SLOW SALLY & CREW

Slow Sally & Crew are once again escaping winter in Canada, this time by heading further west than ever before, and circling (I’m using that term lightly 😉) North America. For those of you who are new around here, we’re Nat & Marc – 2 Canadians exploring the Americas with Walter, our Adventure Mutt. You can learn all about our eclectic little crew here.

Our 2024 Mission: The Great West Coast Loop

Every year, we start planning our adventure by choosing one of our bucket list destinations. We have a very long bucket list, so the choice is never an easy one. Once we settle on a destination, it becomes the focal point of our trip and we design the entire adventure around it, usually trying to check-off as many other bucket list destinations as possible along the way.

Our primary destination is usually our southernmost stop, but this year we’re breaking the mold. We’re taking Horace Greeley’s famous advice and heading west! “Where to?” you ask. I can sense the suspense building ;). Let me drop you some hints: jaw-dropping mountain and coastal views, sky-scraping trees, and vast beaches. Any guesses?

… It’s the Pacific Coast Highway (or… part of it, at least)! This epic route is one of the USA’s most famous road trips and extends from the sunny beaches of Southern California to the lush forests of Washington. Yep, it’s been calling our name. We usually aim to keep off the beaten track, and we are aware that this route is on a well beaten path. But hey, we want to see it! So we’ll go, suck it up, and do our best to find the quieter (and cheaper) spots.  

In addition to the magnificent-looking stops we have planned along Pacific Coast Highway, our Great West Coast Loop is going to take us to some pretty special places, including:

• Cape Hatteras (North Carolina, USA) to spend New Years with our friend Elias at his beach house, enjoy the Outer Banks in off-season, and give Sally a little TLC.
• Marble Falls (Texas, USA) to explore this historic little town in the middle of the rugged Texas Hill Country and discover whether this area is as perfect as it sounds for van travellers.
• El Potrero Chico (North-East Mexico) … yes, again!… to send some easy rock-climbing routes, hike some scrabbly trails, and spend time in one of our favourite spots in Mexico.
• San Luis de Potosi (East/Central Mexico) to visit one of our favourite colonial cities and the nearby aqua-blue waterfalls, which look stunning in the online photos.  
• Las Vegas (Nevada), just to say that we’ve been! … and to see what all the fuss is about.
• Death Valley National Park (California, USA) so that we can hike below sea level and visit one of the hottest places on earth (hopefully at a time of year when it’s not so searing hot, lol).
• Montana (USA) to explore Big Sky Country and spend some time in the Rocky Mountains.

We’re leaving ourselves lots of flexibility to adapt and change routes/destinations so who knows if we’ll stick to this travel plan… if history is any indication, we won’t! But in the meant time, if any of you have destination recommendations that are roughly along this route, let us know in the comments. Just keep in mind that for us, destinations/activities need to be dog friendly.

Is Slow Sally Up to the Task?

Given Sally’s ‘vintage’ status and high kilometres (~355,000), we get a lot of questions about her before each adventure. Usually along the lines of, “is she up to it?”, or “is she ready?”. The answer is, “We think so!”. Marc gave her some TLC this summer, which included replacing the entire brake system, installing new upper ball joints, and changing the oil. We’re planning to do some more work on Sally in Cape Hatteras (NC) and Northern Mexico, including installing a brand spanking new lithium battery (a major upgrade). Hopefully the old exhaust system will survive until we have a chance to fix it along the way!

Follow Our Journey

For those of you interested in following our adventure, we’ll be blogging and posting on social media on a regular basis. We’ll also be tracking our progress on the Polar Steps app, which provides detailed data about our location and route (perfect for any of you map nerds!) – just check out this link.

Stay Tuned!

We’ll soon be exploring Texas Hill Country and letting you know if Marble Falls meets our very high expectations. In the mean time, enjoy some photos from here in sunny Cape Hatteras, NC… one of our favourite places in the US.