The road trip fic involves nearly everyone and involves a lot of ignoring things in canon I am not fond of. I need to watch a bunch of Bela episodes to figure out if I'll include her, too, but so far I have Ruby, Jo, and Sam having taken off with the Impala, then Dean in the angel van (Bobby would only loan him a van) where Castiel and Anna and Gabriel pop in occasionally. Along the way they meet up with Pamela, and Bobby and Ellen harangue them all via cell phone. Basically, it is my excuse for seeing lots of characters I love who never met in canon interact.

This is true! Something happened, and he got stuck almost permanently on the second setting.