RT , Pittsburgh to Atlanta

[Greshapa]

Hello everyone,

Me and a few buddies are amateur knife makers/ fanatics and are taking a road trip down to Blade Show in Atlanta this July 8-15.

We are packing extremely light, 2 pairs of cloths (including the ones on our back), our laptops, and about 50lbs of knives because it is 3 of us in a 97 Ford Taurus. I know it will not be comfortable, buts its what we got.

What are some other Absolute Essentials that we should bring? weight doesn't matter as much as size.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

I can't think of much that would take precedence over another change of clothes (or two or three). If you are resigned to stopping every day to do laundry, or worse to just reek, then there's not much else you're going to waste time and space on. You might consider a good set of personal hygiene products to make living together in such a tight space tolerable.

AZBuck

[Midwest Michael]

My question is why do you need to pack so light? A Taurus is a mid-sized car that should easily fit 3 people, and have plenty of room for a reasonable amount of luggage. Even if your laptops and 50 lbs of knives took up the whole trunk (and I'd think you should have more room than that), you'd still have plenty of room to put 3 suitcases/bags inside the cabin.

[Greshapa]

Well its 3 of us so that's 3 seats in the cabin and our laptops will be on the seat next to him with the 3 briefcases for them.

I forgot to mention we do have some things in the back that are always in the car such as jumper cables, a midsize toolbox with various things inside it, plus a case of water and some food that doesnt expire untill 2015 for emergency in the trunk.

but on the 8th We plan on stopping in Blacksburg, VA to meet up with some friends for the night and pick up anything we need, but its not much of a detour. and hopefully will get to Atlanta on the 9th . We have a hotel booked for the weekend so im not overly concerned about showering or stinking. But ill go with your expert advice i think if thats what you think is worth most the space.

I've been on a road trip to Florida but it was in a van and even then it seemed packed, so thats why im kind of

[glc]

You would be surprised how much crap you can stuff into the trunk of a Taurus - it will hold a lot more than you may think just from looking. Use soft luggage.

[Midwest Michael]

Even if your trunk was full, I think you're really underestimating how much you can fit into a car. I've taken week long camping trips, complete with tents/sleeping bags/a weeks worth of clothes, with 3 people in a car of similar size.

Your laptops should hardly take up any room at all (and frankly, if that was the tipping point, I think I'd find a way to share one computer if it meant having more than one change of clothes!). If you had to, there's really no reason you couldn't pile up 3 small suitcases on the floor/seat of the 4th seat, and you could even have room to put a cooler in the middle of the back bench.

Now that would start to get a little tight, but that's assuming you have no room at all in the trunk, and you're only going 700 miles, and over 2 days you'll have plenty of time to stretch out if you'd get too cramped.