3 friends and a station wagon

[2dreamx]

a couple of my buddies and i are just about to graduate and we were planning on take a 2-3 week road trip. we'll be leaving from pennsylvania and we'd like to hit up florida, texas, cali, vegas, colorado, nebraska, and south dakota. we have some stuff figured out but any advice and tips you could give us we would greatly appreciate it.

thanks keegan

[PNW Judy]

Routes? Things to see and do? Budgeting?

If you give us an idea what your plans are and what you want to see and do along the way, it will be easier for us to give you some advice.

[2dreamx]

we'd like any kind of advice you can give us...possible routes, things to do and see, as far as budgetting is concerned we figured we would be traveling about 8,500 miles and based on that we figured out our gas. we want to do this as cheaply as possible so we planned on packing alot of food and stuff ourselves or buying it at a grocery store somewhere along the way.

[PNW Judy]

My first suggestion would be to cut out at least half of the states you have listed. 8500 miles will take about 170 hours to drivet. Over 2 weeks, that would be about 12+ hours driving per day. Even over 3 weeks, you're still looking at over 8 hours per day driving. And that's each and every day with no days to explore or anything else.

If you just want to do a speed run where you won't be able to explore, play, rest, or do anything else but drive, you're on the right track. If you want to actually have time to play anywhere, you need to seriously re-assess your plans. It sounds like you're quite young. You'll have many years to take other roadtrips. You don't have to see it all on one trip.

So my advice would be to change your plans and focus on a general geographic area. Maybe Florida/Texas and home again. Or Colorado/South Dakota and home again. Something like that. Then you could see some of the country and enjoy the drive while, at the same time, explore things a bit. Unless, of course, you simply want to cross states off on a map to say you've been there, your plan makes no sense to me.

If you insist on doing this, then just take the main interstates from place-to-place. You won't have time for any alternative routes.

Your gas budget is gonna be huge....at least $1300 if you drive an average vehicle with average fuel consumption....so, to save money, your plan to stop and refill a cooler of food at grocery stores is a good one. Also, camping is cheaper than hotels. If you are going to sleep in your car at all, choose truck stops that are open 24 hours so the staff can keep an eye on you. Not regular gas stations but truck stations that cater to long-haul truckers. Before you go to sleep, buy something at the truck stop, let them know that you'll be sleeping there all night, and then go back in the next morning to buy something else and thank them for watching out for you. Since you won't have time for any other activities, then advise on how to save on attractions, etc. is moot.