East Coast Roadtrip

I'm trying to plan ahead because I want my trip to be perfect. My boyfriend and I are planning to take about a month during the late summer or fall, and drive up the east coast from Louisiana. We have a whole month and money won't be too much of an issue considering that we plan on sleeping in the car and camping out for most of the nights, if possible. We're both 22, so age isn't an issue when it comes to finding things to do. We'll be spending a good bit of money on gas, considering we're trying to make it up to New York to see his family. I'd like to find a drive-in movie theater because I've never been to one. We'll need to find beaches that we'll be able to camp out on without having to pay. (Are there beaches like that?) I'm really into art and museums, so I would like to try and visit a few on the way! Any help would be appreciated. I'd like to have a little bit of planning done, though I do have a whole year to think about it!

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

You have to realize that money will be a problem. You can only sleep in your car for so many nights before it gets old and the car gets smelly. Similarly, I know of no places where you can sleep on the beach for free. Certainly there are campsites, both state park and commercial, on the beach, but they will run you $20 and up per night and they will mostly be booked well in advance. My experience with seaside resort towns on the east coast is that they do not look favorably on trespassers since their entire livelihood depends on the tax dollars brought in by people who spend money and will complain about people camped out on their property and beaches. Art Museums, too, are facing dwindling support as states and municipalities have to cut back on grants in these tough financial times, and so you can expect to see free admissions vanish and costs in general go up. So I'd spend at least as much time and effort over the next year saving money for the trip as in finding ways to spend it.

Drive-In Theatres are rapidly disappearing, but there are still a few out there. Here is a resource that lists those still in operation.

AZBuck