East Coast Trip

This was our most epic road trip to date! Starting from our home near Durango Colorado, we headed to Dodge City in Kansas. We stopped at a local restaurant when we got in and had dinner at the Central Station Bar & Grill and it was definitely a good choice for hungry travelers. That night we stayed at an RV park but with the winds as high as they were we decided to push on to the next city the next day. And when I say high winds, I mean they were having tornado warnings in the area and the entire truck was rocking all night. It was pretty hard to sleep with the wind noise in the tent and we weren’t trying to end up like Dorthey. Before leaving we went to the Boot Hill Museum and the history there was so cool. This place was big, they had a whole strip of shops and even an old time saloon where we definitely had to stop for a drink. After picking up some fudge and a few souvenirs we headed to a local coffee shop called Red Beard Coffee before we hit the road. Let me just stop right here and say, if you’re ever in Dodge City this is the only place you should go for coffee, not only is the staff super friendly and fast, their coffee is AMAZING! We picked up 4 bags of their in house roasted coffee beans and got a card so we can order more when we’re finished with those. Look them up at www.iamredbeard.com if you’re a coffee lover you won’t be disappointed. We decided to head to Kansas City Missouri and stay downtown. After getting Recon squared away and comfortable in the room we headed out on the town. We found a bar that was underneath an old historic hotel, it had a speakeasy feel to it with craft cocktails and a very eclectic and small bar food menu. The food and drinks were off the charts incredible and to add the cherry on top, the live band they had playing that night was insane! They call themselves The Vincents and they played songs from all kinds of genre’s. They played songs by Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, George Straight, Barenaked Ladies, and those are just the one’s I remember. Not only did they play these songs exceptionally well, one guy was standing on his double bass (looks like a cello but bigger) and still playing, they did a song where they would rotate so each person played each instrument and all of them had phenomenal voices. The original plan was to bar hop that night but this place was so great we ended up spending the rest of our evening there. The next day we tooled around Kansas City with Recon (our puppy) and the following day we headed to Springfield Missouri for the Moore Overlanding & Off-Road Expo. Once we got to the expo we found a great camp spot right next to the building where they had live music in the evenings. During the days we explored the expo, cooked some great food, and hung out with our camp neighbors. In the evening we went to listen to the live bands and participate in the raffles, although we didn’t win anything. We always enjoy overlanding expos and we did have a good time but it felt like this particular expo is still finding it’s legs. It was much smaller than the overland expos on the west side of the country, there were no food vendors aside from a great popcorn vendor and a concession stand, and some of the vendors were businesses for home repair and upgrades. The last day we packed up and headed out to Nashville Tennessee! We got in a little late so we decided to get some rest and hit the town the next day. We found some food and hit some cool bars close to the hotel with Recon then got him settled in the room and headed out to music row. We hit as many bars as we could but we still barley scratched the surface. We decided we need to plan a trip to Nashville when we can stay for at least a few days. Our next stop was unplanned, it was supposed to be a quick stop to grab a bite to eat but ended up being one of the most memorable stops of the trip. Chatanooga is a little gem between Tennessee and Georgia that had some great food and this awesome place called Rock City. We thought we would go check out this scenic lookout real quick and get back on the road but wow, we ended up exploring what seemed like a labyrinth of nursery rhymes and fairy tales for a couple hours. This place was built by a couple back in 1932 and it is absolutely incredible what they accomplished. I could go on and on about this place so to keep this from becoming a book I just have to recommend that you look it up or better yet, go visit and be as pleasantly surprised as we were! Next up was Savannah Georgia. The history just driving around that city was breathtaking. Not to mention the incredible trees and beautiful river. From there we headed to Daytona Beach Florida for Jeep Beach. I know I know, why Jeep Beach if we drive a full size rig? Well, the same vendors we get our stuff from also have a lot of Jeep products and a lot of them are great friends of ours, so… we went out to hang with our friends! Plus, there were a ton of super cool Jeep builds out there. We ate lots of seafood but the place that stood out the most was The Oyster Pub. This place had oysters 6 ways! and we tried 4 different kinds that were all phenomenal! We also ordered shrimp tacos that were great and the service was 5 star. We went to the Tiki Party at the Hard Rock Hotel and had a great time. Music, food, drinks, and good friends - there was no way we couldn’t have a good time. After several days of fun in Daytona Beach it was time to push on and we headed out to Panama City Beach. Panama City Beach was beautiful. We walked to Pier Park and checked out the shops, Recon had a blast at the dog beach, and we ate some really really great food. This was one of the most dog friendly places we stopped. The Brass Tap had a dog friendly covered patio with “dog station” that had water, bowls, and a small menu to order snacks for your pup. They also had some very very delicious food! After Panama City it was time to head to Texas. We stopped in Dallas but only for some sleep then back on the road to Pecos. We stopped and spent a couple days visiting family then headed back home. We spent about a month on the road all together and the truck did great. We would’ve loved to spend more time camping but the trip was incredible nonetheless.