Summer 2006!

[Amber]

Me and my best friend are planning a roadtrip for the summer after we graduate in 2006. We plan to skip a year before college to do so. We plan to drive to 48 of the 50 states (leaving out Hawaii and Alaska.) We want to see the capitals of every one of the states, and also the places of interest in the states (i.e. Niagara Falls in NY.) Is this to soon to map out the roads to take? And does anyone know approximately how long and how much money this all would cost (including places to stay and food- which doesnt have to be five star or anything, but no roaches.) Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

[Mark Sedenquist]

A road trip three years in the planning. Got to be some kind of record for this forum. Cost to visit all 48 lower continental states? I would say "as much as you have". Pretty hard to predict what fuel prices will be then. Hazarding a wild guess -- three months on the road: $8,000. It is going to be very difficult to see very much of 48 states in 3 months. A minimum distance to accomplish that would easily exceed 10,000 miles and would probably be a lot closer to 30,000 miles. Which means that you would have to cover at least 300+ miles every single day. This is a huge road trip. But it should be quite an adventure! There are a number of road trippers who have accomplished this feat. One such story can be found by looking at the Quest-4 trip on http://www.roadtripamerica.com/links/travelogs.htm

There is a couple on the road, this very minute attempting to visit all 50 states - check out Bill and Barbara's story at "The 100 Day Road Trip" at http://www.roadtripamerica.com/links/routes.htm

Planning this will be almost as fun as hitting the road...

[Gary]

Hi Amber,
I have completed 2 50 state trips in the last 3 years. 50 states in 43 days in 2001, and 50 states in 8 days this past summer with my son. www.50-7.com I have worked up a tentative State Capitals tour for a future trip. The 2001 tour cost 4 of us around 12k and the 2003 trip cost the two of us 4k. I can help you design a trip to meet your budget and time schedule. Feel free to email.

Gary

[Mark Sedenquist]

I looked at your site a bit -- what was the motivation to do this trip?

[kerri]

wow! I am from RI and I was utterly dismayed when the Station fire happened. I am so glad to see that you are doing something to help the victims and their families. What a great way to raise money

[Gary]

Hi Kerri,
Thank you. It turned out to be quite the experience. We raised around $4,000 for The Doc Fund, which distributed money to the cause. As I'm sure you know, the need to raise funds will continue for a number of years.
I'm actually planning another local trip to raise money for The Station Family Fund. The plan is to visit all 39 cities and towns in RI in one day, picking up donations at locations along the way. I have tenatively picked Saturday March 6th for the day of the trip.
The www.50.7.com trip taught me many things about planning an efficent roadtrip and fundraising. Somehow, my son and I managed to put the two together in a positive way. It just might be something worth duplicating in the future.

Gary