Road trip from South Jersey to Phoenix AZ

Well, I guess I am on a roll now.. questions really flying around my head.. so I figured time to get some answers

1.. We will have a diesel rental truck.. best places to stop, for fuel, especially with a tow vehicle

2. Same thought.. with one other caveat.. we will have a noisy,but cute, cat with us.. so what places along the great hiways and byways are most pet friendly.. and even if they aren't .. what places does everyone like to stay at... (remember this ain't the Rockefellers camping out, so be kind to my wallet <g>)

3. And last , but certainly not least.. best place to get some good quality food along the way

4..OOPS.. one more.. what kind of snacks does everyone take along and any favorite tunes??

Thanks

Don J

1. Best places to stop for fuel are probably at truck stops. You can look them up on the web for locations. They have bigger refueling areas so you won't end up having to back up and maneuver around cars to get in and out. A websearch will bring up more than these but here's some of the major ones:
Flying J, Petro, Pilot, & TA Travel Centers. This site maintains a daily list of the least expensive fuel that is available in just about every major city in North America. Click here for more information.

2. When I take my dog, I am always camping so I can't give you hotel advice from first-hand experience. However, these are websites that will give you some info on what hotels take pets and give you other hints for traveling with pets. A lot of the info is geared to dogs but they should still give you some helpful ideas: Let's Go Pets, RTA's Pet Page, Traveling Dogs and Take Your Pet.

3. Food for you or your cat? Seriously, the truck stops listed above have restaurants attached where you can get a good, hearty meals. Not gourmet. But I've found they're usually good for the price. While I actually eat out of my cooler more than I do at restaurants, when I do want a sit-down meal, I try to find places that appear to be popular with locals. So, got off the interstate and drive a few miles off the highway and look for restaurants with lots of cars. This may not be practical for you with your U-haul towing a car though. A lot of people love Cracker Barrells. They're OK but I wouldn't want to eat there every day. For fastfood, Subway probably offers the healthiest options. Hopefully someone will be able to help you more with this one.

4. Snacks: protein bars, granola bars, fruit, yogurt, cheese, crackers, those new foil bags with tuna in them with the little mayo packets like at restaurants to mix up quickly together and eat with crackers, gorp, peanut butter (I just like to eat it by the spoonful....nectar of the gods!), pepperoni.

Tunes: My tastes are eclectic and won't appeal to most....opera, movie soundtracks and show tunes, blues, jazz, hard rock from the 60's and 70's, a bit of grunge. I've made some of my own CDs with my favorite sing-a-long songs. Wish I had satellite radio. It's on my wish list. (Or you could look at the RTA road music page).

Hope this all gives you some ideas!

First Congrats on getting a Diesel truck. I've made long distance moves pulling a car with both gas and diesel, and I prefer the diesel. Most moving vans are gas now, but diesel give better mpg and performance.

You won't have any problems finding places to fill up, most every station along an interstate has Diesel, but I would recommend truck stops because they generally have more space to manuver. Flying J is my personal favorite, because they generally have their own island in the "auto" section just for Moving vans and RVs. At some stations I've also pulled into the truckers section, simply because the car area was too small and crowded.

When we've moved with our cats, we've just placed them under the seat in the cab of the truck. They are generally pretty scared for the first hundred or so miles, but then they get used to it and sleep for most of the way. Some hotel chains do allow pets in all of their hotels (I think LaQuinta is one that does), but its best to call ahead and find out. Many places will charge you an extra fee and/or make you stay in a smoking room.

As for food, I also follow Judy's guide of driving into a town and finding a diner that looks good to the locals. With the truck, the key here is to find a spot with on street parking. Otherwise, Truckstop diners are often quite good, and of course most gas stations now have one if not more fast food joint attached to them.

For snacks and tunes, I'm a fan of beef jerkey and talk radio for my long haul drives. I also have XM and I love it, just keep in mind most moving trucks only have an AM/FM so it may limit your choices for tunes.

RoadSnacks: Popcorn and Cornnuts Forever!

One caveat on crowded restaurant parking lots; just because a parking lot is crowded doesn't necessarily mean the food is good. Sometimes it just means the service is FAST or the location/parking is convenient -- especially if the "crowd" is driving trucks or cop cars. I've gotten more than ONE belly ache in my truck driving years eating in crowded truck stop cafes! :)

Well, i guess i could use that old adage,,,, you guys have given me more food for thought...... yuck yuck but thanks anyway..(sorry for the bad attempt at humor... i have had a particularly bad week and need all the laughs i can get... you just don't always realize what stress can do to you.... now i know and it ain't fun)

I have printed out truck stop info along the whole route for Flying J,, Travel Centers of America, Pilot and Petro.. they seem to have enuff options to cover me pretty much the whole way there.. check off one thing done

I have also printed out Cracker Barrel info ,, sorry Judy but my tastes are pretty plain and it ain't bad on the budget area also.. but I have heard that truck stop food can be OK also.. check off number two

As for food, snacks,etc Water, water water and then whatever Mom and the kids want, again I ain't picky, but beef jerky I think won't pass the WAF or the DAF (wife and daughter acceptance factor <g>). Love granola bars.. have plenty in stock... candy and cookies, crackers as needed... but another question

How do you keep anything cool on the road.. I have a few different options,, a big cooler,, Where to keep that?? or several baby coolers.. small but not too much room.. I guess i can get ice at gas stops or hotels?? but looking for any other suggestions....

Just an update on the last minute prep.. I got a cheap (gotta love Rat Shack) but efficient set of two way radio's (GMRS/FRS 2-Way Radio with up to 6-Mile Range, 2-Pack on sale for $29) and I thought I would try a gizmo to hook up my portable CD player thru to the AM/FM of the truck (irock! 400FM Wireless Music Adapter) Hey if it works,, I win,, if not oh well


Thats all for now

Don J

3 days and counting........

Launch window approximately 11:00 am Thursday
Projected first days travel to take us between Wheeling WV and Cambridge Ohio.. (don't know how far we will make it,, but hoping to go approx 400 miles for first day)

For cold food/drinks, I like the simplicity of an ice chest but lots of folks have plug in coolers that work well for them -- they aren't too expensive either.

At your first stops at the truck stops, you might get that dealer's "frequent fueler card" if you can -- they go by different names -- but they get you a few cents off per gallon each time you fill up. That can add up.

For making miles (re your first day's comments) -- just do what's comfortable and enjoy it (400 miles is probably OK). Fatigue snowballs when you try to do too much too quick -- and once you start down that slippery slope it is hard to get caught back up on rest. You want to enjoy the whole trip, so don't overdo it (too much)! Bob

If you decide to go to Cracker Barrell a bit, and if there are several on your route, you might enjoy their audio-tape set-up. You can purchase a book-on-tape at one Cracker Barrell, enjoy it, and then drop it off at the next Cracker Barrell when you're done and get a refund. I've never done this so I don't know if the refund is full or something like 90%. But I know it's rather inexpensive. Books-on-tape can be a great way to entertain yourself on the road.

If you're radios are GRMS, you need a license to operate them in that mode. I don't know the particulars of this. Hopefully someone else here can fill you in. Or do a websearch. FRS does not require a license.

I usually use a small 12-volt plug-in cooler so I don't have to fool with ice. However, ice is easy to find. Any truck-stop, gas station with a mini-mart, or regular grocery store will have ice.

Wow....it's countdown time for you. I really hope you'll treat us to a roadtrip report when you're done with this adventure!

I used to have a FM transmitter thing for a cd player like you just picked up back when I was in high school and my 81 Toyota Tercel had the stock AM/FM radio from a junked 73 Toyota Corona Wagon. It worked pretty well, even had a strong enough signal to be picked up by the radio's motorized "seek" that automatically turned the dial nob left and right across the analog reciever. A quirk in how it operated also let me "boost" the signal of a weak broadcast signal by creating wave interference. On a digital radio, I actually got a station at 93.3 tuned in crystal clear at 93.9.

The only downside with that toy, is you'll have to change it every hundred miles to find a new "empty" frequency.

As far as snacks, you might try getting a small cooler/lunchbox for the cab to put things in and then put a larger cooler at the very back of the truck, where you can get at without moving everything else around, where you can put stuff for meals or more snack to be enjoyed later.

Well. ........... as you can guess... even the most researched and well advised (courtesy of my new found friends here at RTA) trip plan can have a glitch..

I went to pick up my rental truck today.. and no truck.... and still no truck...
so we are backed up on our schedule a wee bit.. gives my wife more time to pack even more useless <g> junk that will move with me the rest of my natural life <g> and gives me more time to chat with you all and get even more answers to stuff.

Thanks for the ongoing advice about Cracker Barrel and keeping things cool..
about right now I think I need to bathe in that ice to keep from exploding..

More later

Don J

countdown is now overdue hopeful for some road time tmw if packing that missing truck goes well

Bummer....does this mess you up with your arrival time there? Do you have to make the trip even quicker?

Hope they have that dang truck for you soon. Is there another place with rental trucks you can contact?