Planning a trip that hits 11 states

Re: Planning a trip that hits 11 states

• alithebride member

  

  March 2012

  my mom has a book about great places to stop in any state in the us. have you looked on amazon or your library for books on states that you'll pass through? you could just photocopy the pages you need and return the book.

  i believe AAA can also do something like plan the trip but i'm not sure how that works.

  Friday, December 28 2012. The day I had emergency appendix surgery in Mexico and quit smoking. Proof that everything has a good side!! DH and I are happily child-free!! No due date or toddler tickers here!! my read shelf:
   

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• Littlejen22 member

  

  March 2012

  Am I the only one that thinks that is a lot of miles to cover in only 10 days if you expect to see stuff along the way?  I have never done a real road trip though.
  

  Jen - Mom to two December 12 babies Nathaniel 12/12/06 and Addison 12/12/08

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• Chymes member

  March 2012

  Last summer we covered 5,400 miles and 15 states in 12 days. We drove from West Michigan to Seattle, south to Portland, and then back to Michigan along a different route. IT WAS AWESOME. The first thing I will tell you is that your timeframe doesn't give you a ton of time for sightseeing or doing the tourist thing. I would have loved to linger on our trip a bit more, but we didn't have any more consecutive vacation time. We drove 12-16-hour days in order to get to our priority destinations. (We spent 2.5 days in Seattle visiting family, and 2.5 days in Portland for a wedding - the rest of the time was driving.) Of course, we stopped at little things here and there, but it was not like lingering at a museum for an afternoon, taking a tour, or going on a hike. You're not going quite as far as we did, but still, consider how long it will take to get places and how many miles you want to go each day. And also consider how tolerant you are of being in the car for that long. We love road trips, so a 16-hour day in the car wasn't a big deal, but we didn't want to repeat it again soon, either.Cost saving: Our number one cost savings was in lodging - we were fortunate to know friends and family along our entire route, spread out in perfect increments for a day's drive. The only place we had to pay for lodging was in Portland. I'm guessing you might not be as lucky, but check and see if you know anyone along the route you can stay with. Another huge way we saved money was by packing food and drinks in a few big coolers. For lunches we bought PB&J sandwich supplies and just made sandwiches when we were hungry, so we wouldn't have to stop. We also made a big batch of a chicken pasta dish that can be served cold, and packed it into individual tupperware containers before hitting the road. We had that for dinner the first three nights, until it was gone. So we didn't have to pay for a meal until our fourth day. Along with the basics, we also packed things like Goldfish, dried fruit, nuts, bottled water, cans of Red Bull (for emergencies), candy, frappuccinos, etc. We bought bags of ice every other day as the supply in the coolers melted. Finally, we saved money on gas by driving our Prius, and only had to use 11 tanks of gas to make the trip. In terms of finding things to do, I would seek out things that interest you. My husband and I enjoy visiting state capitol buildings, so we tried to make a point to see as many of them as we could on this trip. I used boards like this one and asked around on Facebook to get recommendations of things to do in areas I knew we'd be passing. We also employed a healthy amount of spontaneity, and if something looked cool and we had time, we'd just stop and check it out. (That's my favorite part of road trips!)Finally, I would suggest doing a different route home than the one you take to Texas. I think our trip would have seemed really monotonous by the 8th day or so if we were just retracing our same highways to get home. Instead, we had new scenery the whole way until we got back to Indiana.Find some great podcasts, make some fun music playlists, and load up your iPod/mp3 player. Bring books, magazines, newspapers. Take pictures of the bizarre roadside attractions you'll come across. I'm excited for you! I wish we could do something similar again this year. If you have any questions or want to chat further, feel free to PM me. 

  

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