Cross-Country USA for newbies?

[alabaster]

Hi,

Any good resources (online or print) for planning a cross-country road trip?
I'm familiar with Roadside America and other books on sites to see, but I'm
mainly interested in practical tips for budgetting, packing, preparing, etc.

My girlfriend and I are looking to travel cross county as frugally as
possible, staying mainly at campsites (and at the homes of friends/family),
and preparing our own food (rather than eating at restaurants). Are there
any resources to find campsites across America? Any resources for cheap and
easy food preparation on the road (including campsite grilling)?

Also, has anyone had any luck with renting a hybrid-electric car for better
gas mileage? I did some basic calculations and it seems that the rental
price still outweighs any savings on gas, meaning it's still cheaper just to
drive my regular Honda, but perhaps I've left out some details in my
calculations.

Any information on how we can plan this trip will be appreciated. Neither
of us has ever taken a road trip longer than 1-2 days, so we're fairly
clueless.

Thanks,
chris.

[Keith Willshaw]

Post by alabaster
Hi,

Hi

To start with I'd suggest taking a look at rec.travel.usa-canada.
It gets a lot more traffic than this group

Post by alabaster
Any good resources (online or print) for planning a cross-country road trip?
I'm familiar with Roadside America and other books on sites to see, but I'm
mainly interested in practical tips for budgetting, packing, preparing, etc.

http://www.usatourist.com/english/tips/budget.html

Post by alabaster
My girlfriend and I are looking to travel cross county as frugally as
possible, staying mainly at campsites (and at the homes of

friends/family),

Post by alabaster
and preparing our own food (rather than eating at restaurants). Are there
any resources to find campsites across America? Any resources for cheap and
easy food preparation on the road (including campsite grilling)?

The cheapest campsites are generally those in the National Forests
and State Parks.You can access a list of federal facilties at

http://www.reserveusa.com/jsp/commonpage.jsp?goto=/maps/usamaps.html

Visit the state websites for their facilities

For commercial campsites this URL is quite useful

http://www.campsites411.com/listselect.asp

and of course KOA have their own website

Again State Parks and National Forest day use areas
often have picnic ground and grills

Post by alabaster
Also, has anyone had any luck with renting a hybrid-electric car for better
gas mileage? I did some basic calculations and it seems that the rental
price still outweighs any savings on gas, meaning it's still cheaper just to
drive my regular Honda, but perhaps I've left out some details in my
calculations.

Just take your Honda

Post by alabaster
Any information on how we can plan this trip will be appreciated. Neither
of us has ever taken a road trip longer than 1-2 days, so we're fairly
clueless.

Pack light , get your car serviced before you leave and
get some cold war detergents for washing clothes
without a laundy

Keith

[Richard]

Post by alabaster
Hi,
Any good resources (online or print) for planning a cross-country road
trip? I'm familiar with Roadside America and other books on sites to see,
but I'm mainly interested in practical tips for budgetting, packing,
preparing, etc.
My girlfriend and I are looking to travel cross county as frugally as
possible, staying mainly at campsites (and at the homes of
friends/family), and preparing our own food (rather than eating at
restaurants). Are there any resources to find campsites across America?
Any resources for cheap and easy food preparation on the road (including
campsite grilling)?
Also, has anyone had any luck with renting a hybrid-electric car for
better gas mileage? I did some basic calculations and it seems that the
rental price still outweighs any savings on gas, meaning it's still
cheaper just to drive my regular Honda, but perhaps I've left out some
details in my calculations.
Any information on how we can plan this trip will be appreciated.
Neither of us has ever taken a road trip longer than 1-2 days, so we're
fairly clueless.
Thanks,
chris.

From personal experiences, go for it. You'll love it.

Tent wise, get yourself a dome tent that's easy and quick to set up.
The one I had was plenty big for two people and took all of 3 minutes to set
up on a slow day.
For cooking food, plenty of small charcoal barbecue grills readily
available.
If not charcoal, go for a butane operated one.
Fuel tanks are easily acquired at any hardware store.

The best road trip is one that isn't planned other than for a few basics.
Where do you wanna go? Most likely I've been there done that at least once.
Make sure you buy a good road map. Not the little pocket ones, the bigger
ones.

Check your local book store out and see if they have a camp ground guide.
Most all of the sites are listed and will tell you before you get there if
tenting is allowed or not.

As for cooking your own food, just do what you do at home but don't plan on
keeping the food in a cooler for more than a day. Plenty of places to buy
groceries at.

My last serious road trip was a partial "one lap around the country".
6 weeks on the road and 9,000 miles.
One week was spent in Las Vegas.
As I had the money, I stayed in motel rooms every night.
I would love to do it again, any time.

[Mike Patrick]

Post by alabaster
Hi,
Any good resources (online or print) for planning a cross-country road trip?
I'm familiar with Roadside America and other books on sites to see, but I'm
mainly interested in practical tips for budgetting, packing, preparing, etc.

My biggest tip would be to get yourself a trucker's atlas. (I think
they're called Motor Carrier Atlases.) They're usually spiral bound with
thick laminated pages, so you can mark your route with a transparency or
dry erase marker, and they have about everything you could need marked
(campsites, toll booths, etc). They beat the pants off of a regular road
atlas.

-Mike