I'm probably gonna end up living out of my car for a while and I wanna make the most of it by traveling across the states and trying to see what feels the most like home to me, and maybe I'll settle there. I have a few questions about it for you guys.
>what is the most cost efficient, energizing food i can eat on the road?
>what are the best areas to hit up? i'm leaving from texas and am considering exiting via el paso, visiting the grand canyon and then touring the west coast
>best car insurance? my current insurer massively overcharges me
>how can i sleep comfortably? what areas are the safest to sleep in?
>anything else you feel like adding because i'm an idiot getting in over my head but don't really have any other options
thanks bros
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Get a gun. The slightest bit of noise at night can be enough to scare the shit out of you. A gun would relieve most if not all of that fear.
cont.
flashlight and a can of pepper spray is all you should need. nobody really fricks with car dwelling bums, except to tell them "you can't camp here". okay, sometimes an old homosexual will try to take you home if you're a young guy.
>get a camp stove
you'll also need a lighter, a saucepan, a spoon, a pot scrubber and dish soap. you can live without a camp stove. in the summer heat, you might not even want to cook.
>be prepared for your car breaking down in the middle of nowhere
in other words, be prepared to abandon your car and set out on foot, with everything you need in a backpack. of course, it is really tough to live on foot in the USA. but there are options.
>seriously recommending expensive fast food garbage as the basis of a road diet
No. Just no. Eat peanut butter sandwiches, granola bars, crackers and tuna, cook oatmeal and peanut butter and raisins/bananas, eat canned chili/soup/corn (Stagg brand chili is the best), cook Knorr fettucini alfredo with ramen (my fave poorgay road meal), eat literally anything but fricking $15 worth of McDonalds every day.
>carrots taste great
LOL
>food poisoning from apples, twice
WTF? I used to eat an apple every day for years while traveling, never had a single issue. Worst that happens is they turn brown and mealy.
>WTF? I used to eat an apple every day for years while traveling, never had a single issue.
Until this year I never had any problem either, but apparently it is known to happen:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8091025/
In my case, I think it was the fact that they had been sitting in my hot truck for at least a week, giving the otherwise harmless amount of bacteria the right conditions to grow in number.
Listen to this anon, OP.
On the subject of food: if you're on a tight budget, go into big supermarkets and eat as much as you can. Obviously, you have to be subtle about it, but try to fit in a kiwi (full of vitamins), a handful of nuts (healthy fats), and a banana (energy). You can eat the kiwi whole.
I've done this literally hundreds of times and I've never been harassed. One time a security guard asked me if I hadn't just picked up the pear I was eating. I said I brought it with me and was eating it there because I was feeling faint. He shrugged. Nobody is going to cause a scene for a piece of fruit.
Drink plenty of water this way, too. Just don't drink any hard liquor because you end up walking around a mega supermarket for two hours, falling in love with a girl at the checkout and throwing up on the conveyor belt. But that's a different story kek
That's not budgeting, but theft. Harming others attracts harm to the self.
McChicken is $1.69. Buy one, you get the second for $1. On the app, if you spend two dollars you can get a large fry for free. Buy a large drink for $1.19 and you have almost 2000 calories for about $4.
This.
Land of diabetes.
>what is the most cost efficient, energizing food i can eat on the road?
Before a long drive I usually eat the biggest cheapest diner breakfast for I can find for energy and not having to eat again until dinner time. A good gallon of free coffee refills and then I hit their bathroom and I'm good for a day long drive. > eat canned chili/soup/corn
I get really desperate for fresh food after a couple days. It doesn't matter if all I've been eating is food I make, I want something that isn't canned or cooked. Broccoli keeps good in a cooler. Cut it up and eat with some salad dressing and cheese, nuts or other things as a salad. Other fruits and stuff I'll eat too if I see a farm stand I'll stop. Get a decent cooler, you don't need a Yeti but a decent one that seals pretty tight, and you can put bread and some cold cuts etc. in it and have a sandwich wherever you stop.
Camp stove if you want to stay a long time camped in one place.
Absolutely. Why not? You're an American. You're allowed to have a gun. In most states (not California) having a gun in the car isn't even considered CCW. You're allowed to carry on all federal lands. Just don't show it off.
I'd GTFO from Texas asap. There's really nothing redeeming about West Texas and Big Bend NP is cool but basically the same terrain as any random place in Arizona so why bother. Head for NM or Colorado. I really like the Durango area. From there you can either do Moab or the Grand Canyon as your next stop. They're only a few hours away.
That shit just makes you feel sick and have heartburn. It's a ton of calories but no actual nutrients.
(cont)
This but tent camping at KOA is kind of stupid. You'll be surrounded by RV boomergays who run air conditioners all night and start their engines at 4 am to leave. Maybe worth it occasionally because they have showers and gyms and laundry stuff on site but otherwise try to figure out where you can do dispersed camping where you're going. I try to get a motel (book on priceline or expedia to not pay more than $60) every 3-4 days so I can take a hot shower, sleep in a real bed, do laundry, go shopping in town, clean my car, dump garbage off, etc.
>best car insurance? my current insurer massively overcharges me
Massively varies by state and you have to shop around but there's no special insurance for road trips. It's your normal insurance. If you're paying for full coverage on a shitbox, don't.
>anything else you feel like adding because i'm an idiot getting in over my head but don't really have any other options
Try to keep yourself and your living space clean. This makes a huge difference, also in how others perceive you. Every time you stop for gas take advantage of the trash cans, throw away all the drink and food containers. Some towns have a public pool. There will usually be showers to use there. A couple bucks it costs for pool admission is worth it even if you don't stay.
Bring several gallons of water, for both cleaning and drinking. You can refill these. You won't believe how thirsty you get in a dry climate.
Extremely moronic advice. If you get pulled over they will run your name, see you have guns licensed in your name, ask if you have guns with you, detain you for not telling them you had guns, give you charges for concealed carry without a permit, and give you charges for transporting a gun to a state without permission from the state. I've also travelled the USA extensively and absolutely never felt like having a gun would be necessary at all
You clearly don't know what you're talking about.
1. Almost every state where the GOP is in power has gone completely permit less for carry. E.g. in Arizona you don't need a permit to carry anywhere it's not prohibited (like airports) regardless if you're a resident or visitor. In most other western states e.g. New Mexico having a gun in your car isn't considered concealed carry for the purposes requiring a permit. You can have a gun in your center console without any permit but can't take it into Walmart there. The only places that disallow this are gay states like California and Mass where you can't have a gun accessible while driving. There's only like 5 really hardcore anti gun states. Everywhere else laws are lax and cops are generally friendly to gun owners, if you're white.
2. There's no master list of gun owners cops in every state have access to. CA and NY again do have something like this but federally and in other states when you fill out a form 4473 it's retained by the dealer, not the government, the FBI doesn't keep records of the background checks they conduct, and ATF doesn't disseminate the data they on the form.
3. There's no general requirement to obtain permission from a state to bring firearms as part of your personal effects long as you aren't prohibited by law in either state from owning them. This is actually preempted by federal law, states aren't allowed to create such laws to bar visitors from bringing firearms as long as you're not a convicted felon.
If you bring a firearm over state lines you can be arrested for it, just saying taking a gun with you to multiple states is a major risk and if the police find it you will almost certainly be arrested
>Oh no he's a state line crooser
Christ. I thought you guys were a meme.
laws around transporting guns are verrrrry sketchy and if you aren't keeping it unloaded and in a case you WILL get arrested for concealed carry without a permit
Anon already said it's only in like 5 states. Just keep it in the trunk in those states. Easy as.
>it's only like 5 states
Where concealed carry requires a permit? LMAO you're extremely wrong, it's the vast majority of states.
Again anon already pointed out that a car carry isn't "concealed".
LOL I hope you get pulled over with a loaded gun and find out the hard way
I'm not op
I drove from California to Florida. Only state I couldn't legally carry in the car was the one I started in. Nearly all of the Midwest, South and West don't require CCW permits anymore at all. If you're visiting the northeast, cringe.
>you bring a firearm over state lines you can be arrested for it
No, you literally can't, like I just said. At least not for just this act by itself. Like the whole Rittenhouse thing, liberals just completely pulled the "crossed state lines" angle of the case out of thin air. There's no "you can't enter our state with a gun" law anywhere, it's federally preempted, Firearms Owners' Protection Act. There's some gotchas, don't travel with a NFA item. When you cross into certain states you should know the law on where you can't and can't carry and if that includes your car, in which case it has to be unloaded in the trunk or locked in a case.
>what is the most cost efficient, energizing food i can eat on the road?
get a camp stove
>how can i sleep comfortably? what areas are the safest to sleep in?
walmart parking lots, truck stops, rest areas
>anything else you feel like adding
be prepared for your car breaking down in the middle of nowhere
>>what is the most cost efficient, energizing food i can eat on the road?
The McChicken. Not kidding.
>what is the most cost efficient, energizing food i can eat on the road?
Hard boiled eggs. A pack of six raw eggs costs $2 or less. An egg cooker, which you can get for $10-20 can be plugged up at gas stations to make you a batch of eggs in minutes. Eggs are mild, go well with condiments, and contain an extremely high amount of protein and fat which translates into energy. Every grocery store carries them too. They're among the most nutritious and cheapest foods you can buy.
Don't. High cholesterol, fat, sodium, and chemicals. Dollar per nutrient value exceptionally low. You may as well eat cardboard.
>>what is the most cost efficient, energizing food i can eat on the road?
Trucker by trade, here's what goes straight to my face (no homo):
>cereal blend of dry oatmeal, nuts and dried fruit
Yep, an acquired taste, but you can add all sorts of fixings to it to liven it up, such as shredded coconut, sharp dry cheese, roasted sesame seeds, etc. Get creative with it.
>crispbread with nut butter topped with dried fruit
>root vegetables such as carrots which keep well and taste great peeled and raw
>apples, citrus fruits
>lentils and rice, cooked with an electric pressure cooker in less than 20 minutes not including presoaking time
>2 or 3 weekly visits to a local restaurants for the random warm meal in order to break the taste routine
Werks for me. Best to you.
Oh, forgot to mention Deenz. Deenz rule. Also, in warmer weather I prepare Sauerkraut/Kimchee on the truck too in airtight jars.
>root vegetables such as carrots which keep well and taste great peeled and raw
>apples, citrus fruits
Should add a warning here. If you're not peeling these, then you need to soak them beforehand in something like hydrogen peroxide. I've suffered two serious cases of food poisoning from contaminated apples that became biohazards in my sun blasted truck.
>how can I sleep comfortably?
you have to be able to stretch out at night. if you can't do this in your car, you will have to tent camp with an air mattress.
Texas is a challenging state to be a vagabond. Not only is there very little public land, but camping in public areas is a misdemeanor. And you can't exactly pitch a tent at Walmart. This means you might have to pay for a campsite. You could chance it in a picnic area. I have stayed in Texas picnic areas several times. Pretend ignorance of the anti-camping ordinance if police check you out.
>I-10 to El Paso
if you are a weed or drug user, avoid going near the Mexican border, because you'll have to pass through a CBP checkpoint. The ones in Texas usually have drug dogs. El Paso isn't a horrible city, but as a cardwelling wanderer, you will not feel at home there.
The Davis Mountains are pretty cool, and so is Big Bend National Park, Lajitas, and BBRSP. I used to live in the Basin and work at the Chisos Mountains Lodge, best times in my life. If you do not want to visit Big Bend, I recommend taking US-285 north from Fort Stockton, then US-82 west from Artesia. New Mexico's Sacramento Mountains are cool, lovely, and have excellent dispersed camping. Ruidoso is also a cool town. I liked Socorro as well, although it is hotter and drier. Recommend US-380 to Socorro, then US-60 west to Arizona's White Mountains. Also a lovely cool region. Take AZ-260 west and then head north past Mormon Lake to Flagstaff. Lots of free camping in the high pine forests all along that route. But to go west, you will have to cross the Mojave Desert, which should be around 105 F in September. Of note, California is full of homeless living in cars. Also, California can get very hot in late summer. You might think 95 F is okay weather, but park in the sun for a while and it'll be 120 F inside.
>best car insurance
legal minimum liability. just don't wreck.
Picrel is the employee dorm in the Chisos Basin. One of my coworkers was doing your kind of thing, visited Big Bend NP, loved it so much he decided to apply for a job. They hired him on the spot, and he stayed for about four months.
You can still go to any 7-11 in the US and get a bag of fritos for $1, fill that shit with nacho cheese and toppings from the nacho bar. You can easily get a days worth of calories in 1 meal for $1. For $3, you can go to Taco bell and have tons of options.
Anybody know what a spot at a KOA costs these days?
It's like 20-30 a night for a tent site everywhere I have been.
You are mexican aren't you.
>My grandfather accidentally snapped his spine driving over a pothole
Damn that sucks, I'm sorry to hear that, and I think I can relate. My grandpa got whiplash from having to hard-brake and swerve out of the way, on account of the car in front of him driving over a pothole.