Vancouver, BC - Las Vegas (West Coast down, ID back up)

[glc]

I'd recommend photocopies, not the originals!

[Lifemagician]

It is also a good idea to carry photo copies of most other important documents, such as your passport, credit card(s) and anything else for which you may need to quote a number when reporting it lost or stolen.

Lifey

[Eris]

When travelling my method is to put all copies of relevant papers, photos and documents in a selection of emails and then send to myself – say Google Gmail – and saved them in the travel section. Very good back up system and no need to worry about misplacing any papers.

And this way you can do it at some leisure before setting off on your trip.

[Lifemagician]

Eris, my reason for carrying the paper is two fold. If I am involved in an accident, or should happen to fall sick, I have on me, in my luggage, in my purse and in two places in my car, all those details, as well as all the family's phone numbers, my blood group, etc., all on one sheet of paper. Having it all on my computer, which I do, would be useless in an emergency.

Lifey

[Eris]

Lifey please keep an open mind.

Over a couple of years ago I had a real emergency when I fell and severely broke a hip bone when out walking. Was impracticable to carry all the required travel paper work on a hike. I was in the vastness of Oregon away from the car where my papers were stored.

My wife and I were ambulanced to hospital many miles away.

In this emergency it was easy to access all the information that was needed from my emails at the hospital . It is surprising the amount of various information that is needed in USA when requiring urgent expensive medical aid costing many thousands of dollars. Seem reluctant to go ahead unless their boxes are ticked.

Chances are a single sheet of paper would likely to have missed some required vital information needed for action to proceed quickly in a case like I was experiencing. Eris.

[benjis_monikuss]

All fantastic tips and once again I'm going to do a mixture of both. I'll have my photocopies and email myself the scans; great ideas! Thanks.

[benjis_monikuss]

Alrighty! We are one week out from departure, we have our routes and back up routes ready and now we're just finalizing the last details. So our final route, that we are pretty happy with is;

Day 1
Home
Bellingham (for groceries to fill our cooler)
Olympia for gas
Portland for Slappy Cakes & Powell's Bookstore (hoping these are open Memorial Day, will be confirming this week)
Multnomah Falls
Albany for our overnight stay

Day 2
Albany
Eugene for gas
We'd like to head down the Willamette Pass and go see Crater Lake as this is a shorter day. I've been watching webcams and weather reports every day and I'm hoping we'll have a beautiful, sunny and warm day, if not we'll simply continue on the I-5
Medford for gas
Weed for the night

Day 3 (really hasn't changed)
Weed
Red Bluff for gas
Modesto for gas... and I'm a George Lucas nerd
Bakersfield for the night

Day 4
Bakersfield
Through previously discussed route of Death Valley
Vegas for 3 nights

My return trip

Day 1
Vegas
Alamo for gas
Ely for gas
Twin Falls for the night

Day 2
Twin falls
Boise for gas
La Grande for gas and food
Kennewick over night

Day 3
Kennewick
Lake Easton SP for breakfast/ lunch
Bellingham for the last cheap US gas
Home.

Now just taking care of the last details; getting $US, pre trip car inspection, packing, setting GPS, making sure I have enough SD cards for camera etc. It's all very exciting!

[Southwest Dave]

Without re-reading the whole thread, is there a reason why you are going all the way south to Bakersfield when you could be taking the scenic drive through Yosemite NP on the Tioga Pass [CA120] ? [Which is currently open] Not only is it a nicer drive, [imo] it is less miles, although will take slightly longer.

Have a great trip ! [Look forward to hearing all about it]

[benjis_monikuss]

Without re-reading the whole thread, is there a reason why you are going all the way south to Bakersfield when you could be taking the scenic drive through Yosemite NP on the Tioga Pass [CA120] ? [Which is currently open] Not only is it a nicer drive, [imo] it is less miles, although will take slightly longer.

Have a great trip ! [Look forward to hearing all about it]

Deadlines and such. It's why I kicked plans to see 101 and SF etc, we are happy with what we have for this trip but that doesn't mean there won't be more in the future. We've already started saying 'in a few years we'll fly into ______ and do a round trip road trip to here, here, and here' haha. We feel pretty happy with our list of attractions including Multnomah Falls, Crater Lake, Death Valley and Vegas. Yosemite will just have to wait until another time but you can bet when that time comes I'll be right back here getting invaluable information off you guys!

[Southwest Dave]

I understand you won't have time to stop in Yosemite, but the drive over Tioga is wonderful and once you take Death Valley into consideration it adds little to your actual drive time. You could be in Lee Vining within an hour after you would have arrived in Bakersfield. If that didn't appeal you could go from Weed to Bishop CA via Reno and down the scenic 395 on the east side of the Sierras in the same time as Bakersfield and be closer to Death valley. Just a thought. [or two]