Tips for something big....(Driving cross-country)

[Tytus Gerrish]

take your time I got to michigan from south florida just myself and my truck in 19 hours. it was 1450 miles. acording to my gps. I was completely exhausted and could barley walk. do the math and see how fast my average speed was. i realy wish i would have taken my time. So take yours and enjoy the scenery theres plenty of stuff to see.

[MissInformation]

Originally Posted by Jane

Wonder if Heidi would share any photos of the balloons.
Jane

Always willing to share what I love!

probably my best shot...
party 'til the cows come home!
I want one of these!

Oh, and Greg? Do as the other Greg said and take a camera! Document it not only for yourself, but for those of us stuck at home! (and if you have a laptop, you could occasionally actually update us on your trip as it's happening).

[Greg Perkins]

Well this is quite the update since last night! To clarify a few things, whenever this happens I plan on taking an entire MONTH to do it, because if there's one thing I cant stand, it's to be rushed. It may have to wait, 6 months, a year, or two years until I can do it finacially and so that I have the friends to tag along with then. But hey, *at least I hope* the National parks arn't going anywhere, so time isn't really a crucial factor. I'm big on taking photos, infact, one of the investments I hope to make this year or early next year is a 10.2mp digital SLR camera with various lenses. So yes, whenever I do make this homage, It'll be sure to be photogenic.

Thanks for all the great suggestions!
~Greg

[KarenH]

Then there's crossing the country on a Segway. Sort of like a motorized version of Peter Jenkins' Walk Across America, I suppose, but I don't think it took as long. (The filmmakers on the Segway didn't stop to work and to get married along the way.)

Some tips on pacing a road trip:
I don't know if you've ever done road trips much outside New England, but for people from New England (or from England or western Europe), the scale of the journey could blow your mind. You can see the high points of New England in a week or two, with no more than a half day's drive between points. To see the entire 48 states would take a minimum of one summer, to cover just the highlights. Just to see the highlights of California, spending enough time to actually enjoy them, not just trophy-hunt, would take weeks.

Cross-country trip, all the way out and back, at a leisurely pace--good luck fitting it all into just one month!!

After the 2004 Championship in Atlanta, my family took a 2-week road trip in regions east of the Mississippi. We felt like it was a whirlwind tour; we spent a lot of time driving, but only a half day in D.C. We had to skip Philadelphia altogether. (Our route was: Great Smoky Mtns., Blue Ridge Parkway, D.C., NYC, Rochester, Niagara Falls, Ohio, mid Kentucky, Tennessee, back to Atlanta.)

Lessons learned from that trip:
--Must allow time to do laundry, if you're doing more than a quick hand wash/drip dry each evening (also allow time to FIND a laundromat)
--Late April/early May, the trees haven't leafed out at higher elevations and latitudes, and there's still ice at Niagara
--Really must plan long road trips more carefully (it's the pacing!)

My parents, towing their trailer, took six weeks to join an Adventure Caravans Lewis & Clark tour. This included time to drive from the Los Angeles area to the St. Louis area, and time to drive home from Oregon at 55 m.p.h. or so. The tour itself seemingly covered EVERYTHING from St. Louis to Astoria, Oregon, including the Squirrel Cage Jail and the Harley-Davidson plant.

Tips on whether to make reservations:
We have learned that it can be critical to know when peak tourist seasons are in specific regions. If you can figure those out, either avoid them, or make reservations well in advance:

One October night, we stayed on a sod farm in upstate New York where we were the only guests, and we never saw another soul on the place the whole time we were there, not even the one staff person. But the next night as we pulled into Barre, Vermont, one motel after the other had tour buses in the parking lots, and No Vacancy signs everywhere. There was not one vacant room in town. We stayed with a local citizen who was involved in a Chamber of Commerce program to keep unprepared tourists like us from freezing in their cars, and ended up enjoying our stay.

On the other hand, we drove through Kentucky just before the Kentucky Derby, not realizing what date it was. But because we were headed for Mammoth Caverns, we were nowhere near Louisville. No problem!

Do you really want to visit Gilroy, California during their annual Garlic Festival?

Tips on planning National Park visits:
If you visit N.P.'s during the peak season (usually summer, except in Death Valley), you'll need reservations way in advance (AAA membership is a definite advantage for this). Many National Parks are in remote areas, and you may have to drive for hours to find a place to stay outside the park if you don't have reservations. However, if you go in the off season, or visit a less-popular park, you may be able to drive right in (but you should carry snow chains for Yosemite in fall, winter, and spring). One Fourth of July weekend, we obtained two premium camping spaces in Great Basin National Park by just driving in.

One more tip:
When traveling with children, it's best to alternate days of all-day driving with days of stopping to see stuff. Teenagers, also, can only endure so much time cooped up in a vehicle. And adults can become mentally dazed after weeks of seeing one thing after another--it all starts to blur together. So don't cram in too much, and be sure to keep a log book (written journals always work--don't have to stay in a place with electricity).

On my travel wish list:
Every time we head home from Davis, California, there's a highway sign at the western end of U.S. 50, in downtown Sacramento, that proclaims Ocean City, Maryland as being 3,073 miles away. Whenever I see that sign, I want to go straight on. Indeed, we have been on U.S. 50 from eastern Colorado to western Nevada. It's billed as "The Loneliest Road in America." It goes near Great Basin National Park, which is the loneliest N.P. we've ever visited. My dad was born in a little town on U.S. 50. Two of my aunts still live along that highway. I've seen lonelier roads (the one from Trinidad, Colorado, to La Junta, Colorado), but there's something intriguing about seeing the destination of Ocean City proclaimed in my state's capital. Such a little-known road to run from the nation's capital to the capital of the most populous state!

[KenWittlief]

Tips on whether to make reservations:
We have learned that it can be critical to know when peak tourist seasons are in specific regions. If you can figure those out, either avoid them, or make reservations well in advance...

or local events like an LPGA golf tournement, where you go someplace like Cedar Point, thinking you will have no problem getting a hotel room at 9PM, and you end up driving 100 miles away, and you STILL have to sleep in your car that night!

[Eric O]

Originally Posted by KyleGilbert45

I remembered someone doing this and posting about it here on CD. I searched around and found this...

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...=cross+country

It may be able to help you some.

Since I was the one who started the above thread last year, I figured I would chime in on the important parts of our trip cross country. We traveled from Hartford, CT to San Jose, CA. I flew home from there while Tom stayed for a few months to do an internship. (The reason for the drive in the first place)

The stats:
1 Ford Escape
3 Drivers
8 Days, 7 Nights (2 in Vegas, because well, its Vegas)
2 GPS's
2 Laptops
1 CB Radio
1 Verizon Wireless Internet card

Trip accomplishments/Sites:
Line Dancing in Nashville
Walking in Memphis (On union ave in fact)
Oklahoma City Memorial
4 Corners
Monument Valley, AZ
Grand Canyon
Sedona, Arizona
Vegas
Carmel California and the Pacific Ocean

The worst part about the trip was that we drove it so fast. We did it in 8 days because we could only take so many days off from work. We managed to get through the east as fast as possible because we wanted to avoid snow and also because that is the easiest place to get back to. If you want to do the trip in the winter I would suggest going a more southern route, because being stuck in a snow storm would not be fun on a road trip.

We used the choice hotels membership deals along with the choice hotels credit cards which starts you off with a couple free nights. This allowed us to have mostly free hotel stays!

I think that with all the technology that we had the most useful item was the CB radio. The other stuff made the car ride fun and allowed us to keep track of our journey, but the good old CB radio is great for a number of reasons. If you go cross country, I would suggest getting one.

Blogging the trip online also made it fun friends and family back home. We would post nightly when we made it to our hotel, or even on the road when we had internet service. Tom's extra touch with the "Live Tracking" of our location made it even more fun for those board at work/school for the day because they could see where we currently were, and allowed us dorks to have more to look back on. Point being, logging the trip makes it fun for others and for those involved to look back on.

Lastly, I would have to say that you should do it as soon as possible! As every year passes you and the people you want to go with will get more responsibilities and reasons that you can't go, so do it now.
To see more of where we went: www.drivexc.com

-Eric

[KenWittlief]

Where ever you go, dont set your expectations too high

or you might end up losing your mind, like these poor souls!

'Paris Syndrome' Leaves Japanese Tourists in Shock:
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a...00010000000001

There is something deep to this. If you go somewhere thinking its going to be wonderfull and magical then you could end up very dissapointed and depressed.

One thing I noticed at WDW: every time Ive been there Ive seen at least one person in tears, off to the side by themself. Traveling to a strange place can have a profound effect on your pysche.

And you know what they say about vacations and relationships!

[JohnBoucher]

Which teams will you be visiting???? I believe there are maps with all the teams on them in CD Media.

[Cynette]

You all are making me want drop everything and go see the country! My most recent adventure was up into Alberta Canada for a week with my mom. I recommend it highly...if you get close to the northern border of the US, take the time to venture across. That does take some extra planning to make sure they don't take your lunch (we lost fresh peaches in customs).

Originally Posted by Tytus Gerrish

take your time I got to michigan from south florida just myself and my truck in 19 hours. it was 1450 miles. acording to my gps. I was completely exhausted and could barley walk. do the math and see how fast my average speed was. i realy wish i would have taken my time. So take yours and enjoy the scenery theres plenty of stuff to see.

I'll second this one. This past summer we flew our 19 year-old son from Rochester NY to San Jose CA, so he could drive back with a friend. After one evening of rest where Tommy got to dip his toes in the Pacific Ocean, they drove back, arriving three days later. They saw virtually nothing but highway! Why? Because his friend only had enough money for gas, but he didn't tell my son that until they were past Illinois.

So, while you can travel fairly cheaply, make sure you have the splurge fund and emergency reserve set aside.

[JaneYoung]

Greg, I know you will load up with maps, equipment, compasses, etc. but a pencil and a small sketchpad (they make them small) would be nice to keep handy. Even when one doesn't feel artistic, somehow travel frees our conventional thinking regarding cans and can'ts. Maybe use the sketchpad for a quick sketch of something that you want to remember, or a quick poem, or a few thoughts while watching the sunset. It's great to put little 'finds' and treasures in as well.
Jane

[wendymom]

One summer my friend and I and our 5 (3 of them under the age of 8) kids took an RV up the east coast. It was a blast. I highly recommend it. I know they suck gas but you make up for it with the loss of hotel costs plus you can cook your own meals. We got a Good Sam card which gave us discounts at RV parks. The only reservations we made were in Hilton Head SC and just outside of DC. The rest of the time we would call the wherever we decided to go the night before and see if they had room, If they didn't ....we went someplace else.

We saw a plantation in Charleston SC, spent several days on the outerbanks, saw Kitty Hawk, Jockeys Ridge (largest sand dunes on the east coast), Rode roller coasters at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg and Hersey Park in Penn. Went to Jamestown and a bunch of Smithsonians. I think we spent 3 weeks on the road.

The younger kids don't really remember much but the pictures but the older kids and the adults have a great lifetime memory.

Do it now while you can.