Cross-Country Advice
Jul 11th, 2002, 06:53 AM
#1
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Cross-Country Advice
Hello all! My girlfriend and I are planning to travel cross-country in mid-August for approximately 4 to 5 weeks. Having never done this before, any advice is welcome. Primarily I'm looking for advice on what to pack, where to avoid, how much I should plan on spending, etc., etc. It's an adventure type vacation, so where to go isn't too important - we want to explore as much as possible. Thanks in advance for any help!
Jul 11th, 2002, 07:06 AM
#2
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Did this many years ago but suspect some of the same comments are apt.
1. Mid-August is not a great time to take a southern route unless you and your car are very, very comfortable with lots of endless heat punctuated by driving thunderstorms. (I assumed you are driving -- right or wrong?).
2. Every time you leave the interstate, you have more of an adventure than if you stayed on the interstate. However, the adventure isn't always joyfully fun.
3. Re
pending -- you can control your food costs, obviously, so adopt a strategy that works for you. Assuming you aren't camping (right or wrong?), you might think about choosing motels or B&Bs where breakfast is always included. That's one meal. If you make it big enough, you can just have a piece of fruit from the fruitbowl for lunch (or keep a supply of fruit from local fruitstands going in your medium-sized cooler in the car, for which you get new ice each morning at the motel). So that leaves supper -- and you can set yourself a per-night dinner budget and go over or under it depending on the restaurants where you are. For the two of us, we figured $25-40/day for food, but often could spend much less to save for a splurge in a special place.
4. Get a AAA guide for each region you'll visit, and/or pick up the directory of motels across the country that each motel chain has in their lobby. You may be able to just walk in when you are tired of driving, but the closer you get to big cities or big resort areas, the more you risk finding no rooms w/in 200 miles of where you thought you might stop, esp. on a Fri. or Sat. night. So it's worth having a reservation for those nights each week, which you can usually make the day before via an 800-number.
Obviously, if you have a network of friends and relatives who can put you up, that's a help, esp. on weekends.
5. Eat in local sandwich shops and if you don't talk to the people, at least listen to them.
6. Take an extra fan belt.
7. Never eat anything off a buffet that has mayonnaise in it! ;-)
Have a great time.
1. Mid-August is not a great time to take a southern route unless you and your car are very, very comfortable with lots of endless heat punctuated by driving thunderstorms. (I assumed you are driving -- right or wrong?).
2. Every time you leave the interstate, you have more of an adventure than if you stayed on the interstate. However, the adventure isn't always joyfully fun.
3. Re
pending -- you can control your food costs, obviously, so adopt a strategy that works for you. Assuming you aren't camping (right or wrong?), you might think about choosing motels or B&Bs where breakfast is always included. That's one meal. If you make it big enough, you can just have a piece of fruit from the fruitbowl for lunch (or keep a supply of fruit from local fruitstands going in your medium-sized cooler in the car, for which you get new ice each morning at the motel). So that leaves supper -- and you can set yourself a per-night dinner budget and go over or under it depending on the restaurants where you are. For the two of us, we figured $25-40/day for food, but often could spend much less to save for a splurge in a special place.4. Get a AAA guide for each region you'll visit, and/or pick up the directory of motels across the country that each motel chain has in their lobby. You may be able to just walk in when you are tired of driving, but the closer you get to big cities or big resort areas, the more you risk finding no rooms w/in 200 miles of where you thought you might stop, esp. on a Fri. or Sat. night. So it's worth having a reservation for those nights each week, which you can usually make the day before via an 800-number.
Obviously, if you have a network of friends and relatives who can put you up, that's a help, esp. on weekends.
5. Eat in local sandwich shops and if you don't talk to the people, at least listen to them.
6. Take an extra fan belt.
7. Never eat anything off a buffet that has mayonnaise in it! ;-)
Have a great time.
Jul 11th, 2002, 07:13 AM
#3
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What is the starting point for this trip? It would also help if you would indicate if there is interest in national parks, visiting cities, driving scenic highways etc. How much you will spend depends on whether you intend camping or not and if you intend eating all meals in restaurants. You can be reasonanbly certain you will be spending a minimum of $125 a day, very likely more, should you stay in a motel eavery night and eat all meals in a restaurant.
Jul 11th, 2002, 07:26 AM
#4
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I guess details about the trip would help, huh? OK - starting in Jersey, headed South to Virginia for a friend's wedding, than we planned on doing Nashville, New Orleans, through Texas, up through Colorado, Utah, into Vegas, San Fran, up the West Coast to Seattle, along the North, tour the Great Lakes, end in Niagra Falls. I know the Southern route will be hot, but this is pretty much our only window of opportunity. We plan to camp whenever possible, and eat out reasonably - certainly not every night and never anything expensive. We have friends in a number of cities, so that will help. We plan to hit as many national parks as possible, and drive the scenic routes instead of the interstates. I see enough pavement and traffic in Jersey... I bought the Fodor's guide to the US yesterday - seems very helpful. Any other recommended literature or how to get it? Thanks for the great advice already - look forward to hearing more!
Jul 11th, 2002, 10:18 PM
#5
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Invest in an annual AAA membership for this year and go for the more expensive "AAA PLUS" program which will give you free tow even if you are 100 miles from the nearest garage. Might come in very handy if you are truly going off the beaten path and have any car trouble at all. Also it gives you 10 percent off at many motels.
Outside of Nashville about an hour, stay at Loretta Lynn's Ranch. Info on cabins and camping at www.lorettalynn.com
The free guidebooks and maps from AAA will come in handy, about an hour before you're ready to stop for the night, call a motel's 800 number or campground listed in the AAA books and reserve a room. You'll get a better rate (usually) than you will just walking up to the counter.
Look for Soup Plantation, Fresh Choice, and Furr's or Morrison's Cafeterias along the way, you'll get a full-day's meal at a decent price.
Plan on Vegas on a Sunday through Thursday, and the room rates triple on Fri and Sat. For Vegas you won't need advance reservations for midweek in August. Just call a few places the morning of you're arrival and you'll snagg a good summer deal.
Start saving your toilet paper rolls when they're about half used up, if you're planning on doing lots of camping. Half-used rolls pack a lot easier than big fat rolls.
Outside of Nashville about an hour, stay at Loretta Lynn's Ranch. Info on cabins and camping at www.lorettalynn.com
The free guidebooks and maps from AAA will come in handy, about an hour before you're ready to stop for the night, call a motel's 800 number or campground listed in the AAA books and reserve a room. You'll get a better rate (usually) than you will just walking up to the counter.
Look for Soup Plantation, Fresh Choice, and Furr's or Morrison's Cafeterias along the way, you'll get a full-day's meal at a decent price.
Plan on Vegas on a Sunday through Thursday, and the room rates triple on Fri and Sat. For Vegas you won't need advance reservations for midweek in August. Just call a few places the morning of you're arrival and you'll snagg a good summer deal.
Start saving your toilet paper rolls when they're about half used up, if you're planning on doing lots of camping. Half-used rolls pack a lot easier than big fat rolls.
Jul 12th, 2002, 02:55 AM
#6
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I am jealous - I should have done this when I was younger and now will have to wait until my kids are grown to do it.
I think MML offers good advice, esp. bringing a cooler. Even if you just stock it with water, sodas - it saves you a ton of money. I would also consider getting hotel reservations or campground reservations in the more summer touristy areas - such as San Francisco, Niagara Falls - they tend to be very filled during summer and you can probably get a better deal on-line ahead of time.
Packing - keep the suitcases small, but since you have a car add a duffel bag or 2, one with rain gear, one with sweatshirts, warmer weather gear that you can keep stowed under seat or in bottom of trunk until you need them and not haul all that stuff at every stop.
An car ashtray full of quarters is amazingly useful on a long road trip - sounds like a minute detail, but great if you just need to do laundry or hit a vending machine at the end of the day and don't want to hunt for change.
Having taken long road trips at various points in my life, every few days empty out the car and locate all the old junk that needs to be re-stored in proper place, trashed, etc. Also sounds like minute detail, but if the inside of the car starts to look like a homeless person lives in it, it can be extremely annoying to try to find anything.
Have a great trip. If you and your girlfriend can get along for a month in the car, get married.
I think MML offers good advice, esp. bringing a cooler. Even if you just stock it with water, sodas - it saves you a ton of money. I would also consider getting hotel reservations or campground reservations in the more summer touristy areas - such as San Francisco, Niagara Falls - they tend to be very filled during summer and you can probably get a better deal on-line ahead of time.
Packing - keep the suitcases small, but since you have a car add a duffel bag or 2, one with rain gear, one with sweatshirts, warmer weather gear that you can keep stowed under seat or in bottom of trunk until you need them and not haul all that stuff at every stop.
An car ashtray full of quarters is amazingly useful on a long road trip - sounds like a minute detail, but great if you just need to do laundry or hit a vending machine at the end of the day and don't want to hunt for change.
Having taken long road trips at various points in my life, every few days empty out the car and locate all the old junk that needs to be re-stored in proper place, trashed, etc. Also sounds like minute detail, but if the inside of the car starts to look like a homeless person lives in it, it can be extremely annoying to try to find anything.
Have a great trip. If you and your girlfriend can get along for a month in the car, get married.
Jul 12th, 2002, 03:46 AM
#7
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The advice you have received is excellent. A few of my thoughts based on having made four cross country trips follows..
1. Do join the AAA and do go for the extended coverage offering up to a 100 mile tow. Once you have planned your itinerary get maps, tour books and a trip tik from AAA that provides strip maps for every segment of your trip. The maps and tour books are a more than $50- value and will be very helpful in your travels
2. The cooler idea is a must - fruits, munchies, soft drinks, sandwich meats will keep costs down.
3. Consider a Coleman stove. Savings can be substantial for making meals on occasion. You will find plenty of rest stops along the way and it would come in handy when camping or in a national park.
4.. Purchase the $50 pass that provides free admission to all national parks.
5. Consider going to Vancouver from Seattle and driving across Canada to Calgary before heading south to the States. This route will take you through Lake Louise and BAnff in Canada and through Glacier National Park and Yellowstone NP once in the States. You then follow a northern route to Niagara Falls going through the Badlands and visiting Mt. Rushmore. When in Canada you get $1.50 Canadian for $1 US
6. National Parks you should plan on visiting: Mesa Verde in Colorado. Grand Canyon in Arizona and also Monument Valley in Az, and Arches, Bryce and Zion in Utah.
7. From Las Vegas on the way to San Francisco consider the route that takes you through Death Valley and going over Tioga Pass to visit Yosemite.
8. When planning your itinerary avoid backtracking as much as is possible.
9. This route will require a bit of meandering but it might be one of the most interesting part of your trip. From Texas head to Santa Fe. Then go north to rt 160 in Colorado and head west to Mesa Verde NP. Then north to Arches NP in Utah. Next south to Monument Valley and then west to the North RIm of the GR. Canyon. Then to Bryce followed by Zion before winding up in Las vegas.
As you plan your itinerary don't hesitate to post any question you have. There are lots of cross country veterans on this board.
1. Do join the AAA and do go for the extended coverage offering up to a 100 mile tow. Once you have planned your itinerary get maps, tour books and a trip tik from AAA that provides strip maps for every segment of your trip. The maps and tour books are a more than $50- value and will be very helpful in your travels
2. The cooler idea is a must - fruits, munchies, soft drinks, sandwich meats will keep costs down.
3. Consider a Coleman stove. Savings can be substantial for making meals on occasion. You will find plenty of rest stops along the way and it would come in handy when camping or in a national park.
4.. Purchase the $50 pass that provides free admission to all national parks.
5. Consider going to Vancouver from Seattle and driving across Canada to Calgary before heading south to the States. This route will take you through Lake Louise and BAnff in Canada and through Glacier National Park and Yellowstone NP once in the States. You then follow a northern route to Niagara Falls going through the Badlands and visiting Mt. Rushmore. When in Canada you get $1.50 Canadian for $1 US
6. National Parks you should plan on visiting: Mesa Verde in Colorado. Grand Canyon in Arizona and also Monument Valley in Az, and Arches, Bryce and Zion in Utah.
7. From Las Vegas on the way to San Francisco consider the route that takes you through Death Valley and going over Tioga Pass to visit Yosemite.
8. When planning your itinerary avoid backtracking as much as is possible.
9. This route will require a bit of meandering but it might be one of the most interesting part of your trip. From Texas head to Santa Fe. Then go north to rt 160 in Colorado and head west to Mesa Verde NP. Then north to Arches NP in Utah. Next south to Monument Valley and then west to the North RIm of the GR. Canyon. Then to Bryce followed by Zion before winding up in Las vegas.
As you plan your itinerary don't hesitate to post any question you have. There are lots of cross country veterans on this board.
Jul 12th, 2002, 04:57 AM
#9
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Don't overpack. There are laundromats everywhere and it's easier to stop and do a load than to lug a huge suitcase in and out of motels every night.
Take twice as much film as you think you'll need.
We did 2 1/2 weeks with two teens last summer. Stayed with friends/family 7 nights, did hotels/motels the rest - including 3 nights at an oceanfront resort in Mexico and one night in Vegas - for less than $3000. With just two people and a willingness to camp/cook, you should be able to travel well on around $4000 for 5 weeks.
Take twice as much film as you think you'll need.
We did 2 1/2 weeks with two teens last summer. Stayed with friends/family 7 nights, did hotels/motels the rest - including 3 nights at an oceanfront resort in Mexico and one night in Vegas - for less than $3000. With just two people and a willingness to camp/cook, you should be able to travel well on around $4000 for 5 weeks.
