I'm going on a road trip.

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I'm going on a road trip.

Post by |darc| »

Last year, my girlfriend flew to Ogden, Utah to visit her father's family for a week, and then flew to Orange County, where she once lived, to visit her good friend. This year, I'm going with her, and we've decided to turn it into a road trip.

This is the current path we have planned.

However, a few things: we are willing to deviate course slightly if that means we get to visit or see cooler stuff. We already decided that Austin is much better than San Antonio, so we're going through Austin instead on our way back.

We're going to go through Shreveport, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Wichita, Denver, and Cheyenne to Ogden, then through Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles to Anaheim, then through Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso, Austin, and Houston back to Baton Rouge. We may replace Shreveport-Dallas-Oklahoma City-Wichita with Little Rock-Tulsa-Wichita to visit her friend in Little Rock. I was thinking about detouring to San Diego before Phoenix, as well.

I don't know yet what we'll do about places to stay on the way to Ogden (I don't care about sleeping in my car, but I know she won't, so we'll probably have to rely on motels or something), but we'll be staying with her father once we get there. When we go to Anaheim, she will be staying with her friend, but I am unsure whether or not I'd stay with them (I might be uncomfortable with that), or what I'll be doing. I'll be looking for some stuff to do in LA on my own while she's having friend time. JellyWarrior is going to be around the Vegas or LA area at that time on his America trip, so I will probably meet up with him for some drinks or something as well.

So, I was wondering if you guys have any ideas about different stuff to see along the way, or general road tripping advice. What sort of snacks are good to bring on a trip like this? We were thinking of bringing a cooler with drinks, cold cuts, and milk, as well as bread and cereal, refilling with fresh ice as we go along. We are going to want to eat and drink cheaply while we're on the road. I will try to bring a friend's power inverter so we can charge our laptops and phones while on the road.

We get out of summer semester on August 1st and have to be back for the Fall semester on August 24th, so that's how much time we have for the whole trip.

Thoughts?
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by Code-Red »

Here are some of my tips:

- Don't overload your battery or alternator with tons of peripheral recharging. I don't know how sparsely things are spread in the States, but I know I drove sometimes 600 kilometers without seeing a single gas station. Last thing you want is to have a dead battery in the middle of no where.

- Bring a jerry can full of gas. You'll get the urge to keep driving through towns and gas stations. Same reason as above.

- Depending on the size of your car, and considering it'll be you and a girl, I'd say forget the freezer of food. Save up some dough, bring some beef jerky and small drinks, and eat at stops. You'll see some interesting places and people, and get to try some good local foods. It'll also save you lots of room in your car.

- Have the car tuned. New air filter, oil change, fuel filter, sea foam the engine, toss some additives in the gas/oil, check tire pressure, check the spark plugs, etc. It'll save you a lot of money, trust me. Stay in a low gear/rpm range too. Don't floor it the whole way.
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by impetus »

I don't know if you're into fast food, but I always love trying local burgers. Famous chains like In-N-Out Burger, ChickFilA, White Castle, etc, are all somewhat regional so if you don't have one in your hometown, give them a shot.

In Wichita, give one of these a shot. All are onesies, except Spangles which is a chain:
The Anchor - awesome bar food. Tattoo/rock 'n roll theme.
Bella Luna Cafe - Mediterranean cuisine, very nice and light.
N & J - It's called a bakery but it's also a Middle Eastern restaurant.
Ty's Diner - gourmet burgers. You'll have to plan ahead for this place. Extremely popular. It's only open for lunch, and gets packed. Your best chance is to get there right when they open, which I think is at 11.
Spangles - 50's themed fast food. Plenty of these all over Wichita area. Similar to Sonic (though not a drive in). Great burgers and also unique pita-sandwiches (they call them gyros; I respectfully disagree). They offer cherry limeades and shakes. Cheapest place in my list.
Yen Ching - Chinese. Freaking delicious. I highly recommend the "Sweet & spicy three ingredients" (although I order it sans shrimp - not into seafood).


If by chance you make it up to the Kansas City area, I'll take you to the local secret pizzeria in Overland Park, or maybe a famous BBQ place. But it's like 6 hours of driving directly out of your path, so probably not (Also those dates may not work).
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by ace »

Code-Red wrote: - Bring a jerry can full of gas. You'll get the urge to keep driving through towns and gas stations. Same reason as above.
x2 From experience.

Don't forget about long distance charges. I doubt it's an issue for you, but my Sergeant just got her phone bill from when she drove to an unnamed southern state, and it's in the several thousand range.

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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by Quzar »

Code-Red wrote:Here are some of my tips:

- Don't overload your battery or alternator with tons of peripheral recharging. I don't know how sparsely things are spread in the States, but I know I drove sometimes 600 kilometers without seeing a single gas station. Last thing you want is to have a dead battery in the middle of no where.

- Bring a jerry can full of gas. You'll get the urge to keep driving through towns and gas stations. Same reason as above.

- Depending on the size of your car, and considering it'll be you and a girl, I'd say forget the freezer of food. Save up some dough, bring some beef jerky and small drinks, and eat at stops. You'll see some interesting places and people, and get to try some good local foods. It'll also save you lots of room in your car.

- Have the car tuned. New air filter, oil change, fuel filter, sea foam the engine, toss some additives in the gas/oil, check tire pressure, check the spark plugs, etc. It'll save you a lot of money, trust me. Stay in a low gear/rpm range too. Don't floor it the whole way.
I've done a number of road trips with my dad from miami to NE montana, as well as a handfull on my own from miami up to PA/VA, and these tips are great. To expand on them though:

-make sure you have a working spare tire, good wipers and wiper fluid. If you've had any problems with the brightness on your headlights (cars nowadays seem to have dim or surface of the sun with nothing in between) there's a good chance they've just gotten out of alignment. Using a gamebit type screwdriver you can adjust them in most cars. You want them to hit the ground further than they usually do for highway travel.

-if you keep a cooler, freeze empty water/soda/whatever bottles full of water and use them as ice. While they melt they also become drinkable water and can be refilled/reused for this purpose. This is 100x better than plain ice or those fake ice pack thingers. Do not pack food that will spoil. You mentioned milk. Don't pack milk unless it's for the first day. You shouldn't have to rely on your cooler staying really cold. Use a blanket or pillows to further insulate your cooler. It makes a difference

-Keep some snacks at hand. Cookies or candies of some sort. Anything to be munching on. It helps maintain focus and such.

-depending on the size of what you're driving, it's a good idea to have plenty of bedding to make it easy for either of you to sleep. In a lot of the deserty country you'll be passing through the temperature does drop quite a bit at night, and there's good chance you won't want to have to find a place to stay. My dad drives a minivan and for roadtipping he takes out all the back seats (so it sits 2 instead of 7) and puts in a full twin sized foam mattress. I borrowed this tactic for magfest (24 hour drive) and when I slept I just curled up in the back of the van (saved meself hotel cost).

-As much as possible stick to the interstate highway system. Every state has its own things about its roads, and while some are amazing, the interstates are good and consistent. The signs are all the same and there tend to be semi frequent free rest stops.

-Check out those big things of brochours that are at lots of rest stops / stop at information centers for states. While you'll be able to find lots of places to go using the internet and word of mouth, some of the best times I've ever had were from seeing a random thing and saying 'hey, lets go there!'. The most recent was the International Peace Gardens. Looked to be a cheese thing of flowers, turned out to be an honest-to-goodness awe inspiring experience.

-Get yourself a good highway map, they tend to be so much easier to use than GPS thingers that seem easy

-If you have native power adapters for the car use them as opposed to the power inverter, they're much more efficient

-Usually your iPod as is simply won't due for road trip listening. Give consideration to what music you'll have ready to play, and try to give consideration to full albums (playing individual songs on shuffle/random in my experience makes the trip feel longer) and especially things you can sing along to. Both of those aspects tend to make the boring stretches go much faster.

-Learn how to use cruise control.
-Sunglasses.

-Don't be afraid to pull over. Taking a wrong exit can sometimes cost you up to an hour of travel time. It's better if you're really unsure to just pull over and make sure you're going the right way. You can usually take advantage of the bit of time and get a snack or drink or whatnot.

-Bring cash. Plenty of places only take it, especially if you're going off the interstate, and going on a mission to find an atm is *not* fun when your car has broken down or you're hungry.

Sorry if some of these were obvious or whatnot. I'm pretty sure I've got some more, but I can't think of them so they might not be that important =P.
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by impetus »

Good idea to have some Dramamine and other basic meds, even if you don't plan on needing them.

Pretty obvious, but cameras/camcorders ready with empty memory cards and charged batteries.

Good idea to have a generic USB car adapter to charge your gadgets, rather than all the various native wall chargers that take up space.
http://www.meritline.com/4-port-usb-car ... 33477.aspx
http://www.meritline.com/car-travel-cha ... 28620.aspx

If you are taking a laptop, know the common WiFi hotspots: McDonalds, Panera, Borders, Fedex/Kinkos, coffee shops, libraries, some hotels, etc.

I never listen to podcasts in daily life, but I do let them collect up in iTunes and then unleash them on long trips. Alternately, head to the library and get some audiobooks/dramas for the trip. Rip mp3's/burn copies and you're ready a little aural entertainment besides music.

My girlfriend and I have very different taste in music, but we had a fun trip where we switched back and forth between our iPods sharing songs we thought the other might like (my car has a 3.5mm aux port).


Sunflower seeds are good to have if you get a little drowsy while driving. The activity of shelling them in your mouth can keep your mind active. In any case they're caffeine free and a lot cheaper than most snacks and you can pick them up at any gas station. Just make sure you have a cup or something to discard the shells. I like Spitz brand, as the shells are large, loose, and easily opened. 'Tight' sunflower seeds are a chore to eat. I know that sounds retarded but it's true.

Of course, if you get sleepy you should pull over or switch with your partner.
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by hearld500 »

Seeing as how you're only a few hours off going through Wyoming I'd recommend swinging up through Yellowstone Park, that'd really be worth your while. Hell if you're up for it I'd show you a good time around the Bozeman, MT area which is just a couple hours further, beautiful drive.

About the only tip I can give you is watch your caffeine intake. Seems like whenever I go on long drive I always overdo it and have a hard time sleeping making you dead for the next day...just builds up on itself, vicious cycle ha.
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by |darc| »

Code-Red wrote:Don't overload your battery or alternator with tons of peripheral recharging. I don't know how sparsely things are spread in the States, but I know I drove sometimes 600 kilometers without seeing a single gas station. Last thing you want is to have a dead battery in the middle of no where.
I don't think we'll have too much of a problem with this. We will not have a need to run anything constantly, and the only things we have to charge is my girlfriend's camera and my laptop, which has two USB ports for further charging our two iPhones.
Code-Red wrote:- Bring a jerry can full of gas. You'll get the urge to keep driving through towns and gas stations. Same reason as above.
Noted. I suppose it would be a good idea as well to take a look at gas station sparsity in different areas before we go on the trip.
Code-Red wrote:- Depending on the size of your car, and considering it'll be you and a girl, I'd say forget the freezer of food. Save up some dough, bring some beef jerky and small drinks, and eat at stops. You'll see some interesting places and people, and get to try some good local foods. It'll also save you lots of room in your car.
This will probably depend on how much money we have when the time comes. I plan to fund this by working my ass off between spring and summer semester, then working part time during the summer semester.
Code-Red wrote:Have the car tuned. New air filter, oil change, fuel filter, sea foam the engine, toss some additives in the gas/oil, check tire pressure, check the spark plugs, etc. It'll save you a lot of money, trust me. Stay in a low gear/rpm range too. Don't floor it the whole way.
Very good points. I have been meaning to get my tires checked and an alignment as well.
impetus wrote:I don't know if you're into fast food, but I always love trying local burgers. Famous chains like In-N-Out Burger, ChickFilA, White Castle, etc, are all somewhat regional so if you don't have one in your hometown, give them a shot.
I am so into fast food. I will probably die before 30. We have Chick-Fil-A in Louisiana, but I have not been to a White Castle or an In-N-Out Burger. I am, however, very, very excited about being able to eat In-N-Out Burger while in California.

There's a chance we will be spending the night in Wichita, so we will look into the restaurants you suggested. I seriously doubt we would end up in Kansas City, though :(.
ace wrote:Don't forget about long distance charges. I doubt it's an issue for you, but my Sergeant just got her phone bill from when she drove to an unnamed southern state, and it's in the several thousand range.
We're both on AT&T plans that include long distance anywhere in the US, so we should be covered there.
ace wrote:Take a shit-load of photos.
We've decided to do a travel blog as a journal, with photos and updates as we go along.
Quzar wrote:make sure you have a working spare tire, good wipers and wiper fluid. If you've had any problems with the brightness on your headlights (cars nowadays seem to have dim or surface of the sun with nothing in between) there's a good chance they've just gotten out of alignment. Using a gamebit type screwdriver you can adjust them in most cars. You want them to hit the ground further than they usually do for highway travel.
Noted. I do have to refill my wiper fluid right now I think.
Quzar wrote:If you keep a cooler, freeze empty water/soda/whatever bottles full of water and use them as ice. While they melt they also become drinkable water and can be refilled/reused for this purpose. This is 100x better than plain ice or those fake ice pack thingers. Do not pack food that will spoil. You mentioned milk. Don't pack milk unless it's for the first day. You shouldn't have to rely on your cooler staying really cold. Use a blanket or pillows to further insulate your cooler. It makes a difference
The bottles idea is really good. Thanks.
Quzar wrote:Keep some snacks at hand. Cookies or candies of some sort. Anything to be munching on. It helps maintain focus and such.
Definitely. These will be going in the back seat for sure. The cooler might get the trunk though. Depends on how much stuff we pack and what goes in the cooler and what doesn't.
Quzar wrote:depending on the size of what you're driving, it's a good idea to have plenty of bedding to make it easy for either of you to sleep. In a lot of the deserty country you'll be passing through the temperature does drop quite a bit at night, and there's good chance you won't want to have to find a place to stay. My dad drives a minivan and for roadtipping he takes out all the back seats (so it sits 2 instead of 7) and puts in a full twin sized foam mattress. I borrowed this tactic for magfest (24 hour drive) and when I slept I just curled up in the back of the van (saved meself hotel cost).
I'll be driving a standard-sized sedan (2006 Mazda 6 sedan to be exact). We will be staying in motels or with friends/relatives at night so no bedding necessary except for maybe some small stuff to keep warm or comfy while on the road.
Quzar wrote:As much as possible stick to the interstate highway system. Every state has its own things about its roads, and while some are amazing, the interstates are good and consistent. The signs are all the same and there tend to be semi frequent free rest stops.
I do plan on doing that unless there's a good specific reason to stray from it. maps.google.com and iPhone Maps.app are helping us a lot with this :P
Quzar wrote:Check out those big things of brochours that are at lots of rest stops / stop at information centers for states. While you'll be able to find lots of places to go using the internet and word of mouth, some of the best times I've ever had were from seeing a random thing and saying 'hey, lets go there!'. The most recent was the International Peace Gardens. Looked to be a cheese thing of flowers, turned out to be an honest-to-goodness awe inspiring experience.
That's a good idea as well, we're kind of at a loss for what we could be doing from Arkansas until we arrive in Utah, and if we can't find any decent stuff to do, we figured we'd plow through.
Quzar wrote:Get yourself a good highway map, they tend to be so much easier to use than GPS thingers that seem easy
Yeah, I want this in case we lose battery on our phones or something like that anyway.
Quzar wrote:If you have native power adapters for the car use them as opposed to the power inverter, they're much more efficient
Yeah, I might get a USB adapter for the car so I wouldn't be required to use the laptop (and therefore DC -> AC -> DC) to charge the USB stuff like the iPhones.
Quzar wrote:Usually your iPod as is simply won't due for road trip listening. Give consideration to what music you'll have ready to play, and try to give consideration to full albums (playing individual songs on shuffle/random in my experience makes the trip feel longer) and especially things you can sing along to. Both of those aspects tend to make the boring stretches go much faster.
I don't know what I will be doing for the music setup yet. My car only accepts Red Book CDs, or I could spend like $130 for an iPod set up. We may burn a shitton of CDs and have some music on my laptop and CD-Rs, ready to burn while on the road if needed.
Quzar wrote:Learn how to use cruise control.
I use it often already.
Quzar wrote:Sunglasses.
Noted, my girlfriend is always saying I need some anyway.
Quzar wrote:Don't be afraid to pull over. Taking a wrong exit can sometimes cost you up to an hour of travel time. It's better if you're really unsure to just pull over and make sure you're going the right way. You can usually take advantage of the bit of time and get a snack or drink or whatnot.
I think this is a good point. The GPS doesn't always tell the truth here. My girlfriend and I went to a crawfish boil at a farm in the middle of nowhere Louisiana about 2 weeks ago, and when we used the GPS to find the route we were on and if we had passed up a turn, it completely lied to us and said we continued on a different road than we had.
Quzar wrote:Bring cash. Plenty of places only take it, especially if you're going off the interstate, and going on a mission to find an atm is *not* fun when your car has broken down or you're hungry.
I usually use my credit card for most purchases (I pay it off immediately so no interest charges) but yeah I do carry cash for emergency situations.
impetus wrote:Good idea to have some Dramamine and other basic meds, even if you don't plan on needing them.
I have an extended first aid kit at the apartment, I will be sure to take that along on the trip, thanks.
impetus wrote:Pretty obvious, but cameras/camcorders ready with empty memory cards and charged batteries.
Yeah, my girlfriend is going to get a second battery for her camera and we will be sure to empty the camera whenever possible. On top of that we both have iPhones to take basic pictures.
impetus wrote:If you are taking a laptop, know the common WiFi hotspots: McDonalds, Panera, Borders, Fedex/Kinkos, coffee shops, libraries, some hotels, etc.
I have iPhone 3.0 beta on my iPhone and the tethering works great, by the time we go on this trip, 3.0 final should be out and I plan on purchasing the tethering plan for at least just this road trip month.
impetus wrote:I never listen to podcasts in daily life, but I do let them collect up in iTunes and then unleash them on long trips. Alternately, head to the library and get some audiobooks/dramas for the trip. Rip mp3's/burn copies and you're ready a little aural entertainment besides music.
Great idea. We'll have to look into some audiobooks we are both interested in. Comedy and political comedy work should be great for the both of us.
hearld500 wrote:Seeing as how you're only a few hours off going through Wyoming I'd recommend swinging up through Yellowstone Park, that'd really be worth your while. Hell if you're up for it I'd show you a good time around the Bozeman, MT area which is just a couple hours further, beautiful drive.

About the only tip I can give you is watch your caffeine intake. Seems like whenever I go on long drive I always overdo it and have a hard time sleeping making you dead for the next day...just builds up on itself, vicious cycle ha.
I'll mention Yellowstone Park to her, though with it being 5 hours both ways from Ogden, that probably won't happen.

We did decide to do the Grand Canyon, though. This is our current plan. We decided on doing San Diego for a day and visiting the zoo there, and we also decided to take the route through Little Rock to visit her friend and possibly spend a night there.
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by Quzar »

|darc| wrote:I don't know what I will be doing for the music setup yet. My car only accepts Red Book CDs, or I could spend like $130 for an iPod set up. We may burn a shitton of CDs and have some music on my laptop and CD-Rs, ready to burn while on the road if needed.
For something like 10$ I got a funky chinese iPod fm transmitter cradle deal, which also had a spare usb port on it. In my most recent road trip I was able to keep my phone (G1, so GPS internet whatnot) and iPod both fully charged and working the whole time. My car also only has redbook CD, but also has AM/FM which is the key. The quality isn't the best, but for audio books is fine.
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by Lartrak »

As much as possible stick to the interstate highway system. Every state has its own things about its roads, and while some are amazing, the interstates are good and consistent. The signs are all the same and there tend to be semi frequent free rest stops.
While I agree in theory with this... You really should get off the interstate some. If you don't, 90% of the man-made things end up being almost the same the entire trip. I'd suggest looking for old routes, like the remnants of route 66. Often times, it can be quite simple driving on these. The traveling time is normally not actually that much different, depending on how crowded the interstates in the areas are.
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by Quzar »

Lartrak wrote:
As much as possible stick to the interstate highway system. Every state has its own things about its roads, and while some are amazing, the interstates are good and consistent. The signs are all the same and there tend to be semi frequent free rest stops.
While I agree in theory with this... You really should get off the interstate some. If you don't, 90% of the man-made things end up being almost the same the entire trip. I'd suggest looking for old routes, like the remnants of route 66. Often times, it can be quite simple driving on these. The traveling time is normally not actually that much different, depending on how crowded the interstates in the areas are.
Yea, I should have been more clear on this. It's just that when looking at a map and seeing what the 'best' way to get from where you are to where you want to is, it's easy to see a line going there and go 'aha, I'll take this road the whole way!' then after a few miles realize the road is shit and there are no real stops along the way. I fell for this twice before wising up, one of which times after about 20 miles the road turned to gravel.

Some maps will distinguish 'unfinished' roads (as in not paved, not as in incomplete), but sometimes...
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by DaMadFiddler »

|darc| wrote:
impetus wrote:I don't know if you're into fast food, but I always love trying local burgers. Famous chains like In-N-Out Burger, ChickFilA, White Castle, etc, are all somewhat regional so if you don't have one in your hometown, give them a shot.
I am so into fast food. I will probably die before 30. We have Chick-Fil-A in Louisiana, but I have not been to a White Castle or an In-N-Out Burger. I am, however, very, very excited about being able to eat In-N-Out Burger while in California.
I'm a vegetarian, and even I'll vouch for In-N-Out. Admittedly I haven't had one of their burgers in the last six years (gave up meat at 20, turn 26 next week), but they were always very good when I did.

They're cheap, their food is much higher grade than you'd typically consider "fast food" to be (and their kitchen practices are better), you can watch them make it all, and they have good shakes. As a result of the food quality and kitchen practices, In-N-Out is also the only fast food restaurant Anthony Bourdain will eat at. (My girlfriend is a big fan of both food programs and the Travel Channel).

There's an In-N-Out about halfway between where I live (Santa Cruz) and where my parents live (Burbank), so I always stop there for fries and a shake when I make the drive.
ace wrote:Take a shit-load of photos.
We've decided to do a travel blog as a journal, with photos and updates as we go along.
You're a Mac user, right? If you got the '09 upgrade for iLife, there are all sorts of useful additions to iPhoto that can help with this: automated location tagging, face recognition & tagging, and flickr integration. Might be worth looking into.
Quzar wrote:Keep some snacks at hand. Cookies or candies of some sort. Anything to be munching on. It helps maintain focus and such.
Definitely. These will be going in the back seat for sure. The cooler might get the trunk though. Depends on how much stuff we pack and what goes in the cooler and what doesn't.
Tortilla chips, crackers (I prefer Triscuits), apples, trail mix, fruit leather or dried fruit, and jerky all make excellent road trip food. They don't require refrigeration, don't spoil quickly, are well rounded enough (when taken together) to give you a passable lunch if you can't or don't want to stop somewhere, and (except for the jerky) are relatively inexpensive. Bring lots of water, though, as these (and most dry foods) are all high in salt content, and you do not want to dehydrate. Soda is high in sodium too, and will *not* help prevent dehydration.
Quzar wrote:depending on the size of what you're driving, it's a good idea to have plenty of bedding to make it easy for either of you to sleep. In a lot of the deserty country you'll be passing through the temperature does drop quite a bit at night, and there's good chance you won't want to have to find a place to stay. My dad drives a minivan and for roadtipping he takes out all the back seats (so it sits 2 instead of 7) and puts in a full twin sized foam mattress. I borrowed this tactic for magfest (24 hour drive) and when I slept I just curled up in the back of the van (saved meself hotel cost).
I'll be driving a standard-sized sedan (2006 Mazda 6 sedan to be exact). We will be staying in motels or with friends/relatives at night so no bedding necessary except for maybe some small stuff to keep warm or comfy while on the road.
Not recommended for every night (it's good to have a shower and electricity at least every couple of days), but campsites are a good way to save money. Throw a small tent in the back (you can get a 2- or 3-man dome tent pretty inexpensively these days), and find yourself some campsites along your planned route. If you hit some of the less popular parks, your nightly rate could be as low as $15 or so.
Quzar wrote:If you have native power adapters for the car use them as opposed to the power inverter, they're much more efficient
Yeah, I might get a USB adapter for the car so I wouldn't be required to use the laptop (and therefore DC -> AC -> DC) to charge the USB stuff like the iPhones.
Quzar wrote:Usually your iPod as is simply won't due for road trip listening. Give consideration to what music you'll have ready to play, and try to give consideration to full albums (playing individual songs on shuffle/random in my experience makes the trip feel longer) and especially things you can sing along to. Both of those aspects tend to make the boring stretches go much faster.
I don't know what I will be doing for the music setup yet. My car only accepts Red Book CDs, or I could spend like $130 for an iPod set up. We may burn a shitton of CDs and have some music on my laptop and CD-Rs, ready to burn while on the road if needed.
Impetus turned me on to Dealextreme.com. They only take Paypal, but you can get some really cheap gear that--while not up to the manufacturing quality of some high-end gear--is certainly more than sufficient. For music, I have been very happy with this device: it holds whatever you have very securely, has an iPod dock (which works with the 2G Touch, haven't tested with iPhone), a line in jack for all other audio devices, and even has a USB port on the side for charging other devices. While no FM transmitter is going to sound as good as a CD, the signal from this is pretty strong, and I have only had trouble with interference when I'm in heavily populated areas with tons of radio activity (ie. San Francisco).

They also sell all sorts of other audio and power adapters, and I'm sure you can find USB power adapters there both for the car and for an AC socket for just a couple bucks each.
hearld500 wrote:Seeing as how you're only a few hours off going through Wyoming I'd recommend swinging up through Yellowstone Park, that'd really be worth your while. Hell if you're up for it I'd show you a good time around the Bozeman, MT area which is just a couple hours further, beautiful drive.

About the only tip I can give you is watch your caffeine intake. Seems like whenever I go on long drive I always overdo it and have a hard time sleeping making you dead for the next day...just builds up on itself, vicious cycle ha.
See my recommendations above for relatively healthy snacks. Also, don't forget to get out of the car and walk from time to time; if you don't exercise, you won't use up the stored energy from the food, and thus won't be able to sleep well. And that sets up a downward spiral.
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by Lartrak »

While no FM transmitter is going to sound as good as a CD, the signal from this is pretty strong, and I have only had trouble with interference when I'm in heavily populated areas with tons of radio activity (ie. San Francisco).
It's quite amusing to me that it's a pretty nice advantage having a cassette and CD deck in a car, due to the use of cassette adapters. In my experience, they sound better, and you don't have to worry about interference. Of course, the real question is why EVERY new car doesn't have a line in jack. :roll:

One other thing you'll probably end up buying if you don't bring it along - excedrin or a clone brand. That much time in a car, practically a guarantee for headaches for a lot of people, and excedrin works the best.
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by Ex-Cyber »

DaMadFiddler wrote:Soda is high in sodium too
AFAIK, this stopped being true for most mainstream brands at least 15 years ago. I just looked at a 7-Up can, and it says 45mg. I can't seem to find a good reference at the moment, but IIRC a quarter-teaspoon of salt has something like 500mg. Water is still better, though.
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by Quzar »

DaMadFiddler wrote:Impetus turned me on to Dealextreme.com. They only take Paypal, but you can get some really cheap gear that--while not up to the manufacturing quality of some high-end gear--is certainly more than sufficient. For music, I have been very happy with this device: it holds whatever you have very securely, has an iPod dock (which works with the 2G Touch, haven't tested with iPhone), a line in jack for all other audio devices, and even has a USB port on the side for charging other devices. While no FM transmitter is going to sound as good as a CD, the signal from this is pretty strong, and I have only had trouble with interference when I'm in heavily populated areas with tons of radio activity (ie. San Francisco).
The thing I have is basically identical, but the plug is on an arm not a cable, and mine was like 5$.
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by DaMadFiddler »

Quzar wrote:
DaMadFiddler wrote:Impetus turned me on to Dealextreme.com. They only take Paypal, but you can get some really cheap gear that--while not up to the manufacturing quality of some high-end gear--is certainly more than sufficient. For music, I have been very happy with this device: it holds whatever you have very securely, has an iPod dock (which works with the 2G Touch, haven't tested with iPhone), a line in jack for all other audio devices, and even has a USB port on the side for charging other devices. While no FM transmitter is going to sound as good as a CD, the signal from this is pretty strong, and I have only had trouble with interference when I'm in heavily populated areas with tons of radio activity (ie. San Francisco).
The thing I have is basically identical, but the plug is on an arm not a cable, and mine was like 5$.
The plug on this one is on one of those flexible steel goosenecks. A fixed or hinged arm wouldn't really work in my car, as the electrical socket (funny how it used to be the "cigarette lighter," and now it's been standardized as a power socket) is at the bottom of my dash, which curves sharply inward.

Here's a stock photo of the interior of my model:

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As you can see, anything without a long neck wouldn't fit, because the hatch for the change box would be in the way.
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by curt_grymala »

I don't know if you guys have Cracker Barrels between LA and CA, but if you do:
At Cracker Barrel, you can "buy" audio books to listen to on your road trip. When you finish the book, you pop into another Cracker Barrel and return the audio book. When you return it, they give you most of your money back. It works out to be a pretty good deal, and it gives you new stuff to listen to along the way.

If your cameras take SD cards, you might want to look into getting an Eye-Fi card.

I've found that a lot of Exxon stations (and some 7-Elevens if there are any on your route) carry ADC map books. If you're in a semi-metro area, those are the best maps you can use to find your way around. I have stopped into many an Exxon station just to look at an ADC map book, and then moved on.

If you smoke, you'll want to do some research into the cigarette prices on your trip. Pick up cartons in the areas that are inexpensive. In 200 mile stretches, I've seen carton prices go from $15-50. Whenever I would drive into the Charlottesville, VA area, I would always pick up two or three cartons for my wife, because they were considerably cheaper than they are here at home. In NY, I think they're up to around $70/carton.

Long, mellow concept albums are great for listening on road trips. If you're at all into Pink Floyd, Enigma, The Polyphonic Spree, Dream Theater, etc. be sure to pack those discs for the trip.

Be prepared for heavy traffic and construction. On a road trip like this, you are almost guaranteed to hit standstill traffic at least once or twice each way.
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by OldSkoolGamer »

|darc| wrote:This is the current path we have planned.
Well, hell. When you were going on this path you would have gone right past me.
I was going to recommend some local places. :|
|darc| wrote:This is our current plan.
Now that you are going this way, I have two suggestions.

1. Watch out for for Arkansas cops.
The only speeding ticket I ever got in my life was there and the guy was a total dick. Plus they are all over the place. I kid you not, literally like 10 times more cops on the highway than what I saw in Illinois or Missouri on the way back down to Texas last year.

2. Maybe while in California, visit Santa Monica pier?
I went there nine years ago and it was cool then at least. It had henna tattoo stands, street performers, and, back then at least, a big arcade.
I went to the beach there and got some sand and water in a container. I sealed it tight and still have it on my shelf to this day. With original water still. :grin:
Plus there's an In-N-Out burger place listed as being just a few miles from there.
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by Wagh »

As others have said ipod/fm transmitter/tents/extra gas can/food

I picked up a cooler that was powered by the dc 12v. Worked fine. Another thing to remember though is that you should only be charging one thing at most 2 at a time. You might want to get a set of regular and smaller fuses just in case. If you are staying on the interstate you probably don't have much to worry about in the way of gas. The longest stretch I've seen was 400 miles of nothing in Texas. Luckily my scion gets 36mpg/420 per tank or so. Get a tire pressure gauge and check constantly. If your car has tire pressure sensors they may go off a lot for no real reason other than it is cold. Pick up a small floor jack from auto zone if you can. Using a scissor jack on the side of the road in some of these states usually ends up with you and a busted jack.

edit: the interstates are pretty boring. If you are trying to get across country fast it works but it gets old real quick. I just load my laptop with movies and music. Roll several joints. Then put it in cruise control at the speed limit. Suprisingly it takes about the same time as if I had sped the whole way.
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Re: I'm going on a road trip.

Post by DaMadFiddler »

Wagh wrote:Another thing to remember though is that you should only be charging one thing at most 2 at a time. You might want to get a set of regular and smaller fuses just in case.
That's a good point to bear in mind; I think someone else mentioned it earlier as well, but you want to be careful not to overload the car's electrical system. Charging your laptop from the car on a regular basis, for example, is not a good idea. Nor is plugging in a bunch of different devices at once. Keeping an iPod dock running is fine, but you don't want to make large power demands of your car for long periods of time.
If you are staying on the interstate you probably don't have much to worry about in the way of gas. The longest stretch I've seen was 400 miles of nothing in Texas. Luckily my scion gets 36mpg/420 per tank or so.
Wow, remind me never to drive through Texas :P

I did take a train from Los Angeles to St. Louis once that passed through Texas, and it was boring as hell. My poor little Hyundai couldn't handle that... it gets about 33 mpg on the highway when everything's tuned up and properly inflated, but it's only got an 11-gallon tank.
Get a tire pressure gauge and check constantly. If your car has tire pressure sensors they may go off a lot for no real reason other than it is cold. Pick up a small floor jack from auto zone if you can. Using a scissor jack on the side of the road in some of these states usually ends up with you and a busted jack.
More good advice. I know on my car, just letting the tires get a little low makes a difference of about 4-5 mpg. I would also add getting an air compressor if you don't already have one, to keep those tires inflated. You can often find one at an auto shop or a big department store like Target or K-Mart for $8-$20. Make sure the one you get is either battery powered (and get fresh, extra batteries!) or powered by the car itself, so you don't have to go looking for an electrical outlet in the middle of nowhere.
Then put it in cruise control at the speed limit. Suprisingly it takes about the same time as if I had sped the whole way.
Funny how that tends to work out. Staying at the speed limit also increases your fuel efficiency (actually, most cars are at their most efficient in the high 50s for mph, which is part of why the speed limit on most highways *used* to be 55 instead of 65).

Oh, and one more thing: if you have never been to Southern California before, keep a very, very sharp eye on traffic. You can be moving along just fine at 65 or 70 one moment, and find yourself caught in stop-and-go traffic before you even know what happened. Even with ten-lane highways (no joke), SoCal is notorious for erratic, packed traffic. Also, when traveling between San Diego and Los Angeles, avoid Interstate 5. It's the "main" route, but traffic is really awful unless you're making the drive at night. My parents live in Burbank and my girlfriend's family is in Escondido (just north of San Diego), so I have to deal with this drive a few times a year. Highway 15 is a little longer route, but traffic should be a lot better.
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