#rocknroller17

Waking up to a very cool morning in Montana with frost on the windshield, we knew we had a long drive towards Denver. We headed down through Idaho and into Wyoming and up and over the very steep pass into the ski resort town of Jackson Hole. As we were on our way down the pass the air conditioning stopped working and we noticed a smell like something was burning. We limped into the airport rental car lot for Enterprise and walked inside. It was a beautiful little airport where the rich and famous fly in to ski. It took forever to get another rental car but not much hassle. I love Enterprise. I have used them almost exclusively for years and they always provide us with good service, nice cars and not too bad of a rate. My rabid readers will remember our Rock n Roller 16 tour when we rented a truck in Denver and drove all the way to Maine, then on to Texas and back up to Denver–a whopping 7,000 miles for just 850 bucks.

We headed into town and looked for a place to eat. We settled on a little cowboy themed bar that was located around the town square. If you have ever been to Jackson you will know they have this huge arch made out of elk antlers that is now a go-to selfie spot. We haven’t been to this neck of the woods for more than 15 years when we were up this way for a sled dog race in West Yellowstone. The little bar/restaurant was really cool inside and we each had a burger and Michele had a stiff drink. None for me, I still had 7 hours or more of driving. We walked around the little shops in town and bought a couple t-shirts before jumping back into the car to head toward Rock Springs.

In Rock Springs…oh do I have stories from my youth about this little place…we grabbed gas and took a turn that would change the course of the trip. Within a few miles we were off the highway and on a dirt road for the next hundred plus miles. It was honest-to-goodness scary. I am a Stephen King fan and I have read enough stories about what happens on roads like this. You know what I mean, “you gotta purty mouth” type place. If you haven’t read the King story, Big Driver, you should.

Anyway, at some point I woke Michele up from her slumber, again, and told her to stay awake until we get back on a “normal road”. Why? I don’t know, I guess so she can witness our own kidnapping or at the very least a breakdown in a front-wheel-drive rental car on a potholed road that felt like you were driving over a cheese grater. We literally did not see a single person for hours on that road. It was absolutely beautiful though with all the red-stone mountains as the sun set.

After about three hours of white knuckling we finally hit pavement again and arrived in the little town of Craig, Colorado. I have only been here one time. It was years ago when I drove all the way up here from our place in Bailey with a pack of sled dogs to get neutered by an old country vet that knew a thing or two about mushin’. I actually got to help him with the surgeries that we performed in his kitchen.

We grabbed gas, looked for a place to eat and passed on the fast food. The next couple hours were in the dark on the winding roads through the mountains. Our goal was to make it most of the way to Denver but it was getting late and we didn’t have a room for the night. Michele, being my awesome co-pilot and navigator jumped on our favorite app, Booking.com and found us an inexpensive room in Rifle right along the interstate.

It was almost 11 pm when we pulled into Sonic. The local kids were hanging out doing what teenagers do–that delicate dance of I hope you like me, but I am too shy or insecure to tell you to your face. They were all wearing their hats with that little bit of hair sticking out the front on purpose, skinny jeans, and all had iPhones that they probably didn’t have to work for to pay the bill. We people watched while we munched on our burgers and were back at the room and asleep before midnight.

Tomorrow we would drive six or so hours to Denver with a stop that was supposed to be a highlight of this years coaster tour but it wouldn’t come to be. Stay tuned…

Up Next: Lakeside and Elitch Gardens 

Coasters to date on the tour: 28

Do you like what you are reading? Want to see more? use the hashtag #rocknroller17 on social media and you can see pics on Instagram, tweets on Twitter and our daily trials and tribulations on Facebook.

We arrived at about 4 am in Seattle on our red eye from LA. We were exhausted but knew we needed to press on. We had a long drive across the state of Washington to our next park, Silverwood in Idaho. We fueled up on coffee, beef jerky and some new fangled bee pollen energy pills from a side-of-the-road gas station. I remember way back in the day when I would traverse the country in my little 280z they used to sell honest-to-goodness speed pills in the gas stations and truck stops across the country. I admit I have had my share of No-Doz with a chaser of bad, 15 hours old coffee that tasted like a burnt stick.

The drive over was beautiful. we went over the Cascades and drove for a long while along a raging river and stopped for a bit about mid-way to look at the gorge. We passed through Spokane and took a side road highway for the rest of the way into Idaho and beyond to the little theme park. It is truly in the middle of nowhere and sits next to a large RV park. I can imagine the locals taking week long trips to camp and enjoy the fun.

The park is beautiful with wonderful flower arrangements everywhere. What I thought was the coolest part was they have this little movie theater that shows scary movies at night while you munch on pizza. Too bad we are never at the parks long enough to do stuff at night. It is always ride the coasters, walk around, grab some grub and possibly drive a 1000 miles to the next park at night.

We drove all this way for just two coasters, Tremors and Timber Terror. Both woodies and a lot of fun. Both were fast and shaky, just like I like them. You know, the feeling like the train will fly off the track at any moment. We skipped the other coaster, Corkscrew as it is just a clone of many others across the country. But of course we had to ride the log flume.

Later we grabbed the biggest ice cream cone we have ever had. It was like a half gallon of ice cream on top of a cone. I could barely eat all of mine. We then headed over to the carousel. It was a beautiful old merry-go-round.

 

We jumped back into the car for a long drive down towards Montana. As we were driving through Missoula we remembered our friend Renee lived there and texted her about places to grab a bite to eat, being that it was late we didn’t expect her to join us for dinner but she did at a local Cracker Barrel. We have known Renee for a long time and she is someone that I admire very much. It was fun to catch up and we had a nice evening. It is always cool to meet up with people as we travel around the country. With social media you can literally have friends in all four corners of the country and it is fun to finally put a real person to the profile, if you know what I mean.

The next day we would make the long drive towards Denver and have our rental car almost blow up on the way into Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Stay tuned!

Up Next: Where You Goin’ Purty Boy? 

Coasters to date on the tour: 21

Do you like what you are reading? Want to see more? use the hashtag #rocknroller17 on social media and you can see pics on Instagram, tweets on Twitter and our daily trials and tribulations on Facebook.

When in LA you must visit Hollywood right? We woke up early to drive down to the Sunset Strip and then up to the Hollywood Hills in search for the famous sign. We meandered through the park that leads up to the Griffith Observatory and we spent an hour looking for parking. We finally managed to squeeze into a tight spot and made our way inside. It was a cool place but my favorite feature was actually outside. They had the planets on the sidewalk in concentric rings that showed just how far they would be in scale to each other. The sun was right where the building was located and Pluto was about 400 yards away.

We snapped a couple far-away pictures of the Hollywood sign and jumped back in the car for a treat that would become a highlight of the trip. It was black ice cream from a little place called Little Damage. We saw it on Instagram, where else, and just had to go. There was a line around the corner outside. We made our way inside and each got a cone. Just as advertised it was black soft serve ice cream in a black waffle cone. While it didn’t taste any different than a plain, well, vanilla one it was a cool treat.

As we made our way back to the car we noticed that we were walking along the famous Walk of Fame. You know, the stars with the names on them. It was not impressive at all. In fact it was dingy and dirty on a street far removed from what most would think of as Hollywood. There were plenty of homeless laying amongst the stars too. We did get to see a bunch of trucks with cameras and stuff setting up to film a scene for a movie. No real “stars” in the area that we could see.

After our morning we headed over to Pasadena, again just a few miles away but almost an hour drive, to get ready to see Metallica at the Rose Bowl! This was the Rock n Roller tour right? It was epic. You can read about it here:

Metallica at the Rose Bowl

The next morning we woke up early and drove down the street from our hotel to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain. Another hot and crowded day and we spent way too long waiting in line for a couple Flash Passes. They kept running out of the little pager-like things and when the attendants would walk away and come back we would lose our place in line. By the time we handed over a couple hundred bucks I was beyond frustrated and just wanted to get inside the park and ride some coasters.

There are A LOT of coasters at Magic Mountain. The first coaster we jumped in line for was Ninja that closed down while we were in the seats! We would end up riding it later in the day.

Next up was a woodie, Apocalypse and then Gold Rider and a stand-up, Riddler’s Revenge. I don’t know why I subject myself to the stand up coasters. They always leave me walkin’ funny if you know what I mean.

We went into the air conditioning to ride the 4D Justice League ride. Its not really a coaster but more like a video game. I really like them, Michele not so much. It was cool to have a backlot tour of the one in Six Flags over Georgia earlier in the summer to see how they work, when I was at the coaster convention.

Throughout the day we rode coaster after coaster. We rode, Full Throttle, X2, Green Lantern, Goliath, Batman, Scream,  Viper and Gold Rusher and one coaster that would become one of my favorites in the country, Twisted Colossus. Michele had been waiting to ride this her whole life, way back when it was still Colossus when she was a kid.

Wood meets steel as the iconic woodie returns as the new Twisted Colossus — the longest, most innovative hybrid coaster in the world. Still in its landmark location along the perimeter of Six Flags Magic Mountain and nestled inside the tracks of the behemoth coaster, Goliath, Twisted Colossus remains the coaster monument most recognizable to millions of people who pass by the park each year…but now with an exciting twist.

Integrated into the beautiful crosshatching of white wood will be intertwined track, steep banks and unrelenting rolls and spirals. Revel in the fun and excitement of traditional wooden coaster thrills while facing your fears on the latest state-of-the-art coaster technology. Twisted Colossus is the best of both worlds, a modern marvel making roller coaster history!

It was amazingly fun! An Amazing coaster with numerous banks, drops, and high speeds! 4,000 feet of track, 80 degree drop, and 4 minutes of absolutely amazing fun! Would recommend for those who seek thrill! It is one built by the genius minds at Rocky Mountain Construction who are the premiere coaster builders, in my opinion. Their iconic track is so smooth and fast that it feels like nothing else in the coaster world. I’m a huge fan and think their coasters are some of the best in the world. (“I agree,” says Michele.)

Of course we rode the log flume and carousel like we always do and were out of the park relatively early but had one heck of a time trying to find the car. In fact, Michele and I got separated looking and when I finally found the car I spent another 20 minutes looking for her! She went on a date somewhere with Bugs Bunny!

We had dinner plans later in the evening with a good friend of mine, Alex, who is my co-host on Mushing Radio. He suggested we go to this little Cuban place in his neck of the woods. I had a Cuban sandwich, of course. It was delicious! We sat for a long time talking and catching up before heading to the airport to catch a red-eye flight to Seattle. Will we ever get a good night’s rest on this trip?

Up Next: Silverwood 

Coasters to date on the tour: 19

Do you like what you are reading? Want to see more? use the hashtag #rocknroller17 on social media and you can see pics on Instagram, tweets on Twitter and our daily trials and tribulations on Facebook.

As we left Knott’s Berry Farm we looked at the map for our next stop, a nightcap at the Santa Monica Pier. “It’s only 25 miles away, thats nothing,” I proclaimed. Little did I know that 25 miles would take over two hours in the crazy and constant bumper-to-bumper traffic on the spaghetti of LA freeways. Remember we haven’t slept yet from our flight down the night before. Michele napped as I drove and cussed at the drivers nearly taking off my fenders as we weaved in and out from lane to lane.

We finally arrived at the iconic Santa Monica Pier at about 6:30. I am almost certain you have seen this coaster in many movies and TV shows. Most recently it was showcased in the series on Amazon called Goliath starring Billy Bob Thornton. In fact the little bar and hotel that he frequents on the show is just down the road from the pier as it is in real life.

We parked quite a ways from the pier because it was so crowded and took in the sights of the cool mini-mansions along the beach.

Our goal was to ride the coaster. We paid our ten bucks or whatever it was and jumped in line. It was a cool old steel coaster that the ride attendant let us ride three times. What a deal! We grabbed dinner at the historic Pier Burger on the pier that reminded us of a 1950s style diner. The fries were amazing and so were the shakes. We sat for a while and people watched before we headed back to the car for an even longer drive to the hotel that was only a few miles away…

 

Up Next: LA and Magic Mountain

Coasters to date on the tour: 8

Do you like what you are reading? Want to see more? use the hashtag #rocknroller17 on social media and you can see pics on Instagram, tweets on Twitter and our daily trials and tribulations on Facebook.