Dodge Journey Search (East)

/ Steven Barley

From the two introductory commercials, there are three clues that identify a 90-mile segment of the Dodge Journey (East) route, showing it traveling north (from Magic Forest), towards Ticonderoga, then either leaving New York and moving into Vermont, as well as moving west past Eagle Lake.

Update #1: Added unsolved clues, including possible final destination.
Update #2: New location added: PJ’s Barbecue, Saratoga Springs, NY
Update #3: Location identified, Eagle Lake, NY. Google map updated.
Update #4: Edited version of possible final destination with clearer view of background added.

Warning: I’m aware that a number of individuals are either flying or driving long distances to participate in the search. The final (possible) location may have been identified, originally posted and discussed on Dodge’s YouTube board. Assuming they have a contingency plan, they may very well change the final location or resort to, according to the contest rules, “administer(ing) a skill-based tie-breaker.”

General search comments —

  • For each of the last two Dodge Journey searches, the final destination was a National Park: Eldorado National Forest (West) and Black Kettle Grasslands (Midwest). There do not appear to be any in New York and just one in Vermont (Green Mountain), but south. White Mountain, in New Hampshire is another possible destination (and only if they stick with this MO).
  • The final location for each Dodge Journey is used in the introductory commercials: creek location (West); hot air balloon (Midwest); bike removed from rack (East)
  • PJs Barbecue has not appeared in the known commercials or videos and will most likely be a radius search clue, provided the day of the hunt.
  • Eagle Lake may be a location for video footage alone, as it deviates from their apparent route, like the Midwest drive and intersection shot. Of course, crossing into Vermont by ferry, could be a bit of misdirection as well, like Emerald Bay in the West search.
  • There are conflicting clues, unlike the last two searches. The journey traveling south across the Twin Bridges, east into Vermont and west by Eagle Lake.
  • For the West search, with the two introductory commercials, the clue furthest west was Kyburz Garage & Mini-Mart, Kyburz, CA. With the launch of the 300-mile clue, Hwy 89 (quickly identifiable) and Emerald Bay were added, extending the route by about 15 miles. Not much was added with the 200-mile clue for the Midwest search. They did give you Sayre, OK  (which adds about 10 miles) but Elk City, OK was actually closer. Bottom line: it is possible with what we know before the hunt actually begins, the route could be extended up 15 miles.
  • You may not be just looking for a Dodge Journey at the final location. There could be a supporting cast: a trailer (probably to hide the Journey until show time), other cars and crew or it could be on private property. Here’s a shot on location from the Midwest search final destination (contributed by Jessi). See also this article from the West search about location.

Best of luck to all the “boots on the ground”!

1. Thaddeus Kosciusko Bridge or Twin Bridges, NY

Thaddeus Kosciusko Bridge

In the video, the Dodge Journey is traveling south along Interstate 87.

Notes: I fully expected this clue belonged to the Dodge Journey (East) route and combed through far too many images of arched (suspension) bridges. The breakthrough occurred by searching for parallel arched bridges. Google street view to confirm:

Thaddeus Kosciusko Bridge - Google street view

2. P.J.’s Barbecue, Saratoga Springs, NY

Article: Portion of TV commercial filmed at PJ’s Bar-B-Q on Route 9

Notes: This was a great find by by Brad and will most certainly be used for one of the radius search clues, e.g. 100-miles. Expect to see a shot of this sign, location or reference to the food. This does not extend the route but may already provide a range limit.

3. Magic Forest, Lake George, NY

Magic Forest

In the video, the Dodge Journey is traveling north along Highway 9 (Magic Forest is on the east side of the highway).

Notes: A search in google reveals the location of the Magic Forest (google image search: uncle sam statue) and google street view can be used to determine location relative to the highway.

4. Ferry crossing, leaving New York, entering Vermont

Welcome to Vermont

In the video, the Dodge Journey is entering Vermont, traveling north.

Notes: This took a bit of detective work. First, you can assume that the Dodge Journey was traveling north from New York, crossing into Vermont. You also find that water creates a natural border between the two states. After checking the obvious highway border crossings, including a bridges, I resorted to ferry crossings and bingo – Google street view verifies the location:

Vermont crossing - Google street view

Here’s a great picture of the ferry crossing departure point into Vermont:

Notes: This was provided by Hadrian. Source: Wikipedia – State Route 74

5. Lake view drive, Eagle Lake, NY

The picture below, that made it’s way around earlier actually came from Panoramio. Using Google street view, there’s a Panoramio option in the south lake to view. It’s a definite match. It was mentioned this came from the Addison, VT or Panton, VT. That certainly is not the case.

Google street view to verify:

Notes: This location was properly identified by Kevin. The Dodge Journey is traveling west, the view is on the south side of 74.

Google Map of partial Dodge Journey (East) route, using introductory videos.

Final destination?

Like the sequence of the “family” exiting the Journey near the hot air balloon in the Midwest clues – this may very well be the final destination for the East search. Kayaks were a theme for the West search and the hot air balloon for the Midwest search. Bikes are on the rack as they cross the bridge in NY and pass by Magic Forest. There are a couple of inconsistencies however. The both the West and Midwest searches, the final location shot was tighter (reducing the chance of discovery by matching landmarks) and we see the travelers exiting the vehicle.

After the bike is removed, note the lake and mountains in the background.

Notes: Same shot with foreground images removed (courtesy of Cycling Zen).

Given that the Dodge Journey Search (West) started from a landmark city like San Francisco, Dodge Journey Search (East) will probably start from New York City, traveling north, toward the two known destinations (estimated route length: 225 miles). With the addition of the Twin Bridges location, this pretty well confirms NYC as the starting point, although Albany, NY, can not be ruled out.

848 thoughts on “Dodge Journey Search (East)”

  1. Steven…. did you see the comment that the final destination would be in NH at the corner of Dodge Hill Rd, and Journey’s End Rd, near francistown? LOL! Wouldn’t that be hilarious. Someone is posting a ton about it and dodge keeps deleting the info. You make anything of it for real? It seems that there is a Dodge road in every state…so I don’t buy it. Ha!

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    • Hi Amy and yeah … LOL. It’s a real intersection but there hasn’t been a connection to (cross) roads and the final destination that I’m aware with the exception that for the Midwest, they mentioned that the Journey was a 283 horse power, 6-cylinder … and it was off 283. Coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe not. I don’t think they would be that far off the beaten path though. Cheers!

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  3. After the 400 mile drive, my wife and I have spent the day looking for the possible location.
    Note, the Ticonderoga ferry is operating 24 hours a day and is FREE while the bridge is being built. This ferry takes you to Mt Independence. I’m surprised nobody spoke of this free ferry situation.

    Also, I spoke to many locals in ticonderoga and lake george, and nobody knows about this thing. Some even say that the news of this hunt may be blacked out locally.

    Note , most of the hotels are sold out because of a HUGE golf event going on all weekend in the area.

    If you are looking for good breakfast tomorrow morning, try out the Wagon Wheel in Ticonderoga. Other than that , this little town is sleepy and quiet.

    There is a Walmart in Ticonderoga where I purchased ponchos for my wife and I as it is pouring cats and dogs all weekend. Also, I purchased some maps at Walmart.

    The Cellular signal for AT&T is not the greatest up here, mostly Edge speeds and little 3G service. However my Verizon mifi portable hotspot has very fast internet signal and is able to provide wifi to a large laptop, an ipad and 2 iphones.

    I’ll let you know if I find it!

    Have fun everyone and stay safe.

    Big D

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    • Hey Big D! Don is in the area too and reported that the ferry was $16, $28 round trip? There’s another “mudding” event at or slightly south of Ticonderoga. Best of luck!

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  8. Will do if I am %100 right on Sunday . Cant’t go live in Ma but wife is disabled and daughter handicapped and cand’t abandon them for a day. Out of work and would sell it anyway.
    Good luck Steve

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    • Hi Tony. Check out the hi-res I snatched from Dodge on Twitter (see post, below reg pic … High Res version). Because of the rate of speed, there’s a blur. The bikes are there.

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  10. Hi Steven, if you are up early you may want to go to work. I just saw a new Dodge Journey commercial on Fox News. It aired just after 7:00 am cdt. The audio is the same as the previous version, but the video is definitely different, new scenes of the East. We may be seeing Plan B put into action. If you can find the new commercial online post a link so we can all start working on it. Also here is some news form Dodge on the midwest hunt: https://blogs.automotive.com/update-dodge-not-re-hiding-second-journey-ohp-releases-details-57707.html

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  11. Ah, ok. I thought maybe it was just blurred. I’d really like to play along, and be on here while the clues come in, but shortly I gotta get out into the world wide world and get to work. At least today I get to be outside. 😉

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  12. Steven,Thanks for the motivation to make the trip. My 15 year old son and I made the 17 hour trek from Kentucky to try and find this thing. We have already been rewarded with a “Beef on Weck” sandwich from Charlie the Butcher in Buffalo, ny on the way up. Hope to have some luck while we are up here, but just really enjoying this road trip with my son. Thanks again!

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    • Hi Mike. Thanks for the kind words 🙂 Love your attitude (and I had to google “beef on weck” … LOL … it IS a sandwich). Enjoy the time with your son, enjoy the adventure and make some memories. Cheers and best of luck!

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  13. I live in Northern Vermont. That would be awesome to find. My husband was looking to getting me a Journey. With two kids under 2 carseats take up a lot of room!

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  15. I agree with this comment on youtube:

    Amymo1117 this shld be a gameshow.. “great american scavenger hunt”…televised, but the whole nation plays from online clues
    Sep 24th, 2011 8:36 AM

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  25. I am not sure. They are going in the opposite direction now. I figured out both clues when they came out. I remember the horse race clue because I was going through there one time, family vacation, when they had it. And some lady told me about it there. This is fun.

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  26. Wait I said the wrong thing there Sorry. This is boggling my brain. I figured out the first 2 clues easily. I got my friend in Vermont looking for it She said she though she knew where it was when she saw the barn picture I posted to her. But it was not the same one. I can’t wait until the next clues.

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    • Hi Dennis. I’m assuming that you’ve watched and completed the 500-mile clue. Then watched the video for the 450-mile clue, correct? It should, after the question/prompt, give you the map with a pin to drag and drop. If it’s not visible, try refreshing your browser. It can be finicky 😦

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    • Hi. And yeah, up until it drags into the night (and you have to find a hotel, etc) … I wonder if some expected it would be over fast like the Midwest search. Clearly, they’ve added measures to get some mileage out of this final hunt: pacing the clues, hiding it in a barn 🙂

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  32. How often are the clues coming out?…..is everyone else waiting for #4 too? Steven, im in VA too, forget this online searching…let’s go find it! hahahaha!

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  33. IF the dodge is 375 miles from schroon lake NY, it could be ALMOST ANYWHERE. Even Maine. People out looking now are wasting their time and money. I was one of those morons driving aimlessly around Mt Independence looking for something… anything all day. I even got a $156 ticket from an a$$hole VT gamewarden because I parked overnight in an empty boat launch parking lot. Grrrrr.

    The Dodge is nowhere near that ferry or Mt independence. It’s probably not even in VT or NY. NH or maine perhaps?

    Driving around aimlessly is less frustrating than trying to keep up with new posts on this blog though. Does anyone else have a dodge search blog going that puts the posts in chronological order?

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  34. The cut over towards Andover is suggestive of a Maine endpoint near Bangor. Quite a cluster of rural heritage working horse farms in this area. Once this target area is obvious, local folks will have ~2 hour lead on the route chasers that are waiting for more clues to come in the morning. I’m not in the ground chase or nearby, but if I was following the trail, I’d be at least over to Porland by 9 or so to have a better chance, a southern turn would have to count road miles in a backward sense to get to 375, somewhat of a bogus use of a ‘radius’ clue label to my way of thinking. The local horse communities are too close knit and too small for local knowledge not to have a major edge over the chase pack. Also there are nation horse ranch data bases online that most of these folks belong too, and they list all ranches by state and city area. The one mentioned up this way in the posts (Carriages of Acadia, Houlton, ME) is way too far, like 525 miles +/- from Schroon Lake.

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