we used it. My digging, attempted rock roads and all didn't get me very far. We ended up cutting trees down for room to move and as skids to spin the truck in place with come-a-longs and Scotts truck with straps and chains and get it pointed in the right direction and get a run for the solid ground. Rock and log trails for the tires got me moving fast enough and far enough to regain solid traction. I was chained up and you couldn't see the chains.
 
bob91yj said:
...when you personally go from the just going somewhere mentality to the adventure travel mentality.
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At the point that it's exciting and there are wheels, not boots, on the ground: be it an overnighter, a multi-day/week trip, or just seeing how fast I can make the Prescott-Jerome run. :D

bob91yj said:
..."when do you feel like you are truly on your own during a vehicle based adventure?", you have to make it out of whatever jam you are in with what and who you have with you.
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I completely ignore my phone when driving, so cell signal isn't really a factor for me. I feel that when the gaps between seeing other vehicles gets much over 3-4 hours, especially during those dead-silent calms that happen during a Mojave summer. I feel it less so when on dirt because it's expected, moreso when it happens on the highway. Passing through Trona to cross Death Valley for home, 6 hours of two-lane highway and not a single other vehicle or person...that was eerie (in a truly excellent way).
 
Chazz Layne said:
I feel that when the gaps between seeing other vehicles gets much over 3-4 hours, especially during those dead-silent calms that happen during a Mojave summer. I feel it less so when on dirt because it's expected, moreso when it happens on the highway. Passing through Trona to cross Death Valley for home, 6 hours of two-lane highway and not a single other vehicle or person...that was eerie (in a truly excellent way).
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Once when adventuring with another friend early in the season (for the area), we were headed for the North Rim of the Canyon. South of Jacobs lake, there was a gate across 67 saying road closed. Having Forest Service maps, we looked and found several FS roads that bypassed the gate. Back on pavement to get farther south, it looked like nobody had been on the road in ages, there were leaves and pine needles on the road. My friend was behind me as we drove down the middle of the deserted road, he said it was like a post apocalypse movie, with the clouds of leaves and needles flying as I drove through them, like we were the only ones. That was a great trip, I don't think we saw anyone. We camped along the east rim, exploring new camp spots and FS roads, usually camping right on the edge.
 
Forum software trivia. You can highlight part of another post, and once highlighted, it gives a dropdown option to reply or quote. Saves a lot of trouble trimming another post to just emphasize one part. Maybe I'm the last one to know that,.....
 
Chazz Layne said:
At the point that it's exciting and there are wheels, not boots, on the ground
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Well, now, what if there are no boots OR wheels on the ground? :moto

But seriously, I agree with this. You say vehicle adventure, so if it's some type of vehicle and you're having a ball, that's adventure. To stay current, I'd call the upcoming Baja 1000 trip an adventure because we're camping and enjoying a new landscape. But what's to say that driving the 800 horsepower trophy truck through the Baja desert for hours on end isn't adventure?

So I'd agree with @Chazz Layne because adventure is defined as "an unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity." Just add a vehicle...although based on that definition, my work commute is an adventure. o_O
 
Every day in in my vehicle in so cal traffic is an adventure... But in all seriousness.. To me anything can become an adventure if you let it. Just enjoy what you're doing and where you are going. This weekend is going to be quite the adventure. Heading to Joshua tree np, camping on some blm land I've never been to. I got the coordinates from a friend, and he says it's a good spot.. So here's to adventure!

Sent from my LG-H810 using Tapatalk
 
bob91yj said:
Maybe I should have posed the question as "when do you feel like you are truly on your own during a vehicle based adventure?", you have to make it out of whatever jam you are in with what and who you have with you.
Click to expand...

All those places where I'm like, shoot if I break down I could die out here or it's a really really really long hike to another human being. :) lol
 
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