Trying to do a roadtrip next month. Pic related is my route, looking for advice on where to go/not go and just general road tripping advice in general.
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Trying to do a roadtrip next month.
Damn man, that is an odyssey. I hope you're not soloing it
I am though however, i will try to keep the driving to around 5 hours a day and try to take a few days here and there to rest when i reach specific destinations.
I hope you have a lot of money saved and the ability to sleep in your car. Hotel stays get VERY expensive very quickly.
How much money do you recommend for a trip like this?
>sleep in your car
FYI, most WalMarts let you sleep in their parking lot. Ones in large cities won't because most cities make it illegal, but just go to the suburbs or a small town. Also rest stops, you can usually sleep at those.
Bring a sleep mask so the bright lights don't bother you.
and look into campsites, including free dispersed camping in National Forests (
can give more advice for that but generally call the National Forest ahead of time and they can give you tips). When I did a long road trip, I did mostly Walmart and camping, and then every few days did a night at a cheap hotel just to have a good bed to sleep in.
Look up national/state parks along the way. At least a week in Yellowstone/Teton would be good. And you could spend a day in each of the national parks in AZ, UT, and CO. And Cali has a bunch. I guess it depends what you're into though.
It looks like you live around VA Beach, so I wouldn't plan on spending too much time near there. Do long 12-hour driving days to get away from there and skip anything on the East Coast that you could just do in a long weekend on another trip. You can go to SC anytime but when is the next time you'll make your way to California? So plan your road trip around spending more time in Cali and less time in SC.
>general road tripping advice in general
get audiobooks. Lots of them. Audible or some other app, and/or podcasts.
make sure you check your spare tire and know how to change it. Consider getting a portable car battery jumper too; they make ones that also double as battery packs to charge a cell phone.
Understand that in some parts of the country you can go a long ways without reliable cell coverage, and can go a ways without a gas station too so don't let yourself run out of gas
you should plan on doing the southern portion of the trip first. Believe it or not, the northern parts will still have snow a month from now. Even the southern Rockies might. But if you want to hit Yellowstone, definitely do it on the return trip, don't go there in April or even early May
Rockies, Yellowstone, etc. a month from now, if they don't have snow, 6 months of snow will have just melted which means a month of MUD and its still cold like 50F. Spring in that reliably hits around Mother's Day, before then you can still get the tail end of winter weather. Arizona is nice right now and stops being nice around Memorial Day so you have the opposite problem there.
man thats like the entire country. you need to narrow down where you want recommendations for.
I'll be doing something similar from Houston to Seattle. Motel prices are going to be the death of me, is my only other choice camping? Sleeping in the car for a month can't be good for you.
Dilapidated infrastructure can become a major concern. See picrel, a bridge in Baltimore collapsed.
Your choice of automobile is your decision.
Most can tow a pop-up camper trailer.
God I fricking hate Baltimore
check if you can lay in flat your car after folding the backseats, make some adjustment if needed (like buy a plywood sheet so its flat) and buy a inflatable mattress, go to a motel/hotel for a good rest and hot shower every few days
That's too far. It would actually be cheaper to buy a roundtrip flight to a location on the west coast, rent a car, and just do a west coast loop. You're going to waste a ton of time driving, a ton of money on shitty hotels, and there's very little to see in the midwest. Third, the weather is not ideal in April for car camping in the US in April because it's too cold. And there's a good chance your car will break down. Even if it's new, that's a lot of miles to put on your car.
My advice would be to wait until the last 2 weeks of may. Get a point to point car rental through SIXT or soem company that lets you do point to point. Fly into Las Vegas and then do Orange County Ca, Santa Monica, Sant Barbara, Carmel, San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, South lake Tahoe. Lassen volcanic, Mount Shasta, Bend, the Hood River Valley, Seattle. Then drop the car in Seattle and Fly home. You will have driven 35 hours in a month. There is a ton of free campgrounds out west. The weather will be better. There's better shit to see and do along the way.
Is this your first roadtrip? That is quite the endeavor, even for a seasoned roadtripper. I’d recommend pairing it down and doing an east coast road trip, either to the northern point of Maine or southern point of Florida. Considering the time of year I’d recommend like the other anon said, going south.