14 Suggestions for taking an American Road Trip

Last summer I drove on a 10,255 mile road trip around the United States. It was one of the best experiences of my life, and while writing about the trip in my journal, I’ve collected some advice to pass on to those who want to attempt their own trip.

1) Take a GPS navigation device

First and most importantly: take a GPS with you. At first I thought it would only be a mildly useful device, but I eventually came to trust it with my life and will never travel without one again.

Having a GPS to guide you to your destination eliminates most of the stress of the journey — no arguing over map directions or wondering where in the 4,000,000 square miles of America you are. An unexpected benefit of a GPS is that it allows you to see more. A GPS will estimate more accurately than you can how long it will take to travel between locations. With this information you can make informed decisions on how much and what you can see in a day. There were a number of times that I could calculate exactly how long I could spend at one site before I had to leave to see another before it closed.

Most systems will also inform you about hotels along the route, so there is no wondering where the next rest stop will be. The car I drove (a toyota prius) came with one built in, but hand held versions can be bought to use in any car.

2) Get a good guide book

Even though a GPS can get you were you want to go, you should still bring a guide book. I took two: Road Trip USA and Lonely Planet USA. The key to a good guidebook is simplicity. On this point the very popular Lonely Planet Guidebook fails. It is, without doubt, the most comprehensive of all the books, which is why I bought it in the first place, but this is also its downfall. Too much information on everything. So much that I could never find anything useful it in if my mind was even slightly tired.

However, the Road Trip USA book is perfect: the author lays out eleven paths across America and outlines the sights to see along them and the more interesting of the minor stops. The book provides just enough information to be useful but not so much as to overwhelm. More importantly, the paths the book gives provide some structure to the journey. Even if your road trip is free-form, it’s helpful to have an outline to follow when you are too tired to plan.

3) Buy a National Park pass

This is something I wish I had done, but I didn’t realize until too late. Entrance to the National Parks cost about $15 to $25 depending on the park. However, you can buy a National Park State Pass for $80 which grants you entrance to all the parks for the year. More information can be found at the National Park Service website.

4) Keep food and water in the car

Even though the majority of America’s highways are well-covered by fast-food joints and local diners, there may be times when you find yourself, unexpectedly, on a country road without access to anything. Always keep a couple gallons of water in the car along with basic, non-perishable food, such as health bars. Twice I got stuck in isolated areas and relied on these supplies. The water is especially important if you are traveling through the Mojave Desert, where you can easily drink a gallon of water an hour in the hot, dry weather.

5) Bring equipment for minor emergencies

Luckily I never had to use them, but I carried emergency items just in case. This included road flares, a first aid kit, pocket knife and a large flashlight. Also, I carried a small tool Velcroed under the steering wheel to help get out of the car in an accident. It had a hammer for smashing the window and a special blade for cutting
the seat belt. Lastly, while hiking in the midwest, I kept with me a snakebite kit.

6) Never let the gas tank go below half

I’m overly paranoid about this, but I kept the car’s tank above half at all times, partly because I worried about being caught out on a long stretch (as I once was) of road and partly because of the next tip:

7) Take breaks before you need to

I had a rule that I got out of the car every hundred miles even if I didn’t feel the need to, and even if it just meant pulling off the side of the road to stretch my legs for a moment. Driving all day is much more bearable when broken into small segments.

8) Take time off from the road trip

If you find a relaxing place during your travels, take a mini-vacation from your road trip. Constantly moving, making decisions and being in new places is more taxing on the brain than you may realize. It’s good to take a bit of downtime to absorb what you are experiencing. This is one piece of advice that I didn’t follow, and regrettably I didn’t take advantage of one of America’s most beautiful parks, Yellowstone, because I was more exhausted than I knew.

9) Become a AAA member

Triple A membership is cheap ($50), and if you have car problems, you don’t have to worry. I didn’t need them on my trip but I have in the past and they’ve always been reliable. I had a beat-up old car in College that I had to call AAA for help with several times, and they were always fast and helpful. More information can be found at their site. Also, if you don’t have a GPS, they will help you plan the trip.

10) Bring audiobooks

Local talk radio, though interesting, gets old — especially if you are spending a month or more on the road. I highly recommend bringing audiobooks to help keep your mind active while driving. It also adds to the depth of the trip to bring books that relate to the area you are in. Three I can recommend are: Under a Banner of Heaven, about the Mormons in Utah, A Crack at the Edge of the World: The California Earthquake of 1906, and Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.

A free alternative to audiobooks are podcasts, though this will require you to bring your laptop on the trip with you and connect to the Internet when you want to fill up your iPod. Podcasts are free, and the quality and breadth of what is available is increasing. I recommend: This American Life, Radio Lab, In Our Time, Escape Pod, On Point, On The Media, and The Seminars about Long-Term Thinking.

11) Bring your passport.

You never know what you may end up doing. Even though you only need a drivers license to travel into and out of Canada and Mexico, a passport can speed things up if you get into trouble at the borders.

12) Document Your Progress

I kept a daily log of the places I had seen and how far I had traveled. This was useful to keep track of where I had been and to later reconstruct the entire journey. (Which I’ve put into a Google Earth file) Also, if you become a AAA member, they will give you free maps of every State. Though the GPS is great for planning the details of a day’s journey, there is nothing like laying out a bunch of maps across a motel bed to get a birds-eye view of what you are doing.

13) Take a high-quality camera

This is an event you are going to want to photograph, and an analogue disposable camera just won’t cut it. Bring a good digital camera with a high zoom. My own camera was a Cannon S3. It has some issues with noise indoors, but for outdoor shots it’s a great camera. Also, the 12x zoom is priceless for capturing objects that are far away.

14) Do it alone, and do it with a friend.

This depends on your personality, but I recommend doing at least some of the trip on your own. There is a unique feeling of introspection you can get while traveling by yourself. However, it’s nice to include a friend to carry some of the burden of driving and planning — I did, and ended up getting a girlfriend-turned-wife out of the experience.