The Mother of All Road Trips

Words and photos by Coalatree Ambassador Quin. Check out his website and Instagram.

My friend Kate and I had discussed doing the "Mother of All Road Trips" for a few months. We drew a big circle around the coastline of North America and set off to see how far we could get in my 2001 Toyota Corolla. We ended up driving over 22,000 miles through 10 different countries and all of the western United States, camping and staying with locals to better experience the natural landscape and local culture.

The stretch from Texas to Panama was definitely the most challenging, yet the most rewarding because it was exploring relatively unknown territory.

It wasn't all easy. A family of rats lived in our car and ate our clothes and food. We hit a cow in an Idaho snow storm. We caught air off of hidden Mexican speed bumps. We spent many nights on the side of roads in our Detour Pop-Up Tent. We got hit by two motorcycles in Costa Rica. We had to pay off Mexican Policia multiple times.

But on the plus side, we were able to experience mind-blowing landscapes that people only dream of. We learned to live off less, and we met some of the most incredible people. Somehow everything we went through came together to make it the most epic of trips... and wouldn't have had it any other way.

 

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