1st road trip - need help!

[Hailey]

Hi, my best friend and I are planning on taking a road trip through the 50 states in June-July of 2003. I was wondering if anyone knew of cheap places to stay, places we HAVE to visit, how much time we'll need to spend on the road each day to make it in 1 1/2 months, and anything else useful for first time road-trippers! Thanks for all your help.

Hailey & Nicole

[Herb]

Am planning a trip to the outer banks. Any suggestions on what to see and where to stay. Any help will be appreciated and reciprocated. I have extensive travel experience around these great United States. The outer banks of North Carolina is one of the few remaining places I have never been. I'm looking forward to exploring there.

Thanks,

Herb

My friend and I are doing 20 states in 25 days. We are planning to stay at Motel 6 most of the way, and family and friends where ever we can. We are still very much in the planning process, but we have saved over 500 bux by staying at family and friends.

Good luck to you.

[imported_Darrell]

First off, reaching all 50 states on a ROADTRIP is impossible. Hawaii will be the biggest difficulty ;) Alaska will take just as long to get to as driving the entire length of the Mississippi River.

I did 10,000 miles in 2 months. Granted, I stopped in Colorado and California for multi-week stays, but 50 states in 50 days is pushing it. You wont be able to stop and see the sights and enjoy yourselves. Take your time. If you have a month and a half, do your corner of the country and save the rest for following summer, or something along those lines.

Where do you plan to start your trip? When I did my big roadtrip (there are several smaller ones) I was driving 500 miles most travel days. I would advise you to stay off the interstates. You will find much more good ol' American roadtrip fun if you stick to the yellow-lined state route roads. All the little towns your'll see, the local people you'll meet. The interstates are great for getting places fast, but you should concern yourselves with quality and not quantity of the miles you travel.

In my 89 Jeep Wrangler, it cost me $1200 in gas alone for those 10,000 miles. You will undoubtedly go over-budget unless you plan to spend a lot anyway.

Well, feel free to check out some of what I wrote while I was on the road and email me if you have any other questions or concerns. I wish you luck! And let me know what part of the country you would like to tackle and I can help you with some sites worth seeing :)

-Darrell
http://www.tufts.edu/~dinteres/roadtrip

[imported_Darrell]

I left off one of the important things I wanted to say :) You should camp out or stay with friends and family or other kind people that will give you a bed and good food!

I stayed with a lot of people from the Jeep message boards that I frequent. Be careful out there! Camping is cheap and fun :)

[Alicia]

[Alicia]

My friend and I are planning a road trip across country for the summer of 2003. We're starting on the North Carolina coast and, well, I'll just list the cities we're stopping in. Nashville, TN; St. Louis, MO; Scottsbluff, NE; Laramie, WY; Idaho City, ID; Coos Bay, OR; Eureka, CA; Santa Monica, CA; Baker, CA; Las Vegas, NV; Jacob Lake, AZ; Amarillo, TX; Dallas, TX; San Antonio, Tx; New Orleans, LA; Cullman, AL; Panama City Beach, FL; Savannah, GA; and Charleston, SC. If anyone knows of and interesting or beautiful, or funny, or just plain weird things we just HAVE to see along this route I'd appreciate you telling me about it. We don't mind going off the beaten path or taking small detours. Also, if there are any tips you have on cutting corners as far as costs go, those would be appreciated, also. And i guess anything else you can advise us on. Thanks so much for your time and advice.

[susan]

Hi...i was traveling in my car just from alabama to new york to work this summer..I want to make the most of my road trip...any interesting stops on the way or monuments anything just tell me i would love to know thank you:)

[Jennifer Bianchi]

If you plan on doing 50 states in a month and a half, plan on spending more time in the car than enjoying the country. In the summer of 2000 my boyfriend, my brother, and his girlfriend did 34 states in 27 days. We spent sooo much time just driving. You are going to find that there is a whole lot of nothing out there that you have to pass through to get to all the good stuff. Unless you can find more time, concentrate on places that you would really want to see (New Orleans, New York, etc.) My fiance and I are going to visit all 50 states beginning this summer, but we are going to take over 6 months to get it done. Be sure that the person you are travelling with enjoys being on the road as much as you. That alone can make or break your trip. I'll try to get some planning info up on our page for you to check out, but it may take me a few days. Check out www.TheLongRoadToVegas.com (thats us) in the next few days. Feel free to email me with any questions. Maybe we can meet up along the road somewhere for lunch. Happy travels!

[Jennifer Bianchi]

If you plan on doing 50 states in a month and a half, plan on spending more time in the car than enjoying the country. In the summer of 2000 my boyfriend, my brother, and his girlfriend did 34 states in 27 days. We spent sooo much time just driving. You are going to find that there is a whole lot of nothing out there that you have to pass through to get to all the good stuff. Unless you can find more time, concentrate on places that you would really want to see (New Orleans, New York, etc.) My fiance and I are going to visit all 50 states beginning this summer, but we are going to take over 6 months to get it done. Be sure that the person you are travelling with enjoys being on the road as much as you. That alone can make or break your trip. I'll try to get some planning info up on our page for you to check out, but it may take me a few days. Check out www.TheLongRoadToVegas.com (thats us) in the next few days. Feel free to email me with any questions. Maybe we can meet up along the road somewhere for lunch. Happy travels!