Project Q7 Offroad: The Road Trip, Part 1

There is no doubt that an Audi Q7 is incredibly suited  for long-distance road trips. Throw in offroad equipment with an Airstream that  we’ve been assembling with our Project Q7 Offroad and, well, the beckoning of the open road is obvious.

[source: Ryan Ponto]

After months of planning, it was finally time to hit the road with the longest trek we’d tackled so far. With the Q7 loaded up, a Thule Vector roof box mounted, and the tank full of petrol, all we had to do was get through one last Thursday of work. Though the forecast seemed a bit touch-and-go,  the weather seemed to be holding.

By the time 4:00 PM rolled around, our “Tin Palace” Airstream was hooked up, and our dogs (Finn and Tucker) were secured safely in the back seat. It was time to put rubber to asphalt. By leaving mid-afternoon on a Thursday, we even beat rush hour and weekend traffic. The miles (ahem, kilometers) clicked by as we passed Red Deer, then Calgary. Before we knew it, we already needed to hit up fuel stop #1.(Yes, I did count every single fuel stop. You’ll just have to wait until the end for the total.)

After refueling and grabbing a quick bite, we continued. However, our good fortune with the weather was about to run out. As soon as we neared Lethbridge, a snowstorm hit, and it hit hard. It didn’t take long to realize that trying to push through this was becoming dangerous. Visibility was down to a few feet, with giant fluffy flakes flying at us furiously. So, we called it a night and pulled into truckers’ row. There, we prepared to settle in for the storm.

Unbeknownst to me, truckers apparently leave their trucks running throughout the night for heat. With the diesels chugging away, after just five minutes, I decided to drive further down the street for some peace, quiet and breathable air. When 3:00 AM rolled around, the quiet was long gone. We were once again awoken by the not-so-silent melody of a Kenworth that had parked two feet behind the trailer. After taking a quick peek outside, I realized the snow had stopped, so I figured four hours of partial sleep was enough. I woke up Melissa, and we loaded the dogs back into the Q7.

Morning rolled around quickly, and the sun was shining on us as we cruised across the American border entering Montana. Before we knew it, after a few more fuel stops and a quick pit stop in Dillon, Montana for possibly the best Patagonia outlet store we’ve ever seen (thanks, Brent!) Salt Lake City, Utah was on our horizon.

Our planned stop here was to visit an old forum friend, David Venezia. Like many forum friends, we’d never met, despite our friendship extending over a decade back to the #lolbump days of the A3 world. For those too young to remember, forums were a glorious place of knowledge and community…unless you asked a stupid question. In that case, it was basically a digital public stoning of old.

David was excited and ready for us to stay with him. His barbecue was fired up, and he had burgers awaiting us. But Salt Lake City traffic had its own ideas. Nearly two hours later, we made it through the last 40 miles of freeway and backed into his driveway for a dinner that was worth the wait. We geeked out about camera gear and film shooting and reminisced over the A3 glory days. David even still has his beautiful A3 VR6 on airbags sitting in his garage.

The next morning, after enjoying a full night’s rest and a great pancake breakfast with David and his wife, we continued to our first actual camping destination…MOAB!

Rolling in a little after noon, we found that Moab reminded us of Banff for all its hustle and bustle. It is quite the little tourist town. Getting fueled up (again) to head out of town and into the desert tested my patience. Having been cut off more than a few times while trying to line up to a pump, I quietly (ok, maybe not-so-quietly) dropped some choice words and departed for the next gas station down the road. Thankfully for us, our camping plan took us well outside of the mayhem that defines many tourist towns across the county.

After departing from Moab, we trekked further south past Hole ‘n the Rock and found our corner. As soon as we pulled off to head down the trail, we were suddenly stopped by a girl in a Ram truck…

“Umm, are you guys sure you want to head down there with that? It’s, like, really rough and rocky.”

Melissa and I both chuckled a little before responding, “Of course we do. That’s the whole idea.”

“Ram girl” shrugged, closed her window, and carried on…as did we. Moments later, we were graced by the smoothest offroad trail I have ever experienced. Sure, it was all sand and rolling hills, but Melissa and I were dying with laughter. To be fair, we did run into a rock slab portion that was notably rough, but nothing came near to testing any sorts of limits of the Q7. Even the Tin Palace had seen worse in the past on fire roads back home.

After slowly working our way further into the desert, we lucked out and found the perfect  dispersed site nestled into a rock wall, giving us some protection from the elements. We got to work and set up camp, positioning and leveling the trailer in record time. Melissa headed inside the Tin Palace to get everything organized while I unhooked and stabilized the trailerfor our two-night stay. Once that was taken care of, we enjoyed a nice, little dinner outside, relaxing on our oh-so-comfy Kuma chairs (the dogs in theirs too, of course) and watching the sun set off in the distance.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

Ryan, Melissa, Finn & Tucker