Huge Summer Road Trip 21,000

[imported_Brandon]

I'm driving from San Diego all across the country and back including Canada's major cities. What's the safest place to sleep at night. Rest Area, Walmart Parking Lots, or Gas Stations ?? I'm leaving San Diego on June 22nd and will be gone till August 23rd. Anyone Ever Drive this much ?? Give me some tips...

[imported_Brandon]

Sorry My 1st Post Was kind of unclear. here's the deal. I'll be hitting every major US and Canadian city practically. I'm going on a concert tour and for road trip summer fun my friend and I our driving ourselves. I start by driving from San Diego to Houston and then I tail back West. I go to Dallas, San Antonio, New Mexico, Phoenix, 5 Cities in California, Boise, Central Washington, Portland, Vancouver, Calgary, Montana, Salt Lake, Denver, 6 Midwest cities, down to Florida, back up I-95 to Washington DC and all the major cities. Then up to Montreal, Toronto, Detroit, Cincy, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Boston. From Boston I have to drive back to San Diego !!!! 21,000 miles in all in my Ford Focus Station Wagon. I have friends or a hotel in about 1/3 of the cities, but mostly in the Midwest and some east coast stops I know no one and will be sleepin in the car somewhere. Any tips for this crazy traveller ??? Most places I'm pullin off the road are on Interstates just outside large cities. I'm thinkin about hostels in Vancouver & Calgary but that's about it. I'll be arriving into the next town between 2 and 6 in the morning and motels are not worth it unless were extremely tired and hostels in the middle of a downtown city just seem like a pain in the ass that early in the morning. Anyways, give me some tips..

[hapything]

Hi There...very intense trip you've got planned. I'm fairly new at the travel thing but I did make myself homeless in Aug. and have been travelling since...(ok I'm stopping in Minnesota for winter but as soon as spring hits I'm continuing with my travel thing finishing up the North East slice of the states and then all over Canada and back down via Washington). So I've got a few months of road travel under my belt and what I did was camp...bought a nat. park pass and other times would camp out in the nat. forest. When weather was too nasty or I was just not in the tent mood there are Flying J truck stops scattered everywhere...get online and download the map and all the locations. As a single woman I felt safe at the truck stops and you can sleep for free and eat/do laundry whatever. I've met some cool people there...best of luck to you! I wonder if I'll have that many miles on my little mazda this time next year...

[Mark Sedenquist]

How did you "make yourself homeless"?

Wise hovering for the Winter -- and you chose Minnesota because....? (there are warmer locales).

Flying J and T/A get our vote for best-run travel centers.

Enjoy your adventure!

M.

[hapything]

I quit my job... sold most everything I owned, put the rest in a little storage place and now have no home....save for the little apartment I just got in Minneapolis for winter.
I chose to "hover" here because I came from Arizona and had worked my way up and over...not too fond of the south and even there it could be chilly camping. Knowing that I'm doing the upper N.E. and then Canada, possibly Alaska all next summer, it just made sense to stop here and re-group.
Not privy to " T/A "....explain?
Thanks for the well wishes...its been amazing so far what I"ve seen and the people I've met on the road.

[Mark Sedenquist]

T/A stands for <a href = "http://www.tatravelcenters.com/ta/display_page.phtml?page_id=431">TravelCenters of America</a>. T/A is the largest truck stop/travel center company in the USA.

Great way to get homeless -- actually I have always preferred: "houseless" homeless has too many other meanings...

In our case, it was a simple wildfire that liberated us from our yuppie lifestyle -- <a href = "http://www.roadtripamerica.com/book/chap1.htm">good description here</a> of that early morning transforming event.

Have a nice winter!

[hapything]

Thanks for the info...and yeah I've read your story before...I've been on your website since July. Its partly responsible for my faith in my ability to do this!
Good the know about the travel centers...nice they cover alot of the east while flying j does the west on a broader spectrum.
Wondering if you have anything to say about driving and camping in Canada? I know nothing about the Country and thought I would try to stay away from big cities and go as north as vehiclularily (nice word eh?) possible and then try Alaska. Not sure the best way to find out where to go and camp...Triple AAA?
Anyhow...its snowing and cold but at least when you live like this you know its temporary so its FUN!

ps...I like houseless better too, thanks!

[imported_Brandon]

Hey guys. Well I'm not really homeless on this trip. I will be having paid hotels a few nights a week but some nights consist with long drives. I have an apartment in San Diego which i'm going to move out of and save quite a bit of money and with that money I'm going to put it to having the time of my life out on a road trip. The only really concerns are long drives in the middle of the night. I have a show thursday night in Sacramento until about 9pm. Then I have to drive to Boise, Idaho all night long and will be cruising in who knows when for a show Friday. So it's nights like that when my friend and I might not make it the whole way and need to stop to get some rest. Anyways, sounds like Travel Centers are my best bet. I'm taking a little trip to Pennsylvania and New York next month to familiarize myself with the east coast more and visit some friends. Anyways for the road trip america editor. I'd love to put a decal or something reffering to Road Trip America on my car. Thousands of people will be seeing this car in every part of the country and Canada. Then at the shows I'm at there will also be 10,000+ everyday. Anyways if your interested, please let me know.

[Gary]

Brandon,
I recommend a good GPS at a reasonable price. Delorme Earthmate can be had for a little over $100. It comes with an excellent GPS tracker , software that can be hooked up to a PDA or laptop. It will give you verbal instructions on hotels, restaurants, truck stops etc along your route. I've recently completed a 50 state in 8 days trip with my son. We used Delorme and Microsoft Streets and maps to plan it out. I'd be glad to help out planning a route for you. Feel free to email me.

Gary

One resource is the travel/tourism bureaus in each of the provinces. I have been able to get fairly extensive visitor guides from several provinces -- look up each one on the web and find the links to their tourism departments. They'll mail the stuff to you for FREE!