Future 10,300 Mile Trip

[jawsageofsaw]

2 friends and I are planning on taking a trip around the U.S. Here is the general route that we will follow. Would 6 weeks be a sufficient amount of time for this whole trip? What suggestions do you have about sleeping locations? (how often should we use motels, truck stops, etc.?) We are not sure of what car we will be using, but it probably will be a smaller car. I have calculated the total gas cost based on today's prices and it came out to be around $1300. Do you think $7000 is a realistic amount of money that we will need? (if we are going to go to tourist attractions and other money-consuming things). Thanks for the help.

[Lifemagician]

Hi, Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum.

By the time you have completed the trip, as outlined, you will be looking at closer to 12000 miles, with all the side trips, sightseeing, in and around national parks, etc. For a six week trip, that would amount to 2000 miles per week. Or more precisely, 40 hours driving each week. So look on it as 'work', in the commitment of hours travelling.

You have not expanded on why these destinations were chosen or your and your friends' interests, so it is hard to comment on the route.

But what did jump out at me is the mention of truck stops along with probably will be a smaller car. Three people in a small car, and their luggage, at a truck stop is definitely not recommended. You may manage a bit of sleep during the night, but you will not get any rest. For you to be able to safely and enjoyably undertake a trip of this dimension, you should plan on having a good night's sleep and rest every night.

There are many ways to reduce your accommodation costs, but sleeping in the car is not one of them. That is, not unless you have a vehicle which is set up to sleep in. There are budget motels, motel/hotel coupon books, and more. You might like to read a good selection of the threads in this forum to get further ideas on budget travelling.

Lifey

[jawsageofsaw]

We are not restricted on how much time we take on this trip, so we could always go past 6 weeks if we need to. This is a picture of states that we haven't visited. We wanted to at least drive through all of the (continental) states that are not marked. It is the reason that our route is not just a straight loop around the country. Most of the destinations are plotted to have us drive through a certain state, so we don't have to go to those specific cities. Do you recommend that we do any camping or just stay in motels every night? What you said about the truck stops makes sense, so we won't use them unless it is absolutely necessary.

[Lifemagician]

If you consider camping, I would highly recommend that you have some experience - the three of you together. A six week trip is no time to find out that one (or all) of you loathe camping. Find out how much or how little equipment makes you comfortable. How often will you want to cook for yourself, on a campstove or over a camp fire? Do you even know how to?

There are many low cost, even free camping spots to be found. Just google. These are typically away from the urban centres and the major tourist attractions. Most have basic/primitive facilities. On the other hand, commercial campgrounds often do not cater for tent campiing, and those which do can cost almost as much as a budget motel.

You also need to consider the size of your vehicle. Three people, luggage and camping gear in a 'smaller car' over a long period may not make for the most comfortable trip. Putting some (or most) into a roof carrier will more than likely reduce your mpg, thus counter productive.

There's a lot to think about and plan. Start going on short, even weekend trips, and see how you get on. See if you can borrow some of the equipment to help you decide what you need, and how you'll carry it.

BTW the link did not work for me.

Lifey

[jawsageofsaw]

Sorry about the link. I didn't test it before posting. Basically we want to visit the western, northwestern, mid-north, and northeastern states. If you look back at the map, every state that has a waypoint, we haven't visited yet. I will go over the camping thing with my friends and see what they say. I am pretty sure that they won't have a problem with it, but you never know... it is best to find these things out before we're on the road.