Road Trips

Anybody have any long road trip experience? I'm 24, freshly let go from my job, have a decent amount in savings, thinking about making a month or two long road trip across the lower 48 states, some of Canada, maybe Alaska. If I don't do it now than I probably won't be able to again.

I'm thinking of doing a mix of sleeping in my car, crashing with friends, and some hotels/motels/air bnb along the way.

Looking for tips, suggestions, ideas, couches to crash on, good times, etc

Cheers

YELLOW, you've been watching the movie Road Trip.

Now chill.

I'd love to do that kind of road trips but :

1°/ I don't have a driving license

2°/ In France, the longest road trip you could imagine would barely last two days and you would mostly travel through deserted countryland and shitty towns under a grey cloudy sky.

my whole family moved by car from pennsylvania to alaska with a pop-up camper. it was probably the most wonderful thing that we ever did. the rhythm of nomadism is wonderful, sleeping somewhere else every night, being content with few possessions, and spending all the quality time with people you love is great.

anyhow...get a couchsurfing account and find some people to vouch for you, couchsurfing.org is a really awesome tool, plus you meet amazing people where ever you go. make sure you understand how to fix your car!

London to Greece with some mates in 1992......

Via - eastern France,,,, Lyons for the food (ooh la la), across and down thru the Alps (tres spectacle) via Cremona on the old grand tour route, then Florence/Siena, into Rome to watch the football, then down further south again firstly through Napoli to get the ferry from Calabria to Messina in Sicily for a few days, then back north slightly for the ferry from Bari to Greece.

All done in a vauxhall cavalier.

Do it in summer & you can camp.....plus now w/internet you can find lovely hotels for next to nowt.

Hugely recommended.

I live in Maine so I think my best course of action will be to travel down the east coast of the U.S., before going west. There isn't too much I'm dying to see in the middle of the country.

Go up through California, Oregon, Washington, head north up to Canada. I'd really like to check out Banff Springs, maybe some of the Trans Canada Highway and then come back through the great lakes area

i drove from san francisco to boston massachusetts with my (at the time) best friend. one of my favorite experiences. took turns driving and sleeping then when we got to new york, we crashed at a flophouse recommended by two girls we'd met in santa fe new mexico. i think nowadays they have apps that even let you find places to crash

i also spent some time in a few hostels (cheaper than hotels, safer than someone's house on craigslist and you get to meet other people like yourself on the move). i did try to sleep in the car once, this was around albuquerque, but it turned out the place i'd selected was a circus group and was quickly but peacefully removed- so i ended up staying on a native american reservation. this was purely a magic moment because native americans have their own law (so if you're not native, you cannot stay here unless you're invited by somebody belonging to that tribe, and then they have rules about how you cannot be left at a property alone, separate law enforcement etc)

if you want to get free food, find a place like farmers market or traders joes (safeway works too in some cities); go super early like 7am and they'll have samples of bread and coffee. enjoy a gourmet breakfast on the house. another thing i'd do is plan ahead. it's very easy to get caught up doing this and before you know it, you're taking longer than you wanted to. i ended being on the road for a little over a few months because of the stops i made (stay with native americans for more than 3 months, michigan for longer than it was healthy, vegas for a few weeks etc)

I spent 4 weeks traveling from Miami, FL to Portland, OR with a girlfriend years ago. Zigzagged across the country. It was probably the best month of my life. I love road trips. The highlights were the long states where I wouldn't see another car for hours. I've driven across the US a few times, it really puts into perspective how small the country is, and how grand what's out there beyond your home borders can be. I've always dreamed of driving north into Canada & Alaska. And my priority has always been to see a giant Moose. I would definitely suggest following your initial plan of heading north.

Well I'm leaving tomorrow! Seeing Clark on Tuesday in Boston, be there for a day or two, then Vermont and Canada for a bit, Squarepusher in NYC on the 19th, bum around there, probably head towards Chicago and Iowa to see some friends around late April, then from there head west probably

If any WATMMER wants to lend me a couch to crash on, it would be appreciated. Anything in the southern or western states would be ideal

Cheers!

Good luck being a hobo

  On 4/5/2015 at 7:37 PM, Rubin Farr said:

Good luck being a hobo

explore planet earth or stay at home and play some shitty nintendo game .. mmm.... great attitude rubin farr, square as ever

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good luck yellow, hopefully i will soon join you in the exploration of earth, keep us informed so we can learn from you