I am often asked if I’m scared about traveling alone. Actually, instead of asking this polite question, people (usually of the older and boring variety) often assume it is scary to travel alone and make a remark alluding to lack of intelligence and responsibility that would make me want to do this. Well, it’s always said much more passive aggressively than that. Even better. 

You could wear a seatbelt every time you’re in the car, a life vest every time you’re near water, never have a drop to drink or try a recreational drug, never fly in an airplane due to the risk of engine failure at 35,000 feet, have six locks on each of your doors, never walk the streets at night, and never talk to a stranger, but none of those things will save you from a fly away broken bat to the carotid at a Red Sox game, getting hit by a car while using the crosswalk on a Sunday stroll, or crushed and drowned by a molasses spill (that really happened). Sure, we can avoid a heroin habit and trying our hand at the unicycle on top of the Prudential, but otherwise, it’s pretty tough to predict your death if you haven’t noticed. While you’re worrying about how not to die, you’re not living. 

There are a few things I worry about, though. Not scared of! Just things that could put a damper on the day, like bear attack, for example, or car trouble leaving me deserted and then later, broke. 

There’s about a dozen vehicles I’d choose to take on a road trip before my own. Is a 2006 Subaru Impreza hatchback the ideal road trip car? Nope. Would I rather be driving around and sleeping (practically living) in a vintage Volkswagen van? Ummmmm YES. But alas, we must make do. However, any car I would choose would likely be a lot older than what I have now, so I’m going to hope a sprite, young age of nine and a recent oil change will save me.

Another thing I worry about is how we’ll exercise on the road. I once saw a young woman jogging down the street with a big beautiful German Shepherd gliding by her side. They looked like a damn commercial for antidepressives or tampons. I often think about them when it occurs to me how ungraceful Henley and I look running together, him six feet behind, choking because I’m dragging him in a tug boat fashion. We walk great together, though. We have a quick, matched speed that gets us from A to B efficiently and is speedy enough to be considered exercise, rather than a meander. But then I, like most beings, run faster than I walk. Henley, on the other hand, manages to jog at about the same pace as his walk, while just breathing heavier to trick you into believing he’s running.

Healthy eating will be tricky too. I’m a big believer in good nutrition and that keeping an every day healthy lifestyle is the best and only medicine most people should ever need. However, mental health and happiness is a big part of good health. Pizza and donuts make me happy. Therefore, pizza and donuts are healthy for me. Are you following? Good. Also, food is such a big part of culture and experiencing a new place, so I’m not going to choose raw vegetables over a popular local dish. It will be challenging to find the balance on this trip, but it will be fun trying. 

The only other thing I’m nervous about...brace yourself, it’s real scary...is finding a way to shower and shave every day. Okay, I was being sarcastic about it being scary, but it really is a little. 

So to answer the question: No, I’m not scared to travel alone.

Don’t become a heroin addict or unicycle for the first time at great heights and let the rest of life just happen.

E&H

“If it’s both terrifying and amazing then you should definitely pursue it.”  

Erada

I should tell you now that this is traveling on a budget. I’m not staying in one hotel. I don’t even plan on staying at any campgrounds. We’re roughing it. This is an American road trip! It’s not meant for room service, valet, and fancy dinners out. It’s for car sleeping, food cart eating, and mountain hiking. If you’re the kind of person who goes to a foreign land and stays in a resort, you probably wouldn’t get me or this blog. So... move along.

Campgrounds can be really cheap, but twenty five nights of anything unfree will add up. I can’t avoid the costs of gas, but “lodging” I can control and will in order to make this as inexpensive as possible! My overnights will consist of five or so nights with friends, six nights at Airbnbs,¹ and the rest will be free car camping, either in state or national forests,² rest areas, or your friendly Walmart parking lot.³ As I was getting the general route down, I started to plan my stops and where I would stay overnight by deciding where I wanted to “splurge” on an Airbnb: Kansas City, Denver, Portland, Seattle, and Chicago. In between these cities and friend’s places, I found a free place to park overnight. I’m really looking forward to the nights camping in the forest. I’m picturing cooking over a fire in front of a backdrop of mountains and wild flowers, of which Henley will be frolicking through. That’s literally what my dreams are made of.

Ya, there’s footnotes.

¹ If you don’t know about Airbnb, get to know it! It’s the best way to travel and vacation and definitely one of the cheapest. You can find cheaper places on Airbnb than your cheapest hotels. When I was searching in those cities, I compared the Airbnb prices to La Quintas and Red Roof Inns (both dog friendly). Airbnb always won. Plus, you get an authentic and comfortable home, rather than the boring and generic hotel room. Unless you’re staying in five star hotels, in which case, carry on. 

² Dispersed camping, where you just sleep in your car pulled over on a forest road (or pitch a tent), is very much allowed in state and national forests. You just park where you’ve seen others have parked before you -- grass pat down, fire ring already in place. There are some rules such as staying no longer than fourteen days and camping a few hundred feet away from any water or buildings. No permit necessary. Out West, the state/national forests can be huge, covering chunks of state, not like our little parks out here, so it’s not like you’re at a campground. 

³ It is legal to sleep in your car (or RV or tractor trailer) in Walmart parking lots, as well as at Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, and rest areas.

I predict that my biggest expense will be gas, by a long shot. A while back, before my planned route was exactly what it is now, I got an approximate estimate on gas. I think I subconsciously chose to forget that number as it was a bit large. I’m not going to calculate it again. It’s not like it’s going to change my trip any and there’s no reason to worry about it. I will, however, be keeping track of all expenses for this trip. I’m curious myself how much a budget friendly ‘round the country road trip will cost. I personally would love to read a blog that gave the detailed how-to stuff -- what to pack, what it costs, where to stay -- in addition to good travel writing. So that’s what I’m going to do. It may not be for everybody, especially if you have no interest in road trips but are a family member just supporting me and keeping up with what I’m doing. In which case, sorry for the boring parts and thanks for reading anyway! 

Em <3

“Better to sleep in an uncomfortable bed free, than sleep in a comfortable bed unfree.” 

Jack Kerouac, On the Road

;)

And now, more about the road trippers. 

Me: I grew up in a small country town in central Massachusetts. I love the country and maybe I’ll end up back there (the country, not my hometown), but not anytime soon. I went to college for Public Health, spent six months in South Africa, worked with adults with developmental disabilities, moved to Boston with my best friend, became a nurse assistant, started nursing school, and here we are! I’m always thinking about the future and making plans. I have a few ideas I’m thinking about and working on, but right now my main focus is nursing; finishing school and starting to work. I believe in good nutrition and a whole food, plant-based diet, although my favorite foods are pizza and donuts. I love interior design, crafting, fashion, and photography. I’m single by choice (I guess that’s a phrase now. I’m using it.) for now, but definitely want kids one day. I love coffee shops and book shops and when one shop has books, coffee, and beer. I have one tattoo and may or may not get more. I get a kick out of photographing Henley in costume. Parks & Rec and Friends make me happy. I want to learn construction and carpentry. I dreamt and planned for quite a while of building a tiny house, but that dream is on hold for right now. I love Pinterest and Instagram (@ezona!). One goal I must attain is to become fluent in Spanish. I like backpacking and camping, but haven’t done much of it yet, and I want to complete a through hike. I love Boston so much. I love Defenders, old Broncos, Jeep Woodies, and old FJs. I dislike the amount Henley sheds.

Henley: Henley was born on a farm in central Massachusetts in December 2011. I know this because I was there. I helped deliver the little guy. I’m close friends with his parent’s human parents and I visited once a week while he was still there and brought him home at six and a half weeks old. He was and is the cutest thing you can imagine. He’s young for his years, can be rambunctious and stubborn, but otherwise perfect. He has a big personality and makes people laugh, which is why we made him a therapy dog to bring joy and comfort to others. Henley likes carrots, swimming, demolishing toys and sticks, playing with other dogs, face planting in mud, climbing in laps, riding in the front seat, snuggling, watching Mom cook, running free, licking lotion, and lying on the front porch supervising the neighborhood. He dislikes the heat and going on runs with Mom.

That concludes your introduction to this blog. Thanks for reading and stay tuned! :) 

Preface

Welcome! 

Okay, so here’s the deal. This is my last summer off. I’ve been in school for what seems like forever. In December, I will graduate with my second Bachelor’s degree. I will then have to start studying for the NCLEX (nurse licensing exam) then apply for jobs then start a job then become an adult. If I want time off, I’ll have to wait an appropriate amount of time after starting this new job and file a form requesting the specific days well in advance, which I’m sure should only be a week because that’s a normal adult vacation. ((I do not plan on working nine to five, Monday through Friday, come home to eat dinner, watch TV, and go to bed to do it again the next day for the rest of my life, but I may have to live with that for a little while as a new grad. But that’s a whole other story.)) My point is, that for now anyway, this is my last summer of freedom. I’m twenty seven years old, single, childless, and without a “real” job. Time for a road trip. 

There’s not many people I’d want to be trapped in a car with for three and half weeks. Okay, there’s only one. He’s a blonde bombshell of a babe and his name is Henley. He also happens to be a dog, my three year old yellow Lab. We leave for our road trip in one month. So it’s prep time! Just kidding, I’ve been planning this for months. Not in an anxious, I have to get this all done and planned to a T way. But in a I don’t want to miss anything so I’m going to research the crap out of this way. This is the second best part! The actual road trip being the best part. I like to have a good foundation to the trip, a solid plan, to fall back on if nothing else. I will have a road atlas, printed out turn-by-turn directions to each place I plan on staying the night, and a (I will not reveal how many paged) itinerary in case all else fails. It’s likely I’ll find myself without internet/phone service and a dead laptop so I’ll be prepared if that happens. I also don’t want to find out later that this awesome thing was right down the road from where I was on this quite possibly once in a lifetime trip and I missed it and may never get to experience it ever again. That’s why I make a pretty intense itinerary with a variety of fonts and several tiers of bullets. I’m a list nerd. However, with that said, I am totally okay with going off the itinerary. But honestly, why would I need to? My itinerary rocks. 

So here’s the plan. I’ll give just an overview of the major places I’m going through to give you an idea of the route. It doesn’t necessarily mean I’m there a whole day or staying overnight, I may or may not be just driving through. I’m not a road trip expert, but I’m going to go ahead and give the advice to not post publicly ahead of time where exactly you’ll be and which creepy rest stop you plan on spending the night alone at. Just in case there’s a guy with a doll head fetish and a hook for a hand perusing the internet for a girl to keep in his basement, I will be posting a day or two after the fact. Sorry you had to read that, Mom. I’m sure that guy doesn’t exist and if he does he lives in Florida and I’m not going there. 

Boston > Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania > Columbus, Ohio > Indianapolis, Indiana > St. Louis, Missouri > Kansas City, Missouri > Denver, Colorado > Gunnison County, Colorado > Southern Utah > Phoenix, Arizona > San Clemente, California > Big Sur, California > San Francisco, California > Portland, Oregon > Seattle, Washington > Montana > Black Hills, South Dakota > Chicago, Illinois > New York state > Boston 

I only mentioned cities mainly, but that’s not to say I’m not going to some rad places off the highway and far away from dense populations. I also was as vague to list a whole large state, but I don’t want to give everything away so soon! The details that come later will be the fun part. 

Come back soon to learn more about the road trippers! :) 

Em 



"Respond to every call that excites your spirit." -Rumi