All Out Road Trip

[imported_Mark]

Me and my three friends want to take the ultiment road trip. We have no time limit and money may not be a problem, but the cheaper the better for us still. All of us will be 18 - 20 years of age. None of us have really ever done to much of a big road trip before. We would like to see everything the great USA has to offer; we mean "everything"!!! We want to see for example "The World's biggest,longest, tallest, ECT. Sites like the Rockies, Mt. Rushmore, Grand Canyon, ECT. We want to expierience it all. We don't have much of an idea of how to start to plan this trip. Our time is not limited. Our genres of roading are open to sleeping in our vehicle,camping, or sleeping in motel,hotel, or inn, ECT. We just want to have fun and make this the most memorable expierience in our lives. Any tips on where to start are appreciated. We all live in New Jersey. Any tips and stories of familiar expieriences would be greatly apprciated. Our # 1 Question is Where to start THE PLANNING at. Please help us out with everything.

[imported_Mark]

Me and my three friends want to take the ultiment road trip. We have no time limit and money may not be a problem, but the cheaper the better for us still. All of us will be 18 - 20 years of age. None of us have really ever done to much of a big road trip before. We would like to see everything the great USA has to offer; we mean "everything"!!! We want to see for example "The World's biggest,longest, tallest, ECT. Sites like the Rockies, Mt. Rushmore, Grand Canyon, ECT. We want to expierience it all. We don't have much of an idea of how to start to plan this trip. Our time is not limited. Our genres of roading are open to sleeping in our vehicle,camping, or sleeping in motel,hotel, or inn, ECT. We just want to have fun and make this the most memorable expierience in our lives. Any tips on where to start are appreciated. We all live in New Jersey. Any tips and stories of familiar expieriences would be greatly apprciated. Our # 1 Question is Where to start THE PLANNING at. Please help us out with everything.

Well, seeing as you're from NJ, I would start with
<a href="http://www.wierdnj.com">Wierd, NJ</a>, and for the oddities, <a href = "http://www.roadsideamerica.com">RoadSideAmerica</a>!

There are plenty of great links on this site as well - look around, there is a ton of information here!

Then, get a recent road atlas. It helps if it's decent, too.

Plan a route - even if it's just for the first week, this is where I would (and do) start. Have an alternate route available. Familiarize yourselves with the roads you will be taking, so you don't miss an important turn.

Make sure your vehicle is in top shape for the trip. The mountains out West are a bit bigger than the wee Appalachians.

At least one person should be adept at navigating (I once dated a girl who couldn't figure out which way we were headed on a map...I took her to NY City....we were there a REALLY LOOOOOOONG TIME.) If you can't decide which way to start travelling, use a board game spinner (if it points to the Atlantic Ocean, try again). There are a million ways just to do this!

A GPS can help but isn't absolutely necessary, but you should have a compass (heck, both kinds - the pointy geometry one and the directional finding one) with you. This especially helps on back roads at night. Sometimes, even during the day. KY and CT (at least) have problems posting the words 'North', 'South', 'East', and 'West' on their route signs. The navigator should also know the difference between a Road, Street, Avenue, Lane, Circle, Extension, Place, and Plaza, etc.

Make sure you bring some aspirin...and use the 30% rule - bring 30% more pairs of socks than you think you need, because chances are, you WILL step in a deep puddle somewhere.

Figure out how much money you need, and then double that amount. There, that should cover it!

At least one person should know first-aid. My g/f and I are both certified, which lets both of us breathe easier. Make a kit and keep it within easy reach.

Oh, and remember to eat your vegetables and fruit so you don't get scurvy.

HTH - more later!

Do any of you belong to AAA road service? They have the BEST maps and Tour Books. The tour books list sites to see in each state and also will have motel rates. Their camping directories are pretty limited but since they are free...they are worth getting too. For camping directory I suggest the Trailer Life CAmpground Directory.

Utahtea

...and if you want to look up some odd snacks for your trip (Yummy! Squid chips!), try www.taquitos.net