Total Timber Tour

Total Timber Tour

August 20 - September 9 2008 | 6769 Miles, 20 States, 21 Days | 85 Roller Coasters, 20 Parks
About the Tour

After 17 trips to the US over 20 years, Adrian & Ian, 2 Roller Coaster Enthusiasts from the UK, had ridden over 600 Roller Coasters, and visited more than 100 Theme Parks. At this time, they had ridden almost every wooden coaster in the US.

Breakfast Show Host Shane O'Conner and Adrian Radio Derby's Shane O'Conner and Adrian

In 2008 they planned to ride the remaining 9 wooden coasters they hadn’t ridden. At the end of the trip, they should have been in a position to boast that they had ridden every wooden coaster in the US.

The remaining coasters were spread from New Jersey to Washington State, with the latter in Puyallup only being open for 21 days of the year, 4 in spring and 17 in September.

The ‘Total Timber Tour’ was due to travel through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, Texas, Southern Alabama, and through to the West via Utah. The climax of the tour was a ride on the ‘Coaster Thrill Ride’ at Puyallup Fair in September. In all, the tour crossed 20 states, and totals 6769 miles!

However, regretfully, they were not be able to complete their goal of riding every wooden coaster in the United States during the tour. Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast on the day they were to tick off the Cannonball at Waterville, in Gulf Shores, Alabama and this park was within an official evacuation line. Also, Flying Turns at Knoebel's had yet to open although this would not have affected the outcome of the trip alone as long as it remained 'under construction' for the duration of the trip.

The trip website attracted 3000+ hits a day during the tour.

 

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BUST! Waterville USA | Sea World San Antonio

Labor Day signifies the end of the summer season for most parks, so just enough time to squeeze an addition to our wooden ride list with the Cannonball Run - the park is SO far out the way!

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Road Trip

Time to rack up some of those 7000 miles and head west!

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Road Trip

Yet more driving!

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Royal Gorge

Adrian's (forty-something) birthday and a treat - not quite a theme park, but somewhere we tried to visit in 2005 and ran out of time - the big attraction here, the Royal Rush Skycoaster - only 100 feet tall, but swinging out over the gorge with a 1200 feet drop - can't wait!

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Park City | Celebration Centre

Again, no coaster's here - or is there? The Alpine Coaster has a lift hill and uses gravity to get back down the mountain. Sound's like a coaster to us!

No coaster's here - but an adrenaline-filled evening awaits with Sonic Boom, Sky Sling, Screamin' Swing, Sky Coaster and a Bungee (that's for Ian only!!!). (Please note: The park has since closed.)

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Road Trip

A full day's drive and we're on the home run!

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Silverwood Theme Park

Home to two classic wooden coasters and our number 2 in the world, Tremors. It'll be great to be back to the remote outpost, and interesting to see their latest coaster in situ - we've ridden similar elsewhere and they pack one hell of a punch, indeed, one of the few coaster designs that actually scares Adrian! It's gonna tower over the rest of the park.

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Puyallup Fair

Our final riding day and one those awkward-to-ride coasters as it has a very limited operating calendar - still, reports of the ride are good and it looks like the last 'to-do' wooden coaster in the US will be a good one.

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Final Day

Might drive to the coast today as our flight isn't until late - chance to touch the Pacific Ocean to truly say we have been coast 2 coast! - Due back in the UK sometime Wednesday.

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