Suggestions requested on planning a multi day solo boat trip

[Ronnie]

The back ground on this thread is that I haven't been able to do much boating this summer because of my son's black belt training schedule which is every Saturday from June through August. I just accepted a new job and for the most part I will have the last three weeks of September off (this is the time between the last day on my current job and the first day on my new job). This is this first time I've had this much time off since I joined the work force (after law school in 1997) and may be the last time I will have this much time off for another 10 plus years.

Given the above, I'm thinking of taking a 7 to 10 day long boat trip to lakes I've never been to. It has to be mostly solo because my son will be back in school by this time and my wife doesn't have the PTO to go with me. FYI - I offered to cover her lost wages and to pull my son out of school but those aren't really viable options for them and I understand that. My wife doesn't want the work to build up or to burden her coworkers nor do we want our son to miss so many days of school so early in the year.

So thinking off the top of my head, I'd like to:
1. Start my trip traveling to and visiting Lake Tahoe with my Family for the first weekend. I'd leave for the lake on a Friday (maybe Thursday) and stay to or through Monday. My wife and son would take a separate car.

2. Afterwards, I'd part company with my family and head north to lake Shasta which is the furthest lake to the North of me that I am willing to drive to. I think it will take me at least 7 hours to drive home from there, probably closer to 9 with stops. I'd stay there 3 to 4 days including travel to and from the lake.

3. If I cut the Shasta trip short by a day I may visit one more lake before returning home, maybe in Susanville which, as I understand it, is a county in the far north east region of California. I believe it is 2 hours east of lake Shasta. I'd spend at least two days there if I for at all.

I don't want to camp / pitch a tent and cook for myself unless I have to. This can and preferably should be more of a glam ping trip where I can stay in a hotel / cabin every night and minimize any cooking on my part. I don't mind bbqing on the lake but I don't want to be cooking breakfast lunch and dinner everyday. My budget is not unlimited so I can't spend $400 every night on a place to stay but $200 a night is doable.

So what do you all think? Too much in to short a time. Where can I stay in.

 

[Wayloncle]

I have no suggestions for your area....I just want to say I'd love to do a trip like that!
Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and my wife is alright...sometimes. If I was going to do it leaving from the San Antonio area, I'd go up to Texoma and stay a couple days with my brother and boat around (he lives close to the lake). Go to Arkansas and get some friends to meet me at Lake Ouachita spend a few days there mixing in Lake DeGray and Hamilton which are all close together. Then go up to Lake of The Ozarks and Table Rock.

On the way back down through OK I'd probably stop at Grand Lake or Murray.
I'd look at the member map and send messages to people in the area to see if they can meet up.

That's what I would do...not that it's ever crossed my mind or anything;-)

I almost got to do a trip sorta like that, I was going to do something similar when I was planning to go back to FL to get my boat, but I wound up taking my 3 year old son with me so I didn't do any boating or traveling out of the way.

All I can say is have fun!

 

[Ronnie]

@Wayloncle . Thanks for responding .

I am probably going to limit my trip to just Tahoe and Shasta. Both lakes are huge and far. Since it is unlikely I will visit them again at least anytime soon I want to see as much as I can of them and the surrounding area plus I want to limit my road time to the extent possible.

I've since started two more specific threads on the subject, hopefully I will get some insight from locals or members who have been there and done that.

 

[Glassman]

I've towed my boat up to Shasta, I'd do it again in a heartbeat - in fact, we were just talking about doing another trip up there sometime soon.

I've been out on Tahoe - not my boat, a bigger one. It's one BIG lake...water was chilly, but beautiful. I don't think my boat would run all that fast at that elevation though and that might be a detractor for me.

I think I liked Shasta more because of the the "fingers", it's fun to explore. It has many more miles of shoreline. The caverns are cool - literally and the different stops along the way are fun to visit. We got our houseboats at Silverthorn and our friends had great things to say about their experience at Antlers farther north. The water level would be my biggest concern. The year we went it was ok, but dropping. We had to move the houseboats off the beach each day, you won't have that problem with your boat, but some fingers may be shorter than when the water is high.

Either way, you are in for a fun time.

 

[Scottintexas]

that sounds like a great trip, I'm glad to hear your going to take the family on the first part of it, I'd get board without somebody else in the boat with me though,

I'd be more inclined to take the vette on a road trip, enjoy the down time and leave the honey do list behind!

 

[Ronnie]

that sounds like a great trip, I'm glad to hear your going to take the family on the first part of it, I'd get board without somebody else in the boat with me though,

I'd be more inclined to take the vette on a road trip, enjoy the down time and leave the honey do list behind!

I like the way you think. Your suggestion has revising my plans a bit where Lake Shasta is concerned. I may just make it a solo mid week road trip in the vette and I will rent a boat for one or two days when I'm up there. This will add a few miles to my road time but on balance I should save time because I'm not trailering a boat to the CA/OR border and it's a great way to spend some time in my other big boy toy.

If there is anything on the honey do list that I can do while I'm out I'm sure my wife will think of it.