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
;)
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