Need a little help. NYC to Clarksville, Tenn.

[sodoom]

I drive a 2001 Elantra with 34ish MPG. I bought a Garmin Nuvi 780 to help me with navigation. What else should I get? Should I get a gas tank to stick in the trunk? Thanks!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

First of all, carrying "extra" gasoline is a very bad idea for a roadtrip. Its a safety hazard and its going to make everything in your car smell like gasoline. More importantly, if you are making sure that you fill up before the last possible minute, you should never be in a situation where you run out of gas, especially on a trip through the eastern US.

A gps is a nice tool, but I would never use one as my primary source of navigation. A paper map will never have a software or battery issue that will leave you stranded!

Here are more ideas on things to bring with, although keep in mind, some of it is directed at camping, which may or may not apply in your situation.

[sodoom]

...Thanks for the welcome! I did indeed thought of the smell issue, but thought that "maybe" putting the gas in a plastic bag would help. The hazard thing did not cross my mind tho. So thank you for that. FYI this is the furthest I have traveled via car in my life. It's going to be a close to 1000 mile trip! To me that sounds like a lot.

[glc]

You are only going to need gas every 300 miles or so - and I have never seen gas stations more than 50 miles apart in that area of the country. Civilization does not end at the Hudson River!

[sodoom]

...well in the movies it does ;) Can you blame me for being a little paranoid? I'm a virgin at this. The furthest I have been is Upstate NY. Thats like at most 200 or so miles from me.

[Foy]

Just decide to fill up between, say, 1/2 tank and 1/4 tank and you'll be fine. I'd be mighty surprised to find an interval of even glc's 50 miles between fuel stops between NYC and Middle Tennessee. Along the I-81 and I-40 segments I'm most familiar with (Harrisburg, PA to I-40 in TN and I-40 to Clarksville), I'd hazard a guess there are but few intervals of more than 25 miles without fuel. For certain, once you get into Virginia and Tennessee, my guess is no more than 10-15 miles would be the longest no-fuel segment.

A fuel can inside a vehicle's passenger or cargo compartment is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Don't do it under any circumstances.

Do yourself a big, big favor: Buy a good, recently updated highway atlas at the bookstore. Spend several hours with it--at least as much time as you spend with the instructions, etc for your GPS, and ideally more. The GPS, in experienced hands, is a great tool. In the hands of one with so little experience, in the words of NYC's John Stewart, "Not so much.....". In my humble opinion, what you really need is an atlas-provided crash course in Interstate and other highway signage, 'rules of the road', and general map-reading skills. The GPS will make much, much more sense if you've developed some understanding of maps first.

Good luck,

Foy

[sodoom]

As far as maps go, it was part of my job for the last 7 years. Being a former school bus driver. I can figure out where I am pretty good. I kinda just wanted to use the GPS so I could travel in "lazy mode" is all. Thanks a lot though ;)