anne55

You could always park outside major cities and use public transportation, did that once or twice, but like already has been posted, it can be permit parking only. Supermarket is great advice cooked chicken, loaf of bread, some cold salads you got two meals there, improvise on what you shop for and you could get more than one meal out of it, and try the truck stops for showering/laundry etc or sneak!! into a hotel/motel pool area take a swim (if warm enough)

avanutria

OK, here are my thoughts. For background, I drove in convoy from NY to Oregon in 2000, back again six months later via San Francisco, solo from NY to ID in 2002, back again six months later, solo from NY to Seattle in 2003, and recently my husband and I did a OR-ID-UT-CO-UT-NV-CA-OR 2,500 mile trip. You can see his posts about it in his blog from June and July 2010 - unfortunately the posts are in reverse order.

Most of my trips, barring the last one, were simple relocation rather than tourism trips so I haven't got the experience of stopping and sightseeing that you're looking for. But I think I have some tips anyway.

Your time frame is sixty days after your graduation in may, which either gives you some of May, all of June and some of July, or all of June and July, depending on when in May you graduate. I strongly recommend that you head south earlier in the trip rather than later. The longer summer goes on the hotter it will get, and while you can have open windows and/or air conditioning while you're moving, that car will get HOT whenever you're stopped without shade. I stopped at a friend's house in Colorado for about six hours in late May, middle of the day, and my mp3 player in the car got so overheated that its LCD display was black for several hours afterward. Also some of the electronics in my car never worked right again after that day! Not sure if that had to do with the heat, but it seemed to have a connection.

You suggested Chicago - Seattle - LA - Florida - Boston. If it were me, I would do the following - bear in mind I have not driven most of these roads and there may be better routes:

Chicago to Florida: I-65 through Indianapolis to Nashville, I-75 through Atlanta to wherever it is in Florida you want to go. 1,250 (to mid-florida), estimated 21 hours driving.

Florida to LA: I-10 goes the entire way. Through Mobile, AL; near Baton Rouge and New Orleans, through Houston (my brother lives there; he may be able to get you a tour at Nasa if he's not busy); near San Antonio, through Tucson and Phoenix AZ to LA. Forty hours of driving, 2,550 miles, and very hot.

LA to Seattle: I-5 goes the whole way but it's not on the coast and skirts places like San Francisco by quite a distance. Goes through Sacramento, my town of Eugene Oregon, Portland, Olympia and Seattle. 19 hours driving, 1,150 miles. You may prefer to take Highway 101 for much of this route; it is beautiful but much slower. Taking 101 from LA through Newport Oregon and then swinging over to Portland would make your route 150 miles and six hours (minimum) longer.

Seattle to Boston: I-90 goes the whole way, though there are other options (I94 and I90, I80 and I90) that don't add much time. I-80 would actually take you through a bit of Canada near the great lakes. I-90 sends you through Spokane WA, Billings MT, Rapid City SD, bits of Minnesota and Iowa, Chicago again, Toledo Ohio, Binghamton NY (my uncle lives there), Albany NY and to Boston. Forty-nine hours of driving, 3,100 miles.

Looks exhausting to me but also a great experience. I know from personal experience that two weeks on the road is my own limit. If you think you want to do some of this but not the whole loop it is possible to rent a car one-way and fly back from Seattle or something. One-way rentals aren't much more expensive than round trip - ours (when we arrived in the US in Seattle) was only a flat $100 charge.

You may find that as you get accustomed to the driving you can do longer days. In the height of my road-trip days I could go 8 hours without stopping for longer than gas fillups and maybe a couple of 20 minute breaks if I was feeling tired. But on our most recent trip I was finding it a struggle to concentrate for more than two hours at a time. Fortunately DH and I were able to swap off the driving shifts and we still covered about eight hours a day on several of the days. Are you travelling alone or with your significant other?

IF YOU FEEL TIRED, FIND A PLACE TO STOP. Especially if it's dark out. One some of these roads, especially in the west, the rest areas could be 50 or 100 miles apart. You may feel like "I can go another 20 minutes at least" and find that there's no place safe to pull off for another hour.

Watch for coupon books at rest stops and in free newspapers. We got several discounted hotels this way - but all were more than $20/night.

Hostels aren't as popular in the US as they are in Europe but there are some, and it may be worth checking where they are located before you head out.

The Walmart tip about overnight stays is valid. I believe the founder of Wal-mart instituted it. However, he died. My DH works at WalMart and he says that the official policy is vague now, but more or less don't take up a spot close to the doors and don't make a nuisance of yourself, and they are likely not to mind if you are there for one night. It's the people who cause problems and the ones who stay there for a long time that get asked to move along. Not all Walmarts are 24 hour stores.

My trip from NY to Seattle in 2003 was entirely "couchsurfed" but with friends I already 'knew' from the internet. Might be worth your contacting some people you know on here if they are in areas that you want to visit! If you don't smoke and aren't crazy I might be able to convince DH to let you stay in our spare room for a night, but we're neither in a tourism area nor far enough away from a major city to be a critical pit stop.

Essential (in my opinion) things to have in the car:
Blankets
Pillows
Laundry detergent (for laundromats) and dirty clothes bag
cooler that won't leak, in a size that will fit behind the front seats for ease of access.
freezable ice packs - if you stay somewhere with a freezer you can rejuvenate them
bottled drinks - preferably something that isn't awful when warm
non-messy and non-smelly snack foods
can of Fix-a-Flat
spare windshield wipers (possibly not needed since you're not travelling in winter)
Flashlight and batteries
car chargers for any electronic devices
Lots of music to listen to and a player which can be easily operated by feel while still looking at the road (my ipod touch is rubbish for this)
camera and film (ie memory cards)
Journal, if you're so inclined
sunglasses
sunscreen
baseball cap - useful for blocking sun while driving
Ziploc bags - you'll find a use for them
If you like to listen to NPR, a printout of stations for the states you're travelling through
..I will probably think of more later...

S Folinsky

There passes available for Federal Parks. I'm 11 months from getting the $10.00 lifetime pass.

Hostels can be found here.

jambo101

The whole of USA in 60 days and sleeping for free?
You are going to be hassled by the cops constantly and the resident homeless people are going to also give you problems,and your memories of the trip are going to be one big blur seen passing by from the car.
You may want to get a list of hostels to stay in and or buy an inexpensive tent and camp in camp grounds..
You may also want to refocus your trip on just the east coast this time around,slowly making your way south via the coast (Rt 1, Rt 101, Rt 17)to Key West as the turn around point and coming back through the east coast mountains (Rt 41,Rt 441,Rt 129,Rt 11), it will give you more time at attractions,venues and points of interest and free up money that can be spent on better stuff than just gas as total round trip will be about 4000 miles instead of 10K+.



Heres a comparison chart, (Drag the red dot)

http://goeurope.about.com/od/europea...arison-map.htm



Another helpful site is Americas Hiways and Byways ,Do send away for the free brochure top left on the site,its actually a very nice book
http://www.byways.org/

meauxna

That map is terrific! I've been looking for that for 10 years.. amazing.

1chumly

Unfortunately it is closing this month.

"After almost 15 years in the Katy area, Forbidden Gardens will be closing soon to make way for the Grand Parkway expansion. It is with a heavy heart that we announce our final days of business. Sunday, February 13, 2011 will be the final day to see the museum in it's entirety. Beginning Monday, February 14, 2011 exhibits will begin to be removed from our facility. The final day of operation is Monday, February 21, 2011. We want to thank everyone who has visited, who we've worked with, or have helped us out over the past years."

1chumly

avanutria,

Great post!

robin1234

That really sucks. I suppose people can go to China to see the replicas, but it's really not the same.

another bloody yank

Do it.

In an epic journey such as the one you propose, there can be no fail, only win. As the story of your quest is retold to each future generation and is transcribed into the annals of your family history, do you want the title to be "My 10000 mile trip circumnavigating the United States of America by Automobile" or "My 3 day jaunt from Jersey to DC."?

The best memories and most fascinating stories are those of hardship, deprivation and adventure. What if Louis and Clark had turned around at Kansas City because the Pacific was "pretty damn far"? Their journals would consist of mosquitoes and cattle instead of grizzlies and indians.

alexandicity

First off - wow, I am very impressed by this flood of knowledge, both supportive and practical... I think I have picked up more in the last few hours here than in the last few weeks on the web...

ABY: Thanks for the encouragement. I imagine it will be both rough and awesome. I'm definitely going to do it, but at the same time, I'm looking to alter/shorten/embolden the plan to make it more feasible and comfortable.

jambo101: The seeing the country at 75mph is a very real fear. I want to make sure I can stop and breath the atmosphere at each place! From my calculations, though, I think it would be a reasonable mix of driving and, erm, not driving. I may be wrong, which is what I'm trying to find out I understand that, while there are many interesting areas, there are also huge swathes with very little to stop for - some heavy driving there will give me time to appreciate the better areas. That map is eye-poppingly scary - I never would have thought Idaho to be nearly as big as the entire UK.

Folinsky: Excellent tip, this seems an obvious choice if I hit three or more parks. Cheers!

avanutria: Wow! That's a great post and an interesting alternative. I was also worried about the heat but wasn't sure how severe it would be. Good ideas all around - I will be sharing the driving with the lady, yes, so hopefully the distance won't be too stressing. The trip will start in mid May and, as you say, will run to Mid-July. The only current point of interest I'd really like to make is the final Shuttle launch at the end of June (if not delayed!), which sort of forces me South mid-trip

I expect there will be some nights in the back of the car at Walmart, a few stops at motels/hotels when we're stuck. Couchsurfing I'm pretty comfortable with and I've quite a few prior hosts/surfers who are eager to have me! I'm still hoping to camp wild and discreetly (but legally!) in many rural areas (the art of Boondocking); I've some prior experience with this. Coppers and homeless people less of a problem than bears

But one conclusion I am definitely drawing is that the budget is too low. I will look see if I can reasonably afford a $40 per person per day plan. Like the distance covered, I imagine this will vary massively depending on what we do and where.

avanutria

Hm, yes, that will force your hand. But it's worth it. My brother's been to several launches and I nearly got to go to one last year but it fell through unfortunately. (Didn't help that I was at the opposite end of the country!) Be sure to build in extra time to deal with delays - the last one he went to ended up going up after two failed attempts, I think they did them all in successive nights though.

Really the difference in temperature between the beginning of June and the end of June probably won't be a huge amount, and you'll be spending July heading back up to relatively cooler climes. So feel free to take my itinerary advice and reverse it!

Anian

I've driven from Seattle to Chicago and back. To put it mildly, it was mostly dull. 6-8 hours of driving per day, probably 4 days total. There is some great scenery, but after a while it loses some of the wow-factor, especially when driving. In May you will probably have problems with some places not being open for the summer yet. There are some great places that are in the middle of nowhere that can really only be done on a road trip like this. Devil's Tower, Deadwood, Mt Rushmore, and the well advertised Wall Drug store.

Bob

It can still snow in ME/MA in May, and be pretty cold in the mountains, so I'd imagine out in the middle of no where, it could still be a bit nippy in IL.

Car, you'd still need to do the 3K mile oil change, so around $35 a shot, unless you need synthetic oil, in which case budget about $50 a shot. Insurance wouldn't cover a blown tyre, and it could happen in pot hole country, could be looking at $100 for a new tyre and switching it out. Anything else on a new ride is probably less likely, but if it is new, you'd still need to do the services to keep it in warranty, even if they aren't dealer services.

Edit: to add, apart from parking costs, don't forget the tolls, I-90 in MA ain't exactly cheap, it won't bankrupt you, but it will be a pain, definitely worth getting a EZ Pass and topping the snot out of that before heading off so you don't have to keep stopping for change.

Don't forget to consider traffic in your travel calculations. What should be a 20 min drive into Boston at 13 miles can easily take an hour at the wrong times of day for instance.

Still think this will be a way cool adventure and hope you enjoy it!

S Folinsky

An interesting book to read on part of the road trip might be Robert Pirsig's Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintainence. The frame of the book is a several week motorcycle trip from Minnesota to California.

S Folinsky

BTW, I saw no discussion of the vehicle to be used for this Road Trip. The experience can differ between a Smart and a Maybach or things in between.

Be sure to get the auto into good condition BEFORE you drive -- check it out, top off all fluids, make all repairs.

Also, do note that many European cars do not have dealer/parts networks that blanket the country. For example, one of my cars is a 1998 Volvo S70. I keep it in shape and would take it on road trips -- but, the nearest Volvo dealer to Pocatello is 150 miles away in Salt Lake City.