Take a road trip across the USA

We drove from Chicago to Florida and from Florida to LA

Admittedly we visited family and friends along the way but it was a great trip, we had 3 small kids at the time 4, 10 and 14 but it was well worth it.

The most expensive was the rental van (we are from Australia) but if you have a car that you can drive already you’ll be set.

We ate at a lot of Denny’s where the kids ate free and stayed at a lot of Motels where the kids stayed free as well.

It’s worth it, just make a plan and work the plan in baby steps.

I’d like to trace Jack Kerouac’s steps as close as I could. It would certainly be a different place now though still interesting nonetheless..

Plans have changed a while ago. Now I’m aiming for next spring, early summer. There’s only one thing that needs real preparation this far in advance, the boyfriend’s driving license. Alas, we might be better off with our own car, but people who buy used cars usually know a thing or two about cars. We don’t. ;-) And do those mythical car transport services from one coast to the other really exist? Hmm. Still haven’t allowed myself to buy and drool over any of the Roadtripping books, either. It will be so much fun to prepare it all. Can’t wait!

Absolutely incredible! Highly recommended!

I got lucky, as I already had a friend over there with a car. I joined him over there with a few others and we travelled for 3 months (If your from the UK you’ll struggle to stay for more than 90 days due to Visa issues!).

The American people are so friendly and fantastic, super hospitalitable – we stayed with so many people we met who invited us to stay with them – I’d say about half the nights we were there someoene was putting us up! Fantastic adventure, fantastic country!!

into the wild!

The Let’s Go-books are my travel bible and their suggestions for roadtrips through and across the States are just drool-worthy! I love their idea for a “Great North” trip taking you from Maine to Vancouver in three or four weeks (at least), a great mixture of interesting cities in the first half of the trip and landscape and national parks in the second. On the other hand, I do want the trip to end up more in the south, such as in San Francisco. And I already know the White Mountains and Montréal… although, it has to be said that I know them well enough to long to show them to T. ... It’s a tough decision. I’m almost glad there’s a lot of time left to figure it all out!

After talking about my plans for a roadtrip, my boyfriend dampened my enthusiasm by pointing out that a) he has to wrap up his Ph.D., and b) he attends the NYC marathon, so we would have to pay for two trips to the U.S. – and he concluded with “we could do it in spring” (2010?! 2001 space odyssey with a twist! way too late!) But he knows this is my dream, my big incentive for finishing my studies. So now the trip doesn’t depend only on the budget but also on whether research results are coming around. A flutter in my heart…

First I drove from Maryland to California. Then three years later, I came back. I drove on the road and it was a trip. But I doubt that is the kind of road trip you mean.

That’s what I dream about. My parents went roadtripping through Sweden every year when my brother and I were kids, in an old Volkswagen bus, which instilled my love for roadtrips (and for catnapping while traveling, it has to be said). In the U.S. I took a roadtrip from Boston to Key West with my friend and an old Volvo – great expectations came true!

I hope that in the summer of 2009, I can finally reward myself for many hard years of university – American studies, no less – with a long roadtrip across the country. (Even my 65-year-old professor of American literature tells stories about his roadtripping experience. Only nowadays it’s less Kerouac-esque and more like “let’s do a tour of 1890s mansions” for him.) Oh, the joy of preparation (I love maps.) Lots of things to see – so many things to do. People to meet. Skies to photograph. Mixtapes for the way. And FREEDOM – for three weeks, at least. Hm, I better encourage my boyfriend to get his driving license soon ;-)

Was fun. Nyc to
Myrtle Beach in NC nice beach its really long. the entire coast with the hotels looks like such a touristie vacation spot to
Montgomery Alabama its funny there, nobody lives there
Atlanta Georgia i had to go visit Dr.King’s grave, very beautiful there to
New Orleans a week before after or during Mardi Gras- I don’t know and don’t really care, in any case, they don’t play with there drinks. In nyc you get nice a nice watered down drink for 8$, there you get a 151 slushi for 3$. Yup, plus funny ppl there- but that’s another story) to
Houston Texas checked out the aerospace museum. it was really small, i got to the end of it and thought there was more a second floor or something. but its true that- at least the people I ran into- the people in Texas are the friendliest people ever… weirdly friendly =P
aye yai yai…
Vegas-> death valley(darkest place ever) > LA (met freddie and jason.. scary I didn’t expect them) > the shoreline up to San Francisco (of course drove across the Golden Gate)-> Yellowstone (it was closed for 2 more weeks when we got there, but my friend had a fun time hitting me for howling back at the wolves) -> across those north mid states, on that drive you’ll see more God Bless, Believe in Jesus, and No Abortion/Abortion is murder billboards then you will anywhere else. We went up to Buffalo where our college was and nyc is where I live.

Fun stuff, can’t trade it for anything else, memories to last a lifetime. And at some mid smtn state in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a far out the way rest stop with nobody around, there was a f!$#ing van that parked next to us with the !#@$ing crew from devils rejects. THANKFULLY they left in like 10min, but I wasn’t falling asleep there with them there. WHEW! =)

some tips: if your not doing the m/hotel thing but sleeping in your car. take advantage of those trucker rest stops. to me it sounded nasty, but it was the complete opposite. very first class treatment and setup with those places.